Essence Devouring Art

That night.

The moon was bright and the stars were few. The summer wind was hot and dry.

The men from the Tan County Branch had taken their rewards and gradually dispersed, but the private discussions lingered long after.

For a long time to come, the affair at Lin Village today would be a story they told with pride.

’The headquarters didn’t dare to handle it.’

’But our branch did, and we did a beautiful job. Think of the prestige that brings!’

Naturally, Wu Dao’s prestige within Tan County skyrocketed. Whenever anyone from the branch spoke of him, their worship and admiration were plain to see.

This was a good thing.

But it was also a bad thing.

The good part was that through the Lin Village affair, Wu Dao had firmly established himself in Tan County. His word was law, and his calls were answered by all.

The bad part was...

...that this incident had cost the main branch its face. In Qi Canghai’s eyes, he would likely be labeled as "disobedient."

No one in power could tolerate a subordinate who ignored their words and acted as they pleased.

Coupled with Wu Dao’s unnaturally fast increase in strength, he would likely be viewed with suspicion from now on.

However.

Since he had decided to move against Lin Village, Wu Dao had naturally considered the subsequent troubles.

He wasn’t too worried about it.

With his current strength, as long as Qi Canghai himself didn’t turn on him, he didn’t care about anyone else in the White Whale Martial Arts Hall.

Besides.

Today, his Overlord Whale Fist had reached the Realm of Divinity, and his Spiritual Cultivation could now crush a Fierce Gu at the level of the Black Lotus Three-Flower Opening.

In addition, he had a reserve of over seven hundred Teleportation Points.

Although it wasn’t enough to teleport directly from Heroic Great Success to the Heroic Limit, he could start with the Giant Whale Skill to indirectly advance the Potential Release progress of his Essence Devouring Art.

With the Spirit Stone he had obtained today, advancing to the Heroic Limit in the short term was not impossible.

Once he advanced to the Heroic Limit...

...even if he truly had a falling out with Qi Canghai...

...he would have enough confidence to handle it.

However.

Compared to the trouble from the White Whale Martial Arts Hall, Wu Dao was currently more concerned about the Daoist who had orchestrated the scheme behind the Public Opinion Stone.

Inside the meeting hall of the Tan County Branch.

The candles burned brightly.

"The Yellow Dragon Daoist... and the Yellow Dragon Temple again."

Zhao Jianji had already departed, his expression full of worry. Wu Dao stared at the information recorded in the scroll, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.

He never would have thought...

...that the Daoist who had killed the Giant Whale Sect’s Innate expert and laid the Public Opinion Stone trap all those years ago was actually the current Observatory Master of the Yellow Dragon Temple.

He also never imagined...

...that he and the Yellow Dragon Temple were so "fated" to meet.

Just a month ago, he had slaughtered Mao Ba on Canyun Mountain, and now he had intercepted the Yellow Dragon Observatory Master’s Spirit Stone and Spirit Sword at Lin Village.

’I’ve really made a mortal enemy of them now.’

"Yellow Dragon Daoist..."

Closing the scroll, Wu Dao’s eyes flickered. He picked up the faintly glowing Spirit Sword and slashed it across his palm.

HSSS...

There was a slight resistance, but empowered by that layer of High-energy Spiritual Qi, the blade cut him as easily as a thin wooden board, tearing open a large gash.

"I have to start preparing."

Wu Dao’s dark eyes narrowed as he put away the Spirit Sword and muttered to himself. The Fine Steel Wire in his palm shifted, and the wound healed, returning to normal.

In the Immortal Dao.

Only those in the Qi Refining Realm could be called a Daoist.

Above Qi Refining were True Masters.

Thirty years ago, that Yellow Dragon Daoist was already at the Qi Refining Realm.

Decades had passed.

Even if the Heaven and Earth Energy of the Dali world was barren and thin, it was impossible for him to have stagnated for so many years.

He had bought two scrolls.

The other contained intelligence on the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s strength.

The current Yellow Dragon Daoist was only one step away from the Second Layer of Qi Cultivation, the level of a Grandmaster of Qi Refining!

Adding to that the various methods of the Immortal Dao and the Yellow Dragon Temple under his command, his strength was enough to rank in the top ten within Guangqing Prefecture.

What happened in Lin Village was different from Canyun Mountain.

Regarding the matter at Canyun Mountain...

...even if the Yellow Dragon Temple investigated the Jianghu People in Pan Shui Town that night and learned of Wu Dao’s existence, it would be suspicion at best.

But with thousands of pairs of eyes watching the incident at Lin Village...

...it could not be hidden at all.

He estimated that soon, after the Yellow Dragon Daoist learned his prize had been intercepted, he would send people to the White Whale Martial Arts Hall headquarters to demand an explanation.

Given Qi Canghai’s previous hands-off approach to the Lin Village affair...

...and now Wu Dao’s defiance of his Grandmaster’s order to act on his own...

...Qi Canghai would most likely refuse to antagonize the Yellow Dragon Temple for the sake of a double-edged sword he couldn’t control.

Therefore.

Mountains you rely on can collapse, and rivers can run dry.

In the end, to forge iron, you must yourself be strong.

’As long as I’m tough enough, strong enough!’

’Whoever comes will die!’

WHOOSH—

Inside the spacious training room.

"Forty-times-refined steel can’t block Spiritual Qi, but what about sixty-times-refined, or ninety-times-refined?"

Wu Dao exhaled lightly, sat cross-legged, his eyes flickering, and opened his attribute panel—

[Physique: Hero (Great Success)]

[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring Art (69% Potential Release) +

Overlord Whale Fist 300 Years (Divine Arrival) +

Giant Whale Skill 250 Years (Sixth Layer) +]

[Teleportation Points: 660]

After reaching the Realm of Divinity with his Overlord Whale Fist, his Power increased by 80 years.

His Spiritual Cultivation had soared. Where his fist pointed, his spirit arrived, allowing him to perform a Divine Strike from a distance within a certain range. His combat power was greatly enhanced.

Due to these complementary effects...

...although the Potential Release of his Heroic Great Success Domain hadn’t progressed...

...his physique had still improved significantly—

Forty-times-refined steel bones, thirty-nine-times-refined steel flesh—even more indestructible! 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

But even so.

It still couldn’t defend against Spiritual Qi!

’Still not tough enough!’

’Then I’ll just get tougher!’

The body of refined steel.

Each refinement was equivalent to a craftsman’s thousand hammerings and temperings. The hardness, toughness, and defense of the refined steel would greatly increase, and the body’s recovery speed would also surge.

Wu Dao refused to believe...

...that when his physique reached the level of sixty, or even ninety-times-refined steel, it still wouldn’t be able to defend against the mere Spiritual Qi of the Qi Refining Realm!

Between Breaking the Cocoon and early-stage Innate Qi Refining...

...there couldn’t be such a terrifying gap!

His thoughts scanned downwards.

On the attribute panel, the Teleportation Points required for the three Extraordinary Techniques appeared one by one.

Because the Essence Devouring Art had advanced by 1%, the required Teleportation Points had been reduced from the original one thousand to 700.

Although he was only 40 points short...

...with no anomalies to hunt in the short term, he decided not to consider it for now.

After Overlord Whale Fist reached Divine Arrival...

’Two thousand?’

Wu Dao frowned. ’The cost for the Fist Dao realm after Divine Arrival has increased so much?’

’Is it really that terrifyingly expensive?’

However.

On second thought, it seemed reasonable.

Wu Dao was no longer as ignorant about the world of the Extraordinary as he once was.

The Realm of Divinity for his Fist Technique, which he had entered today, had never been recorded in the Jianghu, but it was somewhat similar to the True Intent that came after the Innate Realm.

Mental Realm.

The Martial Dao has it, and so does the Military Dao.

It is the realm where a person’s will truly affects the world around them.

Fist Intent, Palm Intent, Sword Intent, Saber Intent, Spear Intent...

In the Military Dao...

...it is the main path of cultivation after the Soldier Sect Realm (equivalent to the Martial Dao’s Innate Realm and the Immortal Dao’s Qi Refining Realm).

(The Third Realm: Qi Realm Grandmaster, Grandmaster of Gang Qi, Land Immortal)

At a stage equivalent to Rebirth, Wu Dao had used his terrifying Comprehension to touch the threshold of the Mental Realm and form its rudiments. It was like a primary school student learning university-level math problems ahead of time.

Thinking of it this way...

...the higher price wasn’t so difficult to understand.

However, Wu Dao didn’t plan on using Teleportation Points to upgrade the Overlord Whale Fist Cultivation Technique.

He had the Celestial Human State and the Divine Ghost State, which could continuously evolve and improve his Comprehension. He was confident he could walk the subsequent path on his own.

Finally, there was the Giant Whale Skill, which he was preparing to upgrade.

After this Horizontal Refining Skill reached the Sixth Layer, upgrading to the next layer with Teleportation Points would require a full two hundred points.

And that was with his Potential Release advancing by another 1% and his Physique growing stronger today. Otherwise, it would probably have been even more expensive!

WHOOSH—

All distracting thoughts vanished.

Wu Dao focused his mind, and his will became a finger, pressing the plus sign after the Giant Whale Skill.

BOOM!

Instantly!

A majestic wave of heat exploded from deep within his body, surging through every macro and micro structure, inside and out.

CLANG CLANG CLANG—

His refined steel bones and flesh, like starving infants, rose and fell, frantically devouring the Energy to begin their tempering, growing stronger. He could clearly feel his Essence, Qi, and Spirit rapidly improving!

VMMMM—

A moment later.

Wu Dao exhaled a long, solid stream of Blood Flame. He felt as if his entire body had turned into a living volcano.

His clothes had been incinerated by his furnace-like body, revealing a magnificent, sky-supporting frame cast from refined steel. The hard stone tiles beneath him had been burned with a deep impression where he sat.

70% Potential Release!

Sixty-times-refined steel bones, fifty-nine-times-refined steel flesh!

After briefly adapting to his body’s explosive increase in Power...

...he pressed the plus sign again!

This time!

Target: Eighth Layer of the Giant Whale Skill!

points!

BOOOM—

The commotion this time was even more terrifying.

It was like pouring a barrel of oil onto a blazing fire!

The surging quality of his qi and blood transformed directly into a torrent of scarlet Blood Flame, spewing from his body’s countless pores. It threatened to form a signal plume rising to the sky, and it furiously raged, filling the entire training room.

The terrifying temperature burned the entire bluestone-steel training room until it was glowing red and faintly showing signs of melting.

"Hiss, why is it so hot...?"

Within the branch hall.

The sleeping members of the martial arts hall felt the surging heatwave wash over them, making them feel as if they had fallen into Flame Mountain, their bodies drenched in sweat.

In the training room.

Wu Dao had already released his five-meter-tall Giant Whale Dominating Body. It was entirely crimson, like a small sun continuously radiating light and heat.

A terrifying, ferocious aura surged out like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami roaring, causing the branch members who had fallen into Flame Mountain in their sleep to now plunge into a horrifying Purgatory.

BANG!

The dreadful temperature of his qi and blood directly caused the bluestone steel beneath him to shatter and melt. It could no longer bear the heat, and half of his body sank into the earth below.

WHOOSH—

At a certain moment, the rampaging Blood Flame suddenly dispersed as if its source had been cut off. The training room, which had melted by a whole layer, finally quieted down.

CLANG CLANG CLANG—

Wu Dao, who had returned to his normal physique in the pit of molten rock, was like a Divine Weapon emerging from a Refining Pool, shining brilliantly and reflecting a dreamlike, indestructible metallic luster.

Taking a single step...

...he directly shattered the tempered bluestone steel at the edge of the pit, leaving behind a deep footprint—a testament to just how terrifying his physique had become.