Chapter 1210: I Want to Swallow the Heavens

In the core of the gray mist space, Yan Buji's divine thought avatar still hovered, but the surrounding scene was completely different from the previously dead, stagnant energy.

At this moment, the strange space seemed to become a furnace of desire.

Countless streams of light, varying in thickness and dazzling in color, like streams drawn by an invisible force, surged from the void in all directions and converged into a simple, dark, roughly human‑height bronze pot at the center of the space.

The pot's shape was odd, its body riddled with twisted holes like greedy, roaring mouths; at its rim swirled ever‑changing rainbow glows, yet it emitted a chilling aura that made souls shiver. It was the famed treasure that made Yan Buji renowned, the embodiment of his path of desire: the Swallow Desire Pot!

The light streams entering the pot were not ordinary energy but the materialization of the seven emotions and six desires! The yearning for survival, greed for power, burning love, deep‑seated hatred, boundless fear, maddening jealousy, and decadent lust… they came from captured cultivators, the stripped and extracted most intense emotions of their lives!

Yan Buji's divine thought avatar sat cross‑legged above the Swallow Desire Pot, slowly inhaling the vaporized, preliminarily refined desire essence rising within, like smoke. With each inhalation his vague silhouette solidified a bit, the surrounding gray mist grew more lively and profound, and in his black‑hole eyes the scenes of decadence and Silence Extinction alternated faster, as if countless worlds were born and destroyed in a single thought.

He was not in a sealed death chamber; the news of the mother nest's destruction did not interrupt his cultivation, but made him even more "diligent". To him, the lost holy embryo merely delayed a plan's progress, and drawing the desires of all beings through the Swallow Desire Pot to elevate his own origin was the eternal theme.

"Not enough… still not enough…" Yan Buji's divine thought let out a silent sigh, feeling the torrent of desire in the pot, "The quality is acceptable, but the quantity… far insufficient to support this seat's impact on the final bottleneck."

He needs larger, purer desire fuel! Especially the desire that erupts in extreme despair and pain, the darkest and most intense, which is the best nourishment for his technique.

"Transmit the order." His will descended again into the mind of the senior official of the Shadow Pavilion handling external affairs, cold and unquestionable, "'Harvest' plan, initiate early. Scope: expand to the outer periphery of Zhong Tian Zhi Yu, covering thirty‑six cities. Target: all cultivators above the Foundation Establishment Stage, prioritize those with weak will and strong desire. Methods… unlimited."

"Obey the Holy Lord's decree!" The senior official of the Shadow Pavilion, trembling all over upon receiving the command, dared not dissent, and immediately relayed the bloody order.

In an instant, throughout Zhong Tian Zhi Yu, especially the relatively remote, weakly defended cultivation cities and gathering points, the undercurrents suddenly surged violently!

Black Water City, a small town famed for producing Yin‑type Spiritual Material.

Night deepened, and within the City Lord's mansion a banquet was held to celebrate the City Lord's eight‑hundredth birthday. Cups clinked, guests chatted merrily, and the air was scented with wine and a faint aura.

Suddenly!

The walls and dome surrounding the banquet hall silently melted, turning into viscous gray mist! Within the mist, countless cold, merciless eyes lit up!

"Shadow Pavilion operatives, those captured handily may be spared the agony of soul‑searching!"

A chilling voice echoed in the hall, freezing the festive atmosphere instantly! Guests, terrified, found their spiritual energy flow sluggish and their artifacts lost their luster!

Before they could react, countless gray chains shot out from the gray mist, precisely ensnaring each cultivator! The chains caused no physical harm, but pierced their Sea of Consciousness, forcibly extracting their seven emotions and six desires!

"No! My cultivation!"

"Release me! I am willing to give all my wealth!"

"Why me?!!"

Screams, pleas, and curses instantly filled the hall. Some collapsed in terror, their desires extracted faster; others fought back, unleashing stronger hatred and battle spirit, making their desire essence even more "tasty."

The City Lord, an early‑stage Void Refinement cultivator, roared and summoned his own Accumulation Device to resist, but a stronger shadow in the gray mist instantly subdued him, lifting him like a Little Chicken; the anger and resentment in his eyes turned into the purest black hatred, which was forcibly extracted.

In less than the time it takes a incense stick to burn, the banquet hall fell silent. All guests, along with the City Lord's guards and servants, any who possessed cultivation, collapsed with hollow eyes, not dead but stripped of all emotion and desire, like walking corpses. Their extracted desire essence turned into streaks of colored light, vanished into the void, converging toward the distant Swallow Desire Pot.

A similar scene unfolded simultaneously in multiple locations on Zhong Tian Zhi Yu's outer periphery.

Qingfeng Plain, a tranquil region dominated by spirit‑plant cultivators. Shadow Pavilion assassins disguised as a caravan spread a "Immortal Fate Powder" that incites greedy desire, prompting countless cultivators to fight each other, ultimately being swept away in a net of extreme greed and betrayal.

Flame Valley, a chaotic ground where scattered cultivators gather. The Shadow Pavilion covertly incited clashes between several major sects; when both sides were bloodied with hatred at its peak, they struck, harvesting all the hatred and killing intent of the cultivators on the battlefield.

Capture, lure, incite… every method was employed to the extreme. This massive war machine of the Shadow Pavilion, to satisfy Yan Buji's demands, fully displayed its ferocious minions. Countless cultivators unknowingly became "crops", having their most precious emotions and desires harvested, turning into empty shells.

Within the gray mist space, the desire stream gathered by the Swallow Desire Pot grew markedly bulkier, its colors more variegated and intense. Yan Buji's absorption speed quickened a few degrees, and his form became increasingly solid.

He sensed the newly added desire essence in the pot, enriched by large‑scale harvesting and brimming with despair, fear, betrayal, madness, and other negative emotions; a flash of satisfaction crossed his black‑hole eyes.

"Chaos… is a better catalyst. The suffering and struggle of all beings can forge the ultimate Silence Extinction intent."

He cared not how the outside world might change; whether beings were scorched or order collapsed, all were merely stepping stones for his ascent to the Dao's pinnacle. He even enjoyed the feeling of controlling sentient emotions, using them as sustenance.

"Increase the intensity," he transmitted again, "Focus on those potential, emotionally volatile 'premium seedbeds'. Also, track the perpetrators' trail, do not relax. I have a premonition they… will appear again soon."

The Swallow Desire Pot hummed, greedily devouring the endless influx of desire streams. Yan Buji immersed himself in this power forged from the suffering of all beings, continuing his cultivation, awaiting the prey's bite, and also awaiting… the moment when the timing is ripe.