Essence Devouring Art

A hundred li outside Lancang County City.

RUMBLE—

The Mighty Power unleashed in the Celestial King’s thunderous outburst still shook the distant heavens and earth. Surging shockwaves, Primordial Qi, and fierce gales continued to rock everything in all directions.

"KILL! KILL! KILL!"

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

But before one crisis could pass, another arose.

The reinforcements from Martial King Mountain and Zige Mountain had just arrived. Just as they were about to enter the battlefield of the three suns, they were trapped by experts from Hundred Victories Mountain wielding the Hundred Victories King Banner!

The situation took an immediate turn for the worse.

’Is that a Royal Artifact?!’

In the skies above Lancang County City.

Tong Yi, watching the battle from afar, felt the terrifying aura emanating from the Red Jade Battle Banner across a hundred li. It made his hair stand on end, and he was filled with shock and fury.

A Royal Artifact—a Big Killing Artifact of that magnitude.

As one of the Five Peaks of the Southern Border, Zige Mountain naturally possessed one as well.

He knew exactly what kind of aura it possessed.

Tong Yi was intimately familiar with that kind of aura, so he instantly recognized the Red Jade Banner as a Royal Artifact!

The Celestial King didn’t have a Royal Artifact.

For seven hundred years, he had been in a state of undeath, and his subordinate, the Corpse God Palace, certainly wasn’t qualified to forge a Royal Artifact. Otherwise, they would have become a Holy Land long ago.

Then the origin of this Royal Artifact...

Hundred Victories Mountain!

Tong Yi’s expression darkened as his thoughts raced, pinpointing the Royal Artifact’s origin.

Among the Five Peaks of the Southern Border...

Two of the Peaks had sided with the Royalist Faction, and two supported Prince Nanyang. Only the most mysterious, Hundred Victories Mountain, still upheld the rules of its Hermit Sect, remaining secluded On the Mountain and not participating in worldly strife.

Only they!

Had the resources to forge an unknown Royal Artifact!

Tong Yi never would have imagined it.

That Hundred Victories Mountain would actually be in league with the Celestial King!

After all, when that faction first made its name...

...the Celestial King was being chased around like a rat by the Demon Suppression Emperor.

Yet Hundred Victories Mountain hadn’t offered him the slightest bit of aid. The two sides were completely distinct, with no connection whatsoever.

But looking at it now...

...Hundred Victories Mountain was clearly a hidden card the Celestial King had been saving!

’This is trouble...’

Tong Yi gazed at the distant battlefield, where three suns hung in a sky filled with blood and fire, and took a deep breath.

A Royal Artifact was a Dao Embryo among Artifacts.

Wielded by Hundred Victories Mountain’s many Celestial Human Peak experts, the Mighty Power it could unleash in a short burst was enough to trap the Supreme Elders from Martial King Mountain and Zige Mountain.

During that time...

...Wu Dao would have no backup. He would have to face the Celestial King alone!

...

Three suns hung in the sky, and Chaos reigned between heaven and earth.

Outside the battlefield of Wu Dao and the Celestial King.

As the Hundred Victories King Banner revealed its might...

...it manifested ghastly scenes of a vast Purgatory, filled with mountains of corpses and seas of blood where all living things bled. Innumerable battle cries, carried on a tide of blood and fire, pierced the clouds and shook the world.

From a great distance, one could see what looked like a massive army appearing within the world drowned in blood and fire.

Under the command of the Red Jade Banner, they formed ranks to slaughter and conquer, their terrifying Battle Intent crushing vast swaths of the void and creating all manner of horrifying sights.

"Yan Chongsheng! Hundred Victories Mountain! You’re courting death!"

Blood and fire filled the sky, and Battle Intent condensed into a malevolent aura.

Once trapped by the Hundred Victories King Banner, the three Dao Embryo Realm Supreme Elders from Martial King Mountain and Zige Mountain instantly recognized Yan Chongsheng and his cohorts. Shocked and enraged, they unleashed their Divine Techniques in a series of Thunderbolt attacks.

But the Hundred Victories Battle Banner was worthy of its title as a Royal Artifact.

No matter how hard the three Supreme Elders attacked, they could only cause the Blood and Fire Battle Intent Curtain to shake violently; they could not break through and escape.

Beneath the Central Hundred Victories King Banner.

Yan Chongsheng, several Celestial Human Tenth Floor experts from Hundred Victories Mountain, numerous other Celestial Beings, and the Corpse God Palace Master all sat cross-legged.

They continuously poured their Essence, Qi, and Spirit into the Hundred Victories King Banner, activating the ’Blood Sea Forest’ Divine Technique within the Royal Artifact to keep the three Dao Embryo experts trapped.

But they were in a miserable state as well.

After all, they were merely Celestial Beings trying to power a Royal Artifact.

Worse still, they were directly confronting three Dao Embryo Realm Divine Ability Users.

The cost was immense.

Their vital energy and blood rapidly withered away, and they were quickly reduced to skin and bones. Clearly, maintaining the Royal Artifact’s operation at its Limit was taking a terrifying toll on them.

But seeing the three Dao Embryo experts stymied, the main flag-bearer, Yan Chongsheng, was filled with boundless glee and laughed like thunder:

"Hahaha! Jin Xiao, Hua Tianfeng, Longmu! Save it, you old fools! No one can save that little bastard today!"

Though his words were triumphant, Yan Chongsheng knew in his heart.

Even with the Hundred Victories King Banner’s terrifying Mighty Power, they couldn’t trap the three Dao Embryo experts for long.

That was simply unrealistic.

They couldn’t do it even if they were drained to husks.

But even a short amount of time was enough!

With the Celestial King’s strength...

...crushing Wu Dao wouldn’t take nearly this long!

"Damn it!"

Martial King Mountain’s Supreme Elder, Longmu, roared, his cyan hair and beard flaring out like an enraged old lion as he punched at the core blood-shield where the Hundred Victories King Banner was located.

Jade-green flames of Pure Qi erupted from his body as he unleashed a Wood Element Great Divine Technique, continuously annihilating the vast battle-flames spewing from the Hundred Victories King Banner. He was furious to the extreme.

The appearance of Hundred Victories Mountain had completely upended their plans.

If they were outside the Royal Artifact’s Divine Power Domain, the three of them, all at the Dao Embryo First Transformation, could have joined forces to shatter the blockade with effortless ease.

But the problem was that Hundred Victories Mountain had hidden themselves too well!

Somehow, they had managed to evade their Spiritual Sense, erupting in an instant to envelop them within the Royal Artifact’s Divine Power Domain.

This Royal Artifact was far from ordinary.

Fueled at any cost by the Celestial Being experts from Hundred Victories Mountain and the Corpse God Palace, its unleashed Mighty Power was comparable to the Dao Embryo Second Transformation!

Suppressed by a Divine Power Domain at the Two-Transformation Level, they could only exert fifty to sixty percent of their full strength.

In a short period of time, it was impossible for them to break out from within!

Even the best-laid plans can go awry.

They had thought that with the three of them, all Dao Embryo experts, taking down the Celestial King would be as easy as flipping a palm.

They never expected Hundred Victories Mountain to throw a wrench in the works!

Before they could break the banner, ’...can Wu Dao hold on?’