Essence Devouring Art

”Stop playing games and get out here!”

Meng Zheng’s voice boomed like rolling thunder, echoing through the shattered Chaos. He knew in his heart that a predator was still lurking in the Ancestral Land, waiting to pounce!

Someone wanted to take advantage of him, Meng Zheng.

They were courting death!

This sudden turn of events brought a strange quiet to the once-feverish battlefield. Everyone looked around the world with shock and suspicion.

But they couldn’t see anything.

”Quiet down, small fry.”

The silence was broken by an annoyed rebuke that echoed from the center of the world, like someone swatting at a bothersome fly.

That place was...

’Not good!’

Meng Zheng had no time for shame or anger. His expression changed as he looked toward the sound, and his pupils contracted sharply.

Within the baleful light of the Divine Axe that pierced the heavens and the earth, sometime, somehow, a towering figure with a spine that held up the sky had appeared. He held a Stone Axe and, as if inserting a key, was pressing it toward the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe within the malevolent light.

”Heaven-Reaching?”

The miserably injured Daylight Saint Child looked at the revived ’Heaven-Reaching’ with an expression of utter shock and disbelief.

”Hah, so much for ’Heaven-Reaching’! We were used by that bastard!”

The Profound Yin Saint Child, trapped in the Grand Array, gave a bitter laugh. How could he not understand by now? He and the Daylight Saint Child had been tricked, used as cannon fodder to clear the way for someone else.

However, amid his resentment and frustration, a glimmer of hope ignited in his heart.

That damn ’Heaven-Reaching’ wanted to take the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, which meant he would inevitably have to fight Meng Zheng. Perhaps they could escape in the chaos.

And sure enough!

”You dare!”

BOOM!!

Seeing Wu Dao press the Stone Axe toward the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, Meng Zheng felt a sense of grave danger. Without any hesitation, he balled his hand into a fist, channeling his Stellar Power to crush layers of Chaos as he launched a vicious strike at Wu Dao.

The Giant Axe Ancestral Order!

As an Emperor’s Son of the Star God Hall, he naturally knew about this Axe Order, a symbol of the heir to the Giant Axe lineage.

In fact, after entering the Ancestral Land, while he was watching those two great fools, the Daylight Saint Child and his companion, carve away at the baleful energy, he had also sent people to search the Ancestral Land.

But they couldn’t find the Ancestral Order anywhere.

He never would have thought that someone had already beaten him to it!

’Wield the Giant Axe Ancestral Order, command the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe!’

Once the Ancestral Order successfully merged with the Divine Axe, all their efforts would be for nothing!

RUMBLE!

The Star Refining Divine Fist bore down on the Chaos.

It manifested vast, heavy canopies of stars that tilted and crashed down upon Wu Dao, their intensely brilliant light illuminating the entire Ancestral Land.

”You think you’re worthy of wielding the Giant Axe? Die!”

SHRIIIP!

Something incredible happened.

It was as if a heavy fist had punched through a scroll painting.

After the Star Refining Divine Fist crushed it, the tribulation light that pierced the world, the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, Wu Dao, and the Divine Mountain all exploded into nothing but points of light.

’He blew up the Divine Axe with one punch?’

No!

’An illusion!’

Meng Zheng instantly realized he’d been tricked.

He sensed the threads of spacetime; they were jumbled and chaotic. The scenery shifted, as if the top layer of a two-layered painting had been scraped away to reveal the true image beneath.

Looking again, he saw that his punch had landed in a completely different direction from the Divine Mountain, off by a hundred thousand miles.

And atop the Divine Mountain, Wu Dao had used the opportunity to complete the connection between the Ancestral Order and the Divine Axe. He glanced back coolly at the furiously approaching Meng Zheng, who was gritting his teeth in rage.

Twisting the Magnetic Field to create an illusion like flowers in a mirror or the moon in the water was not a difficult task for him now.

VMMMM!

Facing the murderous Meng Zheng, Wu Dao remained calm. He simply raised his hand and pressed the Giant Axe Ancestral Order completely into the blurry shape of the Divine Axe shrouded in baleful light.

VMMMM!

The Qiankun Space-Time fell silent in an instant!

Within the frozen world, it was as if an ancient, Fierce God, slumbering for millions of years, had been awakened.

The moment it awoke, the Three Thousand Worlds flickered in and out of existence, countless Gods and Demons were hacked apart, and a sea of blood and corpses drowned the All Heavens and Universe!

In the center of that endless sea of slaughter, a blood-black Heaven-Opening Axe, with a curved handle and twin crescent blades, seemingly forged from the blood of countless Chaos God-Demons, bobbed and trembled as it reawakened, releasing an endlessly tyrannical Power and aura!

CLANG!

The sound of Heaven and Earth Creation exploded throughout the universe!

The silent spacetime began to flow once more.

All the terrifying phenomena converged like a thousand rivers returning to the sea.

The visions of Gods and Demons bleeding and worlds being destroyed—the Giant Axe’s glorious past—faded from Wu Dao’s eyes. He took a deep breath and reached out to grasp the grainy, matte-black handle.

Cold and bloodthirsty!

Vast and heavy!

It was like holding the Three Thousand Worlds that suppressed an immeasurable sea of Asura blood—an unimaginable weight of violent, malevolent ferocity.

The Heaven-Opening Divine Axe!

During the Four Tribulations, it had been a peerless, baleful weapon that caused endless slaughter. Even without the taint of Tribulation Qi, its very nature was demonic, bloodthirsty, and untamable!

However, after Wu Dao infused the principles of the Great Divine Power of Heaven and Earth Creation to communicate with the Ancestral Order within the axe, the ten-foot-tall Giant Axe became like a tamed beast.

The feeling of boundless weight vanished.

With a slight exertion of force, Wu Dao easily lifted it with one hand.

Vmmm~

The light of the axe cut through space, leaving a dark spatial fissure behind.

Wu Dao caressed the abyss-black blade of the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe, then looked up at the distant Meng Zheng, whose expression was utterly foul. ”What did you say just now?” he asked calmly. ”I didn’t hear you clearly.”

”I said... die, you bastard!”

THUD!

Boundless starlight blazed across the Chaos.

Meng Zheng fully unleashed his Essence, Qi, and Spirit.

His Mixed Cave Dragon Vein spewed forth endless Creation Qi, and his aura surged to a new height. His physique was like an Ancient Barbaric Dragon leaving its lair, causing massive destruction wherever he passed as he charged toward Wu Dao in a furious onslaught!

’It’s never the weapon that’s strong, but the person who wields it!’

’A top-tier Saint Master Divine Weapon!’

’At the very least, it needs a massive supply of Innate Mother Qi from a Small Thousand World to reawaken its Mighty Power!’

In Meng Zheng’s perception, Wu Dao wasn’t even at the Grotto Heaven realm. At most, he was borrowing a sliver of the Holy Soldier’s edge. He must have had the gall of a Divine Being to dare challenge him.

His heart must be blinded by lard.

To think he could become invincible just by getting the Divine Axe!

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

Layer after layer of majestic starry skies, driven by Meng Zheng, bore down on Wu Dao from all directions. The boundless void was crushed and collapsed, as if sheets of heaven were toppling over—a terrifying, endless weight.

’Perfect. A little practice.’

Wu Dao remained unperturbed in the face of danger, his black eyes as calm as an ancient well.

He unleashed Shen Wutian.

His Forty Celestial Magnetic Vortex Wheel spun, and layer after layer of his Dharma Celestial Realm drove trillions of Primordial Magnetic Crystal Particles to grind against each other at extreme speeds. In an instant, his aura also surged to its peak.

WHOOSH~

At the same time, the principles of the Great Divine Power of Heaven and Earth Creation in his Divine Sea—countless scriptures and Dao Talismans—poured into the Divine Axe like a tsunami, connecting with its complete inheritance.

VMMMM!

In that instant, within the Chaos, it seemed as though a supreme God-Demon had opened its eyes.

Its majestic body caused worlds to collapse as it slowly rose, axe in hand.

There were no fancy moves.

There was only the simple act of raising the axe!

And then—

Heaven and Earth Creation!!

SCHLICK!!

A streak of cold, dark axe light chopped down from the peak of the Divine Mountain.

At first, it was the size of a mustard seed.

In an instant, it exploded into a world-slicing black moon.

Wherever its unparalleled Heaven Opening edge passed, everything, tangible and intangible, space and time, was split in two, leaving a massive, dark fissure in its wake that pierced the heavens and spanned millions of miles.

CLANG CLANG CLANG—

As Meng Zheng launched his furious attack, he saw the light of the Heaven-Opening Axe, and the Heart Lake Alarm Bell in his mind rang wildly. His face was a mask of disbelief.

’The Great Divine Power of Heaven and Earth Creation!’

’How is this possible?!’

’To reawaken the Great Divine Technique within the Divine Axe and leverage its Mighty Power, one must comprehend its principles to the level of its Cultivation Technique Creator!’

’A mere Dharma Aspect... in such a short time!’

’No!’

’Something’s not right!’

The moment he sensed the abyssal, vast Power within Wu Dao’s body, Meng Zheng’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

He discovered to his horror that Wu Dao, whom he had seen as a mere Dharma Aspect, now possessed a pure, destructive Power that nearly matched his own, a cultivator at the Second Layer of the Emperor Grade Grotto Heaven realm!

’Is that a Dharma Aspect?!’

’Not even a Thirty-Three Layers of Heaven Perfect Daoist could be this absurd!’

BOOM!!

It all happened in the span of a single thought.

The razor-sharp light of the Heaven-Opening Axe split all creation.

Layer after layer of starry skies were torn apart like rotten cloth, offering no resistance as the axe light clove them in two before viciously chopping toward the stunned Meng Zheng.

CLANG!

The sound of Divine Gold clashing rang out.

At the critical moment, the Magnetic Mother Stars blocked the light of the Heaven-Opening Axe!

RUMBLE!

An unparalleled collision of Power erupted.

The light from the axe, the stars, and the magnetic force, all carrying world-ending power, roared and surged wildly.

Vast swathes of Chaos, millions upon millions of miles wide, trembled and exploded.

It blasted open a vast Abyss, and the shockwave swept through the Ten Directions, filling every corner of space and creating a Vacuum Domain.

”AHHH!!!”

Closest to the clash, a Saint Grade Grotto Heaven cultivator screamed mournfully as his body disintegrated under the rampaging shockwave of axe light and starlight. He was directly refined into nothingness on the spot!

PFFT PFFT PFFT—

The remaining Grotto Heaven cultivators also exploded into clouds of blood mist, letting out inhuman screams as they were grievously wounded.

”Ah, you bastards!”

Even the Daylight Saint Child and the Profound Yin Saint Child, protected by top-tier Saint Grade Celestial Soldiers, did not fare well. They were like plants in a violent storm, nearly torn to shreds.

”Cough, cough...”

Beneath the Magnetic Mother Stars, Meng Zheng coughed up mouthfuls of starlight-infused blood. His physique, at the twenty-sixth level of the Horizontal Refining Ten Sects, was almost shattered by the impact, and his soul’s Grotto Heaven felt as if it were being sliced by a thousand knives. The pain was unbearable.

The Great Divine Power of Heaven and Earth Creation!

It cleaves all, it breaks all!

During the Fourth Tribulation, it had slaughtered and hacked apart countless Undying Bodies among the Mountain and Sea Wilderness Gods. It could be called the ultimate bane of Transverse Cultivation!

Although Wu Dao could only unleash a sliver of the Giant Axe’s Mighty Power, it was still unstoppably fierce when enhanced by the core Divine Technique within the axe!

”Tsk, no fun.”

Wu Dao’s dark eyes glinted. Seeing that one strike had nearly killed Meng Zheng on the spot, he lost all interest in using him as a whetstone.

’A twenty-sixth level Yang Divine Body! It can purify a large amount of Ancestor Essence Blood. An Emperor Grade Grotto Heaven Second Layer is also a decent believer. It would be too wasteful to kill him.’

’After all, I truly dislike killing. I just accidentally refined a Grotto Heaven cultivator to death. I even feel a little bad about it. So... I should just convert him with love.’

Thinking this, Wu Dao put away the Giant Axe under the gazes of everyone, who looked at him as if he were a fool. Bare-handed and with a look of compassion on his face, he walked toward the bewildered Meng Zheng.

”Are you humiliating me?”

Meng Zheng’s face was as dark as water.

He thought Wu Dao disdained to rely on the power of a weapon, believing that he, Meng Zheng, was unworthy.

”No, no, no.”

Wu Dao crossed a world with every step, his face radiating a kindly, sacred light as he said:

”I just feel that you’re so violent because you lack love. Therefore, I’ve decided to convert you with love.”

”...”

After a brief silence...

”You son of a bitch!!!”

The overwhelming humiliation filled Meng Zheng’s chest until the corners of his eyes nearly split and bled. He went completely berserk, his roar shattering the vacuum in the Ten Directions.

He activated a Forbidden Technique.

His Yang God physique burned like a blazing star, and great cracks appeared in his Grotto Heaven. His aura skyrocketed like oil thrown on a fire, reaching the Third Layer of the Emperor Grade Grotto Heaven realm!

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

The incredibly heavy, majestic Starry Sky Divine Fist reappeared, obscuring the vast cosmos and crushing layers of vacuum.

Layer after layer of Celestial Soldier restrictions within the twenty-four Magnetic Mother Stars were unlocked, and their Mighty Power surged to a level that made everyone present tremble with fear.

”Haha, get blown to bits!”

Having unleashed his full power, Meng Zheng saw Wu Dao still strolling leisurely toward him. He laughed in fury and drove the Starry Sky Celestial Soldier forward, its immense power flooding toward Wu Dao.

WHOOSH—

But just then, a terrifying change occurred.

The casually strolling Wu Dao actually began to disintegrate on his own, turning into countless points of starlight and disappearing into the Chaos.

’Suicide?’

’No!’

VMMMM—

It was as if a giant, supermassive black hole had fallen into this region of Chaos!

All existence, tangible and intangible!

All existing Magnetic Fields!

Everything was pulled and drawn in, transforming into colorful threads as if on a pilgrimage, converging within a storm in the central Magnetic Field of Chaos to construct a towering, blurry, and utterly abstract human figure!

HUUU~

It exhaled a breath of colorful, flowing lines.

Countless pieces of information churned in the abstract, blurry eyes of the Divine Aspect Wu Dao. It looked up at the crushing layers of starry sky and the twenty-four Magnetic Mother Stars, and with a hand connected to innumerable lines of the Magnetic Field, it flicked a finger.

WHOOSH~

When Primordial Magnetism moves, all magnetism moves with it!

Wherever the colorful magnetic storm passed, layer after layer of starry sky disintegrated into lines of the Primordial Magnetic Field, condensing into countless magnetic tentacles that writhed and submerged the Magnetic Mother Star Beads.

It also submerged the stunned Meng Zheng, who looked as if he had seen a ghost, his entire worldview shattered.