By the time Yang Kai returned, Liu Yan and Xiong Ning's fight had already concluded. The outcome was exactly as expected — Liu Yan won overwhelmingly!
However, she hadn't killed Xiong Ning. Instead, she had crippled him and left him sprawled on the ground. His aura was feeble, and he groaned and wailed without cease, looking utterly wretched.
Elsewhere, Hua Gu was still sealed within the earth with only his head exposed. The Dharma Body sat cross-legged before him, its enormous hands spread wide like two massive claws, grasping at the air toward Hua Gu's position.
From those two giant hands, a mysterious force emanated.
Under the influence of this force, Hua Gu's Source Power and even the essence of his flesh and blood were being transformed into pure spiritual energy, surging into the Dharma Body and absorbed completely.
Seeing this scene, Yang Kai's eyes narrowed.
"Master..." Liu Yan approached, her beautiful eyes wide with horror, and whispered, "What kind of technique is this?"
She had been shaken by the Dharma Body's actions as well. Though Hua Gu and the other two had behaved despicably and deserved to die, what the Dharma Body was doing now looked like it was extracting the essence and power from Hua Gu's body, converting them into its own capital for growth.
And as the Dharma Body continued its work, Hua Gu's physical body rapidly withered, like a fruit losing all its moisture. His skin cracked, his complexion turned sallow, and his cultivation base at the third level of the Dao Source Realm plummeted at a terrifying speed.
This kind of death — forced to experience despair and agony before the end — was far more terrifying than being torn limb from limb.
"The Devouring Art," Yang Kai answered in a low voice.
He was somewhat surprised as well, not having expected the Dharma Body to have cultivated the Devouring Art to such a degree.
Before his eyes, the scene was eerily reminiscent of something...
Back when he had released Wu Mengchuan from the Bone Prison of the Azure Feather Sect, Wu Mengchuan had employed the Devouring Art to devour every other cultivator within the prison, killing them all and restoring himself to peak condition in an impossibly short time.
The Dharma Body clearly couldn't yet match Wu Mengchuan's effortless mastery, but the principle was the same — siphoning others' power to strengthen oneself!
The Devouring Art. It could devour all living things in the world. Cultivated to its ultimate degree, it was overwhelmingly domineering, and no one could withstand it. The Devouring Emperor had cultivated precisely such a technique, and it was precisely this that had aroused the fury of all, laying the groundwork for his own demise.
"This technique is too domineering and evil!" Liu Yan furrowed her brow, clearly displeased.
Yang Kai nodded slightly in agreement. After witnessing what had just transpired, he had to admit that this was an extraordinarily evil and overbearing technique.
As the two talked, Hua Gu had already lost all signs of life. His entire body was nothing but skin and bones, as though every last drop of flesh and blood had been drained away. The Dharma Body, however, wore a look of lingering satisfaction. With a beckoning gesture, it drew the half-dead Xiong Ning toward it through the air and repeated the process...
Piercing screams rang out, echoing through the canyon for a long time.
Before long, Xiong Ning had been reduced to a desiccated husk as well.
Only then did the Dharma Body release a contented breath.
Yang Kai could clearly sense that after employing the Devouring Art to absorb the full cultivation of two Dao Source Realm cultivators, the Dharma Body's aura had grown noticeably stronger. Its once-clear eyes now flickered with an inexplicable trace of eerie light.
Through the connection of their spiritual senses, Yang Kai vaguely perceived that the sliver of divine consciousness residing within the Dharma Body had changed in some way. An unfamiliar aura lingered around it.
"This technique... it was a wise decision that you never cultivated it yourself," the Dharma Body said in its deep, resonant voice.
"What do you mean?" Yang Kai raised an eyebrow.
The Dharma Body replied, "Before, I was merely absorbing the essence of various minerals and didn't notice anything unusual. I only felt that the technique was incredibly powerful and that my strength grew rapidly when cultivating it. But now... something is influencing my soul, making me feel an uncontrollable thirst for blood. I want to kill. I want to devour more!"
As it spoke, a faint crimson glow flashed through its eyes.
"Addicted, are we..." Yang Kai murmured, stroking his chin.
The Dharma Body shook its head. "That's not the main point. The main point is that while the Devouring Art absorbs energy, it also devours certain other things in the process, which in turn affect one's true heart!"
"I see." Yang Kai nodded, then asked, "And right now, you're..."
"Quite alright." The Dharma Body waved its hand dismissively. "I believe those 'other things' being absorbed are the lingering thoughts of the dead cultivators, or perhaps their panic and rage in their final moments. If someone like you were to absorb such things, they would be extremely difficult to purge. But I'm different..." At this, the Dharma Body grinned and patted its own chest with pride. "This is the body of the Stone Puppet race. It can naturally purify impurities. I reckon... I just need to rest for a while, and everything will be fine."
"Then there's no time to waste — get back inside for now," Yang Kai said, taking the Mysterious World Bead from Liu Yan's hand. With a flick of his spiritual sense, he withdrew the Dharma Body into it.
"That big guy... he'll be alright, won't he?" Liu Yan asked worriedly.
"He will. The Stone Puppet race has a very unique constitution. But until he's fully purified those things affecting his heart, he probably won't be able to use the Devouring Art again to devour energy," Yang Kai answered.
Still, this whole affair had given him a clearer understanding of why the Devouring Emperor had met such a grim end at the height of his power. It seemed that it wasn't simply his practice of devouring all things that had drawn everyone's hatred — there was likely also the matter of his changing temperament.
Think about it. A cultivator of such terrifying power, spending every waking moment thinking about devouring this and devouring that — no one would feel safe around him. And at the Devouring Emperor's level, the only targets worthy of his interest would have been the other Emperors...