Essence Devouring Art

Looking at Wu Dao’s track record, he certainly wasn’t a rash or arrogant person.

Thus, it wasn’t hard for Fang Lie to guess that Wu Dao must have had another fortuitous encounter, causing his strength to skyrocket. That was the only reason he would have the confidence to claim he could hold off the Celestial King alone.

"The Horizontal Refining Seventh Gate."

The various Magnetic Field Powers in Wu Dao’s palm converged into a small, seven-colored sun. He glanced toward the deeper reaches of the sky and replied calmly.

The Seventh Gate!!

GASP...

Fang Lie’s expression changed in shock, and he drew in a sharp breath. Even with his considerable experience and having witnessed all sorts of demonic geniuses, he was still startled by Wu Dao.

How long had it been?

When they met just over ten days ago, hadn’t Wu Dao just stepped into the Sixth Gate?

’A Celestial Treasure Master.’

’Are they really this absurd?’

WHOOSH!

Suppressing the shock in his heart, Fang Lie gritted his teeth and finally agreed.

"Alliance Leader Wu, please wait a moment. This matter is too significant. I cannot make the decision. I must ask the Prince and the Supreme Elders for instructions."

As his voice faded, Fang Lie’s spiritual imprint in the Communication Jade Talisman dimmed.

After a moment, it lit up again.

Fang Lie’s tone was now clearly tinged with envy and admiration. "Alliance Leader Wu, you truly are extraordinary. The Prince simply told me to trust you, without any question.

The Supreme Elders also agreed. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

However, this matter requires a detailed plan. As soon as we have a result, I will inform you immediately, Alliance Leader Wu."

"Then I’ll await the good news."

Wu Dao had grown accustomed to Prince Nanyang’s inexplicable trust. His gaze was as calm as an ancient well as he put away the Communication Jade Talisman.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

CRACKLE—

The surrounding purple Thunderbolt and black Gangfeng surged violently, carrying a destructive power sufficient to shred any expert at the Celestial Human Eighth Floor.

Wu Dao’s Heaven-Supporting Physique bathed in the Thunderbolt and Gangfeng. He slowly rose, cracked his neck, and his abyss-like dark eyes gazed up at the limit of fifteen thousand meters.

The sense of life-and-death danger in his heart made him feel exhilarated again. He activated his Magnetic Field, shattered the sky-filling Thunderbolt and Gangfeng, and charged toward the limit once more.

CRACK!

BOOM—

Beyond fifteen thousand meters.

He had barely advanced ten meters.

Wu Dao’s physique was blasted into a thousand pieces by the Thunderbolt. If not for the forced connection of the Primordial Magnetic currents, his flesh would have been instantly scattered to the eight corners of the heavens by the Gangfeng, leaving him utterly and irrevocably dead.

But even so, the fragments of his exploded body were still rapidly diminishing amidst the destructive Gangfeng and Thunderbolt. In just a few breaths, he would be reduced to dust.

HUM~

The Primordial Magnetic currents bloomed with golden electrical light.

The chain-like currents tightened.

Just before he was about to be annihilated, Wu Dao reformed his physical body, deployed his Primordial Magnetic Gang Shield, and voraciously devoured the violent Magnetic Field Energy, returning to his peak state.

He could clearly feel the strength of his body and soul had grown stronger by a fraction.

It was very little.

But it was a palpable increase in strength.

That was the best reward.

CRACK!—BOOM!

The Primordial Magnetic Gang Shield couldn’t even last a few seconds before it was destroyed by the Gangfeng and Thunderbolt again, and Wu Dao’s physique likewise exploded into fragments once more.

Destruction, reconstruction.

Destruction, reconstruction.

This was his daily Cultivation regimen.

In a single day, his entire body would shatter tens of thousands of times.

He repeatedly jumped back and forth in the domain of great terror at the limit between life and death, tempering his body and honing his will without a moment’s rest.

In his philosophy, a truly strong person must be one who ceaselessly strives for self-improvement; the strong only grow stronger!

Only Divine Gold that has emerged from countless thunderbolts and flames, from the absolute despair of life and death, can withstand any tempering!

Those who only wait for things to fall into their lap, the so-called experts who open their mouths to be spoon-fed, are, no matter how powerful they become, essentially just useless pigs being fattened in a sty, unable to adapt to any of the wind and rain outside the pen.

Once they leave their comfortable pigsty, amidst the cruel laws of nature, without the ability to adapt and compete, they can only be eliminated!

Therefore, having lived two lives, Wu Dao had always been extremely demanding of himself, to a point that could even be called perverse.

It wasn’t to show off how different he was.

He simply didn’t want to be one of the eliminated in the great torrent of evolution!

...

Wu Dao and the Bai Ze Bureau’s guess was correct.

After the Celestial King was resurrected, the first person he wanted to kill was Wu Dao.

The Celestial Empress had stood by him since his humble beginnings, sharing hardship and happiness all along the way. She was the last bit of tenderness in a heart otherwise filled with brutality and savagery.

Seven hundred years ago, with an obsessive love that would never part from the Celestial Empress, he had arranged a corpse-nurturing formation, looking forward to the warmth of their reunion.

But he was not met with warmth; instead, heart-rending bad news came first.

The hatred he felt was simply indescribable. Every moment of every day, the Celestial King wished he could tear Wu Dao limb from limb and torment his soul for ten thousand years.

Therefore, from the moment he was fully resurrected, the Celestial King had been plotting how to crush the bug that was Wu Dao.

He also knew that in the current world, he was already a figure of the past. There were many who came after him, or even old friends from his time, who could now handle him.

Wu Dao was part of the faction of the current king of the Southern Border, Prince Nanyang.

If they worked together to set a trap, it would not be so easy for him to escape.

Thus, he didn’t rashly seek revenge on Wu Dao the moment he was resurrected. Instead, he chose to endure and lay low, spying from the shadows and plotting an opportunity for a single, fatal strike.

...

On the long border where the Southern Border meets the East Sea.

The Ten Thousand Peaks Sea.

A primeval land where ten thousand peaks pierced the sky and ancient trees formed a sea.

At the edge of the Five Peaks of the Southern Border, the Martial Arts Sacred Land, Hundred Victories Mountain, was hidden deep within the Ten Thousand Peaks Sea.

Hundred Victories Mountain rose to prominence after the Warring States period.

But ever since it established its status as one of the Five Peaks, it had closed its gates and become a reclusive, worldly-detached faction On the Mountain.

It never recruited disciples from the outside.

Nor did its members venture out into the world.

Thus, among the Five Peaks, Hundred Victories Mountain was always the most mysterious, like a divine dragon showing its head but never its tail. Many Jianghu people only knew its name and nothing more.

What few people knew was that Hundred Victories Mountain was a force secretly hidden away by the Celestial King back when he sensed the Demon Suppression Emperor’s killing intent toward him, intended as capital for a comeback.

Now that he had revived and returned, he had naturally returned immediately to this unknown lair, Hundred Victories Mountain.

Hundred Victories Mountain.

Inside the ancestral hall that enshrined the heroic souls of the Celestial King Army from seven hundred years ago.

CREAK~

The great doors opened.

The Everlasting Lamps flickered faintly.

The Mountain Master of Hundred Victories Mountain, Yan Chongsheng, gazed at the tall, imposing, black-clad middle-aged man with wild golden hair who stood motionless before the many spirit tablets. Yan Chongsheng’s eyes reddened slightly.

’It’s been seven hundred years... The scenery is the same, but the people are not. And yet, it all feels like yesterday.’

’The Celestial King is still the same Celestial King—outwardly savage, tyrannical, and unfeeling, but in his heart, he always cared for his old brothers-in-arms.’

’Unfortunately... we are separated by life and death. The boisterous laughter and angry shouts, the hall once filled with camaraderie, will never be again.’

’Demon Suppression Emperor!’

Haaah~

Gritting his teeth slightly, Yan Chongsheng suppressed the resentment in his heart, composed himself, and said respectfully in a low voice, "Celestial King, we have results on the person you had us watch."

HUM~

The moment his voice fell, a terrifying aura like a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood abruptly enveloped the entire ancestral hall. The air grew oppressive and heavy, as if one had plunged into the bottom of the Abyss, making it impossible to breathe.

Yan Chongsheng trembled at the doorway.

He bowed his head deeply.

He too knew why the Celestial King was so furious.

’After all, she was...’

’Sigh.’

’Damn that little bastard!’

’If you fall into my hands, I’ll make you regret ever being born into this world!’

Yan Chongsheng clenched his fists slightly, his heart aching with grief.

WHOOSH~

A gentle breeze blew past.

The terrifying aura in the ancestral hall, like that of a resurrected Purgatory Demon God, vanished without a trace.

The Celestial King turned around.

Under the light of the Everlasting Lamps, his features became clearly visible.

His face was not as savage and wicked as one might imagine, nor did his aura have the wild ferocity of a predator that devours all in its path.

On the contrary, his temperament was steady and majestic like a Celestial Pillar. The lines of his features were heroic and strong, naturally commanding respect without being angry. His imposing and formidable eight-foot-tall frame was draped in a wide black robe.

The exposed muscles were not bloated or deformed; every single one was perfectly sculpted like Golden Jade, pleasing to the eye while overflowing with an aesthetic of power.

His thick, unruly golden hair cascaded down his back, like a Golden-winged Roc that soared across the Nine Heavens, looking down upon the mortal world.

In his golden eyes, there was no seething, resentful brutality.

Instead, there was a calm stillness that would not stir no matter what happened, as if no storm could make him flinch in the slightest.

Just by standing there, he naturally exuded an aura of one who could swallow the world, who could command nations, an aura of utter invincibility that inspired both awe and reverence.

But only Yan Chongsheng knew what a furious, surging undercurrent lay hidden beneath that calm surface. Once released, it would be like a volcanic eruption, a sky-blotting wave of blood that would overturn the heavens and the seas!

"Speak."

A flash of brutality flickered in the Celestial King’s golden eyes. His voice was sonorous, like cold Divine Iron grinding together. The single word felt immensely heavy.

Yan Chongsheng knew the Celestial King’s personality; he disliked beating around the bush. He immediately bowed and said:

"Reporting to the Celestial King, that fiend Wu Dao is a complete cultivation maniac.

Our men hid in Lancang County and watched him for several days. We discovered that he has been cultivating day and night in the deep sky outside the County City.

For three whole days, he hasn’t come down from the sky at all."

’A cultivation maniac?’

’Heh...’

’Cramming at the last minute!’

The Celestial King’s eyes narrowed, a coldness spreading through his heart.

He had already learned about Wu Dao from the Corpse King.

A Body Treasure Master.

True Boxing Dao at the Fourth Floor.

The Horizontal Refining Sixth Gate!

Furthermore, his Transverse Refining Technique showed traces of his own Kunpeng Body Casting Technique, clearly having been merged with other Cultivation Techniques.

The most important point!

A few months ago, Wu Dao was just an unknown Little Hall Master of the Overlord Whale Alliance, with the strength of someone at the Breaking the Cocoon realm.

In just a few short months, such terrifying growth.

Even ’monster’ was not enough to describe him.

This was another reason why the Celestial King was determined to kill Wu Dao.

He knew in his heart. If this kind of demonic monster was allowed to continue growing, he would become a towering tree in a very short time and become a true threat to him.

At that time, forget about taking revenge; he would be lucky to escape being completely eradicated by Wu Dao.

Therefore, no matter the cost, he had to strangle this young beast, Wu Dao, in his cradle and give him no chance to grow his wings.

"Are there no men from Prince Nanyang in Lancang County City?"

After learning Wu Dao’s whereabouts, the Celestial King asked his most pressing question.

Martial King Mountain, Zige Mountain.

Within these two Southern Border cultivation Holy Lands that had sided with Prince Nanyang, there were quite a few old monsters he was wary of.

"We haven’t found any."

Yan Chongsheng shook his head. "Our men are scattered in and around the County City with War King Stones. Within a hundred li, if there are any experts at the Celestial Being level or above, they cannot escape detection, no matter how well they hide.

But in the past few days, aside from that Wu Dao, no other Celestial Being experts have appeared in Lancang County. The one or two who did just flew past in a hurry."

The War King Stone was a special Heavenly and Earthly Treasure from Hundred Victories Mountain that could vaguely sense a lifeform’s Cultivation Realm from a great distance.

As long as it was a cultivator at the Celestial Human Level, a top-quality War King Stone would react if they were within a hundred li.

Although it couldn’t determine the exact level, as long as they were a Celestial Being, they would be discovered by the War King Stone no matter how they hid.

In order to deal with Wu Dao, Hundred Victories Mountain had taken out its entire treasured stock of War King Stones this time.

The surveillance network they had secretly arranged covered almost the entirety of Lancang County. They would be able to detect it the moment any Celestial Being entered.