Essence Devouring Art

Chaotic Star Heaven.

At its very heart of destiny, Central Jun Tian.

Here, the boundless Dao Essence and spiritual energy of the celestial domain gathered, birthing a vast and magnificent supreme holy land—one that consumed and expelled immeasurable starlight, wreathed in divine light and immortal mist—

The Star Divine Domain!

The Star Divine Domain was not a continent in the traditional sense.

Nor was it a vast Star Sea.

If one were to observe it from outside the domain,

they would discover that the Star Divine Domain resembled a spherical Realm Sea, formed by countless starlit bubbles layered and linked together.

Within large star bubbles were smaller ones.

From small to large, layers upon layers of spatiotemporal dimensions nested within each other.

If you were to pull out and peel open any single one of these star bubbles,

you would find that it contained numerous Grotto Heaven Blessed Lands, small worlds, large worlds, and even Star River-scale Inner Universes.

An uncountable number of star bubbles

simultaneously consumed and expelled the creative matter of the Grand Cosmos, illuminating All Heavens.

Even from the distant periphery of the Celestial Domain,

one could clearly see a great sun of starlight blooming with light and heat.

Within a certain star bubble in the Star Divine Domain.

WHOOSH—

The void rippled like water.

Clad in a black Daoist Robe, Wu Dao stepped out of the Little Grotto Heaven he was renting for his Cultivation. His gaze fell upon the glorious great sun rising from the void at the edge of the firmament, and he narrowed his eyes slightly.

This great sun.

Its mass and Energy surpassed any star he had ever seen in the Star Sea, and the light and heat it radiated were of the utmost brilliance.

The light of this single sun was enough to illuminate the countless Pocket Worlds, large and small, within this star bubble, and even to create a cycle of day and night.

"A Postnatal Creation?"

Wu Dao stared at the great sun, muttering to himself.

Through the searing radiance,

he could faintly make out

an ocean of Supreme Yang Arrays inscribed upon the great sun. Even at his current level of cultivation, the sight felt scorching and blinding.

He had no doubt at all.

If this great sun were to erupt as an Artifact of war, it could incinerate the Star Sea into nothingness in an instant.

’To gather the Dao Essence and spiritual energy of the cosmos, to draw from All Heavens and Myriad Realms... such a level of mastery is truly terrifying.’

Wu Dao retracted his stinging gaze.

Thinking of the Taiyi Star Emperor, who had single-handedly forged the Star Divine Domain and the Chaotic Star Heaven, he once again felt a profound sense of his own insignificance.

But...

even someone as powerful as the Taiyi Star Emperor had fallen during the Fourth Tribulation.

Beneath the Dao,

all things are but ants.

Although the Taiyi Star Emperor was a Heavenly Domain Lord with the formidable mastery of an All Heavens Great Emperor Level expert at his peak,

he had, in the end, never achieved the Attainment Dao.

It was the same for the Slaughter Emperor.

The first person to come Near Dao.

So powerful he triggered the fifth Dao tribulation.

But a hair’s breadth of difference separated heaven and earth.

In the food chain,

there were still supreme beings who could ’devour’ him.

HUFF—

Suppressing his wandering thoughts,

Wu Dao stopped thinking about such lofty, distant matters. With a thought, he opened his attribute panel—

...

Divine Format: Primordial Middle-Rank True God (11/33)

...

One hundred perfected Saint Grade True Gods.

Their Divine Fire, plus the Teleportation Points they provided.

After digesting it all,

his lagging Primordial Divine Format had finally advanced to Middle-Rank True God, and the Eleventh Layer of his Emperor Grade Divine Domain was now lit.

With Wu Dao’s current Cultivation,

an Eleventh Layer Divine Domain was enough.

As long as he could subdue anyone at the Dharma Realm,

he could use Primordial Magnetism to assimilate and pollute their Life Origin, weaken their True Self Soul, and forcibly bore through to construct a Faith Channel, refining a Primordial Dao Wheel.

Back when his Divine Domain was only at the second layer,

his Divine Fire Spear wasn’t strong enough.

Even if he managed to pollute and assimilate a being,

if their essence was too far above his Divine Format, he couldn’t bore through. Attempting to force the connection would only cause his own soul to shatter, resulting in a total loss.

"A sharp blade is meant to taste blood."

A slight smile touched Wu Dao’s lips. He closed his attribute panel, returned the Grotto Heaven Token, and headed towards the Central Star Hub of this Star Realm.

The Star Hub of this Star Realm

was the one in the direction of the Azure Dragon Dao that was closest to the manifesting Taiyi Emperor Star. This was also why Wu Dao had chosen to teleport to this particular realm.

By the time Wu Dao arrived at the Star Hub,

upon the altar,

a crowd of cultivators had already gathered from the Chaotic Star Heaven and the Hongyuan Heavenly Realms. All three paths were represented, and most of them had the aura of youth.

A single glance revealed a sea of people.

But there was no chaos.

Under the direction of the Star God Hall’s World Guards stationed in this realm, everyone was forming long, orderly queues on all eight sides of the Star Hub, advancing to be teleported.

Within the Star Divine Domain,

though there were countless Star Realms and innumerable factions from All Heavens,

and although the Taiyi Emperor Star was open to All Heavens,

the rule-maker in this region was still the Star God Hall, which carried the legacy of the Taiyi Star Emperor.

After entering the Star Divine Domain,

where one could go depended on their strength.

Where combat was forbidden.

What rules and regulations governed daily life and Cultivation.

...

Every aspect was controlled by the Star God Hall.

No matter how great one’s background,

as long as it wasn’t greater than that of the two Star Lords,

one had to obey the rules of the Star God Hall. Even a dragon had to coil, and a tiger had to lie down.

If you broke a taboo,

you couldn’t escape even with Heaven-Reaching abilities.

As a mere Little Kalami for now, Wu Dao naturally wouldn’t act rashly.

After arriving at the Star Altar,

Wu Dao obediently queued up at the back of a line. As he slowly advanced with the crowd, his gaze drifted to the World Guards stationed around the Star Hub, each clad in Star Battle Armor and exuding a powerful aura.

’Above the Dharma Realm!’

After retracting his gaze,

Wu Dao had a rough understanding of the World Guards’ strength. Every single one of them gave him a sense of extreme danger.

He wasn’t surprised.

After all, while a Dharma Realm cultivator might be considered a significant figure in the Border Wilderness,

here in Chaotic Star Heaven,

to put it bluntly,

they were a dime a dozen. They weren’t even qualified to be lapdogs for the truly established Celestial Prides.

What’s more,

he was currently in the Star Divine Domain—

the core of fortune and Dao Essence in the Chaotic Star Celestial Domain, the divine and holy land in the hearts of countless cultivators.

In his previous life,

this place was like a nation’s capital, where all the elites gathered.

Never mind the Cave Heavens Realm,

it was a common occurrence to see even Saints and Great Powers.

As he moved forward with the crowd,

Wu Dao noticed something interesting: the cultivators heading to the Taiyi Emperor Star weren’t all from the Human Race.

For example,

in front of him,

was an incredibly enchanting and seductive young woman. Clad in light gauze, she made no effort to conceal her potent Demon Qi as she flirted with several Human Race cultivators.

That somewhat familiar musky scent...

It was unmistakably a fox spirit.

There were also demons of different races in the other queues.

He even

saw a demon that had manifested from paper effigies of a Golden Boy and Jade Girl. Apparently bored of waiting in line, it had revealed its true form of colorful paper cutouts and was leisurely humming a tune.

However,

unlike in the Divine Wilderness,

the relationship between Alien Species and the Human Race in Hongyuan seemed to be quite good.

On the plaza,

aside from a few with sinister auras,

most of the Alien Species were mingling with the Human Race, talking and laughing without a hint of hostility or disgust.

’Is it a difference caused by the living environment?’

Wu Dao’s eyes flickered. After a moment of thought, he understood why the relationship between humans and Alien Species was so vastly different in the two worlds.

The Divine Wilderness was too barren.

Its Heaven and Earth Energy, compared to Hongyuan’s, was like the difference between clouds and mud, making Cultivation for Extraordinary Life forms exceptionally difficult.

Under such conditions,

relations between races naturally skewed towards primitive, brutal competition. To accelerate their evolution, it was a dog-eat-dog world, filled with irreconcilable hatred.

Hongyuan was different.

The Extraordinary Factors of All Heavens were so dense that even ordinary beings could live long lives. Without any deliberate Cultivation, their physical constitutions were comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Divine Wilderness.

Abundant resources.

A superior Cultivation environment.

Coupled with the fact that all of the Ten Thousand Races could seek the Dao of longevity,

the competition within the food chain naturally wasn’t as brutal as in the Divine Wilderness.

Of course,

the main reason why the Human Race and Alien Races of Hongyuan coexisted peacefully today,

the primary reason,

was the Great Dao pact jointly established by the leaders of the Human Race and Alien Races during the Four Tribulations.

The supreme beings of both sides had touched upon the Great Dao and made a great vow for their races to coexist peacefully and not invade one another.

If it were violated,

the consequences would be extremely severe.

When the Mountain and Sea Realm tore up the primeval pact and went to war with the Hongyuan Human Race, they suffered a backlash from the Great Dao.

After the Four Tribulations,

the Desolate Race found it exceptionally difficult to continue their lineage. Their top clans couldn’t even conceive a single offspring for a million years.

As for why

the Mountain and Sea would risk a Great Dao backlash to wage war on the Human Race,

later generations had no way of knowing.

They could only guess that it was related to the position of the Dao Fruit of that era.

"My, what a powerful Daoist. You’ve stared so hard that little Jiu’er’s bones have gone soft."

While Wu Dao’s thoughts were drifting,

the seductive fox woman who had been posturing for the male cultivators around her turned to look at his powerful, fiery physique. Her eyes became silky with desire, and she secretly swallowed.

Although she couldn’t see through Wu Dao,

her racial talent still allowed her to sense his domineering Yang Qi, as majestic as a Divine Sun.

If they could just have a session of Yin and Yang union,

wouldn’t that be absolutely divine?

"I don’t like to eat fox."

Wu Dao glanced at the fox woman’s trembling legs, feeling completely uninterested, and spoke the honest truth.

The gamey taste of fox was too strong.

The first time he ate one, even after roasting it, he couldn’t cover up that soul-piercing gaminess. It was a terrible dining experience.

"Tsk, no fun at all."

Seeing Wu Dao’s look of disgust, the fox woman didn’t press her luck. She clicked her tongue and went back to flirting with the others.

"Heh, you’ve missed out on a taste of paradise, Daoist."

Just as the fox woman quieted down,

a jade-faced young man fanning himself with a treasured fan next to Wu Dao teased him with a hint of envy:

"They’re from the Desire Bone Fox Clan of Heaven-Burning Fire. Their Innate Divine Techniques are all about dual cultivation. A night with one of them is not only blissful, but it also greatly benefits your cultivation."

"I’ve been fasting and praying to the gods recently."

Wu Dao said with a faint smile.

His expression was one of fond reminiscence.

The taste of Divine Fire was the most delicious.

A manifestation of countless points of Faith and Willpower.

When you bit into it, countless fragrances would explode simultaneously, turning into a warm current that flowed through body and soul, massaging every cell.

That flavor...

It was truly better than...

Mm.

Anyway, it was amazing.

"Hiss... Damn, Daoist, you even... with Divine Spirits..."

The jade-faced youth had clearly misunderstood Wu Dao. He gave a thumbs-up, looking as if he’d found a kindred spirit he should have met years ago, and leaned in with a smirk:

"I am the Sword Cultivator Chen Zimu, from the Lesser Yang Star Sea in the Southern Vermilion Bird Path. May I ask where you cultivate, brother?"

"..."

Wu Dao looked at the overly familiar Chen Zimu.

He couldn’t help but be reminded of the thick-skinned Zhao Jianji. He wondered how the Primordial Demons were doing under his leadership now.

HUFF—

Bringing his thoughts back,

Wu Dao, realizing he hadn’t yet had a chance to understand the current situation on the Emperor Star, casually made up an identity. "High cultivation is too strong a word. I am Tongtian, a Sword Cultivator from the Eastern Azure Dragon Path... from the small and humble Biyou Palace."

Mm.

’He’d already borrowed the name ’Primordial.’ Borrowing the name of the Tongtian Sect Master as well wouldn’t create any troublesome karma.

’He had long since read the Hongyuan Tribulation History cover to cover.

’From the Heaven Opening until now, aside from a vague resemblance in the case of Mountain and Sea, Hongyuan had absolutely no connection to the myths of the Primordial Chaos.

’The Celestial Court was also just a name in common.

’The same Great Gods didn’t exist here.’

"Biyou Palace... Tongtian... a Sword Cultivator?"

Chen Zimu racked his brain but couldn’t recall any faction named Biyou Palace. However, the cosmic Star Sea was boundless, so it was normal not to know of it.

On the other hand...

A Sword Cultivator?

Chen Zimu sized up Wu Dao’s physique—as powerful as a Demon God’s and clearly the result of Transverse Cultivation—and voiced his doubts about his identity as a Sword Cultivator.

Because no matter how he looked or sensed,

Wu Dao was clearly a Horizontal Refiner of the Martial Dao.

"Transverse Cultivation is just a hobby of mine,"

Wu Dao said with a faint smile upon seeing Chen Zimu’s doubt. He released a sliver of Sword Dao aura from his Heaven-Slaying Sword Drawing Technique’s cycle—the only thing he hadn’t concealed.

’This trip into the Emperor Star is a hunt.

’I’m not going to barge in with reckless courage, acting with lawless abandon.

’First, I will lie low and hide my strength.

’Only after understanding the landscape within the Taiyi Emperor Star and feeling confident enough will I reveal my edge.

’Before that,

’it is naturally unwise to reveal my true information.’