The Allure of the Unknown

Time ticked away. Er Dongsheng sat in a small cave, quietly pondering.

This was his cultivation cave. Ever since the little succubus had arrived, he had dug another small cave beside the storage room at the very back of his dwelling cave for cultivation.

Whenever he had nothing to do, he liked staying here and thinking quietly. These past few days, he had even spent entire days sitting here, contemplating something.

This had led the little succubus to move her little bed over as well. She lay on it, deciding to think alongside her brother!

As for what she was thinking about, the little succubus put on a thoughtful act for a moment, then was impressed despite not understanding a thing!

"Maybe he's thinking about how to make something tasty for Little Lulu!" the little fellow thought smugly.

Er Dongsheng was making a difficult decision, one concerning his strength and the great matter of life and death in the future!

The system has completed its fusion with that strand of Abyssal Will and undergone major changes. The host must make a choice! Please select the option you deem feasible from the following! Please note that the host must choose carefully. Once selected, it cannot be changed, and the host must independently bear the consequences of the chosen option!

A mechanical voice sounded beside his ear. The Abyss System had finally finished analyzing and devouring that strand of Heavenly Dao, yet it had presented Er Dongsheng with an enormous problem!

Option One: End the fusion between the Abyss System and Heavenly Dao, returning to the original state and retaining the original abilities! Note: if this option is selected, the host's Daoist arts will no longer be usable. Even the unsealed beginner Daoist arts cannot be used! Only the basic functions of the Abyss System will be maintained! Game Space cannot be activated! If this option is selected, the host's life will return to how it was before!

Option Two: Maintain the fusion between Heavenly Dao and the Abyss System. Abandon the Daoist arts and martial arts in the host's memories, fully accept the knowledge of the Abyssal Heavenly Dao, and become a demon through and through! Note: selecting this option grants the relatively complete cultivation methods and Abyss knowledge contained within Heavenly Dao Will. The host may cultivate to become a Greater Demon, and even a Legendary Demon is not impossible! Game Space can only construct Abyssal scenes!

Option Three: Maintain the fusion between Heavenly Dao and the Abyss System, while adding the other Heavenly Dao knowledge within the host's soul—that is, the martial arts and Daoist arts remembered by the host, even all memories from his previous life! With the three merging as one, like chaos at the dawn of creation, the host will break free from the shackles of all Heavenly Daos and give rise to his own Heavenly Dao System, possessing independent inherited knowledge! Changes to Game Space are unknown! Impossible to predict!

Note: if the host chooses Option Three, all traces of cultivation upon the body—such as external arts enhancing the physique, internal arts refining essence and energy, and the Flame Demon God Transformation produced by merging the Daoist School's Eight Gates Technique—will no longer be usable! All knowledge related to these aspects will be extracted for fusion! The result of the fusion is unknown. The newly fused Heavenly Dao may grow weaker or stronger, or even undergo unknown changes! Game Space cannot be predicted!

The mechanical voice continued to issue reminder after reminder, resounding through Er Dongsheng's mind!

He was torn—utterly torn! Option One was definitely out of the question; it would be wasting a heaven-sent opportunity for nothing! The key lay in Options Two and Three. He truly did not know which one to choose!

Relatively speaking, choosing the virtually risk-free Option Two was the wiser choice. The system's recommendation also showed that it favored Option Two! Although he would no longer be able to use the boundless martial arts and unfathomable Daoist arts from his previous life, none of that mattered compared to obtaining a complete demon cultivation inheritance! Wasn't Er Dongsheng currently troubled by cultivation matters as well? Possessing that knowledge did not allow him to smoothly advance through the demon ranks. Right now, he had utterly no idea how he was supposed to cultivate and advance in the future!

He had no place to begin! That was his current predicament. He simply did not know how to advance to a Second-Level Demon! Even if he had luckily become a First-Level Demon this time, that had merely been luck. Without a proper inheritance and cultivation method, he did not believe fortune would accompany him forever! What if he got stuck at this stage and could never advance?

Weren't most of the demons in the Abyss still beginner Lesser Demons? Without a complete demon inheritance, advancing was far, far too difficult!

"Then shall I choose Option Two?" Er Dongsheng thought it over and over. He looked at Option Two on the list, then at that dangerous Option Three, yet he still felt unwilling!

How difficult would it be for a man who had practiced martial arts in his previous life to simply abandon decades of cultivation habits? Those who practiced martial arts valued perseverance above all else. Martial arts tempered the body for thirty years; the Daoist School cultivated the Dao for a lifetime! Even after arriving in this Abyssal world and becoming an Abyss Demon despised by all, facing completely different Heavenly Dao laws, Er Dongsheng had still not given up cultivating martial arts!

He had spent three years tempering this demon body bit by bit, painstakingly cultivating his external arts day after day while enduring unbearable pain! He had honed himself bit by bit, grown bit by bit, and only after three years did he achieve what he had today. Who could be willing to give all that up just like this?

Even though he could only make shallow use of ordinary body-tempering methods over the past three years, he had never given up! He persevered and achieved remarkable results! But now he was supposed to abandon it?

Choosing Option Two meant he would certainly abandon the martial arts and Daoist arts of his previous life. Choosing Option Three meant that after the fusion, he might have to abandon them—or he might still be able to use them! It all depended on fate!

This was the choice laid before him now!

Left or right? On one side lay a certain sunlit world; on the other, perhaps a bottomless abyss—or perhaps a perfect paradise?

How should he choose?

"Damn it! I hate multiple-choice questions the most!" He viciously scratched at his hair!

"Option Three. Execute it immediately!"

Those who walked the martial path most avoided hemming and hawing. Once a choice was made, they acted at once! No more hesitation, and no regrets!

If paradise lay ahead, then I had struck it rich. If it was hell, I would bear it alone!

People had to look ahead. No matter what consequences awaited them, only by walking forward could they behold its splendor!