The Allure of the Unknown

Time ticked by. Er Dongsheng sat in a small cave, thinking quietly.

This was his cultivation cave. After Little Succubus arrived, he had dug it beside the storage room at the very back of their living cave, so he would have a place to train.

Whenever he had a moment, he liked to stay here and think. Over the past few days, he had even sat here for entire days, pondering something.

Little Succubus had ended up moving her little bed over. She lay on it, determined to think alongside her brother.

As for what they were thinking about, Little Succubus made a show of considering it. She had no idea, but it sounded impressive!

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

Er Dongsheng was wrestling with a difficult decision. It concerned his strength—and whether he would live or die in the future.

"The system has completed its fusion with that strand of Abyssal Will and undergone significant changes. The host must now choose. Select the option you believe is viable from those below. Be advised: choose carefully. Once made, your choice cannot be changed, and you alone must bear its consequences!"

A mechanical voice sounded in his ears. The Abyss System had finally finished analyzing and devouring that strand of Heavenly Dao, only to place a difficult problem before Er Dongsheng.

"Option One: End the fusion between the Abyss System and the Heavenly Dao. The system will return to its original state, retaining its previous abilities. Note: If you choose this option, your Daoist arts will no longer be usable, including the basic arts you have unlocked. Only the Abyss System's basic functions will remain. Game Space cannot be opened. Your life will return to how it was before!"

"Option Two: Maintain the fusion between the Heavenly Dao and the Abyss System. Abandon the Daoist arts and martial arts in your memories, fully accept the knowledge of the Abyssal Heavenly Dao, and become a Demon through and through. Note: Choosing this option will grant you the relatively complete Abyss Demon cultivation methods and Abyssal knowledge contained in the Heavenly Dao Will. With these methods, you could cultivate to the level of a Greater Demon. Becoming a Legendary Demon may even be possible! Game Space can only construct Abyssal settings!"

"Option Three: Maintain the fusion between the Heavenly Dao and the Abyss System, and add the knowledge of another Heavenly Dao within your soul—namely, the martial arts and Daoist arts you remember, as well as all your memories from your previous life. Fuse all three, as when Chaos first opened, break free of every Heavenly Dao's constraints, and give rise to a Heavenly Dao System of your own, with an independent body of inherited knowledge! Changes to Game Space are unknown and cannot be predicted!"

"Warning: If you choose Option Three, all traces of cultivation in your body—including the physique strengthened through external martial arts, the vital essence refined through internal martial arts, and the Flame Demon God Transformation produced by combining the Daoist School's Eight Gates Technique—will cease to be usable! All related knowledge will be extracted for the fusion. The outcome is unknown. The newly fused Heavenly Dao may grow weaker or stronger, or undergo changes that cannot be foreseen! The fate of Game Space cannot be predicted!"

The mechanical voice continued to deliver its warnings, one after another, ringing through Er Dongsheng's mind.

He was torn—agonizingly so. Option One was out of the question. It would waste an opportunity that had fallen from the heavens! But between Options Two and Three, he truly did not know what to choose.

Relatively speaking, Option Two, which carried almost no risk, was the sensible choice. The system's advice also seemed to favor it. He would lose the boundlessly powerful martial arts and unfathomable Daoist arts of his previous life, but compared with gaining a complete Demon cultivation inheritance, those no longer seemed important. Wasn't he already fretting over how to cultivate? The knowledge he had now could not help him advance through the Demon ranks. He had no idea how to train or advance from here.

He had nowhere to begin. That was his situation. He did not even know how to advance to a Second-Level Demon. Becoming a First-Level Demon this time had been sheer luck. Without a sound inheritance and cultivation method, he could not believe luck would always stay at his side. What if he remained stuck at this level forever?

Weren't most of the Demons in the Abyss still low-level Lesser Demons? Without a complete Demon inheritance, advancing was far, far too difficult!

Then should I choose Option Two? Er Dongsheng thought it over again and again. He looked at Option Two on the list, then at the dangerous Option Three, yet he could not bring himself to accept it.

How hard was it for someone who had practiced martial arts in his previous life to give up decades of training habits? A martial artist prized perseverance: thirty years tempering the body through martial arts, a lifetime cultivating the Dao! Even after arriving in this Abyssal world and becoming an Abyss Demon everyone despised, even under utterly different Heavenly Dao Laws, Er Dongsheng had never stopped practicing martial arts.

He had spent three years tempering this Demon body bit by bit, painstakingly training in external martial arts and enduring grueling pain day after day. He had honed himself and grown little by little. It had taken all three years to reach where he stood today. Who could willingly give that up?

Even when he could use only the most basic body-refining techniques, he had never quit. He had persisted and achieved results worth noting. And now he was supposed to give it up?

Choosing Option Two meant abandoning the martial arts and Daoist arts of his previous life for certain. With Option Three, he might lose them after the fusion—or he might still be able to use them. It all rested in fate's hands.

That was the choice before him.

Left or right? On one side lay a guaranteed Sunlight World. On the other might lie a bottomless abyss—or a perfect heaven.

How was he to choose?

"Damn it! I hate multiple-choice questions more than anything!" He raked his fingers hard through his hair.

"Option Three. Execute it now!"

Nothing was more taboo to a martial artist than dithering. When it was time to choose, he acted at once. No more hesitation, and no regrets!

If heaven lies ahead, I come out ahead. If it's hell, I'll shoulder it myself!

People had to look forward. Whatever consequences lay ahead, only by stepping out could they see what awaited them!