As the old man descended before the massive temple, Yu Zhou quickly accelerated his ship and brought it to a halt before the entrance.
After exchanging a few final words with his companions—telling them not to worry and to flee if danger arose—Yu Zhou turned toward the colossal gates and stepped inside.
The temple was vast beyond imagination.
When he looked up, the ceiling vanished into darkness; when he glanced to either side, he saw only endless black stone walls stretching to infinity.
Every inch of the place was carved from obsidian-like rock, cold and foreboding.
"Young man," the old man said with a faint, amused smile, "are you planning to follow me inside?"
Yu Zhou glanced at him but said nothing. Instead, he reached out, grabbed the flying device still in the old man's hand, and smoothly tucked it back into his spatial bracelet.
The old man was left speechless.
He had half-expected the young man to show some respect and gift him the flyer as a token of goodwill.
Instead, it was snatched back without a word.
"Lead the way," Yu Zhou said evenly.
Once the device was put away, his demeanour shifted from casual to alert.
This wasn't a sightseeing trip—it was the lair of the King of Darkness himself.
Even for Yu Zhou, this demanded absolute vigilance.
As they walked through the massive corridor, the old man asked lightly,
"Your companions—aren't they coming along to take a look?"
"No need. I'll go alone," Yu Zhou replied.
The passage was enormous, its scale enough to fit titans.
He knew immediately what kind of beings this place was built for.
Everywhere he looked, there was a heavy, ancient aura.
The walls were adorned with reliefs—sculptures rather than simple carvings—depicting scenes long lost to time.
"What do you think of these?" the old man asked, noticing Yu Zhou's gaze lingering on the walls.
"The craftsmanship is impressive," Yu Zhou said, running his hand lightly across the cold surface. "But I can't make sense of the story they're telling."
"Ah," the old man chuckled softly. "Then let me help you see."
He gestured with a single finger, and from the shadows ahead, a thread of black energy drifted toward them like smoke.
"Don't resist," the old man said. "Let it attach to your eyes."
Yu Zhou frowned, instantly wary of the unknown power. But the energy only hovered before his face, shimmering faintly.
Through it, the carvings on the walls seemed to ripple—almost as if they were about to move.
"Hmm… interesting," Yu Zhou murmured, then allowed the dark thread to touch his eyes.
He wasn't afraid. This level of darkness couldn't harm him.
Even if something went wrong, he could always transform and consume it with his own power.
As the dark energy settled, his eyes flashed with light—
and in the next instant, the temple walls began to move.
The carved scenes came alive before him, flowing like a living film.
Yu Zhou blinked. Suddenly, it felt as if he had been pulled into another world.
Yet at the same time, he could still faintly sense his own body standing in the corridor.
Space.
An endless, star-filled universe stretched before him.
Yu Zhou floated there, momentarily dazed.
The carvings were showing a story set among the stars?
Time began to accelerate.
Galaxies spun, meteor dust ignited into flames, and new stars and planets were born in a dazzling cascade.
A solar system formed before his eyes—
and among its worlds, one sphere soon stood out.
Earth.
It wasn't called Earth yet.
Land and sea were only beginning to take shape.
"So… life is about to be born here?" Yu Zhou whispered, watching from the planet's surface as the centuries sped past.
The world changed, over and over again—oceans shifted, continents split, and volcanoes erupted.
Just as the planet was on the brink of giving birth to life, the sky suddenly filled with strange, disc-shaped craft.
"Aliens?" Yu Zhou murmured, eyes narrowing. "Extraterrestrials?"
So, these were the first inhabitants of Earth—
a race of beings from beyond the stars.
The ships descended, and in the blink of accelerated time, Yu Zhou watched them build thriving cities and civilizations across the newborn world.
But eventually, catastrophe struck—
an ice age, massive tectonic shifts, and volcanic cataclysms wiped their cities from existence.
Their once-proud civilization was erased.
Ages passed.
Then, new ships—many of them—began arriving from the depths of space.
Yu Zhou saw countless species, some from faraway nebulae, others from comets or shattered homeworlds now lost forever.
Their planets had perished, and so they had come seeking a new home… here.
The vision shifted again.
In the void of space, a dark star system appeared—a place overflowing with shadow.
Small fleets of ships encircled a massive, ominous battleship.
Then, all at once, they set course for Earth.
When they arrived, panic spread among every species that had made Earth their refuge—
and even among the newborn creatures native to the planet.
From the colossal flagship emerged a towering figure, wreathed in black mist.
The air trembled as the darkness spread outward, covering the world like a shroud.
Within moments, the planet was plunged into night.
The sun's light could no longer reach the surface.
Life began to wither, and all sentient beings—those who had come from the stars and those born of Earth—fell under the dominion of that darkness.
They became slaves to its will.
"The King of Darkness…" Yu Zhou whispered, eyes widening as he saw the being's immense form.
Even compared to the figure he had fought before, this one was larger—far more terrifying.
The oppressive aura that poured from it was suffocating.
But there was no doubt.
It was the same entity—the King of Darkness himself.
"Cthulhu…" Yu Zhou murmured to himself. "Could that be his true name?"
It was only a guess—but a fitting one.
The ancient myths of darkness, after all, bore the same monstrous imagery as the legends of Cthulhu.
Even Gatanozoa, the great sea beast, could be seen as the son of that cosmic horror.
Humanity—those who lived under the King's rule—became slaves.
They built temples and shrines in his name, feeding his power with their fear and despair.
The more they worshiped him, the stronger he grew.
His might soon multiplied beyond what it had been when he first arrived on Earth.
"So this is the power of faith," Yu Zhou whispered.
The principle was eerily familiar.
It was the same as the light of hope that had once made him Shining Tiga—
only inverted.
Where the light drew strength from people's prayers and courage,
the darkness grew through worship and submission.
Two sides of the same coin—
hope and despair, light and shadow.