Volume One: "The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change, and the Heart of the Dead Devil Regrets Nothing"
The trio entered a room on the left and sat on purple metal platforms. Four large iron injections were driven into each of their backs with force. Blood pumped into their bodies, and the sediment inside their veins started dissolving.
Workers took primordial stones—collected from the battle against the golems—smashed them with hammers, and the qi burst out in huge amounts, flooding the air so their bodies could absorb it. The three kept their eyes shut. Lin Yuan ground his teeth and clenched his fists through severe pain. Ikalat struggled to breathe, sweating heavily. Scarlet King, however, remained cold as glass in both face and breath, stretching slightly as the blood surged through him. After half an hour, every impurity in their veins had vanished.
The injections were pulled out. A strong, intense energy burst from Lin Yuan. Ikalat, still sweating, looked at him with excitement, while Scarlet King's expression stayed dead and calm as he said:
"Hah. Lin Yuan broke through to the Qi Gathering Realm—Level Two. This is very… very good."
Lin Yuan's breakthrough to the second level of the Qi Gathering Realm was beyond excellent. If they faced an adult first-level beast after leaving Earth, they would be able to handle it well with Lin Yuan.
The trio stood and entered the elevator. Scarlet King said:
"Fifth floor."
The elevator rose and stopped at the fifth floor. They stepped out into the wooden house, and fog gathered around them, transporting them to another small, ruined, abandoned wooden house that belonged to Scarlet King. In the middle of the house was a red hexagram symbol. Scarlet King spoke, his expression still dead:
"This is the gate to the Sealed World. Good—because I've been collecting what's needed to open it: a Yin-Yang stone, black snow soil, and very pure blood."
Scarlet King was a Great Expert—tenth level—in creating and dismantling arrays, so he recognized it immediately as a space-time transfer gate.
He cut his finger, placed a drop of blood in the center of the circle, added the rest of the materials… and nothing happened. Lin Yuan asked:
"Is there a mistake?"
Suddenly, the gate opened and violently pulled all three into a black hole. Inside was a powerful space-time tunnel dragging them forward, blue and purple colors swirling around them. Lin Yuan and Ikalat screamed, but Scarlet King stayed calm—he knew this kind of array, and the transfer was perfectly safe.
A moment later, they arrived in the Sealed World and fell on top of each other. It was the same house, but darker, with a more yellow, aged tone.
Lin Yuan was on top of Ikalat, and Ikalat was on top of Scarlet King. The hooks on Scarlet King's back moved and hurled the two of them into the wall with force. Scarlet King straightened his clothes, brushed off the dust, and said coldly:
"Two idiots. Don't you know the cost of making these clothes is worth more than your entire bloodline's existence?"
Ikalat fired twelve lasers from the eyes in his chest at Scarlet King, but they didn't affect him at all—his body had grown stronger after the fusion. Scarlet King replied with complete coldness:
"Is that all? Hah, fine. Come. Let's explore the place. I don't have time to play with a child like you."
Ikalat moved at insane speed, far beyond the speed of light, and struck Scarlet King's chest—yet Scarlet King didn't budge. Ikalat was the one injured by the overwhelming physical power of Scarlet King's body. Scarlet King raised his fist and hit Ikalat, smashing him through the wall and sending him crashing away, destroying four mountains in his path. The air filled with dust, rocks, and choking gas.
But Ikalat emerged with only minor injuries from a blow that had destroyed four mountains. He spat out the blood pooling in his mouth, smiled madly, and shot forward to continue the fight. Before Ikalat could collide with Scarlet King, his attack was stopped—his hand was seized, and he was halted, even though he had been moving at a speed fifty thousand times faster than light. Lin Yuan stopped him with ease.
Lin Yuan spoke with clear anger:
"We're here to explore the Sealed World, not to fight—Ikalat, Scarlet King."
Scarlet King shrugged with icy indifference, taking in the world: stone pillars piercing the sky above clouds that covered everything; thick, wide fog; the faint sounds of singing and drums; and green and yellow hues spreading through the land. Meanwhile, Lin Yuan and Ikalat argued as Scarlet King thought to himself:
"You ruined the fight!!"
"We are here to explore, not to fight, Ikalat!!"
"Shut up—exploration is more important than fighting!!"
(I'm stuck with two children… but… what is this damn place? It feels familiar to me.)
Then Scarlet King noticed movement inside the fog—many movements, as if more than one thing was there. He lowered his voice and pointed toward it:
"Shut up, you two idiots. There's movement here!"
A sickle on a chain shot out of the fog and tried to grab Scarlet King, but he seized the sickle and yanked the creature out. It was a spiritual-bodied being: a skeleton wrapped in a gelatinous mass, its skull releasing green fire. Scarlet King froze in shock, and he and Ikalat shouted at the same time:
"Hell Scythe Spirits?!!"