Essence Devouring Art

The turmoil caused by the Taiyi Emperor Star

did not last for long.

A confrontation between those in the Emperor Realm could, at best, shatter worlds and destabilize the Great Dao. At worst, it could collapse infinite universes and trigger a boundless Great Tribulation.

After the Ten Thousand Races established their power during the Second Tribulation,

the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms established a Great Dao treaty—

No Emperor-level wars are permitted within Hongyuan!

This was also why all parties abided by the treaty, moving the main battlefield for the turbulent conflict in the Chaotic Star Heaven to the Endless Chaos Sea.

The Sea of Chaos is boundless and infinite,

vast enough to contain a war of any scale.

However.

「One day later.」

The roiling Sea of Chaos also quieted down as the leaders of the major Celestial Domain Lords stepped forward to mediate.

In addition, the Mountain and Sea Taotie Race had crossed the border.

The various giants had no choice but to face a common enemy, joining forces to push the Taotie Race out of Hongyuan. In the end, everyone parted on bad terms.

Of course,

the actual events were far more complicated than a few words could describe.

A Great Power who observed the battlefield revealed that,

at the final moment,

the Taiyi Emperor Star had reawakened.

It unleashed the terrifying Mighty Power of a Soldier of the Close Path, suppressing the various All Heavens Lords and Daoist Lineages who had wanted to demand an explanation from the Star God Hall.

Within the Sea of Chaos,

the Dao Essences of Supreme Daoists from Mountain and Sea and Hongyuan also clashed.

The final result:

Cyan Yu Celestial Venerable, who had orchestrated the theft of the Taotie Race’s bloodline back then, took a beating, receiving a harsh slap from a Supreme Giant of Mountain and Sea.

The Taotie Race also paid a price.

Their Dao Artifact, the North Mountain Scripture, nearly had a page torn from it by a supreme existence from Hongyuan, forcing them to retreat.

This result

was within expectations.

Before the Fourth Tribulation, the Mountain and Sea Realm’s sheer scale surpassed all of the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms.

With its four great Heaven-Opening Primordial Races

and numerous Di Races,

its foundation was in no way inferior to the current All Heavens Lords and Daoist Lineages of the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms. It also possessed more than one Supreme Daoist.

This was why Mountain and Sea dared to initiate a Great Tribulation,

and the source of their confidence to fight All Heavens in a single day.

After the Fourth Tribulation,

Mountain and Sea broke away from Hongyuan. Although it paid a great price, it became the ultimate winner of the Fourth Tribulation, seizing the Dao Fruit of that tribulation.

Daoists transcend the cycle of life, death, and Reincarnation.

They are no longer bound by the Great Dao.

As long as their Dao exists, they are indestructible.

It was said that a supreme being from Mountain and Sea fell during that tribulation, but in reality, they only entered a brief period of slumber and will eventually return.

Therefore,

strictly speaking,

the claim of "mutual destruction" was just something the Primordial Ten Thousand Races of Hongyuan told themselves to feel better. Mountain and Sea was the true winner of that tribulation!

A new Daoist

was enough to elevate Mountain and Sea’s foundation to a new level, giving them the true ability to contend with the Ten Thousand Races of the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms.

Even after breaking away from Hongyuan,

Mountain and Sea had never given up on the idea of invading and swallowing Hongyuan whole.

This is also why

the Shanhai Pass border battlefield, where Hongyuan and Mountain and Sea meet, has remained a grave concern that Hongyuan cannot resolve. From the Fourth Tribulation to this day, it has continued to threaten the Primordial Ten Thousand Races.

In short,

this clash between two realms, which originated in the Chaotic Star Heaven and nearly brewed into the Sixth Tribulation, ended with a bang but a whimper.

The external threat had vanished.

The attention of the All Heavens naturally turned to an internal conflict—the Dragon Hunting Tower!

"They’re a bunch of fucking animals! The cancer of Hongyuan! How dare they?! How dare they?!"

"Is the Dragon Hunting Tower insane? I heard that back on Huanwu Mountain, more than fifty percent of the Cave Heavens Realm Celestial Prides from the five great Common Lords of the Heavens, numerous Daoist Lineages, and Emperor’s Lineages had gathered.

Damn! And they just hunted them down, just like that!"

"It wasn’t just Celestial Prides! Most of them were Emperor’s Sons and Daoist Children! There was even a batch of monsters! After this battle, the five heavens have lost an entire generation of Cave Heavens Realm Celestial Prides!"

"I heard even an heir from the Celestial Court was killed! The Taiqing Empress went berserk and attacked the Star Divine Domain with her sword. If the Thick Earth Celestial Venerable hadn’t intervened, she might have been sacrificed alive by the Taiyin Star Lord!"

"It’s utterly insane! Just you wait! Once the Dragon Hunting Tower’s lair is located, utter annihilation is all that awaits them!"

"That’s right! The implications of this are too great! It’s completely enraged the All Heavens. Not even a Supreme Giant could protect the Dragon Hunting Tower now!"

"Heh, serves them right. They’re always acting all high and mighty. This is karma."

A great storm sweeping through Hongyuan continued to spread. The All Heavens were in a constant uproar, and aside from a few who were gloating, nearly everyone was denouncing the Dragon Hunting Tower.

What the Dragon Hunting Tower had done this time was simply too insane. They had simultaneously offended the five heavens’ Common Lords, a large number of behemoth Daoist Lineages, and the All Heavens’ Emperor’s Lineages, cutting them off at the root.

Such an act

was that of a true cancer in Hongyuan.

They were crazed terrorists that everyone believed should be hunted down and exterminated.

As long as they remained,

no one could guarantee that they wouldn’t be the next to suffer.

But what the All Heavens hadn’t expected was that,

just as the storm from the Taiyi Emperor Star incident was beginning to rage, the Dragon Hunting Tower actually committed another crime right in the middle of it!

The scene of this crime

was not in the Chaotic Star Celestial Domain, but in the Buzhou World—a place far from the Chaotic Star Heaven, near Shanhai Pass, where the Martial Dao flourished.

A Transcendent Refining Sacred Land with a million-year heritage was directly uprooted by the Dragon Hunting Tower. Not a single Outer Disciple was left alive!

"They’re insane! Hahaha! Those sons of bitches, they’ve really gone insane!"

Even some Great Power-level giants laughed in anger.

’If this isn’t insanity, what is?’

’They just committed a shocking crime at the Taiyi Emperor Star, and now they’ve immediately struck again in Buzhou Heaven!’

’Unbelievable!’

’Do they really think no one can handle them?!’

’They think they’re invincible, that they can run rampant without consequence.’

’Trying to be the local tyrants of Hongyuan, are they?!’

The fury of the All Heavens suddenly had an outlet.

Unsurprisingly,

that group of Dragon Hunters in the Buzhou World,

having just committed their crime and not yet had time to retreat, were dumbfoundedly met with a fierce siege by the Overlord Forces of the All Heavens.

Great Powers rained down, and Emperor’s Weapons shone brilliantly.

The sheer scale of the attack made it seem like they were besieging a Tribulation Master of the First Tribulation. The Dragon Hunting Tower members even wondered if they had violated some celestial law.

Evidently,

the people from the Dragon Hunting Tower were unaware of the major incident on Huanwu Mountain at the Taiyi Emperor Star.

In fact,

after taking the blame the last time,

the Dragon Hunting Tower had laid low for several months. Only after the storm had gradually subsided did they strike again.

But as ill luck would have it,

their timing perfectly followed the major incident at Huanwu Mountain, one right after the other. In the eyes of outsiders, this made them seem utterly lawless and outrageously arrogant.

"Fucking animals! Who in the hell is impersonating the Dragon Hunting Tower!"

A Supreme Elder from the Dragon Hunting Tower roared in fury after learning the inside story, his composure completely shattered. He wanted nothing more than to skin alive the person impersonating them!

But his anger didn’t last long.

Because the crime ’they’ had committed this time was too great. It had incurred the wrath of all the All Heavens, who now seemed determined not to rest until the Dragon Hunting Tower was destroyed.

Although the Dragon Hunting Tower was well hidden,

under a relentless, combined search by the All Heavens, traces of them were still found, and their lair was attacked.

The result was somewhat shocking.

The combined assault of the All Heavens Lords, Daoist Lineages, and Emperor’s Lineages was a terrifying force. The assembled Power was enough to make any faction’s heart pound in fear.

But even against such a lineup,

the Dragon Hunting Tower still managed to escape!

According to those who attacked the Dragon Hunting Tower—

an extremely terrifying, dark, and ominous existence was dormant deep within the Dragon Hunting Tower!

Even the Mixed Yuan Tao Emperors from the All Heavens who participated in the battle

felt their hearts pound in terror. They didn’t dare push the Dragon Hunting Tower to the brink, choosing to stop before things went too far. This was how the Dragon Hunting Tower managed to escape a desperate situation.

However,

although the Dragon Hunting Tower escaped,

it paid an extremely heavy price. Half of the Nine-Layered Black Tower was shattered, and a large number of Saints and Great Powers were killed. Their stifled roars of fury shook the Sea of Chaos.

There was simply no way to explain.

Because all the clues pointed to the Dragon Hunting Tower, explanations were useless. No matter how wronged they felt, the Dragon Hunting Tower could only take the fall!

It was foreseeable that,

after this incident,

the Dragon Hunting Tower’s "reputation" within Hongyuan would reach its peak—an infamous reputation where everyone would call for their heads, leaving them with no place to survive.

"Bastards! Animals! Scum! Mother...! Just you wait! Once we find you, we’ll make sure you can never achieve transcendence for all eternity!"

Within the Dragon Hunting Tower’s Elder Council,

all sorts of unrestrained, frenzied roars echoed endlessly. Countless years of accumulation and planning had nearly gone up in flames, enraging them to the extreme!

The blame had been pinned on them starting from the Taiyi Emperor Star. Investigating in that direction, the Dragon Hunting Tower soon had a rough target.

"Last time, a Dragon Hunter reported that a mysterious force, all of whom possessed the Divine Demon Body, appeared on the Emperor Star. Could it have been them?"

"It’s definitely those bastards! How could a group where everyone has the Divine Demon Body be nameless and unknown?! Find them! A debt of blood must be paid in blood!"

"Idiot! The Dragon Hunting Tower is in the eye of the storm right now! We must endure for the time being! As long as they continue to practice Transverse Cultivation, they will be like beacons in the darkness. They absolutely cannot escape!"

"ARGH! I HATE THEM SO MUCH!!"

...

As the storm raged across the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms,

and the Dragon Hunting Tower descended into hysteria,

the true culprit, Wu Dao, was openly leaving the Chaotic Star Heaven with his group of Primordial Demons, heading for the Primordial Demon’s lair in the Daluo World.

The Daluo World.

Before the Fifth Tribulation, it was a lawless and masterless land.

It was a gathering place for the Evil Demons and Outsiders of the All Heavens and Myriad Realms, a lawless Celestial Domain where filth was hidden and Evil Demons ran rampant.

At the end of the Fifth Tribulation,

the Luotian Sword Master rose to power, slayed the tribulation to attain the Dao, swept away all the chaos and filth, and unified the Daluo Heaven as its Common Lord.

To this day,

the Daluo Heaven has become the supreme holy land in the hearts of Sword Dao Cultivators throughout the Hongyuan All Heavens and Myriads of Worlds. The Luotian Sword Realm, where Juntian is located, receives an endless stream of pilgrims every year, as numerous as crucian carp crossing a river.

However,

as the saying goes, "water that is too clear has no fish."

Where there is sunlight, there will naturally be dark corners the light cannot reach.

At the end of the Fifth Tribulation,

although the Luotian Sword Emperor cleansed the Daluo Heavenly Realms and pacified the Evil Demons and ghouls, it takes more than one cold day for a river to freeze three feet deep.

A single Celestial Domain is vast,

containing all heavens and myriad worlds, and dimensional space-times.

Even a Common Lord Power cannot fully monitor and control it all. There is no such thing as true, absolute unification.

After the Fifth Tribulation,

although Pure Qi became the mainstream in the Daluo World, it still remained a paradise for the Evil Demons and Outsiders of Hongyuan. Within its various worlds and space-times, countless shadows lay dormant.

Like a chronic, deep-seated illness,

they could not be completely uprooted or exterminated.

In the end,

external demons are easy to destroy, but Heart Demons are difficult to vanquish. Good and evil are inherently codependent, and the seven emotions and six desires are the very root of humanity.

How could they ever be completely wiped out?

...

WHOOSH~

In the Border Wilderness of the Daluo Celestial Domain,

astral winds raged through the Nine Heavens Cloud Sea.

Countless great suns and massive stars drifted and shuttled through dimensional space-time,

illuminating the All Heavens and Myriad Realms.

And,

the vast, boundless continent below the sea of clouds.

It was magnificent and mystical, desolate and vast.

The great Daluo domain truly had an atmosphere of a single land that encompassed endless worlds and space-times, completely different from the structure of the Chaotic Star Celestial Domain, whose overall environment was a grand cosmic Star Sea.

Looking down from a high altitude,

one could see primordial Divine Peaks on the boundless continent piercing through the Nine Heavens Cloud Sea. Great suns and star rivers revolved around them, and thousands of Pocket Worlds were rooted within, creating a scene of utmost majesty and grandeur.