Chapter 1: Mirror Moon Cliff
One of the four supreme planes — Hell!
A sickle-shaped violet cold moon hung in the night sky, emitting a hazy, eerie purple moonlight that blanketed the boundless world below.
"Boom..." Dark, surging waves crashed hysterically against the ten-thousand-meter-high precipice time and time again. Yet for billions of years, no matter how the waters of the Star Mist Sea battered it, the cliff remained as it had eons ago, standing firm.
This cliff rose straight up and down, as if sliced by a blade, its surface smooth as a mirror. In Hell, it was known as Mirror Moon Cliff.
At the highest point of Mirror Moon Cliff stood an ancient castle constructed entirely from purple ore. The castle seemed to have existed since time immemorial, though from within its violet walls, a faint, dreamlike glow perpetually emanated.
In the center of the purple castle, an open space was paved with earthy yellow, ancient stone material, perfectly level.
On this open ground were two colossal magic arrays, each a hundred meters square, far more intricate than the teleportation arrays of the Arctic Icefield. Beside these two giant arrays stood two burly men.
They wore purple tight-fitting garments beneath purple robes embroidered with gold trim, and bore a special purple mark on their foreheads.
"Third Brother is really diligent, never wasting any time on training," said the purple-robed burly man with short black hair, laughing.
The silver-haired man in purple robes beside him also chuckled: "With Third Brother training like this, I reckon he'll be able to take on the role of captain before long." As he spoke, the two glanced toward a bald young man in similar attire, who sat cross-legged on the ground not far away.
"Hum..."
On the open ground, one of the giant magic arrays once again emitted a hazy glow, and then three figures materialized in the distorted center of the array. When the hazy light faded, the three figures became clearly visible. In the middle stood a young man in a sky-blue robe, flanked by a golden-haired beauty and a mischievous-looking, clean-faced youth wearing a straw hat.
All three looked around with curiosity.
"Oh!" The black-haired purple-robed burly man laughed heartily. "Rare indeed. The three who've come to Hell this time have all reached the divine level. Looks like two of them are even at the mid-level god stage. At least they're smart enough not to come while still at the saint domain, haha..."
"Coming to Hell at the saint domain? That's just stupid," the silver-haired purple-robed man sneered.
Meanwhile, the bald purple-robed youth who had been meditating stood up. He had cold, silver eyes. Walking over directly, he said flatly, "Welcome to the world of the strong — Hell!" His hoarse voice echoed across the open ground.
The three who had been teleported were Linley, Delia, and Bebe.
"So strong!" Linley felt a surge of caution upon seeing these three. "All three of them are definitely stronger than me. They're probably mid-level gods, but they could also be high-level gods."
Bebe, however, exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, purple-robed handsome guys! So this is Hell? Mmm, the elemental aura is so rich. And there are so many strong people... Hey, look at that one over there with six horns. I've never seen anything like that before!"
On this open ground, besides the three purple-robed figures, there were also dozens of creatures of various appearances at the edge. Nearly half were human-shaped, while the rest took on all sorts of bizarre forms, many of which Linley and the others had never seen before.
The bald purple-robed man fixed his cold, silver eyes on Bebe: "Shut up!"
Bebe was taken aback.
"I'll only say this once! Listen carefully, or don't blame others if you get killed," the bald purple-robed man said in a flat, hoarse voice.
Bebe was clearly indignant, but Linley placed his right hand on Bebe's shoulder, applying slight pressure to restrain him, and communicated through soul transmission: "Bebe, this is Hell. We don't know the place or anyone here. Don't cause trouble. No matter how strong Lord Beirut is, he can't control things in Hell."
Though still resentful, Bebe obediently stopped causing a fuss: "Got it, Boss."
"You three are from a material plane. What you need to do now is stand over there!" The bald purple-robed man pointed to the edge of the open ground, where dozens of creatures stood silently. Linley looked over.
Nearly half of these dozens of creatures were human, while the rest were other races.
"Of these dozens, only five are at the divine level; the rest are still at the saint domain," Linley discerned at a glance.
The bald purple-robed man continued coldly, "You three just need to stay there quietly. No sounds, no running around. You must obey all our commands. If you disobey, your lives end here."
The black-haired purple-robed man beside him laughed heartily, "You'd better take my third brother's words seriously. Otherwise... haha."
The bald purple-robed man shot a glance at the black-haired burly man, who could only chuckle sheepishly. The bald man continued flatly, "We'll tell you what you need to know. You don't need to ask questions. When dawn comes tomorrow, we'll send you off!"
With that, the bald purple-robed man returned to the corner, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes.
The other two purple-robed men exchanged smiles.
Linley's heart stirred: "Send us off at dawn tomorrow? Send us where?"
"Linley, we've just arrived in Hell. Let's figure things out first. For now, it's best to listen to those three purple-robed men," Delia's voice echoed in Linley's mind. She also took his hand. Linley turned and smiled at her, then led Bebe to the edge of the open ground.
Linley and Delia glanced curiously at the creatures nearby.
"These all came from material planes. Many races here don't exist in the Yulan Continent," Delia communicated with Linley through divine sense. Linley nodded slightly: "Hey, Delia, look at that one at the very edge."
Among the dozens, at the back, stood a figure covered in dragon scales, with dragon horns on his forehead, looking very much like a Dragonblood Warrior.
"Boss, that guy looks just like you when you transform," Bebe transmitted telepathically. "Is that a legendary dragonman?"
"Maybe," Linley replied, intrigued.
Just on this open ground, Linley had already seen many different races. Though nearly half were human-shaped, that included the five divine-level experts. Regardless of race, once they reached the divine level, they could take human form.
"Linley, from what that bald man said, it sounds like they'll send us off at dawn. I reckon they send people away every day," Delia quickly guessed. "There really are a lot of material planes. Just in one day, so many people come to Hell!"
Linley nodded inwardly.
On the Yulan Continent plane, under normal circumstances, only one person would go to a supreme plane every hundred years or so. But with so many material planes, even just those funneled to Hell, many arrived every day.
"Over billions of years, how many strong people have accumulated in Hell?" Linley glanced at the three purple-robed men. He sensed that their uniform attire emitted a special aura, one that made him wary.
It wasn't ordinary clothing, nor simply clothes condensed from divine power.
"And that mark." Linley naturally noticed the purple marks on the foreheads of all three purple-robed men.
The teleportation array lit up again with a hazy glow. This time, two massive creatures appeared in the array — each ten meters tall, covered in fluffy golden fur, resembling giant apes. Strangely, black scales covered their heads and necks.
"Dammit, shrink down!" the black-haired purple-robed burly man shouted in dissatisfaction.
These two behemoths, as tall as three-story buildings, had clearly been top-tier experts in their original material planes. One of them, hot-headed, roared in displeasure at being yelled at, and even lashed its tail at the purple-robed burly man.
"Looking for death!" The purple-robed burly man's eyes widened. A black rod suddenly appeared in his hand, extending instantly into a black phantom dozens of meters long, which crashed down. A wave of destructive aura spread, snapping the two monsters back to their senses.
But it was too late!
"Pfft!" The ten-meter-tall behemoth was instantly smashed into pulp.
The other monster immediately shrank to two meters tall, trembling in terror, and spoke in human tongue: "Lord, spare me!"
"Think you're still in your material plane, huh? Coming to Hell and acting like that — you're just asking to die," the purple-robed burly man snorted. "Listen up. Now you go stand over there. Don't ask any questions. What you need to know, we'll tell you. What you don't need to know, asking will get you killed."
"Simply put, no sounds, and obey our orders!"
The black-haired purple-robed burly man flipped his hand, and the black rod vanished: "Alright, go stand at the edge."
"Sixth Brother, clean up the ground," the bald purple-robed man, still sitting cross-legged, said.
"Uh..." The black-haired purple-robed burly man looked at the bloodstained ground and the smashed corpse, frowning. He turned to the ape-like monster: "Hey, you, come here."
The monster shuddered, pointed at itself in confusion, its eyes full of bewilderment.
It didn't dare make a sound!
"Yeah, I mean you." The black-haired purple-robed burly man nodded. The monster obediently scurried over. The burly man pointed at the ground: "Now, clean this up. If there's even a trace of blood, you can go join your brother in death."
The monster nodded frantically in fear.
At the edge of the open ground, Linley, Delia, and Bebe were all inwardly shocked.
"Boss, they really kill without hesitation," Bebe transmitted telepathically. Linley glanced at the black-haired purple-robed burly man: "Without a second thought. So many people arrive in Hell every day. Who cares about a few? And that black-haired guy is really strong!"
Delia and Bebe agreed.
They all sensed that these three purple-robed men were at least mid-level gods.
"From that move, that purple-robed man practices the Way of Destruction. That single strike contained both material and soul attacks. He's fused at least two profound mysteries!" Linley was inwardly shocked by the purple-robed man's strength.
He could also tell that among the three, the strongest was the cold, bald purple-robed man.
"The gravity here is nearly a hundred times stronger than in the material plane," Linley noted, feeling the new plane. Such gravity was nothing for divine-level experts. "When I went to the Necropolis of the Gods plane, my spiritual sense was restricted by over ten thousand times. But here in Hell, it seems even more constrained!"
Newly arrived in Hell, Linley didn't dare recklessly spread his divine sense to see how far he could reach.
But he could feel that this supreme plane's restriction on divine sense far exceeded that of the Necropolis of the Gods plane.
As time passed, one by one — humans, beastmen, magical beasts, or other lifeforms — were teleported to Hell. When a sun tinged with red light leaped above the horizon, illuminating the castle on Mirror Moon Cliff, the number of beings from material planes had already exceeded a hundred.
Suddenly, footsteps sounded. From a nearby courtyard gate, purple-robed figures emerged one after another, chatting and laughing.
"Third Brother, thanks for keeping watch. Hard work," some purple-robed men greeted cheerfully. In no time, several hundred purple-robed figures appeared. Linley couldn't gauge the strength of any of them. A few, in particular, exuded an aura that made Linley tremble with fear — as terrifying as Adkins himself.