Chen Mo, a struggling writer who worked himself to death staying up late, opened his eyes as a walnut-sized baby Xuangui in a rain-lashed cave on Mount Fajiu in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
The tusks of the ferocious beast Dang Kang pressed against his shell, and the stench of death filled the air. All the resentment he had swallowed in his previous life, crushed by deadlines, readership statistics, and the grind of daily life, burst forth as he drove his frenzied beak into the beast’s nostril!
[Ding! Devoured Dang Kang essence and blood! Survival Evolution System activated!]
From then on, Xuanji (Guixu) embarked on a path to a throne of bones, devouring all things:
Swallow the Marsh Lizard and slip through the mud like a ghost!
Seize the Gudia and cleave the wind with speed that shakes the sky!
Devour the Ba Snake and summon strength to move mountains and shake the netherworld!
Take in Jingwei’s unyielding will to fill the sea, and tear apart a divine war chariot with claws!
Claim Zhulong’s power to turn night to day with a blink, and freeze mountains and rivers for thousands of miles with a breath!
Mount Fajiu, Kunlun Ruins, the Great Wilderness Marsh... Wherever he went, divine beasts lay low and ferocious beasts vanished! From a weak Xuangui with blood staining its dark shell to a world-ending Zhulong with nine heads raised to the heavens, he devoured not only flesh and essence, but the laws of heaven and earth!
When the blood of gods and demons stained the firmament red, and the bones of ancient giants paved the altar, Xuanji (Guixu) coiled upon the spine of the world, gazing down upon the Mountains and Seas he had devoured and remade.
The System’s cold prompt sounded once more:
“Ultimate evolution form unlocked. Devour the will of the world and become... Guixu itself?”
