Blood pooled beneath him like spilled ink on cracked parchment.
Lin Feng—no, the name no longer fit. The man once called the "Eternal Trash" of the Lin Clan lay on the cold execution platform of Azure Peak Sect, his meridians shattered, his dantian cracked like dry earth, his body a canvas of whip scars and poisoned wounds. The crowd's jeers washed over him in waves:
"Trash! Die already!"
"How dare a cripple stain the Lin name!"
"Even the heavens pity him too much to let him live quietly!"
His half-brother, Lin Hao, stood at the forefront, smirking with that same arrogant curl of lip that had haunted Lin Feng's nightmares for years. Beside him, the woman who had once sworn eternal loyalty—his fiancée, Su Mei—averted her eyes, cheeks flushed with shame or perhaps relief.
The executioner's blade rose, gleaming under the crimson sunset.
Lin Feng's vision blurred, but his mind was unnaturally clear. Ten years of humiliation flashed by: the day his meridians were crippled in a "training accident" orchestrated by Lin Hao, the nights he begged for scraps of spirit pills only to be spat on, the moment Su Mei publicly annulled their engagement with tears that fooled no one but the crowd.
Hatred wasn't hot anymore. It had cooled into something sharper, colder—something patient.
"If the heavens won't give me justice," he whispered through cracked lips, voice barely audible over the roar, "then let them burn with me."
The blade descended.
Pain exploded, then... nothing.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
But darkness was never empty for long.
A voice—neither male nor female, ancient and amused—slithered into the void.
[Regret detected. Hatred threshold exceeded. Bloodline resonance achieved.]
[Forbidden Regression Artifact: Sovereign's Remnant Blood — Activated.]
[Anomalous Entity Detected: Eternal Dominion System — Binding...]
Lin Feng's consciousness snapped back like a whip.
He gasped, lungs burning as if he'd been underwater for centuries. His eyes flew open.
He was lying on a simple wooden bed in a dilapidated courtyard—the Lin Clan's outer branch residence. Sunlight filtered through cracked paper windows. The scent of cheap incense and damp wood filled his nose.
This room. This day.
Ten years ago.
The day the gates first tore open. The day the Eternal Dominion Apocalypse began. The day his meridians were "accidentally" crippled during the clan's awakening ceremony.
He sat up slowly.
No pain. No weakness. His body felt... ordinary. But inside, something coiled like a sleeping dragon.
A translucent blue panel materialized before his eyes, hovering silently.
[Eternal Dominion System — Initialization Complete]
[Host: Lin Feng]
[Current Status: Mortal Vessel (Crippled Meridians — Concealed)]
[Core Trait: Devour & Assimilate]
[Hidden Protocol: Sovereign's Mask — Activated. All external scans will perceive host as 'F-Rank Trash Talent'. Internal truth concealed.]
Lin Feng stared at the panel. His expression did not change—no shock, no joy, no triumphant grin. Just a faint, almost imperceptible tilt of his head, as if appraising a mildly interesting insect.
[First Awakening Mission Issued]
[Objective: Survive the Awakening Ceremony without revealing your anomaly.]
[Reward: Initial Devour Slot Unlock + 100 Dominion Points]
[Failure: Permanent System Lock + True Death]
[Bonus Hidden Condition: Allow 'accident' to occur as in previous timeline. Devour the source of injury undetected.]
[Time Limit: 4 hours]
Lin Feng exhaled once, slowly.
He rose from the bed with deliberate calm, movements fluid yet unhurried. He walked to the cracked bronze mirror in the corner.
The face staring back was younger—seventeen, sharp cheekbones, eyes like bottomless wells. No trace of the desperation that once lived there.
He lifted a hand. A faint black wisp—almost invisible—curled around his fingertip, then vanished.
"Ten years," he murmured, voice low, devoid of emotion. "Ten years of watching every betrayal from the shadows."
His lips curved—not into a smile. Into something thinner, colder.
"They'll never see it coming."
He turned away from the mirror and stepped toward the door. Outside, the clan's awakening ceremony drums were already beating. Lin Hao would be there, preening. Su Mei would arrive soon, all false smiles and hidden disdain.
And somewhere in the chaos of the first gate opening, someone would "accidentally" sever his meridians with a hidden poison needle.
In the previous life, he had screamed, begged, collapsed in agony.
This time...
He would let them think they succeeded.
And when the time came, he would **devour** the one responsible.
Piece by piece.
Without a word, without a flicker of killing intent on his face, Lin Feng pushed open the door and stepped into the sunlight.
The courtyard was empty. Birds chirped. A breeze stirred fallen leaves.
But in that moment, the entire Azure Peak Continent—indeed, perhaps the shattered multiverse itself—gained a new shadow.
One that walked silently.
One that remembered everything.
One that would consume it all.
[Ding! Dominion Points +5 — For suppressing killing intent perfectly.]
Lin Feng did not react to the notification.
He simply kept walking.
Toward the ceremony hall.
Toward the beginning of the end—for everyone else.