Essence Devouring Art

He only knew one thing.

The moment he touched the Stone Eye.

He had become entangled in the karma of that unknown, terrifying existence.

This karmic debt was too heavy.

Merely being tainted by it...

...had caused him to fall into this endless Dark World.

’What is its goal?’

In his Divine Ghost Heaven State,

in a Dark World that would drive an ordinary person to madness and despair,

Wu Dao maintained absolute composure.

He contemplated a way to break the stalemate.

The unknown, terrifyingly ominous being had dragged him into this dark abyss. There was definitely a purpose behind this action.

...

It had to be one of three answers.

One, to kill him.

Two, to use him.

Three, possession?

The first answer could be ruled out.

If it truly wanted to kill him,

it wouldn’t have given him any chance to breathe.

That left two possibilities.

Using him or possessing him were both plausible.

However, Wu Dao leaned more toward the latter.

The Extraordinary landscape of this world was incomparably terrifying.

After a living being’s cultivation reached a certain height,

even if their physical body was destroyed, they could rely on their powerful soul and consciousness to be reborn through possession.

This was something

any Cultivator whose soul strength had reached the Mental Realm could do—the strong preying on the weak, usurping their bodies.

If he followed this line of speculation...

’Am I just in a state of soul and consciousness right now?’

With the wisdom of the Divine Ghost Heaven,

the perfectly calm Wu Dao quickly formed a hypothesis about his current predicament.

To verify this hypothesis,

he enveloped his body’s macro and micro structures with his flourishing Spiritual Thoughts.

Once!

A hundred times!

A thousand times!

...

After tens of thousands of repeated inspections,

Wu Dao captured a trace of an imperceptible, illusory, and unreal aura.

He also reached a conclusion—

It was both real and fake!

If it wasn’t absolutely real, then it was fake!

An unknown power had clouded his perception.

That was why, when he fell into the darkness,

he thought his entire being had been dragged into this world of despair.

In that case...

the second possibility could be ruled out.

If it wanted to use him, there would be no need for these petty tricks. Tormenting him was pointless. Whether he agreed or not would depend on its attitude; it could have just talked terms openly.

That left only the third possibility.

The unknown, terrifyingly ominous being couldn’t interfere with his physical body in reality, so it could only pull his soul and consciousness into this world.

It couldn’t interfere with his body.

This meant the entity didn’t have a physical body, no vessel to walk the earth. It wanted to grind down his soul and consciousness to take over his body.

However...

one thing cast doubt on this answer.

The Eye of the Gap!

The ominous existence had been a parasite in the core of the Eye of the Gap, protecting its True Self from scattering for nearly ten thousand years.

If it really wanted to possess someone to be reborn, it had plenty of opportunities. The Eye of the Gap should no longer exist.

Everything seemed to have returned to square one.

Motive, purpose.

They were a mystery once again.

But Wu Dao wasn’t the least bit discouraged.

Sparks of intellect flew.

’If I can’t guess the enemy’s thoughts,’

’then I’ll think about my own advantages, or what’s beneficial to me.’

The first advantage,

and also the greatest one.

The Nine Tribulations of the Divine Wilderness had lasted for thirty thousand years.

After every tribulation, the upper limit of all existence in heaven and earth would be suppressed by the Great Dao.

Now, in the Tenth Tribulation, the limit for the Extraordinary was stuck at the Ninth Transformation of Divine Techniques.

Only a Celestial Treasure Master had a sliver of a chance to break through.

Besides a Celestial Treasure Master, no existence could escape the suppression of the Great Dao.

Thus,

the enemy’s strength was clear.

Even if it had been a supreme sovereign across all the heavens in some ancient, unknown era, after being worn down by tribulation after tribulation,

its upper limit now was the Ninth Transformation of Divine Techniques at most!

’No!

It must be even weaker!’

A being at Prince Nanyang’s level...

Wu Dao knew about it.

Their soul and body were one.

No matter if it was a single shred of soul or a fragment of flesh, they could be resurrected and restore their True Self.

There was no need to possess others.

Even if their lifespan was ending, it was impossible to gain a new life this way.

Soul and body were both bound by lifespan.

It wasn’t as if the limit on one’s life would disappear after possession.

However, ten thousand years...

It had been ten thousand years since the Eye of the Gap obtained its Divine Technique of Creation.

Without a doubt, that Divine Technique was a gift from the strange, ominous being.

It was hard to imagine just how many years the unknown, ominous existence had lived.

It was highly likely

that it had already surpassed the limits of mortality.

’A remnant soul of an old monster?’

As thoughts surged in his mind, Wu Dao had more or less figured out the nature of the unknown, ominous existence.

”How about we talk? Your Excellency should know that there’s no point in dragging this out.”

Wu Dao opened his eyes. He gazed into the ever-deepening darkness as he fell and spoke calmly.

Even if the sound didn’t travel, even if he couldn’t perceive the sound waves himself and only seemed to be moving his mouth,

he was still certain.

The remnant soul of the unknown old monster was definitely watching him at all times.

It couldn’t directly control his soul.

This proved the old monster’s remaining power was limited.

It seemed to be trying to wear him down, using this endless darkness to exhaust all his defiance, only then would it truly show itself.

Wu Dao wasn’t afraid of a war of attrition.

The soul and consciousness were not energetic matter.

There was only the distinction between strong and weak. Their essence was that as long as the True Self existed, they would endure.

If there were no lifespan limits, in a sense, any being whose soul and consciousness could exist separately from their body could be considered immortal.

But even with lifespan limits,

his soul’s longevity was terrifyingly long. It completely surpassed that of his previous life.

Barring any accidents,

his soul could now exist for tens of thousands of years without perishing. He could keep this stalemate with the old monster going indefinitely.

But that was meaningless.

It was the same for Wu Dao as it was for the old monster.

Because...

the Great Tribulation was coming in one year.

This tribulation.

According to Prince Nanyang’s speculation,

if the Divine Wilderness were to fall,

no form of the Extraordinary would continue to exist!

That included him, Wu Dao.

And it also included the old monster behind this Dark World!

But...

Wu Dao’s attempt to converse received no reply. The only response was the ever-deepening, endless darkness.

And the ultimate loneliness that the darkness brought.

The deeper he fell into the darkness, the more this loneliness would grow, eroding the soul, negating the self, and breeding feelings of pessimism and despair.

”Heh...”

Wu Dao let out a cold laugh.

Since talking was fruitless, he wasted no more words.

He closed his eyes, let himself fall into the darkness, ignored the endless pessimistic thoughts, and his True Self remained unshaken.

In the Dark World, there was no concept of time. Nor did space or direction exist.

Since he began falling, Wu Dao could only feel the darkness growing ever deeper and heavier, as if millennia had passed.

However, this so-called passage of time was just an illusion.

Because he had his own way of determining time—

[Physique: Peak of Human Extremes]

[Extraordinary: Essence Devouring Art (96% Potential Release)+

Thunder Punishment Dominating Whale Fist 17,000 years (Five Fist Transformations)+

Undying Transformation 17,000 years (Horizontal Refining Eighth Gate, Six Yang Celestial Light, Limit)+]

Great Divine Techniques:

Primordial Magnetic Gang Shield, Primordial Magnetic Celestial Saber, Ten Directions Divine Slaughter, Primordial Magnetic Tribulation Finger, Celestial Essence Magnetic Burst Fist, Primordial Magnetic Celestial Prison Cage, Primordial Magnetic Demon Embryo, Black Tortoise Incarnation.

[Teleportation Points: 100080]

The attribute panel opened.

The various Cultivation Data appeared in his Sea of Consciousness.

The Eye of the Gap’s guess had been correct.

After this period of tempering, Wu Dao’s strength...

...the Undying Transformation had been unleashed.

Empowered by the limit of his Eight Daoist Sects physique and the Primordial Magnetic Power,

he had indeed joined the ranks of Great Divine Power Users.

At his absolute peak,

he wouldn’t even fear a Great Divine Power User at the Absolute Peak of the Sixth Transformation.

If he entered the Ninth Daoist Sect

and his Potential Release increased by another 1%,

he would even dare to take on a Seventh Transformation expert.

’The Horizontal Refining data hasn’t increased. This proves that the passage of time in the outside world is nearly static compared to this Dark World.’

He closed the attribute panel.

Wu Dao now had a grasp on the flow of time.

After this disaster began,

although his soul had been dragged into this world,

his physical body still existed in the outside world.

Once the terrifying instinctive program began to run,

his body in the outside world would decay.

It would be replaced by the mass of undying flesh and blood he had hidden in the outer heavens.

A new him

would absorb energy and grow from that mass of flesh. Driven by instinct, he would continue to climb the Sea of Celestial Punishment, cultivating without pause.

In his estimation,

it would take two months

for his body to enter the Ninth Daoist Sect and release 97% of his human potential.

But he had been falling in the darkness for an unknown number of years, and the Horizontal Refining data on his attribute panel still hadn’t changed.

This meant

the passage of time he was experiencing was just an illusion. In the outside world, not much time had actually passed.

As for how

he confirmed his body was fine.

It was obvious.

If his physical body in the outside world were gone,

with only his soul remaining,

the data for Horizontal Refining Undying Transformation wouldn’t be on the attribute panel anymore.

Darkness...

Endless darkness...

Falling...

An endless fall.

An unknown amount of time passed.

A thousand years?

Or ten thousand?

BZZZ—

In the depths of the eternal darkness, a tiny spark of light finally appeared.

A blood-colored light!

Wu Dao opened his eyes. He stared at the bloody light at the end of the darkness, his eyes narrowing slightly, showing neither surprise nor joy.

’Finally... couldn’t hold back any longer?’

”To tread a thousand peaks and level ten thousand mountains, beyond my mountain, no peak is higher... No wonder you possess such an imposing air.”

A vast, ancient voice, seemingly drifting from the end of the river of time, resounded through the endless Dark World, filled with praise.

That sentence... Wu Dao’s eyes flickered when he heard it.

Those were the words he’d left behind when he’d shattered a snowy peak upon reaching the Heroic Limit.

’So, I was being watched by this old monster even back then?’

’And, without knowing it, I entered its sight once again.’

’And fell into the calamitous trap it had laid.’

’Truly... fate is fickle.’

”You are excellent, truly excellent!”

The blood-colored light at the end of the darkness seemed to not belong to this ancient history. It spanned endless ages, looking down with satisfaction at Wu Dao in the dark mire, its words filled with admiration:

”That little thing you killed, it didn’t last long after falling into the darkness. It couldn’t bear the erosion of endless loneliness, went mad with despair, and negated its own self. Truly strong on the outside but weak on the inside.

Loneliness, death, and mediocrity.

The three great trials that the weak must overcome on the path to becoming strong.

It couldn’t even pass the first trial.

What right did it have to become a true expert?

But you...

Tsk!

After ’nearly ten thousand years’ of erosion by dark loneliness, your True Self remains completely unmoved, without the slightest hint of self-negation.

Such a disposition.

At your age, this Emperor was far inferior.”

’This Emperor!’

’It calls itself This Emperor...’

”And you are, Your Excellency?”

Wu Dao’s gaze was placid. His expression showed no anger, resentment, shock, or terror. He simply inquired calmly about its identity.

In the Extraordinary World,

all sorts of resounding titles, names, and Daoist appellations were countless.

But the word ”Emperor” alone was too heavy.

Few dared to use it.

Nor could they bear its weight.

In recent times,

the only one who called themselves an Emperor that Wu Dao knew of was the Demon Suppression Emperor.

As for before the Ten Tribulations...

while rare, they were not completely unheard of.

But no matter which Emperor it was,

aside from the arrogant fools who didn’t understand the meaning of the title,

they were all figures at the Absolute Peak of their era.

’Then this old monster...’

’Which era’s Emperor could it be?’