Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change
Arc: The Great Gang War
A small child sat beside his grandfather, who rested on a rocking chair.
The old man was frail and aged, clearly nearing the end of his life.
The night was thick as ink.
The village lay submerged in deep silence, broken only by the whispers of glowing insects.
The only lights piercing the darkness were fireflies, glowing yellow-green above the grass and mountains, accompanied by the sound of night crickets tearing through the stillness like ripped paper.
The child spoke with bright, childish excitement:
"Grandpa, Grandpa… tell me a legend from this world!!"
The wooden chair rocked slowly.
The grandfather placed his wrinkled hand on the child's head and gently patted it, letting out a soft chuckle.
"Hahaha… such a curious child. Very well. I will tell you the legend of darkness and light—the Spider."
The old man spoke with difficulty, coughing as he covered his mouth:
"Before time was born…
light and darkness battled endlessly within the void of nothingness."
"From their clash… the Dao was born—the embodiment of order.
And with the Dao came primordial chaos, the opposing force without which order cannot exist."
"From chaos's scream, music emerged…
wild, chaotic music echoing above the abyss formed by the collision of light, darkness, and chaos."
"When those energies collided… yin and yang were born.
And from their rotation… existence began."
"Existence was silent—
without time to measure it,
without space to contain it,
without reality to hold imagination,
and without imagination to hold consciousness…"
"And there, the clash between light and darkness ceased—
after darkness fell asleep, lulled by that chaotic music."
"…And when darkness slept, one of its eleven forms emerged—the Spider."
"The Spider that wove reality and imagination…
It began weaving time and space, both inside and outside existence,
intertwining reality and fantasy…"
"After a long time, light intervened and created the first beings by merging its power with that of darkness:
humans…
spiritual beasts…
and celestial beings."
[Elsewhere, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed through the forest.]
Scarlet King ran at full speed.
Behind him, his pursuers leapt between the trees, while the scent of wood and wet, muddy grass filled the air.
The little girl on his shoulders screamed and struck his back.
Scarlet King darted through the forest and slipped behind a massive tree.
The girl tried to scream again, but Scarlet King covered her mouth and whispered calmly into her ear:
"Shh… if they find us, we'll die. Stay quiet."
The girl slowly calmed down until she fell silent, though her body trembled violently.
Nearby, the pursuers searched through the trees, speaking among themselves:
"I don't sense any movement… looks like he stopped here."
A branch snapped nearby.
Scarlet King turned—
and found one of the pursuers standing directly in front of him.
Both froze in shock.
In an instant, Scarlet King drew the dual dagger of Ming Hao.
At the same time, the red-haired, pale-skinned pursuer shouted:
"He's here—!"
The dagger flashed.
The scream was cut off halfway.
Something warm splattered across the leaves.
Scarlet King severed the man's head.
Blood sprayed like a waterfall.
When the little girl saw the scene, horror overtook her—she turned away and began vomiting from the sheer brutality.
Immediately, Scarlet King carved out part of the tree, hid the corpse inside, then activated his shapeshifting ability—taking on the dead man's appearance.
A massive man arrived, followed by many others.
The burly man stared intently at the disguised Scarlet King and demanded:
"Why did you scream?"
Scarlet King replied in the same frightened tone the man had before his death:
"I saw Gu Yue heading that way."
The massive man kicked Scarlet King hard, slamming him against the tree hiding the corpse, and roared furiously:
"Why didn't you chase him?!"
Hidden behind the tree, the little girl remained silent.
She heard another kick strike Scarlet King's stomach.
His internal organs were crushed. He vomited blood and collapsed to his knees, speaking in the dead man's weak voice:
"I saw how he hit you and shattered you into that tree…
If I had chased him alone, I'd be dead now."
The man spat on Scarlet King, then turned to his group and roared, his voice shaking the forest:
"Move! Let's catch him!"
The men rushed off, leaving Scarlet King kneeling in the mud.
After they had gone far in the direction he had pointed, the little girl emerged, knelt beside him, and asked nervously—fear and curiosity mixing in her voice:
"Are you okay?!"
Scarlet King gently patted her head and asked softly:
"Do you have a master?
You have great talent… so I want to become your master."
Then Scarlet King lost consciousness
and collapsed face-first into the muddy ground.