Essence Devouring Art

’An Emperor Grade Cave Heaven at the eighteenth layer, growing so much in half a month, is indeed incredible, but even a Divine Aspect is probably not enough to seize the Boundless Sacred Land.’

Wu Dao’s thoughts turned to the Boundless Sacred Land, which he had been monitoring for some time.

The two Overlord Forces, Profound Yellow Heaven and Buzhou Heaven, had many cultivators with Emperor Grade Cave Heavens at the twentieth layer or higher.

A select few.

A select few even possessed Daoist Level Grotto Heavens of the Twenty-four Heavens or higher.

Emperor Grade potential also has three tiers.

The Nine Heavens is one tier, the Twenty-four Heavens is another, and from above the Twenty-four Heavens to the Thirty-Three Heavens is yet another.

Three tiers of potential.

Those from the first to the twenty-fourth are considered Emperor’s Sons.

Those above the twenty-fourth are Daoist Children.

The difference in combat power between the two is enormous.

The assault from the two Overlord Forces was now in its final stages. He estimated it wouldn’t be long before they broke through into the Boundless Sacred Land.

Time waits for no one!

’The Primordial Demons...’

Wu Dao’s thoughts churned as he stared at the newly constructed Primordial Demon magnetic field beacon.

「Afterward.」

He created another Incarnation, sending it with the beacon to search for the Primordial Demons.

His Main Body, meanwhile, continued to devour the Thunder Pool.

Judging by the activity around the Boundless Sacred Land, it would be completely breached in a month at most.

The Path of Transcendence only grew more difficult the further one walked it.

Wu Dao couldn’t guarantee that he could grow strong enough in a month to dominate the restricted zones.

As for the Primordial Demons, judging by Lv Tiezhu’s domineering fighting style, they definitely had the Creation Mother Qi needed to power a Heavy Artifact!

If they had enough Creation Mother Qi, even if his Grotto Heaven hadn’t reached the level of the Twenty-four Heavens by then, it wouldn’t be difficult to punch above his weight.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH~

Tribulation Qi surged, and space-time twisted.

Wu Dao piloted an Emperor Grade Cave Heaven Star Shuttle, activating the Primordial Demon magnetic field beacon. Guided by its magnetic senses, he sped across the ruins of the Emperor Star Battlefield.

Along the way, he sensed the changes in the surrounding Magnetic Fields, seeking fortune and avoiding disaster. He didn’t encounter any unforeseen dangers.

The only problem...

...was probably the distance involved.

The Taiyi Emperor Star contained the Four Tribulations Chaotic Star Sky Battlefield. Its vast, boundless ruins were riddled with countless dangerous restricted zones and Pocket Worlds. Even someone at the Saint Realm would be too slow to explore it all.

However, there were ways to take a shortcut.

The All Heavens had a great number of dojo-cities within the restricted zones.

They were scattered in every corner of the zones.

One could teleport between them using the Star Hub Arrays inside the cities.

As long as one had an accurate location, any distance, no matter how great, could be covered quickly by transferring through the All Heavens Dojos.

「A few days later.」

Wu Dao teleported through one dojo after another.

He finally sensed the tracks of the Primordial Demons at the edge of a boundless, black sea.

’This place...’

Standing at the sea’s edge, Wu Dao’s gaze pierced through the filthy water, discovering vast fossilized skeletons of gigantic creatures on the seabed. They had long lost their Spirituality.

Next to the skeletons were fallen stars from some unknown era, looking as tiny as grains of dust. It was easy to imagine how terrifying those creatures must have been when they were alive.

’Golden Immortal Island?’

Wu Dao cross-referenced the information from the Slaughter Emperor, raising an eyebrow as he confirmed which faction’s territory this sea belonged to during the Four Tribulations.

He also understood why the Primordial Demons had come to this region.

Within the Immortal Dao, a Dharma Aspect cultivator could be called a Human Immortal.

A Cave Heavens Realm cultivator was called a Celestial Immortal.

Only an Immortal Dao Cultivator whose lifespan was equal to the heavens, one who could open up and refine a World, was qualified to be called a Golden Immortal.

Golden Immortal Island was a faction allied with a group of Golden Immortals. During the Four Tribulations, it was a merchant alliance in the Chaotic Star Heaven with a rather foul reputation.

The reason their reputation was so bad was because Golden Immortal Island’s main specialty product was Creation Mother Qi.

Creation Mother Qi had two sources.

The first was when a Creation Realm cultivator’s Inner World breathed in Heaven and Earth Creation Qi, expelling the impure and retaining the essential, which was then refined and purified.

The second was by refining the origin of a World.

Golden Immortal Island sold Creation Mother Qi. Relying solely on cultivators’ breathing was not enough to meet demand, so they resorted to heretical methods, refining ownerless Worlds and causing endless slaughter.

’Talk about a godsend.’

A slight smile touched Wu Dao’s lips. He happened to need a large amount of Creation Mother Qi. If he could take Golden Immortal Island’s treasury, his worries would be over.

However, after sensing the Primordial Demons’ condition, Wu Dao discovered... it seemed they had run into trouble.

...

「Deep within the black sea.」

「Golden Immortal Island.」

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

The boundless seawater churned and evaporated as a blazing divine light illuminated the Nine Heavens.

Three World Heavy Artifacts clashed, shaking the Ten Directions and spewing forth a majestic power of destructive order.

Lights of various worlds erupted like cosmic pulses, destroying all tangible and intangible existence and plunging the surrounding cosmos into a state of Chaos.

However, any discerning eye could see that the Four-sided Golden Seal, a Heavy Artifact floating above Golden Immortal Island, was at a complete disadvantage, teetering on the verge of collapse under the suppression of the opposing blade and scissors.

If the Golden Immortal Island’s Island Protection Array hadn’t absorbed a portion of the Mighty Power, it would have been struck down immediately.

The gray-robed elder wielding the bloody killing blade had billowing sleeves and the bearing of an immortal. He was an Immortal Celestial Immortal, with the strength of a ninth-layer Emperor Grade Cave Heaven.

But he seemed to be merely an attendant.

Seeing that their prolonged assault was fruitless, he couldn’t help but call out in a booming voice, urging them to surrender:

"Listen, you people inside! Resistance is futile! My Emperor’s Son has said that as long as you sincerely pledge your allegiance, you will not be short on benefits in the future..."

THUD!!

But before he could finish his sentence, the Four-sided Golden Seal suddenly flared with immense power, shooting out a majestic golden light that pierced through the Chaos.

The sudden outburst, even with his Heavy Artifact to resist and diminish it, knocked the old man’s Daoist topknot loose, leaving him disheveled and in a sorry state.

From within Golden Immortal Island, a deep, bell-like voice rang out with a mocking curse:

"You old bastard, what makes you worthy of my, Lv’s, surrender? If you tell your Emperor’s Son to come and have some fun with me, then maybe I’ll consider it."

"Hahaha, that’s right! I’ve never seen such a sissy Emperor’s Son before."

"He probably became an Emperor’s Son by bending over for someone!"

The coarse and filthy words thundered through the cosmos, making the white-haired elder’s face turn as black as the bottom of a pot.

Beside him, Jiang Yu, who wielded the Yin-Yang Scissors, was dressed in white like snow. He was androgynous, with devastatingly beautiful features and a petite frame. No one would doubt it if you called him a woman.

Upon hearing the vulgarities from within Golden Immortal Island, Jiang Yu’s face flushed red, and he gritted his teeth, saying coldly:

"These barbarians go too far!"

As the saying goes, the truth hurts the most.

Jiang Yu hailed from the Carefree Emperor Sect of the Qingming World, and the Yin Yang Harmony Dual Cultivation Method was the very foundation of his faction’s legacy.

It wasn’t quite "bending over," but some of the old monsters in his sect who sought to extend their lives after their decline were definitely not easy to serve, which had left a considerable shadow on his heart.

Now that his old wounds were torn open, he was naturally furious and flustered.

Golden Immortal Island was a Four Tribulations Creation Land that Jiang Yu had accidentally discovered a few days ago while venturing into the restricted zone with his attendants.

But when they found it, someone had already beaten them to it. Without another word, both sides started fighting to contend for the Creation within the island.

However, as soon as they clashed, Jiang Yu was shocked to discover that this nameless force occupying Golden Immortal Island was utterly absurd.

There were only a little over ten of them.

But every single one was a peak Yang God, and their leader was even a Divine Demon Body!

Furthermore, they were all equipped with Celestial Soldiers and Desolate Divine Body Soldiers!

They used a World Heavy Artifact without a second thought, spending Creation Mother Qi as if it were free. They were so extravagantly wealthy that even Jiang Yu felt like a pauper in comparison.

Jiang Yu’s first thought was to subjugate them.

If he could get such a force of powerful and valiant warriors under his control, his status in the Carefree Emperor Sect would surely rise, and he could completely escape his identity as a Furnace Cauldron.

But the result disappointed him.

This force of unknown origin had already occupied Golden Immortal Island one step ahead of him and seized control of its core access.

Relying on the Island Protection Array and a World Heavy Artifact, they had fought him to a standstill. He hadn’t been able to break through for several days straight.

His patience was gradually wearing thin. And after suffering such a humiliation, the thought of subjugating them had completely vanished from Jiang Yu’s mind.

A group of untamable barbarians like them surely had bones harder than Divine Iron.

Rather than waste his breath, it would be better to slaughter them all, strip them of their Desolate Divine Body Soldiers, and refine their Ancestor Essence Blood. That, too, would be a handsome stroke of Creation.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM—

Along with Jiang Yu’s ferocious assault, the Sealing Evil Seal began to teeter, and many cracks appeared in the island’s Grand Array. The situation was perilous.

「Inside Golden Immortal Island.」

"How much longer? We can’t hold on!"

Lv Tiezhu’s face was grim as he struggled to control the Sealing Evil Seal. He turned and roared like thunder at the Primordial Demons behind him, who were analyzing the Grand Array of Golden Immortal Island’s treasury.

"Fucking hell, Tiezhu, stop yelling! This Grand Array is tied to the entire leyline network of Golden Immortal Island! A brute-force attack will leave us with nothing! It’ll take at least a month to disable it!"

Within the Grand Array, interwoven with Law and Dao Patterns, several seventh-grade Celestial Master-level Primordial Demons who specialized in the Array Dao were scratching their heads in frustration, their eyes bloodshot.

Analyzing the Grand Array in the midst of a crisis had thrown them into chaos. The massive drain on their minds had made them irritable as well.

"A month?"

When Lv Tiezhu heard that, he almost couldn’t stop himself from cursing again. They were completely at the end of their rope.

The main force of the Primordial Demons was in another region.

Reinforcements would never arrive in time.

Once the Creation Mother Qi inside the Sealing Evil Seal was depleted, their only option would be to take the enemy down with them.

As for surrendering and submitting... that was absolutely impossible!

All Primordial Demons could only have one Father God. That would never change, even upon death and the annihilation of their souls!

"Alliance Leader, Tiezhu is incompetent, but I will never bring shame upon you!"

Lv Tiezhu gritted his teeth, his eyes red. He stared at a Forbidden Talisman inside his body, a ruthless and savage look on his face.

If it really came to that, he would bite a chunk of flesh off his enemy even if it meant being smashed to pieces.

THUMP-THUMP-THUMP—

But just then, the Primordial Magnetic Demon Embryo, which hadn’t moved in twenty years, suddenly began to beat violently, jumping for joy like a subject welcoming the return of their Emperor.

"Alliance... Alliance Leader?"

Lv Tiezhu snapped his head up, looking toward a certain direction outside the Grand Array.

In a daze, he once again saw that domineering, colossal figure from his memories who could hold up the sky even as it collapsed. He instantly began to tremble, his eyes welling with hot tears.

...

「Outside.」

"Hmph. I’d like to see how long your Creation Mother Qi can last!"

Jiang Yu’s charming eyes stared at the Four-sided Golden Seal above Golden Immortal Island, its aura gradually weakening, and he sneered repeatedly.

He was certain of it. This group had definitely not obtained the Creation Mother Qi in Golden Immortal Island’s treasury yet.

If they had succeeded, the Mighty Power of this World Heavy Artifact wouldn’t be dwindling by the day, suppressed to the point where it couldn’t even raise its head.

On the contrary, his advantage was far too great. He had brought an abundant supply of Creation Mother Qi on this trip, enough to wear down the barbarians on the island until they were dead.

Once the Four-direction Seal was struck down, he, with his Thirteenth Layer Emperor Grade Cave Heaven, could easily handle a mere First Layer Divine Demon Body. He could toy with him however he pleased.

’They want to play with me, the Emperor’s Son? I’ll play them to death when the time comes!’

Jiang Yu licked his cherry-red lips. The Carefree Emperor Sect had no shortage of techniques for Absorbing Yang and Replenishing Yang.

"Oh? And how do you plan to play?"

A voice, both indifferent and domineering, suddenly echoed between heaven and earth, seeming to come from the distant horizon, yet whispering right next to his ear.

"Who is it? Get out here!"

Instantly, the hair on Jiang Yu’s entire body stood on end. He felt as if he were being stared at by an Ancient Fierce Beast and looked around at the surrounding space-time in alarm and suspicion.