Long Huang examined the Blades of Slaughter, noticing a faint, black current forming blurred, terrifying images. The longer he held them, the more attached he felt; they seemed to awaken something within him.
"From now on, you two shall accompany me in defeating my enemies!" he said, caressing the handles. The blades hummed cheerfully as if understanding his words.
Seeing this, Long Huang only grew fonder.
Long Huang then dripped a few drops of blood onto the blades, and as the drops melded, a blood-red light burst from them as they hovered in the air.
One flew to the left, and the other to the right of Long Huang. On Long Huang's shoulders emerged two tattoo-like Blades of Slaughter.
Finally, he saw a jade bed, and on it lay a black skeleton holding a book made of an unknown material.
Pausing, Long Huang fixed his gaze on the book atop the jade bed and moved to pick it up.
The thin book's weight startled him as his arms sank. What material could make such a normal-looking slim book weigh almost 6,000 pounds?
Looking at the cover, he saw three words written in ancient inscriptions: "Archdevil Scripture."
At that exact moment, as if an explosion had rung out in his mind, everything changed. A terrifying aura of frenzied slaughter surged through Long Huang's thoughts. Suddenly, his surroundings faded away, and he found himself in a place surrounded by infinite mountains of bones, with a boundless sea of blood at its edge.
Standing atop a mountain of bones, he felt as if he embodied an Asura from Hell. And above him, an old figure stood there looking down with disdain.
"Demon this, the end of you and your people. It is the heavens' will!" said an old figure floating in the sky above the devil.
"Heaven's will or yours, old fool?" said the devil with a tangible killing intent that could cover the world.
Long Huang felt resentful spirits invade his soul, their hunger enveloping him. A light flickered in his eyes, and suddenly, his vision snapped back to the room.
His stomach lurched violently.
Long Huang bent over, holding his belly. His body rebelled against what he had just witnessed.
A strangled sound escaped his throat,
Heave—hurk—
He vomited uncontrollably onto the floor, spittle dripping from his lips as he gasped. His vision swam, and his hands trembled violently.
In just a moment, sweat drenched his body. He felt his heartbeat pounding in his head, like a trapped bird.
A look of trepidation could be found in his eyes as he looked at the book in his hand, titled Archdevil Scripture. The plain cover was far from the nightmare contained within its pages.
'What the hell was that?' 'The mountains of bodies. The spirits that were trying to tear me apart, and those two beings, who were they?' he thought, wiping his mouth with the back of his shaking hand.
After regaining his composure, Long Huang opened the book again.
This time, the horrific visions did not return, allowing Long Huang to sigh in relief.
With trembling hands, he opened to the first page of the Archdevil Scripture.
As he read the first page, a pair of blood-red eyes seemed to leap out from the page. The illustration depicted a humanoid Archdevil standing upright, its upper body bare, revealing taut muscles and a head full of white hair.
As Long Huang studied the illustration, the sensation of being in hell crept over him. Once again, the boundaries of the real world faded, and the madness of slaughter and an endless sea of bodies flooded his senses, causing his eyes to turn blood-red.
Confused and in pain, he began to lose consciousness in the bloodthirsty frenzy when, suddenly, behind him, a dragon appeared, roaring towards the sky.
ROAR!!!!!!!!
The thunderous roar shook the heavens.
The bloodlust faded from his eyes, and he regained awareness. His heart pounded as if ready to burst.
At that moment, the humanoid Archdevil illustration flew out from the book and, in a bright flash, entered between Long Huang's eyebrows. In his mind, the details of a body-cultivation technique emerged: the first layer of the Archdevil Scripture.
"The Origin of Hell, the beginning of evil…" he recited, finding the first layer of the Archdevil Scripture battle qi cultivation technique deeply profound and mysterious.
"This Archdevil Scripture seems to be a set of divine cultivation techniques and combat arts," he pondered.
After a while, Long Huang turned to the second page. It featured another Archdevil—this one had large black, devilish wings that exuded an aura of massacre.
Turning to the page, Long Huang was again enveloped by a hellish aura.
Long Huang's bloodline activated. The shadow of the adolescent Ancient Chaos Battle Dragon reappeared, suppressing his bloodthirst, and the second layer of the Scripture imprinted itself in his mind.
He continued to turn the pages. Third page, fourth page, fifth page…
With each page, another Scripture layer was imprinted in his mind.
It took Long Huang over two hours to reach the last page. On the final page, instead of an illustration, a line of flamboyant calligraphy filled the space.
"When the Archdevil appears, bodies fill the land, rivers run with blood; no enemy escapes its blades—undefeated in battle!"
"Chosen by Hell's aura of slaughter, the one who receives the Archdevil Scripture is accepted as my disciple, and savior of the Archdevil Race."
A Martial Emperor Realm cultivator of the Archdevil Race, Ren Sun, left behind these words. Long Huang was taken aback. This Archdevil race member certainly had an outrageous claim, didn't he?
Who among the heavens and earth dared to declare themselves undefeated? Yet here was Ren Sun asserting that after practicing the Archdevil Scripture, he would be unbeatable against all! Didn't he also die in battle?
This simple statement exuded an aura of extreme arrogance and dominance. At that moment, a dark-colored ring fell to the ground. Surprised, Long Huang picked it up; he instinctively recognized the name. The Divine Archdevil Ring, he had not expected it to be a spatial ring, a legendary item.
In the whole of Blossom City, no one possessed one, not even Chi Qide owned such a treasure; only in the Kingdoms beyond the Archdevil Mountain Range might there be someone who possessed one.
A spatial ring could incite war among powerful individuals.
Suppressing his excitement, Long Huang followed the voice's instructions, pricked his finger, and let blood fall onto the Divine Archdevil Ring.
As his blood touched the ring, a brilliant light burst forth from its dark surface, and it floated up, slipping onto Long Huang's index finger as if it had a mind of its own.
It then vanished from sight, only to reappear again on his finger when he thought about it.
Feeling the vast space within the Divine Archdevil Ring, Long Huang realized it was much larger than his storage pouch. Unlike a pouch, the ring could not be opened if stolen; only its owner could.
With the Divine Archdevil Ring, he could carry belongings securely and discreetly.
Long Huang then placed the Archdevil Scripture book into the Asura ring for safekeeping and prepared to leave the room; however, he paused just as he reached the door, turned back, and looked at the jade bed. Placing it away, too.
After stepping out of the room, Long Huang circled once around the cave. After confirming that he did not miss anything, he walked to the exit.
As he exited the cave, he looked at the water dispersing pearl. He did not plan to remove the inlaid Water Dispersing Pearl at the cave's entrance, for he intended to use the cave in the future for his practice, given its well-hidden location in the valley.
Emerging from the lake, Long Huang swam to the side and put on his clothes. He then returned to his camping site.
Exactly at this moment, the little deer had finished absorbing the spiritual energy from the Yang fruit and came running towards Long Huang in a cheerful gait. Long Huang noticed that after absorbing two Yang fruits, the Nine Element Spirit Deer fur became glossier, and its eyes brighter; however, its body size remained the same.
"Little guy, you have to go back now." Long Huang leaned forward and said to the little deer. But as he turned around to leave, the little deer cried out and, in a flash, appeared in front of Long Huang, snorting. Long Huang was dazed for a moment and jokingly said,
"Little guy, don't tell me that you want to follow me? You do know I kill your kind, right?"
Unexpectedly, the little deer snorted and nodded its little head. Long Huang did not expect that this little deer would be willing to follow him. After a brief consideration, he said with a smile,
"Very well, it beats being lonely in this forest, so let's go." A boy and a deer departed from the valley.
Crossing the valley and gazing at the bone-strewn mountains, Long Huang pondered silently, 'Were all these beings killed by Ren Sun? Or was it someone else?'
After they exited the secret realm and returned to the forest, the cover of night slowly fell.
As the moon hung low, a boy and a deer could be seen rushing through the cloud forest towards the outskirts.
Soon, they met a flowing stream close to the edge of the forest. Long Huang, feeling tired, decided to camp for the night. As Long Huang set up camp, the little deer went out to scavenge for food.
A deep weariness settled over him as he finished setting up his tent.
"That's it for today, I guess." Long Huang whispered as he decided to retire for the night.
Before lying down, he gently pulled back the flap of his tent and peered into the moonlit night, looking for something.
About 3 meters away, curled in a soft patch of grass, was the little deer. It fur seemed to sparkle under the moonlight. The sight was simply cute.
'A peaceful night. That's all I need,' he thought with a smile before finally drifting off to sleep.
But his hope was in vain.