023 : The Devourer's War.

The battlefield was a storm of divine energy, a clash of celestial forces so immense that the sky itself warped and cracked under the pressure. Thousands of cultivators from the greatest sects in existence had gathered here, their combined strength enough to erase entire continents. Ancient treasures, sacred weapons, and forbidden techniques were unleashed in waves, filling the heavens with explosions of pure power.

The world itself seemed to tremble beneath their might. Mountains collapsed, rivers boiled into steam, and the very laws of nature bent as battle formations activated at full force. These cultivators, refined over centuries, their bodies tempered by countless battles, had stood at the pinnacle of the cultivation world for thousands of years.

And yet—

It was all meaningless.

Because standing at the center of it all was Lin Tian.

Unmoving. Untouched.

Not because he blocked their attacks.

Not because he dodged them.

But because he simply did not need to.

Every strike, every sword light, every celestial technique that surged toward him vanished the moment it touched his presence. It was not absorbed. It was not redirected.

It was simply erased.

The cultivators watched in horror as their strongest attacks, attacks that could obliterate mountains and cleave through the heavens, were reduced to nothing.

Lin Tian exhaled softly, his golden-black eyes calm as they swept over the gathered forces.

"You brought thousands of cultivators," he said, his voice carrying effortlessly through the battlefield. "You summoned your ancient weapons, your grand formations, your divine treasures."

He lifted a single hand, and in that instant, the very air stilled.

"Yet none of it matters."

His fingers closed into a fist.

And the Great Sect Alliance collapsed.

Hundreds of cultivators screamed as their qi was forcibly ripped from their bodies. Their cultivation, once a source of pride and strength, now betrayed them as it was devoured in an instant.

Elders who had spent centuries refining their power withered like dying candles. Sect leaders who had once stood at the peak of the world fell to their knees, clutching their chests in agony as their lifeforce was drained.

Lin Tian walked forward.

And with every step, the battlefield became a graveyard.

Among the chaos, the strongest figures of the Great Sect Alliance still remained.

They were the elders of the Celestial Dao Palace, the rulers of the Nine Heavens Pavilion, the supreme masters of the Storm Valley Sect—cultivators who had reached Divine Transformation, their bodies and souls refined beyond mortal limits.

They had once believed that nothing in this world could threaten them.

But as they stood before Lin Tian, watching their armies crumble into dust, they felt something they had not experienced in thousands of years.

Fear.

The Sect Master of the Celestial Dao Palace, a being who had surpassed countless tribulations, stepped forward. His face was calm, but his hand trembled.

"This is not cultivation," he said softly, his voice carrying a trace of disbelief. "This is… something else."

Lin Tian tilted his head slightly. "And what do you plan to do about it?"

The old man's expression hardened. "Kill you."

He raised his hands, and the air cracked open, revealing a golden divine formation.

It was not a technique.

It was not a spell.

It was the will of the heavens themselves.

The Divine Judgment Array.

A technique so ancient that it had not been used in over ten thousand years, sealed away because its activation required the combined strength of multiple Divine Transformation cultivators.

It was not an attack.

It was an absolute law.

The moment it activated, Lin Tian would be erased.

Not killed.

Not destroyed.

Erased from existence itself.

A dozen Divine Transformation elders formed the array, their bodies trembling as they channeled every last ounce of their power into the ritual.

The sky split open, revealing an abyss of pure, crushing nothingness. The laws of the world bent and twisted, and for the first time, Lin Tian felt the weight of something absolute.

Something even his power could not devour.

The Sect Master's voice rang out like a decree.

"Lin Tian, your existence ends here."

And then—

The heavens descended.

Lin Tian stood beneath the descending force of absolute erasure.

For the first time since his ascension, his body felt heavy.

This was not an attack that could be dodged.

It was not an energy that could be absorbed.

It was the collective will of the strongest beings in existence, their entire lives condensed into a single purpose—to eliminate him.

The air shook violently, and cracks of pure oblivion spread across Lin Tian's surroundings, threatening to consume everything.

For a moment, the Great Sect Alliance believed they had won.

But then—

Lin Tian smiled.

"You finally brought something interesting."

And in the next instant—

He raised his own hand.

A pulse of golden-black energy erupted from his core, clashing against the descending heavens. The force of the impact shattered the battlefield, tearing mountains from their roots and collapsing space itself.

The cultivators stumbled back, their eyes wide in horror.

Lin Tian was not just resisting the Divine Judgment Array.

He was rewriting it.

The very law of his erasure was being consumed.

The Sect Master's face twisted in shock. "Impossible!"

Lin Tian chuckled. "If the heavens want me gone…"

His golden-black aura burned brighter, a force beyond divine, beyond immortal, beyond heaven itself.

"Then they should have sent something stronger."

And with that—

He shattered the Divine Judgment Array.

The heavens collapsed.

The formation broke.

And the last hope of the Great Sect Alliance died.

The surviving Sect Masters staggered, their bodies weakened, their divine qi unstable.

Lin Tian stepped forward.

One by one, they tried to flee.

One by one, they were caught.

One by one—they were devoured.

The Sect Master of the Celestial Dao Palace, the strongest among them, the one who had ruled for ten thousand years, could do nothing as Lin Tian's fingers wrapped around his throat.

He struggled.

He fought.

And then—

He vanished.

His power, his soul, his very existence—became part of Lin Tian.

The battlefield was silent.

The war was over.

Lin Tian stood alone, his golden-black eyes gazing over the ruins of the Great Sect Alliance.

The strongest forces in the world had been wiped out.

And now—

There was no one left to stop him.

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