When the last echoes of the Devourer's defeat faded into the abyss, Yan Zhi stood amidst a silence so profound it felt older than time itself. Shadows clung to him—not as mere silhouettes, but as living threads of ancient intent, whispering in tongues long lost to the mortal world.
His breath misted in the cold void, yet his pulse throbbed with an unfamiliar rhythm. Each heartbeat was a drumbeat of power, deep and resonant, as if the heavens themselves had been forced to acknowledge his existence. The Vein of Devouring Shadow pulsed beneath his skin, its hunger no longer dormant. It listened… it waited… and it remembered.
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The power was different now.
It was no longer the subtle, lurking strength of a predator in the dark—it was the roaring pull of a black star, a gravity that drew all light and life into its grasp. The moment he willed it, the shadows around him thickened, folding into layers that swallowed sound, sight, and even the tremor of fear from the hearts of those nearby.
With a flicker of thought, he felt the world's qi streaming toward him, slipping past the defenses of stone, wood, and flesh alike. It was not stolen—it was devoured. And in that devouring, Yan Zhi sensed something more: traces of memory, fragments of intent, whispers of the lives that once wielded such strength.
"This is the Second Path… the hunger that has no end."
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Yet power, in its most dangerous form, never comes unbound from consequence.
Even as the newfound strength surged within him, a faint ripple stirred the edges of his consciousness. Far beyond the horizon, in a realm untouched by mortal sight, something vast and cold shifted its gaze. It was not a creature. It was not a god. It was a presence—the kind that had existed before the first light was born, and would remain long after the last star fell.
For a fleeting moment, his shadow quivered—not in fear, but in recognition.
The horizon seemed darker. The air heavier. The whispers older.
And in that moment, Yan Zhi understood…
This was no mere evolution. This was a summons.
The shadow had fed—
—but the hunger was only beginning.
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