Endless Nether Abyss
The scent of sulfur was thick in the first layer of the Abyss, as flames reigned supreme, flowing in azure rivers, burning through forests, and traveling through drifting embers.
Infernos scattered across the realm, engulfing the lifeblood of multiple demons and forcing them to flee the forest.
Yet, within this bleak blaze, one creature refused to leave, even as her cave became a furnace of fire.
"When will you wake up, Father?" a woman in a black hanfu whispered.
Her black tail curled around a five-winged figure.
Her fingers caressed his hair. "Mei Mei doesn't know what to do without you…"
Shadows intertwined between them as she laid her head on the pale figure's chest.
Mei Mei closed her eyes, inching closer.
Tell me how to wake you up… she whispered, listening to her father's heartbeat.
Thump… Thump… Thump…
She ran her finger slowly over his chest, opening her eyes as she took in the dead bodies half-submerged in shadow: Pale Daoist Fiends, Bird Demons, Prowling Red-Scale Lizards, and Deer.
She rose, slithering on her snake-like lower half.
Gripping Qiren's stone dagger tightly, she raised it with both hands over a female demon.
Stab! Stab! Stab!
She drove the blade three times into the chest.
Then she held it there.
The demon struggled, but it could not break free.
Its body vibrated with golden light.
Its irises turned gold, clock symbols spinning within them.
Its body shimmered.
"!?"
Mei Mei's knife was forced backward.
The blood flowing from the fiend's wound was slowly pulled back inside as her arms twitched uncontrollably, moving on their own.
Gears ground in reverse behind her.
The effect didn't last long. Soon, she was free to move as she pleased.
Mei Mei found the interaction strange—but what demon in the Abyss wasn't?
She looked down at the tearful girl.
This time, she slithered toward her head.
Then, with one clean motion, she dropped her knife, killing her instantly.
"Would this make you proud?" she murmured, watching life drain from the target's eyes.
She pulled the dagger out and dragged it lightly down the fiend's face toward her stomach.
Rippp.
She plunged it deep, slicing from chest to navel.
Mei Mei, lost in grief, absently watched the soul rise from the fiend's body.
"Or would I be a disappointment?" she whispered, swallowing the lone soul—but not digesting it.
Her eyes watered. She wasn't useful. Not as a wyrm guard, not as his favorite, not even as a sacrifice.
She moved to his side.
"Tell me… how can I help you?"
She leaned closer. Her body began to change: a middle horn sprouted, her skin paled, and her pupils ticked like clockwork.
Her upper body transformed into the image of her latest kill.
She parted her lips and pressed them against Qiren's, sharing the soul wisps.
Her fangs pressed lightly against his.
—
"Ignore him," Qiren said calmly, turning to the security guard. "Shall we continue finalizing our deal?"
—
Mei Mei's eyes twitched under her eyelids.
—
"Huff… huff… you're sick!" A fearful figure screamed, watching the security guard recoil as flying baby cherubs tore through another man's innards. The longer the kiss lasted, the clearer her vision became.
"Sick?" Qiren said softly. "Child, I lost my sanity long ago."
—
She recognized that voice. Her eyes opened as the last fragments of the soul dissipated and with it the visions she saw.
"PAPA!!"
She lowered her gaze to Qiren's body, thinking he had awakened. But he hadn't.
Mei Mei panted, her heart racing. She clutched her chest and looked around, then back at his mouth.
Swallow.
Then, for an instant, she saw it—an invisible chain extending from his chest, stretching up the tunnel. She followed its path with her eyes.
"Was that… really him?" she asked, her voice trembling with joy.
She turned to his body and felt a flow of something—subtle at first, like faint etchings along his chest, but growing clearer with each heartbeat. Gears began to imprint themselves beneath his skin, turning and meshing with a quiet, metallic hum.
A pocket watch formed along his sternum, its hands frozen in place yet ticking faintly with a pulse of energy.
Time itself seemed to anchor around him in an illusory wave of golden light.
Crack! Crack!
Her attention was torn away—the top layer of her skin became brittle, falling off and crumbling to powder.
Her attention was torn away—the top layer of her skin became brittle, falling off, crumbling to powder.
Slowly, she reverted to herself.
Mei Mei gasped.
"It broke…" Her voice lingered through the heated walls.
"These forms never break."
She tried to recast her recent transformation—but she couldn't feel it.
Her skin began patching, but it fractured faster than it could reform, until she couldn't attempt the change at all.
"Huff… huff…"
I really can't take it's form… she panted, closing her eyes briefly.
Her arms turned red, hooking with pincers.
An exoskeleton restructured her torso into that of a scorpion, her tail following. It was her confirmation: only the form of the fiend she had killed was gone.
Click! Click! Click!
She turned to Qiren's unconscious body.
"Is that it?"
Her body shifted into a smaller black bird, then expanded into a large lizard, and finally became a deer.
"To bring you back, I don't only need to feed on souls," she paused. "But the essence of the demon they belonged to. No—if it were just essence, I'd have lost a lot of transformations."
She paused to think, turning back to the half-shadowed fiend.
"That one was special," she recalled the sounds of clock gears and her body rewinding.
"She had a power difference from the rest of the demons and demonic beasts I've killed…"
Mei Mei hooved the ground, stamping.
She dug into its abdomen… Slosh… Slosh…
Searching, she found what she was looking for: a Taijitu piece. It glowed crimson with stored Qi. She took it and placed it down.
Then she took another from the body: Aperture, Spirit Core, Aperture.
She had collected four Taijitu pieces in total, two of each type. More than she had seen from a single creature; normally, there would only be one Daoist Aperture and one Spirit Core.
This made her realize there might be tiers of demons she hadn't been aware of, dividing the quality of their souls and the power their bodies could contain.
"I knew it… she was special. That's why Father responded," she smiled. "Does that mean the more crystals a demon has, the more you'll respond?"
Mei Mei took a breath to steady herself, her body reverting to her half-wyrm state.
"I understand. To bring you back, I need more of these unique demons. Don't worry, Father. I won't disappoint you this time."
She looked at the Taijitu necklaces around his neck, solidifying her resolve.
She gathered the bloody pieces from the ground and placed all four in her mouth, swallowing them whole.
Then she opened her mouth wide toward the corpse—her goal clear. She needed to hunt not just prey at her level, but those above her level. She needed to be at her best.
Ripppp!
She didn't sink her teeth into flesh.
Instead, she tore through the shadows cast beneath the fiend. The karmic properties within unraveled under her grip, stretching the fabric of darkness with supernatural force.