Convalescence and Origins

"It's not over yet!"

The Abyss Demon's eyes flew open, its scarlet gaze locked fiercely onto Er Dongsheng. Blood poured from its mouth in great gulps. "Let's go to heaven together!" Its body suddenly swelled, ballooning like an inflated bladder. This was...

"Not good, get down!"

~Boom~

After a long while, the dust kicked up by the violent explosion slowly settled. One large and one small figure crawled up from the ground, covered in dirt and ash.

"Ptui, ptui! Damn it, even dead, you still won't let me rest in peace!" Er Dongsheng grimaced as he stood, brushing the dirt from himself. A burning pain came from his back. He did not need to think to know it was the result of the demon's final self-destruction.

"Hiss~"

"It hurts like hell. Luckily, I've trained my external martial arts for years. Otherwise, that blow would've killed me!" Er Dongsheng bared his teeth in pain.

It was also because he lacked experience. He truly had not expected the demon's vitality to be so tenacious. Even at the very end, it had managed to use its evolutionary talent. That was right—self-destruction was this demon's evolved skill.

"So that's why it never used an evolution skill during the fight. It turned out to be self-destruction. What a rotten skill, hurting others and hurting yourself!"

"~Hiss~"

"It hurts so much. This place isn't somewhere we should stay long. We'd better leave quickly! If I have the rotten luck to run into another Abyss Demon, I can only go back home and chat with King Yama!"

"I wonder whether King Yama would even take in a stowaway like me." With a self-mocking smile, Er Dongsheng called out to the little Succubus, who was sticking up her little butt as she searched around for something.

"What are you looking for? Hurry up, we're leaving!"

"Oh, oh, okay, then! Coming right away!"

The large and small figures gradually overlapped as they walked into the distance. Under the faint light, their shadows stretched longer and longer, while the murmurs of one big and one small voice drifted from afar.

"Little one, what are you carrying in your hand~~"

"Mmm~ the big Tutu Beast~"

"What? You still had time to look for that? You little glutton~"

"Mmm~ Lulu is starving to death, big guy~"

"Fine, fine. Let's go home and have a big feast to celebrate."

"...Mmm... mmm... We're going home! A big feast!"

"..."

"I'm telling you, wipe that drool off!"

That was right, they were going home! The home of two people.

One week later.

"Whew."

After twisting his neck and loosening his muscles and bones, Er Dongsheng stood up. Feeling out his body, he sensed boundless vital essence flowing through him. Surging waves of life force burst forth, and a powerful aura erupted from his body, stirring the empty air.

"Not bad. My injuries have finally healed completely. After this battle, my external arts have also broken through a minor level, and my cells, tendons, and bones have become even tougher. It seems it's time to break through to the next level! I've now reached my absolute peak. Especially after this battle, with the sublimation of my spirit and my sense of the great Abyssal Will, that final thread of separation has vanished. I won't feel that there's any danger in breaking through anymore!"

"Looks like I need to make some preparations." After thinking for a moment, Er Dongsheng stood up.

"Big brother~~ Uh, you're better, mmm?" When the little Succubus saw Er Dongsheng stand, she looked at him with a face full of delight. Over this past week, the little one had completely accepted Er Dongsheng. She had transferred all the feelings she had for her mother onto him and clung to him at every moment. Of course, comparatively speaking, what the little one loved even more was Er Dongsheng's cooking! Just like right now.

"Lulu, finish the food in your mouth before you speak!" He shook his head helplessly. This little one must have been starved for far too long; she thought about eating every moment, even though her little belly was already round and bulging.

He reached out and rubbed the little one's head, then turned and sat on the stone slab before the fire. The little Succubus naturally jumped into Er Dongsheng's arms, still holding out the hind leg of an Abyss Tutu Beast in her left hand.

"Mmm~ Big brother, eat!"

"Alright, little one. You eat it yourself!" He rubbed the little Succubus's head again, and Er Dongsheng recalled what she had told him.

The little Succubus did not know where she came from. She only knew that there had been lots and lots of people in her tribe. In the little one's own words, it was the number reached by adding together five or six sets of all her fingers and toes. Er Dongsheng calculated it—it was roughly a hundred people. That was a very large tribe.

The little one said that from birth, she had been different from the other Succubi. Her skin was whiter, she had no little horns, and she was completely a mutated version of an Abyss Succubus. This had delighted the tribe's leader—who was also the little one's mother. In the Abyss, mutation represented strength.

However, unfortunately, although the little one was mutated, several years passed without her showing any talent at all. Gradually, she fell out of favor within the tribe. By the end, even her food and lodging were worse than those of the other little Succubi.

Yet the little one had always believed that her mother still loved her; she had merely forgotten her for now. As for why she had suddenly appeared in the forest, she did not know either. She only knew that when she woke up from a sleep, she was already in the forest.

When Er Dongsheng heard this, he fell silent. The little one also said nothing. She had probably guessed it too—she had been abandoned! The Abyss had no need for trash, especially when that trash came from the tribe leader.

"Then let me be your big brother!" Er Dongsheng had said that as he rubbed the little one's head.

"Big brother."

"Yes, your big brother. A big brother even closer to you than Mother!"

"Mhm, mhm! Big brother, big brother, big guy big brother!" The little one happily hugged Er Dongsheng as great tears rolled down her face.

From that day onward, Er Dongsheng had a little sister. In the Abyss, he had someone to care about. He was no longer alone.

Coming back to himself, Er Dongsheng looked at the little one in his arms, still diligently battling the Tutu Beast's hind leg, and his heart was suddenly filled with an extraordinary sense of contentment.

I have a home. I have a little sister. I am no longer lonely in the Abyss.

Boom! The Inner Palace roared.

The time for a breakthrough had come...