Devouring The Heavens Chapter 1

Translator: Pan

Editor: Notsaneinthebrain

Book 1 – Awakening

Chapter 1 Reborn

He was an orphan, without any parents, without a name. His memories began when he was four years old, cold and alone. He had a great deal of scars across his body from fighting stray animals, for scraps of food that were thrown away. He may have the scars of battle but he survived.

He had always dreamt of becoming a Xian, a Chinese immortal who could fly through the sky and dig beneath the earth, they could shape the mountains and empty the seas. He wished that he had the power to change his own destiny, which is why he named himself after a famous Xian, Xuanyuan. One time, when he was begging on the streets for food and money, he heard a blind fortune teller mumbling that Xuanyuan, the Yellow Emperor, had conquered all the lands in each and every direction. All countries had sworn allegiance to him. Xuanyuan was the one true emperor under the heavens…

When he turned five, an old beggar took Xuanyuan under his wing. The old man treated him with kindness and taught him all the things that he needed to survive. He told Xuanyuan that when he turned seven, he should go to school and become educated.

“I am old and my life is coming to an end. I can’t have you begging for a living for the rest of your life. I do not wan’t you to remain as an outcast. You have to go to school, that’s the only way. You are a smart boy and I know if you studied hard that one day you will live inside one of the big cities. Then all the pretty girls will line up for you. You won’t have to be like me, peeking in the widows when they are showering…”

On his first day of school, Xuanyuan cried the whole journey to school. He was very intelligent. He mastered every subject with only the tiniest of help from the teachers. Language, Mathematics, Foreign Language…he was often the best in class. In fact, his results were so good that he skipped two grades in school. He was always the first in the whole town. The school realized he was living an extremely poor life, so they made sure to exempt him from tuitions. They even gave him allowance here and there when they could.

Things fell apart when Xuanyuan was finally able to save up enough money from his allowance to give to the old Beggar as a surprise. In the harsh winter snow, the old man was too weak to fight against the bitter chill and died from the cold. He passed away cold and alone, before Xuanyuan arrived with his gift.

Xuanyuan gathered all of his strength in the freezing winter air and carried the body to an open area where he could lay the old man to rest. Using his tiny hands, he dug a hole in the frozen soil. The pain in his hands helped him hold back the tears that were filling his eyes. He tried to overlook the pain in his heart by focusing on the pain in his hands. He dug the grave with his own two tiny hands and laid the old man to his eternal rest. He choked on the tears as he was trying to swallow them back down.

“Old be…beggar, you died when you were alone, must have been so lo…lonely. You told me once, good peop…ple will have their rewards, but then why…why did you have to die? It’s my fault! I couldn’t afford to give you a…a nice life. I couldn’t re…repay your kindness. I only wish you can…can be happy in the next life. No more hardship…no more living on the streets. Be Happy.”

Xuanyuan couldn’t hold back the tears any longer and fell to his knees sobbing.

A fortune teller once said, if you kowtow a hundred times to a good, unfortunate man, then he would reincarnate into a better life. So Xuanyuan gave one kowtow after another in the grave snow storm. His scrawny body kowtowed again and again as the tears rolled down his cheeks, He hoped that this would help the old beggar enjoy a full stomach and a warm house in the next life.

There was a small pool of blood in front of the old beggar’s grave. Xuanyuan finally stood up, his forehead was covered with blood and his eyes were empty of emotion. Although his eyes looked empty, his tears did not cease to flow. He fell onto the ground that was covered in frost. His heart was filled with pain. He was confused, not knowing what to do next. The old beggar was his only family member. Now that the old beggar died, Xuanyuan felt truly homeless and alone.

Snow drifted down from the sky like feathers on the wind. Xuanyuan’s steps got heavier and heavier. His head was spinning and his body freezing. He walked without direction. At last, he finally collapsed and soon disappeared under the snow. The land was covered in white, without a trace of the boy that was lying on the ground.

Like a spirit, Xuanyuan after collapsing drifted under the storm clouds. Xuanyuan felt his body floating through the air, light and completely out of his control.

“Where am I?”

He turned his gaze downwards. There was a mass grave with thousands of corpses everywhere. It was a lifeless land. A group of crows and vultures pecked the flesh from the decaying bodies.

“So many people have died here. Am I dead?” Xuanyuan smiled wryly, looking at his hands. He could see the dead bodies through them. It seemed like he was truly dead.

But at this moment, a lone wolf with silvery white fur suddenly barged towards the mass grave and disturbed the crows and vultures. In a hurry, the birds flew to the withered branches on the trees nearby and shrieked towards the wolf that interrupted their feast.

The lone wolf paid no attention to the sounds of the birds. It approached a young boy’s body, sat down and sniffed. Then it gave a long and sorrowful howl which made the birds grow quiet.

The young boy’s face was pale but stern, with many scratches across his body. His clothes were ragged and a black dagger was tied to his waist. The dagger looked rusty and dull. The boy was completely lifeless.

The lone wolf stayed on his side and kept howling, as if it was begging for the heaven’s for mercy.

Perhaps, the heaven would answer its plea.

All of a sudden, the black rusty dagger quivered and a strange power stirred from within. An indescribable force sucked Xuanyuan’s spirit towards the dagger. He was startled but before he could react, his body no longer felt weightless.

Opening his eyes, Xuanyuan looked up and saw the depressing grey sky. It was foggy. He suddenly felt a pounding headache, followed by numerous memories flashing into his head. He thought his brain was about to explode from all of the information.

He then noticed all of the corpses were everywhere around him, oozing a rotten stench. The stench disgusted Xuanyuan so much that he jumped like a cat when its tail is stepped upon.

“What happened? Didn’t I die? Doesn’t matter, I need to get out of here first.”

This was his first thought. He passed by many corpses and ran towards a forest. The stench of rotten bodies slowly faded away and the sight of them finally disappeared. When he approached the edge of the spooky forest, he realized that his whole body was in searing pain.

He was too exhausted to run. His legs had given up and he tumbled under a tree while heavily breathing. He finally noticed the wolf that was following him. He was spooked as the memories flashed through his brain. He has the memories of this body’s previous occupant. He remembered the wolf that guarded the boy’s body. He remembered the name of the wolf…

“Guxing!”

Hearing Xuanyuan’s calling, the wolf howled a few times and its eyes sparkled.

When he heard the voice that came from his mouth, it was unfamiliar to Xuanyuan. There were many memories that weren’t his. But the first priority was to fill his empty stomach.

“Guxing, I’m hungry. I can’t walk anymore. Please go and find me some food.” Xuanyuan gathered a bit of hope and whispered. His stomach rumbled at the perfect timing.

It was as if Guxing understood what he had said, it ran into the forest immediately. Xuanyuan was surprised by the wolf’s intelligence. However that matched the memories that were inside his head.

He thought a good time to gather his thoughts would be when Guxing was out looking for food.

“Was it possible that I reborn into this dead boy’s body? What happened?”

Behind him a forest, in front of him a mass of corpses.

Memory after memory revealed and flashed through his mind. He realized that was not his own world.

This body’s original owner had a similar fate to Xuanyuan. He was fourteen years old, also without a name. Since he was young, he suffered through a great deal of bullying. He struggled to survive on his own. The rusty dagger came into his possession by accident. Although it looked dull, it was incredibly sharp and could cut through all other metal. It seemed like the dagger had a magical power.

The forest was called the Beastly Forest. Inside the forest’s mountains contained many extremely dangerous magical beasts. He only dared to hunt the beasts with lower magical abilities who stayed at the edge of the forest. He would take the opportunities to hunt when the beasts came out of the forest to eat the corpses.

However, a few days ago, he killed a magic tiger with the help of along with Guxing and Guyue. Guyue was severely injured during the fight. The young boy panicked. In order to save Guyue, he skinned the tiger in order to exchange it for some medicine to save Guyue. He found an elixir inside the tiger’s body.

Elixirs were extremely rare and precious. Sometimes you might not find one even if you slaughtered a hundred beasts. This elixir was a life saver.

In his bliss, he left Guyue under Guxing’s care and went to the Moonwaste City to sell the elixir for medicine. What he did not expect was that the trace of the tiger’s magic remaining inside the elixir attracted the attention of the young master of the Yue Family, Yue Jue. The elixir was the highest quality of elixir and Yue Jue wanted it. So he ordered his servant to beat the young boy, using the excuse that the boy had damaged his carriage. The boy was a breath away from death and his elixir was stolen by Yue Jue. He was then thrown into the grave.

“How dare you lowly commoner, disturb my precious horse. Beat him up, but don’t kill him. Throw him into the mass grave, let the beasts eat him alive. That’s the only way to calm my anger.”

Thanks to Guxing guarding him, the boy did not get eaten alive. Yet he still died without proper medical care. But the loyal Guxing would not leave his side even after death.

Knowing all this, Xuanyuan could not help but laugh. What was justice? Where was the law? How could this Yue Jue be so cruel? Xuanyuan’s heart filled with fury and he screamed.

“We are both lonely and unfortunate souls. Now that I have your body, I became you and you have become me. I now live in this unknown world and there’s no way back. Yue Jue is not going to get away with this. One day, I am going to be like Xuanyuan the Yellow Emperor. I shall conquer the world and soak the earth with dragon’s blood. In the name of Xuanyuan, I am going to destroy all those that stand against me!”

To Xuanyuan’s misfortune, the earth beneath his feet began to shake.

Bang! Bang! Bang…

Xuanyuan turned his head and saw a magic bear three metres tall charging in his direction. It’s terrifying mouth was displaying its razor sharp teeth. It opened its mouth, ready to bite!

Xuanyuan did not know what to do. A shiver ran down his spine and his brain froze, he was unable to react.

Chapter end