Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
He disappeared from the laboratory and returned before even a fraction of a second had passed, carrying a tree.
Lin Yuan looked at him with some concern as he thought,
(If this devil truly has no moral code, then it's entirely possible for him to betray us or sacrifice us without the slightest hesitation or guilt.)
The Yang Guardian watched silently for a moment before following Scarlet King, who was walking through one of the laboratory's corridors. Scarlet King entered a medium-sized side room that was completely empty, containing nothing but four walls, a floor, and a ceiling.
The Yang Guardian closed the door behind them and spoke.
"Master, the situation with Lin Yuan is becoming a little dangerous. He's currently the faction leader, and most of the members are trying to get close to him. If you turn him into your enemy, you could lose a great deal. You shouldn't have killed that man in front of him. You know he's emotional."
Scarlet King replied as he drove his foot through the floor, shattering it before pulling up one of the stone tiles.
"I can kill others, and others can kill me. That's nothing. It's simply the nature of life and the law of the food chain. If I fail, they can kill me, and I won't regret or mourn it. If they fail, they'll become nothing more than cultivation resources."
He took a tree out of his spatial ring—the same tree he had fetched in only a fraction of a second. It was a medium-sized green tree, perhaps even a small one. He planted it in the hole he had made and used his foot to cover its roots with dirt before continuing,
"They stole from me—so what? I stole from them—so what? I sacrificed them—so what? They sacrificed me—so what? I betrayed them—so what? They betrayed me—so what? In the end, all of us are trying to climb over one another like a ladder until we reach our ultimate goals."
He took the beehive out of the rubber bag and placed it on the tree.
The queen bee, pink in color with a yellow emblem outlined in green on her back, emerged from the hive before crawling back inside. The worker bees quickly followed her in, while several others came back out and began securing the hive to the tree.
"And if I die, I'll simply come back to life. It's very simple—I tried to take their lives and failed. They tried to take mine and succeeded. That's the end of it."
He placed one hand behind his back and let out a quiet sigh.
"Lin Yuan is merely a man in his thirties. He still hasn't come to understand the reality of the cultivation world. Back on Earth, he lived among ordinary humans and was the only superhuman among them. Naturally, he became a symbol of morality, protection, hope, and helping others. That was the environment in which he grew up, where morality came before everything else."
"But here, he's simply another cultivator like everyone else. Give him enough time, and he'll eventually accept the reality of the cultivation world."
The Yang Guardian looked around to make sure no one could overhear them, but Scarlet King interrupted him before he could speak.
"Don't worry. Every room here is soundproof."
The Yang Guardian sighed.
"I understand your perspective, Master, but Lin Yuan is still capable of turning against you."
Scarlet King answered while observing his bee colony.
"If he does, he'll only be hurting himself. At best, he'll reach the Second or Third Dimension. If we're being optimistic, perhaps the Fourth or Fifth. But if he remains under my guidance, he'll reach the Eternal Dimensions within a relatively short period of time—sixteen hundred years at the very least."
"Even if he betrays me, what can he actually do? He isn't intelligent enough to defeat me, nor is he powerful enough. Even his own followers could betray him if their interests aligned with mine. If he relied on reason instead of emotion, he would have realized that himself."
"This is simply my own view of life. Believe it or don't. Agree or disagree. I couldn't care less. I'm merely telling you how I see the world."
The Yang Guardian fell silent, nodded in understanding, then asked,
"So… what are you planning to do with these bees?"
Scarlet King suddenly vanished for several seconds.
The Yang Guardian wasn't surprised. He had been following Scarlet King's movements the entire time. Scarlet King left both the room and the laboratory, gathered some soil, broke apart another section of the floor, spread the dirt, returned carrying grass, disappeared again, then came back with dozens of different flowers.
Standing beside the Yang Guardian, he watched as the bees emerged and began gathering nectar.
"Well, I want to see how useful their honey is. If it's valuable, we can auction it at the sect's auction the day after tomorrow and earn ourselves some money. Do you see any flaws in my plan?"
Scarlet King chuckled inwardly.
(We can sell it at an outrageous price during the auction, then start selling it in our faction's taverns afterward. That'll allow us to capture part of the market. Having something nobody else possesses gives us a unique advantage.)
The Yang Guardian spoke while thinking aloud.
"Yes… I do see one problem. Wouldn't this attract the sect's attention? They'll investigate the source of the honey and demand that we hand it over."
Scarlet King remained silent for several seconds before smiling.
"I was waiting to see whether you'd notice the flaw, and you passed the test quite well. You're right—it's a weakness that needs to be addressed. Still, I can have Liu Zai Hang deal with it."
"If he can't, then we'll simply tell them that I discovered an enormous stockpile of honey inside the hive, collected it, handed over the amount they requested, and returned every so often to gather a little more to sell."
Scarlet King walked over to the hive and carefully cut away only part of the honey without damaging its internal structure, allowing the bees to continue producing more.
According to the system, the hive currently contained fifty-nine kilograms of honey.
"How much honey is there at the moment?"
The system replied,
[System]
[Current Production: 59 Kilograms]
[Additional Information]
[Production Capacity: ???]
[Number of Bees: 473]
[Number of Queens: 2]
Scarlet King's smile widened when he heard the final piece of information.
"Excellent. Yang Guardian, bring me one of the slaves who knows how to raise bees and give him five rooms. We want the queens to reproduce until new queens appear, increasing production. It seems the other queen had been hiding inside the hive."
The Yang Guardian bowed.
"As you command, Master."
Scarlet King took ten kilograms of honey.
The Yang Guardian remained silent as Scarlet King continued walking.
"Well then, I'm leaving."
The Yang Guardian turned toward him.
"Wait, Master. Where are you going?"
Scarlet King answered casually, as though he had nothing unusual planned.
"I'm going to hand over the honey so I can complete the mission."
The guardian sighed and nodded.
"But Master, bring us some cultivation resources as well. We need them to improve our cultivation, and the Yin Guardian is on the verge of breaking through."
Scarlet King stopped and looked back.
"Right… what are your aptitudes?"
The Yang Guardian recalled an old memory before answering,
"Purple Aptitude—Cloud Roots—Fifth Height."
"That's the aptitude and roots both the Yin Guardian and I possess. We tested them nearly four hundred years ago. We were only reborn four hundred and ten years ago, and at the time, we were still children. Meanwhile, you were fleeing from the Devil Hunters and the Devil Extermination Decree."
Scarlet King and the Yang Guardian spent half an hour discussing the cultivation resources they needed before Scarlet King finally prepared to leave.
"Alright, I understand. You both need a large number of green Primordial Stones. I'll bring them back when I return, along with some pills to help with your breakthroughs. After that, both of you should enter closed-door cultivation."
He smiled faintly.
"And also…"
Activating his spatial ring, he poured out dozens—no, hundreds—of weapons.
The Yang Guardian's eyes widened in shock as he began inspecting them.
"By the heavens, Master! Where did you get all these?!"
Scarlet King answered,
"Well, I had an argument with the Writer. As revenge, he teleported the Void Quake Beast to kill me. After it swallowed me, I found this spatial ring inside its stomach."
"System, sort the weapons."
[System]
[The majority of the weapons are either low-grade or mid-grade, with only a few high-grade weapons. Their ranks are as follows:]
[192 Qi Refinement Weapons]
[76 Qi Condensation Weapons]
[22 Path Initiation Weapons]
[397 Qi Gathering Weapons remain inside the ring.]
Scarlet King looked at the kneeling Yang Guardian, who was carefully examining the weapons.
"Distribute these weapons only among our slaves. As for the faction members, give them only the Qi Gathering weapons. No one deserves complete trust except an utterly loyal slave. That's why the faction members receive the weakest weapons while we keep the strongest."
Scarlet King turned and opened the door.
Before leaving, he glanced back at the Yang Guardian.
"Hmm… one more thing. Your observational skills are excellent, but…"
The Yang Guardian stopped inspecting the weapons.
"But what?"
Scarlet King looked at him with a teasing smile.
"Nothing. Just keep an eye on the Yin Guardian. Don't let someone else marry her and steal your chance."
Scarlet King immediately fled.
"MASTER!" the Yang Guardian shouted.
The moment Scarlet King escaped, he arrived where the Yin Guardian and the slaves were standing.
The Yin Guardian asked,
"Why is the Yang Guardian shouting?"
Scarlet King gestured for one of the slaves to open the gate.
"Oh, nothing. I just told him not to waste his chance to marry you."
"Alright."
A few seconds later, she realized what he had meant.
"Wait… WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
Scarlet King instantly fled.
Both guardians immediately chased after him, but he managed to escape.
Standing at the cave entrance, the Yin Guardian watched him fly toward the sect while shouting after him,
"Don't you dare come back here! And if I catch you, I'll beat you to death!"
The Yang Guardian whispered,
"Yin, don't forget… he's been our master for well over a billion eras."
She immediately snapped at him.
"Choosing him as our master doesn't give him the right to say such nonsense! Now get out of my sight too!"
While the Yin Guardian continued scolding the Yang Guardian, Scarlet King flew toward the sect to complete his mission.
One Hour Later
Scarlet King arrived at the sect and headed straight for the First Elder's residence, knocking on the door of the simple wooden house.
The First Elder opened the door.
"Boy, what brings you here?"
Inside was a modest home resembling a small cabin.
Scarlet King raised the bag containing the required honey.
"I've completed the mission."
The First Elder looked puzzled.
"Why didn't you hand it in at the Mission Hall?"
Scarlet King answered indifferently,
"Well, someone might steal some of the honey, so I decided to hand it directly to you, since you're the elder in charge of the Mission Hall."
The First Elder accepted the bag while thinking,
(This boy is extremely cautious.)
With a wave of his hand, he dismissed Scarlet King.
Scarlet King bowed respectfully, turned around, and left.
Standing alone, Scarlet King looked down at his shadow.
"Come out."
The shadow detached itself from the ground and stood before him, wearing the same familiar grin.
"Go back to the laboratory and take the beating for me. I don't have time to get beaten up myself."
The shadow froze.
Its grin instantly flipped upside down in an exaggerated, cartoonish expression. It pointed at itself, then at Scarlet King, repeatedly tapping its own chest as if asking,
Why me?! You're the one who caused the problem! Why am I the one getting beaten up?
Scarlet King answered as an overwhelming killing intent erupted from his body.
The atmosphere instantly turned blood-red. His eyes became crimson, and his jaw hung unnaturally out of place, making the already terrified shadow tremble even harder as it instinctively stepped backward.
"It seems… you have an objection, don't you?"
The shadow frantically shook its head, indicating that it had no objections whatsoever, before immediately slipping through the shadows at high speed and returning to the laboratory.
Scarlet King placed one hand behind his back.
"I have to deal with each person differently rather than following a fixed approach. When it's time to joke, I joke. When it's time to be serious, I'm serious. I'm gentle with those who obey and fulfill their duties, and harsh toward those who neglect them or rebel without purpose."
"If you want to lead a donkey, you should carry a carrot in one hand and a stick in the other."
Then he slowly walked toward the headquarters of the Dragon Gang.