"A little… fellow?"

The tall figure cloaked in black mist, wielding a scythe, let out a low chuckle:

"Child, look at me."

Chen Xiang instinctively raised his head to gaze at the figure, towering at two to three meters tall, but Lu Saleng's face changed as he shouted:

"Close your eyes!"

But it was already too late.

Chen Xiang stood dazed, frozen in place.

"You've gone too far." Lu Saleng's expression turned icy, knowing it was irretrievable now. His golden-silver eyes shone brightly, staring at the figure in the black mist.

"So what? Will you kill me?"

A hoarse, mocking voice drifted from the mist, as the fog swirled, and a sharp glint flashed across the scythe, slicing through the void!

The two elders confronted each other, and the air in the Eighth Circle thickened. Many homeless people awakened from their dreams, each gasping for breath, their faces turning purple!

"You care for this little fellow quite a bit."

The figure in the black mist said in a deep voice:

"Now, he is my follower. If you want him back, you can bring me the Twilight relic. Otherwise, I will make him into a Death Bird, accompanying me."

Lu Saleng slowly rose from his wheelchair:

"Or I could kill you and rescue him?"

"Then try it." The figure in the mist chuckled: "The Great City will become my pasture. From this day forth, I shall…"

Before he could finish,

"I don't quite understand your intentions." A slightly somber voice interrupted. The two elders were taken aback and turned to look at the young man with a grave expression.

He stood there quietly, neither frantic nor weeping.

"Interesting."

The figure in the black mist exclaimed:

"This little fellow is indeed intriguing!"

In an instant, the mist suddenly dissipated, revealing a nearly three-meter-tall, tattered scarecrow right in front of Chen Xiang!

"Close your eyes!" Lu Saleng shouted again,

But Chen Xiang still did not flinch, staring directly at it.

At first glance, it seemed merely a crude construct made of straw and old clothes, but under the lingering black mist, it exuded an indescribable air of mystery.

Behind the scarecrow, enormous wings made of countless fallen leaves and scattered raven feathers swayed slightly, producing a rustling sound like the whisper of death.

As Chen Xiang locked eyes with it, he felt as if he saw decay, ruin, and severed limbs in its deeply sunken eye sockets, the light around its eye being devoured by that depth!

"Are you the legendary Original Fear?"

Chen Xiang gazed at it, every cell in his body trembling with awe. The immense disparity in life levels made him involuntarily shudder, alarm bells ringing in his mind!

Yet he remained calm and spoke softly:

"Did you take Silly Girl?"

Lu Saleng was completely stunned this time, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. This kid is fine?

How is that possible?

Original Fear represents the very essence of fear!

Even a demigod has a high chance of going insane when locking eyes with Original Fear, falling into the abyss of terror completely!

But Chen Xiang showed no reaction.

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Could it be he has nothing to fear?

No, that's impossible.

While Lu Saleng was bewildered, a glimmer appeared in the sunken eye sockets of Original Fear, striking Chen Xiang's mental realm like the first thunder of creation!

Still, he showed no response.

"This is beyond my expectations."

Original Fear looked down at Chen Xiang, chuckling hoarsely:

"No wonder Lu Saleng values you so much. You call it Silly Girl? Interesting, I took it. So, do you want to snatch it back from me?"

As he spoke, Chen Xiang saw the towering scarecrow bend down, and with the sound of rustling straw, its massive head was now just inches away from him, its hollow eyes staring directly into his.

All light in his line of sight was consumed by those eye sockets!

Pitch black.

No, it was darker than pitch black—pure nothingness, exactly how Chen Xiang perceived it at that moment.

Yet he smiled:

"The scarecrow was born 1,300 years ago, a product of divine descent. After it devoured that true god, following the connection with the divine limbs, it broke free from the god's control and became the Original Fear."

"You may be only 1,300 years old, yet after becoming Original Fear, you have become older than any historical record, darker than a night without stars;"

"1,000 years ago, you silently roamed the edges of human civilization, feeding on horror and panic, wielding your scythe to harvest fear yourself."

Lu Saleng's expression turned grave as Original Fear chuckled lowly:

"You know me quite well, little fellow."

Chen Xiang slightly tilted his head, diverting his gaze from the scarecrow's deep eye sockets, the light returning before him.

He examined the dry scars on the scarecrow's straw and continued to narrate calmly:

"Six hundred seventy-four years ago."

"You stood as an ordinary scarecrow in a wheat field outside a small town, crows perched upon your shoulders, the sunlight striving to avoid you."

"You waited for dusk, ready to harvest the lives of everyone in that town."

Lu Saleng squinted, listening intently, while the mocking smile on Original Fear's face faded.

Chen Xiang continued his calm narration:

"But a little girl approached you, leaning against you, lonely as she shared her troubles. As she spoke, she idly wove straw, and before leaving, she placed a woven hat upon your head."

"You found it amusing and, for the first time, didn't harvest the town, remaining motionless like an ordinary scarecrow in the wheat field."

"Every day after that, the little girl would come to you at dusk, starting with her woes, but eventually sharing every trivial matter. She even gave you a lovely name, called…"

"Ah Dao."

Original Fear straightened up, black mist swirling again, the scythe reflecting a cold light,

It coldly asked:

"Who are you?"

Chen Xiang didn't answer, merely continuing his own recounting:

"Twenty years passed. During these years, you seemed to become a true, ordinary scarecrow—no hunting, no harvesting, just standing foolishly in the wheat field, waiting for the girl's arrival."

"Until the end of that year, the girl, as usual, leaned against you and told you she was going mountain climbing with friends, regrettably unable to bring you, Ah Dao, along."

"You listened quietly, wanting to speak, but ultimately remained silent. You told yourself you were just an ordinary scarecrow; scarecrows don't speak. If you did, you would scare the girl."

"The girl went climbing and never returned."

"You rushed to hell, guarding the banks of the River of Hades, but you saw no trace of the girl's soul."

"You transformed back into Original Fear, spending three years investigating everything, finally discovering that on the day of the climb, two demigods fought, and the aftermath killed the girl, her soul falling into the void, completely lost."

"You killed the two demigods, severing the mountain where the girl lay in eternal sleep and the wheat field from reality, transforming them into your divine domain, standing atop the mountain and rooted in the field."

"In the end, you sought the Abyssal Void Church, pledging loyalty for a thousand years in exchange for the promise of the profound void, vowing to uncover the truth of the void in a thousand years and find the girl's lost soul."

"To this day, it has been six hundred fifty-one years."

"You think, in three hundred forty-nine years, you will see the girl again."

"In three hundred forty-nine years, someone will again call you Ah Dao."

Lu Saleng's eyes widened in surprise, clearly unaware of this secret, and suspected that what Chen Xiang said was likely the truth!

This Original Fear…

At that moment, Original Fear had raised its scythe, suspended above Chen Xiang's head, the terrifying pressure causing Chen Xiang's body to crack, blood flowing!

"Who are you?" Original Fear coldly asked, its hoarse voice carrying immense power. The entire Great City suddenly fell silent, everyone awakening from their slumber, an inexplicable panic rising in their hearts!

Chen Xiang coughed up blood, his body gradually bending under the immense pressure, yet he spoke calmly:

"You are older than any historical record."

"And I… am history."

"I perceive everything; I witness everything, and what I see has no errors;"

"I walk in this world, gazing into all secrets hidden beneath the profound darkness;"

"Since I have seen you, I know everything."

He forced himself to straighten his back against the terrifying pressure, staring at Original Fear:

"Since I know everything, I naturally also know the whereabouts of that girl's soul."

"Tell me!" Original Fear suddenly leaned closer, and Lu Saleng braced himself, seemingly ready to act.

But Chen Xiang only smiled brightly, his torn face smeared with blood:

"I won't tell. What, are you going to kill me?"

Original Fear raised its scythe, seemingly ready to strike down, dark breath suffusing the air!

Chen Xiang's physique, comparable to that of a top saint of the ancient roads, was cracking, blood pouring out like it was free, yet he remained calm, even smiling.

"Come, kill me."

Original Fear was enraged; the dark mist rolled like a tide, revealing the shadowy, ancient realm behind it. The tattered straw hat on its head trembled slightly!

It seemed to stand atop a mountain yet also rooted in a wheat field, its divine domain unfolding.

After a long time,

It ultimately did not bring down the scythe, retracting its divine domain, coldly saying:

"In three to four hundred years, I will still know everything."

Chen Xiang coughed up blood:

"Are you sure the girl's soul is truly lost in the void?"

"Are you certain the profound void will really tell you the truth?"

"Are you sure the girl really died due to the aftermath of the demigods' battle?"

"Ah Dao, are you certain?"