The wind blew softly as the party of cultivators descended the mountain path, leaving the sealed ruins behind them. Though they had survived the chaos beneath the earth, there was no time to rest. The sect had dispatched urgent orders. A border village named Green Lantern—once known for its peaceful spirit farms and serene lakes—had gone silent. No messages had returned for days.
And the villagers, they were said to have been working with spirit beasts of a rare lineage—guardians of the land passed down from the Primordial Era.
"Spirit beasts did this," she murmured. "But not willingly."
Lu Xuan inhaled deeply. The air carried the metallic tang of spilled qi—not blood, but something purer, older. "They harvested more than lives here. They took their essence."
Yun Lan kicked a shattered lantern. "For what? Even demonic cultivators need living vessels to—"
A child's whimper cut through the silence.
The group froze.
Behind the shrine, a small figure crouched—a girl no older than six, her eyes glowing faint yellow.
The Last Survivor
The child recoiled as Mu Yanyan approached, her tiny fingers digging into the dirt. "Don't touch! The bad light burns!"
Su Xue knelt, deliberately keeping Frostbane sheathed. "What bad light?"
The girl pointed to the well. "The hungry light. It made Brother Tiger scary. Made everyone sleep."
Lu Xuan's gaze sharpened. "She's bonded to a spirit beast. Its energy is keeping her alive."
Jiang Rui paled. "That's impossible. Human and beast souls can't—"
"They shouldn't," Su Xue corrected grimly. "Unless the beast willingly shared its core."
A sacrifice. A true guardian's act.
The girl tugged Su Xue's sleeve. "Can you wake them up?"
The question hung like a blade
The Corruption's Core
The black talisman pulsed faster as they uncovered the pit—a living artifact, its veins burrowed into the earth. The chained spirit beasts below weren't just corrupted.
They were fused.
"By the ancients…" Yun Lan recoiled as a wolf's head twisted from a stag's body. "This isn't cultivation. It's butchery."
Lu Xuan's scar burned. The Devouring Skill stirred, not with hunger—but recognition.
"This is a prototype," he realized. "They're trying to recreate something."
Su Xue's breath hitched. In her timeline, the Blood Lotus Sect had succeeded—birthing the Abyssal Chimera, a beast that devoured three cities before Lu Xuan's future self slew it.
History was repeating.
But this time—she could stop it at the source.
The Choice: Mercy or Destruction
Jiang Rui raised his blade. "We purge the pit. Now."
Mu Yanyan grabbed his arm. "The bonded girl—if we destroy the talisman, her beast's energy might—"
"Kill her," Su Xue finished softly.
Lu Xuan watched the girl clutch her ragged doll, her yellow eyes too knowing for a child.
"There's another way," he said.
He stepped forward—and plunged his hand into the talisman.
Black tendrils lashed up his arm, but the Devouring Skill countered, not consuming—unweaving. The fused beasts shrieked as their bonds dissolved.
The girl screamed.
Su Xue lunged, pressing frost-sealing talismans to the child's chest. "Hold on! Hold on!"
The village shuddered as the talisman crumbled—
And the first uncorrupted spirit beast rose from the pit.
The Guardian's Return
The tiger spirit—now free of malice—limped to the girl, nuzzling her weakly. Its golden eyes met Lu Xuan's.
"You… undid the corruption," Su Xue whispered.
Lu Xuan flexed his smoking hand. "No. I reversed it."
A truth dawned:
The Devouring Skill wasn't just destruction.
It was restoration.
A truth dawned:
The Devouring Skill wasn't just destruction.
It was restoration.
And that terrified Su Xue more than any massacre.
Because if Lu Xuan could heal as easily as he killed—
What would stop him from rewriting the world itself?