Chapter 31: The Escort Mission
Seeing the words on the cover, Linley couldn’t help but feel a shock in his heart.
*Brief Explanation of the Seven Elemental Law Mysteries?*
Linley’s biggest problem right now was his complete ignorance of many of the Elemental Law Mysteries. Although it was said that these Law Mysteries couldn’t be taught by others and could only be comprehended by oneself, at least pointing out a direction would prevent one from taking detours on the path of cultivation.
“Bebe. Let me have a look.” Linley’s heart was eager, and he spoke quickly.
“I knew the boss would want it.” Bebe grinned, tossing the book over.
Delia had refined a divine spark and didn’t need to comprehend Law Mysteries at all, so she naturally had no need for such books. As for Bebe… with his lazy nature, he didn’t have that much energy. Seeing this book, Bebe understood that his boss would definitely love it.
Holding the book, Linley immediately flipped to the ‘Earth Law Chapter’.
The Earth Law was divided into six major Mysteries: ‘Earth Element’, ‘Power’, ‘Earth Travel’, ‘Life Force’, ‘Gravity Space’, and ‘Earth Pulse’. This book gave a simple introduction to these six Mysteries, along with descriptions of their power.
It even included some simple applications.
“Earth Pulse. Used like this?” Linley read and couldn’t help but shake his head inwardly. “The person who wrote this book seems to only know the surface of Earth Pulse.”
Having comprehended Earth Pulse himself, Linley could naturally tell that the author of this book either only knew the basics or was holding back.
The so-called application methods were all extremely simple and had generally weak power.
Linley didn’t care about the application methods at all. What Linley valued were the descriptions of the various Law Mysteries.
“So that’s how it is!” After reading the description of the ‘Power’ Mystery, Linley exclaimed in admiration. “I originally thought that the Earth Law had a concept of ‘heaviness’, but it turns out that’s just one aspect of the ‘Power’ Mystery.”
The Power Mystery was a very advanced Mystery within the Earth Law concerning material attacks, and it was quite complex.
Reading the book, Linley lost track of time.
“So, that was Earth Travel.” Linley marveled. “Back then, the ‘Rock Sword Saint’ Hedderson of the O’Brien Empire had already touched the edge of the ‘Earth Travel’ Mystery.”
Back then, Hedderson could easily step dozens of meters away in a single stride, which had amazed Linley and the others.
In fact, this was the most basic manifestation of the ‘Earth Travel’ Mystery, not even counting as a proper entry into it.
Earth Travel allowed one to merge their entire being into the boundless earth elements. Hedderson hadn’t teleported back then; he had instantly merged himself with the earth elements, moved to another location, and then suddenly emerged.
At that time, Hedderson’s strength was insufficient, and the time he could merge with the earth elements was extremely short.
For a true expert, when executing Earth Travel, they would completely vanish and could remain merged with the world’s elements for a long time.
After finishing the section on the six Mysteries of the Earth Law, Linley flipped to the ‘Wind Element Law Chapter’.
The Wind Element Law had the most Law Mysteries, a total of nine: ‘Wind Element’, ‘Doppelganger Art’, ‘Sound Waves’, ‘Music’, ‘Wind Travel’, ‘Wind Space’, ‘Dimension’, ‘Fast’, and ‘Slow’.
Although there were nine, their power varied greatly when applied by different experts.
Furthermore, the Law Mysteries of the same Elemental Law could be fused. Any two could be fused, any three could be fused… Different combinations, applied to different attacks, produced wonderfully intricate and powerful effects.
“Wind Space, so that’s what it’s like.” Linley’s eyes lit up as he read.
“Dimension. This is the strongest material attack of the Wind Element Law.” Looking at the description of the ‘Dimension’ Mystery, Linley couldn’t help but feel a tremor in his heart.
A long time passed—
“Huh?” Linley looked around in confusion. “Why isn’t there any light?”
“Boss, it’s already dark.” Bebe and Delia both laughed. “You’ve been reading for most of the day.”
Linley looked up. Indeed, a sickle-shaped purple moon hung in the sky.
“Haha…” Linley couldn’t help but laugh too. “This book is really a good thing. Although reading it hasn’t improved my Law comprehension at all, at least it has shown me the general direction.” Linley also understood that comprehension still depended on oneself.
“I can’t read, I can’t read anymore.” Linley said with emotion. “The Law Mystery I’m currently comprehending hasn’t been successfully understood yet. There’s no rush.”
In truth, Law Mysteries weren’t this simple.
Even after reading this divine-level book, when it came to actually comprehending, one might not even be able to make an entry. For example, one might clearly know that ‘Earth Travel’ required merging one’s entire being into the earth elements, but *how* did one merge? This couldn’t be described with words. It was a matter of comprehending the Law itself!
The next morning, Linley and his group set off for the Violet Thorn Castle.
“To set out for the Azure Blue Prefecture, we must first know the geographical information of the Infernal Realm. Only then can we plan our route.” Linley currently only knew that the Infernal Realm had five vast, nearly boundless continents, along with the Star Mist Sea and the Chaotic Sea.
To reach Azure Blue Prefecture on Blood Peak Continent, Linley knew they first had to leave Violet Thorn Continent and then cross the boundless Star Mist Sea to reach the opposite shore of Blood Peak Continent.
In the first-floor hall of Violet Thorn Castle, Linley and his group hadn’t noticed the book counter last time. This time, after inquiring with the service staff, they learned where books were sold. It turned out that the places for buying and selling items in Violet Thorn Castle weren’t just the counters.
There were also some independent rooms.
The books were placed in some independent rooms along the edge of the hall. Linley, Bebe, and Delia entered one. There were very few people looking at books.
“So many books!” Bebe exclaimed, looking at the stacks of books.
“Search carefully. Find one that covers the geographical information of the entire Infernal Realm.” Linley said.
The three of them split up and began searching carefully. There were quite a few books on geography—some specifically about ‘Ye Mu Prefecture’, others about the vast ‘Violet Thorn Continent’. As for one covering the entire Infernal Realm, Linley only found a single book, which was more of a simplified map.
What Linley needed wasn’t just a map, but also descriptions of dangerous places, death zones, and so on in the Infernal Realm.
After all, the three of them weren’t that powerful. It would be terrible if they stumbled into such dangerous areas. It was better to know beforehand.
“Linley. Bebe. Come over here and look.” Delia called out.
Linley and Bebe immediately walked over. Delia was holding a dark red book that was a good five or six centimeters thick. The book had only four words on the cover: ‘Infernal Realm Overview’. Bebe clicked his tongue and said, “That’s it? This book I have about ‘Ye Mu Prefecture’ is that thick.”
How vast was the Infernal Realm?
If it were a detailed introduction, even ten books this thick probably wouldn’t be enough to describe it.
“Not bad. For it to be this thick, it’s probably not just a simple map.” Linley smiled, taking the book.
Flipping through it briefly, it was indeed as Linley had imagined.
“This is good enough. Although the descriptions in this book aren’t extensive, it gives a general introduction to the geography of the five continents, two oceans, and 108 prefectures of the Infernal Realm, including information on the ten cities of each prefecture and some dangerous areas.”
The Infernal Realm was simply too vast.
If introducing one prefecture took two or three pages, then 108 prefectures would add up to nearly three hundred pages.
Moreover, the paper of this Infernal Realm book was special. It wouldn’t be damaged even by fire or water, unlike the fragile paper of material planes. However, each page was slightly thicker than ordinary paper from a material plane.
Even with such a brief introduction to the Infernal Realm, the book was already five or six centimeters thick.
If it were a detailed introduction, it would probably take several hundred books of this thickness.
“How much is this?” Linley looked at the nearby service staff member dressed in a purple robe.
The service staff member walked over, glanced at the book, and said with a smile, “One hundred ink stones.”
“Oh.” Linley immediately took out one hundred ink stones and handed them over. For Linley and his group, who now had assets exceeding ten million ink stones, one hundred ink stones was indeed nothing. However, Linley also understood that their assets were still insignificant.
After all, a single Death God Puppet cost one hundred million.
Some high-grade metal lifeforms also cost over a hundred million, and it was normal for a mansion within a city to be worth several billion.
Over ten million?
At least it was enough for a decent normal life.
“Hey, why didn’t I find any books describing Law Mysteries here?” Linley asked the service staff member.
“Those kinds of books are a bit more expensive. They’re placed in the second-floor hall. One book costs several thousand ink stones, and the better ones cost over ten thousand ink stones.” The service staff member said. “These basic knowledge books are relatively cheap.”
Leaving Violet Thorn Castle, Linley, Bebe, and Delia chose a nearby restaurant. This time, they ordered a table of dishes costing over a thousand ink stones, which was a bit of a splurge.
While at the restaurant, Linley also flipped through the geography book.
“Linley, have you decided on the route?” Delia asked.
Linley closed the book and nodded slightly. “Blood Peak Continent is located in the southeasternmost part of the entire Infernal Realm, while our Violet Thorn Continent is in the north. To get to Blood Peak Continent, we first need to reach a coastal city in Rainbow Sun Prefecture of Violet Thorn Continent. Among the ten cities of Rainbow Sun Prefecture, Blue Maple City is right on the Star Mist Sea. It’s best if we get to Blue Maple City first!”
“According to the book, there are quite a few groups traveling from Blue Maple City to Blood Peak Continent.” Linley said. “However, our Emperor Wing City in Ye Mu Prefecture is about four billion miles away from Blue Maple City in Rainbow Sun Prefecture!”
A single prefecture was normally over a billion miles in diameter.
It was expected that the distance from Emperor Wing City in Ye Mu Prefecture to the coastal city ‘Blue Maple City’ in Rainbow Sun Prefecture would be four billion miles.
“Four billion miles. Whoa.” Bebe’s eyes widened. “That’s too far. It would take forever just to get to Blue Maple City. And it’s probably very dangerous.”
Linley laughed. “What’s the rush? We’re not going alone. After we finish eating, we’ll go to the Demon Castle and accept an escort mission from Emperor Wing City to Blue Maple City. That way, we’ll be going along the same route, right?”
These kinds of escort missions usually had quite a few demons participating together.
If Linley, Bebe, and Delia also joined, the journey would naturally be much safer. Even if they encountered danger, a group of demons could fight together, making things much easier.
“Accept a mission? I haven’t officially accepted one yet.” Bebe was starting to look forward to it.
“Sir, the ‘Golden Scaled Thin Silk Fish’ you ordered is ready.” The service staff member placed a dish on the table that shimmered with golden light, so dazzling it almost hurt the eyes.
Linley smiled and said, “Bebe, stop thinking about the mission. Let’s finish eating first. You ordered this fish, right? It cost over three hundred ink stones. Try it and see how it tastes.”
After eating, Linley and his group arrived at the Demon Castle. The receptionist on the first floor, their old acquaintance Yuna, learned of their intentions and smiled as she guided them: “For accepting missions, it’s upstairs. One-star to three-star demons accept missions on the second floor. Four-star to six-star demons accept missions on the third floor.”
On the second floor of the Demon Castle, where one-star demons accepted missions, there was a row of rooms. Linley and his group entered one of them.
“Tell me, what mission do you want to accept?” The young man sitting cross-legged on the floor said indifferently.
“An escort mission, from Emperor Wing City to Blue Maple City in Rainbow Sun Prefecture.” Linley stated. “Preferably a two-star mission.” Linley and his group were one-star demons, so they could accept at most two-star missions. Once a two-star mission was completed, they would naturally become two-star demons.
The young man nodded slightly, closed his eyes for a moment, then flipped his hand, producing a dossier. He opened it and said, “There are eleven escort missions from Emperor Wing City to Blue Maple City in Rainbow Sun Prefecture. Among them, three are two-star missions. Take a look.”
He handed the dossier to Linley and the others.
After a brief glance, Linley settled on one: “The two-star mission scheduled for twenty days from now.” Linley chose this one because this escort mission was recruiting a large number of people—it was recruiting a full one hundred two-star demons!