Perfect! Here's Chapter Two of Devourer of Roots: Rise Beyond the Heavens, continuing directly from the end of Chapter One and expanding the mystery and thrill. Since it's a slow-progression novel, this chapter will deepen Lin Xuan's understanding of the strange technique, while setting the stakes of the cultivation world. Let's dive in:
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Chapter Two: The First Root
Morning light filtered through the thin clouds over Dustwind Village, but Lin Xuan's hut remained dim. He sat cross-legged on a coarse mat of woven straw, drenched in sweat, heart pounding with anticipation.
The black spiral on his palm still pulsed faintly, as if alive.
The voice from last night hadn't spoken again. No dreams, no visions—just silence. But the mark remained. A reminder that something had changed within him.
He clenched his fist.
"I wasn't dreaming."
Suddenly, a pulse of information surged into his mind. Not words, not thoughts—intent. It flowed from the symbol on his palm and became clear in an instant.
Devourer of Roots.
That was the name of the technique. A forbidden path that allowed the user to seize the Heavenly Roots of others—absorb them, consume them, and refine their essence to strengthen their own crippled foundation.
Each Root taken would become his.
Each Level and Stage, his to claim.
But it came with a price.
Pain.
Isolation.
The wrath of heaven.
Lin Xuan trembled—not from fear, but from exhilaration.
He could rise. Even with a shattered root… he could still rise.
Just then, a sharp knock on the door broke his trance.
"Xuan! You there?" came a voice—rough and impatient. It was Elder Mu, the village's old cultivator who'd once served in a minor sect. The same man who had declared him crippled the day before.
Lin Xuan forced himself to breathe and stood, wiping his face. "Coming," he said.
The old man eyed him with a grim look. "Still training? For what, boy? You're wasting time. Might as well work the fields. Heaven's already decided your fate."
Lin Xuan smiled faintly. "Then I'll defy heaven."
Mu stared at him for a moment—then scoffed and walked away.
Lin Xuan didn't care. He already knew the truth.
He needed a Root.
A real one.
Someone in the village was bound to have one, even if it was weak—Level 1, Stage 1… enough to reach the fourth stage of Body Tempering Realm. Not much, but it would awaken his foundation.
That night, he returned to the hilltop alone, beneath a moonless sky.
There were no stars.
No wind.
Only silence.
He knelt, pressing his palm to the earth, and focused on the mark.
A diagram unfolded in his mind, lines of black light forming ancient sigils in the air before him. The technique was incomplete—fragmented—but one section burned brighter than the others:
First Phase: Extraction.
He didn't fully understand it, but he understood this: he needed to mark a target with the spiral. Once marked, the technique would slowly unravel their Heavenly Root. Once weakened, Lin Xuan could pull it into himself.
But there was more.
He couldn't just take it.
He had to defeat the target in combat. Fully overpower them, body and will.
Only then could he devour their Root.
It was a cruel method.
He didn't care.
"Who?" he whispered to the night. "Who will be the first?"
As if in answer, a flicker of movement caught his eye below the hill.
Three silhouettes walked into the clearing beneath.
Young men—familiar.
Cultivators-in-training from the nearby outer training post, sons of merchants or minor cultivators. Loud, cocky, careless.
He remembered one of them.
Wei Kang.
Level 1 Root, Stage 1.
He had bragged about it just days ago.
"He'll do."
Lin Xuan descended silently, slipping between the trees like a shadow. When he stepped into the clearing, the three boys froze.
"Well, well," Wei Kang sneered. "It's the cripple. Come to beg again?"
Lin Xuan said nothing.
Wei Kang laughed. "Still think you can cultivate? I'd rather beat that fantasy out of you now than listen to you whine all year."
The other two snickered, stepping to the sides.
Lin Xuan raised his hand, the spiral glowing faintly.
"I only need one of you."
"What?" Wei Kang scoffed, stepping forward. "You've lost your mind."
Then he lunged.
The world slowed.
Lin Xuan shifted sideways, barely dodging the fist, and slammed his palm into Wei Kang's chest. A ripple of dark light passed from his palm into the boy's body—unseen by anyone else.
The mark was planted.
Wei Kang staggered back, coughing.
"You—!"
Lin Xuan felt it instantly.
The Root.
He could feel it trembling within Wei Kang's body, unraveling like threads of silk.
The pain surged into Lin Xuan's body, his veins burning like fire, his blood twisting with strange currents. The mark flared—bright, hungry.
"W-What is this?!"
Wei Kang dropped to his knees, screaming. His friends backed away in horror, unable to understand what was happening.
And then—
It was done.
Lin Xuan gasped as a wave of warmth flooded his limbs, his bones creaking, his skin glowing faintly. His crippled Root twisted, reshaped, fused.
A Level 1, Stage 1 Root.
It wasn't powerful. It wasn't pure.
But it was his.
The first step.
His body trembled as the energy surged into him. He sat on the ground, cross-legged, and began to guide it through his meridians.
Qi gathered.
Blood boiled.
Muscles tightened.
Body Tempering Realm, First Stage.
Then—shockingly—
Peak of First Stage.
"What…?" Lin Xuan opened his eyes, stunned. That shouldn't be possible.
But it made sense.
His body, having no Root of its own, had absorbed the stolen one completely. No waste. No rejection.
He stood slowly.
Wei Kang lay unconscious, alive—but his cultivation was ruined. His Heavenly Root was gone.
The price had been paid.
Lin Xuan looked at his palm. The spiral was darker now, more complete.
He looked up at the sky and whispered:
"Thank you… for denying me everything."
A flicker of black light danced in his eyes.
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Would you like Chapter Three to explore how others start noticing changes in him—or how he goes about hunting stronger Roots while keeping his secret hidden? We can also introduce a mysterious enemy watching him in the background.