As the Demonic Lion moved forward, its claws gleaming with killing intent, little Shen Xuan's vision had already gone dark. His small, frail body—bleeding profusely, trembling under the storm—lay on the cold ground of the ravine.
The five-year-old boy had accepted death. Was this the end?
But just as his heartbeat was going to stop, an unfathomable pulse of energy erupted from deep within his chest.
BOOM!
The very air around him shattered. Within a radius of fifty kilometers, the laws of heaven and earth began to collapse. Time distorted, space fractured reality itself screamed.
The Demonic Lion froze mid-pounce, its single eye trembling. For a heartbeat, it could not comprehend what it was witnessing. Then
Two eyes slowly opened above Shen Xuan's small body.
One was a vast, endless blue, exuding an aura so profound it seemed to stretch beyond time itself. It carried the majesty of eternity, the weight of divine order.
The other was a burning red, its aura demonic and destructive, as if capable of erasing existence with a glance. It radiated pure annihilation, destruction.
The Demonic Lion never even had the chance to roar. In front of this incomprehensible force, its body shattered. Flesh, bones, blood, and even its very soul disintegrated into nothingness reduced to powder in an instant.
This beast, whose cultivation had already reached the peak of Qi Condensation, was utterly obliterated by the mere aura of the eyes. It wasn't a battle. It wasn't even resistance. It was simply erasure.
These were not the eyes of a child.
They were the remnant will of an existence that once shook the heavens themselves.
The Heavenly Emperor Shen Xuan.
When he had cast his soul into a hundred reincarnations, he had also split a 5% of his peak power, attaching fragments to each reincarnation. Enough to awaken only under mortal danger enough to protect his future self when death was inevitable.
And now, that power had triggered.
Even though it was just 0.1% of that 5%, yet its mere projection had annihilated not only the beast, but also the very laws of this world.
The eyes lingered for only a moment, their boundless light fading slowly, as if unwilling to leave. Then they dissolved into the void, leaving behind only the unconscious, blood-soaked body of the five-year-old child.
As the terrifying eyes slowly faded and closed, the world began to return to normal. The broken fragments of laws stitched together once more, and the collapsed fabric of time and space gradually returned to normal. But the echoes of that overwhelming aura still lingered in the air, leaving behind a suffocating silence that weighed on everything within fifty kilometers.
Far away, nearly seventy kilometers from the center, an old man trembled violently. He was a cultivator at the peak of Qi Condensation, and though the destructive might had not reached him fully, what he had witnessed from a distance would hunt his soul forever. Those terrifying divine eyes one burning with crimson demonic destruction, the other radiating eternal blue divinity were beyond his comprehension. Just a mere glance had made his heart pound like thunder, as if his very existence was being judged.
For a long moment, the old man froze, drenched in cold sweat. His instincts were telling him to run far, far away. But curiosity, or perhaps fate itself, urged him forward. With trembling steps, he advanced toward the source of the anomaly, each breath growing heavier as the remnants of that dreadful aura gnawed at his spirit.
Finally, he reached the place. His eyes widened in disbelief.
There, amidst a pool of blood, lay a small child no more than 5 years old. His tiny body was covered in wounds, his back torn open by claw marks, his clothes soaked crimson. And yet, he was still alive.
Inside a humble, dimly lit house on the edge of the forest, a faint herbal fragrance lingered in the air. In one of the small rooms, a middle-aged woman carefully tended to the injuries of a frail child. Her hands moved with gentleness as she pressed medicinal herbs against his torn back, wrapping the wounds with clean bandages. The boy's body was weak, pale, and drenched in blood—but his chest still rose and fell, proof that life stubbornly clung to him.
Standing nearby was the old man, Elder Du, his expression grave. He had carried the boy here the moment he found him. Even now, he couldn't shake off the memory of those eyes that had collapsed heaven and earth itself.
The woman finally sighed in relief. "Elder Du… I have done all I could. Truly, it is nothing short of a miracle that this child survived. In such a condition, no one should have had even the faintest chance of living." Her voice softened as she gazed at Shen Xuan's unconscious form, a mixture of pity and affection in her eyes.
Elder Du nodded slowly, his brows furrowed. "Even I cannot understand… how a mere child ended up there. When I reached that place, the aura… it was beyond anything I've ever felt. My only guess is that it was the aftermath of a battle between peak experts perhaps cultivators of the Origin Realm or even above."
At those words, the woman stiffened, shock flashing in her eyes. "Origin Realm cultivators? In this forest? But that's impossible! This is the Eastern Territory only low-level beasts roam here, most at Foundation Building at best. Powerful cultivators of that realm have no reason to appear in such a place…"
But Elder Du only shook his head slowly. "I do not know. I only know what I saw. And that memory will never fade." His eyes staring the unconcious boy, as though searching for answers hidden within his fragile body.
Then this women took her leave leaving behind only elder du and unconscious shen xuan.
The long, terrifying and unforgettable night finally passed, and dawn broke over the quiet forest. The faint chirping of birds mixed with the crisp morning air as Elder Du took his hunting spear and stepped into the woods. last night he was not able to hunt because of unexpected chaos. Now, with the boy safe at home, he thought a simple hunt would be enough to restore normalcy.
Hours later, Elder Du returned with a bundle of herbs and a few hunted beasts. But the moment he pushed open the creaking wooden door, his eyes widened in surprise. The frail boy whose life had hung by a thread was sitting upright on the bed. His small frame was still weak, his bandaged wounds seeping faint traces of blood, yet his eyes were open.
Elder Du set down his catch and approached with a gentle smile. "Little boy, you should rest. Only if you rest well will your body truly recover."
But Shen Xuan remained silent. His eyes were distant, unfocused, as though the old man's words were nothing more than echoes in the wind. He sat still, motionless, like a doll with no soul inside.
A trace of worry flashed in Elder Du's gaze. "Do you have parents? Where is your home?"
No answer. Not even a flicker of response. The child's small hands clutched the blanket tightly, his lips sealed shut.
Surprised and somewhat unsettled, Elder Du tried again, this time softening his voice even further. "Little one… tell me about your mother. Do you remember her?"
At that single word mother the boy's eyelashes trembled. His lips quivered, and suddenly his blank eyes filled with tears. The dam inside his heart finally broke.
Tears streamed down his cheeks as a cry burst from his mouth. "Mother… Mother…" His frail body shook as sobs wracked through him, his cries sharp with a grief far too heavy for a child his age.
Elder Du's chest tightened. He had expected fear, perhaps confusion, but this… this was heartbreak.
Standing by the bedside, the old man silently watched as Shen Xuan's tears soaked the pillow, his small voice repeating the same word over and over, each time laced with unbearable longing.
Elder Du thought that his parents were killed last night and this little boy watched his parents death with his own eyes that's why he is in trauma so he thought of adopting him as his grandson he was already old and he consider it as a fate that this boy met him so he will raise him up.