Chapter 1: The Black Book and the Boy Who Refused Fate
In the infinite tapestry of the multiverse, where galaxies swirl like scattered jewels and time flows in rivers of light and shadow, a silent observer drifted. It was not a star, nor a god, nor a wandering soul. It was a book. A book bound in darkness so absolute it seemed to swallow the light of nearby suns—the Black Book.
Its pages were not of paper, but of condensed possibility, its words etched not in ink, but in the essence of stories yet untold. It traveled the void between worlds, a relic from a dimension where narratives were tangible and destinies could be rewritten. It was searching. Not for a world, but for a spark—a specific kind of rebellion against a pre-written script.
Its journey brought it past a blazing star named Surya and a cool, silver orb named Chandra, finally descending towards a vibrant blue-green world—Prithvi, or Earth. It filtered through layers of atmosphere, ignoring borders, until it hovered over a particular city in India. On a rooftop below, under the fading evening sky, sat its target: a young man named Ayush.
Ayush was furious. His phone screen glowed with the finished text of Douluo Dalu 2 – The Unrivaled Tang Sect, but his heart was a storm of resentment. He had just witnessed, through the protagonist Huo Yuhao's eyes, the entire, grotesque tapestry of manipulation woven by the God-King Tang San. The soul-splitting of his own daughter, Tang Wutong, the sacrificial death of Wang Qiu'er, the lifelong leashing of a brilliant spirit like Huo Yuhao into a loyal, broken hound… It wasn't tragedy; it was tyranny disguised as destiny.
'This is wrong,' the thought screamed in Ayush's mind, hot and pure. 'This shouldn't be how it ends. He deserved to choose. He deserved to fight back. He deserved to be free.'
That raw, unadulterated refusal of an unjust narrative was the beacon the Black Book had sought. It descended, a wisp of intangible shadow, and slipped through Ayush's forehead as he rubbed his tired eyes, dismissing the chill as a late-night breeze.
Unaware, Ayush went about his evening—dinner with his parents, idle scrolling, and finally, sleep. At the stroke of midnight, within the newly formed, shallow Sea of Consciousness in Ayush's mind, the Black Book stirred. Its cover opened. With a whisper of transcendent laws, it gently extracted Ayush's soul, preserving every memory, every emotion, especially that burning indignation for Huo Yuhao's fate. It sealed this soul-essence onto a fresh, blank page within itself—a reader's fury perfectly preserved.
Then, the Black Book departed. It shot up through the roof, through the sky, leaving Prithvi behind and re-entering the starry ocean. It navigated the chaotic currents of the void until it found a crack in reality—a fracture leading to a different stream of time and space. It plunged in.
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Within the Timeless Void
Inside the Book's sealed space, Ayush's soul slept. But he was not the only passenger. Clinging to the Book's wake, drawn by the cataclysmic energy of its journey, was a shattered, fading fragment of consciousness. It was the last remnant of a future that would never be—the divine soul of Huo Yuhao, the God of Destiny, who had fought Tang San, seen through all deceptions, and had been utterly destroyed for it.
This future Huo Yuhao fragment was a ghost of rage and regret. As the Black Book hurtled towards a new iteration of the Douluo Continent, his dim awareness brushed against the sleeping soul of Ayush. He sensed the unfamiliar consciousness, the strange memories of another world, and the shared, intense hatred for Tang San.
'Not me…' the fragment realized, its thoughts flickering like a dying star. 'My chance is gone. But this one… this reader who rages for a story… the Book chose him. Then… let me pave the way.'
The Black Book broke into a new universe, its laws subtly different but familiar. It hovered over the Douluo Planet, specifically over the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. The future Huo Yuhao fragment, using the last dregs of his God-King authority and shielded by the Book's higher-dimensional nature, acted. He could not reincarnate—the world's rules rejected him, and he would not overwrite another's destiny as Tang San had. But he could be a thief for a future he believed in.
In a breathtaking, silent raid that strained his dissipating soul to its limits, he traveled the continent like a phantom:
· He plucked the Soul Carving Knife from a sealed auction vault.
· He unearthed 55 chunks of Ten-Thousand-Year Frozen Marrow from beneath a distant sect.
· He harvested a Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Lotus from the Far North.
· He emptied the hidden Dragon Valley of its most precious remnants: the souls of the Dragon God's sons, mountains of elemental dragon bones, and even a fractured shard of the Dragon God's own soul, which contained two weakened divine crystals of gold and silver.
· He braved the Sun-Moon Imperial Yin-Yang Eyes, stealing the twin dragon souls of fire and water and samples of every extreme spiritual water within.
Each legendary treasure, each fragment of colossal power, was pulled from its resting place and deposited into the infinite storage space within the Black Book, orbiting the space reserved for Ayush's soul. It was a stolen inheritance, a war chest prepared for a war the original owner would never fight.
With his final act, the future Huo Yuhao fragment imprinted a last message into the very fabric of the treasures, a silent vow for the one who would come after:
"I stole these for you. They are not chains. They are tools. My story was a lie. Yours… don't let him write it."
Then, with the Douluo World's laws finally expelling him, the fragment of the God of Destiny shattered into nothingness, his eternal struggle ended.
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The Soul's Descent
The Black Book, its secondary task complete, moved with finality. It found a humble, loving couple in a small city—a woman named Huo Yun'er, pregnant with a child whose soul was yet to fully form. As the moment of birth approached, the Book acted.
It did not crush or replace. It performed a delicate merge. The nascent, blank soul of the unborn child and the vibrant, complex soul of Ayush were woven together by the Book's unparalleled power. Memories were integrated, personalities fused. Ayush's consciousness, his modern knowledge, and his burning sense of justice became the foundation. The child's destiny, its connection to this world, and the latent potential for great spirit power became the vessel. The boy would be born as Huo Yuhao, but within him slept the awareness of Ayush, a reader who knew the entire script and rejected its ending.
The Black Book, its primary mission accomplished, settled into the deepest layer of the newborn's expanded Sea of Consciousness. It closed its cover, appearing as a simple, dark, non-descript tome. Its work was done. The seed was planted.
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Eleven Years Later – Outside the White Tiger Duke's Mansion
A boy with clear blue eyes and a resolute face shouldered a small pack. He took one last look at the opulent, hateful mansion that had been his cage, the place where his mother in this life, Huo Yun'er, had been worked to death. The grief was fresh and sharp, a pain belonging to both the original Huo Yuhao and Ayush.
But beneath the grief was a steelier core. 'I remember it all,' the boy thought. 'The Duke's Mansion, the Duchess, Tang San, the leashed destiny… All of it.' He was Huo Yuhao, but he was also more. He was a fusion, a paradox, a crack in the story's fabric.
As he turned to begin his journey north to the Star Dou Great Forest, a soft, resonant ding echoed not in his ears, but in the center of his mind.
In his Sea of Consciousness, the Black Book opened to its first page.
[ Ding! Host's soul fusion is stable. Core memories integrated. ]
[ Ding! 'Multiverse Live Stream & Chat Group System' is activating, bound to host's spiritual imprint… ]
[ Ding! Activation complete! Welcome, Host: Huo Yuhao (Ayush). ]
Huo Yuhao froze mid-step. A transparent, blue screen flickered before his eyes, visible only to him. On one side was a chat interface, empty for now. On the other, a live stream panel showing his own face from a third-person perspective, with a viewer count of '0'.
A calm, neutral system voice spoke in his mind: "Host, greetings. This system is derived from the Black Book's narrative-correction protocols. Primary Function: To alter fixed tragic destinies through multiversal interaction and resource management. Your journey to rewrite your story begins now. First Objective: Survive the Star Dou Great Forest and obtain your first Spirit Ring. Would you like to begin the inaugural live stream?"
A slow, determined smile spread across Huo Yuhao's face. It wasn't a smile of joy, but of grim recognition. The tools had been delivered. The stolen treasures slept within the Book. The system, his unexpected "gold finger," was online.
He looked towards the distant, foreboding outline of the forest. He thought of the million-year Tianmeng Iceworm waiting, of the spirit of Electrolux that would arrive, of the long road ahead.
"Not just survive," Huo Yuhao whispered to the wind, his blue eyes glinting with a light that was wise, weary, and fiercely rebellious. "I'm going to thrive. And I'm going to show everyone the real ending."
"System," he thought with firm resolve, "start the stream."
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End of Chapter 1