Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
Everything returned to normal… in Scarlet King's eyes.
The world returned… as if nothing had happened.
The sun still shone.
The stands… were still full.
But—
what Scarlet King had seen… no longer existed.
He lifted his gaze toward the elder.
Their eyes met—
And in that instant…
Zhao Tian Yi saw something…
Not a human.
Not a monster.
But—
a devil.
For a moment—
all sound vanished.
Then…
the sky turned red.
In the elder's eyes, the sky became crimson, and the earth was filled with blood like a sea.
Human beings became charred skeletons screaming in agony.
And when he looked toward Scarlet King—
he saw a devil… without a jaw.
Its hair was black…
its eyes completely black… open and lifeless…
like a corpse staring back at him.
It had no jaw. Only its upper teeth were visible,
and its body was covered in blood.
His body froze.
A silent chill ran through his spine.
The elder could not look away…
as though something was gripping his soul from within and crushing it.
Elder Zhao Tian Yi stepped closer to Scarlet King with slow, heavy steps and asked:
"…Will… Ikalath remain alive?"
Scarlet King replied while looking directly into Meng Ling's eyes:
"His fate… is tied to his value."
"The more his value rises… the greater his chance of survival."
"Otherwise… there is no point in saving him."
Zhao Tian Yi fell silent after hearing those words, then thought:
(The more his value rises?… This boy sees everyone as tools with usefulness and value… perhaps I am only a tool to him as well. But I, too, am gaining something from this, so what does it matter?)
The elder laughed and said:
"A cold… and perfect logic."
"But… aren't you afraid that something with no value might one day become something irreplaceable?"
"And isn't this a complete absence of morality? To treat living beings as mere tools?"
Scarlet King spoke… without even looking at him.
He simply picked up a stone and threw it onto Ikalath's chest.
Ikalath's body twitched slightly.
Only then did Scarlet King's gaze settle.
He was still alive enough.
"If something cannot be replaced… then it becomes a shackle."
He moved, looked at the elder, and said with glowing red eyes:
"And I do not carry shackles that increase the chance of my death and the loss of everything… through dependence on them."
He turned away and closed his eyes.
"Dependence…
is nothing more than a slow way of dying."
"And morality… is merely a restraint worn by the weak so that the strong will feel sorrow and pity for them, protect them for free… while the weak remain weak, and the strong remain protectors."
The elder smiled and thought:
(I've been convinced by this young man's words, but… he can never be trusted. He would betray me the moment there was profit in it.)
The elder patted Scarlet King on the shoulder, then turned. A black spiral portal opened.
"We'll meet again later. But… use the resources I gave you wisely."
Then—
a flash of words appeared in Scarlet King's mind from the elder:
(In the end, we must prepare the war to win everything… and you will be the spark that begins it.)
Scarlet King sighed coldly, then looked up at the blue sky.
"Hah… war is far too complicated for ordinary minds to understand."
"To them, it is merely an exchange of blows, and the clever among them use strategy… but that is not enough to guarantee victory."
"War is survival, not a display of strength."
"The winner is the one who laughs last while standing over everyone's corpses… not the one who flexes his muscles while dead."
"What use is power if my fate is death… and the loss of all my progress on the path of power?"
He lowered his gaze and lifted Ikalath into his arms.
The jetpack emerged, and he said in a quiet voice:
"There is nothing left here worth staying for."
He launched upward with such force that the floor of the arena shattered beneath him, then flew into the sky toward Liu Zai Hang's palace.
Scarlet King flew swiftly before the eyes of everyone present.
A thin layer of sweat appeared on Lin Yuan's forehead, and he flew after Scarlet King as well.
[At Liu Zai Hang's Palace]
Liu Zai Hang sat in a rocking chair, wearing a brown robe with black garments underneath.
He reached toward the table to drink from a cup of tea while gazing over the sect from the palace heights.
He was thinking… remembering certain moments from the past—
[In the Distant Past — When Liu Zai Hang Was Seven Years Old]
Liu Zai Hang stood there, much smaller than he was now,
but with the same sharp yellow eyes, full of curiosity.
He heard the mistress of the orphanage telling a story:
"In the ancient ages, a being of darkness appeared, called the King in Yellow. He has three poems.
The first poem is ordinary.
The second causes madness.
As for the third… no one has ever reached it."
Young Liu Zai Hang was captivated. He stepped closer to the beautiful blonde orphanage keeper with green eyes and faint wrinkles.
"Oh, I'll try to meet this King in Yellow… and hear the third poem directly from him."
The orphanage keeper laughed softly and patted his head.
"You're far too curious… but I think that dream is distant and difficult. Why not think of easier dreams?"
Liu Zai Hang smiled… and never answered.
[Back in the Present]
Liu Zai Hang thought:
(I have to meet the King in Yellow, hear the third poem… and become the first in history to hear it.)
A shadow fell over him, blocking the sunlight from his body.
It was Scarlet King.
He descended slowly from the sky in front of Liu Zai Hang, who looked up in surprise.
Scarlet King was carrying Ikalath in his arms.
"Hah, what happened to Ikalath? Did he get beaten so badly he passed out?"
Scarlet King answered as he dropped Ikalath's body onto the floor—
Liu Zai Hang rose from the chair and looked at Ikalath's body, noticing the wound.
"We were in the Blood Arena. He got into a fight, and the other man cheated and wounded him. Now I want you to heal him."
Liu Zai Hang stood fully and said:
"Don't worry. Leave it to me. I'll heal him."
Scarlet King said:
"I found a talented little girl. I want you to measure her talent and roots. I'll go bring her now while you treat Ikalath."
Scarlet King flew off, heading toward the cave outside the sect, in the Forest of Screaming Death.
But within him… another reaction was unfolding.
[Inside Scarlet King's Mind]
White Darkness, with white hair and black eyes, held two daggers,
blocking the strike of Black Darkness, who wielded a black scythe radiating a baleful aura.
Black Darkness looked like this:
black hair,
white eyes.
But suddenly, both stopped fighting.
Black Darkness stepped back and said calmly:
"Do you feel what I feel?"
White Darkness nodded.
"Yes…"
"The King… is back."
A black aura erupted from Black Darkness and wrapped around his body. Countless white eyes appeared across him. At the same time, a holy white aura spread from White Darkness, and he said:
"Then let us resume our battle."