It wasn't just the imps who engaged in cannibalism in front of Wu Wei. Not far away, the malevolent spirits he had summoned were also battling and devouring one another. Just as Wu Wei shifted his focus to these imps, he witnessed the larger fiends, nearly twice the size of the lesser imps, tear apart one of their companions with their tentacles and consume him.
More alarmingly, these formidable creatures—far stronger than the imps—sought to devour more than just their own kind; they included the imps, recognized by the Abyss as mere cannon fodder, on their menu!
"Aw!"
"Woo!"
With anguished screams, the first batch of born evils began to search for "suitable" imps to quench their insatiable appetites. The second batch of imps, born into this grim reality, barely had time to feast on each other before they, too, became prey for these malevolent beings.
Flesh was torn from bones, and blood was spilled. One imp shrieked as a larger fiend grasped it and pinned it to the ground. Despite its desperate attempts to escape, it was no use. The lesser fiends had not only superior size but also greater strength!
Filled with unwillingness and pain, the imp’s dimming eyes reflected its despair. To the fiends, however, this suffering was a source of great pleasure. The nature of the demon race diverged from other beings; in hunting, their goal extended beyond mere sustenance. Their true purpose was to inflict pain, annihilate everything in their path, and relish the fear that flickered in the eyes of other creatures.
This is the essence of beings like demons: they are born as perverts, scoundrels, tyrants, and lunatics.
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Initially, Wu Wei believed that the cannibalism among his newly summoned demon soldiers stemmed from starvation. After all, these imps behaved like ravenous ghosts. To mitigate the situation, he promptly purchased enough food for the dozen or so imps and fiends from the Tiandao Mall to last two days and distributed it among them. He even used his lordly authority to order them to maintain a certain distance from one another and refrain from devouring each other.
However, this solution proved to be merely temporary. Surprisingly, once the majority of demons received their food, they consumed it without hesitation and swiftly turned to snatch the food from their fellow demons, regardless of their full bellies. Their insatiable greed drove them to seek out additional sustenance, as if enchanted by an endless desire.
“What do you mean by ‘the majority’? What about the few demons who didn’t act like this?” Interestingly, another small group of demons behaved even worse than their counterparts. They hid the food Wu Wei had provided and went about stealing from other demons.
Wu Wei, now with a deeper understanding of demon behavior, soon realized that supplying them with food only temporarily slowed their lethal tendencies. As long as there was no unified goal among them, these demons would fight to the bitter end.
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But this wasn’t a senseless conflict. Wu Wei observed that demons consuming one another gained attribute values ranging from 1 to 4 points. The more they devoured their own kind, the greater the increase. In other words, this despicable group was slowly evolving—even if at the expense of bloodshed.
This news brought mixed feelings to Wu Wei. On one hand, it suggested that his class had great potential for advancement. On the other, it posed a significant risk: if his demons continued to “evolve,” his trial could end in failure.
“Stay where you are and cease devouring each other!” Wu Wei commanded, leveraging his lordly control to separate the imps from the fiends by a suitable distance, leading them toward the gateway to the Abyss.
In this process, Wu Wei discovered another trait of these demons: their obedience to the lord’s commands. Like all other races, demons were bound to comply with the mandatory orders of their lords, as dictated by the Heavenly Dao system. However, the demons would always harbor a degree of dissatisfaction with these commands. They would inevitably “distort” the lord’s orders, whether intentionally or accidentally, engaging in minor acts of defiance. They might steal an imp when no one was looking or take the opportunity to punish a fellow demon who had previously wronged them.
In short, to most races and lords, demons lacked the concept of “discipline.”
“No, it may be early for the mainland trials, but I have to move now. If I wait any longer, there might only be one demon warrior left.”
With this thought in mind, Wu Wei opened the dusty gate to the Abyss, inputting the coordinates marked by the Heavenly Dao system. “Instead of letting them initiate a meaningless ‘chicken-eating contest’ in my territory, I’d rather have them venture to the trial continent to gather some resources.”
The Trial Continent was not only rich in resources but was also home to countless original monsters transported by Heaven. Not only could these creatures provide the flesh and blood necessary to hatch new imps, but they also offered many precious materials. Thus, Wu Wei planned to capitalize on this opportunity to nurture some “wild monsters” while other lords toiled to establish their territories and portals.
As is often the case in many universes, the total amount of resources on the Trial Continent is typically fixed, while the number of beings vying for those resources continues to increase. This imbalance illustrates the harsh reality of the so-called “Dark Forest” principle, which, in addition to its inherent meaning, brings with it an atmosphere thick with conspiracy and conflict—a constant cycle of war that obliterates everything.
Rational races strive to minimize wars that could lead to self-destruction, focusing instead on conflicts that strengthen them. To these beings, war is merely a means to an end. Conversely, for certain races or individuals, war can take on an entirely different significance. For some, it is a matter of survival; for others, it represents their sole source of pleasure and purpose.
As the black and red door to the Abyss swung open, one demon after another stepped through. Wu Wei could not help but smile; the Trial Continent had finally welcomed its first “guest.”
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Meanwhile, on the Trial Continent, someone had also taken notice of Wu Wei's actions.
“What’s happening? Someone has opened a portal on the very first day of the trial? How is that possible?”
A sparrow, perched atop a tree, gazed toward the ominous door of the Abyss in the distance, its eyes betraying a mix of panic and confusion