Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
The shadow moved…
It darted between buildings, houses, and taverns at a terrifying speed.
Spreading copies of itself—
multiplying without end.
They slipped into the shadows of sect members and disciples…
like black ink spilled across paper.
The copies spread far beyond the sect itself—
a sect the size of a galaxy.
The original shadow listened…
to countless sounds.
The movements of beings…
whispers…
breathing…
until—
it found what it was searching for.
From afar—
Scarlet King stood still.
He spoke calmly…
and the shadow heard him:
"Steal the necklace… and place it at the scene."
The shadow surged forward.
[Elsewhere — inside Long Wei's shadow in the prison]
Long Wei roared in fury.
His aura exploded violently:
"How!!!? How is Gu Yue not dead?!
Didn't you send an assassin?!"
Wei Xia Mo stood before the smooth black prison bars.
He replied with cold mockery:
"Liu Zai Hang interfered…
and captured the assassin."
"And most likely… he'll confess that I was the one who ordered Gu Yue's assassination."
He smiled faintly:
"So… prepare a bed for me beside you."
Long Wei shouted:
"This is not the time for jokes!?"
But—
Wei Xia Mo noticed something.
Something very small…
inside Long Wei's shadow.
The shadow moved…
quietly.
Without Long Wei noticing.
A hand…
emerged from the shadow.
It touched the necklace—
and took it.
Then…
vanished.
But Wei Xia Mo said nothing.
He simply smiled coldly…
as if he had seen nothing.
He raised his fan to his lips and said:
"I just can't stop making jokes."
[Meng Family Residence]
The shadow moved silently between shadows…
until it reached its target.
Meng Ling's wife—
beautiful, slender…
sat on a swing.
She pushed herself gently.
The wood creaked softly.
In front of her—
her small child.
Trying to stand.
Stumbling…
then rising again.
She smiled.
Laughed softly:
"Come on… you can do it, little one."
He raised his hands toward her.
One step…
then another…
She closed her eyes.
Clapped happily.
She thought:
(My husband will be so happy when he hears that our child has started walking…
I'm so happy with my perfect life.)
Just one moment.
She opened her eyes.
…
There was no sound.
Her smile…
froze.
Her mind…
stopped.
The ground…
was stained.
Something…
had fallen.
She looked down.
A small body…
split apart.
The upper half—
far away.
The lower half—
farther.
Blood…
spread slowly.
The ground drank it—
into the green grass…
and brown soil.
Her breath stopped.
She tried to scream—
but her throat tightened.
"… "
Then—
she exploded.
"AAAAAH!!! MY CHILD!!!"
She rushed toward the body.
Her robe flared violently.
She grabbed the upper half of her child's body…
and held it desperately.
She laughed—
a hysterical, broken laugh:
"Get up… come on… don't make your mother sad…
You're joking… right?"
She tried…
to put the two halves back together.
But…
they did not become one.
She collapsed.
"Who… who did this, by the heavens!!!?"
Her tears poured like a flood.
She screamed:
"I was waiting for my husband…
I was waiting for a perfect life… with him… and my child…"
"I wanted to see him grow…
get married…
and die happy…"
"But—"
"Who are you?!
Who took everything from me?!!"
Suddenly—
the air shifted behind her.
She felt something pass through her neck.
Her eyes moved slowly—
and she saw…
a black scythe.
Radiating a violet aura.
Nothing happened.
Silence…
Then—
the world tilted.
At an impossible angle.
"What…?"
Her head fell.
Into her lap.
Beside her child's corpse.
Silence.
No sound.
Only—
blood…
bursting from her neck.
Flowing slowly.
Her body collapsed.
Lifeless.
Blood erupted…
like an open faucet.
[From afar]
Scarlet King watched.
The world in his eyes—
became a black void.
He returned to his true form.
A fifteen-year-old youth.
Black-and-white hair.
Eyes—
white and black.
His expression…
did not change.
He watched everything…
through the shadow.
Then he looked into the void before him.
And thought:
(The weakest point of humans…
is not their strength…)
(It is who they love.)
(And I—)
(have no loved ones.)
(No one dear to me.)
(No one… on my level.)
He communicated with the shadow:
(Don't consume the bodies.)
(We will keep them.)
(Because Meng Ling…)
(won't need persuasion.)
(He…)
(will choose on his own…)
(when he sees…
the corpses of those dearest to him.)
(Place the necklace.)
(Now… the lie is complete.)
(Long Wei… will bear everything.)