Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
Scarlet King stared at the black hole, then immediately moved to an area close to it, but not close enough for its pull to crush him. He took out several blue primal stones and thought:
(These will do.)
He began placing them in a hexagonal formation, all the stones centered around a violet primal stone in the middle. Lin Yuan asked:
"Brother, what are you doing?"
Scarlet King replied while injecting qi into the stones. The lines inside the primal stones began glowing violet-blue, connecting to one another like veins of energy.
"I am creating a teleportation gate so we can transport the members of our faction to this place."
"And now, I will count to three, and I will return to the Heavenly Food Sect."
"One…"
"Two…"
[In the Heavenly Food Sect]
Lin Yue entered the sect and decided to head toward her master's faction.
[Back at the black hole's location]
Scarlet King continued as he raised his third finger:
"Three…"
Suddenly, Scarlet King began entering nothingness and disappearing. It started from his feet, then his thighs, then his chest, and then his head. He sank downward, vanishing into the nothing.
Lin Yuan was shocked and looked at the Yin and Yang Guards.
"Where did he go?!"
Yang Guard answered:
"He is an ink-darkness-human being, so he can travel through shadows, like his own shadow."
The Yin and Yang Guards and Lin Yuan were silent, looking at the majestic black hole with its white accretion disk.
[In the Heavenly Food Sect]
Lin Yue was walking, and suddenly she felt movement behind her. When she looked, she noticed nothing except a slight change in her shadow.
Then, almost from nowhere, Scarlet King emerged from her shadow. More precisely, only his hands came out first, gripping the ground, then pushing the rest of his body out.
Lin Yue was shocked. She jumped away in terror and screamed:
"Aaaaa!!… Wait, are you Master?"
When Lin Yue jumped back, Scarlet King could not pull the rest of his body out, and his body was literally severed in half.
His blood began pouring out heavily, but he showed no expression. He only said:
"Damn it… this will require regeneration."
Suddenly, the missing lower half emerged from Lin Yue's shadow, making her jump and scream again:
"Aaaa!!"
The severed lower half, from the waist to the feet, moved slightly. Suddenly, black blood began flowing from it. Scarlet King's upper body began emerging anew—the chest and ribcage appeared, then the hands, then the head shot out abruptly, a devilish smile on his face, sharp pointed teeth stretching to the edges of his ears.
Scarlet King moved and shook hands with the severed upper half.
The severed upper half turned into black-ink energy, shrinking and merging with Scarlet King's body.
Everyone present stared at Scarlet King in terror. When he looked at them, they all immediately moved away so they would not keep staring at him.
Lin Yue asked him in fear:
"H-How?!"
Scarlet King answered while taking out the Imperial Scales Daggers and cutting off his right hand:
"I can create copies of myself if part of my body is severed. As long as my brain and heart are not both damaged, I will remain alive no matter what happens to the rest of my body."
Suddenly, black blood emerged from the arm and moved like a fish. Then it flew into the air, and a new body identical to Scarlet King's original body began emerging naturally from the arm. The chest emerged, then the head, then the other hand and the feet. It looked at Lin Yue while holding the same smile as the original.
Scarlet King continued:
"But the first copy of me possesses my full strength. The second copy has half my strength. The third has a quarter of my strength, and so on."
The second copy grabbed Scarlet King's shoulder, and its body began melting and merging with the original body, while Scarlet King thought:
(In truth, to truly kill me, seven points in my body must be destroyed: the first is at my navel, the second and third are in my wrists, the fourth and fifth are in my ankles, the sixth is in the center of my brain, and the seventh is my heart. If they are destroyed, I will be killed, but I will be reborn again. This is a secret no one knows, and I lied previously when I said that destroying my heart and brain would kill me.)
The copy merged with the original, and Scarlet King spoke toward Lin Yue:
"Now, let us go to the faction headquarters. It seems it has been completed."
Scarlet King moved toward the headquarters of the Ink Rebirth Darkness Faction, while Lin Yue remained shocked for a few seconds before her mind started working again, and she followed Scarlet King in silence.
[After an hour of slow walking]
Scarlet King arrived at the headquarters of the Ink Rebirth Darkness Faction, with Lin Yue behind him.
Scarlet King pushed open the wooden door and entered. Once inside, he raised his voice so everyone present would look at him:
"I am Gu Yue, son of the faction leader."
Everyone looked at Scarlet King in astonishment and began whispering to one another:
"This is Gu Yue? He looks strong."
"He has broken through to the third level of the Qi Condensation Realm! He is higher than his father. He seems to be an Era Talent!"
"I heard he went to eliminate the Heavens Gang. If he returned alive, that means either he escaped… or won."
Scarlet King fell silent for a moment.
Then he spoke:
"I have come today with something that will make everyone far stronger than they are now."
"Now, everyone follow me."
"Those who desire strength, follow me."
"Those who desire to protect the ones they love, follow me."
"Those who desire domination, follow me."