Essence Devouring Art

CLANG CLANG CLANG—

A fierce clash was underway on the stage.

In the blink of an eye, dozens of rounds had passed.

Chen Kuang’s Mad Demon Staff Technique was purely offensive, but he struggled to make any headway against the airtight blockade of his opponent’s blade net. Gradually, his stamina began to wane and his strength flagged.

SHLICK!

Finally, Li Shui’s long saber slipped past the large staff and sliced a huge gash across Chen Kuang’s chest, so deep that bone was visible. The thick stench of blood immediately filled the air.

"I concede!"

Realizing the situation was hopeless, Chen Kuang didn’t press the matter. He leaped off the stage, sat cross-legged on the ground, and began circulating his qi and blood to heal his injuries as if no one else was there.

Fortunately, the White Whale Martial Arts Hall never missed an opportunity to win people over. They sent him a top-grade Healing Treasure Medicine, and the saber wound, which would have been fatal to an ordinary person, quickly began to heal.

After his victory, Li Shui also regulated his qi and blood on the stage, swiftly returning to his peak condition.

After that, he fought against number three: a master named Fang Bridge, whose Jianghu moniker was "Iron Arm." His arms were like iron pillars, gleaming with a dark metallic luster and abnormally thick in girth.

In the end, after another dozen or so rounds, Li Shui’s saber proved sharper and his combat experience superior. He nearly took off one of Fang Bridge’s iron arms, forcing him to concede hastily.

And so, the first Hall Master was decided.

Two spots remained!

After another half hour of fighting, the second Hall Master was also decided.

Surprisingly, it was the "Iron Maiden" from before, Zhou Yue.

Her Soft Steel Whip was powerful and heavy, yet cunning and vicious, moving as if it were an extension of her own arm.

The sound of it cracking the air was incessant as she wielded it; even a man of iron would have been whipped to shreds. She defeated two opponents in no more than thirty rounds total to distinguish herself from the crowd.

"Number seven, Qin Nanchun. Number eight, Wu Dao. Please come to the stage."

As the scorching sun hung high in the sky, it was finally Wu Dao and Qin Nanchun’s turn.

"Tsk, sometimes death is a release, wouldn’t you agree?"

Qin Nanchun’s gloomy, cold, snake-like voice drifted over as he passed by Wu Dao on his way to the stage.

Wu Dao’s dark golden eyes narrowed slightly. He paid no mind to Qin Nanchun’s trash talk, merely letting his gaze fall to the man’s hands, a cold sneer forming in his mind.

He noticed a faint, eerie green glint on the ten steel claws of Qin Nanchun’s gauntlets that hadn’t been there before.

He had most likely taken advantage of the previous matches to secretly coat them in a potent poison.

Since he couldn’t kill Wu Dao on the stage, he would inflict a grievous injury instead, making his life a living hell so he could toy with him as he pleased later on!

It had to be said that this grandfather-grandson duo, one sinister and the other venomous, truly lived up to the old saying: dragons beget dragons, phoenixes beget phoenixes, and a toad’s son can only be repulsive.

"Be careful. That fiend is the grandson of one of the elders. He’s at the Hejin Stage, and his Poison Dragon Claws are made of refined steel. He often coats them in poison to injure people. He’s treacherous and utterly ruthless, known in the Jianghu as the Poison Young Master."

Zhou Yue had appeared by Wu Dao’s side at some point. Her sharp, heroic eyes watched Qin Nanchun’s back with a trace of disgust as she gave her discreet warning.

’This woman really holds a grudge...’

Wu Dao threw Zhou Yue a casual glance.

While she was fighting on the stage, Qin Nanchun’s lecherous eyes had never strayed from her lower body. She must have noticed and now resented him for it.

"Not much skill, but plenty of airs. Get your ass up here already!"

On the stage, Qin Nanchun was the first to take his position. His venomous eyes noticed Zhou Yue’s subtle action, and his heart filled with even more jealousy and resentment. He barked out a cold rebuke.

Wu Dao didn’t get angry. He simply stared at Qin Nanchun with his dark eyes, licked his lips, and said meaningfully, "Poison Young Master? Heh heh, I think ’Useless Young Master’ is more like it..."

CRACK, CRACK...

As his words fell, Wu Dao stretched his joints, which made sharp, metallic cracking sounds. He then stepped onto the stage at an unhurried pace.

Each step he took felt like a dormant volcano gathering strength, about to erupt.

A faint yet scorching, tyrannical pressure began to radiate from him, making Zhou Yue’s heart pound in her chest behind him.

’This man...’

’He can’t just be at the Hejin Stage!’

On the stage.

Wu Dao and Qin Nanchun stood on opposite sides, separated by a distance of fifteen or sixteen meters.

The fight hadn’t even started, but Qin Nanchun’s undisguised rebuke had already filled the entire stage with a thick, gunpowder-like tension.

It made people wonder: did these two have a grudge?

’You piece of dog shit. I’ll teach you a lesson today, and I’ll make you regret ever being born.’

Below the stage.

Elder Qin leisurely savored his fine wine, his old eyes filled with a sinister, ruthless glint. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The poison coating Qin Nanchun’s steel claws was an incurable one that Elder Qin had purchased from the Black Dragon Commerce Association for a hefty price.

This poison was exceptionally vicious. Once a person was afflicted, there would be no symptoms at first.

But after some time, every time they tried to circulate their energy, they would suffer the pain of ten thousand ants gnawing at their bones!

After this happened enough times, even the toughest of men would be screaming and crying, their minds would collapse, and they would slowly be reduced to a cripple!

At that time...

Heh heh.

Elder Qin viciously took a large gulp of wine.

As a member of the Elder Council, he was perfectly clear on the investigation results of that bizarre, unsolved case in Tan City.

With a bit of maneuvering then, he would surely push Wu Dao into a pit of eternal despair!

’Old but not dead—truly a pest.’

On the high platform, Qi Canghai, seated on a large fur-lined chair, glanced at Qin Nanchun’s eerie green claws and frowned imperceptibly.

However, when he saw Wu Dao’s calm and composed expression, his brow smoothed out again.

Others might not know Wu Dao’s strength, but how could he, an Innate master, be unaware? That old fool Qin Yi had truly picked a fight he couldn’t win this time.

"You two, allow me to give one more reminder."

The referee below the stage seemed to have noticed the unusually thick tension. After glancing at Qi Canghai on the high platform, he said sternly:

"This is a match, not a duel to the death. I hope you two will not break the rules. It would be unsightly to harm the spirit of sportsmanship."

Although his words were a reminder to both men, they were mainly directed at Qin Nanchun.

Anyone who wasn’t blind could see that those gleaming green steel claws were coated in poison.

He should take them off now, before the match starts, lest he cause trouble later and ruin the reputation of the White Whale Martial Arts Hall.

"Heh heh, rest assured, Uncle Chen. This young one knows what’s appropriate."

Qin Nanchun rubbed his steel claws together, his charming eyes fixed on Wu Dao, filled with mockery and cruelty.

Just as he had said, sometimes death could be a release.

"In that case..."

The referee took a deep look at the cheerfully smiling Elder Qin in his chair in the distance, then slowly raised the Copper Hammer in his hand.

Wu Dao, who had been silent all this time, caught sight of the referee’s movement. His body bent slightly, and a smile slowly spread across his lips, revealing a mouth full of terrifying, triangular, shark-like teeth.

Beneath his black clothes, muscles like bundles of countless intertwined steel wires tensed and gathered power, like a steel tyrannosaur poised to strike.

THUMP THUMP THUMP...

The moment he saw Wu Dao’s demonic, Evil Ghost-like smile, Qin Nanchun’s heart inexplicably began to race in panic, thundering in his chest as if he had been targeted by an Ancient Fierce Beast.

’Is it an illusion?’

Gritting his teeth slightly, Qin Nanchun found his previous thought laughable. He had honed his skills in the Hejin Stage for many years. While he wouldn’t claim to be invincible in his realm, he considered himself to have few worthy opponents.

Not to mention...

He glanced at the green steel claws on his hands. A grim smile touched Qin Nanchun’s lips, and his body also began to crouch, gathering power as he waited for the referee to shout the word "Begin."

Seeing that the two on stage were ready, the referee shot Wu Dao a pitying look. He brought the Copper Hammer down and finally shouted the word, "Begin!"

And then...

BOOM!!

A clap of thunder that shook the heavens boomed in all directions!

Everyone present felt the ground beneath them tremble violently, as if an Ancient Fierce Beast had stomped on it with all its might.

In less than the blink of an eye, the vision of the spectators blurred.

Wearing his Evil Ghost smile, Wu Dao became like a raging black dragon, shattering the air as he instantly crossed the ten-plus-meter distance!

His steel fist, like a millstone, carrying the force of a landslide and a tsunami, slammed viciously into Qin Nanchun’s Qi Sea Dantian, just below his navel, while a sinister smile still lingered on his face!

’Dealing with this useless trash doesn’t even require the Overlord Whale Fist. Brute force is enough to crush him!’

CLANG—

THUD!

In the next instant.

Qin Nanchun was sent flying backward, shattering the iron railing of the stage on impact!

But even so, the force hadn’t dissipated in the slightest!

After breaking through the railing, Qin Nanchun’s body shot through the air like a high-speed cannonball, a continuous series of bone-shattering cracks echoing from within him along the way.

Finally, he smashed into a building over a hundred meters away like a broken ragdoll, kicking up a great cloud of dust and smoke.

One punch!

Just one punch!

Qin Nanchun didn’t even have time to react before he was sent flying a hundred meters, his condition unknown!

WHOOSH—

The violently compressed air from the high-speed movement rushed back in to fill the void.

It formed a fierce gale that sent the black hair of the dumbfounded crowd below the stage flying, while flags in the distance snapped and fluttered loudly.

CRACK, CRACK—

A continuous cracking sound rang out. The stage, made of black ironstone, had a huge crater where Wu Dao had just stomped. Countless spiderweb-like cracks now spread out from it.

CLANG!

Only then did the dazed referee subconsciously strike the gong with the hammer in his hand. The somewhat jarring clang finally snapped the stunned crowd back to their senses.