The Ancient God Emperor

The Ancient God Emperor is a long-running Eastern fantasy novel by the web author Shendao Gaoshou. It was serialized on Zhulang.com, QQ Reading, and other platforms between 2015 and 2016, running to 768 chapters and roughly 1.62 million Chinese characters; it is now complete. The story is set on the Shenzhou continent, where martial prowess is everything: the strong survive and the weak are eliminated. Liu Yu, a human youth, starts out with mediocre aptitude and is even dismissed as "trash" who can never break through his physique. Then a chance encounter with the inner core of a heaven-devouring beast awakens a rare devouring talent. From then on he can devour the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, spiritual herbs, and even the power of others, converting them into his own cultivation; his progress on the path of cultivation is astonishingly fast. Within his sect and beyond, Liu Yu faces competition, exclusion, and pursuit, starting as a martial apprentice and breaking through again and again on the strength of his devouring power and a technique called the Nine Revolutions Divine Demon Art. Along the way he fights vicious battles with disciples of the Hundred Poison Sect, competes for treasures in secret realms, and endures sect trials and many other life-and-death tests, while making companions and enemies. Built around the core premise that "devouring is growth," the story presents a clearly tiered world of martial cultivation and ends with the protagonist reaching the summit and becoming a peerless Divine Emperor. The pace is brisk, with an emphasis on the thrill of leveling up and hot-blooded combat; it is a typical long traditional fantasy novel for the male readership.