Essence Devouring Art

The Ice and Snow Cold River World.

King Lin Wu stood bare-chested atop a glacier, his knotted muscles and mountain-like physique resembling a block of ten-thousand-year-old ice. He emanated wisps of blue-black frigid air that continuously froze the surrounding void.

’Saint King?’

Hearing the golden-eyed woman’s strangely pious tone, he narrowed his ice-blue eyes and sneered.

"How is it? After a few hundred years, has the Fox Race fallen so low that you must now bow and scrape to survive? If your ancestors knew about this, do you think they’d forgive you?"

Though his words were mocking, King Lin Wu had secretly begun to gather his power, his Essence, Qi, and Spirit quietly rising.

These few foxes were quite powerful.

Among the Fox Race, tails are a reflection of one’s cultivation and status. Four tails already correspond to the Human Race’s Celestial Human Level.

Not to mention...

King Lin Wu and the golden-eyed woman were old acquaintances. He knew her strength perfectly well.

The Clan Leader of the Fox Race!

Su Junyan!

Celestial Human Eighth Floor!

She was a top-tier pillar of strength, second only to the true ancestors of the three major races. Her personality had always been domineering and tyrannical, never letting go of her power.

But it was this very hegemon among demons,

who now had the demeanor of a pious believer, as if she had become a completely different demon.

Such a massive change.

It couldn’t possibly be voluntary. One could only imagine how terrifying the so-called Saint King behind her must be.

Being targeted by such a figure...

Even King Lin Wu, who had lived for over six thousand years, felt extremely wary. He knew that escaping today would not be easy.

"Our ancestors’ lifelong pursuit is also for the Demon Lord to rule the world. This does not conflict with the Saint King’s ideals. What is wrong with that?"

Su Junyan, with her celestial beauty and bone-white grace, her three thousand golden strands of hair fluttering, paid no mind to the mockery in King Lin Wu’s tone. Instead, she changed the subject.

"I know what you’re thinking, King Lin Wu. You believe we are deliberately targeting you.

There is no need for such thoughts.

Because in the future, I will also be visiting the other Great Demon Kings, and even the Snake Race."

’The Snake Race?’

"Impossible!"

King Lin Wu laughed derisively and said resolutely, "That bunch of selfish, arrogant, cold-blooded worms? You want them to bow and... DIE!"

BOOM—

He didn’t even finish his sentence.

King Lin Wu’s gaze suddenly sharpened. He erupted without warning, his majestic, glacier-like physique shattering the void as he charged. An endless torrent of blue-black abyssal ice flames burst from his pores as he clenched his fist and smashed it toward Su Junyan!

In the Rat Race, there is only the kinship of blood.

Only those who give life and raise you are worthy of being hailed as king!

’Submit to a foreign race?’

’Pure delusion!’

CRACK CRACK CRACK—

As King Lin Wu erupted,

it was as if an abyssal treasure had been opened within his body. Gushing deep-blue ice flames instantly blazed to life, engulfing heaven, earth, and the void!

Before his fist even arrived,

he had already frozen the other Four-tailed Celestial Foxes—all except for Su Jun’Er—into ice sculptures. It was an utterly tyrannical display!

Linfeng Abyss Flame Evil Qi!

This was a type of Ice Attribute Earth Evil Qi that King Lin Wu had spent thousands of years refining, day in and day out, in the depths of the Cold Abyss.

Furthermore, he had relied on this evil qi to open the Demon Pill Ancestral Acupoint in his body and condense a Divine Power Seed, achieving Mighty Divine Power of infinite might.

(This corresponds to the third realm of a Martial Arts Celestial Being, the Divine Storage Realm, which involves Refining Celestial Spirits and Earthly Fiends to condense a Divine Power Seed. The other two paths of the Human Dao are largely the same at this step.)

Once the Linfeng Abyss Flame Evil Qi touched and began to burn someone, their soul and physical body would experience the twin tortures of ice and flame in Purgatory.

For anyone below the Celestial Human Eighth Floor, it was impossible to extinguish!

They could only watch helplessly as their physical body, soul, and Spiritual Qi were burned away, bit by bit, into minuscule ice particles, dying in absolute agony.

This was the source of King Lin Wu’s confidence to launch a sudden attack.

Although Su Junyan was a Great Demon King at the Celestial Human Eighth Floor, he knew her inside and out. The Divine Power Seed she had formed in her ancestral acupoint by refining Heavenly Spirit and Earthly Fiend Qi was simply no match for his own in terms of strength!

Not to mention...

RUMBLE!

The instant King Lin Wu attacked, an eruption of ice-blue Qi and Blood burst forth like a volcano. It surged up to flood the sky, transforming into a vast, eerie blue ocean of Qi and Blood that blotted out nearly forty li of the heavens.

The Horizontal Refining Sixth Gate—

Qi and Blood Like the Sea!

The Limit!

There was never a rule in the world that the Demon Race could not practice Martial Refinement.

The pure Transverse Refining Dao was a path any race with flesh and blood could walk.

The reason so few chose this path was mainly because it was often more trouble than it was worth.

One would pour in massive amounts of resources and energy to hone their physical body, neglecting the more fundamental path.

By the time you achieved anything significant, others would have long since surpassed you in cultivation realm. They could simply crush you with their absolute power.

Throughout history, regardless of the creature, unless they were a peerless genius with first-rate physical talent, otherwise, simultaneously cultivating the Transverse Refining Dao in addition to the Main Path was simply a waste of life.

As for cultivating three paths simultaneously—

the Main Path, Transverse Cultivation, and the Mental Realm—

that was the mark of a true freak of nature, a monster.

While King Lin Wu couldn’t be compared to such a monster, he was still a genius among demons. From a young age, his talent for both Cultivation and his physical body had been among the best in his clan.

Therefore, he dared to cultivate two paths at once, and had achieved great success in both.

While possessing the combat power of the Celestial Human Eighth Floor on his Main Path, he had also reached the Limit of the Horizontal Refining Sixth Gate on his Transverse Refining Dao. He had no fear of fighting any expert at the Eighth Floor!

King Lin Wu’s fearsome reputation had been forged seven hundred years ago when he’d used his Transverse Cultivation in one hand and his Linfeng Abyss Flame Evil Qi in the other to slaughter his way through one Human Race Celestial Being expert after another.

Today, seven hundred years later, after his reawakening, his combat prowess had not been diminished in the slightest by the passage of time. On the contrary, after a period of quiet tempering and refinement, it had become even more explosive.

The moment he struck, he had completely immobilized all the Four-tailed Celestial Foxes except for Su Junyan. With a single thought, he could burn these old foxes to ash.

But he didn’t want to do that.

After all, while King Lin Wu’s name was famous, he was a lone wolf. He had no great ancestor watching over him.

He could afford to turn hostile.

But he couldn’t afford to offend them to the point of no return.

Otherwise, given the Fox Race’s vindictive nature of holding a grudge over the smallest slight, he would surely know no peace in the future.