Chapter 4: Emperor Wing City
On each black dragon’s back stood a person, and at first glance, the vast majority were men.
“Among those who have reached the divine level, men still make up the majority,” Linley mused inwardly. In truth, whether considering the gender ratio of experts in the Yulan continent, or the ratio within the Purple Thorn Army he had seen upon arriving in the Infernal Realm, or even the ratio within this Black Dragon tribe, it all pointed to the same conclusion.
Women were few, men were many.
“Linley, don’t just stand there gawking. Follow me quickly,” Pafet said, flying toward the depths of the mountain range. Linley, Delia, and Bebe immediately followed. They continued deeper along the undulating mountain range, where manors could be seen everywhere, each one displaying its own unique marvels.
For divine-level experts, building a house was an extremely simple matter.
After flying for a while, Pafet led Linley and the other two to land on the mountainside of a tall peak. The open space on this mountainside was quite large, a full hundred meters in length and width. It was more than enough to build a relatively sizable manor.
“You’ll live here from now on. As for the dwelling, you don’t need my help building it, do you?” Pafet said with a laugh.
“Haha…” Linley laughed as well, then suddenly stomped hard on the ground.
“Boom!” The ground on the mountainside trembled, and a peculiar wave of energy spread outward. Huge boulders floated up into the air, connecting with each other in a certain order. Pale yellow earth-element radiance shone in all directions. Pafet watched this scene in great surprise.
Soon, a simple two-story building with a courtyard was completed.
“The rocks in the Infernal Realm really are quite heavy,” Linley remarked with a sigh.
These rocks were similar to Blackstone. Coupled with the fact that the gravitational pull in this highest material plane, the Infernal Realm, was nearly a hundred times that of the Yulan continent plane, each boulder weighed as much as a small mountain in the Yulan continent.
“To do it so effortlessly and harmoniously, Linley, have you already achieved mastery in the profound mysteries of the earth element?” Pafet asked in surprise.
“Not yet,” Linley said, shaking his head.
Pafet said with dissatisfaction, “Linley, there’s no need to hide it. To be able to handle it so lightly, using these huge rocks to build a manor in the Infernal Realm, especially how harmoniously those boulders moved just now… Although I don’t cultivate the Laws of the Earth, I’ve still seen quite a few people who do.”
Linley smiled and said no more.
In truth, Linley hadn’t yet achieved mastery in the profound mysteries of the earth element. It was only because he had already fused it with the Pulse of the Earth that when he executed it, it also contained the essence of the Pulse of the Earth, naturally making it seem effortless.
“In my Black Dragon tribe, you can settle in peacefully. I won’t disturb you any further. If anything comes up, you can ask me or anyone else,” Pafet said.
“Thank you, Mr. Pafet,” Linley replied with a smile.
After Pafet left, Linley, Delia, and Bebe finally entered their new dwelling.
“It seems we’ll have to make the tables and chairs ourselves,” Linley said. The three of them immediately set to work. Linley directly controlled a huge boulder to fly over, then used his palm blade, executing a spatial slash, to chop it down. The boulder was cut into a very smooth, flat surface.
Bebe produced a black dagger that was extremely sharp.
In front of Bebe, a stone table was easily made. The three worked together, and soon a stone table and three stone stools were finished.
“Whew, luckily I’m used to keeping some fine wine and such in my interspatial ring. Otherwise, coming here with nothing to eat or drink would be a problem,” Linley said, flipping his hand to produce a bottle of fine wine. Bebe immediately cheered, “Boss, you brought this along!”
“The Infernal Realm… a strange place,” Linley said with emotion as he drank the wine. Having just entered the Infernal Realm, almost everyone he had seen was a divine-level expert. The weakest members of the Purple Thorn Army were mid-level gods, needless to say. Even the people in this Black Dragon tribe were all divine-level.
This was a world of divine-level experts!
“Boss, the Blood Peak continent is so far away from us. What do we do?” Bebe asked with some worry. “That Pafet even said that if we go out recklessly, we won’t last three days.”
Delia frowned and said, “Don’t rush. Let’s first establish a foothold here in the Infernal Realm.”
Linley nodded as well. “This Infernal Realm isn’t like the Yulan continent. It’s teeming with experts. It’s not a place where we can go wherever we please. Not to mention anything else, we don’t even know the basic geographical information about this Infernal Realm yet.”
“Bang! Bang!”… Suddenly, a knock came at the door.
“I’ll get it,” Bebe said, jumping up and easily pulling open the heavy stone door. Outside stood a very handsome blond-haired youth, who greeted them with a smile: “Hello, I’m Quet, who lives not far from you.”
“I’m Linley. Please, come in!” Linley stood up and said.
Linley could tell at a glance that this Quet was a lesser god.
“I live with my elder brother, just north of you, also on this mountainside. I heard you’ve just arrived in the Infernal Realm?” Quet was very enthusiastic.
“Please, have a seat. This is some fine wine from our homeland. Try it,” Linley said.
“Wine?” Quet’s eyes lit up. He immediately sat down in Bebe’s former seat and eagerly drank a cup. He squinted his eyes in contentment. “This wine is really good. Although it’s far inferior to the fine wine sold in Emperor Wing City, being able to drink any at all is great.”
“Emperor Wing City?” Linley looked puzzled.
Quet suddenly realized, “Right, you’ve just arrived in the Infernal Realm. There’s a lot you don’t know… Within our Yemu prefecture, there are a total of ten cities scattered throughout the prefecture. Among them, Emperor Wing City is the closest to us. It’s about over ten million miles away.”
Linley and the others were taken aback.
Over ten million miles, and that was the closest city?
“But to enter Emperor Wing City, you have to pay one inkstone,” Quet said with a curse. “How greedy!”
Quet sighed and said, “Still, if you want to buy something, or sell dragon saliva, or sell divine artifacts, it’s better to trade in Emperor Wing City.”
“Trade? Only in Emperor Wing City?” Delia found it hard to believe. “Large transactions might be in Emperor Wing City. What about small transactions?” In Delia’s view, it should be like the shops in the Yulan continent plane. In cities, there were large commercial establishments, while in small towns, there were also general stores.
“For small amounts, you can trade with the tribal chief here. But generally, a lesser divine artifact can sell for seven inkstones in Emperor Wing City, while the chief will only buy it for five inkstones,” Quet said with some dissatisfaction.
Linley and the others understood. After all, it was over ten million miles to Emperor Wing City.
“Wait, I heard Pafet say that a divine artifact is worth ten inkstones,” Bebe said. Linley also recalled this.
Quet said dismissively, “He said a divine artifact is worth ten inkstones—that’s the retail price in Emperor Wing City, the price for selling divine artifacts. When buying from us, it’s only seven inkstones.”
“Quet, I’d like to ask, how does one go to another continent?” Linley asked.
Quet’s eyes widened. “Go to another continent? Good heavens. The Purple Thorn continent is enormous. The entire Infernal Realm has 108 prefectures. Our Purple Thorn continent seems to have nearly twenty prefectures. Each prefecture’s territory is extremely vast… Going to another continent is extremely difficult.”
Linley’s heart stirred. “A continent only has nearly twenty prefectures. It seems the position of a prefecture lord is extremely high!”
In the Infernal Realm, the status of a prefecture lord was second only to the seven Sovereigns of the Infernal Realm.
“Mmm, this wine really is good.” Quet drank another cup, then stood up and smiled. “You’ve just arrived, so I won’t disturb you any longer. If anything comes up, feel free to come to me. Oh, by the way, Linley, you’d better be careful with that beautiful lady beside you. There are too few women in the Infernal Realm. I reckon someone will come to court her.”
Linley and Delia were both taken aback.
“Who would dare? I’ll take them out with one dagger!” Bebe shouted angrily.
“Haha, I’m just saying. Well, I’ll be off now.” Quet laughed twice and left.
Linley and Delia looked at each other and both laughed. Delia said softly, “Linley, what will you do if someone comes to court your wife?”
“What can I do? Whoever comes, I’ll fight them,” Linley said, flipping his hand to produce his heavy sword of Blackstone and waving it deliberately.
Incidents involving women did indeed occur frequently. When Linley and the others first arrived at the Black Dragon tribe, someone did come to court Delia. But after Delia herself scolded him, and especially after Linley manifested his three avatars and trounced the man, and Bebe kicked him flying, no one in the Black Dragon tribe dared to pursue Delia anymore.
Two months had passed since they arrived at the Black Dragon tribe, and Linley and the others had gradually adapted to life here.
“Two men fighting over a woman. Both are lesser gods, neither knows soul attacks, only these physical attacks,” Linley said, looking up at the sky above the Black Dragon tribe, where two burly figures were locked in combat.
Linley, Bebe, and the others weren’t the only ones watching. Thousands of people were observing the fight, nearly a quarter of the Black Dragon tribe’s residents.
“What’s going on with these two? Why do they have to fight? Why not ask the woman named Catlin for her opinion?” Delia asked in confusion. Just then, a figure in a straw hat zipped over from afar. Bebe laughed and said, “Boss, I’ve already found out the inside story of their fight.”
“Tell me,” Linley said curiously.
“That blond-haired big guy is called Candita. Candita and Catlin both came from the same material plane. They have good feelings for each other. Of course, they haven’t gotten to the point of sleeping together,” Bebe said, wiping his nose and looking up. “That black-haired big guy, his name is Kimpton. His original form is a Galade black dragon!”
Linley was a bit surprised. “You mean that Kimpton is one of the Galade black dragons they raise?” The Black Dragon tribe raised Galade black dragons to earn inkstones, which Linley and the others knew about.
The Black Dragon tribe had a rule: if a Galade black dragon reached the divine level and could take human form, it could join the tribe and become a member. This rule gave the Galade black dragon race a sliver of hope.
“Right,” Bebe nodded eagerly. “When Catlin first came here, she also raised a Galade black dragon. Over time, that Galade black dragon reached the divine level, and that’s this Kimpton.”
Linley grew curious.
“Probably because she raised it for a long time, Catlin was very good to Kimpton. After Kimpton took human form, he pursued Catlin. This black dragon fell in love with her,” Bebe said, covering his mouth and laughing. “Naturally, Candita wasn’t happy. How could the woman he loved be with a black dragon, even if it had taken human form? So these two started fighting. But since they’re both only lesser gods and have only grasped ordinary profound mysteries, their attacks are usually non-lethal. Their fights can go on for a long time. And this isn’t the first time they’ve done this.”
Linley was speechless.
But just then—
A black-robed figure flew over from the distant sky above the mountain range. The two lesser gods fighting over love caught sight of the newcomer and were both startled. They immediately dove downward. Meanwhile, those on the ground with sharp eyes noticed the badge on the black-robed man’s chest and were greatly shocked, exclaiming, “Ah, he’s a demon!”
The residents of the Black Dragon tribe who had been looking up all turned pale with fright and immediately scattered in all directions.
“Demon?” Linley looked up in confusion.