Devouring the Heavens (ATG)

A/N: So, in the vote, short and frequent chapters won by a country mile and from next week, the schedule will change to four 2-2.5k chapters a week.

Release days will probably be: Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday at 17:00 (GMT + 1).

Or if you go by Webnovel timezone: Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday at 00:00.

Some days my motivation is higher than others and I can breeze through a couple thousand words no problem. So, if I manage to write more than four chapters in a week, I will release more, simple as that.

I must admit, all of your comments, likes, reviews and stones are much more effective motivation for writing than I originally thought they would be so thank you for that.

I had actually run out of chapters for this week, after editing and posting my last 5 long ones but since we finally hit 1million views, I will release the first two shorter chapters, today and tomorrow, as a bonus thank you to all my readers!

Enjoy the Chapter. (Bonus 1/2)

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For the past month, Shane had been preparing to reforge his weapon. By now, he had likely collected every single forging technique and manual within the city that wasn't a secret art.

He had refined them together, keeping only the best parts of each one and from them, he had created what he could only call a masterpiece. The technique required him to use a forge for now, as he had no control over the fire element yet, but that was as close as it came to a traditional way of forging.

The essence of the technique was for him to apply heat, and pressure to the central piece until it had melted completely. He would then add other materials and temper them into that central piece using a combination of his newly created forging art, his profound energy, and his Will.

The Will would help to form the shape of the weapon during the whole process and in theory, help to imbue it with a concept. Shane was going to try and turn his Warhammer into a living weapon that could grow alongside him by absorbing materials and hopefully change size.

He wanted it to be able to change form as well, but he had a sneaking suspicion that his forging method wasn't perfected enough nor was his Will strong enough, to imbue or enforce any more than a single overarching concept.

Shane had a big hunch that his Will was not only dependant on his determination but was also related in some way to the strength of his soul. He really didn't want to push his Will too far out of the comfort zone, only to end up with soul cancer or something.

No, best not to be too greedy. Plus, he liked the Warhammer, why care about swords and spears when you can swing a Warhammer around like one?

The next part of Shane's plan was to use an incredibly strong catalyst to improve the chances of forging success. Now, you may ask, where would he find such a catalyst around Floating Cloud city?

Well, that would be the reason why Shane and Qingyue were currently walking hand in hand across the eastern hills. Long gone were the boring white robes and she was again wearing her favourite dress, the Hanfu that Shane bought her.

Glancing down at the flowing sleeves and elegant form of the Hanfu, wrapped around her devilish body, Shane was once again captivated. Although she was without a doubt beautiful, he frowned a little, the dress was the only one she owned that wasn't boring plain robes.

It was at that moment, Shane decided to make an extremely huge and quite possibly painful sacrifice for his little wife. 'I will take her to the tailor and get some more clothes for her when we arrive in the next town.'

Qingyue, unaware of Shane's impending sacrifice, had a joyous smile on her face and swung his arm happily as they casually walked along the rolling grassy hills.

Time passed by as they enjoyed some idle chatter and each others company, no true destination in mind but there was an objective...

Although he looked relaxed while laughing and playing with Qingyue's soft little fingers, Shane's profound senses were actually extended to the maximum.

The hundreds of meters around him constantly being scanned for any high or abnormal energy signatures. Every so often, he would even send a pulse of energy through the Earth beneath them that acted like a sonar.

Qingyue, being the monstrous cultivation genius with acute senses that she was, picked up on the fact that he was searching for something, fairly early on. She asked a few times what they were looking for but he just smiled and told her it was a surprise.

Even though there were things to be done, Shane was in no rush and he idly pulled Qingyue across the beautiful countryside while enjoying himself immensely. What use was cultivating and struggling for strength and power if one couldn't enjoy moments like these?

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The two Xiao kiddos and Coral were setting up a forge in the back mountains according to the blueprints that Shane left for them. Dusty was also around 200m away, using her own sharp senses to comb the landscape for any abnormalities.

That meant that for the first time in a long while, they were truly alone. Shane wasn't just out here to search for treasure. Oh no, He wanted to have a romantic picnic with his little wife.

He had gotten up very early this morning, planning and preparing food with the help of Qingyue's dutiful maid.

Thinking about that girl, Shane actually felt a little jealous of his wife. Dongling was pretty much the perfect maid. Sure, she might have called him 'young master' once or twice, but he was almost over that by now and everything else she did was absolutely outstanding.

'Grayfia Lucifuge eat your goddamn heart out! Hmm, maybe I should give her some pills too. Then she could follow us wherever we went. God knows I never want to wash sheets again.'

He was brought out of his thoughts by a sharp tug on his hand and turned his head only to see Qingyue's puffed-up cheeks. He had obviously missed what she said just now, but that was irrelevant compared to the expression she was showing him... it was just so Moe.

In the end, Qingyue pouting was just too Goddam cute to resist! So, without any remorse, Shane poked her puffed up cheeks and kissed them both before hugging her into his chest and spinning her around in contentment.

"What were you thinking about?" She asked curiously when he finally put her down.

"Hmm, just Dongling." He replied casually without thinking much of it.

Qingyue's eyes narrowed and Shane sensed a rather dangerous aura beginning to emanate from her, so he quickly put his hands on her face and clarified. "I was thinking how I never wanted to wash sheets again. Dongling is the perfect maid and I was thinking whether I should give her some pills so that she can follow us in the future."

He swept her up into his arms again and held her tight. "What do you think my dear? I'll leave it up to you to decide."

*Pffft* Qingyue giggled and said "You just don't want to ask her in case she calls you 'Young Master' again~"

Shane's face turned sour at that and he returned a pout of his own, which only caused her to laugh at him even harder. He grinned at her happy face and planted a few kisses on her cheeks.

Then, he actually took a second to think about it... He was just considering training up a maid so that she could follow him wherever and serve him… *Gasp* "Qingyue… I-I'm not a 'Young Master' am I?"

Qingyue held up a hand to her mouth in mock surprise and stared at him seriously for a few seconds before she nodded a little. Shane narrowed his eyes. 'She is getting better.'

She wasn't able to lie but they had found a way around that, and she was able to be untruthful when teasing others as long as she had no malicious intent. Others, meaning Shane and Lingxi... well mostly Lingxi of course.

A soft blanket appeared out of nowhere and Shane dragged her down onto it with him while his hands moved to her sides and began to tickle her. "Well, I guess this Young Master will have to punish his disobedient wife!"

Qingyue laughed and struggled until she was out of breath but would Shane let her soft body go? Of course not! For minutes, his fingers danced along her body while he planted kisses along her neck until her face was flushed, her breathing short and she finally couldn't handle it anymore

"N-no more Husband, please." In the end, she had to beg him in a sweet voice, even calling him husband and so he pulled her into his lap and ran his fingers through her hair while feeling very smug.

Qingyue leaned her head back and looped her arms around behind his neck, pulling him down for a heated kiss while she started twisting her hips and grinding her butt around in his lap. 'This little succubus!' Shane pulled away before things could go any further and bopped her on the nose

"Now now my Young Miss, will you behave! It's time to eat and you are not on the menu." Qingyue blushed. She didn't exactly start this, but her shameless husband, who had been teasing her for many minutes had actually called her out on it as if she were the pervert!

"Hmph!" She turned her head to the side. Shane just chuckled and waved his hand as all manner of things appeared around them on the blanket. There were little sandwiches, snacks, grilled meats, rice, salads and sliced fruits, along with a chilled bottle of fruit wine.

"In my old world, this was called a picnic and it's something lovers might do together for a date." 'Well old fashioned ones anyway, she doesn't need to know that, however.'

Qingyue immediately turned her head back and her eyes lit up at all of the enticing smells and colourful looking food but cutely scrunched up her nose in confusion at the unfamiliar word. "What's a date?"

"Oh, man. Ummm, well a date is when two people who share romantic feelings for each other go out and enjoy themselves together. It deepens their bonds and strengthens their relationship." He explained while feeding her a little finger sandwich.

Of course, she sucked all of the 'crumbs' off his finger in a totally 'innocent' way and for a much longer time than required. Shane attempted a deadpan while feeling just a slight amount of self-loathing at his swiftly rising excitement. 'Sigh… Where did she even learn that?'

Recently, Shane would catch Qingyue reading suspicious books about things like relationships, how to please your husband and how to be a good wife etc when she thought he wasn't looking. Each time it was a different book as well!

He had absolutely no idea where she kept getting them from but he couldn't deny benefiting directly from what she had read on more than one occasion.

His money for the source was on Lingxi, she may look innocent and blush a lot, but that girl was a closet pervert. Qingyue told him that Lingxi had, without a doubt, started sneaking inside Xiao Che's bedroom at night and each time she was wearing an increasingly thin negligee.

Apparently, she's a real hugger as well and when poor little Che woke up on the first morning with her attached to his body like an octopus, he almost had an actual heart attack. The full might of the Demon General came out that day and Lingxi had never worked so hard in all her small life.

Imagine it! All that hard work Shane put in and Xiao Che still almost directly became Yun Che!

Qingyue turned towards him with a slice of his favourite forest peach held between her teeth. She obviously knew it was his favourite and he was therefore even more likely to take her invitation, not that he needed any persuasion in the first place.

Shane leaned forward and captured half of the slice between his own teeth, although instead of pulling back, he clamped his lips over her bottom one roughly rubbing and sucking on it, occasionally pulling back.

Qingyue went limp in his arms and her own lips parted, a hot sigh escaping them. He chose that moment to slip his tongue into her mouth, easily subduing her own, drawing it into a dance and mixing the peach flavours between them in a domineering and heated kiss.

Shane pulled back and hummed at Qingyue's dazed look. "Got more than you bargained for there, didn't you, my dear wife~"

They continued to play around, acting all lovey-dovey and feeding each other food and wine for a while longer until Shane felt a little tug on his bond with Dusty.

This was closely followed by a large amount of pride and satisfaction flowing over the bond and emanating from her, he could almost hear her saying 'Praise me! Praise me!'

He gave her the okay to return and when she came back, both he and Qingyue spoiled her rotten and fed her lots of the delicious foods. By the end of it, the adorable snek looked like she was having a better day than even the two lovebirds!

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After resting and enjoying each other's company for another half an hour, the trio rose up from the blanket and Shane stored everything away.

It was time to dig up some crystals ...and avoid the massacre of hundreds of millions of Blue Wind citizens... 'Oops. Forgot about that lol.'

As they approached the location of the Crystals, Shane's excitement was building up to a crescendo. Not only would these crystals be incredibly helpful for increasing cultivation, but he would also have enough for Jasmine to reform her body right off the bat, earning those early brownie points in the process.

She needed 35kg of the stuff and if he remembered correctly, there should be 50kg in just this one spot...

Upon reaching the area discovered by Dusty, Shane let out a low whistle. "Wow, that's a rather sobering sight."

In front of them and in between two hills, there was a large area of ground that was scorched completely black. For dozens of meters in every direction, the surface had completely changed into a lifeless zone.

Whatever material the soil had now become, absorbed all the surrounding light, looking just like volcanic glass. The area even felt much colder than the time of day would suggest, as if the heat in the vicinity was also being absorbed.

That wasn't the most distinctive feature, however, as the Obsidian-like surface was covered in radial, spider web cracks with the impact zone at the centre being sunken below ground level by around half a meter.

Shane remembered from the wiki that this was where Xiao Lies' wife had been struck by a strange black lightning bolt. This once again reminded him that he was in a real-world, as the novel did this solemn sight no justice whatsoever.

Stepping forward, still hand in hand with Qingyue, he began sending pulses through the earth to locate the crystal deposit and it wasn't long before he sensed it. Smiling in satisfaction, he started moulding some Earth Energy together into a rope of sorts.

Qingyue, who had scrunched up her nose, trying to understand the peculiar energy signature, she could sense from the area, caught Shane grinning like an idiot and her earlier curiosity returned. "Are you going to tell me why we are here now?"

Deciding that it didn't matter anymore, Shane told her about the deposit of Purple Veined Divine crystals underneath them and her little mouth flew wide open. She may have been a sheltered girl until relatively recently, but even she knew the value of such things.

"Shane! You can never tell anyone about this! Even if you join Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace, You must never mention it to them!" Qingyue's grip on his hand tightened considerably and she couldn't help but call out in fear.

Despite the seriousness of the situation and the concern evident in her tone, her words still managed to warm his heart. She thought not of the value of the crystals to herself or her sect but cared only for the harm it could bring him should they find out.

It needs to be known what kind of heaven-defying concept 50kg of Purple Veined Divine Crystals is. That amount could allow a small sect like Frozen Cloud to rise in power, and given enough time, easily contend with one of the Sacred Grounds.

That was without mentioning the absolute benefits one could attain to their personal cultivation through absorbing the energy of the crystals. It would seem that his importance in Qingyue's heart had already far surpassed her Master and her sect.

Shane rubbed her hand soothingly. "Mhmm, I know its value. Don't worry, it will stay inside my storage space until I use it. Okay, stand back, I will get it out now..."

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A/N: *Sigh* So, I guess when I tried to do a short chapter it came out at nearly 3k...

Hear ye, hear ye! Beware of shadowbans! If you wish to curse me, get creative punks!