Book 14, Fiend – Chapter 1, Mirrormoon Cliff
One of the Four Higher Planes. The Infernal Realm!
A cold, violet, knife-thin moon was hanging in the night sky, emanating a hazy, devilish violet moonlight which covered the boundless world before them.
“Rumble…” The dark, gloomy waves struck time and time again against the craggy cliff that was ten thousand meters high. Despite trillions of years having passed with the waters of the Starmist Sea continuously striking against it, this crag remained exactly as it had been ten thousand years ago, standing there unmoving.
This crag was absolutely straight, like the edge of a knife. Its surface gleamed like a mirror. In the Infernal Realm, it was known as Mirrormoon Ridge.
At the highest point of Mirrormoon Ridge, an ancient stone castle that was completely built from violet stones stood. It gave the aura of having been there forever. Only, on occasion, within the violet castle, a few flickers of light would occasionally flash hazily, as though in a dream.
In the center of the violet castle, there was an extremely flat empty area that was formed from ancient, earth-colored stones.
In this space, there were two enormous magic formations that were a hundred meters across. This magic formation was untold times more complicated than the magic transportation formation located in the Arctic Icecap. Next to these two giant magic formations, there were two powerfully built men present.
The two men wore violet clothes. On the outside, they wore violet robes with gold trims, and they also had unique violet seal markings on their forehead.
“Third Brother always works so hard. He never gives up any chance he can get to train.” The violet-clothed warrior with black hair said.
The nearby violet-robed man with silver hair laughed as well. “Third Brother is so hard working that most likely he will soon take over the position of Commander.” As they spoke, the two turned to look at the nearby bald youth who was seated in the meditative position close to them who wore the same clothes as they did.
“Rumble…”
In the empty space, one of the massive magic formations began to emanate a misty light, and then three figures appeared within the distorted space in the center of the magic formation. After the misty light dispersed, they were able to clearly see those three figures. Standing in the center was a youth dressed in a sky-blue robe, while the other two were a golden-haired beauty as well as an impish, delicate looking youngster wearing a straw hat.
The three looked curiously around at their surroundings.
“Oho!” The black-haired warrior laughed loudly. “How rare. The three which came to the Infernal Realm this time are all at the Deity level. It seems two of them are even Gods. The three of them are quite clever. They didn’t come at the Saint level, haha…”
“Those who come to the Infernal Realm at the Saint level are utter fools.” The silver-haired man snickered.
The bald man who had been meditating now rose to his feet. This bald man had a pair of icy cold, silver eyes. He walked over and said calmly, “Welcome to the world of experts – the Infernal Realm!” His hoarse voice echoed in the empty space.
The three people who had been brought over were Linley, Delia, and Bebe.
“So powerful!” Seeing the three in front of him, Linley couldn’t help but grow guarded. “These three people should all be more powerful than me. They are most likely Gods. However, they could also be Highgods.”
Bebe shouted loudly in excitement, “Wow! Hey, handsome fellas in purple, so this is the Infernal Realm? Whoaaaah, what a dense elemental aura. Also, there’s so many experts here as well…hey hey, check those guys out, those six horned creatures. This is my first time seeing them.”
In this empty space, aside from those three men in violet, there were dozens of creatures off to one side who looked very strange. Half of them were humanoid, while most of the rest had all sorts of strange appearances, many of which Linley’s group had never seen before.
The bald man stared coldly with his silver eyes at Bebe. “Shut your mouth!”
Bebe couldn’t help but feel astonished.
“I will only say what I have to say a single time! Listen clearly, otherwise, if you get killed, you can’t blame me.” The bald man’s hoarse voice didn’t seem to have any tone to it at all.
Bebe was clearly rather unhappy, but Linley reached out with his right hand and rested it on Bebe’s shoulder, applying just a bit of pressure as he said mentally, “Bebe, this is the Infernal Realm. We are new here and don’t know anything yet. Don’t make any more trouble. Lord Beirut might be powerful, but his authority doesn’t extend to the Infernal Realm.”
Although Bebe was unhappy, he still behaved obediently and stopped making trouble. “Boss, I got it.”
“The three of you came from a material plane. What you need to do now is wait over there!” The bald man pointed towards the empty space where those dozens of creatures were quietly standing. Linley couldn’t help but turn and look at them.
Half of these creatures were humans, while the others were of different species.
“These dozens of creatures only have five Deities amongst them. The rest are all Saints.” Linley could tell at a glance.
The bald man continued coldly, “What the three of you need to do is just stand there obediently. You aren’t permitted to make any sound, or to run about. You must obey us in all things. If you disobey, then your lives will come to a halt here.”
The black-haired man laughed loudly, “Listen closely to what my Third Brother just said. Otherwise…haha.”
The bald man glanced at the black-haired man, who could only chuckle. The bald man then continued to speak emotionlessly, “I have already told you what I needed to tell you. You are not permitted to speak or ask questions. Tomorrow morning, we will send you off!”
After speaking, the bald man returned to his corner and began to meditate yet again.
The other two glanced at each other and began to laugh.
Linley had a thought. “Send us off tomorrow morning? To where?”
“Linley, we just arrived in the Infernal Realm. It’s best for us to first get a clear sense of the situation. Let’s listen to these men in purple robes for now.” Delia’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind. She held Linley’s hand as well. Linley turned and smiled towards Delia, and then led her and Bebe towards the empty space.
Linley and Delia only glanced at some of those previously unseen races amongst the creatures present.
“These are all from material planes. Only, many of these races do not exist in our Yulan continent.” Delia chatted with Linley using divine sense with some interest. Linley nodded slightly as well. “Hey, Delia, look at that person over there.”
There was a person towards the rear of the dozens of people present. His entire body was covered with draconic scales, and there was a draconic horn in the middle of his head as well. He seemed extremely similar to a Dragonblood Warrior.
“Boss, that guy looks so similar to you when you are transformed.” Bebe said mentally as well. “Isn’t that one of the legendary Draconians?”
“Probably.” Linley found it quite interesting as well.
Just by standing there in that empty area, Linley saw so many different races. Although more than half were humanoid, that was including the five Deities as well. Any race, upon reaching the Deity-level, was capable of taking human form.
“Linley, from what that bald man just said, it seems that at daybreak, we will be sent away. I imagine that they send people off every day.” Delia quickly was able to come to a general deduction. “There really are so many material planes. So many come to the Infernal Realm each day!”
Linley secretly nodded as well.
In the Yulan continent, normally speaking, a person would go to the Higher Planes perhaps once a century. There were simply too many material planes, however. Even though they all went separately to the Infernal Realm, each day, many people arrived.
“In trillions of years, a countless number of experts must have been accumulated here in the Infernal Realm.” Linley glanced at the three violet-robed men. Linley had the feeling…that the uniform which these three men wore had a peculiar aura which caused Linley to feel nervous.
That was no ordinary uniform, nor was it something which had simply been formed from divine power.
“And those seal markings.” Linley naturally noticed that the three men had a violet seal marking in their forehead. The magic formation once more lit up with misty light. This time, two enormous creatures appeared within the magic formation. The two were at least ten meters tall, and their entire bodies were covered with golden fur. They looked like some sort of simian apes.
In addition, these two strange creatures actually had black scales growing out of their forehead.
“Motherf*cker, grow smaller!” The black-robed man shouted angrily.
The two massive creatures that were three stories tall, in their own material planes, clearly were the most powerful creatures around. Upon being cursed, one of them grew hot-headed and actually roared back in anger. He even swung his tail viciously towards that violet-robed warrior.
“You asked for it!” The violet-robed warrior stared. A black staff suddenly appeared in his hands, which suddenly elongated. Dozens of black staff shadows suddenly came smashing down, filling the air with a destructive aura, instantly terrifying those two creatures and bringing them to their senses.
Only, it was too late!
“Boom!” That ten-meter tall creature instantly became smashed into a pile of demolished flesh.
The other creature immediately shrank in size to just two meters tall, staring in terror while speaking in the human tongue, “Milord, spare me!”
“You are in the Infernal Realm now. Do you still think you are in that material plane? You really asked for it.” The violet-robed warrior snorted. “Listen up. What you need to do right now is stand over there. Don’t ask any questions. We’ll tell you what needs to be told. What doesn’t needs to be told, we’ll kill you for asking about.”
“Simply put, don’t make any sound and listen to our orders!”
The black-haired warrior made the black staff disappear with a flip of his hands. “Enough. Go back over there.”
“Sixth Brother, clean the floor up.” The bald man who was meditating suddenly spoke out.
“Uh…” The black-haired man looked at the bloodstained ground and the corpse which had been smashed apart. He couldn’t help but frown. He immediately turned to stare at that seemingly simian creature. “You, hurry over.”
The creature couldn’t help but tremble. He immediately pointed at himself in confusion, his eyes mystified.
He didn’t dare make a sound!
“Right, I’m talking to you.” The black-haired man nodded, and the creature immediately ran over at high speed quite obediently. The black-haired man pointed at the floor. “Right now, hurry up and clean this floor up. If there’s a trace of blood left, you can accompany your friend in death.”
The creature was so frightened he hurriedly nodded.
Linley, Bebe, and Delia all felt their hearts shaken in surprise.
“Boss, it seems the people here really kill people at the drop of a hat. They don’t hesitate at all.” Bebe said mentally. Linley glanced at the black-haired man. “He doesn’t care at all. So many people come every day to the Infernal Realm. Who would care about a few people more? Also, that black-haired man is extremely powerful!”
Delia and Bebe both agreed.
They could both sense that the three violet-robed men were at least at the God level of power.
“Just from that technique, we can tell that this black-haired man trains in the Way of Destruction. His attack just now contained both a material component as well as a spiritual component. It seems he has fused at least two profound mysteries!” Linley couldn’t help but feel astonished at this violet-robed man’s power.
In addition, Linley could also tell that of the three violet-robed men, the most powerful one should have been that cruel-looking bald man.
“The gravity here in the Infernal Realm is nearly a hundred times stronger than that of the material planes as well.” Linley was carefully sensing the differences in this new place. For the gravity to be so strong didn’t mean much to Deities. “When I went to the Necropolis of the Gods, my spiritual energy was restricted to one ten-thousandth of my normal range. But here in the Infernal Realm, my divine sense’s range is restricted even more!”
This was their first trip to the Infernal Realm. Linley didn’t dare to wildly spread out his divine sense and see how far he could stretch.
Only, he had the sense that the restrictions on divine sense in this Higher Plane was far greater than the restrictions the Necropolis of the Gods had placed on his spiritual energy.
Time flowed on, and one human, beastman, or magical beast after another continued to arrive. Many types of creatures continued to be transported to the Infernal Realm. By the time the red glow of the sun rose above the sea-line and shone down upon this castle atop Mirrormoon Ridge, over a hundred creatures had arrived from the material planes to the Infernal Realm.
Suddenly, footsteps rang out. From the nearby gate, one after another violet robed man walked in, chatting and laughing amongst themselves.
“Third Brother, thank you for standing guard all night.” Several violet robed men chuckled and greeted him. Soon, hundreds of violet robed men had arrived. Linley wasn’t able to detect the strength level of any of these men. Several of them in particular shocked Linley with the strength of their aura alone, capable of stirring up fear like how Adkins had.