The sun rose red that morning.It wasn't the gentle red of dawn — it was the color of blood, of fire burning through the clouds.
Xiao Wang stood at the edge of his village, his sword hanging loosely at his waist. The villagers gave him a wide berth. They had always whispered that he was a "waste," a boy born without talent, cursed with a body that rejected cultivation.
But today, when he looked at their faces, their voices no longer reached him.
Something inside him had changed — something vast and ancient. The Devouring Sword slept in his soul, and its pulse matched his heartbeat.
"Hesitation is a chain," the sword's calm, ethereal whisper murmured. "Break it… or you will never rise."
Xiao Wang clenched his fist. The warmth of the sun kissed his skin, but within, his blood felt cold and heavy — laced with the energy he had devoured from the beast.
The villagers' voices trailed off as he walked down the dusty road that led toward the Azure Sky Sect — the same sect that had expelled him, the same place his fiancée had humiliated him before everyone.
He wasn't returning to beg.He was returning to remember.
The road to the sect wound through thick bamboo groves, their leaves whispering secrets to the wind. Xiao Wang's steps were calm, but every sound was sharp — too sharp. His senses had changed; he could hear heartbeats from birds hidden in the trees, smell the faint iron tang of beasts miles away.
Halfway up the slope, the wind shifted. The forest fell silent.
He stopped.Then —
Rustle.
Five figures emerged from the shadows ahead. Their robes were blue and silver — Azure Sky disciples.
At their head was Han Lei, a young cultivator at the Late Foundation Stage, once Xiao Wang's senior by only a year.
Han Lei grinned. "Well, well… if it isn't the useless trash who dared enter the Forbidden Forest and somehow came back alive."
Xiao Wang's expression didn't change. "Move."
Han Lei laughed. "Oh? You grew a backbone? Did you finally awaken some pity-level cultivation?"He turned to the others. "You heard what happened, right? His fiancée broke the engagement because he couldn't even pass the Qi stage! What a joke!"
The others snickered. One spat on the ground.
The old Xiao Wang would have lowered his head, swallowed the humiliation. But the new one…
"Kill or devour.""You decide."
The whisper was faint, curling at the edge of his thoughts. The sword's presence was like a cold wind brushing against his spine.
He slowly placed his hand on the hilt. "You should leave now."
Han Lei's smirk vanished. "You're talking to me like you have power? I'll teach you your place."
He lifted his hand — Qi flared blue around his palm, gathering into a spear of light. He thrust it forward with a sneer.
"Azure Palm Art — Flowing Sky Strike!"
The attack roared through the air, tearing leaves apart as it hurtled toward Xiao Wang.
Time seemed to slow. The Devouring Sword pulsed once within his soul.
"Do you wish for strength?"
He exhaled. "Take it."
The world went still.
In that moment, crimson light erupted from Xiao Wang's body, swirling around him like a storm. The Devouring Sword's phantom form appeared behind him — black and red, with a faint aura of gold flickering at its edges.
When the attack struck him — it vanished.The energy was swallowed, devoured midair like a beast devouring prey.
Han Lei froze. "What—?"
Xiao Wang's eyes glowed faintly red. "You talk too much."
He moved.
The sword flashed once — a streak of red light so fast it tore through the air itself.
Han Lei screamed. His Qi shield shattered like glass. A cut appeared across his chest — not deep, but burning with crimson energy.
"What… what is that power!?" Han Lei stumbled backward, clutching his chest as his own Qi began leaking from the wound — siphoned away by some unseen force.
The other disciples shouted in panic. One raised his blade, but Xiao Wang didn't even look at him.
The sword whispered again — its voice like the echo of thunder beneath the sea.
"Feed me."
He swung once.
The red energy exploded outward in a half-moon arc. The disciples screamed as their Qi was stripped from their bodies, their vitality drained. The air filled with a faint shimmer — their essence transforming into motes of light that flowed into Xiao Wang's body.
"Yes…" The sword murmured with satisfaction. "This is the taste I remember — fear, life, ambition… delicious."
Xiao Wang fell to one knee, his chest heaving. The energy flooding his veins was overwhelming — chaotic, violent.
The Devouring Orb appeared briefly within his soul sea — a black hole spinning lazily, devouring the streams of essence like a cosmic beast.
Then, stillness.
When he looked up, only Han Lei remained — pale, trembling, his legs barely holding him.
"W-What are you?" Han Lei stammered.
Xiao Wang stood slowly, the faint red glow fading from his eyes. "Someone who stopped being weak."
He turned away.
But before he took his third step, Han Lei screamed and lunged — sword drawn, blind with rage and fear.
Xiao Wang didn't even turn.
The Devouring Sword's whisper came like a sigh.
"Mercy is for those who still have something to lose."
He spun and struck.
The crimson edge sliced through the air — clean, final.
Han Lei's blade shattered. His body froze mid-motion, eyes wide with disbelief. Then, slowly, he fell to his knees.
As his life faded, the black orb appeared again, devouring the last trace of his soul.
For a brief second, Xiao Wang saw flashes — Han Lei's memories.Training beneath waterfalls. Laughing with his peers. His ambition, his pride, his fear of being ordinary.
Then they were gone — absorbed.
Xiao Wang stood silently, the forest eerily quiet once more.
"Power always comes with echoes," the sword whispered. "What you take, you carry."
He looked down at his hand — faint marks of crimson now pulsed beneath his skin.He could feel their strength within him — their Qi reinforcing his meridians, their memories lingering faintly at the edges of his thoughts.
For the first time in his life, he had power.Real power.
And it terrified him.
By the time he returned to the village, the air was thick with mist. He passed by the small well where his younger sister, Xiao Lin, was washing clothes. She turned and smiled when she saw him, but her expression faltered almost instantly.
"Brother… your eyes— they're glowing."
He blinked, and the red light faded. "It's nothing," he said softly, forcing a small smile.
But deep down, he knew nothing was the same.
"The hunger won't stop now," the sword's voice whispered faintly in his mind. "Every life taken awakens more of my power… and yours."
"And soon, you'll need to feed again."
He ignored it.
That night, when the world slept, Xiao Wang sat cross-legged under the old tree outside his house. The moon hung pale and distant. He closed his eyes and focused inward.
His dantian glowed — brighter than ever before. The Devouring Orb spun slowly, surrounded by faint streams of energy from the lives he had taken.
Suddenly, a new energy emerged — one that wasn't his.Golden. Ancient. Vast.
It came from deep within the sword's consciousness, pulsing in rhythm with his heart.
"Listen well, child of rebirth," the sword intoned, its voice calm, echoing like a god speaking through the stars. "You walk the path of devouring — not by system, nor destiny, but by choice."
"But every devourer must one day face the devoured. Remember that."
The vision faded. Xiao Wang opened his eyes.
The night wind was cold. But within him, a fire had ignited — a hunger not just for revenge, but for transcendence.
"Then I'll keep walking," he whispered. "Until the heavens themselves kneel."
And somewhere deep within his soul, the sword laughed softly — a sound like thunder hidden beneath the waves.