Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change
Arc: The Great Gang War
Scarlet King's clothes dissolved like mist, revealing his strange and distinctive form.
He sat in a cultivation posture, a faint black-violet aura radiating from his body and enveloping him. His hands rested upon his knees as he descended into thought, an inner dialogue forming within his mind:
(Everything begins at the first layer of cultivation—forming the Core Aperture, the fundamental center of cultivation… and gaining the Dao's acknowledgment to establish the Dantian.
The Dantian is the Dao's recognition of your right to cultivate and persevere against the current, but it is not the true center of cultivation.)
Inside Scarlet King's body, a red sea churned violently, contained within a perfectly transparent spherical shell.
(The Core Aperture is the essence of cultivation—the essence of heaven and earth in holographic cultivation. It is the center of qi circulation. Qi flows through the meridians into the crimson sea, then returns once more through the meridians in an endless cycle.)
His body trembled as the aura around him thickened and intensified.
Torn skin sealed shut.
Blood coagulated.
Flesh regenerated.
Sweat poured from his brow.
(After breaking through the layers of cultivation and reaching the Path Initiation Realm, one is permitted to use a primary Dao path…
But I am an exceptional being. I possess three primary paths—though they are sealed by spatial Dao restrictions.
Rebirth Dao Path.
Perseverance Dao Path.
Benefit Dao Path.
They will not awaken until I reach the Path Initiation Realm.)
His skin fully regenerated.
The bleeding ceased.
His pulse steadied.
Ikalates watched him while sipping tea with a faint, cold smile, unaware of the depth of Scarlet King's thoughts.
(My life has always been filled with hardship. I learned that the heavens are harsh—but fair. They rule through power, not emotion.
Life is merely a game in the hands of Heaven's Will.
But countless hardships forged perseverance in my heart. They made me walk above the clouds, above the luminous green river of time, trampling beings like ants—all so I may continue toward my goal.)
Continue walking against the violent current.
Sharpen the spirit of my demonic dagger endlessly.
Walk across grass.
Climb mountains.
See the sun.
Smell the wind.
Yet all of these are repetitive.
The only thing that cannot be repeated… is perseverance toward eternal rest.
That goal—worthy of pursuit until the very end—
is what gives flavor to this dull existence.
Even if I fail… what of it?
I tried with all that I had. There is no regret when one gives everything.
Eternal rest…
that magnificent, unattainable objective…
is what makes my life interesting.
Scarlet King had experienced everything.
He had been poor in one life, rich in another.
Weak in one existence, supreme in the next.
Mad in one cycle, perfectly rational in another.
A merciless demon… then a master of righteous benevolence.
Life had given him only one command:
Persevere… persevere… persevere…
until you can no longer persevere.
His pursuit of eternal rest was not born from fear of death, failure, or suffering.
He accepted everything without regret.
He tasted failure across countless lifetimes.
He endured regret until his heart hardened like steel.
He endured suffering until pain became meaningless.
And even if eternal rest did not exist… what of it?
He enjoyed the process itself.
The pursuit.
Desire.
Lust.
Experience.
Love.
Sitting beneath the moon.
He had tasted enough of it all.
Only the grand, unreachable goal remained.
His memories drifted to one of his earliest lives after dying from detonating ten fragments of unstable light.
He had opened his eyes in a dark swamp.
His body was naked.
Black hair.
Black eyes.
Pale white skin like snow.
A maddened urge surged within him—
Destruction.
Death.
Killing.
Spreading darkness.
He walked naked along a mountain path,
his eyes bottomless like an abyss,
his hair whipping in the wind.
He encountered a group of humans.
He killed them.
He devoured their flesh greedily,
tore skin with his teeth,
ripped out a girl's heart and swallowed it whole,
drank blood without restraint.
A twisted joy filled his dark heart—
Then, suddenly, it vanished.
Boredom replaced it.
He kept walking.
He entered a village and transformed into a fifteen-year-old youth—
ordinary face,
black hair,
black eyes,
simple peasant clothing.
He saw villagers gathered around a girl, holding torches and shouting:
"Burn the demoness!!"
She cried desperately:
"Please… I did nothing… I'm not a demon!"
He summoned a dagger from nothingness
and slaughtered everyone in his path.
Hours later, the village lay silent.
He stood atop a mound of corpses.
Before him, the girl remained tied to a wooden post,
fire burning beneath her.
White hair.
Snow-white skin.
Blue eyes.
Dragon horns.
She sobbed uncontrollably.
He looked at her—
a gaze that silenced her instantly.
He extinguished the flames,
cut her bonds—
And left.
He left her alive.
No one would ever understand why.
But he knew.
His heart had been filled with curiosity.
He experimented with darkness.
He experimented with slaughter.
He experimented with light.
He experimented with mercy.
But after countless lives…
that heart died.
It was replaced with a single purpose:
Perseverance toward eternal rest.
Scarlet King slowly opened his eyes.
A faint smile touched his lips.
His body had healed.
And grown stronger.
Ikalates rested a hand on his chin and asked:
"Do you want to go back and steal the treasures of the Cosmic Cave?"
He paused briefly, then his smile sharpened with excitement.
"Of course. Let's go now."
They exited Ikalates' house
and soared into the sky—
Ikalates blazing with enthusiasm,
Scarlet King calm and cold.
They headed toward the Cosmic Cave.
[After a Week of Continuous Flight]
They arrived at the Cosmic Cave,
which floated in the void like a white eye, revealing green lands and mountains within.
Debris drifted nearby—the remnants of the black hole that had formed earlier.
Scarlet King spoke calmly:
"It's fortunate that the Cosmic Cave lies close to the Sky-Grasping Sect. Only two thousand universes separate them."
"Let's rest and gather qi on that rock."
They landed upon the rock.
Suddenly, a voice echoed behind them.
When they turned, they saw the same monk who had self-detonated before.
Ikalates reacted instantly, chains manifesting in his hands—
But Scarlet King raised a hand to stop him.
"Relax… it's only a spiritual projection."
The monk stood there—one eye intact, the other scarred shut, his bald head gleaming.
He laughed loudly.
"Hahaha… whoever destroys the Four Great Sects shall receive the Emperor's Domination Technique."
Ikalates stiffened in shock.
"Wait! The Emperor's Domination Technique can only be obtained by those in the Emperor Realm—and it's notoriously difficult to master!"
Scarlet King stepped closer to the projection.
"So… if we annihilate the four sects, you'll grant me the technique?"
The monk's laughter grew manic.
"Of course! I am the Monk Emperor of the Wooden Lotus!"
"I was betrayed and forced to flee to the First Dimension. My cultivation was collapsing. All the sects sought to kill me for my treasures… so I detonated myself! Hahahahaha!"
He pointed at them.
"Whoever eradicates the sects shall inherit my treasures… and the Emperor's Domination Technique."
Scarlet King smiled faintly.
"Ikalates… you take the treasures."
"And I will take the technique."
"Agreed?"
.