A week later.
Er Dongsheng lay beside a strange plant, carefully watching something. It resembled an Earth fern, a lush but unremarkable bit of Abyssal vegetation growing there. Such plants were common in the Abyss and served as food for many herbivorous Abyssal animals.
What was he watching?
Er Dongsheng cautiously scanned his surroundings. Finding no danger, he raised his sharp claws and forcefully parted the dense weeds before him, revealing a hole in the ground as wide as a bowl.
Er Dongsheng broke into a grin.
The hole was deep. With the Abyssal Rain Season only just over, the ground was especially damp and cold, and wisps of chilly air could be seen rising from its mouth.
This was a Tutu Beast's nest.
The Abyss Tutu Beast sat at the very bottom of the Abyssal food chain. It fed on plant roots and rotting Abyss Tree leaves, though it would not turn down a decaying animal carcass if it happened across one.
This Abyssal animal was an omnivore with no offensive ability and pitiful defenses. But it possessed unmatched speed and agility; ordinary Abyssal Species simply could not catch it.
Abyss Tutu Beast meat was exquisitely tender and delicious even raw. Er Dongsheng had eaten it only a few times in three years, and each time the taste had lingered in his memory.
How could he put it? The Abyss Tutu Beast reminded him of an enhanced Australian rabbit from Earth. It was quick and agile, and it even looked like one. Apart from being bigger and having two little horns on its head, it was practically an oversized Australian rabbit!
Lying silently behind the mouth of the burrow, Er Dongsheng decided to wait by the stump for a rabbit—no, for a Tutu Beast.
He sniffed hard. His keen nose told him a big one was hiding inside, plump and fat.
"Tsk, tsk. No wonder they call the Abyssal Rain Season the milk of the Abyssal Will. Even little creatures like this have grown so fat. Heh, lucky me. I'm in for a treat!"
An accomplished Abyssal predator needed sharp sight, smell, and hearing, among other things—and patience. Lacking any one of these, it might someday end up as another predator's meal.
Er Dongsheng's demon body was merely average; compared with Abyssal Species of superior bloodlines, it could even be called trash. But through Chinese Martial Arts, training both internally and externally, his body's basic capabilities were improving at breakneck speed, as were his senses of color and taste. Aided by the Daoist School's Heart-Refining Art, his heart was as steadfast as bedrock. Let others be as strong as they pleased; he remained unmoved as a breeze. The murderous, brutal, fearful, and other dark impulses within the Abyssal Aura could not sway him in the slightest. Instead, he used that immense darkness to temper and surpass himself, like a lotus rising unstained from the mud, untouched by even a speck of dust.
In the Primordial Era, how had the Demon Lords led vast numbers of demons to conquer one Sunlight Plane after another with such overwhelming force?
Why? What was the reason?
The Demon Lords' own strength was one reason. The Abyssal Aura was another. The Abyssal Aura produced by the great Abyssal Will had a powerful corrupting nature and contained dark impulses such as murderousness, brutality, and bloodlust. As a result, creatures from Sunlight Planes, unlike the Abyssal Creatures favored by the Abyssal Will, were highly susceptible to its corruption. Even if those dark impulses did not affect them, the Abyssal Aura would forcibly transform them into Abyssal Creatures. Rejected by their Sunlight Planes, they would then fall into the Abyss.
To Er Dongsheng, it felt just like the legendary Burning Legion from Earth: conquer, corrupt, and destroy a plane, then use the ample forces gained to conquer, corrupt, and destroy the next. The cycle went on. As for why the Demon Lords and other demons were so fond of conquering Sunlight Planes, he had no idea.
"Could it be just for fun?" Er Dongsheng curled his lip.
"No way I'd believe that."
Then again, would he quietly tell you that his greatest ambition was to build his own Burning Legion and conquer planes?
Before you continue