Lin Lei's mind suddenly cleared.
"No wonder the Chief God wanted me to become a Nine Abyss Lord first before entering. If I went into the Planar Battlefield as a soldier, I'd have to follow orders. There'd be no way to find opportunities to kill enemy commanders." Lin Lei understood that only by acting alone could he kill enemy commanders more quickly.
How could he accomplish anything under someone else's command?
"Are there any other rules besides these?" Lin Lei asked again.
"That's all," the guard said quickly. "The rules are simple. A commander has the authority to bring people into the Planar Battlefield. On the Planar Battlefield, commanders can move about freely while soldiers follow orders. That's it! As for how many merits you can earn and how many rewards you can get, there's a stone tablet beside the spatial gate that records all of that."
Lin Lei nodded slightly.
Merits, rewards—he wasn't concerned about any of that for now. After all, he didn't even have the qualifications to enter yet. It was too early to talk about such things.
"Bei Bei, let's go," Lin Lei transmitted.
The two of them immediately flew away from Flaming Bone Mountain. In midair, Bei Bei asked urgently, "Boss, what do we do now? To get in, we need a Nine Abyss Lord or a Netherworld City Lord. We only have two paths right now—find a Nine Abyss Lord to lead us in, or one of us becomes a Nine Abyss Lord!"
"The first path won't work," Lin Lei shook his head. "First of all, among all the Nine Abyss Lords who haven't entered the Planar Battlefield yet, none of them want to go in and take the risk. Why would they bring us along? And entering as an ordinary soldier means following orders. This time I'm going in with the goal of killing their commanders."
Bei Bei looked at Lin Lei and broke into a grin. "Boss, you mean..."
"Find a way to become a Nine Abyss Lord!" Lin Lei said slowly.
"Haha, I'm all for it." Bei Bei's eyes lit up, but then he frowned. "It's not that easy though."
"Of course it's not easy. Every single Nine Abyss Lord is powerful." Lin Lei knew that whenever a Nine Abyss Lord was defeated, a stronger person would take their place. This system had been in place for countless years, and as a result, all eighty-one lords were terrifyingly strong.
The ones he knew—Reisjing and Mosi—were Purgatory Commanders in the Infernal Realm. Belute was the Master of the Azure Mansion.
"Among the eighty-one Nine Abyss Lords, there must still be differences in strength. Powerhouses like Belute and Dannington, or even weaker ones who shouldn't be any less than me," Lin Lei said. "If we challenged someone of your grandfather Belute's caliber, we'd basically be throwing our lives away!"
Bei Bei nodded. "We'd need to find a weaker one. Then there might be a chance."
"But who's strong and who's weak?" Lin Lei frowned. "And the trouble now is we don't even know the rules for challenging a Nine Abyss Lord. We also don't know which of the Eighty-One Lords have gone to the Planar Battlefield and which are still in the Nine Abyss Domain. We need to figure all that out."
"Even if we're going to fight, we need to pick a target. Of those eighty-one domains, which one has a lord who'd be easier to deal with?" Lin Lei knew almost nothing about the Nine Abyss Domain.
Bei Bei also pulled a face.
He didn't know either, but he ventured, "Boss, each of those eighty-one domains has a city, right? There'd definitely be a lot of people in the cities. We could go there and investigate easily."
"That's all we can do for now," Lin Lei agreed.
Flaming Bone Island's core area had a city, and it was noticeably livelier.
Inside a restaurant.
Lin Lei and Bei Bei sat across from each other. Lin Lei looked around and found that, just as he'd expected, there were many Highgods in the city, but there were also Midgods and Lowgods! "Looks like those Highgods had children here in the Nine Abyss Domain," Lin Lei guessed.
"Gentlemen, here's our menu." A Midgod waiter smiled and handed over a menu.
Lin Lei looked at him and simultaneously released his divine domain. The waiter's expression changed immediately, and he regarded Lin Lei warily. Lin Lei merely smiled. "Don't be nervous. I just want to ask you some questions."
"Please go ahead." The waiter managed to keep his composure.
"What are the rules for challenging a Nine Abyss Lord in this domain?" Lin Lei asked.
The waiter gave Lin Lei a puzzled look, then said, "It's simple. In any of the eighty-one domains, every domain city has a 'Blood Battle Arena.' As long as you fight a hundred consecutive battles on the Blood Battle Arena and win every single one, then... that hundred-win champion earns the right to challenge the lord of that domain!"
"Oh?" Lin Lei's eyes lit up.
"Isn't that the same as the Miluo Island system?" Bei Bei laughed.
Maybe Miluo Island had simply copied the Nine Abyss Domain's model.
"I want to know—what's special about these eighty-one lords? Who's strong and who's weak? And which of them are currently in the Nine Abyss Domain versus which ones have gone to the Planar Battlefield?" Lin Lei fired off questions one after another.
The waiter said helplessly, "My lords, how would I know something like that?"
Lin Lei smiled. Waiters tended to hear all sorts of things. He pressed further, "Then tell me—who would know? Who would have the clearest information?"
The waiter answered quickly, "In our city, there's actually intelligence on the lords being sold."
"Selling intelligence?" Lin Lei's eyes brightened.
That made sense. Where there was demand, there was a market. In the Nine Abyss Domain, challenging the eighty-one lords was something many people dreamed of. Naturally, a lot of people wanted to know the true strength of those eighty-one lords.
"Where do they sell it? Take me there. I'll give you ten thousand inkstones," Lin Lei said calmly. "Here are five thousand inkstones. After you've taken me there, I'll give you another five thousand." He handed over the first batch.
In the Netherworld, inkstones were also accepted currency.
"Ten thousand inkstones?" The waiter's eyes lit up. Inside the city, he wasn't worried that Lin Lei would try to kill him, so he immediately agreed. "Sure thing. When would you like to go, my lords? After you finish your meal, or—"
"Now."
Lin Lei and Bei Bei both stood up.
"All right, give me a moment. I'll go let my employer know." The waiter was all enthusiasm.
"Boss, that really was easy," Bei Bei said, grinning at Lin Lei.
"Places like restaurants are full of all kinds of people. These waiters hear a lot and know a lot. Asking them is the most convenient way." Lin Lei felt a wave of relief. The fact that there was actually a place in the city selling intelligence on all eighty-one lords made things much easier.