Volume One: The Devil's Nature Never Changes
Arc: The Inheritance of the Immortal Shrine
The cage opened, and the tiger slowly stepped out.
It looked around and began focusing on the competitors, but its attention eventually settled on Scarlet King.
Shadow Tigers tracked spiritual power, and Scarlet King possessed, by an overwhelming margin, the strongest soul among everyone present.
Even when his soul had still been at the Mortal Soul stage, it had been the strongest soul in existence at that level.
And now—
his soul had become a Heavenly Soul.
The tiger immediately leaped toward Scarlet King.
Scarlet King's eyes began glowing yellow as a golden-yellow aura formed around him.
When the tiger came within several meters, an overwhelmingly powerful manifested dragon aura erupted from Scarlet King's body.
The tiger immediately stopped.
Then it began retreating.
Its animal instincts were telling it to obey something greater than itself.
The confrontation between the dragon aura and the Shadow Tiger's aura was like placing an ordinary cat before a Sacred Chaos Leopard.
The tiger continued backing away, lowering its body and extending its claws as though preparing to fight to the death.
As it retreated farther, Liu Zai Hang thought:
(This is a manifested aura similar to the one he released during his clash with Long Wei, but this time it is far stronger. And… did he break through to the third level of the Path Initiation Realm?! How!!?)
Xu Ling, the Nightkin girl, spoke to Scarlet King in gratitude.
"Thank you. Your aura resembles that of a dragon, so the tiger mistook you for a real dragon and retreated. Now all of us can survive."
Xu Ling did not believe Scarlet King was actually a partial member of the Dragon Clan.
She assumed their auras merely resembled one another, perhaps because he cultivated something like the Yellow River Path.
After all, she now saw him merely as someone within the Path Initiation Realm.
Hui Wa appeared and corrected Xu Ling's misunderstanding.
"Incorrect. Only six people will pass this stage. The rest will be expelled."
Scarlet King suddenly felt something strange, as though different parts of his body existed in separate places, disconnected from one another.
(This… is a spatial disturbance!)
Scarlet King suddenly vanished from among the competitors.
Naturally, the dragon aura protecting them disappeared with him.
The tiger bared its fangs when it realized that it had once again become the stronger side.
Ikalat shouted:
"Damn it, we are all going to die! Run for your lives!"
[Elsewhere]
Scarlet King found himself inside a chamber similar to the previous rooms.
However, an enormous stone tomb stood before him.
Scarlet King looked around and noticed that the room was existentially isolated.
He raised his hand.
"Hegemon's Touch."
He attempted to lift the tomb's lid but failed.
The slab weighed the equivalent of several million universes, and Scarlet King's current strength was insufficient to lift that much weight at once within such a compressed space.
Suddenly, he heard a voice behind him.
"Well, well. I did not expect to meet someone who possesses part of the Dragon Clan."
Scarlet King immediately turned around and drew his pistol.
However, what stood before him was an embodied spirit.
It was blue, with simple facial features and a tall, muscular, masculine body.
Scarlet King asked:
"You are the owner of the shrine? Xian Ling Hui?"
The spirit laughed.
"Correct! And naturally, you must be Lord Ghairamengi Darkness and the Devil of Rebirth. The fact that the Devil of Rebirth and Ghairamengi Darkness are the same person is extremely well known throughout the Eternal Dimensions."
"I never expected to meet you in my lifetime. Your fame burns brighter than a beacon throughout all existence and nothingness."
Scarlet King placed his hands behind his back and thought:
(He realized that I am Ghairamengi Darkness because I absorbed the Soul of Ghairamengi Darkness with ease. That is utterly impossible for any other being or thing, regardless of what it is.)
(The Soul of Ghairamengi Darkness is part of the One Source, and it is impossible to control it except through another fragment of that same source.)
(I am not the complete Ghairamengi Darkness. I am merely three fragments out of eleven.)
(And because the fact that the Devil of Rebirth is Ghairamengi Darkness is already known, he was able to deduce that I am the Devil of Rebirth.)
(I have been trying to conceal this information within the Mortal Dimensions because information originating from the Eternal Dimensions is written in a different language and usually becomes distorted when transmitted downward.)
(If anyone learned that I am Ghairamengi Darkness, an interdimensional hunt would begin so they could seize the fragments I possess. But they do not know that doing so is impossible.)
(Those within the Eternal Dimensions do know. That is why they try to exploit the energy released by the fragments rather than the fragments themselves, because no one except Ghairamengi Darkness can absorb or use a fragment of Ghairamengi Darkness.)
Scarlet King sighed and immediately got to the point.
"I know you have been watching the trial. You are also the one who brought me here to speak with me even though the trial is not over."
"And you have some Sacred Qi preserved within Sacred Primordial Stones. I need some of it."
There were certain stones that contained ready-made higher forms of Qi, such as Path Primordial Stones, Sacred Primordial Stones, Void Primordial Stones, and others.
However, they were rare.
Most Primordial Stones contained ordinary Qi because the energy of the Dimensions was ordinary Qi Energy.
Sacred Qi and Void Qi, by contrast, were generated inside cultivators during cultivation, as the Qi they absorbed from outside transformed into the specialized type used by that cultivator.
However, certain unique varieties of Primordial Stones could bypass part of that refinement process.
Scarlet King needed Sacred Qi so he could unlock the Primordial Chaos Manual and begin training his body to rely on Primordial Chaos Energy instead of ordinary Qi.
And because his Primordial World was still in the earliest stage of its formation, it remained a primitive world, but structurally, it resembled the Dimensions rather than an ordinary primitive world.
Xian Ling Hui laughed quietly and closed his eyes.
"As expected of the Venerable and Godfather, the Devil of Rebirth—the one responsible for wiping out half of the Existential Eras. You are remarkably direct and always searching for benefits."
"But your guess is correct. I do possess some Sacred Primordial Stones."
"However, I will not give them to you."
Scarlet King casually scratched his neck.
"Alright. Then send me back to the trial."
Xian Ling Hui fell silent and raised an eyebrow.
"Well… that coldness is certainly expected."
"I meant that I will not give them to you now. You must pass the trials first. Afterward, if you win, I will give you the Sacred Primordial Stones."
Scarlet King gave him a thumbs-up.
"Alright. Send me back to the trial."
Xian Ling Hui nodded and sighed.
"Fine. But time here flows differently from within the trials. Fifty minutes have already passed outside."
"And give my regards to the Writer. Tell him we will not be able to sit down and talk like we used to. In the end, this is merely a remnant of my soul, and it will disappear once the trial ends."
Scarlet King folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow.
"If you give me the treasures, I will resurrect you after a few years."
Xian Ling Hui turned around and raised one hand, casually waving it from side to side.
"I am not interested in living forever. Eventually, eternal life becomes a burden, and I am satisfied with the long life I already lived."
"I saw people worthy of help and trust. I saw nations that I helped. I played Xiangqi until I became a Venerable at it. I built a reputation and a name for myself, and I experienced everything I wanted to experience—alongside tremendous suffering as well."
"So I do not want any more. I have experienced enough."
Scarlet King rubbed his eye.
"I am not interested in your useless wisdom. Either give me something useful or send me back to the trial."
Xian Ling Hui sighed and snapped his fingers.
Scarlet King instantly disappeared from the room.
Xian Ling Hui then spoke to himself.
"Haaaah… A devil's nature truly never changes."
"But even though this remnant of my soul is extremely far from Hell, I can sense unusually severe disturbances coming from there."
"I hope it is not what I think it is. If it truly is… then I believe another existential war will erupt to imprison those destructive monsters in Hell once again."
[In Hell, Within One of Its Layers — Inside the Colonies of the Evolved Dao Ants]
The white Ant Queen stood before a black egg radiating an overwhelmingly powerful and destructive aura.
Millions of red eggs surrounded it.
"After all this time, the King will finally emerge."
"And when he does, we will return to existence and nothingness and escape our imprisonment within Hell."
"Now, my child… evolve and become stronger!"
The egg moved slightly.
The monster inside it thought:
(I must become stronger… for the kingdom, for my people, and for my mother… I must become stronger.)
[Back to Scarlet King in the Trial]
Scarlet King opened his eyes without expression.
When he looked around, he noticed that three competitors had disappeared.
Most likely, they had been expelled from the trial.
He also noticed that Liu Zai Hang, Ikalat, and Lin Yuan were nowhere to be seen.
Scarlet King wondered:
(Were they expelled too?)
He lowered his gaze slightly and reconsidered.
(Before we came here, I gave Ikalat the Ghostly Lord's Cloak, which can conceal them to some extent from beasts. So the beast most likely failed to notice them, especially since it tracks souls, and everyone else here possesses stronger souls than those three.)
Suddenly, Scarlet King sensed something behind him.
When he looked back, he saw the beast standing there, already prepared to attack him the instant he reappeared.
(It seems everyone else hid, while I am the only one still within its detection range because of my overwhelmingly powerful soul.)
Scarlet King did not wait.
He immediately released his overwhelming dragon aura.
The beast returned to its previous state, backing away while baring its fangs and extending its claws.
Its black fur, streaked with white lines, rose slightly.
Scarlet King began walking toward the beast.
He raised his hand and punched it with all his strength, pushing the beast back slightly.
That confirmed Scarlet King's suspicions.
(It seems the trial is restricting the beast's strength. Normally, an attack like that should injure me, not it.)
(So its power must be suppressed because it is inside the Primordial Chaos rather than its natural environment, and also because of the trial's restrictions.)
Scarlet King immediately retreated.
Thanks to the Soul of Ghairamengi Darkness, he could see the hidden competitors.
He abruptly concealed his aura.
The tiger immediately began chasing him.
Scarlet King leaped over a tree where two competitors were hiding.
The first was a massive bald man.
The second was short, with long black hair.
Scarlet King passed directly over them and continued forward.
The bald man wondered:
"What is that idiot doing?"
Suddenly, a drop of saliva landed on his shoulder.
The two men looked at each other.
Then they slowly raised their heads.
The tiger stood above them, staring down with savage hunger.
It immediately tore the bald man apart with one claw and devoured the second man with its jaws before continuing its pursuit of Scarlet King.
When it leaped down from the tree, its impact left a clear imprint in the ground.
The tiger sprinted after Scarlet King and was just about to catch him when Scarlet King turned around and released his aura again.
He thought:
(Good. Two competitors eliminated. The trial will end in nine minutes.)
Scarlet King kept his aura active for the next nine minutes, standing directly before the tiger.
The beast stared at him tensely, unable to decide whether to attack or retreat.
During the final minute, Hui Wa spoke.
"Alright. The trial has ended. The winners may come out."
A beam suddenly descended from the sky.
It pierced through the beast's head and killed it instantly.
The remaining competitors began emerging from hiding and gathered before Hui Wa.
Then they noticed that Scarlet King was missing.
When they looked back, they saw him standing before the tiger's corpse.
He raised his hand and began absorbing its blood.
Once absorbed, this blood could allow Scarlet King to break through another level.
Lin Hao asked:
"Puppet Hui Wa, is that allowed?!"
Hui Wa nodded.
She remained standing there, watching Scarlet King absorb the blood.
After several minutes, he had drained every drop from the tiger's corpse.
Scarlet King slowly stepped forward and began cutting through the tiger's skin and abdomen with his Imperial Scales Daggers.
Hui Wa was slightly surprised.
(That is literally a Transcendent weapon. How did someone from the First Dimension obtain something like that?)
Scarlet King extracted the beast core.
It was golden and shone brilliantly.
Lin Hao suddenly appeared and tried to snatch it.
"Give it to me, or I will kill you!"
As he moved at tremendous speed, he thought:
(If I take it and refine it, I will break through several levels. Then I will surpass my cousin and become the Sect Master!)
But suddenly, the core vanished from Scarlet King's hand.
Lin Hao's hand passed straight over his empty palm.
He froze for a second.
(…Where the hell did it go?!)
He quickly stepped back and grabbed Scarlet King by his clothes.
"Where is the core, you bastard?!"
Scarlet King answered with complete calm.
"Why should I tell you? I am the one who obtained it, which means it belongs to me."
"And if you can kill me and take it, then do it, you fool."
Scarlet King spat on Lin Hao's cheek.
Lin Hao instantly erupted with rage, veins bulging across his neck and face.
He tried to punch Scarlet King.
But the green barrier appeared and prevented the attack.
Scarlet King smiled faintly and began humming.
Then he slowly pushed Lin Hao away.
Nothing happened because it was merely a shove, not an attack made with killing intent.
Scarlet King placed his hands behind his back.
But inside his internal world, something else was happening.
The beast core suddenly appeared within the internal world, where a blue sky had begun forming.
The sea still revolved around the Tree of Dimensions, which had already grown several leaves.
The spiritual copy of Scarlet King was still feeding the tree with Qi and the various energies required by both the tree and the world.
The copy noticed the core.
It immediately grabbed it and sliced it in half using a spiritual dagger it created within seconds.
It gave the first half to the tree so it could absorb it and grow faster.
The second half was given to the internal world so it could absorb the core and accelerate its own development.
Outside, Scarlet King took out the Sealed World Badge and opened a gateway.
"Hegemon's Touch."
With tremendous speed, he lifted the beast's corpse and threw it through the gateway before the shrine's laws could destroy it.
Scarlet King chuckled quietly and thought:
(There. Maximum benefit extracted.)
But then he sensed something strange.
There was an unfamiliar energy moving inside the Sealed World.
(Something strange is moving inside the Sealed World… I did not put anything inside there before the tiger except…)
(The coffin!!!)
Behind him, Hui Wa spoke.
"Bold move."
"Now for the third and final trial."
"Only one person will succeed."