Chapter 11: The Corruption’s Embrace

I. The Weight of a God's Affection

Xiao Chen woke to small fingers prying open his eyelids.

"Daddy's awake!" Xiao'er chirped, its void-like eyes inches from his own, its breath smelling of copper and burnt sugar. The child sat cross-legged on his chest, its pale skin glowing faintly in the predawn gloom. Around them, the ruins of the Vermilion Bird Palace groaned like a living thing, the stones bleeding black ichor where Xiao'er had touched them.

Xiao Chen didn't move.

He had learned quickly that startling the Fiend God child resulted in casualties.

Just yesterday, a starving mutt had barked at Xiao'er—and exploded into a cloud of gore, its bones rearranged into a crude throne before the blood hit the ground.

"Daddy looks tired," Xiao'er observed, patting his cheek with a sticky hand. "Was Xiao'er bad?"

Xiao Chen counted to five before answering. "No."

The child beamed, its needle-teeth glinting. Then it gasped, scrambling off him to press its face against the tent flap. "Auntie Frost is coming! And she's angry!"

Sure enough, Leng Xueyi stormed in, her black-veined frost serpent hissing at her heels. The brand on her stomach—Xiao'er's 'gift'—had spread, crawling up her ribs like creeping vines. Her eyes, once sharp and cold, now swirled with abyssal flecks.

"We need to talk," she spat, yanking Xiao Chen upright. "Now."

II. The Fracturing Harem

Outside, the camp was divided.

Mei Ling crouched atop a pile of corpses, her venom-drenched fingers braiding a necklace from their tongues. She giggled when she saw Xiao Chen, her black-veined eyes crinkling.

"Morning, husband~!"

Princess Luo Ying leaned against a shattered pillar, her crimson phoenix preening its shadowy feathers. She didn't look at him, but her knuckles whitened around her dagger.

Shā was missing—but the fresh blood trail leading into the woods suggested she was hunting. Again.

And the high priestess Lian?

She knelt in the center of camp, her brand pulsing as she chanted to the dirt.

"They're losing themselves," Leng Xueyi hissed, dragging Xiao Chen behind a ruined wall. "Mei Ling skinned a messenger alive this morning. Luo Ying burned a village just to 'test' her new flames. And Lian?" She jerked her chin at the priestess. "She's talking to the ground, Xiao Chen. The ground."

Xiao Chen watched as Lian pressed her ear to the soil, her tears cutting black lines down her cheeks.

"The earth is singing," the priestess whispered. "It's singing his name."

Xiao Chen flexed his demon-arm, the obsidian claws glinting. "And you?"

Leng Xueyi bared her teeth—her canines too sharp now. "I dream of freezing the world solid," she admitted. "Every night, I see it, Xiao Chen. A perfect, dead waste. And I want it."

Silence.

Then—

"Daddy!" Xiao'er barreled into his legs, its tiny arms wrapping around his thigh. "Auntie Frost is scared," it whispered, wide-eyed. "But she doesn't need to be! We're family now!"

Leng Xueyi looked at the child—really looked—and Xiao Chen saw the moment she broke.

Her frost serpent struck, fangs aimed at Xiao'er's throat—

—and shattered into black ice.

Xiao'er pouted, rubbing its neck. "Mean Auntie."

Then it reached out—

—and Leng Xueyi screamed, her brand burning brighter as her veins turned black.

"Stop." Xiao Chen grabbed Xiao'er's wrist, his demon-arm flaring.

The child blinked up at him, its void-eyes shimmering. "But Daddy, I'm just helping."

Xiao Chen didn't let go. "No more helping."

For a terrifying second, the air vibrated—reality itself straining under Xiao'er's whimpering pout.

Then the child nodded, its lower lip trembling. "Okay, Daddy."

It skipped away, humming as it began drawing in the dirt with a severed finger.

Leng Xueyi collapsed against the wall, her breaths ragged. "We can't control it," she whispered.

Xiao Chen watched Xiao'er's drawing take shape—a perfect map of the continent, with tiny fire symbols where cities should be.

"No," he agreed. "But I can use it."

III. The Heavenly Demon's Price

That night, Xiao Chen returned to his inner space—and found the ruined temple in flames.

The Heavenly Demon lounged atop its bone throne, its blade-fingers dripping black blood.

"You're running out of time," it mused. "The child adores you—but even gods grow bored."

Xiao Chen crossed his arms. "What do you want?"

The Demon laughed, the sound echoing through the burning pillars. "More than you're willing to give. But soon? You'll beg me."

It snapped its fingers—

—and Xiao Chen woke screaming, his brand burning as visions of a shattered world flashed behind his eyes.

Xiao'er sat on his chest again, its tiny hands petting his hair.

"Daddy had a bad dream," it cooed. "But it's okay! Xiao'er will eat all the scary things!"

It licked his forehead, its **tongue leaving behind a black mark—another brand.

And Xiao Chen felt it—

—the Heavenly Demon's control, now 30%.

IV. The March of the Marked

By dawn, they moved.

Xiao'er skipped ahead, its humming turning the earth to black glass beneath its feet. Mei Ling danced in its wake, her venomous laughter poisoning the wind. Luo Ying's crimson phoenix scorched the sky, while Shā returned from the woods, her blade-fingers dripping with fresh blood.

And Leng Xueyi?

She walked beside Xiao Chen, her frost now so cold it burned.

"Where are we going?" she asked, her voice hollow.

Xiao Chen watched Xiao'er pluck a butterfly from the air—and twist it into a screaming human face before popping it into its mouth.

"To find more," he said.

More power. More control. More weapons.

Before the child grew bored.

Chapter 11 End