The iron chains bit into Chu Yao's wrists like starving wolves.
Blood dripped from his split lip, painting the stone floor of the Discipline Hall in lazy crimson flowers.
"Chu Yao," Elder Mo's voice was frost over steel, "you dared steal Spirit Gathering Pills from the inner sect?"
Across the hall, Liu Ruyan stood in snow-white robes, her phoenix eyes cold as winter jade.
The same eyes that once whispered "I'll wait for you at Core Formation" while tracing his scars after sparring.
Now they looked through him like he was already dead.
"I didn't steal them," Chu Yao rasped. "Someone framed—"
"Silence!" Elder Mo's palm cracked across his face. Qi Condensation Stage 9 pressure crushed Chu Yao's knees into the floor.
Bones groaned.
Vision blurred.
Liu Ruyan finally spoke, soft enough to cut deeper than any blade.
"Senior Brother Chu's talent ended at Qi Condensation Stage 3. He was jealous of my breakthrough. The pills were found in his room. The evidence is irrefutable."
Jealous.
The word burned hotter than the chains.
Three years of night patrols so she could cultivate in peace.
Three years of selling blood essence to buy her spirit herbs.
And this was his reward.
Elder Mo flicked his sleeve. "Sentence: Fed to the Crimson Fang Beast in the Forbidden Abyss. Effective immediately."
Two disciples dragged Chu Yao toward the back mountain.
The sect's outer disciples watched in silence—some with pity, most with relief.
One less competitor.
The Abyss gate loomed like the maw of a sleeping god.
Black iron seals pulsed with suppression runes.
Beyond them, the beast's roar rolled out—low, hungry, ancient.
"Any last words, trash?" one guard sneered.
Chu Yao spat blood. "Tell Liu Ruyan… I'll see her in hell."
They shoved him through.
Freefall.
Wind screamed.
Jagged rocks rushed up—then the beast's jaws snapped shut around him.
Darkness.
Pain.
Then—
DING.
A voice not his own echoed inside his skull.
[Host detected. Primordial Devouring Core fusion: 1%… 17%… 100%.]
[Calamity Bloodline System activated.]
[First Law: Kill to Evolve. Devour to Transcend.]
Chu Yao's eyes snapped open inside the beast's stomach.
Acid hissed against his skin but didn't burn.
Instead, black veins crawled up his arms like living tattoos.
The Crimson Fang Beast thrashed.
Its roars turned to whimpers.
[Devouring Crimson Fang Beast (Foundation Stage 7).]
[Bloodline Evolution: Stage 1 → Stage 2]
[New Ability Unlocked: Blood Shadow Clone]
Chu Yao laughed—wet, broken, free.
His fingers elongated into claws.
He tore through the beast's heart from the inside.
Hot blood flooded his mouth.
Power surged.
BOOM.
The Abyss trembled as a fifteen-meter demonic wolf exploded outward, corpse raining in chunks.
Where its heart should be floated a fist-sized crimson core, pulsing like a second sun.
Chu Yao caught it.
Crushed it.
[Core absorbed. Evolution: Stage 2 → Stage 3]
[Trait Gained: Crimson Regeneration – heal from fatal wounds in 3 breaths.]
He stood naked in the moonlight, skin stitched with glowing red runes.
Qi Condensation Stage 3… no.
Something deeper.
Something wrong.
A system panel shimmered in his vision:
Far above, the Abyss gate rattled.
Torchlight spilled down.
"Elder Mo! The beast is dead!"
"Impossible! That was a Foundation Stage 7—"
"Look! Footprints… human footprints leading out."
Chu Yao's lips peeled back in a fanged grin.
They're coming to check.
He melted into the shadows, body flickering like smoke.
The first disciple descended on a flying sword—inner sect robes, Foundation Stage 2.
Perfect.
Chu Yao's clone stepped into the moonlight.
"Hey, brother. Need a hand?"
The disciple turned—and a claw punched through his dantian.
[Devoured: Foundation Stage 2 cultivator.]
[Bloodline Evolution: Stage 3 → Stage 4]
[New Ability: Blood Qi Extraction – steal cultivation on contact.]
The corpse shriveled to husk in seconds.
Chu Yao absorbed the stolen Qi, meridians crackling as they widened.
More torches.
More voices.
Liu Ruyan's among them.
"Search every cave," she ordered, voice trembling just enough to taste. "If he's alive… kill him again."
Chu Yao crouched on a stalactite, eyes glowing like twin blood moons.
His shadow split into three.
Four.
Ten.
[Blood Shadow Clone limit increased: 1 → 10]
He whispered to the dark:
"Come find me, fiancée. I'm starving."