Volume One: The Devil's Nature Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
Mei Yuan Shu stared at him for several seconds, hesitation clear on her face.
(My father keeps pressuring me to marry and give him a grandchild, and I have not found anyone as suitable as Gu Yue. He is young, but I can wait until he turns fifteen and then marry him. But he keeps rejecting me. And… his cultivation level is lower than mine, yet I have heard rumors that he is stronger than an expert in the Path Initiation Realm.)
(Still, let us try. Even if I lose, perhaps I can convince him to become engaged to me when he goes to claim the three items from the treasury.)
Mei Yuan Shu looked at him, then smiled confidently.
"I agree."
Scarlet King gave her a demonic smile that made Mei Yuan Shu's confident expression waver slightly.
[At the Arena]
The arena was square and made of smooth stone. Several disciples and elders had gathered to watch the upcoming fight.
Scarlet King stood at one end of the arena, his coat swaying behind him. His gaze was as cold as pure snow, and both hands rested behind his back.
Mei Yuan Shu stood at the opposite end, holding the sword behind her back as the referee began counting.
"One… two… three… begin!"
Mei Yuan Shu immediately moved, drawing her sword.
"Snowy Purple Heart Technique!"
An icy phoenix emerged from the sword and flew toward Scarlet King.
Scarlet King did not move from his position.
He simply raised his fist and unleashed a devastating punch that released a wave of heat, instantly vaporizing the icy phoenix.
Mei Yuan Shu suddenly appeared behind him and swung her sword toward his neck while thinking:
(He will definitely block it. He cannot possibly be reckless enough not to.)
The sword struck Scarlet King's neck.
It did not leave so much as a scratch.
Instead, the blade rebounded as though it had struck an impenetrable wall.
Mei Yuan Shu stared at him in shock.
"What… in the heavens?!"
Scarlet King suddenly moved.
He grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the arena floor with enough force to shatter the stone beneath her and make her spit out blood.
(Damn it. It seems the rumors were true!)
Scarlet King placed both hands behind his back once again.
"I will not fight you with anything except my physical strength. You can use whatever you want."
Mei Yuan Shu laughed.
"Excellent!"
Scarlet King continued:
"But I never said I would give you time to use any of it. My time is valuable, and wasting it would be a loss."
Scarlet King suddenly appeared in front of her and kicked her out of the arena.
The referee immediately announced:
"The winner… Gu Yue!"
Scarlet King smiled faintly.
"Now come on. Take me to the treasury."
Mei Yuan Shu stood and brushed the dirt from her clothes.
"Fine, but do not get arrogant. I simply was not careful enough!"
Scarlet King looked at her indifferently.
"The treasury. Now."
Mei Yuan Shu bit her lip.
"Fine. Come with me."
[Inside the Treasury]
The two stood before the entrance, where only two guards were visible.
However, Scarlet King detected four concealed individuals stationed around the treasury.
(Very cautious.)
They entered.
The treasury was extremely dark, but Scarlet King possessed night vision, so the darkness did not bother him.
Most of the treasures were neatly arranged across large, spacious shelves.
The moment Scarlet King entered, his extreme sensitivity to auras allowed him to sense a golden aura.
(Wait… Is that a dragon aura?)
To avoid suspicion and prevent Mei Yuan Shu from noticing anything unusual, Scarlet King casually looked around before walking toward a small box.
The moment he opened it, a brilliant golden aura erupted from within.
Inside was a golden dragon scale.
(Damn it. I need to thank Liu Zai Hang when we return. This is a genuine dragon scale! If I refine it and fuse it into my body, I will become a half-golden dragon. That will greatly increase both my cultivation speed and my strength.)
(Dragons, alongside phoenixes, are the lords of the Heavenly Spirits! And they possess an extraordinary affinity with Heaven and Earth.)
The Dragon Clan was divided into six clans:
The Green Zhang Clan, the weakest.
The Red Qi Clan, ranked fifth.
The Blue Chun Clan, ranked fourth.
The Purple Tian Clan, ranked third.
The Gray Ming Clan, ranked second.
And the Golden Long Clan, ranked first among the dragon clans in terms of power.
Mei Yuan Shu asked:
"Do you know what that is? I do not. One of the elders obtained it, but none of us were able to identify it."
Scarlet King thought:
(Naturally, ignorant people from the First Dimension would not know the value of something like this.)
He answered:
"I do not know, but I will take it and study it. Its aura is unusual."
He hid the scale inside his coat while thinking:
(I will not put it inside the void ring. Someone might steal the ring. Hiding it inside the dimensional pocket within my coat is much safer.)
Scarlet King continued forward and began examining the technique books.
A Body Refinement Manual?
Useless.
A Primordial Qi Core Formation Manual?
Useless.
A book with its title erased…
Scarlet King stopped.
He opened the book.
The moment he read its contents, he received the greatest shock yet.
(The Universe Creator Refinement Manual!)
(This book allows me to ignore the basic cultivation realms and create a cosmic world inside my body! It will not increase my cultivation directly, but it will allow me to bypass the cultivation requirements. I will not need to reach the Saint Realm before refining a cosmic world within my body!)
(This will slow down my cultivation tremendously at first, but once the cosmic world expands and life begins appearing within it, the inhabitants of my world will start cultivating. That means my cultivation speed will increase enormously.)
(I also will not need to cultivate continuously anymore, because Qi will automatically gather inside my body. And fortunately, the cosmic world will not be destroyed even if I die or my body is destroyed.)
(There are additional benefits as well. I can bring ordinary humans into my cosmic world, develop it, and possess absolute control over it. I will be its absolute Ghairamengi master.)
(I can also strengthen my attacks, defenses, or regeneration through the cosmic world by absorbing part of its vitality, which will naturally recover after some time.)
(Liu Zai Hang, I am calling you Grandpa when we get back.)
Scarlet King moved on and took a high-level Qi Condensation Realm weapon.
(This will be good for Lin Yuan. He does not have a weapon, while Ikalat relies on his Chaos energy to create weapons and abilities, and I already have my Imperial Scales Daggers.)
He turned toward Mei Yuan Shu.
"Alright, I am finished. But I hope you will take me behind the sect so I can examine the space-time storms."
Mei Yuan Shu replied:
"I will tell one of the guards to take you there, but… if you marry me, I will give you the entire treasury."
Scarlet King thought:
(A tempting offer, but marriage would bring additional exhausting responsibilities with no real benefit. So I do not want to marry her.)
Scarlet King answered:
"Tempting offer, but give me some time to think about it."
Within cultivator society and the culture of this vast world, anyone who reached thirteen years of age was socially treated as a young adult, and marriage from the age of fourteen was extremely common.
The two left the treasury.
Scarlet King had hidden the book inside his coat while placing the sword inside his void ring.
Mei Yuan Shu stopped and pointed toward one of the guards.
"Hey, you! Come here."
The guard approached.
"Yes, Young Lady?"
Mei Yuan Shu pointed toward the rear of the sect.
"Take Lord Gu Yue to the space-time storms in the snowy mountains behind the sect."
The guard gestured for Scarlet King to follow him.
The two quickly flew toward the snowy mountains.
[Snowy Mountains — Behind the Sect]
The two descended into the mountains.
A strange snowy mist surrounded the entire region.
The guard spoke:
"I am sorry, Lord Gu Yue, but this is as close as I can get. The space-time storms are inside the mist, so please be careful."
Scarlet King began entering the mist.
It was dense and heavy.
After venturing slightly deeper, he suddenly felt a strange coldness in his right hand.
When he looked down, he realized it had been severed.
(There was probably a spatial rift here. When I passed through it, it swallowed my arm.)
Scarlet King immediately pushed his remaining arm forward.
A new arm, as white as snow, emerged, while black clothing and a glove formed over it.
Scarlet King continued forward.
Suddenly, he felt an intense disturbance directly in front of his face—
and his head vanished.
Scarlet King's body remained motionless for several seconds.
Then a new head emerged.
Extremely long black-and-white hair flowed all the way down to his feet.
His face was ordinary, possessing no supernatural beauty—merely normal features and expressions.
What distinguished him were his black-and-white hair and his mismatched black-and-white eyes.
Cloth immediately formed around Scarlet King's head and concealed his face, while his military cap reformed once again.
He continued walking.
Suddenly, his foot struck something thick and solid.
Scarlet King looked down.
It was a black wooden flute decorated with golden emblems.
"Could this… be one of the eleven musical instruments of the Immortal Shrine?!"