Essence Devouring Art

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

The north wind howled as goose-feather snow drifted down.

At the peak of the majestic Great Snow Mountain.

Within a pavilion draped in silk, wine was heated and its aroma filled the air.

“It’s nothing compared to the real Divine Wilderness, I’m afraid. Please excuse the poor display, Alliance Leader Wu.”

King Bao Tong, Qian Kuiyun, poured the wine with an obsequious smile.

He had shed his Dragon Hunting Tower attire and was now dressed in a purple sable fur coat. His appearance was soft and portly, no different from his time in the Divine Wilderness, save for a hint of world-weariness and hardship.

His eyes were complex.

He looked at Wu Dao, who stood by the railing, calmly observing the “Divine Wilderness” world, his expression revealing a great deal of caution.

After all,

his acquaintance with Wu Dao was one-sided, a meeting of minds only.

Among all the kings of the Divine Wilderness,

only Prince Nanyang had what could barely be called a relationship with Wu Dao, and it wasn’t much of one at that.

Other than that,

the only thing connecting them was their shared status as ‘remnants of the Divine Wilderness.’

However,

given this master’s way of doing things,

and his monumental achievements to date,

it was hard to say if he felt any sense of camaraderie, like fellow countrymen meeting in a foreign land.

“A few years ago, I ran into Nangong Li from the former Southern Alliance. I suspected then that he wasn’t a special case.”

Wu Dao gazed at the Divine Wilderness Inner World that King Bao Tong had constructed from memory, then glanced at the wary “Prince Nanyang” and the others outside.

Things had changed, and so had the people.

“Nangong Li… The Heaven and Earth Profound Sect.”

King Bao Tong was slightly taken aback, then had a moment of realization. He had indeed heard of a Celestial Treasure Master by that name back in the Divine Wilderness.

When he finally left the Divine Wilderness,

he had also speculated

that Nangong Li had very likely used the Celestial Treasure, the Heaven and Earth Profound Sect, to escape the Great Tribulation and arrive in Hongyuan before them.

“He’s a coward.”

Wu Dao sat upright before the low table and said,

“After arriving in Hongyuan, he hid away cautiously in the Burial Realm. When I met him four years ago, despite being a Celestial Treasure Master, his cultivation was only at the Cave Heavens Realm, far inferior to yours.”

“You praise us too highly, Alliance Leader Wu.”

Speaking of his arrival in Hongyuan,

Qian Kuiyun still had some lingering fear as he recounted his experience:

“Back then, before the world collapsed, I followed a clue left behind by the Demon Suppression Emperor before his death and entered the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven to traverse the turbulent void channel between the two realms. My cultivation was too low at the time. I was lost several times and narrowly escaped death. I only managed to reach Hongyuan three years before you arrived on the Taiyi Emperor Star, Alliance Leader Wu. After that…”

Qian Kuiyun paused, then said with shame,

“After learning about the state of affairs in Hongyuan, I was also terrified, constantly afraid of being discovered by the major powers of Hongyuan. I spent my time hiding. 「Six years ago.」 I had a chance encounter with a group of Dragon Hunters from the Dragon Hunting Tower. Because of my status as a Celestial Treasure Master, I was recruited into the Tower. As for Prince Nanyang and the others…”

At this point,

an indescribable sadness appeared on Qian Kuiyun’s face as he said,

“With your insight, Alliance Leader Wu, you should be able to tell that they are merely similar flowers I cultivated using a Dao-transformation object. It’s like they’ve been reborn through reincarnation. The Divine Wilderness knowledge and memories they carry are limited to what I myself know.”

“Celestial Treasures are unique. If the Treasure Master dies, the Celestial Treasure disperses. If it hasn’t dispersed, they are not truly dead. In the future, when you reach a certain height, they will return.”

Wu Dao replied calmly.

He had already learned this information by examining their magnetic field ‘films.’ The only thing that surprised him was that their Divine Souls had not been controlled by the Dragon Hunting Tower.

‘Presumably,’

‘it’s likely because of their Celestial Treasures.

A Celestial Treasure is bound to the Treasure Master’s concept of self. The master’s independence is a fundamental rule.

After Nangong Li’s True Self Divine Soul was controlled by my faith, his Celestial Treasure was weakened to a certain extent, and its growth rate plummeted.

However,

I manually boosted it, compensating for quality with quantity.

Coupled with the Primordial Magnetism Demonic Body,

Nangong Li’s Heaven and Earth Profound Sect still grew faster than those of most Celestial Treasure Masters in the world.

But King Bao Tong and the others…

In just five short years,

they went from the Dharma Aspect realm to Great Venerable Perfection.

They crossed seven major realms and more than two hundred minor realms, all while advancing in three separate Daos simultaneously.

Clearly,

after joining the Dragon Hunting Tower, they received special cultivation, and their Celestial Treasure Ceremonies proceeded without obstruction.

And they weren’t even controlled by the Dragon Hunting Tower.

Hmm…

If they had been controlled,

this conversation wouldn’t be happening now.’

As for the issue of everyone except Qian Kuiyun being an imitation,

Wu Dao didn’t care much.

After all,

he didn’t have much of an emotional connection with them.

Even if he did care,

there was nothing he could do about it now.

If this were a world where the river of time manifested, running through all of existence in the past, present, and future, creating endless variables,

then with his current Dao attainments,

it would be no problem to fish some insignificant beings out of the river of time, pulling the complete Prince Nanyang and the others from the past into the present.

Unfortunately,

this was Hongyuan.

Here, the civilization of the Great Dao surged ever forward,

existing only in the present.

The past and future were absolute taboos.

Forget a mere Great Emperor;

even a Daoist who had reached the Absolute Peak could not shake or change the past or future.

Disturbing the past and future,

or having a river of time with endless variables—

a civilization that existed in such a way

would cause the entropy increase in the Dao System to reach a terrifying and unimaginable level.

It would be inevitable for Great Tribulations to occur constantly.

Furthermore, they would be tribulations devoid of destiny, lacking the accumulated Dao-fortune of an orderly civilization.

A tribulation without destiny—what would be the point of its existence?

It would contradict the orderly prosperity of civilization.

The Dao System would certainly not allow it.

If such a situation were to arise, the supreme authority of the Great Dao would be broken, allowing it to be casually manipulated and trampled upon by the beings born within it.

The Great Dao of Hongyuan,

having experienced five Dao tribulations since the Heaven Opening,

a Five Tribulations Dao—how magnificent was that?

With Wu Dao’s current Dao attainments, he couldn’t even perceive the tiniest tip of its iceberg.

His Primordial Magnetism Path,

while it could be said to have the Dao attainments of a Second Tribulation civilization,

was in reality just a foundational prototype.

Its true substance couldn’t even compare to a speck of dust from a Near-Path Seeker of the Initial Tribulation.

For all these reasons,

if Prince Nanyang and the others were to return,

their only hope was for their Celestial Treasures to grow to a certain stage in the future, allowing the information of the Treasure Masters they carried to be reshaped.

“I’ll take your auspicious words to heart, Alliance Leader Wu.”

King Bao Tong nodded. He also knew there was no other way; it all depended on the future karma and creation of Prince Nanyang and the others.

With his past sentiments exhausted,

King Bao Tong cautiously broached the main topic. “The Great Tribulation is approaching. I wonder, what are your future plans, Alliance Leader Wu? Although our strength is meager, if there is anything you need, we will certainly not refuse.”

‘He had long since figured out Wu Dao’s character and way of doing things back in the Divine Wilderness: extreme self-interest. Wu Dao never did anything useless, nor did he wallow in sentimentality or reminisce about old friends.

This ‘reunion’ with them today

must mean he had a use for them.

Regarding this,

King Bao Tong felt no disgust.

He came from a family of merchants and had understood from a young age the difference between a person with value and one without. Talking about feelings was just deceiving oneself.’

“The Dragon Hunting Tower possesses a Dao Artifact.”

Wu Dao stroked his wine cup, his gaze deep and profound as he looked at King Bao Tong, stating his purpose with a tone of certainty.

He truly was someone who wouldn’t get up early if there was no profit to be made.

He had just learned some of the Dragon Hunting Tower’s secrets by reviewing the memories of King Bao Tong and the others, which was why he had bothered with this idle chatter.

If not for that secret,

he would have simply treated King Bao Tong and the others as another version of Nangong Li.

‘A Dao Artifact…’

King Bao Tong took a long, hard look at Wu Dao.

‘I never expected his appetite to be this big. His nerve is even greater than it was in the Divine Wilderness.

That’s a Dao Artifact!

On some level, it’s equivalent to a Daoist among artifacts.

Across the vast Hongyuan Heavenly Realms and the Mountain and Sea, in the countless ages since the Heaven Opening, no more than a dozen Dao Artifacts have ever been born. One can only imagine their status!’

‘To scheme for such a supreme Taoist Soldier…’

“Phew… You guessed correctly, Alliance Leader Wu.”

King Bao Tong let out a soft breath, forcing his emotions to calm as he said with a grave expression,

“The Dragon Hunting Tower does indeed have a Dao Artifact. As for what it is exactly, our rank is too low. We’ve never had access to the specific details. However…”

He paused.

King Bao Tong speculated, “You probably know, Alliance Leader Wu, that my Celestial Treasure is the Treasure Basin, which can collect all the rare and exotic treasures in the world. Because of this, I have a faint, vague sense for supreme Dao Treasures. The Dao Artifact in the Dragon Hunting Tower seems to be related to the Transverse Refining Dao and the Fire Dao. Combining some secrets from the Hongyuan Tribulation History with the actions of the Dragon Hunting Tower, I venture a bold guess: it must be the Burning Chaos Furnace that Heaven-Burning Fire lost at the late stage of the Second Tribulation!”

“The Burning Chaos Furnace…”

A flicker went through Wu Dao’s eyes.

He had naturally reached the same conclusion. His various previous doubts were all resolved the moment he thought of the Burning Chaos Furnace.

The Burning Chaos Furnace.

A part of the Dao Artifact, the Dao Burning Furnace.

In its complete state, the Dao Burning Furnace is composed of three Divine Furnaces—

the Immortal Burning Furnace, the God-Burning Furnace, and the Burning Chaos Furnace.

These three Divine Furnaces

correspond to the three great Extraordinary Basic Powers of Essence, Qi, and Spirit. It is said that once activated, they can unleash the ‘End of the Dao Burning Fire,’ which can incinerate the three basic powers and annihilate the civilization of a Primordial Tribulation Cultivator.

During the Second Tribulation,

the Fire-Raising Sect had not yet produced the Fire Burning Lord.

The Dao Burning Furnace was controlled by the Heaven-Burning Dao Fire Alliance, and the Fire-Raising Sect was a member of this Dao Fire Alliance.

At the late stage of the Second Tribulation,

the Divine Race fell from their divine altar.

the Ten Thousand Races of the All Heavens and the ancestors of all Daos fought a large-scale, chaotic battle in the Sea of Chaos for the orthodox position in heaven and earth.

「Ultimately.」

The Human Race and the Desolate Divine Seed inherited the grand lineage,

becoming the dominant races of Hongyuan.

It was during that chaotic war that the Dao Burning Furnace lost the Burning Chaos Furnace.

After the Four Tribulations,

the Dao Fire Alliance declined, and the Fire-Raising Sect rose to prominence.

The Fire-Raising Sect inherited everything from the Dao Fire Alliance and has been searching for the Burning Chaos Furnace ever since.

If the Burning Chaos Furnace was in the Dragon Hunting Tower,

then this faction was rather terrifying.

Having been passed down since the Second Tribulation,

in terms of heritage alone,

it was nearly as old as the Celestial Court itself.

No.

It had to be there!

The Burning Chaos Furnace represented “Essence” among the three great Extraordinary Basic Powers—it was the supreme treasure of the path of matter, the physical body, the Body Dao.

Previously, Wu Dao had never understood

how, under the condition that Primordial Chaos was the limit within the Dao, the Dragon Hunting Tower had managed to bypass his Bitter Dust Robe twice to pinpoint his coordinates.

Now that he knew of the Burning Chaos Furnace’s existence,

everything became clear.

By mastering the supreme treasure of the Body Dao, no one in the world with an outstanding physique could escape the Dragon Hunting Tower’s prying eyes.

The Dragon Hunting Tower’s hunt for Transverse Cultivation practitioners across the All Heavens…

Perhaps

it was related to the Burning Chaos Furnace.

Or perhaps there were even deeper, more taboo secrets involved.

But regardless of the reason,

Wu Dao had now set his sights on the Burning Chaos Furnace!

Because…

from the memories of King Bao Tong and the others, Wu Dao had learned something.

After the Dragon Hunting Tower withdrew from the All Heavens,

it had transferred most of its resources and elites to Shanhai Pass, using the Burning Chaos Furnace as its lair, hidden in an unknown location within Nine Heavens Pass.

King Bao Tong and his group,

now returned to their lair after every hunt

by traveling through the Sea of Chaos back to Nine Heavens Pass.

Back then, the Dragon Hunting Tower and the Human World had also taken the Sea of Chaos route to enter Shanhai Pass, which was why they had not been detected by the All Heavens.