Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
After several hours of preparation and rest, everyone sat around a large rectangular table. Scarlet King occupied the seat at the head, while the others sat along both sides.
He took out a cigarette, lit it with the lasers from his eyes, and began smoking.
"Alright, what do you have for me, Wei Xia Mo?"
Wei Xia Mo opened his fan and began fanning his face.
"I will sell you several taverns near your faction for a good price. Eleven taverns for eighty-one thousand primal stones."
Scarlet King took a drag from his cigarette. Instead of all the smoke leaving through his mouth, some of it leaked through the open hole in his chest and flowed directly from his body into the air.
He asked,
"Why do you want to sell them?"
Wei Xia Mo replied with a soft laugh,
"I am trying to earn some profit for our gang. Also, Long Wei is afraid that a war might break out between the gang and your faction, causing those taverns to be destroyed. That is why he asked me to come here and sell them to you."
Scarlet King fell silent and thought,
(Cunning. If a war breaks out between us, those taverns will be destroyed after we have already purchased them. That way, they will earn money while forcing us to lose taverns that originally belonged to them but were sold to us. And earning profit for the gang? I do not believe that for a second.)
Scarlet King gave him a sideways glance and asked,
"Very well, but I have several questions. Are the taverns subject to taxes? Are they in good condition? Do customers visit them regularly? What are their net profits? Are they located in favorable areas? Bring me documents showing the locations of the taverns, along with records of their sales and customer numbers over the past month, so I can decide whether to purchase them."
Wei Xia Mo laughed.
"Very well. Give me a few days, and I will bring you the documents. In the end, both of us will benefit."
Liu Zai Hang looked at Scarlet King.
"If you need money, I can lend you some."
Scarlet King raised his hand.
"There is no need. If we combine the money we earned from the auction with part of the faction's funds, we will be able to pay for the taverns."
He looked toward Wei Xia Mo.
"Wei Xia Mo… I know the true reason you want to sell those taverns, but I will ignore it this time. Now, is there anything else you wish to say before you leave?"
Wei Xia Mo closed his eyes and took out a strange map. It was dark yellow and ancient, with several universe-shaped patterns drawn across it. When he turned it over, a complete layout of one particular universe appeared.
"This is a map of the universe where the Bloody Sect War will take place. I will sell it to you for two thousand primal stones."
Scarlet King looked toward the Yang Guardian.
"Go and bring two thousand primal stones."
The Yang Guardian stood and left the room to retrieve the stones, while Scarlet King thought,
(It is obviously a copy, but the map is accurate. Even so, the price is slightly high for a counterfeit. Still… two thousand primal stones for such a rare map is cheap when its rarity is taken into account.)
Scarlet King then asked,
"Liu Zai Hang… do you possess any Black Bamboo Metal?"
Liu Zai Hang fell silent and shook his head.
"I do not have any, but it can be found within the universe of the Bloody Sect War. Two spacecraft from the Second Dimension fought each other, and both were destroyed before crashing into that universe two hundred years ago, when I was still nineteen."
Scarlet King said nothing. He slowly closed his eyes and sighed.
"Very well. I will go to that universe. I need the metal to upgrade my new weapon—the pistol."
Scarlet King stood and placed both hands on the table.
"The meeting is over."
Before anyone could rise from their seat, Wei Xia Mo raised his voice.
"I am curious. Everyone in this room knows that you are the Devil of Rebirth, and I have heard some ancient rumors… that before becoming the Devil of Rebirth, you were Ghairamengi Darkness…"
Scarlet King looked at Wei Xia Mo with wide, cold eyes.
"Where did you hear those rumors?"
Wei Xia Mo replied while playing with a red primal stone in his hand, which he had taken from his pocket several seconds earlier.
"Well, to obtain information about previous eras, the major powers in the higher dimensions purchase information from the Chaos Clan, which lives within the Primordial Chaos outside the dimensions. Everyone knows this."
"The reason they purchase information from them is that no one can learn about the events of previous eras except from those who personally lived through and witnessed those events, yet were not destroyed when the dimensions collapsed, the era ended, and a new one began."
"Several hundred eras ago, information was leaked claiming that the Devil of Rebirth was closely connected to Ghairamengi Darkness. The Chaos Clan spread this information after the Devil of Rebirth stole several things from one of their headquarters."
"According to my personal analysis, they were trying to make you the center of attention for every power that wished to obtain the strength of Ghairamengi Darkness."
Scarlet King replied,
"Very well, but even I do not know why they spread those rumors. They may be false information rather than absolute truth. Everyone knows that the body of Ghairamengi Darkness was shattered. If I were Ghairamengi Darkness, would that not contradict reality?"
Everyone fell silent.
Scarlet King's words were logical, so Wei Xia Mo also remained quiet. However, he still held some doubts without voicing them. There was no evidence proving whether Scarlet King was lying or telling the truth.
Among those present, aside from Scarlet King himself, only the Yin and Yang Guardians knew the truth: Scarlet King was Ghairamengi Darkness himself.
He was not a manifestation of it.
He was Ghairamengi Darkness.
Yet Wei Xia Mo's endless curiosity prevented him from holding back another question.
"Alright, what are your aptitude and roots?"
Scarlet King answered with complete calmness,
"I do not possess any aptitude or roots."
Wei Xia Mo fell silent, his expression tightening slightly in shock.
"Oh… It seems you will disappoint everyone during the aptitude and root examination. Everyone expects you to possess an extremely high aptitude and powerful roots, but it appears you have neither."
Scarlet King's body began healing, returning entirely to normal within seconds. His shattered bones reformed first, followed by his flesh and then his skin. Within moments, his body had returned to its original state.
"What benefit would I gain from caring about the disappointment of others? Are they part of me? Are they people who are useful to me? Their disappointment is nothing more than an internal emotion caused by my failure to impress them."
"If they feel disappointed, what does that have to do with me? Let them be disappointed. What more can they do besides lament, talk, feel disappointed, and discuss how I failed to amaze them? But… what do they have to do with me?"
"What matters is that I carry my goal within my heart. Even if I fail a billion times and everyone becomes disappointed in me, it has nothing to do with me. In the end, I will not become disappointed in myself, which means I will continue persevering."
"But if people become disappointed in me, what will happen?"
"Nothing!"
"And if their disappointment brings neither practical benefit nor loss, then nothing that matters to me has happened."
He extinguished his cigarette.
After he finished speaking, everyone remained silent for several seconds.
Suddenly, Lin Yuan's voice interrupted them as he barely managed to enter the room.
"I am coming with you!"
He was coughing violently, his face was pale yellow, and his eyes looked exhausted.
Scarlet King stared at him for several seconds before replying,
"You are going to rest, and you will not be coming with me. Only Ikalat, Liu Zai Hang, and I will go. The two guardians will remain here to cultivate and take care of you."
Lin Yuan tried to persuade him.
"But I want to go. Do not worry, I am fine."
Scarlet King snapped his fingers.
The force of the snap caused Lin Yuan to collapse to the floor.
"You are still not ready. A mere snap of my fingers knocked you down, and we are heading to the most dangerous universe in this entire dimension."
"Every major sect controls two Eternal Universes, while the remaining Eternal Universes are open to everyone and do not belong exclusively to any one sect. Even so, the universe we are heading to is the most dangerous of them all, so you will not be coming with us."
Lin Yuan fell silent.
A hint of frustration appeared on his exhausted face, but he eventually agreed. He nodded, turned around, and left the room in disappointment before going to rest.
Wei Xia Mo then continued his questioning.
"Alright, how were you able to advance through the cultivation levels so quickly?"
Scarlet King replied,
"External support. I relied on external support to rapidly advance through the cultivation levels, and now I have begun building my internal foundation so the two can reach a balance."
Scarlet King continued,
"Do not forget to bring the documents. You may leave now."
He looked toward Liu Zai Hang and Ikalat.
"Come here. Each of you, hold one of my shoulders."
The two moved.
Liu Zai Hang stood beside him, while Ikalat approached from the other side. Each of them placed a hand on one of his shoulders.
Scarlet King then said,
"Vaporization."
Mist appeared around them, and they vanished before everyone's eyes.
Wei Xia Mo whispered,
"Interesting."
The Yin and Yang Guardians stood and escorted Wei Xia Mo outside. They then returned and went to check on Lin Yuan, who had quickly fallen asleep because Scarlet King's finger snap had placed slight pressure on his brain, causing him to sleep without inflicting any harm.
The two left Lin Yuan's room and looked at each other.
"Should we go cultivate?"
The Yin Guardian replied,
"Alright."
The two left and entered one of the rooms with a dense concentration of Qi. They brought a large number of primal stones with them and began cultivating.
[Within the Void Between Universes, in the Southeastern Region of the First Dimension]
Mist appeared, and the three emerged from it.
Liu Zai Hang asked,
"Alright, we are somewhere near the universe, but it is strange that you did not transport us directly inside."
Scarlet King replied,
"Vaporization only works when the destination is preserved within my memories. I have never visited that universe before, so I transported us to the nearest location I recognized."