The Nine Heavens Continent stretched across countless kingdoms, sects, and forbidden lands. Here, mortals were ants, cultivators were gods, and the strong devoured the weak without a second thought. In the remote border region of the Azure Cloud Kingdom lay Qingfeng Village — a forgotten speck of dust where ordinary people scraped by on farming and hunting.
Six-year-old Xiao Lin sat on the wooden steps of his family's small hut, staring at the sunset. His black hair was messy, his clothes patched, but his eyes held an unusual depth for a child. Every night for as long as he could remember, the same dream haunted him: an endless black void, colder than death, whispering three words over and over.
"Devour… Become ruthless… Conquer."
His parents never understood why their son sometimes stared into empty space with a chilling calm. They simply loved him.
That evening, everything ended.
A group of thirty bandits from Black Wolf Ridge descended on Qingfeng Village. They were not ordinary robbers — each one was at least at the 5th level of Body Tempering, led by a vicious man at the 9th level named Huo Lang. The village had no cultivators. Resistance was futile.
Screams filled the air. Houses burned. Blood soaked the earth.
Xiao Lin's father, Xiao Hai, grabbed a rusty hoe and stood in front of the hut. "Lin'er, hide! Run if you can!"
His mother pushed Xiao Lin inside and barred the door. "Stay quiet, my son. Mama and Papa will protect you."
Through a crack in the wall, Xiao Lin watched.
Huo Lang laughed as he cut down Xiao Hai with a single saber strike. Blood sprayed across the dirt. Xiao Lin's mother screamed and rushed forward with a kitchen knife — she lasted two breaths before Huo Lang's blade pierced her chest.
She fell, eyes wide, reaching toward the hut.
"Pathetic," Huo Lang sneered. "Search the houses. Leave nothing alive."
Xiao Lin's small hands clenched until his nails drew blood. Something inside him snapped — not sadness, not fear, but pure, ice-cold rage. The whispers returned, louder, clearer.
"Devour them."
A black speck appeared in his lower abdomen, right where cultivators formed their dantian. It spun slowly, then faster, pulling in the air around him like a tiny black hole. Pain tore through his body, but he did not cry out.
The bandits kicked open the door.
One of them — a scarred man with a cruel grin — spotted Xiao Lin and raised his saber. "A little rat hiding. Die quick, brat."
Xiao Lin looked up. His pupils had turned pure black, like twin abysses.
The scarred bandit froze mid-swing.
Then his body simply… collapsed inward.
No blood, no scream, no resistance. His flesh, bones, blood, and even the faint cultivation energy in his body were sucked into the black vortex in Xiao Lin's dantian in an instant. A small wisp of gray mist — the man's soul — was devoured last.
The other bandits stared in horror.
"What the hell was that?!"
"Kill him! Kill him now!"
They charged.
Xiao Lin stood up slowly. His six-year-old body looked unchanged, but the air around him warped. The void in his dantian expanded slightly, and with a single thought—
All twenty-nine remaining bandits disintegrated at once.
Their bodies folded into nothingness, their cultivation bases, life essence, and souls pouring into Xiao Lin like a river. The entire process took less than a breath.
Silence returned to the burning village.
Xiao Lin walked out of the hut. Blood from his parents stained the ground. He knelt beside them, touched their cold faces, then stood again. No tears fell. Only cold determination.
A deep, ancient voice echoed in his mind — not a dream anymore, but reality.
"You have awakened the Void Devouring Dao, the forbidden inheritance of the Primordial Void Sovereign. This Dao has only one path: absolute ruthlessness to all enemies, absolute conquest of all realms. To reach the pinnacle — the Eternal Void Sovereign realm — you must dual cultivate with exactly ninety-six women chosen by fate itself. Each will become your eternal companion, and each will unlock a deeper layer of the void."
Xiao Lin's black eyes reflected the dying flames.
"Ninety-six," he whispered.
He looked toward the horizon, where distant mountain peaks hid powerful sects and ancient ruins.
"Then I will find them. I will devour everything in my way. No one will stop me. No mercy. No regrets."
The little boy took his first step out of the ruined village.
Behind him, the flames burned out.
Ahead of him, the path to supremacy had begun.
End of Chapter 1