Abyss Descends

Douluo Continent.

At this moment, the scorching sun hung high in the sky, but in the next second, the entire world was flipped between day and night, plunging into a boundless darkness so thick one could not see their own fingers. Fear immediately began to gnaw at people's hearts like a starving beast.

Despair gradually permeated the hearts of the people...

Douluo God Realm.

In a towering palace, a man with long blue hair draped over his shoulders and wearing blue robes saw the light screens surrounding him—which displayed countless ever-changing scenes—suddenly plunge into darkness. His expression changed instantly.

"No! The God Realm Committee has lost monitoring of all subordinate worlds! Damn it! What on earth is happening? Could it be that the great catastrophe of the God Realm, as foretold, has arrived early?" the blue-haired man muttered, his face deathly pale.

In the endless darkness, a pair of eyes, like burning golden flames, opened faintly and then slowly closed.

In the next second, the darkness receded like a retreating tide, and the entire world returned to its original state as if nothing had ever happened, leaving only a lingering sense of unease in people's hearts.

Star Luo Empire, Molong Duke Mansion.

A pitch-black Dragon Crow with seamless-looking scales landed slowly on the shoulder of a boy with an indifferent expression.

Suddenly, a faint scent of blood drifted into his nose, causing the boy, who was looking down at a book, to frown. "Carlos, you went hunting in secret again."

Caught by his master, Carlos let out a grievance-filled cry.

Seeing Carlos looking so aggrieved, the boy's tightly furrowed brows relaxed. "Forget it. You've been with me for six years since we came to the Douluo Continent from the Abyss. It must have been hard for you to suppress your hunting instincts all these years. In the future, just let me know beforehand when you want to go hunting."

Hearing the boy say this, Carlos immediately let out a joyful cry and began circling continuously on the boy's shoulder.

The boy paid no more attention to Carlos, closed the book in his hand, and looked into the distance, muttering: "I thought I would be on the same timeline as Tang San when I descended upon the Douluo Continent, but I forgot that the Abyss is a forbidden zone of laws. I only delayed what I thought was a little bit of time, but I didn't expect ten thousand years to have passed in the Douluo Continent."

"Oh well, coming to the Douluo Continent was just to relax anyway. In this era of the Peerless Tang Sect, where everything is calculated step by step by Tang San, it might actually be more fun."

"Tang San, oh Tang San, are you ready to accept the challenge from me—Nyarlathotep?"

"Oh, no! Carlos, look at my brain. I'm not calling myself Nyarlathotep for now, but rather... Xia Linyuan!"

"Xia Linyuan? Xia Linyuan!?" Xia Linyuan chewed on his own name repeatedly, then couldn't help but chuckle. "Carlos, listen, such a distant name. So distant that even I had almost forgotten this original name of mine."

Nyarlathotep was not his original name; Xia Linyuan was.

He was originally an ordinary human from Blue Star who, in extreme despair, fell into the Abyss and was transformed by the Lord of the Abyss—R'lyeh, becoming a half-Abyssal being. Later, due to certain events, Xia Linyuan hunted the Outer God, the "Crawling Chaos"—Nyarlathotep.

The law of survival in the Abyss has always been the law of the jungle; being hunted by others means your strength is insufficient, and you can't blame anyone else. However, the title of Nyarlathotep held extraordinary significance in the Abyss.

Therefore, after Nyarlathotep was hunted by him, R'lyeh bestowed this title upon him. From then on, he was Nyarlathotep.

Listening to Xia Linyuan's self-deprecating words, Carlos used its beak to groom the hair by Xia Linyuan's ear, as if comforting him.

"Carlos." Xia Linyuan stroked the scales on Carlos's body, which looked seamless but felt uneven to the touch, and muttered, "Thank you for your companionship all this time."

Carlos was a Dragon Crow he had picked up while performing the function of world destruction for R'lyeh in a certain world. Because the Abyss has no law of time, Xia Linyuan did not remember how long Carlos had been by his side.

Hearing Xia Linyuan's words, Carlos stomped its feet on Xia Linyuan's shoulder with great dissatisfaction, as if it didn't like Xia Linyuan speaking to it with such polite words.

Xia Linyuan narrowed his eyes and muttered, "Dai Huabin turned six years old half a month ago, which means there are still six years until the official plot of the Peerless Tang Sect begins."

"In terms of my strength, whether it's that big bug or anything else on the Douluo Continent, it's useless to me. I'll leave it to Huo Yuhao. After all, this is a gift Tang San prepared for him. Let's give him the illusion that Huo Yuhao is still under his control for now. I am quite interested in that Necromancer Electrolux, though. Heh."

Before the words fell, Carlos on his shoulder became somewhat restless.

Xia Linyuan glanced at it. "Carlos, be good. That big bug is full of disgusting juices; it explodes with juice when you squeeze it, and there's no meat at all. It's not tasty. Go hunt other Spirit Beasts to satisfy your hunger."

Hearing Xia Linyuan's words, Carlos immediately settled down.

Xia Linyuan's golden eyes narrowed slightly again. "Tang San, oh Tang San, there will be surprises for you in the future. I just wonder if you can handle this gift."

"Young Master, the Duke has asked for you to come for a meal."

At this moment, a middle-aged man who looked like a butler came behind Xia Linyuan and said respectfully.

"Understood."

Xia Linyuan shook his shoulder, and Carlos spread its wings and flew high.

Arriving at the dining hall, he saw a young man and woman already seated, with five or six maids serving nearby.

Needless to say, this young couple, the man was naturally the modern Molong Duke, and the woman was the Duchess, who were also Xia Linyuan's foster parents.

"Linyuan, you are at the age where you are growing, you need to eat more. Only by eating more can you grow tall and strong."

At the dining table, the Duchess didn't know how many times she had piled food into Xia Linyuan's bowl; it was almost piled into a small hill.

It was enough to see how much the Duchess loved Xia Linyuan, even without a blood relationship.

Xia Linyuan smiled and agreed, "Thank you, Mother."

Having lived for too long, coupled with years of licking blood from the edge of a blade, his emotions had long been worn away under the dual baptism of time and blood.

At first, he only treated this couple and the entire Molong Duke Mansion as a tool to cover his identity and gather information.

But over these six years, he had to admit that he had been moved by the meticulous care and love of this couple.

Even without a blood relationship, the Molong Duke and his wife treated him extremely well. Although Xia Linyuan could not yet treat this young couple like his biological parents, he had already regarded them as his only family in this world.