Essence Devouring Art

Taiyi Emperor Star Battlefield.

Deep within the ruins of the Celestial Dao Emperor Sect.

WHOOSH~

The Bodhi Enlightenment Tree swayed gracefully, scattering countless points of fiery light. The Daoist Teachings cleansed one’s Divine Soul, awakening wisdom and understanding of universal principles.

OM~

Beneath the Bodhi Enlightenment Tree, Mo Chen, clad in a green robe, opened his eyes. A myriad of wise lights swirled within his pupils, and his aura was as gentle and refined as jade, like that of a worldly scholar.

Within his Heart Lake.

A clear, gentle voice, as pleasant as a spring breeze, rang out, "During the Four Tribulations, Huanwu Mountain was known as the All Heavens Martial Vault. It holds seventy-two Great Divine Techniques, five Strongest Divine Techniques, and numerous Emperor Scriptures...

"One can learn from the experiences of others.

Your natural talent is unparalleled. By merging the Ten Thousand Techniques, it will be of great benefit when you forge your own Taoist Scripture in the future."

"A Taoist Scripture... Master, you truly have high expectations."

Mo Chen’s face twitched. Though he was confident in himself, the thought of a Taoist Scripture—the very cornerstone of Attainment Dao—still felt ethereal and far out of reach.

The Great Dao gives birth to three thousand paths.

Though all roads lead to the same end.

Each person has their own unique path that reflects the Great Dao.

Throughout history, all Daoists who have become Emperors have had their own Taoist Scripture.

Not a single one of them achieved their Dao through plagiarism or by copying another’s path. Forging one’s own way is paramount.

But before the Emperor Realm,

cultivators in the world still have to rely on the "plagiarism" of others to build their foundation. To speak of a Taoist Scripture when one is only in the Grotto Heaven Realm was indeed a bit unrealistic.

"For others, it might be impossible."

Within the Heart Lake, the clear, gentle voice chuckled:

"The Bodhi Enlightenment Tree is one of the Innate Spirit Roots that has existed since the Heaven Opening. It is a supreme treasure for awakening wisdom and understanding principles. Now that you have its recognition, all techniques in the world are open to you. Why should it be impossible?"

"Even so..."

Mo Chen rose to his feet, and with a wave of his hand, he stored the Bodhi Enlightenment Tree within his Grotto Heaven. He gazed at the clouds gathering and dispersing in the Nine Heavens, his brow slightly furrowed. "This disciple just feels that...

the journey to Huanwu will be fraught with complications."

It was an indescribable feeling.

But in the unseen depths of fate, Mo Chen had a premonition that Huanwu Mountain would be a major turning point in his life, one whose outcome of fortune or disaster was impossible to predict.

For the world’s Extraordinaries,

the more advanced their Cultivation, the clearer their perception of the unseen threads of cause and effect, of fate itself. It was definitely not just a baseless feeling.

Take that Wuchen, for example.

Could a mere childhood obsession truly be the reason for his profound killing intent toward him?

Mo Chen didn’t believe it.

There seemed to be a deeper karmic entanglement between the two of them.

’The Chaos Body has fallen, and there are no other young ones on the Emperor Star. Could it be...’

The presence in the Heart Lake considered a certain possibility, then immediately dismissed it as impossible.

’That scheme back then...’

’Afterward, although some unknown entity saved ’Mo Chen’s’ life, he vanished without a trace and has never been found.’

’But he had lost all of his Creation-blessed destiny.’

’Even if he survived, he would just be a mindless, foolish mortal, and without any fate, he wouldn’t have lived long.’

’And...’

’to ensure that Mo Chen remained Mo Chen,’

’all karmic connections between the two were unilaterally erased and severed.’

’Even in the one-in-a-million chance’

’that the two of them met again,’

’the current Mo Chen wouldn’t doubt himself or have his Dao heart shaken. He would simply dismiss it as the nonsensical ravings of some evil specter.’

’So, if it’s not ’Mo Chen’...’

’and it’s not a ’fated enemy’...’

’and yet Mo Chen has such a strong premonition...’

’Could it be that something unexpected will happen at Huanwu Mountain?’

’During the Four Tribulations, Cosmic Mountain was an All Heavens Emperor Artifact. If something were to change, it could indeed endanger Mo Chen.’

’But on the path of Cultivation,’

’the road ahead is always filled with unknown fortunes and calamities.’

"What, is my little Chen’er afraid?"

The presence in the Heart Lake suppressed her thoughts and teased him with a light laugh.

When contending with his peers,

the Mo Chen of today feared no one.

And if the older generation were to interfere, she wouldn’t hold back. Why should they fear Huanwu Mountain?

"If the path ahead is blocked, I’ll just have to cut it open."

Mo Chen let out a slight breath and smiled freely. He patted the Sword Nurturing Gourd at his waist and strode away from the ruins of the Celestial Dao Emperor Sect.

This trip to the Emperor Star,

aside from tempering himself, had a secondary purpose: to understand the karmic link between him and Wuchen.

The journey to Huanwu Mountain,

might just provide the answers he sought.

...

「At the same time.」

On the outskirts of the Huanwu Ancestral Land.

Within a hidden Jiezhi Space.

CRACKLE~

A Jiezhi Space, as small as a speck of dust, seemed to contain a vast Thunder Sea. As the Jiezhi Space shattered, billions of black lightning arcs burst forth, sweeping across the cosmos.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

Within the Jiezhi Space,

it was as if a God and Demon was hammering Chaos with its fists. A terrifyingly tyrannical Fist Dao Will spread out, shattering the Nine Heavens Cloud Sea and causing great stars to crumble and fall.

RUMBLE—BANG!

Finally,

after countless punches,

the Jiezhi Space completely shattered. It was as if an Emperor, enthroned high in the Nine Heavens, had exploded within. The erupting Celestial Thunder instantly blasted the world of the Ten Directions into a blurry Chaos.

WHOOSH~

At the heart of the Chaos Storm,

stood Wuchen. His clothes were in tatters, his black hair disheveled, and he looked like an Evil Ghost crawling out of Purgatory. His towering physique was immense and majestic, his aura frenzied and violent.

"Mo Chen!"

Wuchen murmured in a hoarse voice. His eyes, calm pools where the myriad phenomena of Purgatory Reincarnation rose and fell, gazed toward the core of the Ancestral Land—at the majestic, fully unsealed Huanwu Mountain.

WHOOSH~

With a single step,

the universe seemed to invert, and the stars shifted in their courses.

Having completed his hellish training, Wuchen had undergone a great transformation. His Battle Intent and mental state were at their absolute peak, and he now had the confidence to cut down his obstacles and achieve his goal!

「Meanwhile.」

In the Taiyi Emperor Star Forbidden Area.

Within an Evil Abyss in the Asura Sea.

A boundless torrent of black and red baleful energy, vast as ten thousand ancient mountains, spewed forth unceasingly. The surrounding vast sea of bones rose and fell, as if Three Thousand Demons were about to emerge from its depths!

BOOM!!

「At a certain moment.」

The Evil Abyss could no longer withstand the terrifying pressure of the Life Magnetic Field from its depths. It swelled and exploded violently. The rampaging Magnetic Field Power acted like the gravity of a black hole, instantly tearing apart and annihilating the sea of bones for billions of miles, turning it into a bottomless, vacuum-like Abyss.

Within the pitch-black, lightless Abyss.

OM~

CRACKLE—

A pair of eyes as deep as the cosmic starry sky snapped open.

Brilliant, dreamlike arcs of magnetic electricity burst from his every pore, flashing in the darkness and illuminating the shadows of seventy-one majestic Demon Gods!

INHALE—

EXHALE—

Beneath the seventy-two Demon Gods.

At the end of the abyss, in the ultimate darkness,

the sound of a long, drawn-out breath caused the entire abyssal sea of bones and the starry sky to tremble.

It was as if the King of Demon Gods was reawakening!

A vast and boundless Life Magnetic Field, like billions of heavens collapsing, pressed down with such force that the seventy-two Demon Gods couldn’t help but kneel and kowtow!

"Congratulations, Alliance Leader! We celebrate the Alliance Leader’s great achievement in his Divine Skill! The unification of All Heavens is just around the corner!"

Led by Zhao Jianji, the Seventy-Two Primordial Demons quickly suppressed the feeling of power that came with their recent advancements, humbled by the supreme, heaven-like pressure.

They kowtowed with the utmost humility.

Their thunderous voices shook the boundless sea of bones,

welcoming their supreme king.

WHOOSH~

A long exhale pierced through the Abyss,

plowing through the Star River of the Nine Heavens.

The terrifying Magnetic Field in the darkness,

also returned to tranquility, like a thousand rivers flowing back to the sea.

In the deepest part of the darkness,

countless starlit magnetic threads contracted, forming the tyrannical, indifferent, and heaven-like physique of Wu Dao.

The Magnetic Field Power of the Ten Directions’ worlds

seemed to revolve around Wu Dao as its core.

His every move,

could cause cataclysmic changes to the fabric of reality. Beings with weak magnetic fields could be assimilated just by looking directly at him.

This was unprecedented Power!

Wu Dao’s eyes, deeper than the darkness itself, gazed up at the Nine Heavens Star Sea as he gently flicked a thread of the Magnetic Field between his fingers.

It was this almost imperceptible action!

BUZZZZ—

The Magnetic Field Power of all existence in the ten directions and eight poles swarmed to his side, forming an ultimate tide of destruction that poured back and submerged a vast expanse of the Star Sea.

Immediately after,

a dreamlike and hauntingly beautiful tableau

was born above the Nine Heavens.

Countless stars in the Star River submerged by the magnetic storm, along with thousands of void Grotto Heavens, seemed to suffer a dimensionality reduction attack, collapsing from the macroscopic level down to the microscopic.

Looking up from the Abyss,

the sky was filled with colorful, catkin-like threads that danced like cosmic jellyfish. Before their dance was over, they disintegrated into the most microscopic Magnetic Field Particles.

Silent and soundless.

Without any earth-shattering commotion.

With just the flick of a finger,

innumerable stars, spatial interlayers, and Grotto Heavens vanished, replaced by a vacuum-like black hole.

One Origin moves, and ten thousand magnetisms follow!

A finger flicks, and the Star River is overturned!

When an individual’s Life Magnetic Field becomes powerful enough within the Magnetic Field of the Great Dao, influencing the life and death of all existence truly becomes as simple as a thought and a flick of a finger!

WHOOSH~

In the span of a single thought,

Wu Dao had already fully adapted to the vast Primordial Magnetic Power within him, which was as deep as the abyss and as vast as the firmament. His gaze emotionless, he opened his attribute panel—

[Physique: Sacred Spirit]

[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring·Opening the Sky 340/365+]

[Three-Phase Divine Punishment Fist (Fist Phase 33/33)+]

[Fourth Transition of the Infinite Golden Body (Horizontal Refining Tenth Dao Gate, Human World Yang God (33/33)+]

[Seven Great Primordial Magnetic Divine Powers: ... (23/33)+]

[Holy Spirit Divine Techniques: One Origin, Ten Thousand Transformations - Dharma Aspect (23/33)+]

[Primordial Magnetic Great Divine Techniques: Immune to All Laws (33/33)+]

[Fifty-seven Celestial Great Divine Skills: ... (33/33)+]

Creation Divine Techniques: Great Silence of All Heavens, Mixed Lotus Extreme Path (33/33)+

Original Soldier Resolution · Desolate God Chapter+

Scriptures of the All Emperors: ... (33/33)+

Divine Format: Primordial Perfect True God (33/33)+

[Celestial Treasure: Bitter Dust Robe (Emperor’s Artifact 100%)+]

[Teleportation Points: ...]

After several months of bitter cultivation!

He had burned through a massive amount of Dao Wheel energy.

He had also consumed vast quantities of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures.

Three hundred and forty circulations!

All of them had been ’devoured’ and brought to the second stage of perfection!

The feedback loop wildly increased his Primordial Magnetic rotational power, resulting in a nearly qualitative transformation. With a flick of his finger, he could overturn the universe and shatter a Star River!

More importantly...

as he was perfecting each Heaven-Opening Primordial Law, Wu Dao sensed that his Primordial Magnetic Power was undergoing a miraculous change.

Thinking of this,

Wu Dao looked down upon the Seventy-Two Primordial Demons seated below him, his scrutinizing gaze like that of an Abyssal Demon God reviewing his Demon Army.

In the past few months,

it wasn’t just him who had transformed.

With the aid of the Primordial Dao Wheel and an abundant supply of resources, the Seventy-Two Primordial Demons had also made staggering progress.

He was the Path Opener.

For the Primordial Demons who followed, the path was unobstructed.

They sprinted ahead wildly.

Their progress in unlocking the potential of their circulations was much faster than his own had been in the early stages.

To this day, the strongest among them, Zhao Jianji and Chen Ergou,

had advanced their Infinite Golden Body to the Fifth Transformation Divine Demon Body of the Twenty-four Heavens. Out of forty-five circulations, they had devoured a full Twenty-four Dharma Phases Celestial Cycle, and every circulation they devoured had reached Dharma Perfection!

The other seventy Primordial Demons!

The weakest among them had reached the twentieth layer of the Divine Demon Body, and their demon bodies had devoured Fifteen Dharma Phase Circulations!

It could be said

that any one of the Primordial Demons right now,

could fight and kill a monstrous Celestial Pride at the Cave Heavens Realm if taken alone. The strongest, Zhao Jianji, would have no problem fighting a perfected Cave Heavens Realm monster!

The Primordial Magnetic Demon Body.

A simplified version of the Primordial Magnetic Dao Body.

Not to mention, the foundation of the current Primordial Demons was already at the Cave Heavens Realm. If one were to make a comparison, they were even more monstrous than Wu Dao had been when he had devoured the same number of circulations at the same stage!

Of course,

they certainly couldn’t compare to him now.

Even one additional circulation would result in a crushing difference in combat power.

Now that Wu Dao had perfected 340 Primordial Magnetic circulations, his combat power could no longer be measured by the standards of the Primordial Realm.

No matter how strong a Cave Heavens Realm expert was,

he could kill them with a flick of his finger. Only those at the Emperor Grade Creation Realm were qualified to truly face him!

After inspecting the Primordial Demons,

Wu Dao thought of the change in his Primordial Magnetic Power. His gaze locked onto the strongest, Zhao Jianji, and he spoke with unquestionable authority:

"Attack me with your full power."

"As you command!"

Zhao Jianji didn’t hesitate in the slightest, nor did he have any traitorous thoughts. He immediately bowed and accepted the order, because fulfilling Wu Dao’s commands was their sacred duty.

CLANG—!!

The sound of a sword being drawn rang out!

The sword light blazed, illuminating the Abyss.

It stirred the qi of the Earth and Heaven Magnetic Field,

forming an endless, winding dragon of a sharp Geng Metal Magnetic Field.

In that instant, the Abyss of the Ten Directions was split in two. The Heaven-Reaching Primordial Magnetic sword light pierced through the Nine Heavens Star Sea, seeming as if it would cleave the entire Asura Sea in half.

A Great All Heavens Divine Technique—

Heaven-Slaying Sword Drawing Technique!

Empowered by the rotational power of the many circulations in his Primordial Magnetic Demon Body, the technique was terrifyingly sharp, capable of slaying an ordinary Grotto Heaven monster in a single strike!

But Wu Dao had said to use his full power!

And so, Zhao Jianji naturally held nothing back!