The forest gave way to a hidden ravine.
Moonlight barely reached here; thick vines draped over sheer stone walls like curtains, forming a natural cavern open to the sky only through a narrow slit far above. A small spring bubbled in the center, its water faintly glowing with residual spiritual energy. The air was cool, damp, and quiet—perfect isolation.
Xiao Lin stopped at the edge of the spring.
"This will do," he said.
Yue Ning looked around, then back at him. Her silver hair caught the faint glow from the water, making her look almost ethereal.
She was still only nine, small and delicate, but the Spatial Void Crystal had already changed her. Her skin held a subtle luminescence, and when she moved, the space around her seemed to bend ever so slightly—like reality itself yielded to her presence.
Xiao Lin sat cross-legged on a flat stone beside the spring.
He closed his eyes for a moment, listening to the void inside him.
It whispered—no, urged.
«The First Layer awaits. Union completes the key. Spatial Devouring awakens. Refusal risks instability in both physiques.»
He opened his eyes.
Yue Ning stood before him, hands clasped in front of her torn dress.
"Are you… ready?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
Xiao Lin looked at her—really looked.
Not as a tool, not as a requirement.
As the first being in this life who had chosen to stand beside him instead of running.
"I am," he said. "But only if you are."
Yue Ning bit her lower lip.
"I've been hunted since I was six. Used as bait, as a prize, as a furnace. No one ever asked me what I wanted."
She took one step closer.
"I want this. I want to be strong. I want to never run again. And I want… to be yours."
Xiao Lin stood.
He was taller now—his body had matured slightly with each absorption, looking closer to ten despite being six in years. Still a child, but no longer fragile.
He reached out.
His small hand brushed her cheek—gentle, almost reverent.
"Then we begin."
Yue Ning closed her eyes.
The black thread on her wrist flared to life, glowing with violet-black light. It extended, wrapping around both their arms, connecting them like living chains.
Xiao Lin placed both hands on her shoulders.
She placed hers on his chest—over where the void spun silently.
They sat together on the stone, facing each other.
No words were needed.
The void took over.
A surge of cold, endless energy flowed between them—his devouring essence meeting her spatial void physique.
It wasn't pain.
It was completion.
Yue Ning gasped softly as layers of her meridians opened wider than ever before. Spatial laws—fragmentary, instinctive—began to crystallize inside her dantian.
Xiao Lin felt it too.
The First Layer of the Void unfolded.
Space itself became something he could taste, touch, devour.
He could feel the distance between objects, the folds in reality, the hidden pockets where things could be hidden—or consumed.
Their auras merged.
Violet light and absolute black intertwined, spiraling upward until they touched the slit of sky above.
For a single moment, the ravine seemed to vanish—replaced by an endless starry void.
Then it snapped back.
Both children slumped forward slightly, breathing hard.
The connection remained.
The black thread on Yue Ning's wrist had turned permanent—now a faint, elegant tattoo of swirling void runes.
Xiao Lin opened his eyes first.
They were no longer pure black.
Tiny violet flecks danced within them—like stars trapped in an abyss.
He looked at Yue Ning.
She opened her eyes—violet brighter, deeper, almost glowing.
She smiled—small, genuine, the first real one he had seen from her.
"I can feel you," she whispered. "Inside me. Always."
Xiao Lin nodded.
"And I you."
He raised his right hand.
Space rippled before his palm.
A small tear appeared—barely the size of a coin—leading to nothingness.
He reached through it.
His hand emerged from behind Yue Ning's head, gently touching her silver hair.
She laughed—soft, surprised.
"Spatial Devouring," she breathed. "You can devour space itself now."
Xiao Lin closed the tear.
"Not just devour," he said. "Control."
He stood.
Yue Ning rose with him.
The spring water rippled as if responding to their new power.
In the distance—beyond the ravine walls—faint lights flickered again.
More pursuers.
Stronger this time.
Xiao Lin turned toward the sound.
His voice was calm.
"They're coming."
Yue Ning stepped beside him, hand slipping into his.
"Let them."
She squeezed once.
"Together."
Xiao Lin looked down at their joined hands.
For the first time since the village burned, something almost like warmth flickered in his chest—not emotion exactly, but certainty.
He nodded.
"Together."
They stepped out of the ravine side by side.
The moon above had turned blood-red—perhaps a sign, perhaps coincidence.
Ahead lay the first true test of the Void Sovereign and his first destined wife.
The hunt had reversed.
Now the prey would become the predator.
**End of Chapter 5**