Essence Devouring Art

Within the hunting grounds.

As the Yong Bird erupted, the vast Power of Slaughter, generated by the arrays, melted like ice and snow the moment it neared the creature’s high-frequency, blazing crimson light. One Grand Array after another shattered and disintegrated as if made of paper.

The four great powers that had sealed the hunting grounds never expected this Desolate God to be so savage, unleashing its full power right from the start. They scrambled to raise their mothership shields in defense.

But even so, the motherships were like small boats in a stormy sea, rocking and swaying so violently they seemed on the verge of breaking apart.

"Son of a bitch, it’s that savage!"

In the outer regions.

Heavenly Dragon and the others were also hit by the shockwave, their souls throbbing in pain. If they hadn’t been so far away, they’d likely be rolling on the ground in agony.

They had expected the Desolate God to be ferocious, but they never imagined the Yong Bird would be this ruthless right from the start.

The Mighty Power it was now unleashing showed no restraint, reaching the peak of the Eighth Step of a King Grade Dharma Aspect. It was clearly paying a price to instantly clear the field and annihilate them, refusing to get bogged down in a prolonged fight.

"Vile creature! Die!"

BOOM!

From within the trembling Tyrant Flame Star, a cold, clanging sound exploded outwards. The starry sky suddenly grew immensely heavy as a red-haired, middle-aged man with a towering, majestic physique stepped out, resembling a primeval Fierce God.

The Star Lord of Tyrant Flame Star, Lie Huang!

Evidently, seeing that the Grand Array was useless for trapping and killing the beast, he had decided to enter the fray himself.

DONG!

With a single step, the starry sky trembled and the Ten Directions shattered.

Lie Huang crossed a million li in a single step, like a Barbaric Dragon from the Primordial Chaos being unsealed. His oppressive might blanketed the world. Within his blazing physique, the sound of a billion muffled thunderclaps rumbled as a torrent of potent, baleful Qi blood erupted from his pores.

DONG! DONG! DONG! DONG—

After several more steps.

His Yang God Body Image was fully unleashed.

Lie Huang opened his mouth and swallowed the Essence Qi of the cosmos like a whale. His physique grew taller and taller, towering into the starry sky. His muscles rippled like ancient mountain ranges, and his physical strength was terrifyingly boundless.

He was like a God and Demon performing Heaven and Earth Creation. Endless purple qi surged with the power of Creation, constructing a nine-layered Body Image world. It shone with the light of countless ancient stars and was filled with endless baleful qi.

Among them were four layers of his Body Image’s starry sky!

They were not illusory!

His vigorously erupting Holy Spirit Qi Blood had completely solidified the starry Body Image. With his every move, it was as if four miniature Little Cosmoses were unleashing their mighty power!

BZZZT~

Deep within the continent’s Magnetic Field.

The moment Lie Huang erupted with power, the Holy Spirit Blood inside Wu Dao’s body began to tremble. This had nothing to do with his state of mind; it was an oppressive pressure born from the sheer disparity in their fundamental life essences.

On the path of Ancestral Return and evolution.

Lie Huang, with his Fourth Layer Yang God Holy Spirit Body Image, was undoubtedly far ahead of Wu Dao on this path.

"Die!!"

A vast, thunderous voice exploded.

After unleashing his Yang God Body Image, Lie Huang’s physique was only a head shorter than the Yong Bird’s. His aura overwhelmed the vast expanse, and his roars alone could shatter stars.

He was utterly ferocious. Clenching his fist, he gathered the mighty power of his four-layered Body Image. Endless baleful qi, supremely hard and domineering, condensed in his fist as he chose to directly engage in close-quarters combat with a Desolate Divine Seed renowned for its physical prowess!

No Divine Techniques or Divine Weapons were needed.

For a Horizontal Refiner, the physical body is the greatest weapon!

After Lie Huang had achieved the Sacred Spirit realm, he fused the Five Great Holy Spirit Techniques into the Earth Dominator Body, refining terrifying stars from the Grand Cosmos to condense Earthly Baleful Qi.

Once unleashed.

It was as if a Yang God and an Evil God were attacking in unison. Layers of vacuum were incinerated into countless fragments by the virile, baleful qi. His Divine Fist slammed down on the Yong Bird’s head, nearly knocking the creature out of the starry sky.

CLANG!

At the same time.

The sound of a Celestial Blade being unsheathed shattered the starry sky.

The Alliance Leader of the Qianzai Alliance, Romer, had also made his move.

An unparalleled slash of pitch-black blade light, carrying a brutal Slaughter Qi, cleaved through the chaotic hunting grounds toward the Yong Bird. A blade-aspect world filled with the four calamities—Wind, Sun, Turbidity, and Decay—manifested, shattering layers of Celestial Punishment as if a Disaster God had descended.

As the founder of the Qianzai Alliance, Romer’s strength was not to be underestimated.

According to legend, in his youth, he had come across a fragment of *Nine Tribulation Celestial Soldiers*, one of the Ten Strongest Creation Divine Techniques of the All Heavens.

After comprehending it, he created his own Sword Dao Divine Technique, *Four Punishments of the Withered World*, condensed a Sword Dao Saint-Grade Dharma Aspect, and ascended to become an Emperor of the Military Dao in one fell swoop.

Wind, Sun, Turbidity, and Decay.

Four slashes, four layers of calamitous punishment, each more devastating than the last. If all four were unleashed, they could wither an entire Little Grotto Heaven into nothingness.

"Wind!"

CLANG!

The pitch-black blade light stole all the brilliance from the world.

Romer’s eyes were grim. He apathetically uttered a single word, and the four-layered calamity blade-aspect on his back immediately roared and trembled, spewing forth a storm of darkness even more profound than the blade light itself.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

The dark storm swept through the Nine Heavens and the Ten Directions.

Wherever it passed, stars shattered, the void collapsed, and all Essence Qi was scoured away, leaving nothing but decay and ruin in its wake.

"YONG!"

The Yong Bird, having just been struck by Lie Huang’s fist, was swept up by the dark storm before it could stabilize itself, and it cried out in pain.

It was clearly visible that its feathers, flesh, and bone—hotter than a great sun—were rapidly losing their Essence Qi in the dark storm, cracking and disintegrating.

Clearly, this Wind Punishment Blade technique targeted the material essence of the world. It could scatter the essence of stars and land, just as it could dissolve the Essence Qi from the flesh and bone of living creatures.

It was at this exact moment.

"In this evil world of five turbidities, where eight sufferings bring eternal regret, Mother of the Void, deliver all sentient beings..."

Countless murmurs of praise echoed through the starry sky.

The Vacuum Sect had also made its move.

A black lotus as large as a star peeled open its countless petals. Divine and holy light shone through the Chaos, revealing a pure white world of vacuum within the lotus throne—a world free of all sorrow and hardship.

At the center of this pure white world.

A white-robed Goddess, sitting like a Bodhisattva or a Saint Buddha, had constantly shifting facial features. In time with the chorus of praise, her hands came together.

A pure white light of conversion, like a beam from a pulsar, erupted from her palms. It purified and cleansed all ignorance, anger, and delusion as it shot straight toward the center of the Yong Bird’s human-like brow, intending to convert it.

"Fellow Daoists, attack together!"

From another direction.

The members of the Dharma Alliance formed a Grand Array, linking their auras. They launched a brilliant torrent, a veritable galaxy constructed from a combination of numerous Dharma Aspect Divine Techniques. It descended like a cascade of Celestial Blades, its might not the least bit inferior to the other attacks.