Chapter 1: Gathering of Demons
A two-star mission, from the Imperial Wing City of Ye Mu Prefecture to the Blue Maple City of Hong Yang Prefecture. The distance was nearly four billion li. The reward: two hundred thousand ink stones!
Although the distance was four billion li, by riding a metallic life form, one could still reach the destination in several decades. For a one-star or two-star demon, escorting for several decades and earning two hundred thousand ink stones was indeed considered an extremely high reward.
“You choose this?” The young man looked up at Linley and the other two with surprise.
The young man’s expression made Linley feel a bit puzzled. “What’s wrong? Is it not allowed?”
“Oh, give me your demon badges.” The young man said no more. Linley and the other two immediately handed over their demon badges. The young man flipped his hand, and a crystal radiating purple light appeared in his palm.
He brought this crystal close to the three demon badges.
Under the illumination of the purple light, special characters began to appear on the surface of the three demon badges.
“Huh?” Linley and the other two were somewhat surprised.
“What is this? A string of numbers?” Bebe asked. The characters appearing on the surface of the demon badges were indeed a very long string of numbers.
The young man said casually, “These are the serial numbers of your demon badges. Every demon has a different number. The number can confirm your identity. The demon badge also shows your star rank.” With that, the young man recorded the serial numbers of Linley’s three demon badges.
Then, he handed the three demon badges back to Linley and the others. “Alright, what you three need to do is go to the city gate twenty days from now, in the early morning. At that time, someone from Demon Castle and the client who hired you will be there to receive you. They will check your demon badges to confirm your identities.”
“Do we need to pay a fee to accept this mission?” Linley asked.
Linley had heard that most missions at Demon Castle required an upfront fee.
The young man smiled. “It depends on the mission. For escort missions like this, no fee is required.”
Linley and the others left Demon Castle and returned to their residence.
“Ah, twenty days. In twenty days, we’ll be leaving this place.” Bebe tossed his straw hat onto the stone table and sighed. “We’ve lived here for over thirty years. I’m going to miss it.”
Linley couldn’t help but let out a long breath.
After being in the Infernal Realm for so long, they had finally become demons. In twenty days, they would finally embark on the journey to the Blue Prefecture.
“Linley.” Delia said with a hint of a smile, “Talos, Dylin, and the others came to the Infernal Realm long before we did. I wonder where they are now? When we leave Imperial Wing City, will we run into them along the way?”
“Talos, Dylin?” Linley recalled many past scenes.
“They’re together as a group. Especially Talos and Dylin, who are not only mid-level gods but also divine beasts. As a group, they should at least be able to barely ensure their safety in the Infernal Realm.” Linley looked at the distant horizon. “But this Infernal Realm is too vast. I don’t know where they were teleported to.”
The Infernal Realm had five continents, as well as the Star Mist Sea and the Chaotic Sea.
Teleportation from a material plane was random. It was entirely possible to appear in any of these seven locations. And the distance between any two locations was extremely vast. If they weren’t sent to the same continent, it would be very difficult to meet.
Bebe nodded vigorously. “Right. Talos and the others are doing okay in the Infernal Realm, but Olivier came alone. As a lone low-level god in the Infernal Realm, he’s probably having a harder time than we are.”
“If we hadn’t come to the Infernal Realm, who would have known it was like this?” Linley said with a faint smile. “But then again, it makes sense. Countless experts from material planes are teleported here, and after countless years of accumulation, along with the Infernal Realm’s own racial reproduction, it’s only natural that there are so many experts.”
Linley and the other two felt at ease. After all, they now possessed wealth of over a hundred million ink stones and had become demons. They had no problem establishing themselves in the Infernal Realm.
They naturally felt confident about heading to the Blue Prefecture.
During the remaining twenty days, Linley and the other two quietly cultivated. Delia focused entirely on refining the high-level godhood. However, refining a high-level godhood would take several decades. Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye—
Twenty days passed.
On this morning, the hazy chill of dawn still drifted through Imperial Wing City. The purple moon could still be faintly seen in the sky. Of course, the curfew had already ended. Linley and the other two got up early and set off directly for the city gate of Imperial Wing City.
“Imperial Wing City!” Bebe sighed as he walked along the road. “I probably won’t have a chance to come back here in the future.”
“Don’t think too much about it.” Linley wanted to laugh at Bebe’s sentimental expression. “Oh, we’re almost at the city gate.”
“Whoa, we’re here.” Bebe’s eyes lit up, and he immediately looked over. “The metallic life form? I don’t see it?” Bebe carefully scanned the sky outside the city, but he couldn’t see any trace of a metallic life form.
Linley also felt a bit puzzled.
Logically, there should be a metallic life form outside.
“Let’s go outside and see.” Linley said as he stepped out of the city gate. Outside the city gate, a silver-haired young man in a white robe saw the demon badges on Linley’s chest and immediately walked over. He asked in a low voice, “Did you accept the escort mission to Blue Maple City in Hong Yang Prefecture?”
“Yes!” Linley and the other two nodded.
The silver-haired young man smiled and nodded. “Then please go to the second floor of the restaurant next to the city gate. All the demons who accepted this mission are gathered there.”
“Next to the city gate?” Linley turned to look. “The one to the south, or the one to the north…”
“The one to the south. There’s someone in a white robe standing at the door, just like me. He’ll receive you.” The silver-haired young man said.
Although Linley and the others were puzzled—the mission said to gather in the morning to set off, so why go to a restaurant?—the restaurant was inside Imperial Wing City, where fighting was prohibited. Linley wasn’t afraid of being deceived, so they calmly returned to Imperial Wing City. At the same time, other demons who had accepted the mission were also guided to follow Linley and the others into the restaurant.
“Please wait a moment, three of you.” The blue-haired young man in a white robe at the restaurant door smiled. Seeing the signal from his companion outside the city gate, he knew that these three had also accepted the mission.
Behind Linley and the others, there were also two demons.
Glancing back, Linley judged in his mind, “All mid-level gods.”
“Five of you, please follow me.” The blue-haired young man in the white robe led Linley and the other five to the second floor of the restaurant. The second floor was bustling, with forty or fifty people already gathered there.
At the top of the stairs on the second floor stood a person in a black robe.
“Someone from Demon Castle?” Linley judged at a glance, because the person was holding a crystal that emitted purple light.
“Please cooperate with the inspection, five of you.” The person said with a smile.
He then brought the purple-light-emitting crystal close to the chests of Linley and the other five. The purple light shone on the demon badges, and the badges displayed their serial numbers and star ranks. The person in the black robe held a book that listed the serial numbers of the demons who had accepted the mission.
After matching each one, the person in the black robe confirmed everyone’s identity.
“Welcome, five of you.” The person in the black robe smiled and nodded. Only then did he allow Linley and the other five to enter the center of the second floor.
A silver-haired old man with three black horns arranged in a fan shape on his head walked over and smiled. “Welcome, three of you. Our team won’t be setting off this morning but rather at dusk. For now, please enjoy a meal here. All expenses here are on us.”
“Dusk?”
Although Linley and the others were puzzled, they didn’t mind.
A day or two meant nothing to gods who had achieved divinity.
Linley, Delia, and Bebe found a corner on the second floor of the restaurant. They sat down at a table and casually ordered some dishes.
“Linley, I feel like this escort mission is a bit special,” Delia said softly.
Linley nodded slightly. “Right. Look at the demons here. Besides the majority being mid-level gods, there are even over a dozen high-level gods. High-level god demons are usually four-star demons or higher. Hiring so many demons… the price must be considerable.”
When issuing a mission at Demon Castle, the reward wasn’t arbitrary. It had to pass Demon Castle’s evaluation and meet a minimum standard.
Hiring a one-star or two-star demon was affordable, but the price for a four-star or five-star demon was staggering.
“Lord Rielmont!”
“Lord Rielmont, you’ve come too.” Suddenly, several voices rang out on the second floor of the restaurant.
Linley and the others turned to look. A cold-looking young man with long cyan hair walked up. Immediately, several demons stood up to greet him. Most of the high-level god demons, in particular, rose to welcome him.
This cold young man, named Rielmont, swept his gaze across the restaurant after entering. His eyes finally landed on three strikingly handsome brothers who looked very similar. A smile appeared on his face. “Edwards, you three brothers also accepted this mission. Looks like I’ll have an easier time.”
The three also stood up with smiles.
“Mr. Rielmont, since you’ve also accepted this mission, there probably won’t be much danger along the way,” one of the three extremely handsome brothers said.
At that moment, the silver-haired old man with three black horns walked over with a smile. “Mr. Rielmont, and the three Edwards, I’ll have to trouble the four of you on this journey.” In the eyes of this silver-haired old man, he paid little attention to the other demons.
Anyone who knew of Rielmont and the Edwards brothers wouldn’t be offended by this remark.
Rielmont was a powerful six-star demon.
The Edwards brothers were all five-star demons!
The top-tier seven-star demons usually stayed hidden in various places, making it very difficult to get them to accept missions. However, a six-star demon’s strength was already extremely formidable. With them on board, there would almost certainly be no problems along the way.
“Who is this Rielmont?” Not far from Linley, someone began to whisper.
It seemed Linley wasn’t the only one who didn’t know.
“Lord Rielmont is a six-star demon. He’s one of the top experts in Imperial Wing City.”
Linley and the other two were startled.
Last time, when they went to Moon Lake Castle, the strongest person there was Loyce and the others, and Loyce was only a five-star demon. Yet the owner of Moon Lake Castle had no chance to resist and was killed directly. If a five-star demon was that powerful, what about a six-star demon?
And an escort mission that hired a six-star demon shocked Linley.
Linley and the large group of people stayed at the restaurant, eating some delicious dishes until dusk. During this time, Linley learned that nearly twenty high-level god demons had accepted this mission, along with nearly a hundred mid-level god demons.
With so many demons, especially a six-star demon leading them, having a six-star demon escort them for four billion li was an astonishing fee—ten or even a hundred times higher than hiring a hundred mid-level god demons.
“This escort mission is no ordinary one,” Linley thought uneasily.
At dusk, outside Imperial Wing City
Under the guidance of the silver-haired old man, Linley and the group quietly entered a metallic life form. Almost the moment they entered, before Linley and the others could even decide where to sit, the metallic life form moved.
The metallic life form vanished from the horizon in an instant, leaving Imperial Wing City behind and heading toward Blue Maple City.