The blood-red moon hung low, casting the forest in shades of rust and shadow. Every leaf seemed dipped in fresh gore; the air tasted of iron and impending violence.
Xiao Lin and Yue Ning moved faster now—not fleeing, but hunting.
The Spatial Devouring layer had changed everything.
Yue Ning raised her small hand. Space folded before them like silk being pleated. They stepped through the crease and emerged thirty li ahead in a single breath—distance devoured, time shortened.
Xiao Lin felt the new power settle into his bones. He could sense spatial ripples from miles away: the frantic qi signatures of approaching cultivators, the tiny distortions their movement created in reality.
"They're close," he said.
Yue Ning nodded. Her violet eyes scanned the darkness.
"Twenty… no, twenty-three. Foundation Establishment mostly. One at early Core Formation."
Xiao Lin's lips curved—just the faintest hint of a smile, cold and fleeting.
"Good."
They stopped in a narrow gorge where two cliffs pressed close, forming a natural choke point. Moonlight barely reached the bottom; the ground was wet black stone.
Perfect.
Xiao Lin sat cross-legged in the center of the path.
Yue Ning stood behind his left shoulder, hands ready, spatial light faintly shimmering around her fingertips.
Minutes passed.
Then the first wave arrived.
A dozen Silver Moon Sect disciples burst from the treeline above—leaping down with moonlight-step techniques, blades drawn, qi flaring.
They saw the two children and laughed.
"Little monsters think they can hide in a ditch?"
The leader—a burly man at peak Foundation Establishment—raised his saber.
"Capture the cauldron. Feed the boy to the dogs."
Before the last word left his mouth, Xiao Lin opened his eyes.
Space tore.
Not a small rift this time.
A vertical black line split the gorge from ground to sky—silent, absolute.
The twelve cultivators froze mid-leap.
Their bodies didn't even have time to scream.
They folded inward—limbs collapsing, torsos imploding, qi and souls yanked through the tear into the void inside Xiao Lin.
Twelve lives ended in half a breath.
The gorge went quiet again.
Only faint motes of moonlight qi drifted like dying fireflies before being pulled into Xiao Lin's dantian.
He exhaled slowly.
His cultivation rose another small step—mid Qi Condensation, second layer.
Yue Ning's eyes widened slightly.
"You didn't even stand up."
"I didn't need to."
More lights appeared at the gorge entrance—stronger signatures.
This time the attackers were cautious.
A tall man in silver robes stepped forward—early Core Formation, aura steady and oppressive. Behind him marched eight elite enforcers, each at peak Foundation Establishment.
He carried a long silver staff topped with a crescent moon orb that pulsed with condensed moonlight.
"So you're the void spawn everyone's whispering about," the Core Formation elder said. His voice echoed off the cliffs. "Hand over the girl and I'll grant you a painless death. Refuse, and I'll peel your soul layer by layer."
Xiao Lin stood.
Slowly.
He looked up at the man—small child facing a towering cultivator—and spoke one sentence.
"Come closer."
The elder laughed—harsh, confident.
"As you wish."
He stepped forward.
One step.
Two.
On the third step, space folded around him.
Not by Yue Ning.
By Xiao Lin.
The elder's body suddenly occupied two places at once—his physical form here, his shadow-self thirty meters behind.
Spatial severance.
The elder's eyes widened in realization too late.
His body tore in half along an invisible seam—clean, bloodless.
Upper half fell one way.
Lower half the other.
Both halves were devoured before they hit the ground.
The eight enforcers panicked.
They turned to flee.
Space folded again—multiple times.
Each enforcer found themselves stepping into their own spatial trap.
Eight more silent implosions.
Gone.
The gorge was empty once more.
Only the silver staff remained, rolling gently across the stone until it stopped at Xiao Lin's feet.
He picked it up.
Crushed it.
Moonlight essence flowed into him.
His cultivation ticked upward again—late Qi Condensation, third layer.
Yue Ning stepped up beside him.
Her voice was soft, almost reverent.
"You're growing so fast."
"Because of you," Xiao Lin said. He turned to face her fully. "The First Layer is stable now. The void hungers for more."
Yue Ning reached out and touched his cheek—gentle, careful.
"Then we keep going. Until no one dares chase us anymore."
Xiao Lin covered her hand with his own.
"Until no one dares exist in the same realm as us."
High above, on the cliff edge, a lone figure watched.
A woman in black—not Silver Moon robes.
Her face was hidden behind a veil of shifting shadows.
She held a small blood-red jade slip that recorded everything.
After a long moment, she crushed the jade.
A transmission talisman ignited.
"Report to the Shadow Pavilion: the Void Child has awakened Spatial Devouring. The Silver Moon Sect is already broken. Recommend immediate escalation. Target must be acquired… or erased before he claims more keys."
The talisman burned to ash.
The woman vanished into the night.
Below, Xiao Lin suddenly looked up—black-violet eyes piercing the darkness.
He felt it.
Another thread.
Another destined one.
Watching.
Waiting.
He squeezed Yue Ning's hand once.
"More are coming," he said.
"Not just the sect."
Yue Ning smiled—small, fierce.
"Let them."
The blood moon watched.
The Ruthless Void Sovereign's legend had only just begun to spread.
And already, shadows across the continent were turning their eyes toward one small boy.
**End of Chapter 6**