Volume One: "The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change"
Arc: "The Devil Finally Leaves Earth"
Scarlet King, Lin Yuan, and Ikalat sat on the ground to refine and heal, polishing the primordial stones and mending the fractures and injuries in their bodies.
A different voice from before surfaced inside Scarlet King's head—still the same man, but this time he was flying low in the sky, circling the mountains near the earth. A green beam poured from his right hand as green cicadas swarmed around him. The same people stood in a circle, and a colossal sun hung behind his right hand. His clothes were torn, and his long black-and-white hair streamed through the air.
The vision hit Scarlet King like a hammer, nearly melting his mind, but a powerful dark energy surged from his consciousness and resisted those future memories. Then a voice sounded within him:
"[Information Deleted] I, the White Darkness, have awakened. The Black Darkness is still asleep."
Scarlet King kept cultivating, yet within his mind a gray image took shape—his spiritual body standing in a black void with no light, facing another body shaped like his, but white instead of gray. Beneath their feet lay clear water. The place was utterly silent and empty, like a space isolated from existence itself.
Scarlet King addressed the White Darkness.
"What is the reason for these images?"
The white spirit approached him, calm and unhurried.
"Because of the Arm of Eternal Time—or rather, the Arm of Spring and Autumn. It is responsible for these images from the distant future, carried through the River of Time."
Scarlet King rested a hand on his chin, staring into the void.
"Hah… the River of Time. I remember an ancient saying: the River of Time is the black void behind beings, the thing that grants a creature the power of life or death… What a beautiful saying—showing life and death together. And it's good, too, that I created you and the Black Darkness to preserve my memories, my awareness, and my mind from forgetfulness or madness—born from countless lives and pain."
He produced two books: The Scripture of Devouring Primordial Chaos and The Demonic Spacetime Codex.
"I assume you remember these two books, don't you, White Darkness? The first will let me absorb both qi and the energy of primordial chaos. It will make my techniques stronger, raise my power to a terrifying degree, and turn me into an infinite energy generator. But this book requires holy qi—not ordinary qi—so that I can absorb its knowledge and abilities."
He walked through the void as he spoke, voice even.
"As for the second book, it contains all the information of existence: powerful techniques, formations, weapons, inscriptions, the history of existence, beings, and concepts… all preserved within it. But it requires void-qi to use, so these books are currently useless."
He hid the two books again, then asked:
"But… where is the current location of the Arm of Eternal Time?"
The White Darkness answered with a single, icy word:
"In Hell."
Scarlet King didn't reply. He only gave the White Darkness a faint smile—then withdrew from his mind and returned to reality.
The White Darkness remained alone in the black void, gazing into the darkness beyond infinity.
"Will this life be different from the last? Will this devil finally find eternal rest… or will he remain trapped in an endless circle of life and death? No one knows—not even him, nor that higher existence. None of them know whether eternal rest truly exists, or whether it can be reached at all."
Scarlet King opened his eyes and found he had finished absorbing the two blue primordial stones. His level rose from the third to the fourth level of the Qi Gathering Realm.
He looked at Lin Yuan and Ikalat and saw them reading the books the Hybrid had delivered earlier: The Book of the Basic Dao's Arrival and The Book of the Origin of Existential Chaos.
Scarlet King reached out and took the two books from their hands. The pair shouted at once:
"Hey! What are you doing?!"
Scarlet King started tearing out several pages. Lin Yuan and Ikalat nearly went insane—those books were priceless. But then Scarlet King gathered the pages from The Book of the Basic Dao's Arrival and compressed them in his palm. The pages reshaped into a bamboo scroll containing the method to learn the technique. He did the same with the pages from The Book of the Origin of Existential Chaos, and another scroll formed.
"These scrolls are better than books. You learn the technique by meditating on them and absorbing it—then the scroll is destroyed. We don't want an enemy learning the technique."
Scarlet King glanced toward Yao Yan and Yu Ru Ming. Yao Yan sat behind Yu Ru Ming, who held a meditative posture, while Yao Yan poured energy into her from behind. Scarlet King asked Lin Yuan:
"What are they doing?"
Lin Yuan watched them as he answered:
"That darkness around Yu Ru Ming is actually a seal that was activated so no one can attack or kill her while she's weakened. Yao Yan is trying to break the seal now."
Scarlet King didn't respond. He simply tossed the scrolls straight into Ikalat and Lin Yuan's faces. Both of them yelled:
"Damn it! Why did you throw it in our faces?!!"
Scarlet King walked toward Yu Ru Ming and Yao Yan, voice flat.
"You're idiots. You have immense power and reflexes, yet you're screaming and getting hurt because of a scroll? Pathetic."
Lin Yuan and Ikalat looked at each other.
"Our dignity is officially gone."
"Seriously."