Chapter Four: Heaven-Devouring Emperor Scripture
After xiao chen calmed down he actually discovered that there were some unkown information in his head he then focused on it and his eyes wss obscured for a second and he appear in another place where all he saw was
Darkness.
It was the same darkness as before—thick, absolute, and endless. Yet unlike ordinary darkness, it did not feel empty. It felt… present, as if it were quietly watching.
Xiao Chen stood within it, his feet touching nothing, his body weightless. He did not know whether he was standing, floating, or simply existing. There was no sense of direction here. No up. No down. No wind. No sound.
And yet, he could see.
Not with his eyes alone, but with a strange clarity that bypassed them entirely.
At first, he thought he was alone.
Then he noticed the light.
It was faint at the beginning, like a distant star barely visible through thick clouds. But the longer he stared, the brighter it became, until it was impossible to ignore.
A book.
It floated quietly in the darkness, unmoving, as if it had always been there.
The book was not large, yet it carried an inexplicable sense of weight. Its cover shone with a soft white glow, neither dazzling nor dim, but steady—ancient, calm, and cold. The surface looked as though it were forged from gold, yet it did not reflect light the way gold should. Instead, the glow came from within it.
Xiao Chen's breathing slowed.
For reasons he could not explain, his heart began to beat faster.
This place… the darkness… the book… none of it felt like imagination. It felt real. Too real.
"Did… something appear in my memory?" he thought uncertainly.
He could not remember learning anything. There was no voice, no instruction, no dreamlike whisper. And yet, the moment he focused his thoughts, he found himself here, standing before this book as if he had always known where to go.
That realization made his scalp tingle.
Fear rose quietly in his chest.
Too many strange things had happened to him recently—things beyond his understanding, beyond what a servant disciple like him should ever experience. His mind felt exhausted, stretched thin by confusion and pain.
But alongside that fear, another emotion stirred.
Hope.
A fragile, dangerous hope.
"What if…" Xiao Chen thought, his fingers unconsciously clenching, "…this is the reason?"
For five years.
Five full years.
Every single day, he had drawn in qi only to watch it vanish before it could reach his dantian. No matter how carefully he followed the breathing rhythm. No matter how still his body remained. No matter how many times he tried again after failure.
The qi would enter.
And then it would be taken.
As if something inside him was stealing it away.
His lips pressed together.
"If this thing really is connected to that…" he thought, "…then maybe…"
Maybe the strange white light would stop absorbing his qi.
Maybe it would finally leave him alone.
Maybe—just maybe—he could cultivate like everyone else.
Even if his talent was low.
Even if he would never be strong.
Having some cultivation was better than having none.
In this world, having nothing meant being trampled without resistance.
Xiao Chen had experienced that truth since childhood.
Slowly, he took a step forward.
The darkness did not resist him.
With each step, the book grew clearer. The glow illuminated his hands, revealing faint tremors running through his fingers.
Only now did he realize how scared he truly was.
What if opening this book caused that pain again?
The memory surfaced instantly.
That crushing agony.
It was not the kind of pain that tore flesh or broke bones. It was deeper—like his entire body was being twisted apart from the inside. His head felt as if it were splitting open, his consciousness drowning in unbearable pressure.
He had cried.
He had begged.
And Xiao Chen did not cry easily.
When he was seven years old, beaten until his face was swollen and his body covered in bruises, he had not shed a single tear.
When he went days without food, surviving on leftovers and scraps, he had endured silently.
As he grew older, his tolerance only increased.
So what kind of pain could force someone like him to collapse so completely?
The thought alone made his back damp with cold sweat.
His steps slowed.
For a moment, he considered turning back.
But the darkness behind him was endless.
There was nothing to return to.
And deep down, Xiao Chen knew something else just as clearly.
If he did nothing… he would remain like this forever.
A servant.
A nobody.
Someone whose qi was stolen before it could even belong to him.
He did not want that.
He could not accept that.
Even if the chance was small.
Even if the price was pain.
He had to know the truth.
"I don't want to be weak," he murmured softly.
His voice echoed strangely, swallowed almost immediately by the darkness.
Steeling his resolve, Xiao Chen walked up to the book.
Up close, the pressure became stronger—not heavy, but suffocating in a subtle way, as if the air itself grew dense around it. His instincts screamed danger, yet his eyes could not look away.
Slowly, he reached out.
His fingertips brushed the surface.
Nothing happened.
No pain.
No explosion.
No sudden surge of agony.
Xiao Chen blinked in surprise.
The surface of the book was warm—not hot, not cold, but strangely comforting, like touching something that had been waiting for him.
He swallowed and looked at the cover.
Golden characters were engraved upon it.
They were unfamiliar, yet the moment his eyes focused on them, their meaning surfaced naturally in his mind, as if he had always known how to read them.
His pupils shrank.
Heaven-Devouring Emperor Scripture
The words felt heavy.
Dangerous.
As if simply reading them placed a burden upon his soul.
Xiao Chen's heart thudded violently in his chest.
"Scripture…?" he whispered.
He did not know what kind of cultivation method this was. He did not know where it came from. He did not know why it had appeared in his mind.
All he knew was this—
The moment he read those words, something deep inside his body stirred.
And somewhere beyond his awareness, the white light that had been silently devouring his qi… pulsed faintly.
End of Chapter Four