Essence Devouring Art

His last advancement to the third stage, on top of covering the travel expenses for his many Primordial Demons and Incarnations, had cost him a fortune.

With these charitable contributions,

his Cultivation could continue its extravagant ’binge-eating’.

It couldn’t be helped.

The stronger an individual life form became,

the more it had to rely on external resources to advance quickly, at least until it could truly create something from nothing.

After achieving All Things Arise from the Three,

the growth of the various Dao Source branches in his Primordial Magnetic Dao Body’s Tree Diagram had become a complete Taotie-like black hole.

Relying solely on absorbing and converting Magnetic Fields on his own,

it would take an eternity to make any progress. The only way was through the most direct, primitive plunder—a Snake-like growth.

...

「A few days later.」

In the Business Realm, an anxiously waiting Jia Baocai finally received a message:

"Five Heaven-Burying Steles. Prepare five portions of Grand Thousand Creation Mother Liquid. I’ll be at your door shortly."

This...

Jia Baocai was stunned.

He had still been waiting for the Nirvana True Lord to make a move, but he never expected that the job was already done—and that five steles had been acquired in one go!

’How did he do it?’

After all,

his subordinates had been monitoring those forty Realm Masters this entire time, and he himself had even been checking in on them from time to time.

There hadn’t been any anomalies.

Let alone any battles.

’Could he be trying to trick me?’

Thousands of doubts flooded Jia Baocai’s mind,

but the Nirvana True Lord’s Divine Envoy had sounded so certain that he could only remain skeptical while cautiously optimistic.

He retrieved five portions of Grand Thousand Creation Mother Liquid from his vault and waited for the Divine Envoy to arrive.

When he finally saw the Divine Envoy,

Jia Baocai was astonished, and his doubts mostly vanished.

Flowing clouds and white cranes drifted through an immortal Blessed Land.

Within a pavilion on the mountain’s peak,

Jia Baocai dismissed his subordinates. A moment later, the space before him rippled, and a towering, black-robed figure appeared inside the pavilion.

He wore a hooded black robe with an Evil Lotus embroidered on the chest.

His entire body was shrouded in a layer of mist. Forget seeing his face—his very being seemed not to exist within this world.

Jia Baocai, for all his Saint Realm cultivation,

was completely unable to see a single trace of the origins of Wu Dao’s Incarnation.

He couldn’t see through Wu Dao,

but Wu Dao could sense the terrifying Power hidden within the gentle-looking, purple-robed, middle-aged man before him.

His every move, his every thought,

seemed to influence the rules and order of the World. His Life Magnetic Field was like an abyssal black hole, its radiation extending across the Three Thousand Worlds.

All are but ants beneath a Saint.

Even though Jia Baocai was only at the First Heaven of the Saint Realm, the terrifying Magnetic Field formed by the convergence of power from the Three Thousand Worlds

still made Wu Dao feel as if he were facing an insurmountable mountain, a chasm he could not cross no matter what he did.

It was no exaggeration to say

that even if his main body were here, he wouldn’t last a single instant in a real fight against Jia Baocai.

However,

his will had been tempered by countless life-and-death trials.

There was no chance he would give himself away or show any fear.

Even after realizing the gap between them,

Wu Dao’s aura didn’t change in the slightest. He maintained his cold, aloof, and unfathomably mysterious posture.

"The True Lord’s Mighty Divine Power is truly vast. We juniors are humbled."

After a deep look at Wu Dao’s Incarnation,

Jia Baocai offered a smiling compliment. In his heart, he had a newfound appreciation for the mysterious power of the Nirvana True Lord.

’Just one of his traveling Divine Envoys...’

’I can’t see through him at all. I couldn’t even detect when or how he managed to evade my spatial and temporal senses.’

’It’s hard to imagine...’

’...just how terrifying the Nirvana True Lord must have been in his prime. Saint Master is probably a conservative estimate. He might have even become a Venerable of All Realms, just a few steps away from the Emperor Realm.’

"The True Lord once reigned supreme through the Five Tribulations. His power is naturally beyond the speculation of mortals like you."

Wu Dao received Jia Baocai’s compliment with a cold reply, his expression unchanging.

Then,

without any further nonsense, he waved his hand and produced five Heaven-Burying Steles. "Payment on delivery," he said briskly. "As for the rest, we will make our move again later."

In fact,

after a few busy days,

Wu Dao now had over seventy Heaven-Burying Steles in his possession. In addition to the forty, the remaining thirty belonged to the more easily targeted Realm Masters from the three major factions.

On the surface,

it seemed as though Jia Baocai and the other two held all the power, with legions of loyal Realm Masters under their command.

But in reality, those Realm Masters...

...would now go through fire and water for Wu Dao at a single command, without a moment’s hesitation, until their dying breath.

Eventually,

as his strength grew,

Wu Dao planned to gradually usurp control of the entire Heaven-Burying Alliance, turning everyone except for the few Saints into his followers.

’It’s real...’

Jia Baocai looked at the five Heaven-Burying Steles and covertly inspected them. He found nothing wrong, but it all still felt a bit unreal.

"If I may ask one more question..."

His mind heavy with suspicion, Jia Baocai couldn’t help but ask, "How did you obtain these five Heaven-Burying Steles, Divine Envoy?"

"By appealing to their reason and moving them with emotion."

Wu Dao said without a moment’s thought. He glanced at Jia Baocai’s twitching face and added, "You should have a way to contact these Realm Masters. Rather than listen to my explanation, why don’t you just ask them?"

"My apologies for the imposition."

His thoughts exposed, Jia Baocai no longer tried to hide it. He immediately took out a Communication Jade Talisman and contacted the Five Directions World Masters.

A moment later,

Jia Baocai put away his Communication Jade Talisman, his expression a mixture of shock and bewilderment.

There was a simple reason for this.

Those Realm Masters, who had previously been too afraid for their own lives to pick a side, were now falling over themselves to pledge their loyalty to him, as if they’d been terrified into submission.

They declared that as soon as Jia Baocai seized power,

they would fully support him at a moment’s notice.

The Heaven-Burying Steles,

were meant as a pledge of their allegiance.

"Die sooner or die later. A smart person knows how to choose."

Wu Dao said softly.

Jia Baocai felt a chill run down his spine. He finally understood why those Realm Masters had been so terrified they were practically stammering.

’He comes without a shadow and leaves without a trace.’

’Even a Saint can’t detect any anomalies.’

’Faced with such an unknown and terrifying enemy, especially when their lives are on the line, any smart person would indeed know how to choose.’

’Not only did they hand over the Heaven-Burying Steles,’

’they also killed two birds with one stone.’

’They’ve declared their full support for me, Jia Baocai.’

’They clearly think the Nirvana Divine Envoy is one of my people, which gives me a powerful backer to flaunt.’

’Three Emperor Scriptures...’

’...and a Gourd of Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid...’

’...in exchange for such a huge benefit.’

’This is truly the most profitable deal I, Jia Baocai, have ever made!’

BUZZ—

After confirming the Heaven-Burying Steles were genuine,

Jia Baocai wasted no time. He took out five small Space Gourds. A few wisps of the heavy, vast aura of a Great Thousand World leaked from their mouths before he quickly sealed them again.

’Father God, it’s indeed the Magnetic Field of the Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid. It’s authentic.’

Wu Dao had never handled Grand Thousand Mother Liquid before, but the Hongyuan Encyclopedia’s Star Mother could recognize it. She could tell if it was real or fake the moment he touched it.

"I hope you remember the terms of our cooperation. If the True Lord’s identity is exposed..."

After putting away the five portions of Grand Thousand World Mother Liquid,

Wu Dao gave a faint warning before taking a single step and vanishing into a spatial ripple.

"But of course."

Jia Baocai nodded lightly, his perception fully extended. In the end, he only detected a faint spatial fluctuation.

As for Wu Dao,

it was as if he had vanished completely from the world with that single step.

Having witnessed this mysterious technique with his own eyes,

the last trace of doubt in Jia Baocai’s heart gradually faded away.

As for being exposed,

he wasn’t a fool.

If Tao Chuan and Liang Chen found out that he had secretly obtained those Heaven-Burying Steles, he would instantly become a public enemy.

After confirming Wu Dao was gone,

Jia Baocai summoned a mysterious, heavily cloaked figure and had them inspect the five Heaven-Burying Steles once more.

"They are indeed authentic."

The mysterious figure enveloped a Heaven-Burying Stele with their vital energy. After sensing a faint feeling of affinity, they nodded and said,

"My ancestors participated in the forging of the Heaven-Burying Steles. Although we don’t know the core secrets, they left behind a unique mark within them that their descendants can sense using their blood as a catalyst."

"Good. You may go. Don’t let Liang Chen discover your existence."

Jia Baocai nodded in satisfaction.

The descendants of the Heaven-Burying Emperor had suffered a great purge long ago, but Liang Chen’s clan wasn’t the only one to have survived to this day.

This mysterious person was a benefactor Jia Baocai had discovered by chance, someone who had told him the secret of the Heaven-Burying Tomb.

That was why he was so obsessed with collecting the Heaven-Burying Steles,

even at a great cost.

The ninety-nine Heaven-Burying Steles.

It was naturally impossible to collect them all.

Because some of them were in the hands of Jia Baocai and his two other main competitors.

But as long as he collected more than half—

in other words, gained the support of more than half the Realm Masters—becoming the Alliance Leader of the Heaven-Burying Alliance would be a certainty.

This was because,

aside from the handful of publicly known Saints in the Heaven-Burying Alliance, the Elder Council also contained several old monsters who possessed Saint Realm cultivation.

Of the dozen or so old demons who founded the Heaven-Burying Alliance, ten were still alive, and the weakest among them was at the Half-step Saint Realm.

However, these ten Demon Saints were too ’old’.

In the Extraordinary Realm,

although Saints achieved a form of eternal life similar to those with an Undying Body,

but...

eternal life was not the same as being truly Immortal and Undying.

They could still be injured.

They could still be destroyed by external forces.

In order to establish a foothold in the Burial Realm, the Heaven-Burying Alliance’s Ten Great Demon Saints had fought through millennia of brutal warfare, accumulating numerous Dao injuries that were extremely difficult to heal.

The vital energy of their Inner Worlds was rapidly decaying.

They could only seal their Inner Worlds and use vast quantities of life-extending substances to cling to life. They would not emerge from seclusion unless it was a matter of life and death or a major crisis within the alliance.

The selection of a new Alliance Leader,

was clearly such a crisis.

Whoever gathered more than half of the Heaven-Burying Steles could enter the Ancestral Land with the steles, awaken the Ten Great Demon Saints, and clear all obstacles.

In past eras,

Su Xiuqi, with his Great Saint Cultivation, had awed the entire Heaven-Burying Alliance into submission. None dared to disobey him, which fundamentally extinguished anyone else’s ambitions for power.

But this era was different.

The outcome was still uncertain, and anyone could be a dark horse!

’No, that’s not right. The advantage is mine. How could the outcome be uncertain?’

A slight smile touched the corners of Jia Baocai’s lips.

’Liang Chen and Tao Chuan could rack their brains forever and they would never imagine it.’

’I’ve obtained the ’support’ of the Nirvana True Lord. I’m getting rich in secret and will soon have more than half of the Heaven-Burying Steles.’

’When that time comes,’

’I’ll call upon the Ten Great Demon Saints.’

’Whether they like it or not, they will have to submit. The Imperial Tomb Vault will be mine for the taking!’

’The Great Dao is within my grasp!’

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