Essence Devouring Art

SLAP!

The book snapped shut.

Hooo...

Wu Dao let out a long breath. The profound mysteries, experiences, and annotations of the Giant Whale Skill flowed through his mind, being extrapolated and understood.

In a short amount of time,

he had completely absorbed the theoretical knowledge of the Giant Whale Skill.

On his attribute panel,

a new entry for the Giant Whale Skill had appeared.

—

[Physique: Hero (Minor Achievement)]

[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring Art (65% Potential Release) +

Overlord Whale Fist 150 Years (Thunder Listening) +

Giant Whale Skill 10 Years (Entry) +]

[Teleportation Points: 40]

Ten years!

This meant that a normal person would need a full ten years to master all the knowledge of the Giant Whale Skill—a major Horizontal Training Skill—from the first to the ninth layer!

Wu Dao had only taken less than half an hour!

It was true he had the body of a mortal.

But the Essence Devouring Art could unlock the computational limits of his Brain Domain, allowing his Comprehension to crush those so-called cultivation geniuses!

’As expected. With my current strength, which is comparable to the peak of Dark Force, the strength boost from one Barbaric Whale Power is minimal. That’s why the Cultivation Technique requires far fewer Teleportation Points.’

As the thought crossed his mind, Wu Dao noticed the Teleportation Points cost for the Giant Whale Skill. It only required 10 Teleportation Points to reach the first layer!

But he didn’t want to waste even ten!

Good steel must be used for the blade’s edge.

The primary target for his Teleportation Points would always be the Essence Devouring Art, with everything else coming second.

Besides, the first four layers of the Giant Whale Skill—the level Elder Qin could only reach by burning his essence blood—were like a high schooler doing elementary school homework for the current Wu Dao.

There was practically no difficulty at all!

While he couldn’t create human tissue or extra strength out of thin air...

...he could adjust his body’s microscopic structures, making every inch of his being perfectly coordinate with the Giant Whale Skill’s training!

Thus, the training officially began!

Wu Dao reached out a large hand and took a gourd of Body Refining Pills from the Treasure Chest. Inside were about thirty blood-red pills, each the size of a thumb.

After estimating their potency,

Wu Dao poured ten of them into his mouth. He then adjusted his breathing. His heart pounded like a war drum, his Qi and Blood surged, his muscles swelled, and his whole body turned red and hot.

Within a few breaths,

Wu Dao’s face looked like an Evil Ghost, but his eyes were divine. He transformed into a humanoid furnace, glowing red-hot, with bulging veins coiling over him like crimson pythons.

His temperature far exceeded the norm, scorching the stone tiles beneath him black. A heatwave sent the room’s temperature soaring.

Divine Ghost Heaven!

The Minor Achievement of the Heroic Domain.

Relying solely on his own bodily functions, he could sustain this state to its limit for half an hour without backlash.

During this half-hour,

his body and mind entered a state of extreme overclocking, operating at two hundred percent capacity. His learning efficiency was like he was using a cheat!

And now that he had enough Energy to produce Healing Fluid, Wu Dao estimated he could maintain the extreme overclocking state of Divine Ghost Heaven for at least three hours before he truly hit his limit and collapsed from exhaustion.

Hooo... Hooo... Hooo...

Inside the training room, heat radiated in waves, and the candlelight flickered.

Wu Dao’s physique, like that of a crimson flame demon, slowly moved into a series of strange, contorted poses. The process of forming each pose felt incredibly heavy, as if he were in the deep sea. His bones creaked.

But the results were also surprisingly good.

It was as if the macro and micro-tissues throughout his body had transformed into millions of miniature Wu Daos. Under his complete command, they moved into the Cultivation ’poses’ along with him, offering no resistance and fully cooperating with the Giant Whale Skill’s training.

The night deepened.

Most people within the branch hall were already asleep.

In the training room, however, the crimson light had still not been extinguished.

Time passed.

Wu Dao could clearly feel that as he continuously cultivated the Giant Whale Skill, his entire body was like a piece of metal on a forge, constantly being hammered and refined, its quality as steel improving with every moment!

It was a process of benign growth.

To improve a weapon’s hardness and resilience, a blacksmith will repeatedly smelt and forge steel.

The Human Potential Release of the Essence Devouring Art was based on the same principle!

Fine steel is born from a thousand temperings!

A single refinement is a thousand temperings!

Within the Heroic Domain,

at the Minor Achievement stage, bone was like fine steel, and flesh and blood were like iron wire.

Upon reaching Great Success, bone was like Thirty-Refined Steel, and flesh and blood were composed of countless strands of ’Twenty-nine-Refined Steel Wire’!

Upon reaching the Limit, bone was like hundred-refined steel, and flesh and blood were like Ninety-nine Refined Steel Wire!

With every improvement, the body’s overall strength and power would take a massive leap forward!

Wu Dao’s current cultivation was to treat his body as a steel embryo and refine it!

Using the Giant Whale Skill’s stances as the hammer and the process of the Healing Fluid restructuring his tissues as the furnace, he tempered himself a thousand times over!

Half an hour later!

His body’s own energy was depleted, and it began to burn the Elixir Pills in his stomach!

Two hours later!

The entire gourd of Body Refining Elixirs was finished!

CRACKLE! CRUNCH!

His bones and muscles chimed in unison as his cells released their potential. New power surged forth, howling through his body!

Wu Dao’s eyes, red as glazed porcelain, snapped open. The muscles all over his body swelled, his physique grew taller and taller, and his form doubled in size, transforming him into a nearly five-meter-tall Barbaric Whale mini-giant.

His legs and arms were as sturdy and majestic as a whale’s torso, their muscle circumference exceeding a meter. The muscles of his shoulders and neck were like overlapping plates of armor.

The rest of his body was covered in muscles like old tree roots, coiling like dragons and crouching like tigers, undulating as they brewed terrifying, explosive power. One punch could make the very earth tremble three times over!

Ancient, vast, and tyrannical!

Like a true Barbaric Dominator Whale, roaming the vast seas with limitless strength!

Giant Whale Dominating Body!

First layer of the Giant Whale Skill, complete!

This also meant that within two hours,

Wu Dao had gained one Giant Whale Power!

Hooo...

He exhaled a breath of scorching mist like a rolling dragon.

A metallic clang resounded from his bones and flesh.

Wu Dao shrank back to his normal nine-foot physique. A hint of fatigue appeared between his brows as he opened his attribute panel—

[Physique: Hero (Minor Achievement)]

[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring Art (65% Potential Release) +

Overlord Whale Fist 150 Years (Thunder Listening) +

Giant Whale Skill 20 Years (First Layer) +]

[Teleportation Points: 40]

As expected.

The Giant Whale Skill had surpassed the ten years of bitter cultivation of a normal person, officially entering the first layer.

The progress of his Essence Devouring Art still hadn’t increased.

However,

Wu Dao estimated that if he raised the Giant Whale Skill by one more layer, he should be able to enter the 66% Potential Release stage.

This was because he could clearly feel it.

The strength of his bones had already risen from First-Refined Steel to a level infinitely close to Second-Refined Steel.

His body’s flesh, blood, and soft organs,

which were previously like iron wire, were now gradually approaching the quality of First-Refined Steel wire!

’However, I estimate the time and resources required for each subsequent layer will increase dramatically.’

The light in Wu Dao’s eyes flickered.

It was a simple principle.

When a person trains, their physical fitness might improve rapidly in the early stages if they have a good foundation.

But the further they go,

the harder every single improvement becomes.

It was a matter of the container’s quality.

Right now, Wu Dao was only a Hero. The boost from a single Giant Whale Power wasn’t huge for him, but it wasn’t small either. It couldn’t be said to be effortless.

If his container were a physique at the Overlord Domain,

then the boost from a single Giant Whale Power would be insignificant. He could probably reach the first layer in just a few minutes.

Still, for now, completing one layer in two hours was already extremely fast.

Based on Wu Dao’s understanding of his own physique, he estimated that things would only become truly difficult after the Fifth Layer.

’Continue!’

After slightly alleviating his fatigue,

Wu Dao once again took out a gourd of Body Refining Pills. This time, he poured all thirty-plus pills into his mouth and began cultivating the second layer.

He hadn’t reached his true three-hour limit yet.

He still had one hour left.

It could not be wasted!

The night passed in the blink of an eye.

For the following days,

Wu Dao became a recluse. Aside from making a necessary daily appearance at the martial arts hall, he spent all his time soaked in the training room.

When he reached the limit of Divine Ghost Heaven,

he would use the Celestial Human State.

When he reached the limit of the Celestial Human State, he would use his normal state.

Wu Dao was insatiable, having rediscovered the same demonic drive for the Dao that he had when he first created the Essence Devouring Art.

Every time he appeared,

his frenzied, dark eyes and possessed expression would startle Zhao Jianji, who thought he had suffered a cultivation deviation.

But Wu Dao couldn’t be bothered to explain.

The evolutionary leap of life, the process of his body’s metamorphosis—this was his greatest joy, something not worth explaining to outsiders.

Time slowly passed.

A large amount of priceless Elixir Pills and Great Medicine were burned through. Wu Dao’s crazed cultivation continuously propelled the rapid advancement of his Giant Whale Skill.

On the third day, Giant Whale Skill, two layers!

On the fifth day, Giant Whale Skill, three layers!

...

In half a month, Giant Whale Skill, Fifth Layer!

He had reached a height that even Elder Qin, who had cultivated the Giant Whale Skill for most of his life, had never set foot upon!

The current Wu Dao,

even without using Divine Ghost Heaven and only unleashing his Giant Whale Dominating Body,

his Qi and Blood Power had firmly reached the limit of the Horizontal Refining First Gate: Qi and Blood Furnace. The heat from the furnace could burn ordinary plants and animals within a ten-meter radius to ash!

Wu Dao estimated that if he reached the Sixth Layer, he should be able to steadily enter the Horizontal Refining Second Door in his normal state—

Qi and Blood Burning Prison!

Qi and Blood like a prison, incinerating the enemy within!

But...

’The consumption is too great!’

In the training room, Wu Dao sat cross-legged like a Fire Demon Monarch. The temperature of the Qi and Blood radiating from his human furnace had scorched the ground black in a ten-meter radius around him.

He looked at the now-empty Treasure Chest and sighed helplessly.

In just half a month, over ten million taels’ worth of Elixir Pills and Great Medicine had been consumed. One could only imagine how terrifying the cost of his cultivation had been.

However,

fortunately, he still had several million taels in silver banknotes.

Although the Sixth Layer was very difficult,

these few million taels should be enough.

With this in mind,

Wu Dao’s body returned to normal. He took the silver banknotes and, without alerting anyone, rushed towards Lancang County City.

In order not to attract the attention of the still-investigating Elder Council,

Wu Dao did not choose to buy Elixir Pills from the apothecaries under the White Whale Martial Arts Hall, but instead went to a branch of the Black Dragon Commerce Association.

Compared to the White Whale Martial Arts Hall,

the Black Dragon Commerce Association, a behemoth that spanned the entire Dali, had a more comprehensive selection of Elixir Pills and medicinal materials, and their inventory was also plentiful.

Wu Dao changed his appearance over a dozen times.

He spent all the silver banknotes in his hand, buying another chest full of gourds containing Cocoon-Breaking Realm Body Refining Pills.

The reason he bought Elixir Pills was because their medicinal power was more condensed and abundant, making them more effective than raw medicinal materials.

After finishing his purchases,

Wu Dao rushed back to Tan County in a hurry. Under Zhao Jianji’s gaze, who looked at him as if he were a madman, he once again entered seclusion to train with his life on the line.