Essence Devouring Art

"What a pity..."

Jiang Han caressed the Sacred Artifact. His Divine Soul, flickering like a candle in the wind, sensed a Celestial Thunder Array in the deepest part of the treasury. He had failed to obtain the Innate Mother Qi. If he had, he wouldn’t be dying here today, full of regret.

’Where did it all go wrong?’

Jiang Han reviewed the entire process, from entering the Fallen Immortal’s Tomb in Luoxian Ridge to obtaining the Divine-Eroding Blade.

’The plan was flawless.’

He had leveraged the strongest faction, broken through one vicious array after another inside the tomb, and plotted against his competitors until he was the last one standing.

’But even the wisest make mistakes.’

As Jiang Han went over his memories, he realized that from the very beginning, he had underestimated the situation in Luoxian Ridge.

The mysterious faction occupying Luoxian Ridge was twisted beyond imagination.

Inside the great tomb, even the daily living quarters were filled with all sorts of vicious arrays for Soul, Flesh, and God Refinement.

Rather than a base, it was more like a massive training ground.

Whether walking, sitting, or lying down, one was constantly tempering oneself amidst life-and-death peril. There wasn’t a single safe place!

The final treasury was guarded by an incredibly terrifying Celestial Thunder Array that used a Heavy Artifact as its Array Plate. The deeper one went, the more unpredictable the danger became.

’The original plan was to seize the Sacred Artifact, use the Celestial Thunder Array to block my competitors, and then break through to the end to get the Innate Mother Qi.’

But when Jiang Han reached the deepest part, just as his enemies no longer dared to take another step forward to pursue him, an unexpected change occurred.

The Thunder Array seemed to emulate the Divine Techniques of some terrifying existence, and actually possessed a sliver of the True Heavenly Thunder Path’s might!

Empowered by the Heavy Artifact and the Grand Array, the Mighty Power of that sliver of the True Heavenly Thunder Path completely transcended the limit of what Jiang Han’s soul and flesh could withstand. He was blasted out in an instant, right into the siege of his enemies!

"So this is my fate..."

Jiang Han sighed, mocking himself.

In his reckless youth, he hadn’t believed in fate. Like many others, he believed that his destiny was in his own hands, not the heavens’, and that fate was merely a shackle for the mediocre and a comfort for the incompetent.

So he had fought against it his entire life.

The Heaven-Stealing Technique. This branch of the Divine Technique, derived from one of the Ten Great Supreme Divine Techniques, the Exquisite Method, was the foundation upon which he would defy the heavens and change his fate.

To improve his aptitude, he had stopped at nothing. The bonds of blood and kinship became fuel for his growth. Mentors, friends, lovers—if they were useful, he could kill them.

King Grade, Saint Grade, Emperor Grade...

Every step left a bloody footprint.

When he achieved his Dharma Aspect, it was merely Dragon Elephant King Grade. Yet he had forcefully defied the heavens and changed his fate, ascending to the Cave Heavens Realm with an Emperor Grade aptitude.

Looking back now, what "defying the heavens and changing fate"? Considering the series of deeds he had committed that angered both men and gods, if not for fate’s protection, he would have been dead long ago.

’A pity. Perhaps this truly is retribution.’

Today, fate no longer favored him. After rampaging for hundreds of years, he ultimately could not escape the law that he who kills will be killed.

’Do I have regrets? Perhaps. But I only regret not being better prepared. I don’t hate my snarling enemies; I hate myself for not being strong enough.’

’If I could do it all over again... it would be the same.’

’For a cultivator like me, born inferior to others, if I weren’t ruthless, using every means to climb higher, I would have died back in my youth at the hands of the master who forced me to choose: kill or be killed.’

WHOOSH—

Jiang Han let out a long, turbid breath.

Jiang Han’s blurry vision swept over the greedy wolves surrounding him. He brandished the Divine-Eroding Blade in his hand and suddenly grinned.

"You want it? Then come and get it."

CRACK!

Before his voice had even faded, Jiang Han crushed a Thunder Pattern Token in his hand, and the Celestial Thunder Array in Luoxian Ridge suddenly erupted with violence!

"Not good! The bastard wants to take us all down with him!"

"Run!"

"Huh?!"

Cries of terror and shock rose and fell.

But an instant later, they all stopped fleeing.

Jiang Han, who had been prepared for mutual destruction, was also stunned for a moment.

Because... the Celestial Thunder Array hadn’t detonated!

To be precise, it had been forcibly suppressed at the critical point of detonation, as if an invisible hand had snuffed out the fuse!

VMMMM—

Before Jiang Han and the other Demon Cultivators could react, the Qiankun Space-Time where Luoxian Ridge was located suddenly froze, becoming as heavy as an Abyss.

The churning astral winds and sinister aura, the setting sun at the edge of the sky, the raging black clouds and Thunder Sea in the Nine Heavens—all of it froze like a still painting, unable to change in the slightest!

Within Luoxian Ridge, every Demon Cultivator, including Jiang Han, felt as if their very souls were being gripped by an invisible pair of hands. The immense, heavy pressure was about to suffocate them.

RUMBLE—

An instant later, the raging Thunder Sea in the Nine Heavens began to churn again, a thousand times more violently than before. Deep within, the figures of Demon Gods seemed to open their eyes, looking down coldly at everyone in the ridge.

"Black Death Sect, Red Flame Sect, Bishui Old Monster... You dare to dig up the grave of the Heaven-Stealing Alliance? You all must be tired of living!"

BOOM!

The murderous roar, like a colossal thunderclap, had just begun when a God and Demon-like figure, as massive as a Celestial Pillar, tore through the Nine Heavens Thunder Sea and descended upon Luoxian Ridge.

BAM!!

It was like an Ancient Fierce Beast rampaging through, or a speeding Divine Peak crashing down.

The magnificent dark figure took a single step!

Vast swathes of space shattered like a mirror. Before Jiang Han’s constricting pupils, a Saint Grade Ninth Layer Grotto Heaven Demon Cultivator was instantly smashed into a shower of flesh and blood!

Then, a scene of pure, violent, and bloody slaughter, like that of a frenzied beast, unfolded to the sound of the ever more frantic Heart Lake Alarm Bell ringing in Jiang Han’s mind!

"No, spare me!"

"Heaven-Stealing Alliance? We didn’t know this place was... AHHH!!"

"Mercy!"

BAM! BAM! BAM!—

RIP!

It was a completely one-sided slaughter!

No matter what Layer of Grotto Heaven they were!

In the hands of that towering, dark-skinned Demon God, none could last a single round. They were either torn apart alive or blasted into a rain of fragments.

What was even more terrifying was that the black-robed man used no Divine Techniques or Taoist Arts whatsoever, dominating solely with his physical body. Top-tier Celestial Soldiers were crushed into paste in his grip, to say nothing of mere cultivators.

’A Divine Demon Body!’

’Definitely a Divine Demon Body of the Twenty-four Heavens or higher!’

Jiang Han’s Heart Lake Alarm Bell rang wildly!

The Demon Cultivators who participated in the treasure hunt at Luoxian Ridge were all from well-known surrounding factions. They were either sect masters or thousand-year-old monsters.

Although their leaders weren’t Emperor Grade of the Twenty-four Heavens or higher, the weakest among them were at least Saint Grade at Grotto Heaven Perfection. The most powerful were even at the Fifteenth Layer of Heaven or above.

Even such a lineup was being slaughtered like they were nothing more than vegetables, and all with sheer Physical Power!

Moreover, this person belonged to a faction called the Heaven-Stealing Alliance.

Connecting that with the perilous Body Refining Arrays found everywhere in the Fallen Immortal’s Tomb, a chill ran down Jiang Han’s spine.

’Did I poke a hornet’s nest of Gods and Demons?’

’Run, run, run!’

’Against such a terrifying force... any scheme or plot is a joke!’

Without a second thought, Jiang Han prepared to burn the last embers of his life force to escape in the chaos.

VMM!

But just as he was about to move, a pressure as vast as an abyss—countless times more terrifying than the God and Demon currently on a rampage—locked onto him.

’If I move... I’ll be killed instantly!’

’Why not kill me immediately?’

In the midst of this life-or-death crisis, Jiang Han’s temperament, honed by hundreds of years of trials and tribulations, allowed him to remain calm and think of an escape plan.

’They didn’t kill me right away. That means I have some value that can keep me alive! There’s still a chance to find life in the jaws of death!’

WHOOSH—

Under the immense pressure, Jiang Han exhaled a turbid breath. He let go of all his sharp edges and resistance, trying to appear as harmless as possible as he awaited fate’s judgment.

BOOM!

Another earth-shattering explosion rang out.

A sea of hot blood erupted, flooding Luoxian Ridge in waves.

"Scram! If you dare to trespass again, I’ll annihilate your entire sects!"

Lv Tiezhu, bathed in blood, flung away the tattered Grotto Heaven in his hand. Like an Asura Demon God descended upon the world, his thunderous voice boomed, shaking the Qiankun and the Ten Directions.

"Yes, yes, yes! We’ll scram right now!"

Their courage long shattered, the crowd of Demon Cultivators didn’t dare to object in the slightest. Hating their parents for not giving them two more legs, they pissed themselves in terror as they scattered and fled.

Jiang Han was stunned. ’So kind?’ This frenzied beast had started a massacre without a second word upon arrival, but now he was showing mercy?

But then, his pupils shrank again.

Because, from within the Nine Heavens Thunder Sea, shadowy figures emerged, silently following the fleeing Demon Cultivators.

’It’s not mercy! They’re tracing them back to their source to pull them out by the roots!’

RUSTLE~

After the bloody slaughter, the bloody, malevolent aura in Luoxian Ridge became so thick it was almost tangible.

There were surging oceans of crimson, severed limbs scattered across the ground, and torn Grotto Heaven Dragon Veins...

It made this place look even worse than Hell!

"You’re a lucky kid..."

Lv Tiezhu’s killing intent subsided. He gave Jiang Han, who stood at the peak of Luoxian Ridge looking as withered as a dried corpse, a smirk that didn’t reach his eyes and spoke meaningfully.

’Lucky?’

Jiang Han’s brow furrowed deeply.

His intuition told him that an utterly ominous, great darkness was about to engulf his life!

VMMMM—

He didn’t have to wait long. From above the Nine Heavens Thunder Sea, magnificent black-robed figures, like Gods and Demons, descended one after another upon Luoxian Ridge.

Every single one of them... felt as unshakable as a majestic Divine Mountain to Jiang Han—

’They all have a Divine Demon Body!’

’And the weakest is at the Fifteenth Layer or higher!’

’No. It’s not just the Divine Demon Body!’

Jiang Han could clearly sense a power lying dormant within each of those magnificent figures that made him despair completely!

’What kind of faction is this?’

’So terrifying... yet there’s no information about them in the entire Burial Realm.’

’What are they planning to do now that they’ve revealed themselves?’

Too many questions and shocks flooded Jiang Han’s mind.

Until... that majestic and domineering figure appeared. He was like a King of Demon Gods; the mere sight of him caused one’s mind and soul to sink in despair, and one dared not even look at him directly.

For an instant, Jiang Han’s mind went completely blank.

"Grave robbing... such a lack of virtue."

Wu Dao’s black Daoist Robe fluttered in the wind. His physique was like a sky-supporting Divine Pillar, and his abyss-like eyes swept across the ruined Luoxian Ridge with a pained expression.

"And Tiezhu, really."

After glancing at the sea of blood and severed limbs on the ground, Wu Dao looked at Lv Tiezhu with displeasure and said:

"Too impulsive. Beating them up like this... We’re new here, how can we be so impolite? Now we can’t even find our way to their homes to apologize."

"Hehe, I couldn’t hold back."

Lv Tiezhu raised a blood-soaked claw and scratched his head with a simple-minded look. He knew the Alliance Leader meant that he hadn’t left enough survivors, making it inconvenient to "cut the grass and pull out the roots."

’It’s a small problem, though. The Primordial Demons visiting their mountain gates can just ask an extra question or two. Anyway, these factions are just some local small-fries. It won’t take much effort.’

"Mm, be more careful next time. You must be polite."

Wu Dao didn’t dwell on such a minor issue. He turned to look at Jiang Han on the peak of Luoxian Ridge, his eyes narrowing slightly with a look of great appreciation.

He had seen the entire course of events.

It wasn’t just because he liked Jiang Han’s temperament.

The most important reason... ’Ye Xuan...’ Heh.

An image of a little snot-nosed brat holding a Wooden Sword appeared in Wu Dao’s mind. The corners of his mouth curved up slightly. He took a step forward, clapped the dazed Jiang Han on the shoulder, and said gently:

"I appreciate you very much. Are you interested in becoming my disciple?"