The battlefield was silent.
Broken weapons lay scattered across scorched earth, half-buried in blood and ash. Torn bodies—human and beast alike—were strewn everywhere, their deaths long since ignored by the heavens.
At the center of it all lay a massive corpse.
A wyvern.
Its wings were shattered, its blackened scales cracked apart, and a gaping wound pierced straight through its chest. Even in death, its presence pressed heavily upon the land, as though the air itself feared dispersing.
Lin Yuan lay several meters away.
His eyes snapped open.
Cold clarity returned before pain.
"…I'm alive."
His body screamed in protest as he forced himself to breathe. Muscles torn. Bones fractured. Internal injuries piled upon one another. Any ordinary cultivator would have already died.
But Lin Yuan was not ordinary.
He was a rogue cultivator—no sect, no master, no protection. He survived by selling his strength as a mercenary, taking the jobs others feared. Step by bloody step, he had clawed his way to Body Tempering Realm, Fourth Level.
And that was exactly why he was betrayed.
Memories surfaced like blades.
A ruin discovered in the mountains.
A treasure hidden within.
And an inner disciple from a sect—smiling, polite, and false.
The inner disciple used Lin Yuan and his mercenary gang as bait, throwing them directly into the wyvern's territory while he slipped past to steal the treasure. When the beast went berserk, Lin Yuan's people were slaughtered.
No signal to retreat.
No promise honored.
"…Cannon fodder," Lin Yuan muttered.
Every member of his gang was dead.
The wyvern too.
Not killed by Lin Yuan—but by the backlash of losing a treasure meant to elevate its bloodline, combined with the chaos of battle. It had died roaring at the heavens, never knowing who truly robbed it.
Lin Yuan pushed himself up onto one knee.
That was when—
Ding.
A cold, mechanical sound echoed deep within his soul.
[Devouring System bound successfully.]
[Host confirmed: Lin Yuan.]
His pupils contracted.
A translucent interface unfolded before his eyes.
[Target detected: Wyvern (Deceased).]
Cultivation: Peak Body Tempering Realm.]
Bloodline: Ancient Dragon (Dormant).]
Physique: Pseudo-Dragon Body.]
Lin Yuan's heartbeat slowed—not from fear, but calculation.
Ancient dragon bloodline.
Even dormant, such a thing was priceless.
[Devouring rules established.]
Bloodline & Physique → Inherited (Filtered).]
Cultivation → Converted into refined energy.]
"So that's how it works," Lin Yuan said quietly.
No reckless transfer.
No unstable breakthroughs.
Perfect.
"Devour."
The system activated instantly.
The wyvern's corpse trembled.
Golden-red essence surged out from its remains, flooding into Lin Yuan's body. His veins burned as bloodline power fused with his own, but the pain never spiraled out of control—every trace was filtered, refined, and reduced to what a human body could bear.
[Ancient Dragon Bloodline absorbed – Dormant.]
[Pseudo-Dragon Physique refined.]
[Dragon Physique (Basic) acquired.]
His bones cracked audibly.
Muscles compressed and reforged. His heartbeat thundered, each pulse carrying terrifying vitality. Yet outwardly, nothing changed—no scales, no horns, no aura leakage.
Only strength.
At the same time—
[Cultivation conversion initiated.]
Peak Body Tempering energy refined.]
The energy did not explode.
It circulated.
[Welcome Bonus granted.]
[Technique acquired: Dragon Vein Circulation Method.]
Lin Yuan's eyes sharpened.
A circulation technique—precisely what he needed.
Without hesitation, he activated it.
The refined energy surged through his meridians like a disciplined army, strengthening flesh, organs, and bones layer by layer.
[Body Tempering 4th → 5th Level.]
[6th Level.]
[7th Level.]
[8th Level.]
The breakthrough ended smoothly.
No backlash.
No instability.
Lin Yuan exhaled slowly and stood up.
[Cultivation: Body Tempering Realm – 8th Level.]
[Foundation: Exceptionally Stable.]
[Physique: Dragon Physique (Basic).]
The wyvern's corpse was gone.
Only scorched earth remained.
Lin Yuan clenched his fist. Power gathered—dense, restrained, terrifying.
Then he lifted his gaze toward the distant mountains where the inner disciple had fled, his expression utterly devoid of emotion.
"That treasure was meant to make you untouchable," he said calmly.
"You stole it."
"So I'll take something else."
His eyes hardened.
"Your cultivation."
"Your future."
"And when I find you—"
"There won't be anything left to devour."
The path beneath his feet was clear.
This was no longer the road of survival.
It was the Path of Devourer.