Every black dragon had a rider on its back. At first glance, the vast majority were men.
"Among those who've reached the god-level, men still make up the majority," Lin Lei mused silently. In truth, whether you looked at the ratio of men to women among the strong on the Yulan Continent, or at what he'd seen among the Purple-Horn Army since arriving in Hell, or even among the people of this Black Dragon tribe—it all told the same story.
Few women, many men.
"Lin Lei, stop standing there like a fool. Hurry up and follow me." Pafet flew deeper into the mountain range, and Lin Lei, Dilia, and Bei Bei followed close behind. They ventured further along the rolling mountain chain, where mansions dotted the landscape everywhere, each one displaying its own unique grandeur.
For god-level experts, constructing a building was a trivial matter.
After flying for a short while, Pafet led the three of them down to a plateau on the mountainside. The clearing there was quite large—easily a hundred meters on each side, more than enough to build a sizable estate.
"This is where you'll be living from now on. As for the actual dwelling, I trust you don't need my help building it?" Pafet said with a smile.
"Haha…" Lin Lei chuckled as well, then suddenly stomped down on the ground.
Boom— The mountainside trembled, and a strange wave of energy rippled outward. Enormous boulders began floating up into the air, connecting together in an orderly sequence, while a pale yellow glow of earth element power radiated in all directions.
Pafet watched the spectacle with visible surprise.
Before long, a simple two-story house with a courtyard had taken shape.
"The rocks in Hell really are incredibly heavy," Lin Lei remarked.
These boulders were similar to black jade stone, and on top of that, the gravitational pull of this supreme plane—Hell—was nearly a hundred times that of the Yulan Continent. Each massive rock weighed as much as a small hill back on the Yulan Continent.
"So effortless, so precise. Lin Lei, has your Earth Element profound mystery already reached perfection?" Pafet asked, astonished.
"Not yet." Lin Lei shook his head.
Pafet protested, "Come on, Lin Lei, no need to hide it. To be able to handle something so casually—to use these boulders to build a mansion in Hell, especially with those rocks moving in such perfect harmony. I may not cultivate the Laws of Earth myself, but I've seen plenty of people who do."
Lin Lei smiled and said nothing more.
In truth, his Earth Element profound mystery had not reached perfection. It was simply that it had already merged with Earth Tremor. When he put it into practice, the Tremor was naturally incorporated as well, making everything appear effortless.
"You can settle down here in the Black Dragon tribe without worry. I won't bother you any further. If you have any questions, you can always come to me or ask someone else," Pafet said.
"Thank you, Mr. Pafet," Lin Lei replied with a smile.
Once Pafet had gone, Lin Lei, Dilia, and Bei Bei entered their new dwelling.
"Looks like we'll have to make the table and chairs ourselves," Lin Lei said. The three of them immediately set to work. Lin Lei simply pulled a massive boulder over with his control, then chopped down with a blade-hand using Dimensional Slicing, splitting a perfectly smooth, flat surface from the rock.
A black dagger appeared in Bei Bei's hand—razor sharp.
In no time, Bei Bei had fashioned a stone table. Working together, the three soon had the table and three stone stools completed.
"Phew, good thing I got in the habit of storing fine wine and such in my spatial ring. Otherwise we'd have nothing to eat or drink here." Lin Lei produced a bottle of wine, and Bei Bei immediately cheered. "Boss, you still had that!"
In Hell, the mountain wind was eerily desolate.
"Hell… an unfamiliar place," Lin Lei said, sipping his wine with a sigh. They had barely entered Hell, yet nearly every person they'd encountered was a god-level expert. The weakest in the Purple-Horn Army were mid-gods, to say nothing of them, and even the people here in the Black Dragon tribe were all gods.
This was a world of god-level experts!
"Boss, the Blood Peak Continent is so impossibly far from us. What are we going to do?" Bei Bei said worriedly. "That Pafet even said if we go wandering around outside, we won't last three days."
Dilia frowned. "Let's not rush. We should secure our footing in Hell first."
Lin Lei nodded. "This isn't the Yulan Continent. The strong are everywhere here—it's not a place where we can just go wherever we want. Setting everything else aside, we don't even know the basic geography of Hell yet."
Knock, knock— Suddenly, there was a knocking at the door.
"I'll get it." Bei Bei sprang up and pulled open the heavy stone door with ease. Standing outside was a fair-featured young man with golden hair. The young man greeted them cheerfully. "Hello there. I'm Kuite—I live just nearby."
"I'm Lin Lei. Please, come in!" Lin Lei rose and gestured him inside.
At a glance, Lin Lei could tell Kuite was a lowgod.
"I live here with my big brother, just to your north, also on this mountainside. I heard you just arrived in Hell?" Kuite said warmly.
"Please, sit. This is wine from our homeland—have a taste," Lin Lei offered.
"Wine?" Kuite's eyes lit up immediately. He dropped into the seat Bei Bei had vacated and eagerly downed a cup. Savoring it with narrowed eyes, he said, "This really is good wine. Not a patch on the fine brews sold in Winged Dragon City, of course—but just being able to drink something like this is wonderful enough."