Essence Devouring Art

After subduing Nangong Li.

Wu Dao’s daily cultivation routine gained another item.

Namely, helping Nangong Li complete his Celestial Treasure’s promotion ritual, which involved saving the suffering and helping the needy in Nirvana City on a daily basis.

Once the quota was met.

He would then throw Nangong Li into the Nirvana Thunder Fire, forcing him to escape death time and again. He was treating him exactly like a weapon being forged.

The progress was very gratifying.

As the ritual progressed.

While the Celestial Treasure was being promoted, its master, Nangong Li, saw his cultivation advance by leaps and bounds. The development of his Primordial Magnetism Demon Body was even faster than Zhao Jianji’s had been.

Half a month after the events at the Heaven-Burying Tomb.

Wu Dao once again paused his cultivation.

Because...

The Star Mother had revived.

And she had reached a crucial point in her transformation.

RUMBLE...

On this day.

Deep within Nirvana Valley, Tribulation Qi billowed and surged.

Starlight illuminated the Nine Heavens. Layer upon layer of apocalyptic Celestial Tribulations rained down endless thunderbolts. It was as if all the heavens of every age were pressing down, unleashing bolts of Dao Divine Thunder as thick as star rivers.

All things, all beings.

All Extraordinary beings...

...would face a baptism by Celestial Tribulation when advancing within certain Celestial Domains. As the Star Mother’s true body was being promoted to a Holy Soldier, it naturally drew a Celestial Tribulation as well.

Its scale...

...was in no way inferior to the one Wu Dao had faced during his own transformation.

In Nirvana City.

The countless Demon Cultivators, having experienced this before...

...were far less terrified. Instead, they were filled with awe—awe for the Nirvana True Lord.

Ever since Nirvana City was founded...

...the Great Dao had sent down divine retribution against the True Lord more than once. Each time was more powerful than the last, yet the True Lord had devoured it whole every single time.

Today’s Celestial Tribulation...

...though even more powerful than the last one...

...would likely be all thunder and no rain. It posed no threat to the True Lord.

Deep within Nirvana Valley.

Wu Dao, having paused his cultivation, sat within the Infinite Holy Hall. His gaze was fixed on the plot of Eight-Colored Earth Divine Soil in the Holy Hall’s medicinal garden.

With the Heaven-Opening Divine Axe Fragment acting as fertilizer...

...this plot of Eight-Colored Divine Soil was faintly showing signs of transforming into the Nine-Colored Quasi-Emperor Level.

The dense Dao patterns within the soil flourished like a spiderweb, resembling the prototype of a Cosmic Seed crying out to be fed. It autonomously absorbed Cosmic Essence with every passing moment, its fertility increasing daily.

The Star Mother, planted in the Eight-Colored Earth...

...resembled a tree bearing a star for fruit.

At the treetop, within a fruit woven from billions of starlights, the wondrous sounds of the Great Dao boomed. An immeasurable amount of data constructed the form of a little girl, resembling Yaya—this was the true body the Star Mother was forging for herself.

Her hands were wrapped around her knees, her hair a river of stars.

Like an embryo, she constantly shifted, absorbing nutrients from the Earth. Simultaneously, she was connecting the networks of the Primordial Path’s Dao Rules, gradually forming a Small Thousand World Dragon Vein within her body as she relentlessly transformed into a Holy Soldier.

Watching the Star Mother within the stellar embryo, Wu Dao had a strange feeling, as if he were watching his own daughter being born.

’Hmm.’

’He is the Star Mother’s Father God.’

’In a way...’

’...that’s exactly what this is.’

The Star Mother was the central database for the Primordial Dao Wheel, and her slumber had affected many things.

First, Wu Dao could no longer receive power infusions for his cultivation.

His progress had slowed tremendously.

Second, there was the matter of the Primordial Demon.

They had also ceased all activity.

Dying would be a huge hassle, as they could only be revived after the Star Mother reawakened.

However,

even if he had to do it all over again,

Wu Dao would still have chosen to let the Star Mother accompany him on his mad endeavor. The benefits of seizing the Imperial Tomb Vault were simply too great.

Without the Earth,

the Star Mother’s promotion to a Holy Soldier would not have been so simple. It would have taken at least a year or more.

After her promotion to a Holy Soldier,

the Star Mother’s ”hardware” would be up to par. She could operate without her previous limitations, and her support capabilities would undoubtedly reach a new level.

As expected, there were no accidents.

With Wu Dao standing guard, the Celestial Tribulation was devoured the moment it formed. The Star Mother successfully joined the ranks of Holy Soldiers.

CRACK—BANG!

The stellar embryo within the Earth shattered.

Out walked a magnificent Star Mother, coalesced from countless points of starlight like fireflies.

She was in the form of a young Yaya.

She was like the mother of all cosmic stars, yet also a goddess of wisdom. Her brilliant, starlit eyes seemed to contain the profound truths of all creation, as if she could analyze anything and everything.

”Father God!”

After reviving and transforming,

the Star Mother’s humanity was much more complete. It was no longer a mere data simulation. She threw herself into Wu Dao’s arms with great affection, looked up, and said proudly, ”Star Mother can now help Father God by unleashing the full-power Mixed Lotus state without getting hurt.”

”Excellent. Little Star Mother is truly amazing.”

Wu Dao rubbed the Little Star Mother’s head and praised her dotingly, feeling quite satisfied himself.

Before,

limited by her fragile body,

the Star Mother’s computational power was sufficient, but she could only operate in the normal Divine Heavenless State. The auxiliary acceleration effect had never reached its limit.

But now, things were different.

With a Holy Soldier body,

she possessed the trait of being indestructible through countless tribulations.

She could now easily use the two ultra-limit states, the Divine Ghost Mixed Lotus and the Divine Chaos Lotus, providing Wu Dao with power infusions a hundred times more effective than before.

Of course,

the trade-off was that...

...she now required far more Soul Energy.

This was a significant limitation.

For now,

they still needed the help of Nirvana City’s Treasure Basin.

Following the fall of the great Demon Saints of the Burial Realm,

Nirvana City had gradually become the sole supreme Holy Land in the Burial Realm. Its Soul Coin System continuously attracted the realm’s Demon Cultivators, creating vast Soul Energy reserves for Wu Dao daily.

As for Celestial Tribulation Dao Source,

he now looked down on it.

In the Heaven-Burying Emperor’s Tomb, he had harvested entire oceans of Cosmic Divine Liquid, a substance far more advanced in the Dao Source hierarchy than Celestial Tribulation Dao Source.

But even a mosquito leg was still meat.

Wu Dao still ”clocked in” every day, storing the harvested Celestial Tribulation Dao Source for a rainy day.

After the Star Mother’s revival,

the thousand-odd Sub-wheels had also completed their transformation within the Earth.

Wu Dao’s cultivation...

...once again entered an accelerated, cheat-like state.

It was now two hundred times faster than before. Even though the Path of Transcendence grew more difficult the further one progressed, he maintained a staggering pace of growth.

In terms of Emperor Scriptures,

his current reserves—thanks to the efforts of the Primordial Demon, his incarnations, and his gains from the Emperor’s Tomb—were drawing ever closer to the three-thousand mark.

All he needed to do...

...was to continuously cultivate them and transform them into Primordial Magnetic Branches.

His progress was incredibly fast.

Almost every five or six days,

he was able to cultivate a new branch.

The difficult part was elevating it to the same level as his older branches. However, with the Star Mother’s assistance, that wouldn’t take long either.

The only thing he needed to watch out for...

...was when the Daluo Celestial Domain would enter the field and purge the Burial Realm, shattering his peaceful time of cultivation.

Outside the spacetime of Nirvana Valley,

Wu Dao had stationed a large number of incarnations to monitor for spatial-temporal fluctuations. He would know the very instant anyone from the Daluo Celestial Domain arrived.

Meanwhile,

his incarnations and the Primordial Demon within the Daluo Celestial Domain were urgently investigating why the domain was suddenly making a move against the Burial Realm.

Unfortunately, they had found very little.

It seemed to involve a great secret.

Ordinary Daoist Children and Celestial Prides were not qualified to know it, and even some of the intelligence-brokering All Heavens Organizations were completely in the dark.

’What great secret could the Burial Realm possibly hold...’

’...that would warrant the Daluo Celestial Domain mobilizing on such a massive scale?’

Wu Dao sifted through the historical records of the Burial Realm across the ages, analyzing several possibilities, but he could not confirm any of them.

The Burial Realm had taken shape during the era of the Three Tribulations.

Hundreds of millions of years had passed since then.

No one could say for certain just how many secrets it had buried over that time.

While remaining vigilant against the Daluo Celestial Domain,

Wu Dao was also searching day and night for the burial site of the other Extreme Dao Bell. To be precise, he was searching for a tomb that might exist.

That madman, the Slaughter Emperor...

...had left behind information that was far too vague.

It left him searching like a headless fly, scouring numerous potential forbidden zones and losing many incarnations in the process, all with nothing to show for it.

Gradually,

Wu Dao could only shift his focus back to Nirvana City. He prepared to take one last, massive bite. Once he left the unique environment of the Burial Realm, he wouldn’t be able to act so unscrupulously.

「Several months later.」

A piece of news suddenly began to circulate in Nirvana City. Passed along by hundreds of millions of Demon Cultivators, it quickly spread throughout the entire Burial Realm.

”Did you hear? The Daluo Celestial Domain is about to conduct a great, extermination-level purge of the Burial Realm! The Nirvana True Lord is planning to leave Nirvana Valley and find a new sanctuary!”

”For real? I just invested my entire fortune into Soul Coins!”

”This is outrageous! We never interfere with the outside world, so why are they trying to wipe us out!?”

”I heard that when the Nirvana True Lord leaves, he’s taking Nirvana City with him. You can get his protection for just one hundred Dharma Soul Coins.”

”That’s wonderful! The True Lord is a Saint Master! If we can get his protection, we’ll have a place to stay no matter where we migrate.”

”Is he really that benevolent?”

...

After the news of the great purge was released,

the vast Burial Realm was in an uproar. Most Demon Cultivators were filled with righteous indignation.

They had lived and multiplied here for generations.

They had long since adapted to the cultivation environment of the Burial Realm. If they were forced to leave their homes, there was no guarantee they wouldn’t suffer from the new environment, and their progress on the Great Dao could be obstructed.

But what use was anger?

The Daluo Celestial Domain was a behemoth of what scale?

Even the unfathomable Nirvana True Lord had to flee from its might, let alone a group of ghouls and demons like them who couldn’t stand the light of day.

No one doubted the authenticity of the news.

The Burial Realm was not completely cut off from the outside.

The Daluo Celestial Domain, led by the Luotian Sword Realm...

...had recently been holding all sorts of massive conferences, mobilizing troops, and holding gatherings for its Celestial Prides, all without any attempt at concealment.

They were clearly preparing for a major operation.

However,

it seemed the Daluo Celestial Domain wasn’t specifically targeting Demon Cultivators this time. An ”extermination-level purge” was likely an exaggeration; otherwise, they wouldn’t have let the Burial Realm become aware of their movements.

But who could guarantee...

...that they wouldn’t be wiped out as a matter of convenience?

An invisible panic...

...quickly spread throughout the entire Burial Realm.

Fleeing was easy.

But establishing themselves after fleeing was a problem that all Demon Path influences had to consider.

Demon Cultivators were not tolerated by the righteous path.

Normal worlds would certainly not accept them, and in other Demon Realms, they risked being devoured, bones and all. It was extremely difficult to integrate.

They needed a powerful backer.

The mysterious and unfathomable Nirvana True Lord, rumored to be a Saint Master, was undoubtedly the best choice.

Ever since Nirvana City was founded,

its reputation as a Land of Zige had spread rapidly throughout the Burial Realm. Clearly, the Nirvana True Lord was not some utterly vicious being.

Although...

...that peace was built upon the bones of countless people.

But to Demon Cultivators, the strong culling the weak was the natural order of things. As long as they themselves prospered, that was all that mattered.

And so,

although many Demon Cultivators remained wary,

the majority of the powers in the Burial Realm still chose to move into Nirvana City one after another. They prepared to cling to the great tree that was the Nirvana True Lord and migrate with him to other Demon Realms.

For a time,

carnage erupted across the Burial Realm.

The value of Nirvana City’s Soul Coins skyrocketed.

Wu Dao accepted all comers, collecting so much in ”entrance fees” every day that his hands grew sore.

However,

his reason for spreading news of the great purge...

...and creating panic throughout the Burial Realm wasn’t just about scamming some entrance fees before he skipped town.

Every Demon Cultivator who entered Nirvana City...

...in his eyes...

...was a walking treasure trove.

People were followers by nature.

The few follow the many. As more and more Demon Cultivators gathered in Nirvana City, some of the powers that had been watching from the sidelines also rushed to join.

After several months of this booming prosperity,

Wu Dao finally learned the specific reason why the Daluo Celestial Domain was mobilizing against the Burial Realm.

It was worth noting that...

...the information did not come from the Daluo Celestial Domain.

Instead, it came from one of the Nine Heavens—the Divine Ruins Heaven, a domain occupied by the Innate Divine Race, the former protagonists of the Hongyuan era!