Essence Devouring Art

When Wu Dao ate the meat, there were naturally others to drink the soup.

Demon Cultivators are all driven by profit.

To make a profit, the major Soul Coin magnates of Nirvana City often manipulated the exchange rates of various goods from behind the scenes, causing wild price swings.

The tactic struck Wu Dao as oddly familiar.

They certainly raked in a fortune.

The only downside was the constant stream of Demon Cultivators in Nirvana City who would go berserk, shouting "Give me back my hard-earned money!" and launching suicide attacks on the major Soul Coin trading markets.

Then, the inevitable end was being swatted down with a single slap by the Nirvana Alliance’s Law Enforcement Team.

One thought to untold riches, the next to Hell.

This gradually became an unshakable label for Nirvana City. Every day, some would become fabulously wealthy while others went bankrupt and insane.

Wu Dao didn’t interfere with any of this.

Although those Soul Coins were indeed the ’hard-earned money’ of countless Demon Cultivators, and manipulating the market to fleece the masses was highly immoral...

But... no matter how it was done, he was still the biggest beneficiary.

So, everything was fine.

After taking inventory of his treasury, Wu Dao retracted his gaze in satisfaction. He then performed his routine inspection of his personal Treasure Basin, Nirvana City, and discovered something.

Jiang Han, who had gone missing three months ago, had not yet returned.

The dojo he had been renting in the city had long since been occupied by a new Demon Cultivator.

Even his belongings had been cataloged and auctioned off—the very picture of someone gone and forgotten.

’Is he dead?’

With a flicker of thought, Wu Dao sensed the Magnetic Field seed he had left inside Jiang Han. It contained a subtle imprint of his will, allowing him to perceive it regardless of distance.

The result was slightly surprising.

That seed...

was being worn down and eroded!

He couldn’t discern the specific details.

Because Wu Dao didn’t want to suppress Jiang Han’s luck, the will he left in the Magnetic Field could only vaguely sense the general situation. He wasn’t dead.

This was rather strange.

With Jiang Han’s level of Cultivation, it was impossible for him to detect the Magnetic Field seed unless he surpassed Wu Dao in a short period of time.

’He didn’t do it himself.’

’Then it must be external interference.’

’Interesting...’

’It seems Jiang Han’s great opportunity has arrived.’

After sensing Jiang Han’s life force gradually stabilizing, Wu Dao was in an excellent mood.

It was like watching crops in a field finally begin to thrive.

Within the Primordial Path, the ultimate goal of every Extraordinary was to transcend the Great Dao. They particularly dreaded being fettered by karma, especially someone like Jiang Han, whose will to achieve the Dao and transcend was as unyielding as Divine Iron.

The Exquisite Method.

One of the Ten Great Supreme Divine Techniques.

A karmic link capable of rewriting fate had been planted.

No matter how great Jiang Han’s future achievements might be, as long as this karmic debt to Wu Dao remained unsettled, he could never hope to achieve true transcendence and freedom.

And regardless of how he chose to settle it, he would one day deliver himself to Wu Dao’s doorstep.

This was true for Jiang Han.

The same principle applied to Wuchen and Yaya, who had also become entangled in great karmic links with Wu Dao in different ways.

After retracting his perception, Wu Dao paid no more attention to Jiang Han.

He had over seven hundred Emperor Scriptures to cultivate into meridians, and his existing branch meridians also needed to be enhanced.

For some time to come, his energy would be focused entirely on Cultivation.

But what Wu Dao didn’t know was that his casual glance, and the will it carried, had inadvertently saved Jiang Han’s life.

...

「In the core of the Burial Realm.」

Besides the Jun Tian Red Dust World, there were also numerous massive, ancient tombs that had survived since the Three Tribulations.

Washed by the river of time, information about most of these great tombs had been buried, turning them into mysterious and ominous forbidden zones of life.

「Three months ago.」

Jiang Han had encountered a group of Earth Treasure Guests in Nirvana City—Demon Cultivators who specialized in raiding tombs within the Burial Realm.

He had inadvertently learned that this group of Demon Cultivators possessed a Divine Text Map. After deciphering it, they obtained information about the field layout of a great tomb in the core region of the Burial Realm.

There was a ninety percent chance that the tomb held a Three Tribulation Powerhouse!

Such a massive treasure trove naturally piqued Jiang Han’s interest. Along with numerous other predators, he trailed the group of Earth Treasure Guests to the great tomb in the core of the Burial Realm.

The moment he entered the tomb, he set foot on a path of no return.

This wasn’t about being double-crossed or falling for some scheme. When it came to mind games, Jiang Han was second to none among the old Demons of the Burial Realm.

Rather, it referred to a more sinister misfortune!

The great tomb was incredibly ancient, covered with the civilized symbols of the Three Tribulations Innate Divine Race and riddled with all sorts of Divine Prohibition Arrays.

However, by treading on the corpses of his fellow adventurers, Jiang Han once again made it to the tomb’s final treasury, obtaining the numerous Treasures of Creation left behind by the Divine Race.

But... perhaps it was just his cursed fate with tombs, but before the final treasury, he once again encountered an unexpected turn of events.

It wasn’t an unparalleled Killing Array.

Nor was it a hunter waiting to reap the rewards.

It was simply that an unknown, mysterious entity had taken an interest in him.

And it wanted to make him its plaything!

SPLASH~

The waves surged, and the spray flew.

There was no up or down, only the eternal river.

Within the bizarre river, Jiang Han was like a candle in the wind, his body and soul swaying as the water washed over him.

But, his steps forward never ceased.

Even though every step he took was like treading in place, or even being swept backward, he still clenched his jaw, his eyes fixed on the small boat at the end of the river, and pressed on relentlessly.

Within each crashing wave, it was clearly visible through the strange light that every single droplet of spray was constructed from Jiang Han’s own thoughts and intentions.

Incredibly, Jiang Han had managed to eliminate all distracting thoughts.

Every wave reflected only his figure struggling upstream. Even as his will and Divine Soul were on the verge of being completely eroded, there was no trace of discouragement or despair.

"Who... are you?"

While fighting his way upstream, Jiang Han stared at the end of the river. Having lost all concept of time, he didn’t know how long had passed before he finally asked in a hoarse voice.

At the end of the eternal, endless river, atop the small boat that looked like a child’s toy made from a green lotus leaf, was a figure with no hair and no eyebrows, dressed in snow-white clothes.

An innocent-looking child of about four or five, with rosy lips and white teeth, sat with legs crossed, shaking a rattle drum and humming an unknown tune.

Its large, mischievous eyes studied Jiang Han with great interest, as if engaged in some amusing game.

"Oh, me?"

Hearing Jiang Han’s hoarse voice, the rosy-lipped child stopped swinging its pale, plump legs. It wiped its nose, stood up on the lotus leaf with hands on its hips, and said, shaking its head:

"I come from obsession, free and innocent by nature. When a thought arises, delusions are born. The other shore is only... only... I forgot, hehe."

With that, the child stuck out its tongue bashfully. Its tone and expression were the very picture of pure innocence.

Who could have imagined that such an innocent-looking child could, with a wave of its hand, trap Jiang Han in this endless river of obsession!

His Divine Soul and will were nearly eroded away.

There was no hatred.

There was no grudge or goal.

It was simply because the child wanted to play a game with him!

If it wanted to play, it played.

It was as simple as a child catching an insect to play with—done purely for fun and enjoyment.

So pure that even Jiang Han, a Great Demon who had mastered scheming and seen through human nature, could find no flaw to exploit, nor any way to break free.

There was no objective.

There weren’t even rules for winning.

A child playing by the river had gotten curious and placed an insect in the water.

It just wanted to see what interesting things would happen to the insect and where it might drift.

There are ten thousand schemes in the world, but pure innocence is the hardest to overcome!

A child... doesn’t understand reason.

Only through discipline can they learn.

But Jiang Han clearly lacked the ability to discipline this mysterious, white-robed child.

This strange river was spawned from his very own thoughts. Whether positive or negative, they would all lead to a dead end.

However, ’I come from obsession, free and innocent by nature...’

’Within this four-line verse... could there be a way to break free?’

Jiang Han’s thoughts raced like lightning, but he cut them off before reaching the truth, not wanting to spawn more river water and reveal his intentions to the child.

He didn’t dare try.

Because, he was just an insect, not a player like the child. If the child got angry and decided the game was no longer fun, would it kill him on the spot?

No one could say.

An unsolvable predicament!

SPLASH~

The river of obsession continued to surge.

Though Jiang Han, the upstream swimmer, was like a stubborn rock in the river, he was still gradually being submerged by the torrential waters, his Divine Soul growing ever weaker.

"Yawn~"

In the endless silence, the white-robed child on the lotus leaf boat began to nod off, its head bobbing. It rubbed its eyes, looked at Jiang Han, who was now submerged up to his shoulders, and pouted. "This is boring. Not fun at all."

Saying this, the rosy-lipped child clapped its hands, its eyes lighting up with excitement. "Last time, a new interesting fellow appeared outside. It’ll definitely be fun to find them!"

SPLASH~

The moment it finished speaking, the little white-robed child leaped into the river. Kicking its two pale, turnip-like legs like a big white fish, it playfully swam downstream toward Jiang Han.

As the child moved forward, the surging river of obsession began to flow into its small, bottomless body.

BUZZ~

In that instant, the fire of his Divine Soul was on the verge of extinguishing completely.

Jiang Han, his consciousness hazy and moving only by instinct, felt a powerful attraction approaching him from upstream.

It was a white light.

It seemed that by throwing himself into it, he could reach the other shore, attain liberation, and be free from all suffering and torment.

"Child... don’t even think... about it..."

But Jiang Han instantly broke free from the temptation, realizing he was about to be possessed. He activated the Exquisite Method, preparing to ignite his very essence—choosing death before dishonor.

But the next moment...

"Ugh, that old woman of Mountain and Sea’s Technique is so annoying."

The white-robed child, who had been playfully swimming toward Jiang Han, pouted in disgust. The Exquisite Method that Jiang Han had just activated went wild like an untamed horse, completely out of his control.

His choice of death before dishonor had become a joke in the face of absolute power.

"Three hundred years on the stormy Demon Dao, a heavenly path paved with a billion corpses... In the end... hah."

In his final moments, Jiang Han did not descend into hysterics or disgrace. His black hair fluttered as the surrounding water churned with the moments of his life.

Though filled with endless reluctance, it all dissolved into a self-mocking sigh as he calmly awaited the arrival of death.

But just as all the river water was being drawn in, and the androgynous, white-robed child was almost face-to-face with Jiang Han, a minuscule, equally eroded seed deep within his fading Divine Soul trembled faintly.

CLANG!!

Jiang Han felt nothing.

But the white-robed child’s consciousness slammed into it as if hitting a Divine Mountain barrier or Immortal Divine Fire. It could not be violated or tainted in the slightest, nor could it trigger any obsession from the seed.

"Ehhh? For real?"

But the child wasn’t the least bit angry. Instead, it was as if it had discovered something incredibly interesting.

It straddled Jiang Han’s neck, its big eyes blinking nonstop as it carefully observed the trembling seed. Its eyes were filled with adoration, and it clapped its little hands repeatedly.

"So amazing, so amazing! Its essence is so tiny, yet it unbelievably obtained a sliver of Dao Essence from *that* place.

So fun, so fun.

Teach me, okay...? Hey, hey, hey, don’t go!"

But before the child could follow the trail to its source, the wisp of will that had descended into the seed vanished without a trace.

Even with its immense power, it couldn’t capture the slightest bit of information about the origin, blocked completely by an infinite barrier.

"Stingy, so stingy! When I find you, I’m definitely going to spank you!"

The white-robed child grumbled indignantly. Then, its eyes darted around. It looked down at the dazed and chaotic Jiang Han beneath it, slapped its own smooth little head, and giggled. "This idiot has its seed inside him. As long as I follow him, I’ll definitely be able to find it someday. Hehe, I’m so smart!"

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