Volume One: The Devil's Nature Never Changes
Arc: The Strategic Sect War
Da Fu stood and looked at the judge.
"What is your decision?"
The judge replied:
"Elder Liu Zai Hang will be placed under compulsory conscription and will receive no rewards from any victories in the war."
The punishment was extremely harsh.
Liu Zai Hang had disappeared for two months, causing the sect to believe that he might have betrayed them.
That was why the reaction had been so severe.
Liu Zai Hang and Scarlet King then left the courtroom.
Liu Zai Hang asked nothing.
However, a faint layer of sweat appeared on him when he noticed the slight smile on Scarlet King's small face.
[One Week Later]
The elders' meeting had begun.
They were discussing the war and everything related to the sect.
"We should attack from the east. Liu Zai Hang is stationed there, so we can break through their defenses and reclaim the Eastern Fortress."
The First Elder replied:
"That would be a bad idea. Liu Zai Hang could be surrounded if he remains there alone, and all our units are currently fighting across every front."
"The Moon Sect has successfully encircled us, and we only have one narrow passage left through which we can interact with the other two sects."
"The eastern unit is also our weakest because it has the fewest soldiers. That is precisely why we stationed Liu Zai Hang there with Lin Yuan—to compensate for its weakness."
The Fourth Elder spoke.
"We should break through the southern front and open another route."
"Then we can surround the Moon Sect's forces and eliminate them."
"Afterward, we can gather our forces and push them toward the eastern front, where the Moon Sect itself is located, and surround it."
The Moon Sect was located in the eastern region of the dimension.
The Food Sect lay to the north.
The Thousand Flowers Sect was in the west.
And the Heaven-Grasping Sect was in the south.
Because of this, all units ultimately needed to advance eastward.
However, under intelligent leadership, the Moon Sect's forces had broken through the central region and nearly completely surrounded the Food Sect.
Da Fu then spoke.
"We should also assign some people to monitor Gu Yue."
"If we discover how he advanced so quickly, we may be able to increase the strength of our disciples and win the war."
All the elders nodded.
They agreed that each of them would assign a portion of their followers to monitor Gu Yue.
[Three Months Later]
During those three months, Liu Zai Hang and Scarlet King were kept separated from one another.
Lin Yuan and Liu Zai Hang were assigned to one side, while Scarlet King and Wei Xia Mo were placed on the opposite side.
They were in the east.
Scarlet King was in the west.
Ikalat, meanwhile, returned to the Heaven-Grasping Sect because he was a disciple there rather than a disciple of the Food Sect.
He had to return to his own sect.
At the same time, all factions and gangs united and moved toward the fronts.
Everyone else was playing with their tails.
Scarlet King was playing with his fangs.
And he was planning something…
But several important events occurred.
The Moon Sect's forces retreated slightly from the central region to support the other fronts.
This allowed the Thousand Flowers Sect, supported by the Food Sect, to break through with overwhelming force, seize an area, and open a route through which the Food Sect could finally breathe.
Tian Lang headed toward the southern front near the Heaven-Grasping Sect and completely crushed it.
That forced large numbers of troops to relocate there to reinforce the south.
As a result, the Moon Sect's forces were able to penetrate even deeper through the other fronts because those regions had been weakened.
This forced the elders to constantly move in and out, reinforcing every front.
And that was exactly what Scarlet King had been planning for.
In the middle of the night, during an intense rainstorm, rain hammered against the windows and thrashed the trees while thunder roared loudly enough to deafen the ears.
The Rebirth Devil stood before a window.
Moonlight reflected across his face.
The scent of wet earth and mud filled the air outside.
One hand rested behind his back as he stared through the window and thought:
(The seal I placed fourteen years ago… its time has finally come.)
Scarlet King was fully aware that several disguised and hidden people were watching him.
There were approximately twenty-two of them.
Scarlet King held a fan in his hand.
It accidentally slipped from his fingers.
Scarlet King slowly bent down to pick it up.
No one noticed anything strange about his movement.
But approximately an hour and a half later—
explosions and sounds of destruction erupted throughout the area.
Then someone screamed:
"INTRUSION!!! THE MOON SECT'S FORCES ARE ATTACKING!! PREPARE YOURSELVES!!!"
Scarlet King glanced toward the disturbance.
Then he calmly returned his gaze to the window.
But the First Elder suddenly emerged with several forces and began killing members of the Moon Sect.
They belonged to the Moon Sect's Team Z7.
Scarlet King thought:
(Bad… I didn't expect the First Elder to be secretly stationed here. That wasn't part of my calculations.)
(Still, whether they lose or win, I benefit either way—from both this battle and the larger war.)
The First Elder thought:
(I need to summon Gu Yue. He's extremely powerful and can help us.)
His voice immediately thundered out.
"Gu Yue! Quickly, come help us!"
Gu Yue appeared calmly, fan in hand.
"Yes, First Elder?"
Before the First Elder could speak, the enemy unit commander appeared.
He had a massive build, hair tied into a ponytail, and carried a gigantic sword over his shoulder.
A scar crossed his left eye.
His cultivation was at the sixth level of the Beginning of Path Realm.
"Hahaha! Boy, if it weren't for your help, we never would have gotten inside!"
Everyone froze.
They all turned toward Gu Yue in shock.
Gu Yue immediately shouted, his expression stunned:
"Liar! I didn't let you in!!!"
"You're trying to frame me so you can create internal conflict and start a civil war while you're the only ones who benefit from it!"
The commander laughed.
"Hahaha! Brat, don't lie. I saw you with my own eyes, and my eyes do not lie."
Suspicion immediately appeared in the First Elder's mind.
But then one of the observers contacted him spiritually.
(That man is lying. Gu Yue never moved from his position. He was right in front of our eyes until you called him, Venerable Elder.)
The First Elder thought:
(I see…)
He immediately raised his spear toward the commander.
"Don't try to play games with us."
The man laughed and attempted to speak.
But Gu Yue suddenly appeared directly in front of him.
"Let's see whether that huge body of yours can withstand one punch from me."
Gu Yue threw a punch.
The commander was launched away with tremendous force.
The ground was literally torn apart beneath him as he flew backward, destroying buildings and valuable objects along the way.
Scarlet King thought:
(So this is the effect of Primordial Chaos Energy.)
(If I were truly using Qi, I would've only knocked him back a few meters.)
(The difference between levels within the Beginning of Path Realm—and everything beyond the Beginning of Path Realm—makes the gap between stages much larger.)
The commander emerged from the rubble and spat out a little blood.
"Hah, you're strong!"
He charged toward Gu Yue.
Gu Yue was about to transform into Titan King when the First Elder suddenly appeared in front of the incoming attack and blocked it.
"Isn't it shameful to bully the young?"
"I'm your opponent."
The First Elder retaliated with a kick, sending the commander flying away.
Scarlet King immediately moved and began assisting the other disciples against the remaining enemies.
[Half an Hour Later]
Many disciples from both sides had been eliminated.
Only a small number remained alive.
The Food Sect emerged victorious, but suffered enormous losses.
The First Elder was also injured, while the enemy commander managed to escape.
Afterward, the First Elder returned and grabbed one of the Moon Sect disciples.
"Confess."
"How did you enter this place?"
"And I'll kill you mercifully."
The disciple laughed and pointed toward Gu Yue.
"While we were surrounding the sect, this boy appeared before us and gave us an instant teleportation talisman."
The First Elder fell silent.
He looked toward Scarlet King with faint suspicion.
Gu Yue replied:
"Me?"
"I was inside my residence watching the rain until I heard the First Elder calling me, and then I appeared here."
"How could I possibly teleport to your location and then return home within such a short period of time?"
"The distance was millions of universes. Traveling that far would require several days."
The First Elder ripped off the disciple's head.
Then he approached Gu Yue.
"Are you certain about what you're saying?"
Gu Yue gently fanned himself, a faint smile resting on his face.
"Yes."
"And you know that very well."
The elder remained silent.
Then he pointed toward the surviving disciples.
"Repair the damage."
Scarlet King smiled as he watched the elder walk away.
At the same time, he mentally reviewed every move in his plan.
(Hah… everything began when the fan fell.)
(I disappeared from the observers' sight for exactly one second.)
(During that second, the Shadow and I exchanged places.)
(He also possesses the ability to alter his appearance.)
(Meanwhile, I quietly withdrew and used Vaporization to travel outside the sect—specifically to the location where those forces were stationed, since I had visited that place before while traveling toward the Heaven-Grasping Sect.)
(I gave them a teleportation talisman that would transport them directly inside the sect, straight to the seal, allowing them to cause severe damage.)
(That way, they suffer massive losses, while I benefit from everyone becoming weaker.)
(Although I understand this will increase surveillance inside the sects, it will weaken the fronts if they pull troops back inward.)
(That means they could suffer even greater losses, so they won't risk returning a large portion of their armies to the sect interiors.)
(And also…)
(This will benefit me during the Bloody Sect War.)
Scarlet King possessed complete control over every aspect of his body.
He made his Primordial Chaos aura appear identical to ordinary Qi.
Meanwhile, the Shadow perfectly disguised itself as Scarlet King without even the slightest difference.
Because of this, nothing changed in any way the observers could notice, even though they were watching him simultaneously with both their eyes and spiritual senses.
At the exact moment they exchanged places, Scarlet King transformed into ink.
The Shadow moved at the same instant Scarlet King became ink, while Scarlet King activated Vaporization from within the Sealed Shadow World.
And so—
the observers noticed nothing.