Hell, within the territory of the Yemü Prefecture.
This was a mountain range utterly devoid of life. The rocks were charred black, and withered, rotting weeds littered the ground.
Within these sprawling mountains lay a lake spanning dozens of miles in circumference. The water was murky and exuded wave after wave of death energy. White, skeletal remains floated on its surface. This mountain range was a forbidden zone!
Even demons dared not approach it.
"Gurgle~~~" The lifeless lake suddenly began to bubble.
"Boom!"
Without warning, the vast lake surface parted like a curtain, the water splitting open to form a channel dozens of meters wide that plunged straight down to the lake's depths. Nearly a hundred figures soared out from the lakebed. All wore black robes except for the one at the forefront, who was clad in gray.
Above the lake, nearly a hundred people hovered in midair.
The gray-robed figure at the front had jet-black hair, but what drew the most attention were his two eyebrows — they hung down all the way to his chest. If Lloyus and the others had been present and caught sight of this gray-robed man, they would have been stunned. Because he was identical to the master of Moon Lake Castle.
"Damn it!" The muscles at the corners of the gray-robed man's eyes twitched. He was on the verge of explosion.
The gray-robed man spoke in a low, dangerous voice: "I, Ulson, suppose I've been in seclusion too long. People have forgotten my name. They actually destroyed my divine clone! I swore I would make them regret it!" Fury burned endlessly in his heart.
He possessed two great divine clones.
He had first cultivated his Death God clone, while his original body became the Darkness God clone. In terms of strength, his accomplishments in the Laws of Death far surpassed those in the Laws of Darkness. Even so, given the power of his Darkness God clone along with the large escort, nothing should have gone wrong.
And yet this time…
One clone was dead.
"Kill them! Kill them all!" Murderous intent flooded the gray-robed man's mind.
He had only two divine clones. Each one was equivalent to an extra life. Losing a divine clone naturally sent him into a towering rage.
"Master, where shall we go now?" A black-robed figure behind him asked respectfully.
"That Moon Lake Castle of mine is closest to Diyi City. According to the rules for the demon castle assessment missions, they would certainly have chosen the nearest target," the gray-robed man said in a low voice. "Those demons have probably already boarded a metal life and are heading back to Diyi City."
"We'll go to Diyi City first!" the gray-robed man declared coldly.
"Yes, Master (My Lord)!"
Nearly a hundred black-robed figures answered in unison, though their forms of address differed slightly.
"Hmph. No matter what, they have to return to Diyi City. We'll intercept them just outside the city." The gray-robed man then turned to one of the black-robed figures. That figure vanished abruptly, and a streamlined metal life appeared in midair. Then, all nearly a hundred people — the gray-robed man included — stepped inside.
Whoosh!
The metal life tore through the sky in an instant, racing toward Diyi City.
In terms of speed, this metal life far surpassed the one Lin Lei and the others were riding.
Not far from Moon Lake, the silver-haired elder flew back into the metal life and gave a curt order: "There's no one left in the castle. Let's move!" The metal life instantly transformed into a phantom and vanished into the distant horizon.
Inside the rear cabin of the metal life, the silver-haired elder stepped in, surveyed the crowd, and announced in a clear voice: "Everyone, please stand up and gather in the center of the aisle."
"Stand up?"
Though puzzled, Lin Lei and the others rose to their feet. Nearly a hundred people in the rear cabin gathered in the middle of the aisle. Suddenly — the metal life shrank dramatically in volume. Both its length and width contracted by a large margin, and then a hundred seats materialized.
On the way here, there had been rows of twenty people, filling fifty rows.
Now there were only five seats per row, twenty rows in total. The volume had been reduced significantly.
"With fewer people, the metal life doesn't need to be that large," the silver-haired elder said indifferently, then left the rear cabin and returned to the front.
With only a hundred seats, everyone in the rear cabin sat much closer together.
"We're heading back."
Lin Lei gazed out through the transparent window of the metal life, feeling a wave of relief.
"Boss, when we get back to Diyi City and hand in this Moon Ring at the demon castle, we'll be demons too!" Bei Bei said cheerfully to Lin Lei. "When we wear those demon badges, tsk tsk — at least we won't have to line up and pay the city entry fee."
"City entry fee?"
Lin Lei and Dilia exchanged a speechless look. For them, a single ink stone for the entry fee was nothing.
"Does anyone here have a Moon Ring? If anyone has a Moon Ring, I'm willing to pay for it." Suddenly, a voice rang out through the rear cabin, drawing the attention of nearly everyone present. The speaker was a strikingly handsome man with an air of effeminacy about him.
"Pay for it?" Lin Lei was startled. "So brazenly? The demon castle staff are still in the front cabin."
Bei Bei frowned. "Huh? Saying it so loudly — if that silver-haired old man finds out, won't that be trouble?"
Ruenna's eyes lit up as she looked around at the others. Hearing Bei Bei's concern, she explained in a low voice: "Bei Bei, for the demon castle assessment mission, they only check whether you have the token. They don't care how you obtained it. Whether you stole it or bought it — as long as you hand in the Moon Ring when the time comes, that's all that matters."
Lin Lei and the others understood upon hearing this.
"So the demon castle operates this way to encourage plundering among the candidates," Lin Lei thought to himself.
Then again, Hell had always been like this. Killing and fighting were the themes of this world.
"Looking to buy one? Haha… I happen to have a spare Moon Ring." Another voice suddenly spoke up from the rear cabin. This immediately excited Ruenna and several others, and they all turned to look.
The one with the spare Moon Ring was an extremely burly man with a large beard, though he stood only about four feet tall.
"A dwarf?" Lin Lei raised an eyebrow.
"How much?" asked a woman with long golden hair.
"Not asking for much — one million ink stones. If you want it, pay up." The burly dwarf said bluntly.