Devouring the Heavens (ATG)

Chapter 16: Civilization isn't so Civilized

A/N: Hello there readers.

It's been a week since I launched this fic and what a week it was! I just wanted to say thank you to each and every person who takes time out of their day to read, like, and comment on my work. I would especially like to thank those who drop reviews and Power Stones.

This is my first time writing anything that isn't a technical report and so all the support really means a lot and adds to my motivation. please continue to do so.

Just a note. Some of you may have noticed that the length of chapters has been increasing and I will confirm that no chapters from now on are less than 3k words, in fact, most are over 3.5k words. A few chapters are even around 4k with today's chapter being 4.6k.

I know, crazy right? At the start, I was having trouble writing 2k words but the more into the story I get, the more I seem to write in each chapter. We call this the Shifty effect (hope someone gets it).

Some good news, I still have enough unedited chapters stocked to continue daily release for around 10 more days, depending on how many chapters I can write this week it could be up to 2 weeks. After that, however, the rate of release will slow to 2-3 chapters a week.

Without further ado, here's the chap.

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Shane's eyelids fluttered open and he released a turbid breath. His gains this time, although still great, were not as much as he had hoped. It would seem that removing the core from the Panther beast caused it to yield a considerably lesser amount of energy.

Shane let out a sigh, had barely reached the [8th of True Profound] from two Spirit Profound corpses and a quick check of his status confirmed his Body Cultivation had stopped at [6th of True Profound]. The more he advanced, the higher the energy requirements were to reach the next realm.

It may sound like an obvious truth but he knew for a fact that his veins required more and more energy to advance, especially compared to a standard cultivator. Case and point was Dusty. [Dusty: Forest Wind Wyrm: True Profound 10(peak) - Contracted (Shan Long)]. Her cultivation was advancing much faster than his. Although she was definitely weaker.

When the two emerged from the burrow, it was still deep into the night. Dusty returned to the tattoo around his neck and Shane started stretching and popping his joints before dashing off into the forest towards Cyan Forest Town.

Throughout the rest of the night and the following day, Shane would take turns sprinting across the forest floor, rushing through the treetops and occasionally battling any profound beast above Nascent Profound that he could find. All in order to get used to his newfound strength and speed again.

He even came across a few late True Profound beasts that had been attracted over by the commotion the day before but they were easily dispatched.

Weaving through the sea of branches in front of him, Shane's hands reached out on instinct to pivot himself upwards to crouch against the trunk before pushing off towards another branch over 20m away. He caught the branch and continued without the inhumane feat even registering as he thought to himself about his recent problem. 'I really need to get some form of training or find someone to spar against as my strength is increasing too quickly and I have nothing I can use as a reference to judge it against.'

Fighting Profound beasts was fine and all but they are mostly still unintelligent and will always fight with their full power. Cultivators are smart and have all sorts of techniques and arts that can aid them in combat and Shane hadn't even seen another person in the flesh yet let alone a cultivator.

Another uneventful day of traveling followed and the trees were becoming more scarce by the hour. Rolling green hills and fields of tall grass covered the last 30km of distance towards Cyan Forest Town and it was late on the third day when Shane finally met with the main road and could see the walled settlement in the distance.

Withdrawing an early Nascent Profound bear-beast from his inventory and donning his full armor and wolfskin cape, Shane covered the last km or so in only a few minutes. When he finally approached the gate, the two middle-aged, Nascent Profound guards almost pissed themselves at his cultivation but still reluctantly stopped him. "Halt. Friend, what business do you have in Cyan Forest Town?"

A little disappointed that they didn't call him senior, Shane put up a disarming smile and spoke in a frivolous tone. "Good Brothers, I am just passing through towards Floating Cloud and will stay one night to conduct some business before moving on tomorrow"

The guards looked at his strange attire suspiciously for a moment before nodding to each other and waving him over to pay the fees "The entrance fee is 10 Yellow coins friend"

Shane awkwardly scratched his nose. "Ahaha well, as you see brothers I don't have any coins on me as of the moment so how about you accept this Nascent Profound Bear as a gift from me, it was freshly killed today and the core is still intact" Outwardly, he was smiling but inwardly Shane was thanking who or whatever gave him the ability to naturally speak this strange language.

The guards' eyes lit up, greed evident in their gazes as one of them cupped his fists saying. "Thank you, young master, Would you like me to show you the way to an inn?"

Shane's eyes twitched and he barely resisted the urge to drop his friendly facade and throttle the guard there and then. "No need" He replied and headed off into the town.

Using the map, Shane managed to locate the large sprawling three-story building of the main merchant guild before he ducked into a nearby alley. He swiftly withdrew over half a dozen True Profound Cores, including the pair from the bears and a variety of different herbs and spirit grasses from his storage, and placed them in a pouch.

Shane withdrew his armor and Dusty also made her appearance in meter long and slim form before draping herself around his neck like a scarf and chirping at him happily. He scratched her little stubby horns and said. "You little brat, you can change your size to be more comfortable getting carried around huh?"

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Entering the Merchant guild, he drew some strange looks and was swiftly approached by a man at the [1st of True Profound]. The man scanned him up and down, his shifty eyes staying on Dusty for a few seconds before he introduced himself as Bao San.

Bao San respectfully led him upstairs to the top floor while enquiring about Shane's purpose in the town, where he was heading, and how long he was staying.

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The questions were answered vaguely as the man's fawning attitude gave Shane an uncomfortable feeling. A feeling that wasn't there when he was talking to the guards earlier. Brushing off the feeling, he attributed it to his not being used to having social interactions over the last few weeks.

Sure, Bao San had a high strength compared to most people in this town but compared to Shane it was still too low. Even if the man had nefarious intentions towards him or Dusty, there was nothing he could do about the difference in strength and Shane would be gone from the town tomorrow.

Bao San left after guiding Shane to the top floor, where he was greeted by the sight of an older, smiling, overweight man in the middle stages of True Profound who was standing behind a counter. "Greetings esteemed guest, I am Manager Wu. Are you buying or selling today?"

"Greetings Manager Wu, I am Selling. If you could evaluate these, trade for a storage ring, and convert the rest into profound coins, I would be grateful." Shane then handed over the pouch containing a lot of spirit herbs and the True Profound beast cores.

Manager Wu's eyes widened a little before he regained his composure and the professional air of a merchant as he began to calculate the prices. A few minutes later he had finished counting and swept everything into his ring. He withdrew another storage ring from underneath the counter and handed it to Shane.

"Esteemed guest, there are 350 purple profound coins in that storage ring. Will that be all today?" Shane checked the ring to confirm before slipping it on his finger and cupping his fists. He thanked Manager Wu and enquired about a high-class tailor's shop and the best inn before turning around to leave, Manager Wu gave a small bow and returned to the counter.

As Shane was walking away from the merchant guild, he felt the uncomfortable feeling return again and glanced around, even checking his minimap and finding nothing out of the ordinary.

What he didn't notice was Bao San watching him walk towards the tailors with a pair of calculating and greedy eyes before hurrying towards the town gates and disappearing out of them soon after.

In the tailor shop, Shane was once again stared at strangely for dressing in just his shorts and cape but when he brought out a handful of purple coins, the staff immediately became accommodating. 'It would seem that money can still get you anywhere, no matter the world'

He was quickly measured up and ordered a few pairs of black cotton soled, 'cultivator' shoes, a few pairs of high quality black and brown trousers, some black robe sets with crimson accents, and a couple of tailored, button-up shirts in both crimson and light blue. He also bought a beautiful white and blue traditional Chinese Hanfu and a pair of white, pearl-adorned hairpins for Qingyue.

In the end, he spent over 100 Purple coins, most of them on the dress for Qingyue but the thought of her walking around in it made the cost absolutely worth it! The shirts would be ready the next morning and so he went to the town's best inn to stay the night. He got the largest and most expensive room with a hot bath prepared, all for only a single purple coin.

'Soooo worth it!' Shane let out a groan in comfort as he lay face down on probably the softest bed he had ever experienced. "Why is everything just so much better quality in a cultivation world huh? Even the material of the clothes felt amazing on my skin!" He said to Dusty who was writhing and wriggling around in the silky sheets next to him. He got a few happy yips out of her so that was something

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Early the next morning, a well-rested and fully geared up Shane along with the cute emerald necklace-form Dusty made their way to the tailors to pick up some clothes. They then headed straight for the town gates and started the last 200km trek towards Floating Cloud.

Back on the open road and quickly making ground, Shane could feel his excitement and anticipation growing to almost palpable levels. As he sped up even further and started to daydream of all the things he could do with Qingyue, he failed to notice three figures following him around 200m behind.

It was dusk when everything went wrong. Shane had slowed his pace a little and was thinking of ways to approach the marriage problem with Qingyue and the Xiao family. His sneaky pursuers noticed this and mistook his absentmindedness for tiredness.

A signal was sent to their comrades and suddenly Dusty tensed up, she transformed into her 2m long form and started hissing at the air while transmitting intense bloodthirst through the bond. Shane expanded his senses and cursed himself for his absentmindedness.

There were people heading in his direction, a lot of them...

He fully stopped and adopted a loose fist stance but his eyes widened as tens of red dots started to fill the edges of his minimap. Red meant that whatever was approaching had the intention to harm him!

*Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh* Within a few breaths of time, he was surrounded by around 30 men dressed in dark, shabby clothing with full beards and sporting a range of different weapons. The men didn't waste any time and directly attacked him. Shane's eyes flashed. 'Bandits!'

Their cultivation was all below the True Profound Realm, and so Shane had nothing to fear, even from their weapons. Seeing was believing however and he had never fought another human let alone another cultivator before so what better way to practice regulating his strength.

He and Dusty battled these bandits bare-handed and non lethally using just his fist arts and her wind manipulation. Shane knew that this would be a serious situation if his cultivation were low, but he was reluctant to take a life and also couldn't help but use the opportunity presented before him, to train himself.

The battle continued on for a few minutes and while Shane was throwing the bandits around like rag dolls, the number seemed to continually increase.

Suddenly, Shane felt an intense danger from behind and a spear tip flashed towards him. He managed to twist his upper body, but still let out a painful groan as the tip scratched across his ribs, opening up a long cut.

Dusty hissed angrily and pounced from his body onto the face of the assailant. Shane was alarmed but had no room to look for her as he was instantly bombarded from either side by 2 hidden True Profound bandits.

The pressure on him increased tremendously and Shane's eyes flashed with a bit of panic. The bandits might not be able to do much harm to him, but they could exhaust him with numbers!

He was about to summon his Warhammer in a last desperate effort to dissuade the bandits when he heard a gruff voice imbued with profound energy call out in a commanding tone. "Halt!"

The bandits, now more than 80 strong with at least 5 being in the late stages of True Profound and 3 in the early Spirit Profound, had him completely surrounded. Those closest to him backed away and left a clear path between Shane and the leader.

His eyes went not to the man but instead locked onto Dusty, fear and rage started creeping in, making his mind buzz.

Dusty had been captured and was writhing around underneath the boot of the guy with the spear...

The man was now holding a peculiar smelling bunch of smoking incense that seemed to be driving her into a frenzy. A quick appraisal showed him at the [3rd of Spirit Profound]. 'Think Shane, Think! How am I going to get out of this one? They have Dusty and I can't risk them hurting her. Maybe if I just give them my storage ring They will let her go. No that won't work they obvi-'

"Heh, not so much of a big shot without the beast now are ya" A familiar voice from behind broke Shane out of his thoughts, and as he turned to look, anger burned in his eyes. Standing there with a cocky grin on his face was Bao San.

"You Bast-"

"Whoa there, better keep it cool or my boot might just slip" A deep, gruff voice from the Leader brought Shane back to the situation again. His head was spinning... What could he do? Was he going to have to fight and kill these people here? What about Dusty, she would surely get hurt if another fight were to break out.

"What do you want?" Shane spat. He tried repeatedly to recall Dusty but she was out of control and too far away for him to forcefully bring her back.

Cold steel on the side of his neck. "How about that storage ring for starters, then that fancy armor would really look good on me" The smarmy voice of Bao San sounded in his ears making his eyes glow red.

A waft of smoke caused his pupils to dilate as a previously hidden, feral rage began to bubble up within him, threatening to break out at any moment. 'He wants my armor? That's a part of me. Does he see me as prey? Wait why is my head so fuzzy?''

Shane pushed himself to form coherent thoughts and spoke through gritted teeth. "I can give you the ring but the armor is literally attached to me and only made from wood anyway, why would you want it?"

Taking off the ring, he stepped forward towards the leader but was stopped by a pained whine from Dusty as the man pressed his boot down harder.

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger, blood dripped from his palms where his nails had bitten into them. "Toss the ring over here and maybe I'll let the little snake go." Shane was a smart guy and he knew the chances of it being that easy were slim to none but he had no other choice did he? He couldn't just kill them all, could he? 'Do it! Kill them!'

Shane tossed the storage ring over and watched the leader catch and inspect it before he said. "Now let her go" The leader started roaring with laughter which was soon followed by the rest of the bandits in the surroundings until he put his hand up and the sword at Shane's neck was slowly brought down until it was digging into his collarbone.

Another wave of smoke washed over him and now, Shane's mind was spinning. Thoughts of destruction, death, and bloodlust churning around inside him like a hurricane. The only thing keeping him from acting upon them was the naive hope and the minuscule chance of getting Dusty out safe and sound.

The voice from behind again. "Now watch this boy"

Realization kicked in and Shane's eyes widened, his pupils shrinking to the size of pinpricks as he stood rooted to the ground. It happened almost in slow motion, the twist of the leaders' hips, a shrill cry from Dusty, a sickening crack, and then silence.

The bandits started laughing and jeering at him again and the sword resting on his collar was pressed further against his skin. Shane felt none of that, it was as if a bomb went off in his brain, the chains had broken, and only the hurricane of violent emotions remained.

'Nonononono. Dead, DeAd, DeAD, DEAD. DEAAAAAAAAAAD!' Eyes hollow and on the cusp of mental collapse, Shane felt the scorching heat of his intense rage, like liquid fire, it filled him completely.

The raging inferno spread throughout his chest with each powerful beat of his heart. *Badump* His armor changed into a rippling, liquid-Esque substance, as it undulated with every heartbeat and began to reform into something new. Something darker, sharper, and more sinister.

*BADump* Spikes formed on the shoulder plates, greaves, and gauntlets. *BADUMP* Horns formed on his headband as it became a visor covering the top of his face. *BADUUUMP* The liquid spread to his mouth and his teeth were coated, transforming into sharp fangs.

All of a sudden, like a vortex of colors, the world seemed to revolve back towards him and the sound came back to his ears. Shane's crimson eyes glowed the brightest they ever had and a ruthlessness that hadn't been there before, surfaced.

In that moment, Madness, Fury, Sadness, Despair, and All-encompassing RAGE, consumed him. Without warning, Shane's arm shot out, the armor around his fingers forming into claws as they buried themselves deep into Bao San's eye sockets.

The scum's sarcastic laughter immediately changed into a series of short screams as he desperately gripped at the serrated claws, lacerating his hand in the process.

The rest of the bandits went silent at the sickening display but Shane didn't stop there and the claws burst forth from the back of Bao San's skull, branched like a pair of gruesome antlers, and grew rapidly towards the men behind Bao San, impaling them all through the face as well.

Shane retracted the claws, bringing the bodies to himself before they were injected with his profound energy and turned into a blood mist.

The mist didn't dissipate and instead swirled around him, seemingly seeping into his pores as he began to move. A huge chunk of dark grey appeared in Shane's free hand. *BOOM* A flash of green and then a cloud of dust appeared almost 100m away as his Warhammer cleaved through a group of bandits' bodies like chopping wheat.

Another flash of green and another 4 bandits heads exploded into blood fountains, the cyclone of crimson around Shane growing with every kill. He roared out in rage and despair, launching his hammer forth towards another group of bandits.

It rocketed across the battlefield, directly towards one of the Spirit Profound leaders at a blistering speed, sonic booms left in its wake as it turned all in its path into mists of blood and chunks of meat. None were left with complete bodies, the dense smell of blood and desperate wails filled the air.

Not caring for the death of his comrades, the Spirit Profound Expert sneered, crossed his arms, and attempted to block it directly. *Boom Boom Boom Boom* His face quickly changed to one of disbelief as air canons materialized along the head of the spinning Warhammer further increasing its velocity.

The immense force and speed behind the weapon made contact with him and his defense lasted less than a millisecond before he let out an unwilling scream and completely exploded in a shower of blood and gore.

The Warhammer continued through a few more unlucky bandits, before contacting the ground with a huge shower of dirt, creating a deep trench, tens of meters in length

Shane flashed again and appeared in the middle of another group. Before they could even react, his claws had grown to an impressive length and he crossed his arms, directly slashing them all into two parts.

"Die!" A True Profound bandit managed to stab him with a sword in the midsection but he shrugged it off and giggled to himself as he willed the plate covering his back to grow outwards and pierce the bandit's neck.

He continued to sprint through the low-level bandits, his claws along with the wind imbued, blood cyclone, turning them into mincemeat and adding to its mass as he went. It didn't matter whether they were True Profound or Elementary Profound, the blood cyclone was deadly to anyone below Shane's cultivation at this point.

Throughout the bloody slaughter, Shane took a few more hits from some of the stronger bandits, though none of them fatal. His reckless fighting style and lack of care for defense, soon caused his body to be covered in wounds and blood from both himself and his enemies.

Devour must have activated at some point, siphoning off energy from the blood cyclone and although Shane wasn't in the right mind to notice, he was fast approaching the peak of True Profound.

This rather mindless and sacrificial way of fighting was definitely not sustainable, however, and it wasn't long before the many small wounds began to take their toll. The intense combat and repeated use of his profound energy also nearly had Shane exhausted. Still, he didn't stop, he couldn't stop.

Dusty was dead and it was his fault, if only he hadn't tried to reason with them from the start, if only he had been more vigilant, more ruthless. Regardless of everything else, Shane had already treated Dusty as his family.

These scum had killed his family, she was thousands of times better than them, not a single one would leave here today and Shane would make sure of it. He would definitely send them all to the underworld as revenge for her!

What were a bit of tiredness and some wounds? He was still alive, he could still go on! And so he shook his head and continued the massacre...

A few minutes later, just as he felt his reserves almost run completely dry, Shane looked around at the now silent forest 'When did we get into the forest?' and saw the two remaining Spirit Profound experts were the only ones left.

Shane Locked eyes with the leader, madness, and intense hatred battling for supremacy in his gaze as a beast-like snarl escaped his lips and he flashed forward again.

This time, however, the enemies were more competent. They could follow his movements and were ready and waiting for his approach. They were both Spirit Profound experts and although they were wary of Shane's strength, arrogance was still evident in their gazes.

Arrogance that would be their undoing...

The leader confronted him with a spear while the other split up and attempted to skirt around behind him with a pair of daggers. They made a huge mistake there, Shane's eyes shone with cruelty, not only for his enemies but also for himself.

With a single thought, the blood cyclone was pulled towards his open palm at a blistering pace and compressed into a swirling crimson ball the size of a marble.

Lips curled back into a feral grin, Shane tensed his legs, imbued them with the wind, and pounced. The leader was caught by surprise as his spear impaled Shane through the chest, just below the ribs. This didn't stop Shane however as the momentum carried him along the shaft of the spear and straight into the bosom of the scum.

They both fell to the floor and the shaft of the spear was pulled free from the man's grip, tearing the wound open further and splashing blood everywhere. Shane didn't care, he was like a man possessed as his claws pierced the leader's stomach and the bandit felt something pass onto his insides.

With a horrified look, the bandit leader desperately scrambled away from Shane, stood up, and screamed "What did you do to me!?" As the man raised his shirt and saw the skin of his torso undulating and bubbling, he only became more terrified of the answer.

Shane started with his own little chuckle that swiftly changed into a bout of deranged and sickly laughter as it echoed through the forest and sent chills down the men's spines, until it finally devolved into a hacking and bubbling cough. He spat a mouthful of blood and raised his middle finger as he whispered *boom*.

With a flash of crimson-red, a compressed ball, made up of the blood from nearly 80 men and enough wind profound energy to chop down a hundred trees, lost its shackles and unleashed itself on the insides of the bandit leader.

His body expanded unnaturally to thrice his normal size, but still, it held together as blood began to pour from the wound in his stomach, his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth like a faucet without end. After the initial explosion, The man was already deader than dead, but Shane took pleasure in watching it happen to the final moment anyway.

As the body of the leader collapsed onto the floor, Shane slumped back to the ground in exhaustion as the sorrow and regret started to roll back in. His body had no more profound energy and he was badly injured, his blood dying the ground red beneath him.

Shane's eyes fluttered open as the sound of shaky footsteps betrayed the wary approach of the last remaining bandit. The man looked horrified yet determined as he approached, daggers drawn.

In that moment, much of the calmness came back to Shane's mind and he cursed himself for his recklessness. 'What the fuck were you thinking, you idiot! This was all your fault. You let your emotions control you and now you're gonna die again.'

As Shane gazed unwaveringly in the face of his would-be executioner, his thoughts drifted to Qingyue, and he found that he was unwilling! 'Im sorry Qingyue, I wanted to meet with you and hold you for real but I guess some things are too good to be true. At least Dusty won't be lonely on her way Dusty... why can I still feel her connection?'

Shane found it harder and harder to keep his eyes open but as the bandit raised his dagger, he saw something incredulous appear silently behind the man.

He grabbed a handful of dirt from beneath him, stubbornly gathered the minuscule amount of Profound energy he had regenerated, and propelled the dirt towards the bandit's eyes.

The last thing Shane saw before he lost consciousness was the man covering his eyes while a gigantic, beautiful, emerald-green Draconic head, stealthily approached him from behind with its mouth wide open.

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A/N: So if you guys aren't aware, Webnovel has been 'shadowbanning' comments recently. This means that any comment that contains profanities in any form, will be automatically deleted.

So words like: Fuck, Shit, Bitch, Bastard, Cock, Bollocks are all nonos. Even words such as: Sex, Hell, and Damn are out too. Basically, if you want to comment using forms of those words, you will need to get creative.

Well, Enjoy the chapter...

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