The Lesser Imp Sibya

"Brother, Brother, look! Lulu caught a big one!" Little Succubus's delighted cries came from outside the cave. Er Dongsheng opened his eyes, rose, and strode out.

For the past few days, Er Dongsheng had been troubled by his cultivation and had spent his time thinking quietly. The little one had been sensible enough to play by herself without disturbing him. If she was shouting like this now, something must have happened!

"Brother, look! Lulu caught a big one! It's an Abyssal Species!"

Little Succubus was tugging hard on a vine. Tied to its other end was a Lesser Imp covered in mud. He stood there with his head lowered, trembling, not daring to breathe too loudly.

The poison was not particularly potent. Soon after Little Succubus tied him up, the Lesser Imp Sibya had regained consciousness thanks to an Abyssal Creature's formidable resistance. He had meekly let Lulu escort him up the mountain to the mouth of the cave where she and Er Dongsheng lived.

Sibya raised his head for a furtive look at the Demon who had appeared before him. He was tall, with shoulders like an iron tower and dark scales that seemed to gleam black. His thick tail swayed behind him like a blade, making a piercing sound as it sliced through the air. When it dipped, it sometimes pierced the hard rock beneath his feet without his even noticing!

And the luminous white Abyss Star on his forehead told Sibya beyond all doubt that the one Little Succubus called her brother was an Abyss Demon lord—and an extraordinarily powerful one!

Sibya had spent some time around a trading ground and had seen plenty of Abyss Demons. Powerful as they were, none had ever put him under as much pressure as this one! The Demon merely stood there, without releasing a trace of his aura, yet Sibya was already so frightened his legs could barely carry him. He crumpled to the ground!

He had lost all hope. The last shred of his desire to flee vanished without a trace!

He might have been only a Lesser Imp, but he was exceptionally good at reading others. That one stolen glance at Er Dongsheng had told him a great deal! In fact, that talent was probably the only reason he had survived this long!

After all, few Lesser Imps in the Abyss lived to thirty!

"Brother, look! An Abyssal Species! Isn't Lulu amazing?" The moment Little Succubus saw her brother, she dropped the vine and ran toward Er Dongsheng in delight!

With her brother here, the little one wasn't afraid the Lesser Imp would escape!

"Mm, you're amazing! I'll make you a feast as a reward later!" Er Dongsheng scooped up Little Succubus as she ran to him and stroked her little head. Amid her giggles, he lifted her onto his shoulder—her favorite place to sit!

The big one and the little one laughed and played for a while as though no one else existed, paying no attention to the unlucky Lesser Imp beside them!

Poor Sibya kept his head bowed low. He did not dare look too closely and lay there without moving, though he was puzzled. He had assumed Little Succubus was the Abyss Demon's subordinate or pet slave, but that clearly wasn't the case! How close did they have to be for her to sit on this lord's shoulder? This... this...

The sight was about to shatter everything he thought he knew.

"Brother? Could they be related? Impossible!" It was as if ten thousand Abyssal grass-mud horses had stampeded through Sibya's little head. Dizzy and bewildered, he had no idea what to think!

In the Abyss, bloodline ability mattered. The quality of an Abyssal Species' or Abyss Demon's bloodline nearly determined how far they could go as a Demon. There were exceptions, of course. Among the thirteen most famous ancient Demon Lords, one had possessed only middling talent, yet crossed a threshold countless Demons could not!

Lilith Selvia, the Lord of Enchantment, was the most famous female Demon Lord in the Abyss. Legend held that she had been an ordinary Succubus who, despite the aptitude of an ordinary Demon, ascended to the throne countless Demons yearned for!

There were many other examples, but there was no need to list them all. The point was that bloodline was not everything in the Abyss.

Yet as things stood in the Abyss now, Demon Lords existed only in rumor, Legendary Demons were nowhere to be seen, and Greater Demons remained hidden behind the scenes. The Abyss belonged to First- and Second-Level Demons, and among them, bloodline quality determined strength. Some Demons who had inherited the bloodlines of ancient Greater Demons could even advance to the Greater Demon level through the power of their bloodline alone. That was fearsome indeed!

What made Sibya's head spin was that Intelligent Species such as Abyssal Succubi and Abyssal Fairies shared one trait: when they had children with other Abyssal Species, the offspring would be either a female Succubus or a Demon of the father's kind. A mixed bloodline was almost impossible—unless the child was a mutant, like Little Succubus!

But mutated bloodlines were exceedingly rare in the Abyss, especially among Abyssal Species! And mutation was not necessarily a blessing; it might produce nothing but a worthless bloodline! Just look at Little Lulu. For her, it would have been better not to mutate at all and simply become an ordinary Succubus!

"Could they have the same father but be different kinds of Demon?" Sibya was baffled. No matter how he looked at them, they didn't seem like brother and sister!

"This humble one is called Sibya! I trespassed on your territory because I had no choice. Please spare my life, my lord!" Sniffling and weeping, Sibya pleaded desperately with Er Dongsheng!

"My lord, I..."

"Shut up! I ask, you answer. Say one extra word, and you'll get a lash!" Er Dongsheng frowned. The Lesser Imp's incessant babbling was giving him a headache! His whip-like tail flicked lightly against the ground, leaving a deep lash mark in the hard stone!

"Hiss!"

Such power from a single lash!

His martial skills had improved again! It seemed the past few days had been fruitful!

"Yes, yes! This humble one will tell you everything I know! I won't say a word more! I..."

Were you a chatterbox in your last life, for fuck's sake?

"Shut up!"

Bang!