Volume One: "The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change, and the Heart of the Dead Devil Regrets Nothing"
A cold silence draped over the land like a heavy shroud, broken only by the chirping of night crickets. Lin Yuan and Ikalat wanted nothing but rest—yet Scarlet King had only one demand: Ikalat's primordial stones.
Moonlight spilled down from the cracked mountain, pale enough to outline their faces. Around them, green grass swayed in the wind, battle scars cut across the earth, and the remains of a village lay as dust and rubble.
Ikalat looked at Scarlet King and laughed arrogantly.
"Oh… I didn't expect you to know about primordial stones and spatial rings too. But why would I give you the stones? I'd be losing them for nothing."
Scarlet King stepped closer, calm as ice. Without a word, he signaled his shadow to slip behind Ikalat. Ikalat felt that freezing darkness at his back and stiffened for a heartbeat—until Scarlet King's voice sliced through his thoughts:
"I can drag you into the sealed shadow world with the golem commander and let you share his fate. What do you think?"
Ikalat recoiled immediately. He hurriedly pulled the stones from his spatial ring, speaking with nervous tension:
"Relax, man… I was joking. Take them all—just don't send me back to that commander."
Scarlet King took everything. There were twenty-two red primordial stones. He thought to himself:
(Idiot. He thinks the golem commander will still be alive after entering the sealed shadow world. Those shadows—countless, and beyond description—surely tore him into tiny pieces the moment he arrived. Still… these stones will be enough for the three of us to recover our energy.)
Scarlet King spoke again as he tossed five stones to Ikalat and five to Lin Yuan.
"These primordial stones are packed with qi. They'll help you restore your Yuan Qi reserves. Take them and absorb the qi."
Then Scarlet King's empty gaze returned to Ikalat.
"Alright. What's your story, Ikalat… you Chaos Being?"
Ikalat started explaining while slowly absorbing the stones.
"I'm one of the talented disciples in the Sect of Chaos Beings in the Ninth Dimension… but I caused trouble with the daughter of the eleventh elder. She accused me of harassing her, stealing the sect's property, and handing it over to the Celestial Beings Sect—our unnatural enemy. So I had to run… and I kept running until I ended up here. Everything they said is a lie. I'm innocent… or guilty. Doesn't matter. They want me dead or alive."
Scarlet King sat down and began absorbing stones too. He cut Ikalat off with cold indifference:
"I don't care whether you're innocent or guilty. I care whether you're useful to me."
Lin Yuan stood there like a statue, because he understood none of it. Finally, he spoke:
"…Dimensions, Chaos Beings, primordial stones, qi… what are these things? I don't understand what you're talking about, or how I'm supposed to use this!"
Scarlet King exhaled, fixed his cold gaze on Lin Yuan, and said:
"Qi is the fundamental energy of cultivation… or rather, life energy. Primordial stones are compressed qi. The amount and purity of qi depend on the color inside the stone. There are several colors: red, green, blue, purple, white, and black. Red is the lowest. White and black—in a yin-yang form—are the highest, best, and rarest. And the stones are divided into mortal stones found in the First through Sixth Dimensions, and immortal stones from the Seventh to the Eleventh. One immortal primordial stone is worth an entire hundred mines of mortal primordial stones."
Ikalat stepped forward and added:
"And existence is split into eleven worlds called Dimensions. The first six are mortal dimensions. The seventh and above are immortal. The classification is complicated… but you'll understand it as we advance through the dimensions."
Scarlet King addressed Lin Yuan again and gestured for him to follow. He sat in a meditative posture, held the first primordial stone in both hands, and said:
"Breathe. Calm down… and let the qi flow into your body quietly. If you're unstable inside, or if something blocks qi from entering your veins, something will go wrong… and the stone may explode."
As Scarlet King and Ikalat absorbed qi, Lin Yuan gripped his stone and tried to imitate them. He truly felt qi slipping into his veins—
But suddenly, the stone exploded in his face, knocking him back slightly.
Scarlet King and Ikalat opened their eyes at the unnatural blast—because the qi didn't disperse or distort…
It was pushed back into the stone.
That was not normal at all to two experienced cultivators.
Scarlet King moved instantly and placed his hand on Lin Yuan's head. Lin Yuan asked, confused:
"What are you doing…?"
Scarlet King examined his body and sensed something inside Lin Yuan's veins blocking the flow of qi. His voice stayed cold:
"There's a strange compound inside your veins preventing qi from moving through your body, Lin Yuan. And if I can't push qi into you, you won't be able to form an Essence Aperture for cultivation. But don't worry… I have another method: we'll need one million drops of blood, plus some snow, and some radioactive and heated metals."
Lin Yuan rubbed his stomach and replied:
"Alright… I think the superpower compound is what made me unable to cultivate. But what you asked for is easy, not hard."
Scarlet King looked at Ikalat. Then both of them looked at Lin Yuan and said at the same time:
"Prepare three times that amount… because we'll take the same compound you took, and we'll manipulate it to make us several times stronger."
Lin Yuan coughed and said:
"Um… sorry, but I can't provide that compound. But I can help you both steal it."