Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
Liu Zai Hang moved forward, followed by Scarlet King and Ikalat. As they flew toward the universe through the vast Void, surrounded by countless shining universes, Scarlet King asked Liu Zai Hang,
"Why have the major powers not gone to extract the resources from the two spacecraft?"
Liu Zai Hang hummed thoughtfully before replying,
"Hmmm. Well, there are several reasons."
"First, this frozen universe is extremely dangerous by nature."
"Second, the resources are located deep within the universe, and we do not know their exact location."
"Several expeditions tried to reach them, but they failed."
"There is a strange beast there—one with overwhelmingly great strength."
Liu Zai Hang fell silent, while Scarlet King continued questioning him.
"A strange beast? Hah. What does it look like, and what are its characteristics?"
Liu Zai Hang answered, attempting to describe the beast according to the accounts of those who had encountered it.
"It is extremely tall, with pale white skin and an incredibly thin body. It clearly suffers from malnutrition. It screams instead of speaking, possesses overwhelming physical strength, and has a terrifying regenerative ability."
Several different beasts came to Scarlet King's mind, but he focused on the description of its malnourished condition. Most beasts possessed somewhat massive physiques as a natural form of defense.
He then recognized its species.
"Oh. It is one of the regenerative beasts—the Pallid Regenerative Beast."
Ikalat asked,
"Oh, is it that rare species of beast currently nearing extinction?"
Scarlet King continued,
"Yes, and I am the reason their numbers have declined. Dozens of eras ago, I was hired as a mercenary to carry out a large-scale extermination of this species. They were extremely widespread, immensely powerful, and caused trouble wherever they appeared."
"This species is insanely hostile toward any creature that enters its line of sight. Because of that, the Concepts offered me certain benefits in exchange for taking action, exterminating them, and reducing their population. As a result, they have become extremely rare in the newer eras."
"What distinguishes them, however, is their overwhelming regeneration. Even the weakest regenerative beast of this species surpasses my own regenerative ability."
Liu Zai Hang listened, but he did not fully understand what they were discussing. Compared to the ancient Ikalat and the long-lived Scarlet King, he was more like an adolescent boy still learning about life. Both of them possessed vast knowledge of existence.
Furthermore, because Chaos Beings could merge their minds with Heaven and Earth, they possessed a natural advantage when it came to acquiring knowledge.
[After Several Hours of Continuous Flight, During Which They Stopped Briefly to Replenish the Qi Within Their Bodies, Scarlet King's Body Fully Recovered]
They finally arrived at the frozen universe.
From the outside, it resembled a sphere filled with shining objects, though white vapor concealed its full radiance.
The moment they entered, a powerful snowstorm struck them directly, so violent that it separated them from one another.
Scarlet King shouted,
"Conserve your energy! The storm will separate us. Whoever finds the two spacecraft first should remain there until the others arrive!"
As the snow covered his body, Scarlet King thought,
(Well, if we become separated, I will easily be able to obtain more resources for myself. Perhaps I will find a rare fragment or something useful and hide it inside my spatial ring or coat.)
Scarlet King allowed the storm to drag him deeper into the universe.
It was a void storm capable of tearing through space and transporting people to random locations within a fixed area inside the storm itself.
Several minutes later, there was nothing but snow.
Then two red points appeared within it, piercing through the whiteness as lasers erupted from them and melted the nearby snow.
Scarlet King forcefully pulled himself free.
Thick, freezing snow covered his body, but he paid it no attention. He looked around and discovered that he was in a forest, specifically at the base of a mountain.
The forest was completely covered in snow, to the point that the snow seemed to have become part of it.
Scarlet King stood and began brushing the snow from his body. He then jumped in an attempt to fly, but failed and fell back to the ground.
He lay in the snow for a moment, leaving the imprint of his body across its surface.
"Damn it. It seems the laws of this universe prevent natural flight through cultivation power… Good thing I have a jetpack."
He rose from the ground.
The jetpack began emerging from behind his back, unfolding its wings completely. Its thrusters activated and released heat downward, propelling Scarlet King into the air at tremendous speed.
However, it was still slower than a cultivator's natural flight speed. Instead of possessing infinity at the First Absolute Rank, his speed was reduced to only several million times the speed of light.
Scarlet King began exploring the universe from the air as cold sunlight fell upon his body.
The light was not yellow, but closer to a cold white, making the atmosphere within the universe feel even more frigid.
After flying through the universe for several minutes, Scarlet King began hearing loud screams.
He stopped in midair and focused, attempting to determine the source of the sound.
However, as he looked ahead, the ground beneath him suddenly shattered.
The beast leaped out with all its strength, appeared behind him, lunged forward, grabbed him, and dragged him violently toward the ground.
Scarlet King reacted quickly. He swung his fist and struck the beast hard in the face, sending it flying away.
The moment it crashed into the ground, it destroyed the surrounding terrain. However, it immediately stood again and began screaming loudly as its jaw widened unnaturally.
"Ahaaaaaaa!!"
The beast charged once more with both arms extended in front of it.
Scarlet King appeared before it and delivered a blow that knocked it backward. He then fired his lasers, piercing through the beast's body and exposing its skeleton.
Scarlet King stopped firing.
The beast stood with half its body missing, but within seconds, new bones emerged, followed by fresh flesh and pale new skin.
It continued screaming.
"Haaaaaaa!!"
Scarlet King thought with obvious boredom and indifference,
(Hah. I will need to continuously expose it to enormous amounts of damage until its regeneration stops and it dies.)
Before Scarlet King could move, the beast appeared in front of him and struck him, knocking him backward and causing his nose to bleed.
Scarlet King wiped away the blood, hummed slightly, then opened his mouth and unleashed Dragon Breath at full strength.
The beast was completely incinerated until nothing remained but a blackened skeleton.
Despite that, it continued moving and attacking Scarlet King, who swiftly avoided its strikes.
However, the beast's speed continued increasing as well. It managed to grab Scarlet King by the face and punch him backward. It then kicked his leg, forcing him to kneel, before striking him in the chest and shattering several of his ribs.
Scarlet King showed no reaction and merely thought,
(As expected, every regeneration temporarily strengthens its body. In the past, I erased its body and soul simultaneously, but with my current strength, my only option is to exhaust it until it becomes incapable of regenerating.)
Whenever its body was destroyed, it rebuilt its fibers and muscles in a temporarily stronger form.
The more it was destroyed and regenerated, the stronger and faster it became.
[In Another Distant Location]
Liu Zai Hang opened his eyes.
He was lying on top of Ikalat, who shouted,
"Get off me!"
Liu Zai Hang stood and looked around.
"Where are we? It also seems Scarlet King is somewhere far away."
Ikalat rose and brushed the snow from his body.
"I will try merging my mind with this universe to learn some information. Chaos Beings possess the ability to merge with things in order to understand them, then turn them chaotic. However, it requires a cultivation level proportionate to the knowledge being sought."
Ikalat began concentrating and merged himself with the essence of the universe.
The universe appeared like a sphere, with Ikalat's body approaching it. He circled the sphere for several seconds, then touched it, causing knowledge to begin flowing into him.
Several seconds later, he opened his eyes.
"Alright. We are in the northern region of the universe. According to what I saw, the two spacecraft are located in the central-eastern region."
"As for Scarlet King, I could not see him. He is most likely in the southern region, since my current ability allows me to observe only seventy percent of the universe."
Liu Zai Hang asked,
"What are the limitations of this ability?"
Ikalat answered,
"Well, its limits depend on your cultivation level, the amount of information involved, and the specific thing you wish to learn."
"The higher your cultivation level, the more accurately and thoroughly you can obtain knowledge."
"The greater the amount of information you seek, the lower the accuracy becomes, and the reverse is also true."
"If something is difficult to understand, then learning about it naturally becomes more difficult. It also depends on whether you already possess experience related to that subject."
"The exhaustion increases with the number of things you attempt to learn. That is why Chaos Beings use this ability relatively sparingly."
Ikalat attempted to fly, but immediately fell.
"Well, it seems this universe possesses laws that prevent natural flight."
Liu Zai Hang asked,
"Are you a species, a race, or something else?"
Ikalat answered,
"Look, there is a category known as Beings. There are Chaos Beings, such as me, and there are Heavenly Beings."
"Each of us has a function. We represent destruction and change, while they represent stability and restoration. We are considered natural cosmic forces that appeared at the ancient dawn of the eras."
Liu Zai Hang continued asking questions out of curiosity.
"Then why did the Concepts hire the Devil of Rebirth to exterminate this species of beast?"
Ikalat stood and looked toward Liu Zai Hang.
"Well, the true reason is unknown, but I have a theory."
"Hundreds of eras ago, this species of beast was extremely widespread, causing trouble throughout all the dimensions and constantly posing a threat."
"This disturbed the Concepts because it caused them to lose certain benefits."
"Of course, you are going to ask what those benefits are, so I will explain the system through which Concepts evolve."
"Every Concept in existence creates Dao Paths belonging to itself. There are the Noble Dao Paths, which consist of three thousand Dao Paths, and there are the Conceptual Dao Paths created by the Concepts."
"Every Concept in existence creates a number of Conceptual Dao Paths associated with itself. Whenever any creature in existence uses one of those paths, the Concept's power increases. This raises it higher in the hierarchy of Concepts and makes it stronger than other Concepts."
"Because the Pallid Regenerative Beasts killed millions of creatures throughout existence, they reduced the number of users of the Conceptual Dao Paths and slowed the Concepts' rate of advancement."
"For that reason, some Concepts decided to form a temporary contract with the Devil of Rebirth so that he would reduce their population."
The two began walking toward the spacecraft as Ikalat continued,
"Some Concepts benefited from these beasts, so they agreed with the Devil of Rebirth that he would merely reduce their numbers rather than carry out a complete extermination."
"Concepts such as Death, Destruction, Chaos, and others strongly opposed the decision made by the remaining Concepts. However, they eventually agreed upon a balanced solution that allowed everyone to benefit."
Their feet sank deeply into the snow as they continued advancing slowly through the remnants of the snowstorm.
[Back to Scarlet King, Who Was Fighting the Beast]
Scarlet King raised his fist and blocked a kick from the beast. He retaliated with a blow that sent it flying and smashed it into the mountain.
However, the beast emerged without injury and continued advancing toward Scarlet King.
His eyes glowed red, and he began firing his lasers at the beast.
He extended his right hand, causing his cannon to emerge from it, and began launching destructive shells alongside his lasers. The shoulder cannons also appeared to support the attack, while the beast's screams grew louder and louder.
Scarlet King stopped firing.
The beast's body appeared completely destroyed, but within several seconds, it reconstructed itself entirely.
However, its regeneration had been slightly delayed, proving that Scarlet King's method was effective.
Scarlet King flew upward using his jetpack, but the beast appeared beneath him, grabbed his leg, and repeatedly slammed him against the ground.