The world held its breath.
The skies were no longer skies—just endless black, rippling with faint streaks of crimson light.
Every star dimmed as something ancient drifted closer, its presence so massive it bent the concept of time itself.
[System Alert: Undefined Entity Detected.]
[Designation: The Watcher Beyond Heaven.]
[Warning: Existence-level threat. Escape probability — 0%.]
Even the Celestials forgot to move.
The Radiant Sage trembled where he knelt, eyes locked upward. "It cannot be… it was sealed beyond the Origin Gate."
The Jade Seraph folded her wings, whispering an old prayer.
But no god answered.
Lian Yue clung to Xiao Wang's sleeve, her voice shaking.
"What is that thing?"
He didn't answer.
He simply stared at the shifting void above, and in his eyes, reflected the image of a colossal silhouette—neither beast nor god, but something that watched.
The Breath That Bends Worlds
The air grew heavy. Oceans boiled. Mountains folded in on themselves.
A single breath from the Watcher caused all living things within the Moonlight Empire to fall unconscious.
Xiao Wang's bones groaned under invisible pressure. His skin cracked with lines of light as his System core struggled to stabilize.
[Core Integrity: 73%… 59%… 41%]
[Activating emergency protocols.]
Silver and black flames flared around him.
The Devouring Sword pulsed as though alive.
"That… thing," murmured the Sword in awe, "it was here before Heaven itself. The Primordials feared it."
"And now it's here for me."
His voice was calm—but behind it, a storm brewed.
The Voice Beyond Language
A sound rolled through reality—not heard, but felt.
Every mortal dream shattered at once.
"You consume what is mine."
The voice wasn't male or female. It was the whisper of galaxies collapsing, of suns being born.
It echoed directly inside Xiao Wang's soul.
He straightened, staring into the void. "You mean the fragment? Then come take it."
"I am not a god. I am what gods call when they fear to act."
"And I am what existence creates when balance needs breaking."
The sky blinked—literally blinked—and a vast golden pupil filled the heavens.
The moment it focused on Xiao Wang, the world dissolved into pure white.
The Realm Beyond Heaven
He opened his eyes—and found himself floating within an ocean of stars.
Each droplet of light contained entire universes.
At the center stood a massive throne of broken constellations.
Upon it, the Watcher's form slowly coalesced.
An androgynous figure draped in rags of light and darkness, faceless except for one enormous eye burning on its chest.
"You took a piece of my origin."
"Then I suppose I owe you thanks," Xiao Wang replied. "It made me stronger."
"You misunderstand. To hold it is to become me."
The stars shuddered, drawn toward the Watcher's chest.
Threads of light began to reach for Xiao Wang, tugging at the fragment of Heaven within him.
The System screamed in protest.
[Warning: Host Assimilation in Progress.]
[Countermeasure Protocol — 'Devour Origin' initializing…]
Xiao Wang's eyes flared gold and black at once.
He gritted his teeth, clutching the Devouring Sword.
"I've devoured demons, saints, and laws. You think I'll bow to an eye?"
He slashed downward.
The cut wasn't physical—it tore through meaning.
A crack appeared across the stars themselves.
The System's Rebirth
[New Path Unlocked: Origin Devourer.]
[Requirement: Consume the Source of the Watcher.]
The System's cold voice now pulsed with almost… eagerness.
He focused, forcing the two halves of his personality to merge again.
Ruthless logic fused with wild defiance.
The sword began to hum with a tone deeper than sound.
"System…" he muttered. "…you want me to eat the sky?"
[Affirmative.]
He laughed softly. "Then let's dine."
Battle of Origins
The Watcher extended a hand—its fingers made of timelines, its palm a collapsing sun.
Each movement rewrote the laws of causality.
Xiao Wang moved faster than thought.
Every swing of his blade devoured light, every parry bent reality backward.
Fragments of ancient languages broke apart around him as he cleaved through energy that had never been meant to exist.
[Assimilating Origin Thread 01… 02… 03…]
[Partial success — 37%.]
He gasped as blood spilled from his mouth.
The energy was too vast, too alien. It burned through his veins like molten eternity.
"Mortal shell… collapsing…" warned the Sword.
"Then I'll forge a new one!"
He roared, and the black-silver flames consumed his body entirely.
His silhouette dissolved—only to reform within the fire as something radiant, monstrous, and divine.
[Evolution Triggered — New Form: Origin Devourer Phase I.]
The Watcher's pupil widened.
"You evolve even as you perish?"
"Because that's what it means to be human," Xiao Wang whispered, his voice echoing through dimensions.
"To never stop hungering."
The Eye That Wept Blood
For the first time since creation, the Watcher bled.
Crimson rivers of starlight flowed from its chest, staining galaxies red.
[Essence Acquired: Primordial Blood × 1]
[System Integration 89% Complete.]
The throne of constellations cracked.
All of existence quaked.
The Watcher raised its head and screamed—not in rage, but fear.
"You will devour the cycle itself… you will unmake all things!"
"Then maybe it's time someone did."
Xiao Wang thrust his sword forward, driving it through the Watcher's chest.
Light consumed everything.
Return to the Mortal Realm
He fell—through stars, through clouds, through screams——and landed on shattered ground, coughing blood and starlight.
Lian Yue was there, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You're back…"
Behind her, the Radiant Sage and Jade Seraph knelt, unable to meet his gaze.
The moon above flickered, now bearing a faint black scar—proof of what he'd slain.
[System Status: Origin Integration — 93%.]
[New Quest: The Devourer's Crown — Claim the Thrones of Heaven and Abyss.]
Xiao Wang stood, his expression unreadable.
He looked toward the north, where a strange glow pulsed beyond the horizon.
"Looks like Heaven won't be the only one after me now."
Lian Yue frowned. "Who else?"
He smiled faintly.
"The Abyss remembers its king."
A voice whispered from the wind—feminine, distant, alluring.
"Welcome home… Devourer."
The ground trembled as a crimson moon rose, bleeding light upon the earth.
[New Entity Detected: The Abyssal Queen — approaching host coordinates.]
Xiao Wang tightened his grip on his sword, eyes gleaming.
"So, the Queen finally decided to appear…"