Chapter 16: The Middle-God Realm!
Linley and his two companions left the Demon Castle and returned to their residence.
"Hmph!" Bebe tossed his straw hat onto the table in the courtyard, fuming angrily. "This Hell is really infuriating. That bald bastard doesn't dare provoke the strong, so he mocks us instead. If we were outside the city, I'd fight him to the death no matter what."
Delia teased him with a smile, "Fight him to the death, Bebe? That bald man is a Highgod. Can you beat him?"
"So what if he's a Highgod?" Bebe lifted his head proudly, then lowered it and muttered, "Sigh... a Highgod..."
Seeing Bebe like this, Linley and Delia both laughed.
"Grandpa is the same. He has a Highgod spark but absolutely refuses to let me use it. He insists I comprehend and break through on my own. Otherwise, I'd be a Highgod by now." Bebe looked at Linley. "Enough of that, Boss. When are we going to take the demon trial? In a few decades?"
Linley nodded.
"Going for the demon trial now, I'm not confident. No rush. I'll reach the Middle-God realm in the Earth Laws within a few decades. Then I'll have a much better chance." Linley couldn't help but think of his Wind Element Laws.
He hadn't dared to slack off in training the Wind Element Laws either.
But so far, Linley had only partially comprehended the two profound mysteries of Fast and Slow.
"I've long mastered the Pulse of the Earth, and the Essence of Earth is the simplest profound mystery in the Earth Laws. Once I start fusing them, progress will naturally be fast. But this Profound Mystery of Speed—I need to comprehend two profound mysteries and fuse them. That's much slower."
Linley sighed inwardly.
If he could train both the Earth Laws and the Wind Element Laws to the Middle-God realm, his strength would naturally skyrocket.
"A few decades, no rush." Bebe grinned. "Anyway, there's no danger in the Imperial Capital of the Wings of the Fire Phoenix. The city is huge, and I want to explore it properly. Oh, right, Boss. Back in the Black Dragon Tribe, I always heard people talk about how amazing the food is in this city. Want to go try some tomorrow?"
Hearing about food, Linley felt a bit of anticipation.
The delicacies in Hell were made from precious ingredients by true masters. The quality was naturally high.
"Alright, let's try it tomorrow."
An occasional indulgence was only right.
"This place looks good." Linley and the others, satisfied with the restaurant's exterior decoration, pushed open the door and entered. As the three of them came in, a restaurant attendant immediately received them. Bebe glanced at the attendant and sent a soul-transmission to Linley: "Boss, that attendant is a Middlegod."
Linley found it somewhat absurd.
A Middlegod serving them?
But in the Imperial Capital of the Wings of the Fire Phoenix, Middlegods were indeed common. It wasn't strange for an attendant to be one.
"Please follow me." The attendant said with a smile, leading Linley and his group.
Gurgle, gurgle.
The restaurant had artificial rockeries and flowing water. The babbling stream naturally divided the entire restaurant into different sections.
Linley and the others were led to one spot and sat down. The attendant flipped his hand, producing a book listing various dishes. He placed it on the table with a smile: "Three guests, once you've decided on your dishes, just call me over."
With that, the attendant stepped aside.
"I've never seen the prices of dishes in Hell before." Bebe excitedly opened the book first.
Linley was also curious.
"Wow, these are really expensive." Bebe kept flipping through the pages. "Boss, the cheapest dish I've seen so far costs twenty mo stones." Bebe widened his eyes as he continued reading. "The descriptions are really detailed, explaining the special features of each dish. Hmm, this dish costs over seven hundred mo stones. That's the most expensive one."
After looking through everything, Bebe grinned sheepishly and handed the book to Linley and Delia.
Linley and Delia looked through the various dishes together.
"Oh, Linley, look. This one is made from the liver of a Hellfire Phoenix. Thirty mo stones. That's not too outrageous." Delia pointed at a dish. Linley flipped through the menu and couldn't help but sigh.
"No matter what Saint-level magical beast, or even divine beast, from any other plane—if you have money, you can eat it." Linley looked at the detailed descriptions and sighed again. "Delia, you and Bebe choose. I'm fine with anything."
Soon, they settled on six dishes.
"Bebe, you really went for the expensive ones." Linley laughed.
The six dishes cost 215 mo stones. To put it in perspective, in Hell, a low-grade divine artifact cost less than ten mo stones, and selling a Lowgod spark wouldn't even get you a hundred mo stones. Yet these six dishes alone cost 215 mo stones.
Fortunately, Linley and his group had combined assets of several million, so they didn't care much about this amount.
"Three guests, two of these dishes will take a bit longer to prepare. Especially this one—just the slow simmering alone takes six hours." The attendant explained with a smile.
"I understand." Linley nodded.
When ordering, each dish had notes underneath. Since Linley and the others had nothing pressing to do, sitting here for a whole day was fine.
"Boss, having money in Hell is really comfortable." Bebe sighed. "Back home, there's no way we could eat things like this." Bebe felt very fortunate at that moment; he loved eating the most.
Linley, however, looked out the window.
The restaurant's metal walls were transparent, allowing a clear view of the street outside.
"City—the only safe place in Hell." Linley thought to himself. "Here in the Imperial Capital of the Wings of the Fire Phoenix, I can sit here peacefully and enjoy fine food. But outside the city, danger is ever-present. I could die at any moment."
The vast Yemo Prefecture spanned a billion miles.
Yet it had only ten cities.
This showed that almost all the strong in Hell lived in constant danger, with only a very few enjoying peace and comfort.
"Even if you want peace and comfort, it requires a huge fortune as a prerequisite." Linley understood. The Imperial Capital of the Wings of the Fire Phoenix was comfortable, but the rate at which money was spent was also astonishing.
The dishes arrived, and Linley and the others savored these exquisite meals.
"Mmm!" Bebe closed his eyes in bliss as he ate.
Delia and Linley also felt that this food was an ultimate pleasure.
"Ugh." Bebe made a pained face. "Boss, after eating this, I won't be able to stomach the food back home anymore. Ah, this is just too delicious—an absolute pleasure." Bebe kept eating while praising.
Linley couldn't help but smile.
"Linley." Delia gently nudged him.
"Hmm?" Linley looked over in confusion. Delia said softly, "Linley, look outside the window."
Linley immediately looked out. On the bustling street outside, some people were glancing into the restaurant with envy in their eyes.
"That's normal. Many of them probably just entered the Imperial Capital of the Wings of the Fire Phoenix." Linley said softly. "Delia, just like when we first entered the city yesterday and saw all the sights—weren't we looking around with curiosity and anticipation?"
Hell was cruel.
If you had money, you could enjoy all kinds of delicacies.
But in Hell, most people were struggling just to survive.
Of course, the most miserable were the Saints. Many Saints came to Hell from material planes, only to find they were the lowest existence. Their lives could be taken at any moment... What they wanted most was a Lowgod spark.
And a Lowgod spark cost less than the meal Linley and the others had before them.
"Brother, congratulations on becoming a demon. Let's celebrate properly today." A voice came from the table behind Linley. The word "demon" caught their attention, and they listened closely.
"Haha, it was dangerous this time. Luckily, I'm skilled in the Wind Element Laws." A rough voice rang out. "But several of my close friends failed. Sigh... we'd all agreed to succeed and celebrate together." His voice grew somber.
Linley and the others felt a bit downhearted.
The demon trial was brutal.
"Delia, spend these decades training hard in the Wind Element Laws. That way, even if danger comes, you'll have a better chance of surviving." Linley was most worried about Delia. Once he became a Middlegod, she would be the weakest of the three.
"Mm." Delia nodded softly.
As for Bebe's strength, Linley had a rough idea.
"Luckily, Delia learned the Doppelganger profound mystery." Back when Niff had tried to assassinate Linley, he had used the Doppelganger technique.
Time passed, and thirty-two years flew by in the blink of an eye. Linley's training had reached its final stage, and he could break through at any moment.
Inside the courtyard.
Bebe, wearing his straw hat, muttered gloomily, "Boss said he hit a bottleneck two years ago and has been in seclusion ever since. Two years already... Isn't the Essence of Earth the simplest profound mystery in the Earth Laws? Two years and still no breakthrough."
Comprehending the Essence of Earth wasn't hard.
But Linley was simultaneously comprehending the Essence of Earth and fusing the two profound mysteries.
"Boss is training, and Delia is training beside him. I'm so bored I could die." Bebe sighed again. Flipping his hand, he took out a Middlegod spark, tossed it into his mouth, and swallowed it directly.
"Grandpa Beirut is the same. He gives me a pile of sparks and tells me to eat them all, but digesting them is so slow."
Bebe sighed once more.
"So many sparks—how many years will it take me to finish them? Hmm, when Boss runs out of money, I'll sell a few." Bebe muttered to himself.
But suddenly—
"Buzz..."
A peculiar fluctuation of the natural laws descended, directly enveloping the room Linley was in. Such occurrences were common in Hell, so no one paid much attention. But this event sent Bebe into a frenzy of joy.
"Boss finally broke through?"
Bebe cheered and rushed toward Linley's room.
"Creak!" Bebe pushed the door open.
Inside, Delia saw Bebe and signaled him with her eyes to be quiet. Bebe nodded quickly, holding his breath as he looked up at Linley, who was now enveloped by the strange natural laws and floating in the air.
Linley closed his eyes. Suddenly—
His earth-attribute Lowgod spark emerged from his head as if it were ethereal, hovering above him. A vast amount of earth elemental essence swirled around the spark. Under the control of the natural laws, the spark slowly began to transform—from a Lowgod spark to a Middlegod spark!
The earth elemental essence dissipated, and the spark, now radiating a deep yellow light, exuded a far more powerful aura.
"Buzz..."
The yellow spark spun rapidly before merging back into Linley's body.
Moments later—
"The natural laws have faded. Why hasn't Boss opened his eyes yet? What's he doing?" Bebe couldn't wait any longer and spoke up. Delia glared at him and sent a mental message: "Bebe, be quiet."
Hearing Bebe's voice, Linley opened his eyes and smiled at him. "I just reached the Middlegod realm and wanted to savor the transformation a bit longer."
At that moment, Linley had fully fused the two profound mysteries of the Pulse of the Earth and the Essence of Earth, stepping into the Middlegod realm!