Essence Devouring Art

But...

There was no puddle of mush.

Instead, there was a behemoth from the Primordial Chaos, nearly two zhang tall. It resembled a humanoid Barbaric Whale, with a pillar of blood and qi soaring from its back like signal smoke.

WHOOSH—

A Gangfeng Qi Flow billowed.

In the center of the crater that had been blasted into a ruin.

After two rounds of bombardment from various Killing Artifacts, Wu Dao’s majestic, godlike body, forged from Hundred Refinements of Refined Steel Bone, showed no sign of damage. It still reflected an indestructible, metallic sheen.

CLANG—

CLANG—

Even more terrifying, his massive hands, as thick as door planks, were grabbing handfuls of Spirit Swords.

He brought them to his mouth as if eating potato chips. His terrifying, shark-like teeth opened and closed, constantly spitting out sparks as he bit the swords into pieces and swallowed them.

His eyes, which spewed terrifying Blood Flame, stared at the stunned Yellow Dragon Daoist in the air. He licked his lips, still wanting more, and said something that shattered the Daoist’s composure:

"Not bad. Got a good kick to it. Got any more? Bring it on."

That greedy expression, as if he hadn’t had nearly enough.

This wasn’t a life-or-death battle. This was clearly a starving diner urging the chef to hurry up with the next course.

’He ate them?’

’He ate all the Spirit Swords?’

The Yellow Dragon Daoist, hovering in mid-air, stared wide-eyed. His gaze was filled with terror, his face a mask of utter disbelief.

’Is his body forged from Divine Iron or something?’

’His freakishly tough skin and flesh are one thing.’

’But for his internal organs to be so terrifyingly resilient... he can actually eat Spirit Swords that slice through iron like mud!’

"If you don’t have any more, then get the hell down here!!"

As the Yellow Dragon Daoist reeled in terror, Wu Dao’s expression turned thunderous. His furious roar, like a crack of lightning, shook the heavens and the earth.

BOOM!

He took a single step!

The immense Power directly shattered the ground in a hundred-meter radius beneath his feet!

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK—

The spreading Power crushed the very earth. The Array Plates hidden in the soil shattered, and the Profound Mountain Array was instantly destroyed. The great mountain pressing down on his Essence, Qi, and Spirit vanished completely.

SCREEE!!

The cry of a Barbaric Whale sounding in the sea shook his very soul.

Now unfettered, Wu Dao stood upon the ruins. He formed a Fist Seal with his right hand and raised it high. A desolate and domineering Fist Intent erupted, like an Ancient Barbaric Whale leaping from the sea, then immediately diving headfirst back into the water. He brought his fist hammering down through the void!

DOOOM!!

The vast sea trembled, and monstrous waves churned!

"AHHH!!"

The Yellow Dragon Daoist once again experienced the agony of having his Divine Soul smashed by the head of a tyrannical Barbaric Whale, a pain like being sliced by a thousand cuts!

Even though he had been prepared this time, the vast, domineering Fist Intent, carrying with it an endless killing aura, still made him feel as if his Divine Soul Dao Fire had been hammered to smithereens. He let out an uncontrollable, wretched scream and plummeted headfirst toward a mountain peak.

BOOM—

BAM!

Hundreds, even thousands, of tons of earth and rock were blasted away by his kick.

Amidst a deafening sonic boom, Wu Dao instantly appeared before the fallen Yellow Dragon Daoist. His two-zhang-tall Giant Whale Dominating Body loomed over the man like an adult over a child. With a savage smile, he brought a massive fist, the size of a millstone, crashing down on his head!

DOOOM!!

The refined steel fist collided with the Spiritual Energy Shield.

Once again, a sound like the beating of a colossal war drum thundered across the world!

BOOM!!

The earth in a nearly two-hundred-meter radius caved in as if struck by a meteor. The center collapsed five or six meters to form a huge pit, while the surrounding hard rock ground rippled like ocean waves before exploding into fragments that shot into the sky.

RUMBLE—

Farther away, the Daoist Temple buildings shook violently as if in an earthquake, torn apart by wide fissures and continuously collapsing.

WHOOSH!

The Gangfeng Qi Flow raged, carrying billowing smoke and dust. The entire Fuguang Mountain Peak was a maelstrom of dust and firelight, like an Asura Purgatory.

"You’re pulling this crap on me again!"

In the center of the crater, Wu Dao stared at where the Yellow Dragon Daoist had vanished from under his fist. Blood Flame spewed from his eyes as he ground his teeth, his Spiritual Perception instantly locking onto a ball of yellow light tunneling through the earth dozens of meters away.

BAM!

With a sonic boom, Wu Dao appeared directly above the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s position. His back arched taut like a drawn bow, he clasped his hands together into a massive hammer, raised it high over his head, and plummeted from the sky to smash it into the ground!

BOOM!!

One hammer blow!

The mountains shook, the earth quaked, and the very heavens seemed to crack!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

He kept hammering!

Like a game of whack-a-mole, Wu Dao constantly changed positions, leaping high into the air and smashing down madly, keeping the subterranean Yellow Dragon Daoist trapped within the confines of the mountain peak.

The entire Yellow Dragon Temple looked as if it had been struck by a meteor shower. It was quickly reduced to a pockmarked ruin, with not a single building left intact.

BAM!

At a certain moment, the ground in a corner of the ruins exploded in a spray of blood.

The Yellow Dragon Daoist could hide no longer.

He crawled out from underground in a wretched state, a complete Blood Gourd. His golden Daoist Robe was tattered and torn, its spiritual light gone.

His body and mind,

were on the verge of collapse from Wu Dao’s torrential, stormy hammering, and he was in so much pain he wished for death.

"You vile spawn!! Pfft!"

But compared to the agony in his body and Divine Soul, the sight of the Yellow Dragon Temple reduced to ruins, with charred corpses occasionally visible, made the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s eyes nearly split with rage. Overcome with fury, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

’A hundred years of my painstaking work!’

’Ruined!’

’Completely ruined!!’

"I hate you!!"

The Yellow Dragon Daoist’s hair flew wildly about. Bathed in blood, he went berserk, his roar shaking the mountaintop. No matter how good his Heart Cultivation Skill was, he had lost all reason now.

BOOM!

Sound waves rolled and a hurricane raged.

The response to the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s roar was Wu Dao’s T-rex-like body, shattering the earth as it charged at supersonic speed. He was there to finish the job, giving his opponent no chance to breathe!

"Die!!"

Facing the ferocious charge of Wu Dao, the Yellow Dragon Daoist no longer planned to dodge. A murderous light erupted in his eyes. With a thunderous shout, his entire body seemed to shrink, shriveling up in an instant.

On the spiritual plane,

one could clearly see his Purple Mansion between his brows spewing forth invisible, raging Divine Soul Dao Fire. It flowed through his entire body, making him burn like a furnace!

"Primordial Chaos... One Qi!"

Divine Fire blazed in the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s eyes. Veins bulged on his shriveled physique as he let out a long howl to the sky, having gone completely feral. His Purple Mansion’s Dao Fire seemed to have transformed into an ocean abyss, frantically drawing surging Spiritual Qi into his body.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG—

In the next instant, the Spiritual Energy Shield surrounding the Yellow Dragon Daoist suddenly flared out, expanding violently like oil on a fire. It began to vibrate at an ultra-high frequency, grinding the earth and rock beneath his feet into fine powder and forming a perfect hemisphere.

And in that same instant, Wu Dao’s punch, carrying immense Power, arrived!

CLANG!!

This time, it wasn’t the sound of a drum!

It was the incredibly violent sound of steel on steel. The rolling sound waves boomed across all of Fuguang Mountain, startling countless birds into flight. Even from a great distance, the thunderous collision could be clearly heard.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG—

In the next instant, Wu Dao felt as if he had smashed a high-frequency, rotating, vibrating steel ball. His Power was dissipated layer by layer, and his millstone-sized fist was deflected.

The high-frequency energy shield grated against his forearm, sending out brilliant showers of sparks. A layer of his forearm’s flesh, refined ninety-nine times into steel, was ground away!

Wu Dao had sustained his first ’injury’.

It was obvious that in his extreme rage, the Yellow Dragon Daoist had paid a great price to unleash a burst of power, massively boosting his combat strength. The quality of his Spiritual Qi had skyrocketed!

"Vile spawn, die!!"

Having blocked one of Wu Dao’s punches head-on, the Yellow Dragon Daoist—who had been constantly suppressed and was on the verge of despair—felt his confidence surge.

BZZZT!!

He let out a furious roar, raised his hand to catch a Spirit Sword that flew out from the ruins, and leaped into the air. He coated the blade with high-frequency vibrating Spiritual Qi and chopped down at Wu Dao’s head.

SHREEEEE—

It was like a chainsaw cutting through steel.

Brilliant showers of sparks, mixed with shredded pieces of scalp, flew more than ten meters. The scalding hot blood that sprayed out instantly evaporated into a bloody mist.

This sword strike seemed to have completely broken through Wu Dao’s defense and grievously wounded him!

But...

the airborne Yellow Dragon Daoist felt not a shred of joy in his heart.

Because...

after breaking through Wu Dao’s scalp, the sword, wreathed in high-frequency vibrating Spiritual Qi, had stopped dead on the surface of his skull. It couldn’t advance another inch!

Hundred Refinements of Refined Steel Bone!

Only one refinement different from his flesh and blood.

But its toughness was on a whole other level!

If the Yellow Dragon Daoist could manage a second power-up, he might have been able to break through Wu Dao’s bones.

Unfortunately...

"Are you trying to scratch an itch?"

The high-frequency Spirit Sword was still on Wu Dao’s head, sending sparks flying. His scalp, flesh, and blood were being torn apart, but they were also constantly regenerating.

But his face showed no trace of pain or panic. He simply raised his head and looked indifferently at the Yellow Dragon Daoist within the Spiritual Energy Shield with his lantern-like, Blood Flame-spewing eyes.

The next moment, before the Yellow Dragon Daoist could react,

BAM! BAM! BAM—

Wu Dao’s whale-head-like fists of refined steel shot up like lightning, leaving behind the blurry afterimages of a meteor shower.

In less than a second, dozens of majestic Whale Shark Island strikes blasted through the Gangfeng Qi Flow, all hammering the same single point on the Spiritual Energy Shield.

The high-frequency Spiritual Energy Shield was indeed very tough.

And like Tai Chi, it could receive, neutralize, and redirect, deflecting his Power layer by layer.

But...

’Who ever said you could only throw one punch at a time?’

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG—

Dozens of Whale Shark Island-style strikes, each capable of shattering mountains and splitting islands, hammered the same point. The high-frequency Spiritual Energy Shield was instantly subjected to what felt like a barrage of missiles.

A sound wave as dense as a thunderstorm shook the highest heavens. The surging Gangfeng Qi Flow scoured the surrounding several hundred meters of land three feet deep, kicking up a sky-high cloud of dust.

SCREEE— SCREEE—

Within his spiritual sea,

it was as if a pod of whales had burst from its den. One after another, tyrannical Barbaric Whales formed from Fist Intent continuously smashed against the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s Purple Mansion Dao Fire.

Pfft!

The Yellow Dragon Daoist, inside his Spiritual Energy Shield, saw his frenzied expression freeze as if someone had hit pause. He spat out a mouthful of black blood, and the spiritual light in his eyes dissipated. He had been beaten witless in an instant.

CRACK—

The sound of the high-frequency Spiritual Energy Shield shattering rang out.

BOOM—

The remaining Power slammed into the Yellow Dragon Daoist like a high-speed train, sending him flying like a meteor. He shot through the distant sky at supersonic speeds, breaking the sound barrier.