Chapter 3: The Goal
Linley's mind cleared.
"No wonder the Sovereign said I should first become a Nine Heavens Lord before entering. If I go to the Planar Battlefield as a soldier, I'd have to obey orders. There'd be no way to find an opportunity to kill an enemy commander." Linley understood that only by acting alone could he kill enemy commanders faster.
How could he accomplish anything while under someone else's control?
"Aside from these, are there any other rules?" Linley asked again.
"No," the guard quickly replied. "The rules are simple. A Lord has the authority to bring people into the Planar Battlefield. In the Planar Battlefield, each Lord can act freely, while soldiers follow orders. That's it! As for how much merit you can earn and what rewards you can get, it's all recorded on the stone tablet beside the Spatial Gate!"
Linley nodded slightly.
Military merits and rewards—Linley wasn't concerned with those for now. After all, he didn't even have the qualifications to enter yet. Talking about that was too early.
"Bebe, let's go." Linley sent a mental message.
Linley and Bebe immediately flew away from Flame Bone Mountain. Midair, Bebe asked urgently, "Boss, what do we do now? To get in, we have to rely on a Nine Heavens Lord or a Netherworld Prefect. Right now, we only have two options: find a Nine Heavens Lord to take us in, or one of us becomes a Nine Heavens Lord!"
"The first option won't work." Linley shook his head. "First of all, in the Nine Heavens Domain right now, there aren't any Nine Heavens Lords who haven't entered the Planar Battlefield. Those who haven't gone don't want to take the risk—how could they possibly take us in? Besides, entering as an ordinary soldier means obeying orders. My goal this time is to kill enemy commanders."
Bebe looked at Linley and grinned. "Boss, you mean…?"
"Find a way to become a Nine Heavens Lord!" Linley said slowly.
"Haha, I'm all for it." Bebe's eyes lit up, but then he frowned. "That won't be easy, though."
"It's not easy. Everyone who becomes a Nine Heavens Lord is no pushover." Linley knew this well. Whenever a Nine Heavens Lord was defeated, a stronger person would take their place. This system had been in place for countless years, resulting in all eighty-one Lords being terrifyingly powerful.
The ones he knew—Resplendence and Mo Si—were both Infernal Lords from Hell. Beirut was also the Prefect of Azure Blue Prefecture.
"Even among the eighty-one Nine Heavens Lords, there must be differences in strength. The strong ones, like Beirut and Danington, are one thing, but even the weaker ones probably aren't much worse than me," Linley said. "If we challenge someone on your grandpa Beirut's level, we'd just be throwing our lives away!"
Bebe nodded. "If we find a weaker one, there's still a chance."
"But who's strong and who's weak?" Linley frowned. "The trouble is, we don't even know the rules for challenging a Nine Heavens Lord. Also, we need to figure out which Lords have entered the Planar Battlefield and which are still in the Nine Heavens Domain."
"Even if we fight, we have to pick a target. Among these eighty-one domains, which one is easier to deal with?" Linley knew almost nothing about the Nine Heavens Domain.
Bebe also looked troubled.
He didn't know either, but he still spoke up. "Boss, each of the eighty-one domains has a city, right? There must be plenty of people in the cities. We can go there and gather information." Bebe suggested.
"That's the only option for now." Linley nodded.
The core area of Flame Bone Island had a city, and it was noticeably livelier inside.
Inside a restaurant.
Linley and Bebe sat across from each other. Linley looked around and noticed that, as expected, there were many Highgods in the city, but also some Demigods and Gods! "They must be children left behind by Highgods in the Nine Heavens Domain," Linley guessed.
"Two guests, here's our menu." A God server smiled and handed over a menu.
Linley, however, stared at him while spreading his divine domain. The server's expression changed, and he warily watched Linley. Linley smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. I just want to ask you a few things."
"Please go ahead." The server managed to stay calm.
"What are the rules for challenging a Nine Heavens Lord in the Nine Heavens Domain?" Linley asked.
The server looked at Linley with some confusion but still replied, "It's simple. Each of the eighty-one domains has a Blood Battle Arena. If you win a hundred consecutive battles on the arena, you earn the qualification to challenge the Lord of that domain!"
"Oh?" Linley's eyes lit up.
"Isn't this the same as Miluo Island?" Bebe laughed.
Maybe Miluo Island had copied the model from the Nine Heavens Domain.
"I want to know, what's special about the eighty-one Lords? Who's strong and who's weak? Also, who's still in the Nine Heavens Domain, and who's gone to the Planar Battlefield?" Linley asked in succession.
The server said helplessly, "Two lords, how would I know that?"
Linley smiled. Servers often had good information. He pressed on, "Then tell me, who would know? Who knows the most clearly?"
The server quickly replied, "In our city, there are places that sell intelligence on the Lords."
"Selling intelligence?" Linley's eyes lit up.
That made sense. Where there was demand, there was a market. In the Nine Heavens Domain, many people dreamed of challenging the eighty-one Lords. Naturally, many wanted to know the strengths and weaknesses of the eighty-one Nine Heavens Lords.
"Where can I buy it? Take me there. I'll give you ten thousand Ink Stones." Linley said calmly. "Here are five thousand Ink Stones as a deposit. I'll give you the other five thousand afterward." Linley handed them over.
In the Netherworld, Ink Stones were also accepted as currency.
"Ten thousand Ink Stones?" The server's eyes lit up. In the city, he wasn't worried about Linley killing him, so he said, "Alright. When do you two lords want to go? After eating, or…?"
"Right now."
Linley and Bebe both stood up.
"Okay, wait a moment. I'll go tell the boss." The server was very enthusiastic.
"Boss, this is pretty simple, huh?" Bebe grinned at Linley.
"Places like restaurants are full of all kinds of people. Servers hear a lot and know a lot. Asking them is the most convenient." Linley felt relieved. There was even a place in the city that specialized in selling intelligence on the eighty-one Lords. This made things much easier.
"Two lords, follow me." The server, having received five thousand Ink Stones, was very eager and immediately led the way.
Walking down the street, Bebe asked curiously, "Doesn't this kind of intelligence-selling bother the eighty-one Lords?"
"The Lords are lofty, powerful beings. What do they care?" The server quickly replied. "They don't mind at all. In fact, even in the official castle of our city, intelligence on the eighty-one Lords is sold. But the price is too high—one million Netherworld Stones per copy. I'll take you to a place where it's much cheaper. You can buy a copy for just ten thousand Netherworld Stones."
Linley smiled.
With this kind of intelligence, someone could buy one copy and then duplicate it millions of times to sell. It was indeed a good business.
"Most people don't know about this hidden spot. I've lived here since I was a child," the server said.
"Since childhood?" Bebe asked in surprise.
The server nodded. "There are no teleportation arrays around the Nine Heavens Domain. Almost everyone who came here originally was a Highgod. We Gods and Demigods were all born in the Nine Heavens Domain. We're weak, so we can only survive in the cities. Fortunately, the population here isn't large, so house prices in the cities are very low."
Linley smiled.
On the Infernal Continent or the Netherworld Continent, house prices in cities were extremely high. But in the Nine Heavens Domain, many remote places had no people at all. Clearly, each island had a sparse population, so house prices were cheap.
Few people, but plenty of experts.
"This guy really knows the city well." Linley sighed inwardly. The server was leading Linley and Bebe through alleys and shortcuts with great familiarity. In no time, they arrived at an ordinary courtyard. "Here it is!"
Linley looked it over. At first glance, the courtyard didn't seem special at all.
"Open up!" The server knocked on the door.
Soon, the courtyard gate opened. A silver-haired burly man stepped out, glanced around, and smiled when he saw the server. "Oh, it's you, kid. What's up? Bringing us customers?"
"We need a copy of the intelligence on the eighty-one Lords," Linley said.
"Two guests, please come in." The silver-haired man quickly said.
The server looked at Linley and Bebe. Linley smiled, casually took out five Azure Stones, and handed them to the server. The server took them and said, "Thank you, two lords. I'll be going now."
"You made a good haul, kid." The silver-haired man chuckled. "Two guests, please."
Linley and Bebe entered the courtyard. Inside, there were about a dozen people sitting around—three Highgods, and the rest Gods or Demigods. A red-haired young man stood up and walked over with a smile. The silver-haired man said, "Second Brother, they want a copy of the intelligence on the eighty-one Lords."
"That's right," Linley confirmed.
"Oh, do you want the simplified version, the detailed version, or… the most secretive one?" the red-haired young man asked.
Linley was taken aback.
The intelligence came in three tiers?
"I'm guessing the prices are different too," Bebe laughed.
The red-haired young man nodded. "Of course. A simple, basic copy costs ten thousand Netherworld Stones. The detailed one costs one hundred thousand Netherworld Stones. As for the most secretive one, it costs one million Netherworld Stones." The silver-haired man added, "Of course, you can also pay with Ink Stones."
"Tell me the difference," Linley said with interest.
"The basic one covers which laws each of the eighty-one Lords specializes in, how many battles they've fought, how many they've won, and where they live," the red-haired young man said.
"The detailed one includes the laws they specialize in, the techniques they've used, whether they've gone to the Planar Battlefield, and a description of every public battle they've fought. Everything!" the red-haired young man said with a smile.
Bebe's eyes lit up.
Linley smiled too.
This was good! It even included the techniques they'd used and the laws they specialized in, along with detailed battle descriptions. That was excellent.
"And the most secretive one?" Linley asked curiously.
"The most secretive one includes records of the Lords' relatives and friends, their usual activities, their temperaments, and so on. Of course, the more secretive details can't be guaranteed for accuracy. Besides the written materials, there are also many memory projections—recordings of many public battles fought by the eighty-one Lords!" the red-haired young man said.
Linley and Bebe exchanged a glance.
Good heavens, this was incredibly detailed. Written materials paired with a large number of memory projections would give them a clear understanding of those Nine Heavens Lords.
Bebe laughed heartily. "We'll take the most secretive one!" The red-haired young man and the silver-haired man, along with the others, all smiled. "Alright, we'll have someone fetch a copy."
One million Ink Stones was nothing to Linley. To the red-haired young man, these materials could be copied at almost no cost. They knew that many powerful figures would choose the most secretive version. For the strong, one million was nothing to worry about.
"Here it is!" The silver-haired man came out of the house carrying a box. Inside were a thick stack of written materials and a large number of crystal balls.
"Excellent." Linley walked over and glanced at them.
"Lotus Rock Domain, Lord Chi Wei, resides in Lotus Rock Domain…" The first line on the top sheet caught his eye. Linley nodded slightly.
"Alright, here's one million Ink Stones." Linley handed over a large Azure Stone.
"If you two ever need any other information about the Nine Heavens Domain, feel free to come to us. For returning customers, we offer a ten percent discount," the red-haired young man said with a smile.
Linley smiled back, flipped his hand, and stored the entire box into his spatial ring.
With such detailed intelligence, he could definitely decide who to target.
PS: Two chapters finished a bit late, sorry.