Chapter 777: Shadows of the Abyss

Lu Xin couldn’t understand why Mom had thanked that old man— or rather, the Fire-Thief— not just once, but twice.

She had repeated her thanks twice.

It wasn’t until they stepped out of the church and the fragile wooden door closed behind them that Lu Xin began to notice things.

He suddenly realized that the small town which once lay outside the church had vanished. The low, cramped houses and the narrow, cobblestone alleys between the side buildings were gone—as were the few potted flowers dampened by mist under the windows, and the diverse lives behind each pane.

All that remained was a dark red surface and a roaming, indifferent wind.

Occasionally, vague silhouettes would lift their heads from behind crumbling ruins, watching them with an almost palpable fear.

This was no seaside town—it was an Abyss.

Stunned, Lu Xin turned to find that even the dilapidated church had changed its appearance.

It no longer seemed solid at all, but a mere shadow woven from shifting patterns of light and dark deep within the Abyss.

In fact, inside the church he could faintly see a monstrous creature, its body overgrown with writhing tentacles, standing before a deity statue at the far end. This statue, too, was a monstrous entity sprouting countless tentacles, silently praying.

……

……

“It’s all a lie?”

After a long silence, Lu Xin finally spoke in astonishment.

In fact, he had noticed traces of it when confronting that old man.

The moment he clutched the old man’s neck, the background had repeatedly dissolved into the illusion of an Abyss.

He had simply been unaware at the time.

Moreover, he had never witnessed such an uncanny, reality-mirroring illusion of an Abyss before.

“Yes,” came the reply.

Facing Lu Xin’s growing suspicion, Mom sighed softly, “It’s all fake—even our victory was an illusion.”

Hearing her words, Sister hurriedly adjusted her backpack as though checking something.

Yet neither Mom, Lu Xin, nor Dad, who seemed lost in thought, noticed her subtle action.

Mom turned to Lu Xin and explained in a low voice, “Do you remember that crucial move we used to defeat him just now?”

“I resisted the corruption of Truth by using my unique trait.”

“I tried to discern the rhythm of his power, to help you grasp that pivotal, genuine element.”

“Under my gaze, his core consciousness even produced a pen, ready to alter the rules in the Book of Truth.”

“……”

Lu Xin nodded immediately.

In that moment, it was precisely because of that move that he discovered that, together with Sister, he’d managed to seize him.

Otherwise, even if he had summoned that ancient power from the past, he wouldn’t have found him.

Mom murmured, “He never intended to change the rules.”

“He picked up the pen merely to erase the rule that forbade peering into fate, so as to keep my injuries from becoming too severe.”

“……”

Lu Xin was suddenly stunned, looking at Mom in confusion.

But her expression remained calm as she softly said, “He really never meant to fight us to the bitter end.”

“Otherwise, I might have been able to forcefully capture some of his weaknesses and give you a chance to seize him.”

“But that would have come at a great cost.”

“Objectively speaking, I never wanted to reveal my weak side, but it might have meant I’d never see you again.”

“……”

A deep dread churned in his heart.

Lu Xin hadn’t realized earlier that he had just experienced such a perilous moment.

Although he now possessed a Mental Core and was skillfully using some of his newfound powers,

he was still too new to this level to be sensitive enough to such subtle changes or to discern them accurately.

“But…”

After a pause, he asked, “He really did intend to trap us here, didn’t he?”

He recalled how, in the end, the entire town seemed to surge towards him and the family, leaving him in a state of chaotic helplessness.

At that moment, even his own vision blurred as if everything was shrouded in uncertainty.

“Yes,”

Mom nodded softly and said, “Because your gaze—or rather, the gaze you summoned—infuriated him.”

“Among all of us, he despised that look the most.”

“For a moment, he truly intended to unleash his full power to trap us all here…”

“……”

As she spoke, she turned to survey that bizarre town and murmured:

“This small town is a separate space built upon the Abyss, designed to mirror reality.”

“Everything in it is his own fabrication.”

“It serves to dilute the relentless influence of raw, fear-inducing power, so that it doesn’t spill over into reality.”

“You can think of it as him enduring that terror on his own.”

As she talked, a soft smile gradually appeared on her face as she glanced toward Dad.

“A Prisoner of the Night—or rather, a King of the Night—loses his authority, and it’s never pleasant.”

“But hiding the King of the Night’s power so that it remains undiscovered is equally agonizing, a burden he must bear alone.”

“Especially now, when he is so lost…”

“……”

At this point, she suddenly fell silent, lost in thought.

After a while, she let out a soft sigh and continued:

“Imagine the torment of a man ensnared by perpetual confusion and unending terror…”

“He has hidden the fear that should belong to this world within his mental sanctuary, enduring its torment constantly—much like the myth of the Fire-Thief, cursed to push a stone up a mountain day after day.”

“So it’s understandable that, at one point, he sought revenge against the gods…”

“……”

Listening to Mom’s words brimming with sorrow and anguish, Lu Xin momentarily froze.

He wasn’t sure if he truly grasped that state of mind, yet a subtle oppressiveness weighed heavily on him.

“Then…”

After a moment, he softly asked, “So, he changed his mind because of my kind of basic, unrefined thinking?”

“Because of your humanity,” Mom replied with a smile as she turned to Lu Xin. “You refuse to kill him, and you wouldn’t even wipe out the ‘people’ in that town.”

This stems from the kindness inherent in you.

“In the grand scheme for the Ultimate, much of humanity is merely primitive thought.”

“……”

“……”

She spoke gently, her gaze drifting into the distance as she sighed and continued:

“I once guided you deep into the Abyss, where you witnessed the darkest depths of the human heart.”

“You must understand that even the most beautiful things can reveal their ugly essence within the Abyss.”

“Love is nothing more than a genetic imperative; nurturing is driven by deep-seated maternal instinct; friendship originates from the fear of vulnerability; and kindness or compassion stems merely from a deep-seated dread that triggers defensive resistance.”

“……”

Mom’s words suddenly struck Lu Xin with profound shock.

On his previous descent into the Abyss, he had indeed seen many things.

Yet so many of them were abstract, complex, and beyond precise description, which is why he hadn’t pressed Mom for further discussion.

At that very moment, when she mentioned it, he almost instinctively wanted to contradict her,

but as he opened his mouth, he found himself utterly speechless.

Too many of the Abyss’s monsters confirmed Mom’s words in silence.

It was like someone who toils daily at a company, forced to act out of fear of abandonment.

……

……

“But he did say…”

Mom sighed softly, “Even he cannot deny that it was a mistake.”

She seemed to sense the shock in Lu Xin’s heart and smiled as she added, “When you try to explain the emotional with reason, it all loses its meaning. Even in the Abyss you might find an ugly answer, but who can deny that in reality, a mother cradling her child in a bed of flowers is one of the most moving scenes in the world?”

Lu Xin was momentarily stunned.

He couldn’t quite imagine what that scene would feel like, since as a man he could never be a mother.

Yet he knew that the image was undeniably beautiful.

“Sometimes, you just have to feel it.”

As a practitioner of fate—one with the Insightful Eye— Mom softly advised Lu Xin, “Don’t look too deeply.”

“……”

“……”

After a brief spell of oppression, Lu Xin’s mood lightened unexpectedly.

He suddenly found it all incredibly fascinating.

Changing one’s perspective can indeed evoke entirely different emotions.

After a long while, he nodded with a smile and posed the most crucial question:

“So, did he decide to return the authority of terror to us because of my kind of primitive thinking?”

“Yes,”

Mom nodded gently, and at last a smile broke across her face. “You can see it as your humanity touching him.

He is a being so fearsome that even gods dare not look directly upon him.

A god cannot gaze upon him, yet to catch just one glimpse, it would sacrifice its very eyes.

But your humanity lies in a realm he can never reach; in his confusion, he chooses to believe in you.”

“……”

“……”

In Mom’s words, Lu Xin clearly grasped her main point:

Believe in yourself.

Not in Dad…

After a silence, he turned to look at Dad.

Mom and Sister also followed his gaze.

After leaving the church, Dad was immersed in the power evoked by his mask, his demeanor quiet and withdrawn.

Only when every family member’s eyes settled on him did he slowly lift his head.

Taking a deep breath, he spread his arms and began laughing heartily.

As he laughed, his body started expanding uncontrollably.

From a modest height of two to three meters, he grew to tens, even hundreds of meters, as he stood in the Abyss, arms wide open—as if welcoming the return of his power—with each segment of his body surging upward until he towered over everyone.

Crash…

Large cracks and collapses suddenly appeared beneath his feet.

The shallow layer of the Abyss could no longer withstand his mass and shattered like fragile ice.

Every corner of the Abyss, every furtive creature, felt Dad’s power. Whether fully aware or barely conscious, they recoiled, tightening their bodies in a desperate bid for survival; those with hands clutched their ears, and those without scrambled to burrow into the ground.

Many creatures in the Abyss, roused from endless fear, suddenly opened their eyes as if awakening from a long dream.

Even the sparse, greedy hands on the ground shrank back in terror, like startled mimosa plants.

“The power of fear is truly overwhelming…”

Amid the deafening, nonexistent rumble that nonetheless shook the very air, Mom’s face stiffened as she watched the monsters—startled awake by Dad’s laughter—scurry around.

First furrowing his brow, Lu Xin finally understood.

He had seen many Mental Monsters in the Abyss, which came in various forms.

Generally, they fell into two categories.

The more one’s heart bore, the more monsters would be born in the Abyss. Yet most of these creatures remained in a state of unconsciousness—mere reflections of the mind, armed only with instinctual fear and a will to flee. They didn’t possess true consciousness, much like plants—they existed simply because there was a reason for them in this world.

But at that moment, as Dad’s power surged, even they began to awaken…

…Lu Xin mused, suddenly aware of another troubling question.

Mom had mentioned that after the birth of the Ultimate, there was a period of self-realization.

Could it be that the Ultimate, like these Abyssal monsters, once went through a phase from confusion to clarity?

……

……

“Rumble…”

While Lu Xin was pondering these questions, a massive tremor erupted.

It seemed Dad’s power had surged so intensely that even the Abyss’s very ground quaked. Shadowy remnants of buildings collapsed in an instant, flattening under the force, while countless monsters stirred and began to laboriously crawl from every direction, driven by instinct.

Fortunately, this was merely an empty space within the Abyss.

In the real world, it corresponded only to a barren, uninhabited area.

Otherwise, simply Dad’s return would have triggered a disaster rivaling the arrival of the Cangzhang Sect in old times.

“Rat-a-tat, rat-a-tat… rat-a-tat.”

An increasing number of Mental Monsters converged from afar, crawling at Dad’s feet.

In the distance, fierce waves of mental energy surged, as if a colossal presence was moving through, causing the earth to crack.

Endless mists, propelled by the tremors from all sides, swirled menacingly—like invisible forces sweeping across the Abyss’s dark red material—until, just as they neared the family, they dispersed abruptly to reveal a host of terrifying monsters with formidable mental powers, all crawling about.

“The Lords…”

Lu Xin’s pupils constricted involuntarily.

Moved by Dad’s laughter, the Mental Monsters that had converged at his feet were none other than Lord-level entities.

These were monsters that, if they appeared in the real world, would plunge everything into chaos.

Yet at this very moment, they sensed Dad’s presence and, both docile and terrified, began to bow in reverence.

……

……

“Hmph…”

And as these Mental Monsters cowered at his feet, Dad’s overwhelming laughter suddenly ceased.

His gigantic body paused while the eyes behind his black mask swept coldly downward.

He felt the myriad mental monsters of various ranks gathering around his feet—much like an emperor inspecting his own army.

In the next moment, the eyes beneath his mask turned icy and sinister.

Through the swirling, dark fog that churned around him, enormous hands suddenly reached out.

Some gripped weapons, while others resembled writhing tentacles, lashing out in bizarre ways at everything nearby.

“Slash…”

Those monstrous hands clutched at the crawling creatures at his feet and viciously tore them to shreds.

A cacophony of crushing flesh filled the air as one body after another was ripped apart.

Countless Mental Monsters, caught in their final moments, displayed expressions of horror and agony, yet dared not even cry out.

Even those that managed to avoid Dad’s grasp could only curl up in silent terror.

Mom’s face grew stern as she watched Dad’s indiscriminate killing spree, showing no intention of stopping him.

Sister clung tightly to Lu Xin’s calf with her slender arm.

……

……

In a shocking turn, Dad unleashed a murderous rampage on these now-submissive monsters.

None of them had expected it.

Throughout the ordeal, he used the most primitive, brutal methods, tearing apart those Abyssal behemoths into raw mental energy that dispersed into the air and mingled with the ever-raging dark red winds of the Abyss—a proclamation of his return marked by terror and majesty.

The eerie sounds of tearing flesh, the delicate gulp of devouring, and even a chilling, vengeful laugh stung Lu Xin’s ears like a barrage of steel needles.

In one fell swoop, Dad transformed this slice of the Abyss into a hellish realm of despair, saturated with slaughter and fear.

Mom didn’t try to stop him, and neither did Lu Xin.

Through this ruthless display, Lu Xin even caught a glimpse of the madness hidden beneath Dad’s mask.

A Prisoner of the Night cannot summon these Lord-level creatures.

The King of the Night doesn’t need them.

……

……

“Clack, clack, clack…”

The violent aura emanating from Dad affected everything around him as the entire Abyss trembled violently.

After he had torn apart all the Lord-level monsters, Dad bent low, exuding boundless brutality.

His towering form looked down at Lu Xin, who appeared as small as an ant in comparison.

At that moment, the mask covering his face seemed like a vast lake, reflecting the inner terror of the human soul.

Lu Xin, for his part, simply watched his father calmly, meeting the cold, savage eyes hidden behind the mask.

“I’m never taking that security job again…”

After a long pause, Dad finally spoke, his cold, sharp voice resonating with a trace of indifference.

Lu Xin nodded lightly before asking calmly, “So, will you come back to help me when I need it?”

In response to Lu Xin’s inquiry, Dad’s laughter suddenly turned teasing: “What if I don’t show up?”

Lu Xin looked steadily at Dad, a faint smile slowly creeping across his face as he spoke earnestly,

“Then I’ll find you, smash your mask, and lock your consciousness in the restroom—

so you’ll never be able to recover…”

“……”

“……”

Perhaps Lu Xin’s tone was too earnest, or maybe Dad hadn’t anticipated this reply.

Both fell silent.

In the quiet, Dad’s massive body trembled slightly, his voice laced with awkwardness and unmistakable fear:

“Eh, I was just kidding with you…”

“……”

Lu Xin’s expression remained impassive; only a hint of a smile twinkled in his eyes as he said, “I was just joking with you, too…”

“Whoosh!”

Though they claimed it was all in jest, Dad’s body suddenly shuddered.

Then, his enormous form rapidly contracted, reverting to its former size.

Even the masked face could not conceal the panic and embarrassment he felt at that moment.

Almost reflexively, he raised his hand and, in exasperation, chided Lu Xin, “You’re too old for these jokes…

If you ever encounter real trouble, how could I not come? I swear I always will…”

“……”

“Huh?”

Sister poked her head out from behind Lu Xin once again, watching their oddly behaving Dad.

Mom stood by with a resigned expression, pinching her nose.

Lu Xin simply continued to watch Dad in silence until, after a moment, he smiled and said, “I do believe you.”

“I know you were joking, so I’m playing along…”

“……”

The atmosphere in the scene felt anything but playful—instead, it brimmed with uncertainty, tension, and awkwardness.

After a while, Dad cautiously looked at Lu Xin and ventured, “But that security job—I really don’t want to do it anymore…”

“……”

“I can understand that,” Lu Xin replied with a grin, “They really don’t pay enough.”

Then, after a thoughtful pause, he looked earnestly at Dad and said, “You can leave now.”

“Go and get used to your power, and restore the way you were before.”

“But…”

After a brief pause, he added seriously, “You must absolutely remember the Qinggang Ability Users’ Restrictions…”

“You can’t arbitrarily corrupt normal people…”

“You can’t instill panic…”

“And you must not disrupt the administrative order of other High-wall Cities or Settlements…”

“…Matters of personal conduct might not affect you directly, but you still need to be cautious!”

“……”

“……”

Listening to Lu Xin’s admonitions, Dad awkwardly scratched his head.

Reluctantly, he could only agree repeatedly, “Okay, okay…”

“I promise not to mess up when it comes to my personal conduct…”