The courtyard was empty when Lu Xuan arrived, shadows curling at the edges of the stone floor like hungry whispers. The duel had ended, the inner sect had recognized him—but recognition was not enough.
He needed power.
As dusk painted the mountains in blood and gold, Lu Xuan stepped into the secluded meditation cave behind the Cliff of Silent Rain. It had long been abandoned by the sect, deemed too unstable for core disciples. But the energy here—it was dense, chaotic, unrefined.
Perfect.
He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. The Devouring Skill surged to life, responding to the silent, screaming ache inside him.
"I won't be prey anymore."
A memory rose—his mother's eyes, empty and cold. His father's broken frame, forgotten in the dirt. The Sect's laughter. Mei Ling's cruelty. Su Xue's watchful eyes, always just close enough to reach, but never holding him back.
He had clawed his way out of obscurity. And he would never go back.
Qi flowed through his meridians—thin at first, then thicker, darker. The ambient spiritual energy in the cave began to twist. Rocks cracked. The wind howled. Tiny fragments of essence from the environment spun around him like embers caught in a vortex.
The Devouring Skill absorbed it all.
His veins lit like molten wire. His skin steamed. Pain lanced through him, white and searing.
Body Refining—Second Layer.
He grit his teeth.
More.
The walls pulsed. A formation deep beneath the stone tried to resist the energy flux. Lu Xuan's will crushed it like paper. Everything was drawn in—the moss, the roots, even the lingering spiritual signatures of past cultivators. Echoes of failure. Fragments of despair.
He devoured them, too.
**Body Refining—Third Layer.**
A crack split the stone beneath him. His skin shimmered with a faint black-gold light.
And in his mind, the voice of the Devouring Skill whispered.
You will never be weak again.
---
Interlude: Su Xue's Worry
Su Xue stood atop the Windward Tower, her gaze locked on the crimson haze forming over the meditation cliffs.
"He's doing it again," she murmured.
Her hourglass pendant flickered—faster now. Time was running thinner.
She could feel his cultivation rising at a rate that defied natural law. But it wasn't just speed that concerned her.
It was what he was becoming.
And yet… a part of her was proud. Terrified, but proud.
The Hunger Within
When Lu Xuan emerged the next morning, he was different.
His eyes, darker than before, gleamed with quiet fire. His presence—once thin and forgettable—now pressed down on those around him like the weight of an incoming storm.
Disciples stepped aside. Even elders took a second look.
Lu Xuan did not acknowledge them.
He walked straight to the training fields. Picked up a worn blade. Faced the nearest Foundation disciple.
"Spar with me."
The disciple scoffed. "You're a step away from crippled."
Lu Xuan moved.
Three strikes.
The disciple hit the ground, gasping.
Su Xue arrived just in time to see the last blow. She didn't intervene. She just stepped closer, watching the rise and fall of Lu Xuan's shoulders.
"You're moving too fast," she said.
"The world won't wait."
"And what if you break?"
He looked at her then—eyes unreadable. "Then I'll rebuild myself stronger."
For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then she nodded.
But the worry didn't leave her gaze.