[Primordial Devouring System activated]
The voice echoed through Chen Xuan's consciousness.
Vast and ancient, carrying power that made his soul tremble.
[Synchronization with host: Chen Xuan]
[Progress: 1%... 15%... 34%...]
Words appeared before his vision.
Not on a physical screen. Not projected onto anything.
They simply existed in his perception.
Translucent text in characters that were neither Chinese nor English, yet somehow perfectly comprehensible.
Chen Xuan staggered backward, his hand gripping the edge of a wooden table for support.
"What is this?"
[Progress: 50%... 67%... 82%...]
The golden light intensified.
Chen Xuan felt something fundamental changing within him. It was as if invisible threads were weaving themselves through his consciousness.
Connecting to his thoughts. His memories. His very essence.
[Progress: 99%... 100%]
[Synchronization complete]
[Welcome, Host, to the path of the Devourer]
The voice faded, replaced by a comprehensive interface that materialized before his eyes.
Multiple screens of information appeared. Organized and clear, overlaying his normal vision without obscuring it.
[HOST STATUS]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Chen Xuan
Age: 18 Race:
Human Cultivation: Body Tempering Realm - First Layer (Crippled)
Status: Meridians Destroyed - Unable to Cultivate
Bloodline: None Physique:
Mortal Body (Severely Damaged)
Lifespan: ~20 years remaining (declining due to injuries) ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Chen Xuan stared at the display.
His programmer's mind immediately recognized the structure. A status screen. Like in those RPG games and web novels he'd read during lunch breaks.
But this wasn't fiction.
He could feel the system's presence in his consciousness, as real as his own thoughts.
'Can you hear me?' he thought tentatively.
[Affirmative. Host may communicate with the system through thought or speech. For privacy, thought-communication is recommended.]
'What are you? How is this possible?'
[The Primordial Devouring System is an ancient inheritance from the Primordial Era, when the first Devourers walked the myriad realms. This system has chosen you as its host.]
[Primary Function: Enable host to walk the Devouring Path—consuming all things to grow stronger]
[Note: The Devouring Path was lost to time after the Primordial Era ended. You are this system's first host in over ten thousand years.]
'Devouring Path?' Chen Xuan's mind raced. 'You mean... eating things to gain power?'
[Affirmative. The system allows host to devour enemies, beasts, treasures, and eventually even laws themselves. All things contain power. The Devouring Path takes that power directly.]
Chen Xuan's heart hammered in his chest.
He'd read web novels with systems like this. Cheat abilities that turned trash into geniuses.
But to actually have one...
'My meridians are destroyed,' he thought, looking down at his scarred arms. 'Can you fix that?'
[Affirmative. However, the system does not grant power freely. You must earn it through the Devouring Path.]
[Exception: First-time activation provides a Novice Gift Package to establish your foundation]
Before Chen Xuan could respond, new text appeared:
[ATTRIBUTES]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Strength: 0.8 (Average mortal: 1.0)
Agility: 0.7 (Average mortal: 1.0)
Constitution: 0.5 (Average mortal: 1.0)
Spiritual Power: 0 (Cannot cultivate)
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The numbers were damning.
He was weaker than an average person. His body broken by yesterday's beating and three years of degradation.
[TECHNIQUES] None
[DEVOURING POINTS] Current DP: 0
[SYSTEM FUNCTIONS]
⟩ Devour - Available
⟩ Shop - [LOCKED - Requires 1,000 DP]
⟩Inventory - [LOCKED - Requires 500 DP]
⟩ Missions - Available
⟩ Bloodline Chamber - [LOCKED - Requires System Level 2]
⟩ Law Pavilion - [LOCKED - Requires System Level 3]
Chen Xuan absorbed the information methodically.
The system had functions, but most were locked. He'd need to earn Devouring Points—whatever those were—to unlock them.
But the mention of a gift package...
[SPECIAL NOTICE]
╔════════════════════════════════════╗
║ FIRST ACTIVATION DETECTED ║
║ Novice Gift Package Ready ║
║ Accept Reward? ║ ║ [YES] / [NO] ║
╚════════════════════════════════════╝
Chen Xuan's hand trembled.
This was it. The moment that would determine if he could actually recover or if this system was just a cruel joke.
'What's in the package?' he thought carefully.
[Novice Gift Package contains items specifically designed to establish host's cultivation foundation. Contents include techniques, resources, and most importantly—a method to restore your destroyed meridians.]
Chen Xuan's breath caught.
A method to restore meridians.
Something that shouldn't exist in this world. Something the original Chen Xuan had spent three years desperately searching for.
'What's the catch?' There was always a catch.
[No catch for the gift package. It is freely given to establish your foundation. However, all future advancement will require you to walk the Devouring Path. You must take power from the world—from beasts, from enemies, from treasures. There is no mercy on this path. No restraint. Only endless consumption and growth.]
Chen Xuan understood what the system was telling him.
This wasn't the path of a righteous cultivator who slowly refined spiritual energy from heaven and earth.
This was something darker. More direct.
A path that would require him to kill and consume his enemies.
In his old life, he might have hesitated.
But the original Chen Xuan's memories were part of him now.
He'd felt the pain of having his meridians destroyed. The humiliation of being called trash. The grief of watching his parents die from sorrow.
And Ye Tianlong faced no consequences.
Protected by the Absolute Yin Palace, he'd moved on to greater heights while the Chen Family rotted.
'I accept,' Chen Xuan thought with cold determination. 'Give me the gift package.'
[Novice Gift Package activated!]
Golden light exploded through the room.
Chen Xuan felt energy flowing into him from nowhere and everywhere at once. It wasn't physical—it was something deeper, touching his consciousness directly.
Items began appearing in his awareness, stored in some kind of dimensional space he could now access:
[Congratulations! You have received:] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
⟩ Basic Devouring Technique Manual Description: Allows devouring of dead beasts up to one major realm above host Note: This is the foundation of the Devouring Path
⟩ Devouring Points: 1,000 DP Note: Currency for the System Shop. Unlocks shop access.
⟩ Meridian Restoration Pill (Heaven Grade - Low) x1 Description: Completely reconstructs destroyed meridian pathways Warning: Consumption will be EXTREMELY painful Duration: 6-8 hours Effect: Restores cultivation foundation to perfect condition
⟩ Basic Cultivation Manual: Primal Chaos Sutra (Divine Grade - Low) Description: Ancient cultivation method from the Primordial Era Note: Synergizes perfectly with devouring abilities Rarity: Would cause wars if its existence became known
⟩ Spirit Stones (Low Grade) x100 Value: Each worth ~10 silver taels Total value: Enough to sustain a family for a year
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Chen Xuan's mind reeled as knowledge flowed into him.
He instinctively understood how to access this inventory. How to retrieve items. How the devouring technique worked.
It was as if the information had always been part of him.
But what made his hands shake was understanding what he'd just received.
Heaven Grade pill.
In Lianyun City, most families only had access to Mortal or Spirit Grade resources.
The Chen Family's ancestral technique—the Flowing Cloud Palm that Ye Tianlong wanted so badly—was Earth Grade, and it had been their family's greatest treasure.
Heaven Grade was two full grades higher.
In this city, probably only the City Lord had access to such resources, and even then rarely.
And the cultivation manual...
Divine Grade.
Chen Xuan's inherited memories told him that such techniques were the foundation of great sects, guarded as priceless treasures.
Wars had been fought over Earth Grade manuals.
Divine Grade was beyond valuation.
'System,' Chen Xuan thought, 'why give me something so valuable as a starter gift? Heaven Grade pills must be incredibly rare.'
[The system's purpose is to create a true Devourer—one who can reach the peak of cultivation. To do this, you need a proper foundation. Lesser resources would not suffice for your destroyed meridians.]
[Additionally, as you grow stronger, you will understand that Heaven Grade is merely the beginning. There are Saint Grade, Divine Grade, Primordial Grade, and even Eternal Grade resources in the highest realms.]
Chen Xuan processed this.
The system was playing a long game. Investing heavily in him from the start because it expected him to reach heights where Heaven Grade pills would seem common.
'Can I use the pill now?' he asked.
[Affirmative. However, host should be aware of several factors:]
[1. The restoration process will be EXTREMELY painful. Your meridians were not just damaged—they were systematically destroyed. Rebuilding them is rebuilding your entire cultivation foundation.]
[2. The process will take 6-8 hours. During this time, you will be completely vulnerable.]
[3. The pill will cause significant spiritual energy fluctuations. Anyone with spiritual sense within 500 meters may detect it.]
[4. You will need a secure, isolated location.]
[Recommendation: Find a place where you will not be disturbed or discovered.]
Chen Xuan nodded slowly, thinking through his options.
His room was in the servants' quarters of the compound. Shabby, with a broken door and torn windows.
Anyone could walk in.
The servants would be moving about. Elder Zhou might check on him.
But there was one place...
A memory surfaced from the original Chen Xuan.
His grandfather, back when the family was still prosperous, had built a small cultivation chamber in the basement of an old storage building.
It had been used for secluded cultivation and important breakthroughs.
But that was decades ago. The formation powering it had depleted, and the family had sealed it off as unnecessary.
Nobody went there anymore.
It was isolated, hidden, and could be locked from the inside.
Perfect.
'I know where to go,' Chen Xuan thought.
He moved to the broken door and peered out carefully.
The compound was quiet in the early morning light. Most servants would still be asleep for another hour.
Chen Xuan slipped out of his room, moving carefully to avoid making noise despite his injuries.
Every step sent spikes of pain through his battered body, but he pushed through it.
He'd endured worse pain in the past three years. What was a little more?
The compound looked even more depressing in the morning light.
Weeds grew wild in what had once been maintained gardens. Buildings stood with missing roof tiles and cracked walls.
The main residence—where the family had once held grand banquets—had been sold two years ago.
What remained was barely livable.
Chen Xuan made his way to the eastern edge of the property.
An old storage building stood half-hidden by overgrown vegetation.
To anyone else, it looked abandoned.
But he knew the truth.
The door creaked as he pushed it open.
Dust motes danced in the dim light filtering through cracks in the roof. Inside were old crates, forgotten tools, and debris from better days.
But Chen Xuan walked past all of it to the back wall.
His fingers found the hidden catch—a small indentation in the wood paneling.
He pressed it.
CLICK.
A section of the wall opened, revealing a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
The basement.
Chen Xuan descended carefully, his hand trailing along the rough stone wall.
At the bottom, he found an old oil lamp and flint exactly where the memories said they'd be.
The original Chen Xuan had sometimes come here to be alone. To hide from pitying looks and cruel whispers.
Light flared as Chen Xuan struck the flint.
The lamp's glow pushed back the shadows, revealing the cultivation chamber.
It was small—maybe ten feet square—with walls of solid stone.
The floor bore an intricate formation array carved directly into the rock. Its lines and runes still visible despite decades of neglect.
This array had once concentrated spiritual energy for cultivation.
But without power, it was just decorative stonework now.
But the room had what Chen Xuan needed: isolation and security.
The door was solid wood reinforced with iron bands, and it had a heavy bar that could seal it from the inside.
Chen Xuan set down the lamp and barred the door.
Then he sat cross-legged in the center of the formation array, his heart pounding.
This was it.
The moment everything would change.
He focused his will on the system interface, navigating to the inventory.
The Meridian Restoration Pill appeared in his mind's eye.
A perfectly spherical golden pill the size of a marble, glowing with soft inner light.
Even without touching it, he could sense its power.
This single pill probably cost more than everything the Chen Family currently owned.
Chen Xuan took a deep breath, steeling himself.
'System, retrieve the pill.'
[Meridian Restoration Pill retrieved from inventory]
The pill materialized in his hand.
Warm and solid. Spiritual energy radiated from it in gentle waves.
Chen Xuan placed the pill in his mouth.
And swallowed.
For a single heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the pain began.