Chapter 3: The Black Dragon Tribe
“You… can you explain it more clearly?” Linley was completely confused.
Having just come out of that metallic lifeform, he encountered this silver-haired old man, who immediately asked him for inkstone. What exactly was this inkstone? Although he didn’t understand it, he could sense that it carried a special aura.
It was definitely no ordinary item. How could he just give it away to anyone?
“Haha…” The silver-haired old man beamed with a smile. “You three have just arrived in the Infernal Realm. There are probably many things you don’t understand. Very well, let me make it clearer!”
The silver-haired old man looked around and said, “This Infernal Realm is one of the four supreme planes, created by the ‘Overgod of Destruction.’ It is filled with endless, brutal slaughter. Killing is the most common thing here!” As he spoke, his eyes even turned slightly red.
Linley and the other two were secretly alarmed.
The silver-haired old man’s gaze swept over Linley and his companions, speaking with absolute certainty: “Although you three are also at the God level, in this Infernal Realm, you don’t know the place or the people. I dare say, if you blindly wander around the Infernal Realm, you absolutely won’t survive three days!”
“Absolutely won’t survive three days?”
Linley, Delia, and Bebe were slightly startled.
“Old man, are you trying to fool us?” Bebe glared and said.
Although Bebe was glaring, he still looked cute. The silver-haired old man wasn’t angry and replied, “Although you’ve just arrived in the Infernal Realm, on the Amethyst Army’s metallic spacecraft, those lords of the Amethyst Army should have told you a few things. You’re lucky you’ve reached the God level. If you were in the Saint realm, even if you had inkstone, I wouldn’t bother with you.”
Linley’s mind immediately conjured an image.
Back in the metallic lifeform, the gaunt purple-robed youth had once said: “The Infernal Realm, as one of the four supreme planes, is naturally teeming with experts. You newcomers to the Infernal Realm would do well to find a tribe or family to join!” At the time, Linley hadn’t paid much attention to those words.
But now, Linley was beginning to understand.
Join a tribe or family!
“Linley, is the Infernal Realm really that dangerous?” Delia looked at Linley, who immediately comforted her through divine sense transmission: “No matter what, since we’re new to the Infernal Realm, we need to be cautious about everything. Let me first ask him a few things.”
Linley looked at the silver-haired old man and smiled, “My name is Linley. May I ask who you are?”
“Pafett!” The silver-haired old man smiled back.
Linley nodded and smiled, “Mr. Pafett, I’d like to ask, what exactly is this inkstone? We’re new to the Infernal Realm and know nothing about these things.”
“Haha…” The silver-haired old man laughed and said, “That’s understandable. This inkstone, to be precise, is the currency of the Infernal Realm!”
“Currency?” Linley, Bebe, and Delia were all surprised.
Having lived in the Yulan Continent, Linley naturally understood the meaning of currency. The ‘currency’ of the Infernal Realm turned out to be this special kind of inkstone.
“What qualifies this to be used as currency?” Linley asked, puzzled.
To serve as currency, it should at least have some inherent value.
Pafett shook his head and said, “I’m not sure what special properties this inkstone itself has, but I do know one thing… Inkstone cannot be mined anywhere in the Infernal Realm. Only the Seven Infernal Realm Lords can produce it. Just that alone is enough for inkstone to serve as currency.”
Linley nodded slightly.
So the inkstone was actually produced by the Seven Infernal Realm Lords. But what special use did the inkstone itself have? Was it just made for people to look at? Linley felt that the inkstone itself must have some kind of special value.
“What can currency buy?” Linley pressed further.
Pafett chuckled and said, “Currency can buy many things. For example, divine artifacts, divine sparks, divine crystals, and so on. There are also some unique items, like amethyst crystals, large puppets, and so forth. And of course, there are even more marvelous things… In short, currency has a wide range of uses. Even legendary Lord-level divine artifacts can be bought, but the price would be astronomically high.”
Linley became increasingly aware of the usefulness of inkstone.
“Can you tell me, how much is a lower-level divine spark worth?” Linley inquired.
“A lower-level divine spark is worth one hundred inkstones. A lower-level divine artifact is generally worth about ten inkstones,” Pafett said enthusiastically. “In the Infernal Realm, God-level experts are everywhere, so lower-level divine sparks aren’t that expensive.”
“However, a mid-level divine spark is worth ten thousand inkstones, and an upper-level divine spark is worth nearly ten million inkstones!” Pafett sighed. “Ten million! If I had an upper-level divine spark, I could become a top figure in this Infernal Realm.”
Linley, Bebe, and Delia looked at each other and smiled.
“Boss, you were treating that inkstone like a treasure,” Bebe transmitted through divine sense.
“I just felt that the inkstone itself was somewhat special. I didn’t expect that one inkstone isn’t really worth much,” Linley said. Naturally, they didn’t care much about a single inkstone, since Linley had quite a few lower-level and mid-level divine artifacts on him, and even two unused upper-level divine artifacts.
He also had an upper-level divine spark.
At this point, Linley, Delia, and Bebe didn’t mind joining the Black Dragon Tribe. Wasn’t it just one inkstone per person?
“If we join your tribe, what about leaving later?” Linley inquired.
“Leaving? Of course, you can leave anytime,” Pafett scoffed. “But only an idiot would leave alone. Without the ability to protect yourself, wandering through the danger-filled Infernal Realm is just asking for death. In the Infernal Realm, there are too many people who kill and plunder. Even ordinary mid-level gods don’t dare to roam recklessly.”
Linley and the other two exchanged glances.
“Alright, we agree,” Linley said, flipping his hand to produce the inkstone. Bebe and Delia also took out their respective inkstones. Just as Pafett reached out to take them, Linley suddenly pulled his hand back and said, “Wait. I’ll give them to you once we enter your Black Dragon Tribe.”
Pafett was taken aback, then laughed heartily, “You’re worried I’m a swindler?”
“Fine. Follow me.” Pafett immediately flew downward, and Linley, Delia, and Bebe followed him.
The gravity in the Infernal Realm was nearly a hundred times that of the Yulan Continent. Linley could clearly feel that his flying speed was much slower than in the material plane. As they descended, Bebe asked curiously, “Hey, old man. You mentioned the Amethyst Army earlier. Those people who brought us here—what kind of people are they? On the way, we encountered quite a few fighting experts, but when they saw the Amethyst Army, they all fled in terror.”
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you.”
Pafett sighed and said, “The Infernal Realm has five continents. The continent we’re on, the Amethyst Continent, is ruled by the great Overgod of Destruction, one of the Seven Infernal Realm Lords. We call him the ‘Amethyst Lord.’”
Linley and his companions already knew this.
The Infernal Realm had five continents and two oceans, each controlled by one of the seven Lords. All seven Lords were Overgods who cultivated the laws of destruction!
“And the Amethyst Army is the army under the great Overgod! It’s also the most powerful army in the entire Amethyst Continent. They follow the orders of the Overgod ‘Amethyst Lord’ completely! On the Amethyst Continent, no one dares to provoke the Amethyst Army!” Pafett’s eyes were full of longing.
Linley and the others were startled.
It was the Overgod’s army! No wonder no expert dared to provoke the Amethyst Army along the way.
“Maybe a single squad of the Amethyst Army isn’t too terrifying, but if you provoke one squad, you’ll likely face an entire battalion of the Amethyst Army in retaliation. Even if you’re as strong as our Ye Mu Prefecture’s lord, after dealing with a battalion, you’d probably face a whole legion of the Amethyst Army. On the Amethyst Continent, almost no one dares to provoke the Amethyst Army!”
Pafett looked at Linley and the others: “You must remember, on the Amethyst Continent of the Infernal Realm, never offend the Amethyst Army. If you do, you’ll be in big trouble!”
“They’re so powerful, and no one dares to provoke them. Why don’t you join the Amethyst Army, Mr. Pafett? I saw that many in the Amethyst Army are only mid-level gods, and aren’t you a mid-level god too?” Linley joked.
“You think I don’t want to?”
Pafett shook his head and sighed, “The conditions for joining the Amethyst Army are extremely strict. First, you must have become a god on your own! Those who became gods by refining divine sparks are directly eliminated. That alone rules out over ninety percent of the people in the Infernal Realm. The second requirement is… at least a mid-level god, and you have to pass a competition. The number of people recruited each time is very small. Those who win in the competition all have some special abilities.”
Linley couldn’t help but marvel at the quality of the Amethyst Army.
At least mid-level gods, all self-made gods, and selected through competition… After countless years, the number of experts in the Amethyst Army was unimaginable. No wonder almost no one on the Amethyst Continent dared to provoke them.
Linley and his group landed on the ground.
“Roar~” “Roar~”… The sounds of dragon roars came from the massive mountain range before them.
Countless black dragons, each over a hundred meters long, coiled and twisted across various parts of the mountains. If you looked closely, you could see that each black dragon had someone standing or sitting on it.
“This is our Black Dragon Tribe!” Pafett said with great pride. “Come, follow me inside.” He strode forward. The mountain path was rugged, but Linley and the others moved forward with ease.
“Hey?” Bebe suddenly exclaimed. “Boss, isn’t that black jade?”
Linley turned to look. Not far away, there was indeed a small hill formed from black jade stones. So much black jade startled Linley.
Seeing Linley and the others staring in surprise at the distant black jade, Pafett laughed and said, “That’s black jade. It’s a very common ore in the Infernal Realm, found everywhere… Look over there, that green ore is green nightmare stone. It’s about as hard as black jade but slightly tougher. However… these things are everywhere. In the Infernal Realm, divine artifacts are very cheap. Forging a divine artifact and having a lower-level god nurture it for ten thousand years yields a lower-level divine artifact, but it’s only worth about ten inkstones.”
Linley, Delia, and Bebe could only remain silent.
Indeed…
Divine artifacts gain power through nurturing. A newly forged divine artifact isn’t even a lower-level one; it’s considered substandard.
“Pafett, you’ve brought three people. Our tribe’s population is about to increase!” A voice came from afar. A black dragon flew over, and a man jumped off its back. He wore a green headband and looked very sturdy.
Pafett smiled and said, “They’ve just arrived in the Infernal Realm.”
“Hey,” Bebe blinked and said, “I see that everyone here is at the God level. Why are you raising those black dragons? They’re only at the Saint realm.”
The sturdy man who had flown down laughed and said, “Don’t underestimate them. This type of black dragon is a very special kind within the dragon race, called the ‘Galad Black Dragon.’ The ‘dragon saliva’ of the Galad Black Dragon is very valuable. Raising one Galad Black Dragon for ten thousand years can earn you several thousand inkstones. You’re lucky to join our Black Dragon Tribe. Joining other tribes wouldn’t bring such benefits.”
Pafett also said, “That’s right. If other God-level experts wanted to join our tribe, we wouldn’t accept them. You came from the Amethyst Army, clearly just arrived from a material plane, so you won’t be spies from enemy tribes!”
Linley and the others could only smile helplessly.
So they were accepted because they were considered ‘clean.’
“Haha, new brothers have arrived!” Many people on the backs of the black dragons let out hearty laughter. “Once you’re in the Black Dragon Tribe, you’re brothers from now on! Haha, Pafett, hurry up and help them choose a place to live!”
Linley looked at the many people on the distant black dragons and felt a warmth in his heart.
It seemed the people in the Black Dragon Tribe were quite friendly.