The forest fell silent.
Even the wind seemed to hesitate.
Luo Sen frowned as unease crept into his chest. The confidence he carried moments ago wavered beneath Shen Yu’s calm gaze.
“You’re surrounded,” Luo Sen said, forcing a sneer. “Stop pretending.”
His two companions released their Gu simultaneously.
A Stone Shell Beetle slammed onto the ground, its armored body expanding into a defensive wall. Above it hovered a Needle Wasp Gu, its tail glowing with poisoned qi.
Killing intent filled the clearing.
Shen Yu did not move.
Inside his dantian, the newly refined Emotion Reflection Gu released a cool ripple, stabilizing his thoughts. Fear, anger, hesitation — all faded into distant echoes.
Only clarity remained.
And beneath that clarity…
Hunger.
The Devouring Presence stirred eagerly, reacting to the concentrated Gu aura before it.
Eat.
Shen Yu exhaled slowly.
“No,” he whispered inwardly.
He needed control.
Strength without restraint would expose him too soon.
Luo Sen mistook the silence for fear.
“Attack!”
The Needle Wasp shot forward, its stinger piercing toward Shen Yu’s throat.
At the same instant, Shen Yu moved.
Not faster — simply earlier.
The Emotion Reflection Gu sharpened his perception, allowing him to sense intent before motion. He stepped aside calmly, the stinger grazing only air.
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His hand struck outward.
Not toward Luo Sen.
Toward the Gu.
The wasp froze midair.
Its wings faltered violently.
Submission.
The Devouring Presence leaked a faint aura through Shen Yu’s body — invisible to ordinary senses, yet overwhelming to lesser Gu.
The wasp dropped to the ground, trembling.
Luo Sen’s face drained of color. “My… my control—!”
Before he could finish, Shen Yu stepped forward and touched the insect lightly.
The wasp dissolved instantly into strands of light.
Devoured.
Warmth flooded Shen Yu’s limbs.
Too easy.
Too natural.
The hunger grew sharper.
“Impossible!” Luo Sen shouted, panic replacing arrogance. “Attack together!”
The Stone Shell Beetle charged, shaking the earth.
Shen Yu’s eyes darkened slightly.
This time he did not move away.
He stepped forward.
The moment the beetle entered arm’s reach, its charge faltered. Cracks spread across its shell as its qi destabilized, instinct screaming at it to flee.
But Luo Sen forced control desperately.
The Devouring Presence surged.
A faint pulse spread outward.
The beetle collapsed mid-charge, its massive body shrinking as essence drained away without physical contact.
It withered into dust.
Silence followed.
One accomplice stumbled backward in terror. “He… he didn’t even refine it!”
The second turned and ran without hesitation.
Luo Sen stood frozen.
For the first time, he truly saw Shen Yu — not as a rival, but as something fundamentally wrong.
“You… what are you?” he whispered.
Shen Yu walked toward him slowly.
Leaves crunched underfoot.
“I told you,” Shen Yu said quietly, “this was the wrong hunting ground.”
Luo Sen’s courage shattered. He released his remaining qi wildly and turned to flee.
He made three steps.
Then stopped.
The air behind him grew unbearably heavy.
He felt it — the sensation of standing before a predator far beyond his place in the food chain.
Shen Yu raised his hand.
The Devouring Presence roared silently within him, urging completion.
One more.
Consume him.
Grow stronger.
For a moment, Shen Yu hesitated.
If he crossed this line, there would be no returning.
The Emotion Reflection Gu pulsed gently, calming the storm inside his mind.
Slowly…
He lowered his hand.
“…Leave,” Shen Yu said.
Luo Sen didn’t wait. He ran, stumbling through the forest like prey escaping death.
The clearing became quiet again.
Shen Yu stood alone, breathing heavily.
He had won.
But victory brought no relief.
Because the hunger had not faded.
It had only learned patience.
High above the valley, hidden within drifting clouds, Elder Han watched silently through a surveillance Gu.
Beside him stood a pale young man in white robes — the inner sect envoy.
The envoy’s eyes gleamed with fascination.
“…He didn’t refine them,” the young man said softly. “They were erased.”
Elder Han nodded grimly.
“A Gu that devours other Gu without refinement… such records exist only in forbidden texts.”
The envoy smiled faintly.
“Then the outer sect just became very interesting.”
Far below, Shen Yu suddenly looked toward the sky, as if sensing unseen eyes.
And deep within his chest, the Devouring Presence stirred again —
Not with hunger.
But anticipation.
To be continued…
