Essence Devouring Art

The Nine Heavens of Primordial Chaos.

Existing since the Heaven Opening, flourishing through All Tribulations.

It has evolved and developed through the Five Tribulations.

A Celestial Domain of immense vastness.

It encompasses countless cosmic clusters, and beneath them, Great Thousand Worlds, Middle Thousand Worlds, and Small Thousand Worlds, as well as dimensional Grotto Heavens and alternate spaces...

An endless, boundless expanse of space-time.

An inexhaustible supply of Extraordinary Creation matter and Energy nourishes thousands of races and countless living beings.

The sun rises and the moon sets; decline and prosperity cycle endlessly.

Without reaching a certain height, one is but an insignificant ripple in the torrential river of Hongyuan’s history. A ripple that rises and falls, making no waves at all.

Therefore, the living beings of the world all vie for passage.

They fight for resources, for the Dao, for destiny, for Creation...

Whether through righteous means or sinister schemes, from the moment they step onto the Path of Transcendence, more than half of all living beings will stop at nothing, push themselves to the limit, and do whatever it takes to elevate themselves!

...

The Qingming World.

A Small Thousand World.

The Feather Realm.

RUMBLE!

Stars fell and the Three Thousand Worlds shattered.

A heaven-devouring Blood Cauldron pressed against the Feather Realm, unleashing the might of a Great Sacred Artifact. Its power sealed the realm’s Three Thousand Worlds, obliterating countless beings and swallowing their Divine Souls into the cauldron.

”Aargh! You beast!!”

The Lord of Feather Realm, an Immortal Dao Saint at the peak of his power, was already grievously wounded and on the verge of death. With disheveled hair, he stared at his shattered realm, his eyes splitting with rage as he let out a frantic roar!

”The Feather Realm has always cultivated in seclusion, shunning the world! Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!”

Another Saint of the Feather Realm demanded through gritted teeth.

Beneath the Blood Cauldron, sat a mysterious figure whose aura reached the Great Saint Realm. His Daoist Robe seemed woven from iridescent colors, and above his head coalesced an utterly profane, second-grade lotus flower.

”You’re from the Primordial Sect?”

Suddenly, an old Saint of the Feather Realm seemed to recall something. His pupils contracted as his thoughts raced to secretly communicate with a Communication Jade Talisman.

BANG!

Holy Blood splattered across the heavens as his Divine Soul was ripped from his body.

Evidently, the old Saint’s subtle actions had not escaped the mysterious figure’s notice. The Blood Cauldron instantly blasted his physical body apart, and his soul was extracted and suppressed.

But his last words sent the remaining Saints of the Feather Realm plunging into an icy abyss, reminding them of a terrifying rumor.

The Primordial Sect!

Starting three years ago, a mysterious sect had risen among the All Heavens.

They worshipped the Primordial Celestial Demon!

Legend had it that as long as one offered enough sacrifices to the Primordial Celestial Demon, any form of Creation was within reach!

As for the sacrifices!

There was only one kind—Divine Souls!

The higher the quality and the greater the quantity, the greater the reward!

Six months ago, a Saint Master in the Fuguang World had reportedly performed a blood sacrifice of an entire Great Thousand World!

His reward was a single Chapter of an Emperor Scripture!

An Emperor Scripture!

The very technique a Great Emperor used to prove their Dao!

Even an Imperial Influence would treat it as a foundational treasure.

Even a single Chapter shocked countless people, igniting their greed and causing the Primordial Sect’s influence to spread rapidly!

However, joining the Primordial Sect was not easy. They didn’t accept just anyone.

Even the lowest-ranking first-grade Divine Envoy required a peak Creation Realm cultivation base and had to be inducted by a second-grade Divine Envoy. The initiation ceremony was shrouded in mystery.

In those three years, more than one Emperor’s Lineage had tried to move against the Primordial Sect, hoping to eradicate this Demon Sect that worshipped an Evil God, but they always returned in failure.

This was because they could never find the Primordial Celestial Demon behind the sect. Once a Divine Envoy was captured, they would self-destruct on the spot, and their Faith Channel would vanish without a trace.

What was even more terrifying was that every believer of the Primordial Sect was fearless of death—because they couldn’t be killed. Even if they were blasted to ashes, they would resurrect after a period of time and continue their rampage!

Some speculated that the All Heavens’ number one assassin organization, the Human World, was behind the Primordial Sect!

There were too many similarities!

The Human World was said to possess the top-tier Celestial Treasure, the Book of Death, which could resurrect their ”Dead Guests.” They also harvested the Divine Souls of living creatures.

However, in a rare move, a Great Power from the Human World emerged.

He clarified that the Primordial Sect had no connection to them. In fact, the Human World held a grudge against the Primordial Sect and had placed a massive bounty on information about its headquarters.

But to this day, there had been no results.

Instead, the number of the Primordial Sect’s disciples and Divine Envoys only grew, sparking considerable panic throughout the All Heavens.

Because! Whenever a Primordial Divine Envoy made a move, they would inevitably slaughter an entire world. Countless beings would perish, their Divine Souls becoming sacrifices to the Evil God!

An extremist organization like this was almost as dangerous as the All Heavens’ terrorist group, the Dragon Hunting Tower. The major powers hated them with a passion but were utterly powerless against them.

And now, the Feather Realm was being slaughtered by a second-grade Great Saint Divine Envoy of the Primordial Sect!

The fate that awaited them needed no explanation!

OMMM—

As the Primordial Sect’s Great Saint Divine Envoy greedily devoured the Divine Souls of the Feather Realm’s countless inhabitants, the second-grade lotus flower on his Evil Lotus Daoist Robe, which was connected to innumerable magnetic veins, suddenly vibrated as if it had sensed something.

At the same time, a cold, warning voice sounded—

”Warning. Saint Master Level being approaching. Distance: ten Great Thousand Worlds. Nine. Eight...”

’A Saint Master?’

Hearing the Evil Lotus’s warning, the Great Saint Divine Envoy’s heart skipped a beat. He immediately pushed his Great Saint Weapon to its limit, accelerating the speed at which he collected the Divine Souls!

The Primordial Divine Lotus.

It was a reward granted to every believer who passed the Primordial Sect’s initiation trial.

It possessed an incredible early-warning capability.

It could sense an enemy’s aura from across Great Thousand Worlds; no amount of concealment was effective.

Beyond that, it could also conceal one’s aura, perform rapid space-time transfers, analyze information about all things, and unreasonably boost a Divine Envoy’s combat power...

All sorts of heaven-defying functions.

BOOM!

The blood-colored Great Cauldron was like the gate to an Abyss.

After it finished collecting the Divine Souls from the last world, the Great Saint Divine Envoy activated the Evil Lotus.

Countless lotus roots squirmed and enveloped him, and he vanished into space-time.

RUMBLE!

The next moment, a boundless hand that shook the Great Thousand Worlds slammed down, carving out an endless abyss of Chaos. But the Great Saint Divine Envoy had already teleported to an unknown location.

”Vile creature!!”

Amidst the roiling Chaos, a Saint Master emerged from a Space-Time Channel with several Great Saints. They deployed various tracking Supreme Treasures, but they couldn’t detect the Divine Envoy’s aura. Their expressions turned utterly grim.

After the Primordial Sect became a scourge, the All Heavens had established Law Enforcement Teams. The various Imperial Influence Overlords contributed manpower to jointly hunt down and eliminate the Primordial Sect.

But their success had always been minimal.

Most of the time, just like today, they would arrive one step too late.

No matter how they concealed their approach, unless they brought along an exceptionally powerful Great Venerable or a Quasi-Emperor Weapon, they could never catch a Primordial Divine Envoy.

And even if they did, it was useless.

Even if they managed to stop the self-destruction, the ’Primordial Celestial Demon’ could instantly sever all Faith Connections and erase the Daoist Robe and the Divine Envoy’s Divine Soul, leaving them running in circles.

「In another corner of space-time.」

Having teleported to a safe location, the Great Saint Divine Envoy once again marveled at the incredible power of the Divine Lotus, but he did not forget the matter of the sacrifice.

OMMM—

He took out the Blood Cauldron, from which waves of wails emerged.

The Divine Souls of one Small Thousand World and its Three Thousand Worlds churned within the cauldron, as numerous as the sands of the Ganges.

The Great Saint Divine Envoy licked his lips greedily. He immediately set up an altar, presented the offering, and knelt in pious prayer—

”Praise be to the Primordial Daoist Venerable.”

”Praise be to the Primordial God Lord.”

”Praise be to the Primordial Mother Goddess.”

”Your believer, Zhou Lu, offers this humble sacrifice today, praying for Your Divine Grace...”

OMMM—

The moment the ritual was complete, Zhou Lu’s supremely devout consciousness soared, as if traversing an endless space-time tunnel, to glimpse a holy ocean of brilliant stars.

At the far end of the ocean, amidst the primordial Chaos, sat an indescribably majestic existence. Countless worlds were born and destroyed in its eyes, and the merest sliver of information threatened to overwhelm his Great Saint Divine Soul.

”My Lord...”

Zhou Lu trembled all over, his eyes welling with tears of devotion.

The throbbing pain in his Divine Soul prevented him from observing for long. He could only withdraw his consciousness with regret, hearing a single, indifferent divine oracle in the final moment—

”Granted.”

OMMM—

The instant the voice of the Celestial Decree fell, a brilliant light of Chaos erupted from between Zhou Lu’s brows.

It opened a channel to a distant, unknown place, which completely devoured the Divine Souls of the Small Thousand World’s creatures within the Blood Cauldron.

BOOM!

After the offering was collected, the Divine Being’s grace arrived.

A massive stream of information flooded into Zhou Lu’s Divine Soul. After examining it, he was moved to tears of gratitude and kowtowed repeatedly.

Because, this time, the grace he received was none other than the Saint Master Chapter for the Taoist Technique he practiced, the *Nine Tripod Slaughter Scripture*!

One must understand, his Cultivation Technique previously had a limit of the Great Saint realm!

After the Primordial Daoist Venerable granted his prayer, the Primordial Star Mother beneath His throne had instantly completed the path for him. How magnificent!

”The quality is superior. An additional reward is granted.”

But this was only the beginning.

The Star Mother’s cold voice rang out again.

Following the reward of the scripture, nine frigid, Nine-Colored Blood Pools descended into Zhou Lu’s Inner World. His Dragon Vein cried out in ravenous joy, for this was the key resource for practicing his *Nine Tripod Slaughter Scripture*—

Nine Yin Blood Essence!

”Thank... thank you for my Lord’s Divine Grace!!”

Zhou Lu trembled so violently that he stammered. His extreme gratitude could only be expressed by prostrating himself completely.

Nine Yin Blood Essence.

Only a living being with a yin-attribute Physique could refine a single drop of it. It was incredibly rare. If he had to collect it himself, when in a blue moon would he ever gather a full pool?

But the Primordial Daoist Venerable... was just that incredible.

He knew exactly what every believer needed, be it scriptures, resources, or even all kinds of treasures.

He could provide them with a mere wave of his hand!

As long as the offering was bountiful enough, the believers and Divine Envoys could obtain anything they desired!

Zhou Lu was not the only lucky one.

In three years, the Primordial Sect’s tendrils had reached across the Hongyuan Nine Domains. First, second, and third-grade Divine Envoys were spread throughout the All Heavens and Myriad Realms. Many were even famous Celestial Prides or ruthless overlords from various Celestial Domains.

Universally, these individuals were outcasts.

They walked in the shadows, practitioners of the Demon Dao and Evil Dao, full of talent and ambition but lacking a stable opportunity to rise.

The Primordial Sect gave them that opportunity.

And naturally, it reaped bountiful rewards in return.

At this moment, if one were to follow the offering Zhou Lu presented into that star-studded Holy Vortex Star Sea, one would discover that the Star Sea resembled a Sea Star with countless tentacles, connecting to each and every believer and Divine Envoy across the All Heavens and Myriad Realms.

Within the dense web of tentacle-like channels, the sounds of pious prayer would occasionally ring out. After an offering was made, a blessed gift would descend through the same channel.

The offerings presented were devoured by the holy Sea Star’s ’mouthparts,’ where they were burned for Energy to sustain the Star Sea’s high-speed rotation.

Deeper within the Star Sea, there existed world after world.

Within these worlds grew world-shrouding Primordial Magnetic Mother Trees, upon which grew countless Chaos Fruits as dense as great suns.

Inside the fruits, living beings were connected by Primordial Magnetic Veins, tirelessly engaged in Cultivation and comprehension.

The fruits of their Cultivation, along with the origin energy generated by the Star Sea’s rotation, were all fed back to the Supreme Dao Source at the apex of the Tree Diagram within the majestic being sitting in Chaos.

The Supreme Dao Source nourished the three great Dao Sources and three thousand branches below it. At the very end of these branches, in every infinitesimal instant, vast quantities of Primordial Magnetic Crystal Particles were born!

The Crystal Particles spun like turbines. As their fields unfolded, they evolved into perfect Middle Thousand Worlds of every attribute, a hundred flowers blooming in a riot of color and splendor. They were flourishing to an extreme degree, seemingly on the verge of a critical transformation!