The Abyss Descends

Douluo Continent.

It was high noon, the sun blazing overhead. But in the very next moment, day and night turned upside down, and the entire world sank into boundless darkness, so pitch-black that people couldn't see their hands in front of them. Fear immediately devoured their hearts like a ravenous beast.

Despair gradually spread through people's hearts...

Douluo God Realm.

In a towering palace, a blue-robed man with long blue hair cascading over his shoulders watched as the countless shifting scenes on the eight surrounding screens suddenly went dark. His expression changed drastically in an instant.

"Not good! The God Realm Committee has lost its surveillance over all its affiliated worlds! Damn it! What on earth is going on? Could the calamity foretold to befall the Divine Realm have arrived ahead of schedule?" the blue-haired man murmured, his face deathly pale.

In the endless darkness, a pair of eyes like blazing golden flames slowly opened, then gradually closed again.

The next moment, the darkness receded like a retreating tide. The whole world returned to normal, as if nothing had happened. Only the unease in people's hearts lingered.

Star Luo Empire, Molong Duke Mansion.

A Dragon Crow, its body pitch-black and its scales seemingly fitted together without a gap, slowly landed on the shoulder of a boy with an impassive expression.

A faint smell of blood drifted into his nose. The boy, who had been reading with his head lowered, couldn't help frowning. "Carlos, you sneaked out to hunt again."

Exposed by his master, Carlos let out a plaintive cry.

Seeing Carlos look so aggrieved, the boy's furrowed brow relaxed. "Forget it. You've been with me for six years, ever since we came from the Abyss to Douluo Continent. I've kept you from hunting all this time, suppressing your nature. That must have been hard on you. From now on, tell me beforehand when you want to go hunting."

Hearing that, Carlos let out a cheerful cry and spun around on the boy's shoulder.

The boy paid Carlos no further mind. He closed the book in his hand and gazed into the distance, murmuring, "I thought that when I descended on Douluo Continent, I'd arrive in the same timeline as Tang San had when he first transmigrated. I forgot that the Abyss was a forbidden zone of laws. I'd thought I'd only lost a little time, but I never imagined that ten thousand years would have passed on Douluo Continent."

"So be it. I only came to Douluo Continent to clear my head, anyway. The era of Peerless Tang Sect, where Tang San manipulates everything at every turn, might prove more entertaining."

"Tang San, Tang San... Are you ready to accept a challenge from me—Nyarlathotep?"

"Oh, no! Carlos, look at me—I nearly forgot. For now, I'm not called Nyarlathotep. I'm called... Xia Linyuan!"

"Xia Linyuan? Xia Linyuan!?" Xia Linyuan savored his name again and again, then couldn't help chuckling. "Carlos, listen. Such an old name—so old even I've nearly forgotten it was my real name."

Nyarlathotep wasn't his real name. Xia Linyuan was.

He had once been an ordinary human from Blue Star. In the depths of despair, he had fallen into the Abyss and been remade by its master, R'lyeh, becoming a half-Abyssal being. Later, for reasons of his own, Xia Linyuan hunted the Outer God known as the Crawling Chaos—Nyarlathotep.

The Abyss had always followed the law of the jungle. If someone hunted you, it meant you weren't strong enough; you had no one else to blame. But the name Nyarlathotep held extraordinary significance in the Abyss.

So after he hunted Nyarlathotep, R'lyeh bestowed that name upon him. From then on, he was Nyarlathotep.

As Xia Linyuan spoke with self-mockery, Carlos used its beak to smooth the hair beside Xia Linyuan's ear, as if trying to comfort him.

"Carlos." Xia Linyuan stroked the scales on Carlos's body. They looked tightly fitted together, but felt uneven beneath his fingers. He murmured, "Thank you for staying by my side all this time."

Carlos was a Dragon Crow he had found in a certain world while carrying out R'lyeh's duty to bring about its destruction. Since the Abyss had no laws of time, Xia Linyuan no longer remembered how long Carlos had been at his side.

At Xia Linyuan's words, Carlos stamped its feet on his shoulder in protest, as if it didn't like him speaking so formally.

Xia Linyuan narrowed his eyes and murmured, "Dai Huabin turned six half a month ago. That means Peerless Tang Sect's main story will begin in six years."

"With my strength, neither that Big Worm nor anything else on Douluo Continent would be of any use to me. I'll leave it to Huo Yuhao. After all, it's a gift Tang San prepared for him. Let him keep thinking Huo Yuhao is still under his control. But I'm quite interested in Electrolux, the Undead Scourge. Heh."

Before he had even finished speaking, Carlos stirred restlessly on his shoulder.

Xia Linyuan glanced at it. "Easy, Carlos. That Big Worm is full of disgusting juices. It'll burst and splatter if you squeeze it, and there's no meat on it. It won't taste good. Go hunt some other Spirit Beasts to tide you over."

At Xia Linyuan's words, Carlos settled down at once.

Xia Linyuan's golden eyes narrowed slightly once more. "Tang San, Tang San... I have a surprise in store for you. Let's see if you can handle it."

"Young master, the Duke has asked you to join him for a meal."

At that moment, a middle-aged man who looked like a butler came up behind Xia Linyuan and spoke respectfully.

"Understood."

Xia Linyuan shrugged, and Carlos took wing.

When he reached the dining hall, he saw a young man and woman already seated, with five or six maids attending them.

There was no need to explain: the young man was the present-day Duke Molong, and the woman was the Duchess. They were Xia Linyuan's adoptive parents.

"Linyuan, you're still growing. You need to eat more. The more you eat, the taller and stronger you'll grow."

At the table, the Duchess piled food into Xia Linyuan's bowl over and over until it was nearly a small mountain.

It was clear just how much the Duchess loved Xia Linyuan, despite there being no blood relation between them.

Xia Linyuan smiled and replied, "Thank you, Mom."

He had lived too long. And after so many years walking on the edge of a knife, the combined trials of time and bloodshed had worn away almost all his feelings.

At first, he had treated the couple—and even the entire Molong Duke Mansion—as nothing more than cover for his identity and a means of gathering information.

But over the past six years, he had to admit that the couple's attentive care and affection had touched him.

Though they weren't related by blood, the Duke and Duchess Molong treated him wonderfully. Xia Linyuan still couldn't treat the young couple as his birth parents, but he had come to see them as the only family he had in this world.