Essence Devouring Art

BOOM! RUMBLE—

The thunderous sonic booms continued to roar through the sky long after the lightning-fast exchange.

At the entrance of the Tan County Branch.

The violent Gangfeng Qi Flow stirred up by Wu Dao crashed down like a tsunami, sending hundreds of people staggering and struggling to stay on their feet.

Tiles flew from surrounding buildings, wooden walls shattered, and the very ground was scraped raw, kicking up a towering cloud of dust and smoke.

"See... See?"

Lv Tiezhu leaned on his heavy Copper Hammer to keep himself upright. Watching Wu Dao’s Heaven-Supporting Physique take the place where Guang Fa had been, he couldn’t help but stammer:

"I told you the Hall Master had a bad temper... but you wouldn’t believe me."

HSSSSS...

Jets of Blood Flame erupted from the pores of Wu Dao’s physique, instantly vaporizing the mangled flesh and blood staining his body.

He rolled his neck with a metallic clang.

His eyes, dark as the Abyss, fixed on the stunned Guang Shen and Guang Li. His voice was like cold steel:

"Come on, get your tongues untied. Tell me, what kind of ’explanation’ did you want?"

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The Heart Lake Alarm Bell was ringing wildly!

Endless, bone-chilling malice enveloped their very souls and flesh. It was like falling into the Abyss, like being cast into Hell. It felt as if their fate was to return to the Yellow Springs in the very next moment!

Unbeatable!

Unstoppable!

Run, run, RUN!!

Without a moment’s hesitation!

Guang Li and Guang Shen instantly activated their strongest life-saving trump cards!

BZZZZ—

Two vibrating hums were heard.

One was a dim yellow light, the other a cyan glow.

They exploded simultaneously at the entrance of the Tan County Branch. The crowd cried out in alarm, feeling as if they’d been blinded. The dazzling flash even made Wu Dao narrow his eyes slightly.

In that brief opening,

Guang Shen was enveloped in the dim yellow light.

Under its glow, the ground seemed to turn to liquid. Like a man falling into water, he ’dropped’ straight into the earth and vanished without a trace.

BOOM—

Another sonic boom erupted.

Bathed in the cyan glow, Guang Li shot away like a meteor, disappearing from everyone’s sight in less than the blink of an eye.

"Heh, pathetic tricks!"

Wu Dao sneered. His Divine Level Spiritual Perception instantly blanketed the surrounding several hundred meters, locating Guang Shen as he rapidly tunneled away ten meters underground.

BOOM—

Wu Dao took a single step, his physique crushing the air in his path as he teleported to the ground twenty meters away, right above Guang Shen.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The muscles on his steel-like right arm, thicker than an ordinary man’s waist, coiled and bulged like dragons and serpents. Reviving like a war engine, they swelled and tightened before he brought his arm down upon the earth in a devastating Whale Hammer Technique, crashing like a falling meteor.

BAM!

The earth roared and exploded!

Terrifying Power erupted, and the hundred-meter area collapsed and imploded as if struck by a magnitude-ten earthquake.

Hundreds, even thousands of tons of earth and rock were blasted into the sky. Grit and dust billowed in all directions. Wide fissures spread through the street, and building after building collapsed into ruin on the spot.

SPURT!!

From within one of the fissures,

a great torrent of hot blood shot into the sky.

Within his perception, the tattered form of Guang Shen in the collapsed earth was as still as a dead dog.

After his Fist Technique reached the Divine Level,

a single punch delivered a dual strike to both the physical body and the consciousness!

If Wu Dao hadn’t needed the two of them alive, Guang Shen would have been instantly crushed into meat paste, his soul scattered to the winds.

"Dig him out now! Make sure he’s still breathing, but don’t let him wake up, and don’t let him die!"

He left them with that cold command.

BOOM—

RUMBLE!

Wu Dao crouched slightly. An immense force erupted from his physique, the reaction launching his body through the sound barrier. Leaving a massive crater behind, he rocketed forward at three times the speed of sound, riding the shockwave as he chased after the direction Guang Li had fled.

A few minutes later,

Wu Dao’s figure reappeared in the crowd’s line of sight, completely unharmed. The only difference was that he was now dangling a bloody mess of a person from his right hand.

THUMP!

Like tossing a dead chick, he threw the mangled body of Guang Li—whose every muscle and bone was broken—down next to the dug-out form of Guang Shen.

Wu Dao glanced at the belatedly arriving Zhao Jianji, then took a palm-sized white Jade Talisman from his robes.

This Jade Talisman.

It was a Communication Talisman from a Taoist Sect.

In his efforts to "know the enemy and know yourself, and you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles," Wu Dao had recently taken the time to learn about the methods of Taoist Sects, so he recognized it at a glance.

This talisman was crafted from the rare Mother-Child Soul Stones found in the Extraordinary Realm, and could transmit messages over hundreds or even thousands of miles.

Due to its extremely low production, it was a patented monopoly of the Immortal Sects. They were almost never seen in the secular Jianghu. It wasn’t a matter of whether you could afford one; the Immortal Sects simply didn’t circulate them externally.

When he had caught up to Guang Li,

the man had been in the middle of activating the Communication Talisman, trying to send a message back to Yellow Dragon Temple.

But Wu Dao had instantly interrupted him with a remote Divine Strike, a single punch that had shattered eighty to ninety percent of Guang Li’s Spiritual Consciousness. Even if he woke up, he would be a brain-dead idiot.

Similarly,

the other one, Guang Shen, had received the same treatment.

The reason he hadn’t killed these two

was because Wu Dao had had a change of heart on his way back to Tan County.

’Why should I just sit here and wait for the Yellow Dragon Daoist to come seeking revenge?’

’What’s the benefit of killing the Yellow Dragon Daoist in Tan County, aside from eliminating a hidden threat?’

’Why not take the initiative and raid Yellow Dragon Temple directly?’

’Once the Yellow Dragon Daoist is dead,’

’the remaining small fry will be nothing to fear.’

’At that time,’

’all the resources of Yellow Dragon Temple...’

"Hall Master is mighty! Unify the Jianghu!!"

With Wu Dao’s return,

Lv Tiezhu and Chen Ergou, having been tipped off by Zhao Jianji that Wu Dao had already stepped through the Horizontal Refining Third Gate, immediately exchanged a look. They pumped their fists and shouted, looking for all the world like they were swearing fealty and sharing in his glory.

Both were wily old hands of the Jianghu.

They naturally understood what the Horizontal Refining Third Gate implied—

Wu Dao’s wings were now fully fledged; he was strong enough to challenge an Innate expert!

As subordinates,

who wouldn’t want their boss to be awe-inspiring and powerful, so they could bask in the reflected glory?

So, if not to suck up now, then when?

"Unify the Jianghu, shake the four seas!"

The other grunts didn’t know what was going on.

But after Lv Tiezhu and the others started shouting, they immediately joined in to show their support. It didn’t cost them anything to yell along, and it proved their loyalty, so why not?

"Quiet!!"

Seeing Wu Dao frowning slightly as he studied the Jade Talisman in his palm, Zhao Jianji read the room and immediately barked out a loud reprimand: "Have you no sense? Can’t you see the Gang Leader is busy?"

And so,

the seething crowd finally quieted down, some even becoming as silent as cicadas in winter.

Wu Dao, however, paid no mind to the commotion. His Spiritual Consciousness was already focused on the Communication Jade Talisman.

’So that’s how it works.’

After a moment, a look of understanding dawned in Wu Dao’s eyes. He had already grasped how to use the Communication Talisman.

Then,

he wrapped his Spiritual Thoughts around the weak ball of Guang Shen’s Spiritual Consciousness within the talisman.

He calmed his mind and regulated his breath.

Mimicking the characteristics of Guang Shen’s spirit and injecting more of his own, he soon felt a connection established with a vigorous consciousness far away.

’What happened? Why has Guang Fa’s Dao light been extinguished?’

The moment the connection was made,

an urgent and furious spiritual message came from the other end.

Wu Dao’s eyes narrowed slightly. After a moment of thought, he sent back a message—

’Trouble at the Lin Village Spirit Cultivation Land. The people’s character changed, causing the Public Opinion Stone to turn malevolent. A pyrrhic victory.’

It was concise and to the point.

The message also cleverly bypassed the issue of how Guang Shen usually addressed Guang Fa, avoiding the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s suspicion.

After the message was sent,

there was silence from the other end for a while.

"The people’s character changed, and the Public Opinion Stone turned malevolent?"

In a quiet room in Yellow Dragon Temple, the Yellow Dragon Daoist, clad in a golden Daoist Robe and seated on a meditation cushion, frowned slightly before letting out a complicated sigh.

Public opinion was like water, but also like a tiger.

The nature of the Public Opinion Stone depended on the consciousness of good and evil among the people of Lin Village.

In fact, when refining the Public Opinion Stone, the Yellow Dragon Daoist had considered the possibility that it might become a tool for evil.

But back then, he had trusted Lin Zongyao’s character.

Coupled with the simple and honest nature of the Lin Village people, he had subconsciously ignored the potential negative consequences.

He never expected...

"Come back soon."

The Yellow Dragon Daoist sent back a message, feeling mentally and physically exhausted.

The Public Opinion Stone had turned malevolent.

’Did that benefactor with the heart of a child also change?’

For a moment,

the Yellow Dragon Daoist felt an inexplicable sense of sorrow.

The Immortal Sects emphasized the principle of Cause and Effect Immunity.

To be single-mindedly devoted to the Dao, unstained by the mortal world, shunning society for ascetic cultivation.

Once karmic debts were settled,

there was naturally no need for further entanglement with the mortal realm.

This method of cultivation had its pros and cons.

The advantage was that one was not burdened by worldly matters, and one’s Dao heart remained pure.

The disadvantage was...

that one was inevitably somewhat out of touch with information from the mortal world.

The Yellow Dragon Daoist, who had not descended the mountain in many years, merely lamented the unpredictability of the human heart, while also grieving the fall of another disciple.

He had no idea that Lin Zongyao had long since died an unjust death, much less that disaster was about to befall Yellow Dragon Temple.

Heh heh...

After receiving the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s message, the corners of Wu Dao’s mouth immediately split into a menacing Zheng grin. He replied with a double entendre— 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

’We’ll be at your doorstep soon.’

After replying,

Wu Dao’s smile vanished. He put away the Communication Talisman and asked Lv Tiezhu, "How many Inner Strength Realm experts are in the hall right now?"

"Uh..."

Lv Tiezhu was taken aback for a second before answering honestly, "Including instructors and stewards, about twenty people."

"Twenty? That’s about right."

Wu Dao nodded. "You and Er Gou lead the teams. Split up, move covertly, and use whatever means necessary. You must reach the Canyun Mountain region before dusk!"