"Heretic." The word slipped from his lips like a predetermined verdict.
The man who stepped through the broken sky didn't appear old. Still, his presence felt ancient and steady, like a mountain that had weathered ten thousand storms without moving. His white robes fluttered gently, despite the fierce winds of turmoil still raging through the courtyard. At his waist hung a jade token, engraved with the symbol of a rising sun pierced by a sword.
A righteous sect? Of course, it would be one of them.
His gaze fixed on me with chilling clarity, as if he could see straight through my flesh and bones into the twisting energy of my meridians. "You carry a devouring Qi," he said calmly, though his hand rested firmly on the handle of his sword. "Explain yourself."
The heavenly seal above me continued to lower, the runes spinning slowly as it settled down with heavy weight. The golden eye in the clouds flashed, unsure whether to proceed or let this mortal act first.
My knees shook under the pressure, but I forced myself to stand tall.
"Explain?" My voice came out rough, damaged by the tribulation lightning. "My clan was slaughtered tonight. Where were you then?"
His expression remained unchanged. "Demonic incursions happen often in border regions," he replied. "The righteous path can't be everywhere."
I laughed, startled even by the sound. "Yet you arrived the moment I reached out for power."
The air between us grew colder. His eyes sharpened. "Power gained by consuming the dead is forbidden for a reason. It upsets the balance of heaven and earth."
Behind me, the ashes of my clan still lay there, faintly smoldering. "What balance?" I asked quietly. "The one where the weak die and the heavens stay silent?"
The righteous cultivator stepped forward, and the ground under his feet calmed as if nature itself respected his presence. "Young man," he said, without mockery, only firm certainty. "You stand at the edge of a path that leads to disaster. Whatever grief you carry does not justify corruption."
The Devouring Sovereign stirred faintly inside me. Corruption is just a power outside their own control. I ignored the whisper coming from it.
The seal above descended another inch. The pressure grew stronger. Blood slipped from the corner of my mouth as the chains of heavenly law tightened around my limbs.
The cultivator noticed it. His gaze flicked upward briefly. "Heaven has marked you already," he said. "You triggered a tribulation without a proper foundation. That alone is a warning."
"I didn't ask for it," I replied.
"No one ever does." He drew his sword slowly.
The blade shone with pure white light, its Qi was so refined that the surrounding darkness instinctively shrank back. Even the Devouring energy within my meridians recoiled slightly, recognizing a natural enemy.
"I will give you one chance." The sky rumbled as he said. "Disperse the devouring Qi willingly and cripple your cultivation before it stabilizes. I will take you back to my sect for judgment. If your heart remains untainted, you may still find redemption."
The word pierced deeper in me. A part of me wanted to accept and another part wanted to let it slide.
To believe I could still walk a path that wouldn't stain my hands further. But then I felt it again...Lin Yue's lingering Qi is still faintly woven into my meridians from when I consumed the ashes.
She was gone before the righteous sect hadn't had even arrived.
The Sovereign's voice returned, quieter now. If you kneel now, you will never rise again.
I looked at the cultivator in front of me. "If I disperse this power," I asked carefully, "will you bring back my sister?"
His jaw tightened. "That is impossible."
"Then don't talk to me about redemption."
The sword in his hand flared brighter. "Young man," he said, and for the first time, his tone held a genuine warning, "you don't understand the extent of what you're interfering with. The Devouring Path was erased from the records for a reason. An entire realm fell off because of it."
My heart stuttered but the Sovereign stayed silent at that revelation.
The seal above suddenly accelerated. The golden eye narrowed sharply. It seemed as if heaven had grown impatient.
The righteous cultivator glanced upward again, his brows furrowing slightly. "It seems I have little time to change your mind," he murmured.
He raised his sword, its tip aimed directly at my throat. "If you will not cripple yourself," he said softly, "then I must do it for you."
The chains binding my limbs shook as the seal lowered further. My cultivation had barely stabilized at the threshold of Qi Refinement. I can't go against a cultivator of his level, likely Foundation Establishment or beyond and I had no chance in direct combat.
Yet the Devouring Qi within me churned violently, reacting to both the heavenly pressure and the radiant sword Qi aimed at my heart.
"This is the last warning," he said.
I inhaled slowly. My chest burned but within the pain, something else stirred.
The vortex inside me deepened and for once, I felt its pull fully.
It wasn't just absorbing lingering Qi from the environment. It was drawing from the descending heavenly seal itself faintly and slowly.
The cultivator stepped forward. His sword moved upward into the air and the strike was impossibly fast.
I did not try to block it or dodge. I only reached upward to stop it, not with my hand, but with my meridians by pulling it away.
The moment the sword's radiance entered my Devouring field, I felt the pure redefined Qi and my vortex lunged at it instinctively.
The cultivator's eyes widened. The tip of his sword slowed mid-air, and its Qi flashed unevenly. "What the..."
The word barely escaped him before the golden seal above finally completed its descent.
Heaven did not distinguish between us now and a pillar of crushing force slammed down from above. The righteous cultivator's sword shattered against the pressure.
The ground under us collapsed and the chains around my body snapped violently.
For a single moment...The seal, the cultivator, and I existed in the same collapsing space.
And my Devouring vortex expanded beyond my control.
It did not discriminate, it grabbed onto everything; The remnants of heavenly law. The shattered sword Qi even the cultivator's protective aura.
His eyes met mine and for once...I could sense his fear.
"You cannot control it," he said hoarsely.
He was right, I couldn't. The vortex roared inside me, tearing through my meridians, expanding outward in a spiraling flow of black and gold energy.
Somewhere deep within the Devouring Sovereign's presence, I felt the satisfaction.
The ground gave way completely. We fell into darkness together and as the collapsing seal detonated above us, I realized something horrifying.
The vortex was no longer just absorbing power, It was now evolving.