Devouring the Heavens (ATG)

Chapter 4: Does this count as Reincarnation?

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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Silence, numbness and all-encompassing nothingness

Unseen by anyone or anything, a solitary ball of pure white ethereal flames drifts along in a vast, vacant space...

The only thing going through Shane's mind? right now is 'BULLSHIT!'

Death didn't feel like going to sleep, it didn't feel like the start of an eternal rest, it wasn't terrifying nor was it painful. He didn't visit the yellow springs and he certainly didn't find himself in front of some pearly gates. One second he existed in the dream with the girl and the next he was in this vast expanse of nothing?

He had no body, no sense of vision nor feeling he just was. He now existed in this void as a scattered amalgamation of memories and thoughts interconnected through a vast weave of invisible threads. It took some time but he found that he was able to 'pull' on these threads and experience his memories should he so choose it.

At the forefront were the memories of his last few weeks spent at home and of course the most recent meeting with Qingyue. He grabbed the memories of her like they were his lifeline as he desperately recalled them many times, focusing solely on her and ignoring everything else. Hoping against hope for her to show any reaction to his rather well-spoken 'if you ask him' last speech.

He was rewarded not much later when he managed to pull upon a seemingly half-decayed fragment of his last seconds and he saw her... holding his fading body close and...

'holy shit was she crying?! Uh oh now I actually feel bad huh my emotions seem to be returning, neat'

Shane's normal personality wasn't serious, sad, and somber but suffering for years and slowly dying kind of does that to a guy. Now that it was over with, a weight seemed to have been removed from his metaphorical chest and he felt freer than ever.

If he was anything more than a nebulous made from his own thoughts and memories right now, he would have nodded smugly to himself at being able to at least pull one emotion out of the Icy Qingyue... even if it wasn't the one he would have liked to have seen. 'There are definitely worse ways to go than in the arms of arguably one of the most beautiful woman in the Primal Chaos'

After experiencing more of his past memories, he noticed that a lot of them were either fuzzy or seemed to be 'crumbling' and he guessed that these were affected by time or were about things that he didn't really have an interest in. The only consistently clear memories were the ones of her and he grasped at the strings in an effort to pull them all closer to him and into whatever he now classified as.

As the memories came closer to the core of his being, he experienced them again and felt that with each one, his sense of self was growing stronger. This continued in a snowballing process as the more memories he relived, the faster he could draw the stray ones into himself until he felt 'whole' again well relatively speaking that is. And then he heard it

<"You have suffered my child">

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The air thrummed with an immeasurable and all-encompassing power as the very void itself bent to the voice's whims.

Everything that was Shane, froze in absolute trepidation at the voice and his thoughts became an incoherent jumble.

<"Calm yourself Shane">

The voice once again sounded out and Shane felt himself become tranquil as the pond in Qingyue's garden

<"Concentrate on yourself and find your center">

He looked inward and somehow managed to do exactly as the voice told him and with ten breaths of time, he had formed into a semblance of himself. Well, more exactly he was now a human (ish) shaped mass of ethereal white flames.

<"Good, now concentrate on maintaining that form while I explain what you need to know. Firstly, just who I am. My true name does not matter for your mortal mind would be unable to comprehend it and although I have been called many things, you may best recognize me as The Ancestral Goddess.">

Someway or somehow, Shane managed to form a coherent thought at that revelation 'Does she mean the Ancestral Goddess of ATG!? It was real! What about Qingyue?? Is she actually real too? What ab'

<"Calm yourself! I am not finished">

Once again Shane found himself awash with tranquility

<"*Sigh* Yes, what you are thinking is indeed the case, I am The Ancestral Goddess of the Primal Chaos and it does indeed exist. There is a reason for your ability to catch a glimpse of that universe and for that I must tell you the history of the Primal Chaos...

Millions of years ago, A great war occurred between the god and devil races, ending in the complete destruction of both. At one point during the war, the devils launched a crippling attack on the Dragon God Clan and the Well of Samsara that was protected by them. Thus the circle of reincarnation in that universe was irreparably damaged and although it has somewhat repaired itself by now, from time to time there are anomalies that slip through the 'cracks'.

Child, Your soul was one of the anomalies that managed to slip through the 'cracks', albeit not entirely. During your last reincarnation, your soul was somehow split into two. One half of it made its way to a new life within the Primal Chaos and the other half found its way to the planet known as Earth.

It pains me to say it but your incomplete soul has been the reason for your suffering. Your weak body and incurable illness were caused by the weak connection between body and a soul that did not belong. Through effectively existing in both universes at the same time, you were able to catch glimpses of the other side at the times when your connection to Earth was at its weakest and through it, you were able to make contact with one of that reality's linchpins.

The reason you would always forget these experiences, was because the Will of the Universe was automatically blocking a breach between the two worlds.

Evidently, your connection to the other side was so strong that even that could not block it completely. Truth be told, even I am surprised at the strength of the connection you managed to form in your last moments">

If Shane were able to muster up any semblance of self-control right now, he would probably be doing a very embarrassing and excited little dance. Mostly due to the fact that this sounded suspiciously like some spiel one would hear before being given a chance to reincarnate. 'Will I be able to go to some world with a cheat power and cultivate? Is this goddess here to reincarnate me and watch over me as I save the world!?'

<"Although primitive in their formation, your thoughts are mostly correct. I am not here to reincarnate you per se, I am here at the behest of Will of the Universe as one of its assistants, with the sole purpose of writing a wrong indirectly caused by me.

I created both the gods and devils in that world and so their wrongs became my own. I can no longer interfere with the Primal Chaos nor could I interfere with your life on Earth or I would have done so without hesitation.

I can however rejoin your soul together in that world along with some added compensation for each of your sufferings. These boons you will be receiving, are already predetermined and tailored to your personality by the Will of the Universe and neither you nor I have any choice in the matter.

You may find it hard to believe but after we part ways, there will be no more interference from myself and you are free to live your life however you please. If you have any questions, now is the time">

Shane had probably a million different questions running through his mind right now but as he started to form them he realized that only one of them was actually important and it unstoppably bubbled into the forefront of his thoughts 'Will I be able to meet her again?'

<"That will be up to you.">

Well, that was really all he needed, he wasn't really a tutorial kind of guy and liked to find things out on his own so he decided to just push all the uncertainty aside and let his excitement build as he managed to get his ethereal form to do a small bow 'I always wanted to imitate those cultivators without looking like a weirdo oh wait she can hear me, Shit!'

<*Giggle*>

Did his incessant ramblings just make a goddess laugh? 'Gonna take a while to get over that ' *Gohon gohon* clearing his metaphorical throat he projected his thoughts. 'I am ready'

<"Very well. Good luck on your way">

The majority of the immeasurable power the voice possessed when 'it?... No, when she first announced herself,' returned and the vast nothingness shook, thrummed, vibrated and finally began to contract at her whims.

Shane felt his consciousness compressed into an infinitesimally small point. Then came an absolutely MASSIVE pull on his very being after which he underwent a terrifying event that he could only feasibly describe as warp travel.

What he experienced was a situation where all the lights in his (somehow restored) vision gradually turned into straight lines as he felt a constant acceleration. Fortunately, this extremely nauseating episode ended as suddenly as it began, and then there was only darkness.

[Initializing system]

[1%.. 5%.. 10%.. 25%... 40%... 60%... 85%... 100% *Ding*]

'No way! Did the Ancestral goddess screw me over!? I really really really don't want one of those sentient Tsundere systems that are always giving out punishments! Dammit dammit dammit!'

[Answer: The system is not sentient and exists solely to provide the host with a smooth transition into his new body and powers]

'Oh so it's more like an information hub or a... tutorial*groans*'

[Answer: Correct]

'So how long do I need to stay here, in fact, where even am I?'

[Answer: Host is currently awaiting Profound Vein creation]

[Countdown initiated: 3. 2. 1]

'Wait a minute, isn't that supposed to be incredibly painf Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Wow, Jasmine really wasn't lying' What followed was an hour of the most mind-numbing and crippling pain that Shane had ever experienced.

By the time it was over, his mind was incredibly hazy and his thoughts were little more than a jumbled mess, in fact, he was pretty sure he mentally pissed himself at one point. Just as true unconsciousness was about to claim him, he saw a little window floating amidst the darkness.

[Profound Vein Creation successful]

<View Status>...

Shane awoke with a start but then he opened his eyes and looked at his surroundings in a daze he was inside what appeared to be a cave. 'So that was all real, and I died huh' He took a moment to offer up a small prayer to whoever may be listening for his family back on Earth to live a good life before he decided to scrutinize his new environment.

The cave he found himself in was around three meters tall, five wide, and maybe ten deep. The stone walls were smooth and dry and the cave itself was free of any debris apart from the pile of Profound beast hides he awoke upon.

When he looked up, he could see some luminous lichen growing around the level of the ceiling and all across it allowing his eyesight to adjust rather well to what was probably his new home for the foreseeable future. 'Maybe a little too well, I shouldn't be able to see so much in such dim lighting'

He raised his hand to brush a lock of hair out of his eyes which widened considerately at what they saw. He used, his? hand to brush against his naked torso and was shocked completely still. 'Okay ignoring the fact that I now have hair, When did the other me get this ripped? And what is with that bronze adonis looking skin color!?'

One hand sneakily, as if by a mind of its own, made its way down his nether regions, and after a quick searching squeeze, his eyes lit up! 'Ahahaha! My man, you do not disappoint!'

Then like a freight train, the memories hit him His head felt like someone was trying to fuse two water balloons together with a pneumatic press and both water balloons were him and the only possible way that things could go was the breaking of both and that's what happened. Both metaphorical balloons broke and after what seemed like an eternity (which he spent on the floor as a drooling mess), reformed into one larger balloon now containing everything inside it.

'So the other me, or should I just say me now? Well, he didn't really have it much better than Earth me' Shane 'or should he be called Shan Long now?' quickly scanned through seventeen years of his ATG counterpart's memories because truthfully there wasn't a lot to scan through.

From as far back as he could recall, Shan Long had lived in this cave and was taken care of by what he now recognized as a [Sky Profound] (or possibly greater) Panther type profound Beast. How did he know that? Well, the thing flew away when it left a couple of days ago.

It seemed that both bodies housing Shane's incomplete soul had suffered. Where Shane had a weak body and an incurable illness, Shan Long was mute and crippled not in the general sense but in the profound sense. His only saving grace was that his body was strong enough to fight against a [Third of Elementary Profound] beast and was somewhat fit enough to keep up with the Panther on treks through the forest in which they lived.

He had also gained a few other survival abilities over the years such as hunting, tracking (quite a useful one to have as he often went hunting with the Panther Beast), Fishing (with both a yarn and a harpoon), and hide treating. The Panther Beast also seemed to appreciate the fact that he had learned to cook their game and craft certain things for them like the blanket and bed made of profound beast hides and the peculiar clothing he was wearing.

Shan Long's "surrogate mother",

'Wow, let's just take a minute to appreciate how he actually felt about her'

must have felt some affinity for him when they met at a very young age or else he surely would have been eaten or killed by her a long time ago and she had meticulously taken care of and protected him until just a few days ago when she decided it was time to leave

"My child, This Queen has lingered here for long enough and now I must return. Be well and may your hunt be fortuitous." And then she just got up and flew away...

In Shane's opinion, it was a bit of a crappy goodbye but that didn't stop him from tearing up a little at the thought of it. 'Damn, so I really am both of them. Welp with the best points of both, we are sure to do well out here. Also, which name should I use?'

As he was about to get into that moral dilemma, he saw something flashing in the corner of his vision.

<Status>

[Name: Shan Long (Shane)]

'...Guess that settles it'