CHAPTER 15: THE GREAT ECLIPSE AND THE DEVOURER'S RESURRECTION
The atmosphere over the Sanctuary of the Architect had transcended the realm of mortal comprehension. The violet mist, which had once represented Li Xiao's growing power, had curdled into an absolute, abyssal blackness. This was not the darkness of night, but the darkness of a void that existed before the first star was born. In the sky above, the sun did not set; it simply ceased to be, its light swallowed by an invisible maw that now sat at the center of the heavens. This was the "Great Eclipse," the physical manifestation of the fifth and final simulation's awakening.
Inside the Grand Hall, the silence was so profound it felt like a physical weight pressing against the soul. Li Xiao sat on his throne, but he was no longer the handsome, stoic youth. His hair had become a river of obsidian shadows, and his violet eyes had expanded, losing their pupils to become twin rifts of pure, destructive energy. Around him, the four pillars of his power—Empress Lin Yue, General Wei, the Saintess Han Xue, and the Alchemist Yan Feng—stood in a circle, their heads bowed. They felt a terror that surpassed their regret. For the first time, they realized that the man they had spent centuries mourning was not merely a tragic hero.
"You all remember me as the sacrifice," Li Xiao's voice spoke, but it didn't come from his mouth. It resonated from the very stones of the hall, cold and ancient. "You remember the Master who died in the lightning, the Doctor who gave his blood, the Fisherman who faced the sea, and the Brother who withered in the sand. You think those lives were my 'destiny'. You think I was a victim of fate who finally found a way to fight back."
He stood up, and as he did, the Grand Hall began to dissolve into a shifting landscape of cosmic ruins. "But the system did not create these simulations to give me power. It created them to contain me. Those four lives were not my 'past'... they were my 'prison'."
[ Warning: Final Simulation 'The Devourer of Heavens' is 100% Synced. ]
[ Reality Overwrite: Phase Final. ]
[ The Host's True Identity is Awakening. ]
Suddenly, the simulation playback erupted without Li Xiao's command. But this time, it didn't show a tragedy. It showed a figure standing at the edge of the universe, a being whose very shadow consumed entire galaxies. This was the Fifth Simulation, the "Origin Life." In this life, Li Xiao was not a teacher or a brother. He was the 'Calamity of the Void', the entity that the ancient gods had to sacrifice their own existence to seal away.
Lin Yue watched in absolute horror as the vision revealed the truth: The only reason he had lived those four lives of sacrifice was because the Heavens had forced his soul into a 'Cycle of Redemption'. He had been made to experience the ultimate pain and selflessness for five thousand years just to wash away the 'Primordial Sin' of his true nature.
"No... it can't be..." Lin Yue whispered, her sword falling from her hand. "The Master who loved me... the one who saved me... was he just a mask created by the Heavens to punish a monster?"
Li Xiao walked toward her, his every step erasing the floor beneath him. He stopped inches from her face, his obsidian eyes reflecting her despair. "The Master did love you, Lin Yue. The Alchemist did care for the Princess. The Brother did cherish the boy. But that 'love' was the poison the Heavens used to keep me dormant. Every time I died for you, a part of my true power was locked away. You weren't my disciples... you were my jailers."
He raised his hand, and the obsidian-winged Nascent Soul behind him suddenly merged into his body. His cultivation didn't just break through; it vanished, transcending the mortal grading system entirely. He was now a 'Devourer of Fate'.
"General Wei, your 'Iron Wall' was my chain. Han Xue, your 'Sea' was my cage. Yan Feng, your 'Alchemy' was my seal. And you, Lin Yue... your 'Regret' was the final lock."
As the truth settled into their hearts, the 'Eternal Regret' they felt didn't vanish—it mutated. It became an even darker form of karma. They realized that their very existence was a byproduct of his imprisonment. If they truly loved him, they would have to accept the monster he was. If they hated him, they would be consumed by the void he had become.
"Now," Li Xiao's voice boomed, as the black mist of the Sanctuary expanded to cover the entire Eastern Continent. "The simulations are finished. The redemption is over. The Architect of Fate is dead, and the Devourer has returned. I no longer need your karma... I need your world."
Outside, the remains of the 'Righteous Alliance' and the other Great Sects watched as the black eclipse began to pull the very spiritual energy of the earth toward the Sanctuary. Mountains were being unmade, and rivers were flowing into the sky. The 'Fate Tax' had become a 'Fate Harvest'.
Li Xiao looked at his four guardians, who were now trembling on the floor. "You wanted to repay your debt? Then offer your souls to the Void. Let us see if the 'Love' the Heavens forced upon me is stronger than the 'Hunger' I was born with."
In that moment, the final veil was lifted. The Sanctuary was no longer a place of atonement. It was the mouth of the end. And as Li Xiao reached out his hand, the sky itself began to crack and fall like black glass. The fifth simulation was not just a memory; it was the beginning of the end of the world.
"Let the stars fall," Li Xiao whispered, his voice the final sound the world would ever hear in
peace. "For I am finally... hungry."