Essence Devouring Art

Several days after the events in the Boundless Ancestral Land concluded.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

One after another, World Heavy Artifacts shook the Ninefold Celestial Universe, continuously reviving the World Law Order. Multicolored divine light vibrated through the vast expanse, bombarding the sealed Boundless Ancestral Land.

As far as the eye could see.

It was an absolutely grand spectacle!

Amidst the hazy Chaos.

Nearly a hundred brilliant World Heavy Artifacts hung high in the air, wielded by Daoist Level figures at or above the Thirtieth Layer of the Emperor Grade Cave Heaven!

The supporting cultivators were all at or above the Twenty-four Heavens. There was even a large contingent of Grotto Heaven Masters from the older generation, hailing from the various top factions of the All Heavens.

BOOM—CRACK!

After another round of bombardment.

A massive gap was blasted open in the sealed Boundless Ancestral Land, revealing a completely empty, white expanse within.

"Damn it!"

"What in the world happened?"

"The Boundless Ancestral Land has been utterly destroyed, and not a single clue was left behind."

The expressions of the Daoist Children, Celestial Prides of the All Heavens, and the group of older figures turned extremely grim as they stared at the clean, white expanse of the Boundless Ancestral Land.

"Senior Brother Su..."

The young man leading the group, Ji Heng, was clad in a Chaos-colored Daoist Robe. Faintly carrying the air of one who is the center of all attention, he gazed at the empty, chaotic Boundless Ancestral Land and took a deep breath.

He was a Daoist Child from Chaos City.

He had been transporting a batch of resources excavated from a forbidden zone on the Emperor Star to the outside world, but as soon as he returned, he received an urgent message from Chaos City—

Su Chen was in trouble!

Su Chen.

Ji Heng was naturally familiar with this dazzling star who had risen within Chaos City over the last fifty years.

He possessed an incredible Innate Chaos Body, had risen through the ranks sweeping aside all his peers without a single defeat, and had inseparable connections with the upper echelons of Chaos City.

Back when he was only at the Dharma Aspect realm.

Su Chen had already been designated as a candidate for the Son of Revival of Chaos City, qualified to one day lead Chaos City to new heights.

The sheer scale of Chaos City.

The vastness of its talent pool.

It was something an ordinary person could hardly imagine, yet despite such a massive base, there were no more than ten individuals who could become a Son of Revival!

One could only imagine.

What a Son of Revival.

Meant to Chaos City. If something truly happened to him, it would be a grievous loss that would pain even those in power.

Therefore.

After sensing that Su Chen was in danger.

Chaos City immediately dispatched a group of top Grotto Heaven Masters and a large number of World Heavy Artifacts to the Emperor Star to frantically bombard the Boundless Ancestral Land, the last location Su Chen had reported before he vanished.

As for intimidating the Emperor Star.

The Slaughter Emperor and the unknown existence had not guessed wrong.

The powers-that-be in Chaos City were not insane enough to start a war between two worlds over a single Son of Revival.

Of course.

This was because the Emperor Star itself was powerful enough.

If this had been a region controlled by any lesser faction, Chaos City would have likely razed it to the ground the moment they sensed their Son of Revival was in trouble.

"Stop searching... His flame has gone out. Alas."

Just as Ji Heng was searching the Boundless Ancestral Land for clues, his Faith Channel vibrated within his Divine Soul, and a grief-stricken, ancient voice echoed through.

Ji Heng’s gaze trembled.

Even though he already had a bad feeling.

But upon receiving true confirmation.

He still found it somewhat hard to believe.

’Su Chen, with his Innate Chaos Body, had mastered numerous Great Divine Power Emperor Scriptures, and even Chaos City’s supreme legacy, the Mixed Lotus Emperor Scripture. He was more monstrous than a monster.’

’Within the Emperor Star.’

’It could be said he was nearly unrivaled.’

’Who had the ability, and the audacity, to hunt him down?’

Let alone...

"Little Thunder King... AARGH!!"

"Daoist Child! I am filled with hate!"

"No matter who did this, my Eternal Emperor Sect will hunt you to the ends of the earth!"

...

Sounds of grieving and furious roars.

Rose and fell from all corners of the empty Boundless Ancestral Land.

Evidently.

The major factions had all learned of their Daoist Children’s demise through various means. They roared in madness, their eyes turning red.

"Chaos City, the Xing’e Imperial Dynasty, the Eternal Emperor Sect, the Thunder Emperor Palace... Hiss... This is an earth-shattering disaster!"

Outside.

The commotion at the Boundless Ancestral Land had long attracted a crowd of onlookers. Watching the group of enraged grand figures inside the empty Ancestral Land, they gasped in shock.

So many successors from Overlord Forces.

Sons of Revival, Daoist Children, Emperor’s Sons...

As well as numerous top Celestial Prides from the All Heavens.

All of them had fallen inside the Infinite Ancestral Hall!

If word of this got out.

It would undoubtedly shake the All Heavens and Myriad Realms and could be called the greatest crime of this era!

It was unimaginable.

Just who, and with what level of audacity, would dare to commit such a heaven-shaking crime.

"This familiar modus operandi..."

Within the Ancestral Hall, while some were frantic, others naturally remained clear-headed.

They recalled a mysterious faction that had recently caused a huge uproar by similarly ensnaring a large number of Celestial Prides.

The tragedy at the Infinite Ancestral Hall.

How similar was it?

It was the same method of trapping them like fish in a barrel, the same clean sweep, and the same delay between their capture and the extinguishing of their life flames.

"Could it really not be the Dragon Hunting Tower?"

Someone frowned and guessed.

Suspicion once again fell upon the notorious Dragon Hunting Tower. The style was just too similar.

Among the All Heavens.

There was only one mysterious faction that dared to disregard status and had the power to hunt top-tier Celestial Prides: the Dragon Hunting Tower.

Although the Dragon Hunting Tower had only ever targeted geniuses of the Horizontal Refining Lineage, there was no guarantee they hadn’t expanded their ’business scope’ and infiltrated the Emperor Star.

"Dragon Hunting Tower..."

Ji Heng’s eyes flickered. He, too, grew suspicious, because Su Chen, with his Innate Chaos Body, was undoubtedly a brilliant new star of the Horizontal Refining Lineage.

Unfortunately.

Speculation was, in the end, just speculation.

That faction’s methods were too sophisticated. In the entire, vast Boundless Sacred Land, not a single useful clue had been left behind.

After a round of impotent fury.

The forces from the All Heavens could only end things anticlimactically.

However, most of them directed their hatred toward the Dragon Hunting Tower, pinning a huge amount of blame on it.

...

At the same time, Wu Dao, having returned fully loaded, had already found a new lair on the Emperor Star with his Primordial Demons. He was busy sorting through the spoils from the battle at the Boundless Sacred Land.

「Deep within the Taiyi Emperor Star Battlefield.」

「The Asura Sea Forbidden Zone.」

A sea of desolate bones drowns the Great Thousand World; an abyss of blood-fiends swallows Immortal Gods.

For millions of years.

The Taiyi Emperor Star had opened nine times in the past.

In the records compiled from the explorations of past generations of Celestial Pride cultivators, there were many forbidden zones that one must never approach, and the Asura Sea was one of them.

During the Four Tribulations.

The Asura Sea was one of the main battlefields.

Countless members of the Chaotic Star Heavenly Human Clan and the Mountain Sea Wilderness Clan had fallen there.

The Desolate God Bone Sea that filled the Great Thousand World and the countless Evil Abysses formed from the convergence of endless baleful and resentful qi were the most potent proof.

It was said.

In the core Evil Abyss, deep within the Shura Bone Sea.

The baleful qi was so terrifying that it could corrupt, tear apart, and bury even a Saint Master!

Even in the outermost Evil Abysses.

For those below the Grotto Heaven realm.

Merely approaching would cause them to suffer from cultivation deviation.

Their bodies and souls would be corrupted, instantly exploding and becoming part of the baleful qi.

RUMBLE~

The waves of the Shura Bone Sea surged, forming heaven-blotting tsunamis of bone. They swirled around and shattered against the sky-piercing scarlet pillars of light spewing from the mouths of the Evil Abysses.

Deep within a certain Evil Abyss on the outskirts.

The magnificent Infinite Ancestral Hall, now glowing like abyssal fluorescence and as insignificant as a drop in the ocean, hung silently in the lightless, stormy depths of resentful balefulness, anchored in a zone of maximum safety.

Around the Ancestral Hall.

The abyssal undercurrents of resentful balefulness formed hurricanes.

They constantly manifested terrifying visions of the Four Tribulations’ battlefields. An ordinary Grotto Heaven Master who fell in would be instantly obliterated into dust by the resentful qi of ancient powerhouses.

Yet, in such a dangerous region.

Shadows of God and Demon were bobbing within, constantly shattering and reforming. From time to time, they would erupt with majestic, pure-yang electromagnetic pulses that pierced the Abyss and blasted the baleful sea in all Ten Directions.

This was the daily Cultivation of the Primordial Demons.

As for Wu Dao.

For a rare change.

He did not immediately begin his Cultivation in the Evil Abyss.

HOO~

Deep within the Infinite Ancestral Hall.

His Heaven-Supporting Physique seated atop the Golden Stele, Wu Dao first anchored the Infinite Ancestral Hall, then let out a slow breath and opened his attribute panel.

Data cascaded through his mind like a waterfall.

’Mixed Lotus Extreme Path, Chaos Emperor Scripture... Azure Thunder Emperor Scripture, Three Calamities Emperor Scripture, Mount Zhongyue Emperor Scripture, Infinite Golden Body... Thunderous Roar of the All Heavens, All-Heaven Listener, Severed Communication, Apocalypse Pupil...’

His consciousness swept over one Emperor Scripture after another.

Great All Heavens Divine Techniques...

A slight smile crept onto Wu Dao’s lips.

His gains from this battle at the Boundless Ancestral Land had completely surpassed those from the final battle in the Divine Wilderness!

A small portion came from Su Chen.

The lion’s share, however, came from the crowd of Daoist Children, Emperor’s Sons, and the thousands of Celestial Prides from the All Heavens inside the Infinite Ancestral Hall.

These people.

Every last one of them was a darling of fate, the apple of their faction’s eye.

After plundering everything.

Wu Dao had received far too many pleasant surprises.

Thirty brand-new Great All Heavens Divine Techniques!

Twenty Emperor Scriptures!

One Infinite Golden Body, a technique no less profound than an Emperor Scripture, and one of the Ten Great Supreme Divine Techniques, the Mixed Lotus Extreme Path.

In total.

Fifty-two Heaven-Opening Techniques!

A Great All Heavens Divine Technique could be plundered to excavate one All Heaven, an Emperor Scripture could yield two, and a Strongest Divine Technique could yield three.

In other words.

If he fully digested his gains from the battle at the Boundless Sacred Land, he could plunder another seventy-five All Heavens!

Aside from that.

The haul of resources was also astonishing.

First and foremost.

Was undoubtedly the Glazed Destiny Stone, a Dao Treasure.

Next was the Infinite Ancestral Hall, a Saint Master Divine Weapon on par with the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe.

With the Primordial Star Mother’s computational power.

Comprehending the legacy within the Infinite Golden Stele and gaining the recognition of the Infinite Ancestral Hall wouldn’t even take the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Within the Infinite Ancestral Hall.

Wu Dao not only found an extremely pure Sea of Desolate God Ancestor Essence Blood, solving the future resource problem for his and the Primordial Demons’ Transverse Cultivation.

He had also harvested a massive amount of Heavenly and Earthly Treasures and Celestial Weapons. Adding the resources dug out from the Dantians of the Celestial Prides of the All Heavens, he had completely plundered the entire Ancestral Land Creation.

Right now, inside his little treasury.

It was a dazzling sight, a veritable Treasure Mountain and Treasure Sea.

If he digested it all, he could easily nurture a new All Heavens Great Teaching Holy Land.

’Seventy-five All Heavens, plus the fifty-five I’ve already plundered, makes one hundred and thirty...’

As Wu Dao’s thoughts focused on the 365 All Heavens needed for the perfection of the second stage of the Essence Devouring Art, his feverish excitement calmed down.

’Not enough!’

’Not even halfway there!’

Among the All Heavens he had plundered, the fastest-progressing one, the Primordial Celestial Demon All Heaven, had already reached the 33rd Dharma Reincarnation Heaven Perfection, and the others were also approaching perfection.

He could break through to the next stage at any time.

But for the fastest one, the Primordial Celestial Demon All Heaven, Wu Dao had already stopped refining Dao Stones to elevate its rank.

Three hundred sixty-five Great Full Cycle Perfection.

The second stage of the Essence Devouring Art would only reach true, ultimate perfection then!

If he broke through before reaching that limit.

It would only result in a flawed product, a terrible waste of a treasure!

The consequence.

Would be that the strength of his various All Heavens would become uneven, the gap between them growing larger and larger, turning them into a mismatched mess and completely wasting the potential of his Primordial Magnetic Dao Body.

If he were only chasing a higher realm.

Wu Dao wouldn’t have stolen the authority of the Great Dao to forge his Primordial Magnetic Dao Body. What he pursued was true, ultimate perfection.

’So where would the remaining two hundred-plus All Heavens come from?’

’The Daoist Children of the All Heavens!’

Wu Dao’s eyes gleamed as an idea formed in his mind.

This Emperor Star grand event.

Too many top factions from the All Heavens were participating. There were hundreds of Emperor’s Lineages, and Saint Children and Emperor’s Sons were everywhere. Even Daoist Children, normally a rare sight, were not uncommon.

Among the major factions.

Celestial Prides at the Grotto Heaven Daoist Level already had the qualifications to cultivate Emperor Scriptures, and a single Emperor Scripture could open up two All Heavens!

Some Daoist Children.

Cultivated even more than one Emperor Scripture and had no shortage of Great All Heavens Divine Techniques. They were walking, humanoid treasure troves!

Besides the Heaven-Opening Techniques.

The materials needed to nurture the Primordial Dao Wheel Sub-wheel Spirit were another problem that needed solving.