Essence Devouring Art

”Divinity Transformation...”

Within the ocean of high-frequency, shimmering divine light.

Facing the Demon Suppression Emperor, who was burning himself to his absolute limit, Qing Yu Celestial Venerable understood completely. His expression remained utterly placid as he flicked his finger again, and the brilliant blade-light brewing within his gourd erupted forth.

In that instant.

Like a hot knife through butter.

The sky-filling sacred radiance,

as if it had met its nemesis,

was rapidly extinguished as it violently retreated!

RUMBLE—

The moment their auras collided,

it was like two black-hole abysses, or two worlds wrestling for dominance.

The ”gravity” of both sides rumbled, turning the great World, pulling at the Ten Directions of the universe and all the principles of order.

All phenomena twisted and the auras fell into chaos.

The very scenery of heaven and earth was stretched into blurred scrolls, madly spinning around the abysses before being annihilated.

A Mao God fighting a Celestial Venerable!

A firefly vying with the bright moon!

The Celestial Venerable was relaxed and effortless.

The Mao God burned his all.

It was an unfair fight from the very beginning.

Supported only by belief and courage.

A battle that was nearly impossible to win.

With the clash of blade and sword, it had finally begun.

「At the same time.」

The Northern Lands, the Central Plains, the East Sea, the Southern Border, and the Western Desert.

The Five Directions Five Emperors.

They too were burning themselves to their limits in the darkness, unleashing the light of fireflies as they charged toward enemies they could not possibly defeat.

If one were to look down from beyond the heavens at this moment, one could see, within the dark, egg-like World, six galaxy-like vortexes madly spinning and colliding, shooting out brilliant, multicolored pulses of light that flickered in and out of existence.

”KILL!!”

Within the Dark World, the first roar, filled with the will to die, shook the darkness.

「On the Southern Border battlefield.」

Zhan Qian, the Second Generation Ancestral Master of Martial King Mountain, was bathed in blood. A destructive wave brewed within him as he charged a purple-robed youth from the Dayan Imperial Dynasty who wore a crown, roaring his grief to the heavens:

”Fellow cultivators of the Divine Wilderness, let us all perish in a blaze of glory! Don’t let these bastards look down on us!”

The clangorous, thunderous sound had just begun to echo.

BOOM!!

A destructive surge of Energy erupted violently.

It was like a late-stage, exploding great sun had been thrown into the darkness, its blindingly brilliant light illuminating ten thousand miles of their homeland’s mountains and rivers.

’We can’t win!’

’We can’t win at all!’

The moment the battle began, the Second Generation Ancestral Master of Martial King Mountain understood this cruel reality.

The thirteen Tribulation Descenders in the Southern Border were all above the third step!

’This group of Great Divine Power Users like us... attacking with all our might was as laughable as a child waving a sword. Our blows were casually parried.’

’Even when we burned our lives and used all sorts of Forbidden Techniques, we couldn’t even make our opponents flinch.’

’The gap between us was despairingly vast.’

’Courage to fight the heavens?’

’An unyielding belief?’

’Completely useless!’

’Because they don’t translate into even a single shred of Power.’

’So... rather than die a pathetic death, it’s better to burn with abandon!’

RUMBLE—

A supremely violent, brilliant fireball swelled abruptly.

The self-detonation of a Nine Transformations Second Step practitioner.

The Energy was enough to obliterate thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, even posing a threat to a Three-step Peak Practitioner!

But...

”An ant shaking a tree.”

Facing the self-detonation of Martial King Mountain’s Second Generation Ancestral Master, the noble, purple-robed youth from the Dayan Divine Dynasty merely uttered those four dismissive words and casually reached out with a large hand shrouded in four-colored divine light.

HUMMM~

Space and time trembled, and all colors flowed backward.

A simple palm strike.

Yet it concentrated four perfected Great Divine Techniques that had reached the absolute peak.

Like a net, like a canopy, it pressed down upon the world.

It completely contained the Mighty Power of the self-detonation from Martial King Mountain’s Second Generation Ancestral Master, transforming it into a multicolored lotus flower that fell into his palm.

”The Nine Transformations True Dragon Arm, Horizontal Refining Eighth Gate Great Success, the Celestial Battle Secret Scripture, the fortune of a low-grade Dragon-Elephant Dharma Aspect...”

The purple-robed youth glanced at the multicolored lotus in his hand as if appraising merchandise and murmured:

”Little De’zi has an excess of loyalty but lacks martial prowess. This reward should compensate for his shortcomings.”

HUMMM~

As his voice fell, the ring on his finger flashed.

He stored the multicolored lotus within it.

”Ancestral Master!!”

”You beast, I’ll take your life!”

The purple-robed youth’s words, completely undisguised, instantly caused the eyes of Martial King Mountain’s Divine Ability Users to split with rage. One after another, they brewed destructive energy and charged at him.

Death before dishonor!

But this youth.

He actually treated the Second Generation Ancestral Master of Martial King Mountain...

...as a reward for some eunuch!

This was more than an insult; it was a comprehensive, bone-deep contempt and disdain!

”Pathetic dignity.”

The purple-robed youth watched the Divine Ability Users charging him, the arrogance born from the gap in their fundamental essences of life causing him to sneer and shake his head.

He calmly extended his large hand.

As if plucking fruit,

he casually suppressed the hysterically self-detonating Divine Ability Users from the Southern Border, transforming them into lotuses and storing them in his Space Ring.

”Kill!”

”Die, you dog!”

”For the Divine Desolate Human Race!”

It wasn’t just the purple-robed youth’s battlefield.

On the battlefields across the Divine Wilderness, after realizing their enemies were invincible, most Divine Ability Users chose to martyr themselves, roaring in grief as they exploded into one great sun after another, crashing into the Tribulation Descenders.

Unfortunately...

...it was all useless.

All it earned them were sneers of derision.

This was the tragedy of the weak.

The heroic grandeur of martyrdom.

Unbreakable dignity.

In the eyes of the strong, it was nothing but a joke.

RUMBLE—

Between the heavens and earth of the dark Divine Wilderness, blazing great suns continually lit up the darkness, only to be swiftly extinguished after blooming with the brilliant light of life.

One...

Two...

...

A hundred...

Not long after the fighting began, all Divine Ability Users in the Divine Wilderness below the Absolute Peak were dead!

As for the Hongyuan side—

Zero casualties!

A short while later.

「Central Plains Dali.」

”Fifteen hundred years, gone like a dream in a single day.”

Xingjiang, the Supreme Peak Grand Elder of the True Martial Hall, muttered to himself as his battle saber shattered. His physique remained standing, but his head slowly drooped.

His withered, mummy-like body was proof.

That in this battle, he had truly burned away everything.

But even so, he had failed to stop his opponent in the slightest.

His opponent was too terrifying.

He could clearly sense his opponent’s youth and was certain his Cultivation had not exceeded a hundred years.

But...

Just a hundred years!

Three Great Divine Techniques at Nine Transformations Perfection!

The Horizontal Refining Ninth Gate Limit!

Sword Dao Momentum at Nine Transformations Perfection!

And he was a Soldier Cultivator, the type with the strongest killing power!

Xingjiang had only ever felt such a suffocating pressure, born from this staggering gap in power, from that one monster.

But in Hongyuan... everyone was a monster!!

And their leaders were old, seasoned monsters among monsters!

The battle had been without suspense from the start.

The young monster used only his Sword Momentum, and it was enough to leave Xingjiang breathless.

After burning everything to break through the Sword Momentum, what awaited him was not victory, but eighteen Divine Suns that lit up the world.

WHOOSH~

The white-robed youth, carrying an unsheathed Divine Sword on his back, stepped through the void. He placed a fair, jade-like palm on Xingjiang’s withered forehead and said flatly:

”The one who killed you is Jiang Pingyan, number one on the Silver Sword List of the Pingfeng Domain in the Luotian Sword Realm.”

Finally, the youth added two words: ”In person.”

HUMMM~

As his voice fell, Xingjiang, the Supreme Grand Elder of the True Martial Hall with his fifteen hundred years of Cultivation, transformed into a multicolored lotus flower in the youth’s hand.

”A pity. It can’t compare to the Golden Lotus from Dragon Gate Town...”

The youth put away the lotus.

He sighed with considerable regret.

The first Peak Master from Great Li—

Fallen!

But this was only the beginning.

Or rather, it happened at almost the exact same time.

Any Peak Master from Great Li who faced a Peak Master from Hongyuan, without exception, was defeated and killed.

Those from the four other regions who had originally hidden from the world, figures like the Ancestral Master of Zige Mountain who had passed the Nine Tribulations, ultimately failed to survive the Tenth Tribulation.

After blooming with the final radiance of their lives, their bodies withered, and they vanished completely into the rolling river of time.

Within the Divine Desolate Dark World, the clamor gradually faded.

Many domains fell into a deathly silence.

Only the Five Emperors and the Demon Suppression Emperor remained.

Still stubbornly resisting.

But... they wouldn’t last much longer either.

”Cough, cough...”

「East Sea Battlefield.」

The river of treasures shattered, its brilliant light dimming.

King Bao Tong was covered in blood, his once portly physique now significantly shriveled.

He stood alone in the sky.

His turbid eyes swept over the figures watching him silently from all around. Tears of blood streamed down his face as he let out a grief-stricken roar to the heavens: ”Ancestors, Master, Butcher... Where are you? Protect your king! Protect me!”

”There’s no need for that, young friend.”

The old man holding a bloodstained, blunt short blade shook his head and smiled faintly. ”We will all meet again eventually.”

’That’s right.’

’We’ll all meet again eventually.’

’Just have to chase after them a few more steps on the Yellow Springs Path.’

”Heh heh...”

King Bao Tong gave a wretched smile, wiped the blood from his face, and took a deep breath before asking:

”Can you at least let me die with some understanding? Why are my Celestial Treasure and all my weapons useless against you?”

The moment the battle began, King Bao Tong had sensed something was wrong.

It was like he had met his nemesis.

All of his treasures, and even the Mighty Power of his Treasure Basin... ten-tenths of his power would hit the black-robed elder, but only one-tenth would remain. Sometimes, not even that!

Resentment and bewilderment filled his consciousness.

Even if he had to die, he had to understand why.

”This is why I said from the beginning that you and I were fated to meet, young friend.”

The black-robed elder wiped his blunt short blade, his expression still a kind and benevolent smile, and did not hesitate to enlighten him:

”Your Celestial Treasure gathers the world’s rare treasures for combat, its power lying in the edge of its Artifacts. My Ten Thousand Solutions Emperor Sect happens to have a Great All Heavens Divine Technique called ’Cease-War Disarm.’ Wouldn’t you call that fate?”

Cease-War Disarm...

Fate?

’So that’s how it is!’

’So that’s how it is, you damned heavens!!’

”Hahaha, the heavens want me dead! What have I ever done to deserve this honor?!”

King Bao Tong’s blood-and-tear-filled eyes glared at the dome of the sky. He suddenly burst into crazed, desolate, and powerless laughter.

His Celestial Treasure was the Treasure Basin.

The Tribulation Descender he faced just happened to cultivate that damn ’Cease-War Disarm’ Technique, which countered him in every possible way.

Fate?

Could there be such a coincidence?

When the heavens decree a man must die, he has no choice but to die!

From the moment the tribulation descended, the Celestial Advantage was completely on Hongyuan’s side.

On top of their already crushing superiority, a specific nemesis had also been arranged for each of the Emperors.

King Bao Tong could imagine it.

Right now, the battles of the other Emperors against the Hongyuan Peak Masters were likely just as frustrating and powerless as his own!

In fact, King Bao Tong’s guess was correct.

He had encountered an enemy who cultivated the Cease-War Disarm Divine Technique.

The other four Emperors had also met opponents who suppressed and countered them in every way.

「Western Desert.」

The King of Ten Thousand Victories, wreathed in the smoke of endless war, fought to the point of madness. His Great Halberd had snapped, yet he had failed to inflict even the slightest harm on Wang Fu Jian, the Sword Abyss Gatekeeper of Daluo Heaven.

On the contrary.

The more ferocious his killing intent and Battle Intent became, the deeper and more abyssal the Glazed Jade Sword in Wang Fu Jian’s hand grew. It seemed to feed on killing intent and Battle Intent, and a single, light slash was enough to grievously wound Long Qian’s soul and body.

「Southern Border.」

Multicolored divine light interwove into Chaos.

Two ’Prince Nanyangs’ were facing each other from a distance.

”Although the Destiny Technique is supreme among the All Heavens, it... is still within the bounds of Heaven.”

Lv Shengxin, the National Preceptor of the Dayan Imperial Dynasty, had taken on the appearance of Prince Nanyang. Threads of destiny, representing all that exists, were also coiled around his palm.

He looked at the real Prince Nanyang in the space opposite him—disheveled, blood pouring from him like a river—and smiled faintly:

”When I was at your realm, I once received the ’Inference Celestial Emperor Scripture’ as a gift from the Great Emperor. Within Heaven, there is nothing that cannot be derived and transformed.

”Your only advantage lay in using your Celestial Treasure to augment your Great Divine Technique, allowing you to foresee changes on the battlefield to a certain extent and react in advance.

”But when you encounter an enemy who possesses the same Divine Technique, that advantage naturally ceases to exist. Do you have any other tricks? If not, then I’m going to have to stop holding back and get serious.”