The wind howled across the dead plains.
Ashes fell like snow, painting the world in silence and ruin.
Xiao Wang stood alone beneath the shattered moon — its fragments hanging in the sky like dying stars. His cloak fluttered in the storm, his once-immaculate robes now torn and stained with blood.
His left arm pulsed faintly with dark veins, the curse of the Abyssal Heaven Temple slowly spreading beneath his skin. It was no ordinary wound — it was alive.
[Warning: Abyssal Corruption progressing — 27% → 29%]
[System Stabilization in progress… critical functions offline.]
The voice of the Celestial Devourer System was distorted, layered between divine tone and mechanical resonance.
For the first time since its reawakening, Xiao Wang felt it tremble — as if even the System feared what it had absorbed.
He clenched his fist, but black smoke leaked from his palm.
The air sizzled where it touched.
"So… this is the gift he left me."
His tone was calm, but his gaze burned cold fury.
"A curse that refuses to die."
The Sword, hovering faintly behind him, hummed with deep resonance.
"That curse belongs to the Abyssal Monarch himself — the oldest of the Devourers."
"To resist it, you must either purify it… or become something far worse."
Xiao Wang smirked faintly.
"Then I'll devour the curse too."
"You're insane."
The Sword's tone was half scolding, half impressed.
"But I suppose that's why you survived everything else."
The System's Hidden Chamber
The world around Xiao Wang rippled as the System suddenly surged back to life.
[System Function Restored: Inner Domain Access — Opened.]
[Would Host like to enter?]
He didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
The world shattered.
When he opened his eyes again, he stood in a vast black void — stars swirling around him, rivers of molten silver energy flowing through the darkness like veins of a living cosmos.
In the center floated a colossal structure — half temple, half machine.
Glyphs older than heaven glowed upon its surface.
"Welcome to the System Core."
A new voice spoke — not divine, not mechanical, but something between.
"I am the Celestial Integration Core — the will of the Devourer System."
"So… you finally speak," Xiao Wang murmured.
"Why now?"
"The curse you bear… is rewriting parts of me. I had to awaken my true self before it consumes you both."
He frowned. "Explain."
The Core pulsed, and light rippled across the void.
Images formed — a memory from eons past.
A Celestial Emperor, cloaked in divine light, wielded the same sword Xiao Wang now carried.
Before him stood a monstrous being — an endless mass of shadows with countless eyes.
"The Abyssal Monarch — the first Devourer," the Core said softly.
"He once wielded the power you now possess… until he consumed heaven itself and was sealed by the Celestial Emperor. The curse within you is his fragment."
"And the Emperor?" Xiao Wang asked.
"He is you… or rather, the soul from which yours was reborn."
The air fell silent.
For a moment, Xiao Wang's mind blanked.
Then a low laugh escaped his lips — bitter, disbelieving.
"So I've been fighting my own shadow since the beginning."
"Perhaps," the Core replied, "but destiny is not a chain — it's a blade. Wield it, or be cut by it."
New Interface Unlocked
[New Function: Cursed Evolution Path — unlocked.]
[New Stat: Abyssal Resonance — 0.3% → 1.2%]
[Warning: Every gain in Resonance increases both power and instability.]
A massive screen of light appeared before him, but unlike before, it wasn't a floating blue panel — it was engraved in air like celestial runes burning through reality.
Each glyph pulsed with raw energy.
Devourer's Core: Active
Abyssal Resonance: 1.2%
Soul Authority: Partial (Restricted by Curse)
Bloodline Path: Awakened — Celestial Emperor → Shadow Devourer
Next Objective:Cleanse or Consume the Abyssal Fragment.
Xiao Wang touched one of the runes, and a surge of power exploded through his veins.
The curse flared in response, sending waves of agony down his arm — yet within that agony came strength.
[Resonance increased → 2.5%]
[New Trait unlocked: Shadow Regeneration.]
His wounds began knitting themselves shut, black smoke leaking from his skin as the curse fused with his bloodline instead of erasing it.
The Sword's voice echoed, astonished.
"You're merging the curse with the Devourer System itself… you mad child, you're rewriting the laws of heaven!"
Xiao Wang grinned faintly. "Then heaven should start taking notes."
Meanwhile, in the Burning Capital
Lian Yue knelt beside her father's throne, her armor cracked and her face pale. The Moonlight Palace lay in ruins — the sky above still bleeding crimson from the battle.
Around her, generals and soldiers lay wounded or dead.
The Blood Shade Envoy's curse still lingered in the air, poisoning their Qi channels.
"Princess," one of the surviving captains gasped, "please… leave the capital. We'll hold the barrier!"
She shook her head. "No. He's still out there. If Xiao Wang is alive, he will return."
A faint wind brushed her cheek — soft and warm, carrying a whisper that only she could hear.
"Lian Yue… hold on."
Her heart skipped a beat.
"That voice…"
The Return
The night sky split open.
A pillar of silver and black light tore through the clouds, swallowing the moon's reflection.
Every cultivator in the empire felt it — a divine yet chaotic power that defied logic.
The energy of Heaven and the Abyss, colliding within one body.
Xiao Wang descended slowly from the heavens, his cloak now in tatters, his aura pure devastation. His hair — once black — shimmered faintly silver at the tips, and the curse that once consumed his arm now formed a pattern of dark celestial marks across his chest and neck.
[System Evolution: Complete.]
[Cursed Devourer Form — Activated.]
The Sword hovered beside him, its voice echoing proudly.
"The boy who defied fate… now walks as both Devourer and Emperor."
Below, the shadow beasts that had survived the battle shrieked and fled — yet the space around them warped as Xiao Wang raised his hand.
"You ran from the wrong man."
A vortex of light and darkness erupted.
Every monster was sucked in, their bodies and souls shredded into essence — devoured in seconds.
[Essence Absorbed: 327 souls.]
[Devourer Rank: Ascended Mortal → Half-Step Saint.]
Lian Yue looked up at him, trembling. "You… you're alive…"
He descended, landing a few feet before her. The moment their eyes met, the tension of the battle faded — but something else stirred between them.
The moon's remnants glowed faintly above, casting a silver halo around them both.
"I told you," he said softly, smirking. "You still owe me that dance, remember?"
She blinked — then, despite the blood and ruin around them, she laughed.
It was soft, broken, yet bright.
"You're impossible."
"Maybe," Xiao Wang replied. "But I'm also hard to kill."
When the Ground Shook Again
Their laughter died as the ground beneath them cracked.
A massive glyph appeared, glowing red — the same symbol that had appeared when the Blood Shade Envoy first invaded.
[System Alert: Abyssal Gateway Reactivated.]
[Warning: Unknown Entity emerging…]
A voice like thunder boomed across the heavens.
"You destroyed my envoy… and stole my fragment. Mortal worm — did you think you could defy the Abyss?"
The sky tore apart.
From the rift, a colossal hand emerged — black as void, each finger the size of a mountain. The air itself screamed as the hand descended toward the capital.
Lian Yue's face went pale.
"The Abyssal Monarch…"
But Xiao Wang's expression didn't waver. He took one step forward — the Celestial Devouring Sword floating beside him, now shining with silver flames.
"You call yourself the Monarch of the Abyss," he said, his tone cold as frost.
"Then kneel before the one who devours heaven."
[System Overdrive: Initiated.]
[Fusion Protocol: Sword + Host = 100%.]
The sword merged into his body. His aura exploded.
Silver flames roared from his eyes as he thrust his hand toward the sky.
The world turned silent.
And then—A pillar of devouring light erupted upward, swallowing the descending hand whole.
"Celestial Devouring Art — Eclipse of Heaven and Hell!"
The impact shook continents.
When the light faded, only dust remained where the hand once was.
But Xiao Wang's body trembled — blood dripping from his mouth.
His knees hit the ground, and the curse marks across his body flared violently.
[Warning: Overload detected.]
[Abyssal Resonance: 37% → 59%]
He gasped, his vision blurring. The world tilted.
Lian Yue caught him before he fell, her arms trembling.
"Idiot," she whispered. "You saved us again."
Xiao Wang chuckled weakly, his breath shallow.
"Don't worry… I'm not dying… not yet."
"But you're close," the Sword muttered dryly in his mind.
"Maybe next time, don't try to eat a god's hand."
He smirked faintly. "No promises."
Just as Lian Yue began to speak, the sky cracked again — but this time, it wasn't red.
It was gold.
A massive divine eye opened within the heavens — calm, indifferent, watching.
"The balance has been broken,"
A voice echoed — not from the Abyss, but from the Celestial Realm itself.
"The Devourer has awakened. Judgment must begin."
Every cultivator in the Moonlight Empire fell to their knees.
Even Xiao Wang felt his soul shake.
Lian Yue gripped his arm tightly. "What… what is that?"
He looked up, his silver eyes reflecting the divine light.
"That," he said quietly, "is Heaven."