The mountain bled.
Crimson rivers poured from cracks in the earth, feeding the rising corpse.
The Blood Sacrifice Array drank the lives of 3,000 outer disciples—screams cut short as their bodies withered to husks.
From the sect's forbidden tomb, a skeletal hand punched through stone.
Then another.
A Nascent Soul corpse puppet—the founding ancestor, Patriarch Bloodriver—stood 200 meters tall, wrapped in chains of solidified blood.
Its hollow eye sockets locked on the dragon silhouette in the sky.
Chu Yao hovered above the inner sect, wings blotting out the stars.
Liu Ruyan clung to his back, sword dripping with the blood of the vault guards.
"That's their trump card?" Chu Yao's dragon voice rumbled like an earthquake.
He sounded… hungry.
[Target detected: Nascent Soul Corpse Puppet – Patriarch Bloodriver]
[Devour Difficulty: EXTREME]
[Reward: Soul Calamity Form + Ancestral Memories]
The system's warning pulsed red.
Chu Yao grinned, fangs like swords.
"Extreme? Perfect."
Inner Sect Battlefield – Dawn of Annihilation
The corpse ancestor roared—a sound that shattered eardrums for miles.
Chains whipped out, each link forged from the souls of sacrificed disciples.
Chu Yao met them head-on.
CLANG!
Dragon claws vs. blood chains.
Sparks of soul-fire lit the night.
Liu Ruyan leapt from his back, sword flashing.
"I'll cut the array anchors!"
She dove toward the four blood pillars powering the formation.
Chu Yao didn't watch.
He was busy biting.
CRUNCH.
One chain shattered between his jaws.
[Devoured: Soul Chain Fragment]
[Trait Gained: Soul Bind – immobilize targets with devoured souls]
The ancestor's empty sockets flared crimson.
It opened its mouth—a black hole of devoured lifetimes.
SOUL DEVOURING VOID.
Thousands of ghostly faces poured out, screaming toward Chu Yao.
He inhaled.
Mirror Calamity + Soul Devour.
The void reversed.
Ghosts slammed back into the ancestor's mouth, amplified tenfold.
Its jaw cracked.
Black blood sprayed.
[Reflected Damage: 1,200% Soul Backlash]
The corpse staggered.
Chu Yao's wings beat once.
He rocketed forward, six dragon arms punching in unison.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Each fist carried a different devoured art:
Thunder Devour
Wind Dominion
Lotus Devour
Blood Puppet
Crimson Regeneration
Mirror Calamity
The ancestor's chest caved.
Ribs like iron beams snapped.
But it didn't fall.
Instead, it grabbed Chu Yao's neck with both hands.
BLOODRIVER SEAL.
The world turned red.
Chu Yao's dragon form froze—trapped in a sphere of compressed blood essence.
The ancestor's voice echoed from the void:
"You… are… MINE."
The sphere began to shrink.
Compressing him.
Crushing him.
Inside, Chu Yao's scales cracked.
Dragon blood rained.
[Warning: Host integrity 47%… 31%…]
Liu Ruyan's scream cut through the haze.
"CHU YAO!"
She'd destroyed three of the four array pillars.
The last one pulsed wildly.
Chu Yao's eyes snapped open—pupils slit, glowing white.
"Mine?" he rasped. "I DON'T SHARE FOOD."
CALAMITY TRANSFORMATION: FULL RELEASE.
His body exploded outward.
300 meters.
500 meters.
1,000 meters of pure apocalyptic dragon.
The blood sphere shattered like glass.
The ancestor was dwarfed.
Chu Yao's tail—thick as a mountain—smashed down.
KRA-BOOOOOM!
The corpse puppet's legs were pulverized.
It toppled, chains flailing.
Chu Yao opened his maw.
SOUL CALAMITY DEVOUR.
A vortex of crimson light erupted from his throat.
The ancestor's soul—bound to the corpse for 1,000 years—was ripped free.
A screaming Nascent Soul, golden and cracked.
[Devouring: Nascent Soul (Peak)]
[Resistance: 89%… 67%… 41%…]
The soul fought.
Memories flooded Chu Yao's mind:
Founding the sect with blood rituals.
Betraying his own master for power.
Sealing his soul into the corpse to escape heavenly tribulation.
Chu Yao laughed.
"Hypocrite."
He crushed the resistance.
[Devour Complete.]
[SOUL CALAMITY FORM UNLOCKED]
[Ancestral Memories Integrated – All sect forbidden arts now available]
[Bloodline Evolution: Stage 11 → Stage 12]
The dragon form dissolved.
Chu Yao landed human—naked, glowing with soul-fire runes.
A third eye opened on his forehead, swirling with devoured souls.
The ancestor's corpse collapsed into dust.
Silence.
Then—
The final array pillar exploded.
Liu Ruyan stood over the wreckage, chest heaving.
The Blood Sacrifice Array backfired.
Instead of suppressing Chu Yao, it fed him.
[Array Essence absorbed.]
[DOMAIN UNLOCKED: DEVOUR REALM (100km radius)]
[All lifeforms in range: Auto-devoured at 1% HP/second]
The inner sect began to wither.
Disciples dropped, skin drying to parchment.
Buildings crumbled as spirit stones dissolved.
Sect Master Huo Tian burst from the main hall, face twisted in horror.
"STOP THE ARRAY—IT'S FEEDING HIM!"
Too late.
Chu Yao raised a hand.
The Devour Realm pulsed.
[Mass Devouring: 8,421 lifeforms]
[Devour Points: +127,893]
[Evolution: Stage 12 → Stage 13]
Huo Tian charged, a Nascent Soul aura erupting.
His life-bound treasure: Heavenly Flame Cauldron.
"Burn, demon!"
A pillar of white flame engulfed Chu Yao.
He walked through it.
The flames turned crimson—devoured.
[Devoured: Heavenly Flame Essence]
[New Ability: Calamity Flames – burn soul and body simultaneously]
Huo Tian's eyes widened.
Chu Yao's third eye opened fully.
SOUL GAZE.
Huo Tian froze—paralyzed by 1,000 years of ancestral guilt.
"You…" the Sect Master whispered. "You're the real calamity."
Chu Yao's hand pierced his chest.
CRUNCH.
He pulled out the beating Nascent Soul.
"Any last words?"
Huo Tian's soul flickered.
"…The girl… Liu Ruyan… she was my spy. Planted to—"
Chu Yao crushed the soul mid-sentence.
[Devoured: Nascent Soul (Mid)]
[Bloodline Evolution: Stage 13 → Stage 14]
[FINAL FORM TEASER: Apocalypse Sovereign (locked at Stage 15)]
He turned.
Liu Ruyan stood frozen, sword lowered.
"…Spy?" she echoed.
Chu Yao's third eye stared into her soul.
The Devour Mark on her chest pulsed—loyal.
Not to the sect.
To him.
The Mark had corrupted her.
Rewritten her.
She dropped to her knees.
"I didn't know," she whispered. "I swear—"
Chu Yao crouched, tilting her chin up.
"Doesn't matter."
He kissed her—hard, possessive, tasting of blood and fire.
When he pulled back, her eyes glowed faintly crimson.
"You're mine now. Spy or not."
Sect Ruins – Aftermath
The inner sect was a graveyard.
100,000 disciples—devoured.
Only the core peak remained, shielded by a final barrier.
Chu Yao stood at its base, Liu Ruyan at his side.
[Devour Realm: 100km sustained]
[Evolution Progress: 67% to Stage 15]
He looked up.
The barrier flickered—cracks spreading.
Inside: the last elders.
The sect's true forbidden treasure.
And the Heavenly Tribulation gathering above—black clouds laced with divine lightning.
Chu Yao cracked his neck.
"Time to finish din.