The forest grew darker with every step.
Not because the sun had set, but because something ancient watched them from beneath the soil, from behind the trees, from within the air itself. Even the birds were silent. Wind didn't dare blow.
Lu Xuan led the way.
Beside him, Su Xue walked in silence. Her eyes scanned every branch, every shift of light, but her attention never strayed far from him. Since the village, his qi had changed. It pulsed in jagged waves, hungry and restless. As though his very soul had begun to gnaw at the world around it.
Yet she said nothing.
She remembered what he would become. What he *might* still become.
---
### The Path of Blood
The path narrowed into a ravine choked with thick vines and old statues covered in moss. Symbols of forgotten gods marked the stones—twisted faces and curling horns.
"We're close," Lu Xuan murmured.
The jade fragment in his palm glowed softly. It tugged him forward like a lodestone.
At the ravine's heart, they found it: a stone gate half-buried beneath thorn and root. Words too old to speak aloud pulsed across its surface, sealed with layers of ancient talismanic qi.
Su Xue frowned. "This was meant to be forgotten."
Lu Xuan touched the gate—and it *opened*.
The vines recoiled.
The stone split.
And beyond, a stairway descended into crimson light.
---
The Altar
The chamber was immense. A natural cavern shaped into a cathedral of bone and fire. Crimson crystals grew like stalactites from the ceiling, glowing faintly. At the center stood an altar, carved with demonic sigils, and atop it: a heart-shaped stone, pulsing like it lived.
Su Xue's breath caught. "This place... it's where the first Demon God awoke."
Lu Xuan stepped forward, drawn by something deeper than curiosity. A force like instinct drove him, the Devouring Skill roaring in his core.
*Claim it.*
He placed his hand on the heart-stone.
And the altar *responded*.
---
The Echo of Power
Flames erupted. Visions tore through his mind—memories not his own.
Battles against heavens.
Blood that could burn oceans.
Chains broken. Skies torn apart.
And beneath it all—a voice:
"Heir of the Unending Hunger... awaken."
The cavern trembled. His body lifted from the ground, veins glowing black and red. The Devouring Skill spiraled out of him in waves, absorbing the lingering essence in the air, pulling strength from stone, dust, and shadow.
Su Xue moved to stop it—but the altar flared, forcing her back.
"Lu Xuan!" she shouted, heart pounding. "Don't lose yourself!"
But he was gone to the world.
He was inside the memory.
---
Devourer's Baptism
Lu Xuan stood on a battlefield that stretched into the stars. Armies of gods and demons clashed. In the sky, a black sun rose and fell in moments. Time unraveled.
In the center of it all stood a figure—him, yet not him. The same eyes, one red, one silver. But older, darker. Cloaked in fire and bone.
And it *smiled*.
"You are the last. The purest. The only one who can bear the hunger. You are the vessel of the end."
Lu Xuan gritted his teeth. The hunger surged, a tide crashing against his will.
He didn't want to become a monster.
But he wanted to be strong.
Strong enough to protect.
Strong enough to never be used again.
Strong enough to rewrite fate.
The hunger demanded submission.
But Lu Xuan did not submit. He *tamed* it.
He turned the chaos inward, forged it into fuel. With every second, his meridians expanded, his dantian condensed, absorbing the altar's forbidden essence.
His body screamed. Bones cracked, muscles tore and regenerated, blood boiled and cooled in the same breath. The fragments of demonic cultivation and divine rejection clashed within him.
He held them both.
He *devoured* them both.
And when his core solidified—dense, dark, and pulsing like a singularity—he broke through.
**Qi Condensation.**
Not through meditation. Not through elixirs.
But through *devouring* the very essence of a forgotten god.
The altar acknowledged him. The chamber bowed to him.
He had taken his first true step.
---
### The Other Disciples
Back at the cavern entrance, the rest of the inner sect disciples who had accompanied Lu Xuan had encountered diverging paths and unexpected dangers. One by one, they had split off, chasing illusions, treasures, or drawn into smaller ruins and trials meant to test their ambitions.
Chen Zhi pursued a phantom spirit that whispered promises of sword mastery. Lin Yue was trapped by a formation that sealed her qi unless she could solve its ancient puzzle. The others had disappeared deeper into the surrounding forest, each drawn by fate to a separate trial.
Only Lu Xuan and Su Xue had reached the heart of the ravine.
Only they had heard the altar's call.
---
The Aftermath
When Su Xue reached him, the flames had died down. Lu Xuan knelt before the altar, eyes closed, breathing steady.
The cavern pulsed with silent power.
She knelt beside him. For a moment, she simply watched him—watched the rise and fall of his chest, the slow curling of smoke around his fingers.
"You're different now," she whispered.
His eyes opened.
One silver. One red.
"I'm closer," he replied.
"To what?"
He looked up at the crimson altar.
"To what I must become."
She didn't speak. Instead, she placed her hand over his.
Not to stop him.
But to remind him—*she was still here*.
Even if the path led to ruin.
And in the depth of the cavern, the altar's heartbeat slowed.
But its hunger never truly ceased.
---
**End of Chapter 11**
**Next Chapter Preview:**
* Lu Xuan's powers draw the attention of hidden enemies
* Su Xue reveals a secret about her past
* A mission to protect a spirit vein under siege
* The first test of Lu Xuan's strength as a true cultivator