(Book 1 Complete) To Devour the Crawling Gods [Eldritch Xianxia Progression]

The girl blinked. She felt the floor vibrate. A weird noise had just echoed within the chamber. More than that, there was something in her eye. Was that… light?

Her half-blinded vision was slow to adjust, but eventually, she saw it: a single crack in the wall of her room, letting in just the smallest shimmer of light. It was the first ray of illumination she had seen in months.

Did part of the wall just give way to age? The idea felt ludicrous. Yunjin had clawed at them with all her strength, and they never so much as budged.

Yet even as she thought that, the girl saw something descend beyond the light.

*CRACK*

A shudder passed through the room again, and the hole widened further. There was definitely someone behind the wall, breaking in. Was it Father? Had he come to end her, at last?

Hate filled her, the first breath of emotion beyond the despair and agony that had plagued her mind for months. Yunjin did not want to be alive. Yet neither did she want the last thing she saw to be the face of her tormentor.

That thought propelled her to wakefulness. Her mind remained clouded by toxins, but she forced a semblance of control over herself. Weak as she felt, Yunjin tried to clench her fist and move. To do anything to spite her abuser.

She could not. All she managed was to tilt her head towards the light, and that movement alone nearly made her pass out. Yunjin felt like weeping again until she glimpsed beyond the opening and saw who was behind the panel.

The figure was short, far too short to be her father. Their presence was too weak as well, realms beneath the overwhelming dread emitted by her Father, who stood the closest to Immortality among any within the Outer Provinces.

But there was a presence. Even weakened as she was, Yunjin could sense it.

The qi of a cultivator.

This time, the girl saw the cause of the cracks: behind the wall, a fist was raised, wreathed with glorious fire and wrath.

She heard a roar.

"BREAK ALREADY!"

*CRACK*

The entire section of the wall came crashing down, its middle split in two, with the edges set alight by hungry flames. The sudden flare of heat disoriented her. The maggots within her squirmed at the luminance of golden fire.

At the threshold of the newly opened entryway, Yunjin saw a boy.

He was panting hard, the raging flames in his fist dying into embers before hissing out into smoke entirely. The boy swayed a little on the spot, lightheaded and pale with exhaustion.

Yunjin could barely see his features as they were shadowed by the light, but by his height, he was easily younger than her — no more than fifteen, the dulled analytics within her mind informed her — and wore Sect robes foreign to her.

Beyond the sight of the boy, the light finally allowed her to see the disgusting state of her cell. Foul matter caked every surface. Blood, vomit, excrement, and writhing maggots pooled in abundance. The refuse of her body had layered her prison with waste most putrid and unholy. Her own skin was coated in filth, her robes soiled beyond any semblance of recovery. The room must have reeked. She must have reeked.

None of that stopped the youth from rushing in and kneeling beside her the moment he saw her.

"Are you the girl with the maggots?" he asked.

The… What? Yunjin's brain couldn't process what was happening.

The boy flinched. "Wait, sorry, that was rude. It's just… That's what the pretty lady called you, and I don't know your name. She was the one who brought me down to this place, saying someone needed help. Good thing you are here, otherwise, I would have broken down Patriarch Ru's property for nothing! Wouldn't be the first time the pretty lady got me into trouble with a Sect leader…"

Even half-paralysed, Yunjin couldn't help but instinctively flinch at her Father being mentioned.

The boy noticed her distress and winced. "Ah, sorry, sorry! I didn't mean it's a good thing you are here. It's just, um… You don't look well… Are you sick?"

There were so many things she wanted to say to that, not all of them kind, but all that came out of her numbed mouth was a whimper. "... hurts…"

"Hurt… But I didn't bring any healing pills! Should I take you to the Sect's doctor? But I don't know if it's safe to move you— huh?"

The boy suddenly turned behind him. Yunjin's tired eyes followed his gaze, but there was no one there.

"My blood? How would my blood help her?" he asked, seemingly to no one in particular. Yunjin was not sure what was happening. "I— well, no, I don't have any better ideas! You are the one who brought me here! It's not… Yes, I want to help her, but—! Okay, okay, no need to be mean about it. But you better be right…"

The boy reached behind his back and pulled out a dagger. Its edge was barely the length of a finger, but the blade was wickedly sharp all the same.

Yunjin froze. Her heart, weak and dying, quivered at the sight. "... P-please…"

Kill me./ Save me.

He held her hand. Warm… Was a person's hand always so warm?

Mother… More tears came to her pus-weeping eyes. Rather than becoming disgusted, the boy held her tighter still.

"You will be alright," he whispered, voice strong and unyielding. "I won't let you die."

The boy raised the blade and, without hesitation, plunged it straight into his wrist.

The scent of blood filled the air. The maggots within her became excited, a familiar prelude to more agony. As one, they seemed to ready themselves to rush to her hand, where the bleeding wrist held her. Yunjin whimpered, closing her eyes as she braced herself for pain.

Then, seemingly from nowhere, she heard a voice.

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A woman's, velvet smooth and laced with violence.

"My God's blood is not for you, Botulvorn Beast. Recall your swarm and return to your slumber, lest we be forced to kill you a second time."

A heartbeat passed. In that singular, terrifying moment, every one of the wriggling maggots within her body went utterly still.

Then, something else within her — deep and vast beyond words — gurgled and laughed. A wet, guttural voice echoed in her head, each syllable enunciated in slow and tortured clarity:

"I greet… the Heart… of the Morning Star…"

There was a pause. Yunjin could not breathe. Something insurmountably heavy landed on her soul. She wanted to scream as she felt the attention of the unnameable thing focus on her.

"This girl… is mine… But you are welcome to her… if it pleases the Dragon…"

The other voice spoke again. Unlike whatever monster currently lurked in her soul, the woman's presence was purity. The malignant horror of that Thing in Yunjin's heart lessened with each of her words.

"Leave now. While I still allow it."

More laughter. Yet the horrid bellow of it was softer now. Distant.

"This toxin… and seedbed… are yours. My gift… to the Divine Cannibal… reduced as He might be. May they serve His needs well…"

"For now…"

At those final words, the unholy presence in her soul faded. The maggots resumed their movements. Unlike their earlier enthusiasm, however, their wriggling seemed slowed to a languid crawl. The pain and toxin, impossibly, began to recede.

The relief was indescribable. Her body, once wrecked with uncontrollable spasms, softened into a quiet stillness. The paralysing grip of the toxins loosened, and for the first time in what felt like an eternity, she could breathe without the weight of the poison pressing down on her chest.

"Well, that was unpleasant," the boy murmured. "Nice job at chasing the bad man away, pretty lady!"

There was a pause. The boy spoke up again, seemingly to no one: "Yes, pretty lady, I know he's not a 'man', it's just I— Okay, okay, I will praise you a lot once we get out of here. No need to get mad at me—"

She could move her fingers again, Yunjin dimly realised. Sensing her movements, the boy stopped talking and squeezed her hand lightly. The girl squeezed back, clutching his fingers as if they were a lifeline.

"Don't leave me," she begged.

"I won't." His other arm tucked around her head, gently bringing her mouth to his bloody wrist. "You need to drink this. It's gross, but the pretty lady said it would help."

The scent of blood filled her nostrils. Rather than iron, the air tasted sweet. Her tongue feebly lolled out, and she licked his wrist.

The sheer vibrancy of it encompassed her every being. Yunjin did not stop. She weakly supped at the trickling fluid. Each drop saw her control over her body return. Sensation returned to her extremities. Her vision gradually became clearer.

A minute later, Yunjin could move her legs and toes again.

It made no sense. Yunjin was not a cultivator. The fluid and essence of a human body should not nourish her so quickly, even if they belonged to a practitioner rather than a mortal.

She did not question it, however, especially after the boy helped her up. The girl cried tears of joy at seeing herself able to stand on her own two feet again.

"Come on, let's go," the boy said, supporting her limp gait towards the opening.

"Where?" she croaked out, voice weak with happiness and relief. "Who are you?"

They reached the opening. Fresh winds from the opening brushed against her face, and she almost collapsed from the sheer beauty of it. To see the morning light. To taste the crisp breeze, free of noxious smells or stale air.

Yunjin was finally outside.

She was finally, finally, free.

From the light, she saw the boy's face. She burned every feature of him into her mind. So that she would never forget him. So that his next words were seared straight into her soul.

"Anywhere you want," he answered warmly. His eyes looked into hers, firm and unyielding. "My name is Feng. From now on, wherever you want to go, I promise I will take you there."

~~~

Present…

Twenty-two-year-old Ru Yunjin opened her eyes. The woman was lying on a couch in the main hall of the Red Sapphire guest estate, loaned to her by the Beheaded Phoenix Sect.

The Young Miss sighed, brushing her ash-silk hair as she stood and stretched. The taut muscles of her lithe form flexed against golden-black raiments.

She had dozed off again. The comforts of the local monastery far surpassed the austere luxuries of the Decaying Greyroots Sect, and the journey here had been taxing in its preparations and travel soreness. The Young Miss had thought a moment's rest would not be unwelcome.

If she knew she would be plagued by that memory again, she would have avoided sleep entirely.

"Anywhere I want, huh…" she murmured.

Making promises he could not keep… She wondered if that fool still retained that horrible habit. Small wonder his Fiancée worries constantly. The boy — man now, Yunjin reminded herself — must have left behind a streak of brokenhearted maidens with his careless declarations.

But he always tried. Fighting for laughable ideals. Saving others who never asked for his aid…

What an idiot.

"You are smiling, my Lady."

She turned towards the voice. A pale figure of twisted roots — standing over two metres tall and shaped in the vague, parodic outline of a humanoid — approached her. It had no head, only an oversized, gnarled, and hideously bulbous knot that pulsed with tightly packed maggots, each wriggling with unsightly alacrity.

The creature wore the gold-trimmed robes of a Core Disciple from the Decaying Greyroots Sect.

"Was I?" she mused, bringing a finger to touch her lips. Indeed, there was a slight curve to it. "How shameful of me."

"It was a most welcome sight." When the disciple 'spoke', its voice was created by the jostling noises made by the maggots' fleshy carapace scraping against the rotting wood of their cage. "My Lady was smiling like a maiden on her wedding night. It warms the infested heart of this vessel to see his Mistress so—"

Yunjin lifted a finger.

The Disciple's 'head' went flying. The knot of wood and maggots splattered against the far side of the wall, staining the velvet curtains with a festering odour and grease most horrendous.

A sword hovered over where its 'neck' once was, independently suspended in the air in defiance of gravity. A shimmer of darkly-coloured qi vibrated around its blade.

Yunjin made a casual gesture with her fingers, and the flying sword sheathed itself back into the scabbard she laid carelessly at her side.

"I think you should already know better by now," she said mildly. "Just because I am forced to tolerate your company, it doesn't mean you are free from the consequences of mindless words."

The Disciple's body shivered. Another gnarled mess of roots and maggots erupted from the stump, forming another 'head'.

"My sincerest apologies." The wriggling mass of nightmares still somehow managed to convey a cheer within its 'voice', the loss of its head failing to dampen its jovial nature. "It is simply that My Lady's mood has been most despondent since we undertook this trip to bless the Young Master's wedding. This lowly servant simply wishes to see his Mistress happy and—"

Yunjin sighed. "I'm leaving."

Just as she stood and turned to retire to her room, the gnarled abomination she had the misfortune of calling her retainer moved clumsily to block her path. "If My Lady would just wait a moment! I have a surprise planned for you!"

"That is what you said this morning," she countered plainly. "I had been willing to entertain your antics in lieu of literally anything better to do, but it has been hours, and nothing has happened. Even my patience, inexhaustible as it must be to tolerate your foul presence in my life, has limits."

"You needn't wait much longer, Young Miss." The creature's voice took a higher octave, a sign of excitement. "The Young Master is already here."

Yunjin froze. "The what? Kouhu, you traitorous worm bastard! I already told you not to inform him!"

"Too late for that!" The disciple, 'Kouhu', chittered happily, already dashing out of the room as his Lady grabbed her sword. "Have fun, Young Miss! But not too much!"

Before she could chase after him, a sudden burst of heat flared within the room.

Yunjin closed her eyes and cursed. After a handful of seconds, she resignedly poised herself and turned around.

Staring at her from the middle of her guest hall was the wide-eyed and hopeful look of the Beheaded Phoenix's Young Master.

Hei Feng, the boy who saved her.

And the man she had the misfortune of falling in love with.