Essence Devouring Art

’As expected of the Hall Master!’

’He doesn’t even bat an eye at a mountain of gold.’

’That composure...’

’I, Ergou, could spend a lifetime learning from him!’

He laid the flattery on thick in his mind.

Outside the carriage, Chen Ergou finally opened the ledger. He cleared his throat, his face flushed, and said, "Reporting to the Hall Master."

"The spoils from this punitive expedition are as follows:"

"A total of five hundred gourds of Elixir Pills."

"Three hundred of those are for the four realms of Foundation Establishment, one hundred and eighty are for the Cocoon-Breaking Realm, and only twenty are for the Qi Refining level. Their equivalent value in silver taels is currently impossible to estimate."

"Six hundred yellow-grade Talismans, two hundred Silver Grade, and as for Spiritual Gold Talismans... uh, there are fewer of these. I don’t know if they were all used up, but we only found a little over ten."

At this point, Chen Ergou glanced at the ruins of the Yellow Dragon Temple, where dust was once again rising from the crowd’s rummaging. He could vaguely make out a massive "volcanic" crater, pitted and scarred with the residue of various energies.

Who those Spirit Talismans had been used on was self-evident.

In the largest crater at the center, faint flashes of lightning still lingered, causing him to involuntarily recall the thunderstorm he had seen from the foot of the mountain. He couldn’t help but shiver.

’Such a terrifying strike of thunderous Celestial Might.’

Chen Ergou had no idea how Wu Dao had managed to withstand it.

Thinking of this, Chen Ergou, his eyes filled with fervent adoration, stole a glance at Wu Dao, who was quietly reading.

His mountain-like physique, which constantly radiated the abyssal, tyrannical pressure of an Overlord, showed not the slightest hint of injury!

’That’s truly terrifying.’

Chen Ergou reckoned that even if he cultivated for two hundred years, he probably couldn’t develop a physique like that.

"Continue."

Wu Dao turned a page, his reminder spoken softly. Yet, his voice, though not loud, rang like a steel bell, shaking one’s very soul.

The scent of sandalwood curled through the carriage, framing him like a God and Demon from beyond the heavens—lofty, immense, and impossible to look at directly.

"Ah, yes, yes!"

Cold sweat instantly beaded on Chen Ergou’s forehead. He lowered his head, quickly snapping back to his senses and continuing his report:

"We... weapons were few, as they were personally carried. We only found a little over two hundred. Most were forged from high-quality refined steel. We also found thirty Spirit Swords tempered with Spiritual Qi, but they are only semi-finished blanks."

"As for medicinal ingredients,"

"there were quite a lot of these. There are many medicinal gardens on the surrounding secondary peaks, most of which were planted with high-yield Dragon Tooth Rice."

"In the remaining gardens,"

"we found over a thousand herbs under one hundred years old, more than three hundred Great Medicines over one hundred years old, and fifty spiritual herbs over five hundred years old."

"There wasn’t much in the way of silver taels, since the Yellow Dragon Temple was a reclusive, self-sufficient sect. We only found thirty million taels."

"Oh, right, Hall Master."

"In the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s residence, we also found ten one-foot-long Spirit Stones. They have been carefully packed."

"As for the other valuables,"

"Array Plates, Immortal Treasures, precious items, Precious Metals, Cultivation Techniques..."

After a while, Chen Ergou finally finished reciting the long inventory of assets, his eyes filled with a sense of dreamlike unreality.

A great power that had dominated Guangqing Prefecture for decades, a Daoist Lineage with a legacy spanning over a century, revered by the mortal world as Divine Beings...

’Just like that, it’s gone?’

’Annihilated by a single person?’

Chen Ergou felt like he was dreaming.

But the ruins before him, and the dozens of carriages filled with the Yellow Dragon Temple’s entire foundation, were a stark reminder...

that this was not a dream!

’The strong are revered, the weak are meat. The ancients were right. With enough power, you really can do whatever you want.’

Chen Ergou sighed with emotion inwardly.

At the same time, today’s events solidified his determination to follow Wu Dao to the very end, no matter what.

’Even if Wu Dao wants to take me as his godson... no, even his god-grandson, that would be fine.’

’I, Chen Ergou, would kowtow and accept without a second thought!’

’Just the scraps that fall from between Wu Dao’s fingers would be more than enough for me to feast on until I burst.’

"You’ve worked hard. Let’s set off. We need to get back to Tan County as soon as possible."

Wu Dao closed the book and pinched the bridge of his nose. His tone was indifferent, showing no trace of excitement.

"Yes, sir!"

Chen Ergou bowed deeply, breathed a sigh of relief, and withdrew.

After shouting to notify the others, he personally took the reins for Wu Dao’s carriage. The long, dragon-like caravan soon began to move, its hooves kicking up clouds of dust.

Inside the carriage,

Wu Dao exhaled slowly, his gaze fixed on the black cover of the book in his hands, which was made from the leather of some unknown animal.

On the cover,

a vicious flood dragon coiled, outlining the ferocious title—

Stinging Dragon Skill!

Wisps of wild, vicious, primordial chaotic energy emanated from the book, as if it were bound in the hide of an Evil Dragon.

Compared to all the other treasures,

Wu Dao felt that this Stinging Dragon Skill was the greatest prize of the entire expedition.

*The slumbering dragon has been stirred; a single roar shakes a thousand mountains!*

The True Intent of cultivation described in its summary made it clear in every aspect that this was also a powerful Body Refining Skill.

Furthermore, its level of development for one’s physique, qi, and blood far surpassed the Giant Whale Skill!

It has four realms and ten layers.

The fourth layer, the Dragon-Nurturing Realm, can reach the Horizontal Refining Second Gate.

The third layer, the Python-Dragon Realm, can reach the Horizontal Refining Third Gate.

The second layer, the Flood-Dragon Realm, corresponds to the Horizontal Refining Fourth Gate!

And the final layer, the Stinging Dragon Realm, is the Horizontal Refining Fifth Gate!

Four great realms!

It treats the human body as if it were a dragon, cultivating it until a slumbering Evil Dragon awakens within!

After successfully cultivating the Stinging Dragon Body,

not only would one possess the power of a dragon—enough to uproot mountains and overturn rivers—but their qi and blood would also contain the baleful intent of an Evil Dragon. Once unleashed, it could suppress souls and slay gods!

At that point,

the body’s strength would theoretically step into the Horizontal Refining Fifth Gate!

On the path of Transverse Cultivation,

the further one goes, the harder it is to improve the physique.

With every Gate of qi and blood one advances through, the body’s strength soars to a new level.

Although Wu Dao had already stepped into the Horizontal Refining Third Gate: Qi Blood Smoke and seemed incredibly strong,

in reality, he had only taken the very first step through the gate.

To explore this gate to its limit, he estimated he would have to achieve some mastery within the Overlord Domain through Potential Release.

Only then could he step into the Fourth Gate—

Qi and Blood like a Dragon!

Once he entered it,

he would be able to wrestle with a Land Immortal at the Innate Qi Cultivation Third Step!

The Fifth Gate—

The Qi Blood River!

This was the limit of the Stinging Dragon Skill. In theory, it surpassed even the power of a Land Immortal.

The reason it was only theoretical,

was because not even the Cultivation Technique Creator had reached this realm.

Previously, Wu Dao had felt a pang of regret that his Giant Whale Skill had reached its peak.

It meant he would lack an efficient method of extreme training to stimulate and unlock his body’s potential, causing his Cultivation of the Essence Devouring Art to ’slow’ down.

But the appearance of the Stinging Dragon Skill...

...solved that problem perfectly.

The Cultivation Technique was discovered in the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s private secret chamber, along with those ten Spirit Stones.

There was no explanation of its origin.

However, judging by the well-worn pages, the Yellow Dragon Daoist had clearly studied this technique after obtaining it.

But he had never practiced it.

Otherwise, his physique wouldn’t have been so poor—at best, it was equivalent to the Horizontal Refining First Gate, and that was likely just the result of being tempered by Spiritual Qi.

After gaining a deeper understanding of the Stinging Dragon Skill,

Wu Dao understood why the Yellow Dragon Daoist hadn’t cultivated this technique, which would have caused countless people in the outside world to fight to the death over it.

There was no other reason.

It was simply because this was an Evil Skill!

It clashed with the Yellow Dragon Daoist’s disposition of purging evil, venerating righteousness, and living a pure and detached life.

More importantly,

the cultivation requirements for this technique were extremely harsh!

The supplementary Great Medicine for cultivating the Stinging Dragon Skill wasn’t normal herbs, but required consuming the essence blood of various Fierce Beasts and Evil Beasts—the higher the quality, the better!

Fierce Beasts, Evil Beasts...

’What good could come from consuming the essence blood of such inhuman, vicious creatures?’

At best, one’s temperament would drastically change, becoming bloodthirsty and murderous!

At worst, one would suffer cultivation deviation, their body plagued by malevolent energy!

Therefore, the foreword of the Stinging Dragon Skill repeatedly warned that those with an unstable heart-and-mind or a weak will must never cultivate this technique, lest they bring disaster upon the world.

However, Wu Dao completely ignored the risks.

His will was like true gold refined in fire, forged countless times in his past life until it was indestructible. Not to mention, he had the Celestial Human State, which could suppress any inner demons.

The personality-altering effects of the Stinging Dragon Skill...

...were something he could completely disregard.

As for the Great Medicine needed to cultivate this unorthodox technique,

he didn’t need the essence blood of any Fierce or Evil Beasts.

The Healing Fluid could substitute for it.

His path of Cultivation in this world...

...was primarily to use an External Technique to assist his Main Technique, the Essence Devouring Art. All he needed was a method of ’training’, not to actually practice the Stinging Dragon Skill as his primary cultivation technique.

WHOOSH~

After digesting the information about the Stinging Dragon Skill in his mind,

Wu Dao opened his attribute panel—

[Physique: Hero (Limit)]

[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring Art (72% Potential Release) +

Overlord Whale Fist 400 Years (Divine Arrival) +

Giant Whale Skill 450 Years (Ninth Layer) +

Stinging Dragon Skill 30 Years (Entry) +]

[Teleportation Points: None]

72% Potential Release, the Heroic Limit!

The next leap would take him into the Overlord Domain, and it required two thousand Teleportation Points!

Thanks to the previous feedback loop, the Overlord Whale Fist had been boosted to four hundred years of Power, and the required Teleportation Points had slightly decreased from the previous two thousand.

But not by much. It still required nineteen hundred points, which wasn’t much different from two thousand.

The Giant Whale Skill was even more terrifying!

Its Ninth Layer directly granted 450 years of Power!

But at the same time, it had been cultivated to its absolute peak.

If he wanted to use Teleportation Points to perform a Breakthrough, the path ahead was unknown, and it would also cost two thousand points.

Finally, there was the Stinging Dragon Skill, which had just appeared on the panel!

As expected of an advanced Transverse Refining Technique capable of reaching the Horizontal Refining Fifth Gate.

Just to fully grasp the theoretical knowledge and reach the entry level of this technique would take an ordinary person thirty years!

’Back in my previous life,’

’that would be no less difficult than specializing in an entire academic discipline.’

WHOOSH~

Wu Dao closed the attribute panel and let out a slow breath. He didn’t check how many Teleportation Points were needed to upgrade the Stinging Dragon Skill.

For this unexpectedly acquired technique,

he had other plans.

He wasn’t prepared to cultivate it directly. Or rather, he *couldn’t* cultivate it directly.