Chapter 165 - One Hundred and Sixty-Five: Ascension to the Second Dimension

Chapter 165: Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Five: Ascension to the Second Dimension

End of Volume One: The Devil’s Nature Never Changes

End of Arc: Ascension to the Second Dimension

Scarlet King stood there with blood on his lips, one hand pressed against his abdomen.

"My dantian... was destroyed."

Lin Yuan was immediately shocked and grew nervous.

"I... I’m sorry, I didn’t—"

Scarlet King interrupted him.

"Don’t worry."

"It’s only the destruction of my dantian."

"I’ve merely lost the ability to cultivate. I haven’t lost my current cultivation level."

"I only lost my qualification to cultivate through the Dao."

"So later, once we ascend to the Second Dimension, I’ll have to reconnect with the Dao and regain that qualification."

Ikalat pulled his head out of the ground.

"In a little while? How?"

"We still have to win the competition, go through the celebration, the inspection, the adaptation phase, and only then ascend to the Second Dimension."

"Also... why are there two of you?"

He lifted the version of Scarlet King lying on the ground.

Its body returned to its original form.

It was the Shadow.

The Shadow raised its hand and began waving at the two of them.

Scarlet King looked at them from the corner of his eye.

"Everything was planned."

"And since the plan is almost complete, should I explain it to you?"

The two nodded.

Scarlet King continued.

"First: throughout this entire period, I placed a large number of teleportation seals in important locations throughout the sects."

"Why?"

"So Wei Xia Mo could steal their resources and gather everything inside the Sealed World."

"I gave him the key needed to activate the seals."

"And the final seal is located at the upper boundary of the Dimension."

"There, I’ll activate the key that opens the Dimensions and transport Liu Zai Hang, myself, both of you, and Wei Xia Mo into the Second Dimension."

"Second: the war between the sects was a distraction that allowed Wei Xia Mo to carry out the thefts."

"It also served to fulfill the monk’s condition—the extermination of the four sects in exchange for obtaining his inheritance."

"Third: I was the one who killed Ling Zi and Xiao Mo."

"I exploited Xu Qiang’s jealousy to make him follow us."

"Then I killed all three of them so the war between the sects would begin."

"I used the appearance of a miserable drunk to remove suspicion from myself."

"And I severed a piece of my body so it could form an identical copy and take my place."

[Far in the Past]

Scarlet King was walking with Ling Zi and Xiao Mo near a mountain far away from the sect.

They were talking casually.

Xiao Mo said:

"Today is a beautiful day for a walk."

Ling Zi spoke.

"Even though I don’t like winter, spring is beautiful."

Suddenly, Scarlet King stopped and smiled faintly.

"Look."

"There’s a cave."

"Let’s go inside. Maybe we’ll find something useful."

Xiao Mo’s adventurous spirit immediately ignited.

"Yes, yes! Let’s go see!"

"Maybe there’s some legendary master from the Eternal Dimensions inside, just like in fantasy stories!"

Scarlet King remained completely expressionless as he thought:

(Xu Qiang is watching us from a distance.)

(Once we enter the cave, he’ll become jealous because the three of us are alone together.)

(He’ll try to follow us inside.)

(That’s when my plan begins.)

After they entered the cave, Xu Qiang appeared.

"Damn it! He’s enjoying himself alone with them!"

He entered the cave.

For several moments, everything was quiet.

Water dripped through cracks in the stone.

Faint light came from glowing grass and moss.

But when Xu Qiang ventured deeper—

the sight before him was horrifying.

Xiao Mo and Ling Zi were severely wounded.

They were already dead.

Scarlet King’s body was covered in blood.

The same faint smile remained on his face.

Xu Qiang stepped forward.

His pupils widened in shock as he rushed toward the bodies of Ling Zi and Xiao Mo.

But the moment he approached them—

something resembling a black spear erupted from the ground.

It pierced through his body.

And killed him instantly.

Scarlet King calmly spoke.

"I need to make the scene more convincing."

[Elsewhere]

Da Fu and the Sect Masters stood around Kuang Wei, attempting to free him from the restraints.

"These restraints are incredibly thick!"

"We can’t break them!"

Everyone stopped to recover and began thinking of another solution.

Then a servant from the Food Sect came running toward them.

"Master! Master!!!"

"The treasury has been robbed!"

"And Liu Zai Hang disappeared from the battlefield!"

Da Fu froze in shock.

He spun around, his eyes widening.

"What!!!!"

"The sect’s inheritance was stolen!?"

All the Sect Masters thought the same thing at once.

(If the Food Sect was robbed, then that means...)

The Sect Masters immediately turned and issued orders to their soldiers.

"Go back to the sects!"

"Search them and inspect every treasury!"

[Back to Scarlet King]

Scarlet King continued.

"Fourth: I deliberately avoided killing Long Wei so the Food Sect would divide its attention between the two of us."

"That way, all of their surveillance wouldn’t be focused solely on me."

"I did try to kill him with Wei Xia Mo’s help, but he escaped."

"Fifth: the black hole that appeared after the destruction of the earth was originally meant to become an economic center that I could sell before we left."

"But after Kuang Wei appeared, I decided to use it as a distraction instead."

"Sixth: that distraction allowed me to reveal my true abilities."

"That meant we could win."

"But Long Wei turned out to be a difficult opponent."

"That’s why I had to destroy his connection to the Dao and force him to remain here."

"Because even if we ascended without officially participating, he would still cause trouble for us."

Lin Yuan asked:

"But the major sects haven’t been exterminated yet."

Scarlet King opened a gateway to the Sealed World and pulled out a strange horn.

Ikalat raised an eyebrow.

"The Horn of the Green Forest Lord?"

Scarlet King snapped his fingers.

"Correct."

"One of the treasures from the Immortal Inheritance was this horn."

"It’s a rare weapon from the Fourth Dimension."

"And I’ll use it to exterminate the sects."

"Destroying the sects would have been impossible without this horn."

"And naturally, the monk’s inheritance should have been far superior, considering he came from the Tenth Dimension."

"But most of it would have been useless to us anyway."

"We’re still within the Mortal Dimensions and don’t possess enough energy to use something of that level."

He continued.

"This horn can create followers from grass."

"And because it’s a horn from the Fourth Dimension, the grass soldiers it creates will possess the strength of an average person from the Fourth Dimension."

"That is more than enough to crush both the First and Second Dimensions."

"Unfortunately, using it right now will severely damage my body."

"And the damage will be even worse because I no longer have a dantian."

Lin Yuan asked curiously as he considered the consequences.

"But wouldn’t that trigger a dimensional manhunt, since you’d be destroying part of the First Dimension?"

Scarlet King replied.

His expression remained calm.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

His head lowered.

A faint trace of mockery appeared across his face.

"How could someone from the First Dimension possibly obtain a weapon this powerful?"

"Obviously, the culprit must be an infiltrator from the Fourth Dimension."

"That will be the observers’ perspective."

"Not ours."

"And I’ll escape without suffering any consequences... aside from the physical damage."

"I’ll also fall asleep afterward for a while."

"So beat me until I wake up."

Ikalat looked at Lin Yuan after fully emerging from the ground.

"But that doesn’t guarantee the plan will work."

Scarlet King replied:

"It nearly guarantees it."

"When I open a gateway to the Second Dimension, a huge number of people will escape into it."

"Then, if the investigators begin considering the possibility that someone from either the First or Second Dimension somehow obtained this treasure, the search area will expand insanely."

"That would cost them enormous amounts of resources."

"The initial investigation will therefore focus on monitoring the Fourth Dimension."

"It is the most logical and least expensive explanation."

"And besides..."

"Don’t assume the higher Dimensions care that much about what happens in the First Dimension."

[Elsewhere — Heaven-Grasping Sect]

Wei Xia Mo walked along the eastern side of the treasury.

Then—

with a single strike—

he broke through the treasury wall and entered.

He gathered every resource inside into his spatial ring.

Then he opened a gateway to the Sealed World and placed all the treasures inside.

Afterward, he entered as well and closed the gateway behind him.

Outside, soldiers from the Heaven-Grasping Sect began gathering around the treasury after discovering that it had been breached.

"Catch the intruder!"

Inside the Sealed World, absurd quantities of treasures were piled all around Wei Xia Mo.

Then—

a gateway opened.

Wei Xia Mo stepped through it and appeared beside Liu Zai Hang.

Liu Zai Hang stood there beside him, sweating slightly and glancing around every few seconds.

"Where is Scarlet King?"

"Why is he taking so long?"

"Maybe something happened."

Wei Xia Mo replied calmly:

"Don’t worry, Lord Liu."

"One part of the plan still hasn’t been completed."

"Once it is, we’ll all head to the Second Dimension."

"I’ve completed my mission."

"I stole every treasure stored inside the sect treasuries."

[Back to Scarlet King, Lin Yuan, and Ikalat]

Scarlet King raised his head and brought the horn to his lips.

He began to blow.

A sound emerged—

resembling droplets of water falling upon glass.

The sound spread everywhere.

Immediately, eight grass men emerged from beneath the grassy ground under the trio’s feet.

They had ordinary humanoid forms, but their bodies were green, with some appearing slightly darker than others.

Scarlet King spoke to them in their own incomprehensible language.

"^%@*×<><?"

One of the grass men looked toward another.

"&@%&×%*_#[?"

The other grass man nodded.

Then all of them suddenly disappeared.

Lin Yuan tried to decipher what he had heard.

"Why couldn’t I understand what they were saying?"

Ikalat replied:

"Because every Dimension has its own language."

"You’ll get used to learning more than seven languages."

"The Eternal Dimensions share a single common language."

"Unlike the Mortal Dimensions, where every Dimension possesses its own."

Scarlet King moved and grabbed Lin Yuan and Ikalat.

He used Vaporization to transport them to the location of the monk’s inheritance.

They appeared before the floating landmass hidden from everyone else.

The monk’s image immediately manifested before the three of them.

Lin Yuan flinched in fear.

"Aaah! How did he suddenly appear!?"

Ikalat struck him on the back of the neck to calm him down.

Scarlet King stepped forward and looked toward the monk’s remaining spiritual form.

"I fulfilled our agreement."

"I exterminated the sects."

"Now give me your inheritance."

The monk burst into loud laughter.

His mouth opened unnaturally wide.

"I didn’t expect you to be such a naive young man."

"All of my treasures were destroyed long ago."

"The only thing I possessed was Emperor’s Dominion, which I gave you so you would believe I truly had an inheritance."

"But I liked your plan."

"It was perfect in every respect..."

"Except for this part."

Lin Yuan and Ikalat were stunned.

"That means we exhausted ourselves for nothing!?"

Scarlet King slowly smiled and placed both hands behind his back.

"And who said I didn’t expect that?"

"I expected you to betray us."

"That’s why I ordered the grass soldiers to do nothing except create a barrier that blocks Sovereign Sense."

"That way, you wouldn’t know that the sects were still intact."

"You would assume they had been destroyed by overwhelming existential destruction that rendered Sovereign Sense useless in those areas."

"You were watching us."

"That’s why I revealed my entire plan in front of you."

"I wanted you to believe I had lowered my guard and was willing to do anything for the inheritance."

"But it seems the real fool has finally revealed himself."

The monk’s laughter stopped.

His eyes widened.

"Young man, I can lead you to the locations of some inheritances I once hid—"

Scarlet King transformed into his Black Hole form.

He devoured the monk’s spiritual form before he could finish speaking.

Then Scarlet King spoke.

"Who knows what variables may appear?"

"On a beautiful, clear day, a hurricane may suddenly come."

"And on a disastrous day, peace may unexpectedly arrive."

"Only a fool believes that simply because he created a plan, it will succeed without accounting for the variables."

"Anything unexpected can happen in this world."

"There are no guarantees that your plan will succeed."

"Just as there are no guarantees that you will survive in this world."

For Scarlet King, the idea of a perfect journey had long since disappeared.

There were always obstacles.

At every time.

In every era.

In every place.

Who could truly experience a perfect journey without a single obstacle?

He knew better than to underestimate the intelligence of those around him.

Only a fool believed everyone else was as stupid as he was.

The other two remained silent and looked at each other.

Then Lin Yuan scratched his neck.

"Alright... what do we do now?"

Scarlet King answered:

"We run."

"Now that the barrier has been established, I’ll order them to remove it."

"That will make everyone sense an existential threat and assume that someone from a higher Dimension is present."

"And that means they’ll begin an enormous investigation."

"We’ll be the first suspects because you two, Liu, Wei Xia Mo, and I are all part of the same alliance."

"If all of us disappear simultaneously, the investigators will immediately suspect us."

"So now we need to escape into the Second Dimension and hide beneath the protection of a major power there."

Scarlet King moved.

Using the Kunpeng’s ability, he began flying at high speed.

His cultivation energy had disappeared—

or rather, had been sealed.

Lin Yuan and Ikalat flew behind him.

They headed toward Liu Zai Hang and Wei Xia Mo.

[Half an Hour Later]

The three arrived at the agreed location.

Liu Zai Hang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Finally!"

"I was about to go looking for you if you were even a few more minutes late."

Scarlet King descended in front of them.

He immediately began using the Dimension-Splitting Technique.

"We don’t have time."

"Let’s ascend quickly."

Liu Zai Hang tried to speak.

But then—

he sensed an aura so enormous that it could be perceived even from this immense distance.

It belonged to Kuang Wei.

He had begun using his power to escape from the black hole.

A crimson, color-shifting circular formation emerged from Scarlet King’s hand.

It possessed a hexagonal structure.

The formation began flying upward—

expanding at a terrifying rate.

Within seconds, it reached the boundary of the Dimension.

Immediately, a strand of energy shaped like a worm emerged from it.

It pierced through the upper wall of the Dimension—

and opened a gateway through which everyone could ascend.

[Below]

Everyone stood frozen in shock.

The same thought appeared in all their minds.

(A gateway to the Second Dimension!?)

(Then why the hell are we still fighting?)

(Let’s ascend!)

Immediately—

billions of cultivators appeared and began climbing upward.

They resembled ants swarming up a mountain.

Kuang Wei, who had finally freed himself, stared upward.

"Damn it!"

"This is going to cause problems in the Second Dimension."

He immediately moved his hand and began creating restraints around the gateway.

The moment Scarlet King noticed—

he transformed into the Titan King.

He pulled out the hammer.

And struck all four of his companions.

The impact launched them toward the gateway—

sending all four through it.

Scarlet King then returned to his normal form.

He gave the First Dimension one final look.

"Living beings resist and evolve by walking against the current of fate."

"Their attempt to live longer is to walk against the current of death."

"Their attempt to achieve victory is to walk against the current of their enemy."

"By their very nature, living beings attempt to resist anything that forces defeat upon them."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

Then—

Scarlet King ascended through the gateway as well.

[Second Dimension]

They arrived in a calm, flat land devoid of trees.

Pale green grass covered the ground.

Several hills rose nearby.

Suddenly—

a gateway opened in the sky.

Lin Yuan fell out first.

Ikalat fell directly on top of him.

Then Liu Zai Hang landed on top of Ikalat.

Wei Xia Mo dropped on top of all three of them.

Scarlet King, meanwhile, descended calmly—

landing on his feet atop the entire pile.

Then he simply stepped off them.

Liu Zai Hang immediately jumped to his feet in joy and threw both hands into the air.

"Finally!!!"

"We’re in the Second Dimension!!!"