Essence Devouring Art

Arrays.

To put it bluntly, they were just an application of magnetic fields.

As it happened,

magnetic fields were his specialty!

There was no need to break the Array with brute force at all!

SWOOSH!

A moment later, Wu Dao’s eyes snapped open, glinting with brilliant electric light. He had locked onto the weakest link between the Array and the magnetic field of the surrounding mountains.

CRACKLE!

The friction speed of his cells skyrocketed.

Crimson Gold lightning-snakes began to burst from the pores all over Wu Dao’s body. He reached out one hand, forming a blade with his palm, and chopped toward that distant point.

HUMMM!

The Primordial Magnetic Field compressed into an invisible great saber that stretched for several hundred meters.

The moment Wu Dao’s palm chopped down,

a silent, invisible shockwave tore through the void.

It was as if an unseen blade had sliced through space itself. The airflow and light twisted and blurred. Wherever the shockwave passed, the magnetic field was severed, giving birth to all sorts of bizarre, phantasmagoric sights.

Primordial Magnetic Celestial Saber!

A clever application of Magnetic Field Power.

Using Primordial Magnetism as a blade, it could temporarily sever and isolate the magnetic connections between all things!

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG—

The instant the Primordial Magnetic Celestial Saber fell,

the sound of magnetic field domains snapping and breaking rang out one after another.

The surrounding mountains and forests shook as if the earth dragons were turning over. The Earthly Muddy Evil Qi and the power of the land’s feng shui rapidly receded, and the ochre Energy Shield grew visibly thinner.

"Show mercy when you can. Why must you be so relentless!"

Just then, as if sensing the Array was about to break, an old, angry voice suddenly echoed from within.

"Heh, mercy? Are you even human?"

Wu Dao sneered, landing on the ochre Energy Shield, which was now much thinner and its Mighty Power greatly reduced.

"If you’re seeking death, then come and try!"

The old voice snorted coldly and vanished without a trace.

Wu Dao paid it no mind, unleashing his Dragon Whale Dominating Body and transforming into a towering, ferocious Crimson Gold Demon King, over forty feet tall and majestic enough to hold up the heavens. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

TWANG! TWANG! TWANG—

It was the sound of a Divine Bow being drawn.

His right arm, entwined with thousands of Barbaric Dragons, swelled up, gathering a cataclysmic Power before he smashed his fist down on the ochre Energy Shield!

BOOM!

The sound of a nuclear-like explosion erupted!

The shockwave expanded like a Category 10 hurricane, repelling and crushing everything in the vicinity, creating a vacuum in its wake!

The mountains shook and the earth quaked! Soil collapsed and rocks shattered!

The boundless, majestic Power instantly sent infinite ripples across the ochre Energy Shield.

The spreading Power lashed out at the surrounding land, tearing millions of tons of earth and stone to dust like a tsunami, which then surged into the sky as a mighty wave, spreading in all directions.

In the blink of an eye, an area nearly three miles in radius around the point of Wu Dao’s punch was razed to the ground, as if struck by a meteor from outer space. The center resembled a giant crater, and all the vegetation on the outskirts was flattened!

KRAKA-CRACK!

BANG—

Like a boulder smashing into glass, after that single punch, the ochre Energy Shield violently exploded into countless motes of light and dissipated.

Hm?

The instant the Grand Array’s defensive shield was broken, Wu Dao’s brow twitched. He sensed a dangerous aura surging up from below and instantly deployed his Primordial Magnetic Gang Shield for defense!

BOOM!

In the next instant, it was as if the Gate of Hell had been thrown open.

Black death qi, evil qi, ferocious qi—all sorts of ominous auras used the crater, which was several miles wide, as a vent.

They gushed skyward like a volcanic eruption, shattering the clouds, devouring the light, and transforming a large swath of the world into a dark domain, a forbidden zone for all life.

CRACKLE!

In the center of the massive black pillar, Crimson Gold electric fire flickered, resisting the impact of the tangible, ominous aura.

In a fleeting glimpse, in the instant the Grand Array shattered, Wu Dao saw what looked like a magnificent underground palace, or perhaps, a tomb.

Because, at the entrance, there was a huge tombstone. On it were three words, seemingly from the Warring States Era—

Celestial Empress’ Tomb!

The Celestial Empress?!

’What an arrogant title!’

The black pillar continued to erupt.

Within his Primordial Magnetic Gang Shield, Wu Dao’s expression was grim. ’Feels like I’ve stirred up something really nasty this time,’ he thought.

’Wait!’

’The Celestial Empress?’

’It couldn’t be...’

His thoughts raced like lightning.

An account from an unofficial history surfaced in Wu Dao’s mind.

Seven hundred years ago, during the Warring States Era, there was a formidable figure in the Southern Border who called himself the Celestial King. He rose from obscurity to contend for supremacy in the Warring States, becoming famous for his cruel and brutal methods, and he nearly unified the entire Southern Border.

Unfortunately, he later encountered the Demon Suppression Emperor.

It is said his head was severed, his Divine Soul was extinguished, and he and his army of one hundred thousand were buried alive.

In these unofficial histories, besides the accounts of the Celestial King’s life, there was also mention of his beloved, who accompanied him from his humble beginnings to his peak, never leaving his side. After he proclaimed himself king, he bestowed upon her the title of Celestial Empress.

However, regarding this Celestial Empress, the unofficial histories provided few detailed records.

Her final fate... seemed to be that she died before the Celestial King and was buried somewhere in the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the exact location unknown to all.

But now...

The Hundred Thousand Mountains, a Tomb Protection Array, a Land Immortal Great Demon standing guard...

Wu Dao was one hundred percent certain that it wasn’t just an unofficial history, and that this Celestial Empress’ Tomb truly held the beloved of the Celestial King!

More importantly, with such a vast and terrifyingly ominous aura...

’She has most likely already...’

KRAK KRAK KRAK—

The sound of metal scraping against metal, of a coffin lid sliding, echoed from the depths of the dark underground palace. The ominous aura gushed from the opening like a mountainous tsunami, flooding the palace and jetting into the sky like a pillar.

"We respectfully welcome the Celestial Empress!"

Atop a pyramid-like altar, a black-haired old crone with a face as weathered as tree bark and a dozen pale-faced Tree Demons knelt before a blood-red coffin, their foreheads pressed to the ground, trembling uncontrollably.

BANG!

When the ominous evil qi reached a certain peak density, the coffin exploded violently. The sky-rocketing deathly evil qi slammed into Wu Dao’s Primordial Magnetic True Gang above the palace, causing it to deform.

He focused his gaze.

The ugly, ferocious zombie he had imagined did not appear.

Instead, what appeared was brilliant gold, an unparalleled beauty!

A humanoid creature nearly four meters tall, with a graceful and exquisite figure. A cascade of golden hair that reached its hips danced in the air. Its face was heroic and coldly beautiful. Clad in armor, it resembled a mythological War God.

It was just...

’A bird-person?’

Wu Dao raised an eyebrow, noticing that this peerlessly beautiful Celestial Empress had a pair of broad, golden-feathered wings, similar to an eagle’s, sprouting from her back, with a wingspan of five to six meters. Her hands and feet were also talons.

Furthermore, her skin was not like flawless white jade.

Instead, it was composed of thick, golden scales, arranged in an orderly, beautifully streamlined pattern that radiated an immortal, indestructible light.

Overall, she looked like...

a Golden-Winged Roc!

Of course, the most important thing was her strength!

Demon Qi!

An unprecedentedly strong Demon Qi!

It was so strong that every cell in Wu Dao’s body craved it, the greedy hunger in his eyes almost becoming tangible!

A Demon King!

Definitely a Demon King!

A Corpse Demon at least equivalent to the Celestial Human Second Floor!

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

The deathly evil qi surged like a tide, battering the void and rushing out in all directions.

After the Golden-Winged Roc broke out of its coffin, it stood atop the altar.

Its golden eyes swept over the group of kneeling Tree Demons, and it instinctively frowned.

Then, its gaze turned to Wu Dao, who was wreathed in a great sun of electric fire in the sky above. In a confused, child-like tone, it asked:

"Do you know who I am?"

The Celestial Empress had indeed died seven hundred years ago.

But in the corpse-nurturing ground arranged by the Celestial King, she had lived a second life.

To be precise, a new spirit had been born from the corpse. It possessed no memories of its past life. It was no longer human, but an entirely different kind of being.

Coupled with being awakened prematurely, its intelligence had not yet developed to the point of self-awareness.

So, faced with an unfamiliar world, this new Celestial Empress felt only confusion.

Heh...

Amidst the boundless black evil qi, Wu Dao’s lips slowly curled into a grin. He bared two rows of triangular shark-like teeth that were gradually turning red and spoke in an incredibly ’loving’ tone:

"Who you are? You are my..."

He paused.

His gentle expression suddenly twisted into a demonic snarl!

Two streams of electric fire erupted from his abyss-dark eyes:

"My sweet little darling!!"

BOOM!!

The sky seemed to tremble violently!

Faster than a thought! Having unleashed Divine Ghost Heaven, Wu Dao shot forward like a current surging through a broken circuit board. He outpaced the sonic boom he created, crossing a thousand meters of dark space in an instant!

With his Eight-Turns Magnetic Field Rotating Power at full blast, his ferocious Dragon Fist shattered layer after layer of the void, carrying the force to topple mountains and overturn seas as it brutally smashed toward the Celestial Empress’s head!

RUMBLE!

An instant later, the earth-shattering sonic boom finally rang out!

The air along his path, compressed to its limit, violently expanded and exploded!

A Gangfeng Qi Flow like a Category 10 hurricane instantly destroyed the underground palace, sending countless architectural fragments and the deathly evil qi hurtling into the sky like a volcanic eruption!

BANG!!

The immense Power carried by the Dragon Fist erupted, forming a conical shockwave that rapidly widened, annihilating everything in its path and carving a massive, inverted triangular crater into the vast underground palace.

But it missed...

It missed?

’With the Divine, Ghostly, Celestial Blessing, killing a Second Floor expert with a single punch should be easy!’

’I missed!’

Brilliant Black Gold electric fire shot from Wu Dao’s eyes. His senses flared, and he whipped his head around!

"Why are you trying to kill me?"

In the sky above the gaping maw of the underground palace, the Golden-Winged Roc-like Corpse Demon hovered, beating its wings. Its confused eyes were now completely filled with the rage of a creature whose life was threatened.

"Why, why, why!!"

Wu Dao, like a Purgatory Demon God, spewed electric fire from his eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. His domineering voice boomed like thunder:

"You’re just a piece of meat! When a hunter catches his prey, he eats it! What’s with all the questions?!"

SCREEE!!

A sea of blood surged as an Overlord Whale broke through the waves!

The True Meaning of Overlord Whale Fist, elevated to the Second Floor by the Divine, Ghostly, Celestial Blessing, transformed the entire sky above the palace into a blood-sea cage.

HUMMM~

The tyrannical Fist Intent, powerful enough to suppress the four seas, filled the world, turning the void into a deep ocean. The immense pressure on her Divine Soul instantly made the golden Celestial Empress grunt in pain, and she nearly plummeted from the sky!

"Can you still fly if I tear off your wings, sweetheart?"

The instant the Golden-Winged Roc’s Divine Soul was injured, the whisper of an Evil Ghost sounded behind it, causing its expression to change drastically.

HUMMM~

Its brilliantly glowing golden wings trembled.

The void seemed to turn into a ski slope; with just a flick of her wings, it felt as though she could instantly glide several miles away.

But...

she couldn’t move.

The shadow of Wu Dao’s colossal, mountain-like Dragon Whale demon body enveloped her, blazing hot like a great sun. His two Dragon Fists had clamped down tightly on the Celestial Empress’s pair of wings.

Meanwhile, strands of golden Barbaric Dragon muscle grew from his chest, trapping the Golden-Winged Roc tightly in his embrace. He lowered his terrifying, ferocious head to her ear, drooling scalding saliva as he took a deep, intoxicated breath.

"Little baby, you smell so wonderful. My love for you can’t be described with words; it can only be proven with actions.

So...

let us become one, inseparable!!"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG—

Wu Dao’s chest suddenly split open, its edges lined with dense shark-like teeth that bit through the Golden-Winged Roc’s scales and flesh. It squirmed and swallowed, dragging her toward the furnace-like Abyss at its center!

"Celestial King..."

Her struggles were hopeless. At the very last moment, the Golden-Winged Roc seemed to remember something. A single tear of longing trickled from the corner of her eye before she was completely devoured by the abyss of electric fire.