Essence Devouring Art

Half a month of arduous Cultivation.

With the support of two miraculous items, the Holy Spirit Scale and Strong Soul Fragments, the progress has been gratifying.

The Soul Cultivation of the Three-Phase Divine Punishment: Ninth Transformation Great Success.

Horizontal Refining Sacred Spirit Transformation at 85% completion. The initial fusion is done, with only the final 15% remaining.

Full fusion will take a month at most.

The remaining time is enough to cultivate to the Half-step Yang God realm.

Immune to All Laws has also entered the Nine Transformations Great Success Domain, and it won’t be long before it’s perfected.

The Bitter Dust Robe is being infused nonstop.

It has been elevated to the level of a Dharma Artifact.

Before the Great Tribulation descends, it should be possible to raise it to a useful level.

To kill without incurring karma...

And most importantly, the Essence Devouring Main Path.

Boosted by the feedback from my various Cultivations, I’m very close to 100% Potential Release and one hundred revolutions of Primordial Magnetic Power.

I have currently reached ninety-seven revolutions.

Just three more revolutions to go for complete perfection.

"Hooo... Time to continue."

His consciousness glanced one last time through his avatar at the Great Xu Border, watching the slowly closing passage between the two worlds. A chill rose in Wu Dao’s heart before he sank into silence once more.

Within Dragon Gate Town.

Who knew how many old monsters from Hongyuan were hidden there.

Take Grandmaster Qing, the one Mo Chen spoke of. In Hongyuan, he was definitely a Sect Founder Level figure. His true strength is currently immeasurable.

The others.

Their status was likely not much different.

Even if they were just avatars, even with the Great Dao’s suppression, their foundations were simply not something the younger generation could compare to.

When contending with his peers,

Wu Dao feared no one.

But to fight a group of Sect Founder-level Great Powers, old monsters...

Crushed in terms of background.

Crushed in terms of upbringing.

Crushed in terms of years of Cultivation.

Crushed in terms of cultivation height.

He had not the slightest advantage of timing or geography.

A complete and utter crushing...

No matter how confident he was,

a heavy pressure still loomed over him.

He couldn’t even begin to weigh the scales of victory and defeat.

Before the real fight began,

who would win, who would lose, who would live, who would die,

everything was an unknown.

...

In the time that followed,

the atmosphere, like the gust of wind that precedes a storm, grew more intense with each passing day.

Throughout the Divine Wilderness World,

it wasn’t just the Five Emperors.

Divine Ability Users, Holy Lands, and all the major powers of renown across the lands wore grave expressions. They either went into seclusion, sealed their gates, and recalled their disciples, beginning to prepare for the Great Tribulation with all their might.

A heavy, oppressive atmosphere swept across the world.

Even the common mortals

realized that a major event that would decide the world’s fate was about to occur. They grew terrified and restless, causing considerable turmoil.

Or perhaps, it was one last carnival of madness,

unleashing the dark side of human nature without restraint.

No one was in control anymore.

No one had the mind to care.

Most of the world descended into chaos.

One month after the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven opened,

the cracks in the skies across the lands had shrunk to a thousand miles wide, and the intensity at which they devoured the Divine Wilderness’s destiny increased by another level.

As the world’s destiny rapidly drained away,

the land was shattered and calamities ran rampant. The number of lives lost in a single day exceeded a hundred million!

It was also on this day

that Wu Dao, who was training Primordial Demons in the Outer Sea, discovered that the cage-like barrier at the sea’s edge had begun to contract. An unknown number of tens of thousands of miles of ocean border had silently shrunk inward by several thousand miles in a single day.

And the speed was still accelerating.

In half a month at most,

the oceans of the Divine Wilderness World would be completely annihilated!

After the oceans...

’They really aren’t leaving a single path to survival.’

Wu Dao withdrew his gaze and let out a long, turbid breath. He checked on his Main Body’s Cultivation progress, and his agitated thoughts calmed down again.

’Soon.’

’Half a month at most.’

’The Holy Spirit Transformation will be fully fused!’

’100% Potential Release!’

...

Also on this day,

a significant change also occurred within the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven.

One day in the Divine Wilderness.

Eighteen days in the Dragon Mud.

Nearly two years had passed.

The Grotto Heaven’s rules, which had originally suppressed the Extraordinary,

began to gradually unseal.

The Grotto Heaven was filled with dazzling lights and rosy clouds, like an Immortal Realm.

"Tsk, what a pity."

In a clear pond beside the Great Dao,

the green-skinned frog that had once argued with Wu Dao and Zhou Chen had transformed into a single-horned golden toad.

Its entire body spewed divine golden light.

It swallowed the only Golden Lotus in the pond in one gulp, its body gradually turning illusory before disappearing into the void.

Among the towering mountains and ridges outside Dragon Gate Town,

there were also Pseudo-natives from other worlds who had reverted to their true forms. With regret, they left the Grotto Heaven with the destiny they had gathered over a thousand years.

The Divine Wilderness’s tribulation,

its master was the Dao Rules.

Several worlds had been granted Grotto Heaven privileges for their meritorious service.

Before the Great Tribulation truly descended,

this privilege would also gradually disappear, and they would be expelled from the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven, from weakest to strongest.

The Tenth Tribulation was no small matter.

The entire Divine Wilderness would be completely annihilated.

Once the tribulation passed, all merits and demerits would be wiped clean.

The Dragon Mud Cave Heaven would completely return to the Great Dao, and all privileges would be revoked one by one.

Within Dragon Gate Town,

the representatives of the various factions naturally understood this and began to proactively send their juniors out of the Grotto Heaven.

At the end of Stinging Dragon Lane in Dragon Gate Town,

the Mo Family Mansion.

Mo Chen took one last look at the familiar sights in the mansion, sighed reluctantly, and closed the door.

Two years had passed.

His frame had filled out.

He wasn’t burly or imposing,

but his back was ramrod straight, with the restrained aura of a dragon. His handsome features were filled with a heroic resolve, and anyone who saw him would call him a fine piece of raw jade.

"Yaya..."

He stroked the rabbit doll in his arms.

The image of a mischievous, lively Yaya making a face appeared in Mo Chen’s mind, and he couldn’t help but smile wistfully. "You little brat... are you doing okay?"

"Stop thinking about it. It won’t be long before Yaya comes back."

The slovenly old drunkard took a swig of wine and seemed to recall something, teasing:

"Heh heh, I remember when Sister Mo brought Yaya back, she intended for Yaya to be your child bride.

When you see her again,

you can’t make her angry anymore."

"Grandmaster Qing, you should drink less."

Mo Chen scratched his head in embarrassment. "I only see Yaya as a little sister. Besides, who would like a brat with such a bad temper..."

"Tsk, I wonder who it was that came to this old man with a long face, begging for a drink that night."

The old drunkard clicked his tongue, didn’t tease Mo Chen any further, and turned to wave him over.

"Let’s go. It’s time for you to see how high the sky is and how wide the earth is in the real world outside."

...

「At the same time.」

In Stinging Dragon Lane, below the Mo Family Mansion,

one by one, the great households began to pack up their gains, gather their juniors, and bustle about.

Inside one of the grand courtyards.

"Hey, you."

A chubby steward came to the stables and waved at a lean, dark-skinned youth who was feeding the horses.

"Steward, I’m Wuchen."

The dark, skinny youth ran over with a submissive look, bowing humbly to curry favor. Beneath his coarse hemp clothes, a body of wiry muscle could be seen.

"Wuchen, yes, that’s right."

The steward nodded and patted Wuchen’s shoulder with a smile. "Kid, you’ve done a good job raising the horses these past two years. Your luck has turned. The young miss says she’s taking you with them."

"Thank you, Steward! Thank you, Young Miss!"

The youth named Wuchen was immediately overcome with gratitude, bowing and scraping repeatedly, his face alight with uncontrollable joy. At the same time, he discreetly slipped a petal from a Golden Lotus into the steward’s hand.

"Haha, I like how you know how things work."

The steward’s eyes lit up. He nonchalantly pocketed the Golden Lotus petal and patted the youth’s shoulder again. Everything was understood without a word.

An ordinary lotus petal was indeed worthless.

But if it was a petal from the town’s Golden Lotus Pool, that was a completely different story. Not even a Gold and Silver Mountain could be exchanged for one.

It was worth the steward putting in a good word for the boy.

And the steward truly did admire the youth.

It wasn’t just because he knew how things worked.

What was most important was his decisiveness in the face of a trade-off and his sharp Eye Power for reading people and situations.

The lotus pool in the town.

It had opened once a year ago.

The old monsters had cryptically revealed some of its wonders.

All the youth of the town had a chance to enter the pool and pick a lotus, which was also considered a test of their future prospects.

The champion at the time

was both unexpected and, to many, completely expected.

’Funeral Star’ Mo Chen had plucked nine lotuses all by himself.

An extremely honored and noble feat.

His future was limitless.

But the Little Mudman named Wuchen had far worse luck.

He couldn’t manage to pick a single flower.

The single lotus petal he had

had been dropped during a chaotic scramble, trampled into the mud, and only then had he managed to snatch it up.

At the time, many other unlucky boys and girls also had their eyes on that petal and gave the Little Mudman a sound beating.

However,

he gritted his teeth and protected it, even as he was beaten black and blue.

One would think he would have treated it as a priceless treasure.

But unexpectedly,

a year later,

after the ’truth’ of the Grotto Heaven was revealed,

Wuchen didn’t hesitate to use the lotus petal in his hand as a price to trade for a brighter future.

Was it worth it?

Very much so.

At his young age,

his skills in dealing with people and reading situations had already been forged from the lessons of his father’s life as a beggar, turning him into a sharp and cunning person.

The great house he served, though low-key, held a high status in the town. In the outside world, it must be a major power.

Because of this,

he had spent a year shamelessly scheming and trying every trick he could think of just to get a job raising horses in the grand courtyard.

He understood in his heart

that as long as he could latch onto this high branch,

his starting line after leaving would be far ahead of most of his peers.

He was naturally clear on what choice to make.

Just like that night two years ago,

when faced with a temporary benefit

or a long-term gain,

he had made the right choice then, too.

’Master, I will definitely not disappoint you.’

After the steward left,

the youth straightened his back, his expression calm.

He looked down at his calloused fists.

The fawning, sycophantic humility on his body all transformed into unyielding iron will and blazing ambition.

...

Time flew like a shuttle.

Joy and bountiful harvests in the Dragon Mud Cave Heaven.

The end of the road and doomsday for the Divine Wilderness World.

Amidst these starkly different atmospheres,

another half month passed.

On this day,

the cracks in the sky above the Divine Wilderness had shrunk to only a hundred miles wide.

The Grotto Heaven no longer devoured destiny,

for the Divine Wilderness was already a land shattered, a Human World Purgatory.

In just half a month,

sixty percent of the population had vanished. The land was filled with wails of misery, dark and without light.

Also within that half month,

outside the Divine Wilderness, not only had the oceans completely disappeared, but the vast, uninhabited wilds of the outer regions had also begun to be annihilated.

If nothing changed,

in a little while,

the Central Plains of the Divine Wilderness would be devoured as well!

...

And on this day,

in the outer heavens,

Wu Dao entered the nineteen-thousand-eight-hundred-zhang domain.

Within the pure white ocean of Celestial Punishment,

deep and ancient,

a starry sky suffused with the aura of the Ancestral Sacred Spirit.

Only the last twenty percent of the azure glow of old blood remained.

The moment the starlight shone,

tentacles of the Magnetic Field stirred all things tangible and intangible within the domain.

The Magnetic Field Power of an individual life form had reached a stage of perfection, influencing all things and the laws of nature, faintly becoming the core that governed the turning of heaven and earth.

With every breath,

it was as if a God and Demon breathed in and out.

The universe trembled, and mountains and rivers rose and fell.

It seemed that with a mere flick of the Magnetic Field lines between his fingers,

everything within his sight, all that existed,

could be swept away into dust, annihilated into nothingness.

Nearly two years after descending into this world,

the Essence Devouring Art, far stronger than in his previous life, was finally perfected.

Human Potential Release—

100%!