A two-star mission. From the 'Imperial Wing City' in the Ye Mu Prefecture to the 'Blue Maple City' in the Hong Yang Prefecture. The journey covered nearly four billion li. The reward: two hundred thousand ink stones!
Despite the four billion li distance, one could still reach the destination within several decades by traveling in a metal life form. Decades of escort duty for two hundred thousand ink stones. For one-star and two-star demons, this was indeed an exceptionally generous payout.
"You're choosing this one?" The young man looked up in surprise, glancing at Lin Lei and his two companions.
His expression made Lin Lei feel a twinge of doubt. "What? Is there a problem?"
"Oh, let me see your demon medals." The young man said nothing more. Lin Lei and the others promptly handed over their demon medals. The young man flipped his hand, and a crystal radiating purple light appeared in his palm.
He brought the crystal close to the three demon medals.
Under the purple glow, special characters surfaced on the surface of all three demon medals.
"Huh?" All three of Lin Lei's party were somewhat surprised.
"What's this? A string of numbers?"
The young man spoke casually. "Those are the serial numbers on your demon medals. Every demon has a unique number. From the number, we can confirm your identity. Your star rating is also on the medal." With that, he recorded the three demons' serial numbers.
Then he handed the three demon medals back. "All right. What you three need to do is arrive at the city gate at dawn, twenty days from now. By then, personnel from our Demon Castle as well as the hired guests will be there to receive you. They'll check your demon medals, and that will naturally confirm your identities."
"Does accepting this mission require a fee?" Lin Lei asked.
He had heard that accepting missions at the Demon Castle usually required an upfront payment.
The young man smiled. "That depends on the mission. Accepting this kind of escort mission doesn't require any fee."
Lin Lei and the others left the Demon Castle and returned to their lodgings.
"Ah, twenty more days. In twenty days, we'll be leaving this place." Bei Bei tossed his straw hat onto the stone table and sighed. "I've lived here for over thirty years now. It's hard to let go."
Lin Lei let out a long breath.
He had been in Hell for so long, and had finally become a demon. In twenty more days, he would at last embark on the journey to the Azure Blue Prefecture.
"Lin Lei," Dilia said with a hint of a smile on her face, "Tarosha, Di Lin, and the others arrived in Hell long before us. I wonder where they are in Hell now? Could we run into them on the road after we leave Imperial Wing City?"
"Tarosha, Di Lin?" Lin Lei couldn't help but recall many scenes from the past.
"They were all together, and Tarosha and Di Lin are not only mid-tier gods but also divine beasts. With the whole group together, they should be able to keep themselves at least reasonably safe in Hell." Lin Lei gazed toward the distant horizon. "It's just that Hell is far too vast. I have no idea where they actually ended up."
Hell had five continents, plus the Star Mist Sea and the Chaos Sea.
When teleported from a material plane, the destination was random — one could appear in any of the seven regions. And the distance between any two of them was enormous. If they hadn't been teleported to the same continent, running into each other would be truly difficult.
Bei Bei nodded vigorously. "Right. Tarosha and the others are at least together in Hell. But Oliver came here on his own. A lone lower-tier god in Hell would probably have it even harder than us."
"Who could have known Hell was like this before coming here?" Lin Lei said with a faint smile. "Still, you're right. Countless strong individuals from innumerable material planes get teleported here, on top of the accumulation over countless ages, plus the native races that have multiplied in Hell — having this many powerhouses is only natural."
The three of them felt relatively at ease. After all, they now possessed wealth exceeding a hundred million ink stones, and having become demons, they had no trouble establishing themselves in Hell.
As for the journey to the Azure Blue Prefecture, they naturally felt confident.
Over the remaining twenty days, all three of them cultivated quietly. Dilia devoted herself entirely to refining that upper-tier godhead, though doing so would require several decades. In the blink of an eye — Twenty days passed.
On this morning, the misty chill of dawn still drifted through Imperial Wing City, and the purple moon was faintly visible in the sky. They had long since passed the curfew hour. At such an early time, the three of them set out, heading straight for the city gate of Imperial Wing City.
"Imperial Wing City!" Bei Bei was still sighing as they walked. "I'm afraid we'll never have the chance to come back here again."
"Don't think too much about it." Seeing Bei Bei looking so sentimental, Lin Lei wanted to laugh. "Oh, the city gate is just up ahead."
"Mm, we're here." Bei Bei's eyes lit up as he looked ahead. "Where are the metal life forms? I don't see any." He peered carefully at the skies outside the city but could not spot a single metal life form.
Lin Lei felt a touch of doubt himself.
There should have been metal life forms outside.
"Let's go outside and figure it out," Lin Lei said. The moment they stepped through the city gate, a white-robed, silver-haired young man outside caught sight of the 'demon medals' on their chests and immediately approached, asking in a low voice, "Have you accepted the escort mission to Blue Maple City in Hong Yang Prefecture?"
"That's right!" Lin Lei and the others nodded.
The silver-haired young man smiled and nodded. "Then please, the three of you, head to the second floor of the restaurant next to the city gate. All the demons participating in this escort mission are gathered there."
"Next to the restaurant?" Lin Lei turned to look. "The one on the south side, or the north one—"
"The one on the south side. There's someone in a white robe just like mine standing at the entrance. Go on over, and he'll receive you," the silver-haired young man said.
Though Lin Lei and the others were puzzled — the escort mission had instructed them to assemble at the city gate at dawn, so why were they being sent to a restaurant instead? — the restaurant was still inside Imperial Wing City, and fighting was strictly forbidden within the city. They had no reason to fear being deceived. So they casually headed back into Imperial Wing City, and at the same time, several other demons who had accepted the same mission were also being guided to follow Lin Lei and the others into the restaurant.