The night was still.
Too still.
The moon hung above the village like a pale eye watching a wounded world, its light flowing gently over Xiao Wang's small, tattered courtyard.
He sat cross-legged beneath the withered peach tree, his robe soaked with dried blood and mud from the Forbidden Forest.
A faint, rhythmic pulse shimmered beneath his skin — crimson and black energies tangled together, moving like fire and shadow entwined.
His breathing was unsteady, yet his gaze burned like molten gold.
"That power… it devoured the beast. It devoured everything."
He clenched his trembling hands.The memory of the monster's death replayed behind his eyes — the dark orb swallowing life, the sword gleaming with a hunger that felt almost alive.
And then… that voice.Ancient. Calm. Like a deity whispering across eternity.
"Feed… and ascend…"
A Whisper Between Realms
The courtyard grew colder.
A silent breeze rippled through the air, though not a single leaf moved.
It was as if the world itself had been wrapped in the echo of something sacred.
Then he heard it again.
A low hum — deep and resonant — vibrating through his bones.
"You… finally hear me, mortal."
Xiao Wang's eyes widened. He turned toward the sheathed sword lying beside him. Its once dull surface now shimmered faintly, veins of scarlet light crawling across the blade like living threads.
"You… you're the voice from the forest," he whispered."What are you?"
The sword responded not with words at first, but with a pulse — a deep, steady thrum, like a heartbeat of the heavens themselves.
Then came the voice again, softer this time, laced with serenity and command.
"I am hunger made form. The remnant of the celestial that devours the heavens. You wield me, yet you do not understand me."
Xiao Wang's pulse quickened. His hands trembled as he reached for the hilt.
A rush of divine energy surged through his veins — cold and searing all at once.
The world blurred, the night shattering into a storm of red and gold light.
The Vision Realm
When his sight cleared, he was no longer in his courtyard.
He stood upon a boundless ocean of stars. The sky rippled like molten glass, and swords — endless swords — floated in the distance, suspended in divine light.Each one hummed softly, like whispers of forgotten gods.
Then, from the sea of stars, she appeared.
A woman stepped forward — her figure cloaked in radiant mist.
Her hair flowed like moonlight, her eyes sharp and cold, yet filled with something sorrowful.
A faint crimson mark glowed between her brows — the exact shape of his sword's insignia.
"So, you're the new bearer," she said, her voice neither kind nor cruel, merely timeless.
"The one chosen by the Celestial Devouring Sword."
Xiao Wang could barely speak.
Her beauty was divine — not mortal beauty, but something that could shatter worlds.
He swallowed hard.
"Who… are you?"
Her lips curved ever so slightly, though her gaze remained distant.
"Names are burdens. But you may call me the Sword's Echo."
"You live within the sword?" he asked.
"Live?" She laughed softly — a sound so faint it ached. "I am what remains. A fragment of will, bound by an oath older than your mortal realm."
Her eyes flickered with emotion, gone as soon as it came.
"Tell me, boy. Do you seek power, or vengeance?"
Xiao Wang hesitated.
Memories flashed — his best friend's smirk, his fiancée's cold betrayal, the sword piercing his heart.
"I seek both," he said, voice firm. "To avenge my past… and to stand above the heavens themselves."
For a moment, silence filled the stars. Then, her eyes softened — the first trace of warmth in her gaze.
"A dangerous wish… but one worthy of the Celestial Devouring Sword."
She raised her hand. Starlight coiled around him like threads of fate.
"Then, you must understand what it means to devour."
The Second Awakening
A deep rumble echoed through the void.
The sword in Xiao Wang's hand began to tremble, its aura flaring like a crimson sun.
"Your first devouring was instinct," the Sword's Echo said. "Now, you will devour with purpose."
The stars trembled.
In the distance, the shadows of beasts formed — vague echoes of monsters slain long ago. Their roars filled the starry realm.
"Close your eyes," the voice instructed. "Do not see them. Feel their essence."
He obeyed.
In the dark, he felt thousands of streams of Qi swirling — fragments of life, death, and divine wrath.
The sword pulsed again.
"Now, let the sword feed."
A torrent of power burst forth.
The devouring orb emerged, spinning before him like a miniature black sun.
Each spectral beast was swallowed whole, one after another — their energies ripped apart, refined, and poured into his body.
Pain.
It was unbearable.
It felt like every bone was breaking and reforging under the weight of creation itself.
"Endure," the voice whispered, calm yet commanding. "Or be devoured in turn."
He screamed — but he did not fall.
He felt his veins surge with celestial fire.
The Qi within him broke through its limits — from the seventh Qi stage to the ninth, and then… beyond.
When the light faded, he stood trembling, his robes fluttering in the unseen wind.
The sword gleamed faintly, its hunger momentarily sated.
The Sword's Echo approached. Her cold expression softened, just barely.
"You survived. Few ever do."
"What… what am I now?" he gasped.
"Something between mortal and celestial."
She looked at him — a flicker of emotion passed through her divine calm. "Remember, Xiao Wang. Every time you feed the sword… it feeds on you as well."
Before he could reply, the stars shattered.
The world dissolved into darkness.
Return to the Mortal Realm
Xiao Wang awoke, gasping, back in his courtyard.
The sword rested quietly beside him, gleaming with a faint red light.
He felt it — power coursing through his body, his Qi roaring like a dragon beneath his skin.
But deep inside his chest, something else stirred — a dark pulse, rhythmic and alive.
"The sword devours…" he whispered. "And so do I."
He looked to the horizon where the first light of dawn broke through the mist.
In his crimson eyes, determination blazed like divine fire.
The path ahead was endless.
The heavens… would tremble again.