Stealing the Heavenly Dao

"How could I, how could I just give up like this! Lulu is waiting for me, the endless Abyss is waiting for me to explore it, the myriad planes, all those enchanting beauties—I haven't even seen them yet. How could I just give up like this!"

"Ah! Abyss, I will not submit! Who am I? I am a martial artist, a descendant of the Daoist School, I am Baal, I am Er Dongsheng, and more than that, I am the big brother of one pitiful little girl!"

"I won't give up, absolutely not! System, hurry the hell up and calculate! Hurry..." Er Dongsheng struggled bitterly within his sea of consciousness. Seeing such a tiny ant actually resist its bestowed reward, the Abyssal Will flew into a rage, and another massive surge of Abyssal Will came roaring in.

Er Dongsheng could be said to be very fortunate. The Abyssal Will involved in the demon's bestowal was merely an utterly insignificant fragment of the Abyssal Heavenly Dao. If the true will of the Heavenly Dao had descended, he would likely have surrendered at once! Yet even this tiny sliver of Abyssal Will was still beyond what he could resist in his current state!

Since ancient times, no demon in the Abyss had ever been heard of escaping the Abyss's control. No demon could forcibly refuse the gifts of the Abyssal Will—not even one as powerful as the Demon Lord.

Time trickled by slowly. Er Dongsheng's resistance grew ever more difficult, and the situation hung by a thread.

Suddenly, a voice rang out.

"Calculation complete. Selecting a viable plan. According to the memory database, Plan Three has been selected. Execute immediately!"

"Buzz~" His mind went blank. Er Dongsheng suddenly felt his soul being yanked out—no, more accurately, his soul was instantly dragged into that game hall. Before he could react, it was hurled into that enormous body in the blink of an eye—the place where the Abyss System was hidden.

Immediately afterward, a vast consciousness barged into this space and charged over with murderous momentum, vanishing into that body in an instant.

"Rumble!" The game hall was suddenly plunged into darkness. The gate leading outside had been shut!

Outside, the storm had already passed. The little Succubus felt the weight on her body lighten, and the immense pressure crushing her vanished without a trace.

The little girl hurriedly crawled to her feet and stumbled toward Er Dongsheng. When she saw that his face was no longer twisted in agony, the heart she had raised to her throat finally settled. Then her vision went black, and she fainted.

In truth, Er Dongsheng was undergoing an even more dangerous trial.

Within his soul, inside that game hall.

"What kind of plan is this? Why did it let that thing in?!" Er Dongsheng was so furious that he stamped his feet. After all that, why had the Abyssal Will still possessed him? The crucial part was that he had personally let it in. Could there be anything more infuriating than this?

"Executing Plan Three yields the greatest gains. If the host succeeds, not only will he escape the control of the Abyssal Will and transcend the Heavenly Dao, he will also further transform into the Heavenly Dao and steal its might!"

The mechanical voice echoed through the hall. A stream of information flowed past, and Er Dongsheng instantly understood how the plan worked.

The plan was divided into three steps: stealing the sky and swapping the sun, intercepting the Heavenly Dao, and taking its place.

Stealing the sky and swapping the sun meant luring the will of the Heavenly Dao into the System space, using the virtual body within to replace Er Dongsheng's real body, and having the System consciousness replace Er Dongsheng's consciousness.

This would only temporarily deceive the Abyssal Will. Once the Abyssal Will entered the body, the space gate would be closed, cutting off the continuing power of this strand of Abyssal Heavenly Dao and thereby intercepting the Heavenly Dao.

The third step was also the most important. This was a game space formed by the laws of the greater universe, and this game hall contained Ink Spirit Flame, the strange cosmic flame Er Dongsheng himself had evolved—a flame that transcended the Heavenly Dao. Once this strand of Abyssal Will barged in here, it was like an egg falling into fire, waiting to be roasted through.

But eggs could explode as well. Thus, this step was extraordinarily dangerous. One misstep, and his soul would be annihilated, leaving not even a scrap behind.

"Damn it, if this thing won't let me have an easy time, then I'll eat you so clean I won't even spit out your bones!"

Er Dongsheng began following the System's planned steps, mobilizing the Ink Spirit Flame here to roast this strand of Abyssal Will.

Ink Spirit Flame was black—black beyond black. By all rights, this space should still have been pitch-black, yet the moment Ink Spirit Flame appeared, all darkness seemed to gather toward it. The flame was black yet gleaming, radiating black light within the dark space. It was truly bizarre beyond compare.

This was the depths of Er Dongsheng's soul, his territory, formed by the laws of the greater universe. Once the Abyssal Will arrived here, it could only rely on itself. Without the support of the immense external Heavenly Dao, it had become a ferocious beast trapped in a cage, putting up a cornered beast's desperate struggle!

"Roar! Howl!" The Abyssal Will at the center of the Ink Spirit Flame howled without pause. Roars from all kinds of Abyssal monsters followed one after another, taking the forms of countless beasts. It certainly broadened the horizons of Er Dongsheng, this country bumpkin who had never seen the world of the Abyss.

Second by second, time passed. Er Dongsheng and the System space used every ounce of their strength to refine this Abyssal Will. Yet this will of the Abyssal Heavenly Dao was tenacious to the extreme, howling incessantly as it tried to break through Ink Spirit Flame's defenses, looking as though it would never rest until it had devoured Er Dongsheng.

Er Dongsheng had no path of retreat now. One step back meant a bottomless Abyss, death and the destruction of his soul. But if he endured this trial, then a broad road to the Great Dao would lie before him.

"A path to transcending the Heavenly Dao is right before my eyes, within reach. In my previous life, Earth's Heavenly Dao had weakened and spiritual energy had scattered. Martial cultivators and Daoist School practitioners had already reached the end of the road. But now, the Heavenly Dao of the Abyss is clear to see, laid bare right before me. As long as I hold on, I can truly touch the Heavenly Dao. No matter what, I cannot give up!"

Seize it, master it, and thereby transcend it—this was the undying creed he held as a martial cultivator and descendant of the Daoist School!

The firmer his conviction became, the more fiercely Ink Spirit Flame burned, while the Abyssal Heavenly Dao gradually began to show signs of crumbling.

It seemed to have sensed the fate awaiting it. The Abyssal Will went berserk!

"Buzzz!" The Abyssal Will trembled as its aura began to soar. Then...

"Ah, what is this?"