Devouring The Heavens
chapter-1

He was born an orphan, without any parents and without a name. His memories began when he was left cold and alone at the age of four years old. There were a great deal of scars on his body from all the times that he would fight with stray animals over the scraps of food that other people had thrown away. His body was covered with wounds , but he continued to live on.

He had always dreamt of becoming a Xian, an 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 cruel destiny, which is why he gave himself the name of 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 of the surrounding lands and all the 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 what he needed to survive. He told Xuanyuan that when he turned seven, he would send him to school to get an education.

"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 societies outcast. You have to go to school, that's the only way for you to change your destiny. You are a smart boy and I know that if you studied hard, one day you will be able to live in one of the big cities. Then all the pretty girls will line up for you. You won't have to be like me, peeking on the widows when they shower..."

On his first day of school, Xuanyuan cried throughout the whole journey and didn't want to leave the old beggar's side.

Xuanyuan was a very intelligent child and he quickly mastered every subject with only the tiniest of help from the teachers. Language, Mathematics, Foreign Languages...Every passing year he was at the top of his class. In fact, his results were so good that he skipped two grades. He was the most gifted student in the entire town. When the school realized that he was living an extremely poor life, they exempted him from tuition. The school even gave him money when they were able.

Time passed by and eventually things fell apart. Xuanyuan had been saving every penny he received from the school and he saved enough to give the old Beggar a better life. That year was a harsh winter, unfortunately the old beggar wasn't strong enough to brave the harsh winter alone and succumbed to the bitter cold. He passed away cold and alone, long before Xuanyuan arrived.

Xuanyuan gathered all of his strength in the freezing winter air and carried the old beggars body through the snow to an open area where he could lay the old man to rest. Using his bare hands, he started to dig a grave in the frozen soil. The pain he was feeling from his hands helped him hold back the tears that were filling his eyes. He was trying his hardest to overlook the pain in his heart by focusing only on the pain from his hands. Using his bare hands, he slowly dug a grave and laid the old man to his eternal rest. Xuanyuan felt himself choking on the tears and was fighting with all his power to hold the tears back.

"Old be...beggar, you died when you were all alone, it must have been so lo...lonely. You told me once, good peop...ple will be rewarded, 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 your 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 man who was unfortunate in this life, then he will reincarnate into a better life. So Xuanyuan gave one kowtow after another, despite the freezing chill of the snow. His scrawny body kowtowed again and again as the tears streamed down his cheeks, he hoped that these kowtows would help the old beggar enjoy a full stomach and a warm house in his next life.

There was a small pool of blood beside the old beggar's grave. Xuanyuan finally stood up, his forehead was covered with blood and his eyes were void of emotion. Although his eyes looked empty, his tears continued to fall. His head was bleeding from the impact against the frost covered ground, but his heart was filled with such pain and loneliness that it didn't matter. There was nothing left for him, he didn't know what to do. He cherished the old beggar and was the only person he saw as his family. Now that the old beggar died, Xuanyuan felt truly homeless and alone.

Snow drifted down from the sky like feathers on the wind as Xuanyuan's steps got heavier and heavier. His head was spinning and his body was freezing. He did not have a destination, he was only hopelessly walking through the storm. At last, he finally collapsed and his body was soon covered by the snow. The land was covered in a blanket of white, there was no trace of the heartbroken boy that was buried beneath.

***********************************************

Xuanyuan soon died after collapsing beneath the heavy snow storm. Xuanyuan felt his body floating through the air, his body felt light and completely out of his control as it drifted through the void.

"Where am I?"

He turned his gaze downwards and he could see a mass grave with thousands of corpses, it was a land filled with death. A group of crows and vultures were pecking the flesh from the decaying corpses.

"So many dead people have been gathered here. Am I dead?" Xuanyuan smiled wryly. He lifted his hands and could see the dead bodies through them. It seemed like he had died and become a spirit.

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

The lone wolf paid no attention to the sounds coming from the birds. It approached a young boy's body, sat down and started to nudge the body with its nose. The wolf then gave a long and sorrowful howl which caused the birds to grow quiet.

The young boy's face was pale but stern, with many wounds across his body. His clothes were ragged and a rusty black dagger was tied to his waist. The dagger looked worthless, it was rusty and dull. The young boy was showing no signs of life.

The lone wolf stayed by his side and continued to howl, as if it was begging for the heaven's to show mercy.

Perhaps, the heavens would answer its plea.

All of a sudden, the black rusty dagger quivered and a strange power started to surge within it. An indescribable force started to pull Xuanyuan's spirit towards the dagger. Xuanyuan was startled but before he could react, his eyes felt heavy.

Xuanyuan opened his eyes, when he looked up he only saw a depressing grey sky through a thick fog. He could suddenly feel a pounding headache, followed by numerous memories flashing into his head. He thought his brain was about to explode from all of the information that was being crammed inside.

He then noticed that he was surrounded by countless corpses, oozing a putrid stench. The stench disgusted Xuanyuan and he jumped like a cat whose tail had just been stepped on.

"What happened? Wasn't I dead? It doesn't matter, I need to get away from here first."

His first thought was to get away from the mass grave. He climbed over the corpses and ran into a forest near the mass grave. The stench of rotten bodies slowly faded as the mass grave was no longer in sight. 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 gave way and he tumbled into a tree while breathing heavily. He finally noticed the wolf was following behind him. He was terrified, when suddenly more memories flashed through his brain. It seemed to be the memories of the dead boy he saw. He remembered seeing the wolf that was howling beside the boy's body. He was slowly starting to remember the name of the wolf...

"Guxing!"

Hearing Xuanyuan's call, the wolf howled and its eyes sparkled.

When Xuanyuan heard the voice that came from his mouth, it was unfamiliar. There were many memories in his head that weren't his, but the first priority was to fill his empty stomach.

"Guxing, I'm hungry. I can no longer move, so please find me some food." Xuanyuan gathered a bit of hope and spoke to the wolf. His stomach rumbled at what seemed to be the perfect moment.

It seemed that Guxing heard the stomach growl and understood, it ran into the forest to hunt. Xuanyuan was surprised by the wolf's intelligence. However it seemed to match the memories that were inside his head.

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

"Is it possible that I was reborn into a new life? What happened?"

He could only see the forest that was behind him and the mass grave he had just come from.

Memory after memory started to flash through his mind. He soon realized that this was not his world.

This body's original owner died with a similar fate to Xuanyuan. The boy was fourteen years old and also didn't have a name. Since he was young, he had suffered through a great deal of bullying, but he struggled to survive on his own. The rusty dagger came into his possession through a lucky accident. Although it looked dull and useless, it was incredibly sharp and could cut through other metals. It seemed like the dagger was imbued with a magical power.

The forest was called the Beastly Forest. Inside the forest was a great deal of extremely dangerous magical beasts. The boy had only dared to hunt the beasts with lower magical abilities who roamed the edges of the forest. He would take the opportunity to ambush the beasts when they ventured out of the forest to eat from the mass grave.

However, a few days ago, he managed to kill a magic tiger with the help of the two wolves Guxing and Guyue, but Guyue was severely injured by the tiger during the fight. The young boy panicked. In order to save Guyue, he harvested the tiger to take it to the city to exchange it for medicine that could save Guyue. When he cut apart the tiger, he also found an elixir inside the tiger’s body.

Elixirs were extremely rare and precious. Sometimes you might not find a single elixir after slaughtering a hundred beasts. This elixir was an unexpected windfall.

In his bliss, he left Guyue under Guxing's care and went to Moonwaste City to exchange the elixir for medicine. What he did not expect was that the trace of the tiger's Qi remained inside the elixir and it 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 give a beating to the young boy, using the excuse that the boy had purposely damaged his carriage. The boy was beaten within an inch of his life and his elixir was taken by Yue Jue. His injured body was then thrown into the mass grave.

"How dare you lowly commoner, damage my precious carriage. Beat him, but spare his life. Throw him into the mass grave and let the beasts of the forest decide his fate. That's the only way for him to compensate my anger."

Thanks to Guxing guarding his body, the boy was not eaten by the beats inside the forest. However, without proper medical care, he eventually succumbed to his injuries. But the loyal Guxing would not leave the boy's side even after death.

Knowing all of this, Xuanyuan could not help but give a bitter 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 with all his might.

"We are both lonely and unfortunate souls. Now that I have your body, I am you and you are me. I now live in this unknown world and there's no way for me to return. Yue Jue will not get away with what he did to us. One day, I will be like Xuanyuan the Yellow Emperor. I shall conquer the world and soak the earth with the blood of dragons. 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 that was three metres tall was charging in his direction. It’s terrifying mouth was displaying its razor sharp teeth and its mouth was open, 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.