Note: I have a unique writing style:
Text between -.....- indicates dialogue.
Text between [....] represents author's commentary, description, or a change of scene.
Text between (....) represents internal dialogue.
---------
Chapter one: Born Again
Once again, birth is annoying, but the demon's heart has never regretted anything, not even in death.
Volume One: The nature of the demon does not change, and the heart of a dead demon never regrets anything.
A man stood in a farmland full of tall yellow wheat that swayed with the breeze along with the man's clothes. The man wore a very wide black robe, his face covered by a green bamboo hat and fabric hiding his face, looking at the sky except for a slight smile on his lips and his pale white skin, almost like a corpse. He stood in front of a scarecrow that terrified the surrounding crows, and the sky was filled with gray clouds. The place was eerily quiet, in a way that sent shivers down one's spine. Strangely, a rift in spacetime opened directly behind the man, resembling a blue gate with no end, and another man with long gray hair, a light beard, tear-filled eyes full of anger and hatred, and clothes covered in blood emerged. The second man said in a hoarse voice full of anger and hatred:
-You damn demon!! You will not escape today! Stop running like a mouse, you [information removed], you will die for your sins unforgiven by heaven, and I will take revenge for my wife and my clan on you!!!-
The first man did not move at all. He remained standing in place; his faint smile disappeared, he sighed, then turned and looked at the second man with a piercing gaze. The second man drew a sword from its sheath hanging behind his back. The sword bore the golden mark of the Yang clan, but now it was covered in rust—a nearly broken and rusty sword. His hand trembled from anger.
The second man swung the sword toward the first man, but the first man's expression remained hazy, except for the return of his faint smile. He spoke with extreme boredom, looking at the sword:
-Hmm… this sword? The same sword I used to stab your wife until she was torn into pieces. The scene of her painful death was… very boring and repetitive for me.-
The first man's hand moved, and suddenly crow feathers appeared in his left hand, turning into black ashes that flew into the air. The demon spoke very calmly:
-I have witnessed similar scenes many times. Every life is similar and boring. I have lived countless, uncountable different lives, but in the end, they all became the same.-
The first man looked at the second man again, but this time into his eyes. When the second man saw the first man's eyes—his first eye completely white, the second pitch black—it almost made him vomit from the overwhelming demonic and dark aura within this person—or rather, this demon. He realized that the nature of this demon had not changed and would never change, and his heart would never regret his actions. The first man spoke louder than before:
-Haaah, Yi Shang, you are the most naive and annoying among the demon chasers, who are driven by emotion, not reason. It is difficult to have an interesting conversation with you. You are like a puppet easily manipulated by words like clan, family, and loyalty without independent thought… Tell me, Yi Shang… do you think your clan will save you if you were the criminal?-
Yi Shang's expression turned to questioning, and he answered with anger:
-Of course! The clan considers all its members the most important for the clan. Every member in the clan is a talent! Every member in the clan is the reason for the clan's existence! If I were a ruthless demonic criminal pursuing my selfish goal like you, the clan would always stand behind me!-
The demon laughed coldly, a very wide smile appearing, making Yi Shang terrified, for it was not a human smile… it was a demon's smile. What intensified Yi Shang's fear was seeing blood flow from the demon's eyes down his cheeks and to the yellow wheat ground. The demon spoke with a cold voice:
-The individual is the most important to the clan? Don't make me laugh, Yi Shang. The clan treats everyone as pawns—not just the clan, but the masses. The strong, the rich, the talented, the smart, and the genius are sacred, desired, and protected, unlike everyone else. The one with the greatest talent becomes the hope of the clan, and the one with the least talent becomes the laughingstock or the sect. I will tell you some actions of your Yang clan: Cheng Yan was a talent of the Yang clan, a boy with white hair and a hollow chest, but the daughter of a great emperor said he harassed her, which made her father angry. He demanded Cheng Yan be handed over to the emperor, and your clan simply delivered him without any complaint; otherwise, he would have been expelled from the clan and became hated by the clan. What a repetitive scenario.-
Yi Shang interrupted angrily, shouting in a hoarse voice:
-But the clan did that out of fear of extermination…-
A blade of energy cut through Yi Shang's words, passing beside his head, slicing part of his hair, and the spatial fabric behind him turned into a white void.
The demon spoke coldly, unleashing a destructive aura that pushed him back and crushed him to the ground:
-Do not interrupt me again, you dog tied by loyalty.-
Yi Shang laughed loudly while standing up and holding his stomach from the impact of the demon's aura that crushed his intestines:
-Hahaha!!! Kill me, demon, but I will turn into a ghost and make you suffer. I will carry hope in my heart to give me perseverance and strength from heaven to allow me to be born again to kill you. I hate you! I hate you! I despise you! I wish you to live in hell! But hope will not leave my heart.-
Yi Shang lowered his head, hiding his mad laughter, and his expression turned to despair and sadness.
(Unfortunately, I am very sad… I will die without revenge. I had to wait for the rest of the pursuers, but I was angry and… reckless.)
The demon shook his head; his smile disappeared. With a swift movement, he passed by Yi Shang, who responded:
-Do not despair. Despair is merely an obstacle of failure. You must not confine your life within the shell of despair due to defeat. There is no true despair in this world; there are only humans who despair, extinguishing the spark of perseverance and ambition. This is advice from me, brother, to section Yi Shang. Also, I cannot kill you because-
The demon's words were cut off by the opening of dozens of spacetime gates, and many people emerged from them. One of them shouted; a huge Buddhist man carrying a large wooden plank on his shoulder:
-Cheng Yan, you damn one, you will die today. May Buddha grant me the strength to kill you!-
A girl with red hair, golden eyes, a very angry and full of hatred face appeared, holding two long daggers:
-You stole my virginity, killed my children, slaughtered my husband, and today I will take revenge on you, damn demon. You will rot in hell!-
Everyone drew their weapons, except the demon, who returned to his place in front of the scarecrow, placing his hands behind his back and spoke calmly, unrepentant of anything:
-Yi Shang, this is your chance to kill me. Go ahead.-
As the demon finished speaking, Yi Chang moved with force, holding the sword that had killed his wife and clan, shouting loudly:
-Die!!-
The sword stabbed into the demon's heart with force. The demon spat out thick blood from his mouth and said:
-The reason you did not kill me, Yi Shang, is because this is the 57th layer of hell, which forbids the use of excessive power. Without this restriction, you would be dead, you foolish brother.-
The demon's body began to dissolve like white flying paper, while Yi Shang's expression showed sadness. When the demon's body vanished, leaving a white void, everyone left. Yi Shang turned to one of the men and asked:
-Did we do the right thing? I feel regret for killing my brother in the section.-
The man opened a red spacetime gate, looking at Yi Shang with compassion:
-This demon had to die. What we did was right. He is a demonic dark being that cannot be trusted by any means.-
Yi Shang remained alone in the place of death, feeling some loneliness as the sword fell from his hand.
[New Rebirth Site:]
[Restricted Shadow World]
The demon opened his eyes and found himself in a place of pitch darkness, with thousands of eyes looking at him, radiating overwhelming energy. His body was a mass of uncrystallized black ink floating in the black space. He spoke coldly, smiling:
-I have been reborn again… what an annoying thing, and this place is also annoying. But my demonic heart never regrets my actions. If my goal requires me to become more demonic in this life, I will become a demon surpassing the concept of evil. It is good that my body was quickly restored.-
The demon's form changed quickly until his body was fully restored. He appeared as a 15-year-old boy with long black and white hair reaching his thighs. His first eye was completely black, the other snow-white and shining. His skin was absurdly pale and thin, his expression corpse-like, naked, cold expression, small nose, and flat lips.
He snapped his fingers, and clothes formed over his body: a dark purple robe with blue in the center, white belt around the waist, inner sleeves long and wide, white color protruding from the robe sleeves, and a purple headband with white edges. He spoke coldly, with a cold smile, and sighed:
-Haah, I must leave before the shadows kill me.-
End of Chapter One