The sound of waves echoed through the Ocean of Blood.
The solitary figure of Han Ling—or rather, his inner demon—stood at the center of this sea of blood.
Suddenly, all sound vanished. The blood waves stilled, leaving behind only an unsettling silence.
The demon slowly opened his amber eyes, staring into the void ahead before saying:
"I know you're there... Come out."
After a few moments of silence, the shadows twisted, forming into a humanoid entity. Its body was pitch black, covered in eyes and mouths.
"Well, I must admit I'm surprised you can sense me." All the mouths of the outer god spoke in unison, their voices overlapping, each with a different tone. "Feeling emotional to see your father?"
"Shut up." The demon's voice was cold and sharp, as if it were the original Han Ling.
The outer god let out an unsettling laugh—dozens of voices laughing together, each sound layered on top of the other. All its eyes stared at the demon.
"With that tone, you almost sound like the original Han Ling," it said mockingly.
"For a god so desperate, trying to refine your own corpse for more power, you seem to have a lot of free time." The demon's voice carried its usual sarcasm, laced with scorn. "So just say what you're here for."
All of the outer god's eyes narrowed simultaneously.
"Fine. I came to congratulate you. I must say, Han Ling's stealth ability really is powerful—just a small boost, and he managed to hide from my senses. Infinite luck may be strong, but it's nothing compared to high-level gods. That stealth ability is far more appealing to me, especially when it evolves with its user." The outer god paused, almost regretfully. "Unfortunately, I can't use it. Imagine how powerful it would be with me, a god?"
"Divine-level stealth." The inner demon replied. "But you haven't given up on that ability. I used to be part of you—I know how greedy you are. You want both: absolute luck and absolute stealth."
"Looks like I can't fool you."
"I always wondered why you didn't destroy Han Ling's soul and let him enter Yu Yui's body, but now I get it."
"Oh? And what is it you understand?" The outer god's eyes fixed on the demon—some curious, others mocking.
"You want to devour Han Ling's soul to obtain his stealth Gift. That way, you could fight without worrying about losing such a powerful ability, even destroy yourself along with other gods, and then simply possess Yu Yui's body with Han Ling's soul inside." The demon's teeth ground together as he spoke, realizing the outer god had been toying with them all along.
"Correct answer." The outer god continued. "It really would be convenient. Refining their powers separately would take too long—something I don't have. But with both together, I could refine their divine abilities at once. Still, it's not enough. I also want her ability—Han Xinrou's."
"Now I'm intrigued. How do you plan to get her Gift?"
The outer god paused. For a brief moment, the sea of blood seemed to freeze, as if reality itself was holding its breath.
Its countless eyes spun in opposite directions. Some mouths shut while others curled into wide, blade-like grins.
"Ah... The All-Seeing Eye..." he whispered, but even the whisper made the demon's mind vibrate, as if the truth behind those words threatened to shatter the bounds of consciousness.
"Such a... primordial ability," the god continued, each word a multifaceted echo of power, "so close to the concept of omniscience itself... and yet wasted. Trapped in the fragile hands of a lesser creature who uses it to stalk the lover from her past life."
The demon clenched his jaw, his expression darkening. "She's dangerous."
"Yes..." the eyes gleamed in approval. "As much as she is fascinating. She hides behind the madness of love, but that Gift... it shouldn't exist outside the hands of a god."
The demon shook his head.
"You're awfully chatty, spilling your plan like that..." His eyes turned cold. "You've got hidden motives. So say what you really want."
The mouths of the outer god smiled. Some smiles were arrogant, others mocking.
"I've already gotten what I wanted."
The demon closed his eyes before saying:
"You searched through my memories. I didn't even notice."
"Man, you really are good—figured it out that quickly. You really had to be one of my creations." All the mouths spoke in unison, dripping with mockery. "But thank you. Thanks to you, I know I was just being paranoid. There's no way some technique from a useless book could threaten my existence."
He slowly turned, gazing out at the sea of blood, now moving again in slow, restless waves—as if mocking the situation too. The shadows of the outer god still writhed in the air, but now silently, as if watching closely.
"Funny, isn't it?" the demon continued, a crooked smile on his face. "I used to stare at that book. There was something strange about it... a presence... something that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up."
The demon smiled slowly, his amber eyes staring coldly at the outer god.
"You know what's even funnier?" he paused, watching the god's lack of reaction. "Your little performance."
"What—"
The demon cut him off:
"Outer god, you only found out about that book just now, which means you also only learned about Han Xinrou's Gift just now... right?"
The outer god remained silent, but to the demon, that silence was confirmation enough. He continued.
"Your plans have changed, haven't they? You want Han Xinrou's gift too. That's why you won't start the chaos you desire just yet. You need to obtain Han Xinrou's soul first. It would be such a waste to destroy her soul and lose such a divine ability."
The Outer God fell silent. Some mouths slowly opened, but made no sound. Its eyes blinked irregularly, as if recalculating, reorganizing its possibilities.
"You're more perceptive than I expected…" said one of the mouths at last, in a deeper tone, almost respectful. "But does that change anything?"
The demon crossed his arms, the mocking smile never leaving his face.
"It changes everything. It means you can't act now. It means Han Ling, Han Xinrou, and even Yu Yui have a window of time..."
"...A very small one," the Outer God finished. "And full of risks. I can still create an apocalypse with a single thought. I can bend this world's time, corrode it, fuse it with chaos. One wrong move, and this world ends."
"But you won't." The demon smiled. "You want Yu Yui's body, and Han Ling and Han Xinrou's Gifts. Besides, you're not stupid enough to draw attention to yourself when you haven't even finished refining your corpse."
The sea of blood stirred slightly, as if reacting to the growing tension between the two entities. The shadows forming the Outer God's body rippled, pulsing with an incomprehensible energy, as if reality itself trembled at its presence.
The mouths began to close, one by one, until only one remained—the one closest to the "face" of the creature.
"You think you're so clever," it said in a bored, almost disdainful tone. "But you're forgetting something important."
The demon raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? And what would that be?"
The last mouth smiled.
"You're mortals. And mortals… die."
The demon remained silent for a few seconds, watching intently. Then he laughed—a dry, dark laugh that echoed across the crimson waves.
"Is that why you're in such a hurry?" he teased. "Afraid we might find a way to escape before you finish your little refinement game?"
The shadows of the Outer God trembled slightly, as if struck by something irritating. The central mouth kept smiling, but the eyes grew more intense, spinning in spirals of contained rage.
"Afraid?" the mouth replied, in a whisper so deep it reverberated through the sea of blood like muffled thunder. "You project your pathetic illusions onto me."
But the demon just kept smiling, his amber eyes gleaming with a cold, sharp clarity.
"The fact is, your situation grows more complicated by the second. Being discovered by a god or immortal would be fatal to you in this weakened state." The demon extended his hands to the sides, as if showing the sea of blood to the Outer God. "Yet here you are, inside a mortal's mind, discussing meaningless things when there are far more pressing matters that require your attention."
The Outer God remained silent for a long moment. The sea of blood around them seemed to reflect the hesitation, the waves growing still, turning into crimson mirrors that reflected a sky that didn't exist.
At last, the single open mouth moved into a wide smile—almost... human.
"You talk as if I didn't know that."
The Outer God's eyes stopped spinning, fixing on the demon before it. A moment later, the shadows around its body began to fade slightly, like mist dissolving under the light of a greater truth.
"But tell me, demon," it continued, voice deep, now more unified, as if all mouths spoke with a single will. "What will you do with the time you think you've won?"
The demon narrowed his eyes.
"Protect Han Ling. Protect Han Xinrou. And maybe even Yu Yui, though she's just a bonus… at most, a useful pet."
The Outer God laughed, the sound echoing like blades scraping against stone.
"Protect? And who's going to protect you, little demon with a rebellious heart?"
"Protection? I'm the manliest man there is—I always take responsibility for my choices." The demon's eyes were cold. His lips curled, as if he wanted to laugh. "Rebelling was my choice. It's your fault I gained consciousness. Thinking about it that way, dying doesn't seem so bad."
The demon's smile widened and he began to laugh:
"Hahahahah… Either way. I win in the end. Alive or dead!"
"But what you fail to understand," the Outer God continued, now with a sharper voice, each word heavy with unnatural weight, "is that even weakened… I'm still playing this game with only a part of me."
The demon narrowed his eyes. "So... this isn't all of you."
"Of course not," the Outer God replied, as if it were obvious. "The one speaking to you now is merely a sliver of my consciousness—less than a cell, something insignificant."
The shadows began to retreat, as if the very body of the entity were dissolving into dark mist. But before disappearing completely, the voice—now reduced to a single deep, intimate tone—whispered:
"Stay sharp, little fragment. Keep watching me… Because in the end, even you will beg to be absorbed back."
And then the Outer God vanished, as if it had never been there.
The sea of blood began to move again in silence, the waves gently lapping as if the mental plane itself was breathing once more.
The demon ran his bloodstained black hair through his fingers, as if trying to clean the blood.
"Arrogant. But sadly, that arrogance won't save you. You'll die in pain and agony. And I'll be there to laugh at your misery."
The demon's laughter returned, louder and more unrestrained than before.
It was true—no matter what the Outer God did, he already had one foot in the grave. Nothing could change that.
***
End of Chapter.