With regards to delicacies, Linley was somewhat eager as well.
The delicacies of the Infernal Realm were made using extremely precious ingredients and by genuine maestros. The quality naturally was high.
“Fine. We’ll go for a taste tomorrow.”
An occasional splurge was necessary.
Royalwing City. At the doorway to a restaurant.
“This place is pretty good.” Linley’s group looked at the exterior decorations of this restaurant. Satisfied, they pushed the door open and went in. When Linley’s group entered, immediately the waiters of the hotel came in. Bebe glanced at the waiter, then used his divine sense to speak to Linley. “Boss, this waiter is a God.”
In his heart, Linley felt this was ridiculous.
A God, waiting on him?
But in Royalwing City, Gods were indeed commonly seen. It wasn’t too absurd for a waiter to be a God.
“Our three guests, please follow me.” The waiter had a smile on his face as he led Linley’s group forward.
“Drip, drip.”
The restaurant had a miniature artificial mountain and spring waters. The spring water gurgled forward, its flows separating the restaurant into multiple areas.
Linley’s group was taken to one part of the restaurant, where they sat down. With a flip of his hand, the waiter retrieved a menu containing a list of delicacies. Smiling, he put it on the table. “After you have ordered your dishes, please just call for me.”
After speaking, the waiter retreated to another corner.
“I’ve never seen the prices of dishes in the Infernal Realm before.” Bebe excitedly flipped open the menu.
Linley was somewhat curious as well.
“Wow, it really is expensive.” Bebe continuously flipped through the pages of the menu. “Boss, the cheapest dish I’ve found still costs twentyinkstones.” As he spoke, Bebe stared with wide eyes, still reading the menu. “The introductions to each dish are quite detailed. It clearly explains the uniqueness of every single dish. Oh, this dish actually costs seven hundred inkstones. So expensive.”
After reading it all, Bebe handed it over to Linley and Delia, a mocking smile on his face.
Linley and Delia began to read the menu together and the dishes within.
“Hey, Linley, look. This dish is made from the liver of a Hellfire Phoenix. It costs thirty inkstones. The price isn’t too extravagant.” Delia pointed at a dish.
Linley flipped through the menu as well, and he couldn’t help but sigh.
“As long as you have money, you can eat any sort of Saint-level magical beast or even Deity-level magical beasts, even those from other planes.” Linley, seeing the detailed descriptions of each dish, couldn’t help but sigh. “Delia, you and Bebe pick. I’ll eat whatever.”
They ended up ordering six dishes.
“Bebe, you only picked the expensive ones.” Linley began to laugh.
The six dishes came to a total price of 215 inkstones. It must be understood that in the Infernal Realm, a Demigod artifact was worth less than ten inkstones, while a Demigod spark was less than a hundred inkstones. But these six dishes alone cost a total of 215 inkstones.
Fortunately, the total net worth of the three of them was in excess of several million, so they naturally wouldn’t care too much about this sum.
“These two dishes will definitely take a bit longer, especially this one. The slow roasting alone will take six hours.” The waiter smiled as he explained.
“Understood.” Linley nodded.
When ordering food, there were explanations beneath each of the dishes. After all, Linley’s group wasn’t in a rush. They could sit there and wait an entire day if necessary.
“Boss, life for people with money in the Infernal Realm is pretty good.” Bebe sighed. “When we were back in our homeland, how could we possibly eat food like this?” Bebe currently felt that he was in a state of bliss. He loved to eat.
Linley looked outside the window.
The metallic window of the restaurant was translucent. One could see everything going on outside.
“These cities are the only safe zones in the entire Infernal Realm,” Linley said to himself. “In Royalwing City, we can relax and sit here quietly while enjoying fine food. But if we were outside the city, every moment would be dangerous, and perhaps we might lose our lives.”
The enormous Nightblaze Prefecture stretched to a circumference of a billion kilometers.
But there were only ten cities.
One could tell from this that in the Infernal Zone, almost all the experts lived a life of near-constant danger. Only an extremely small number were able to live lives of comfort.
“Even if you want to live a comfortable life, you still need an enormous sum of money to accomplish it.” Linley understood that while Royalwing City was very comfortable, the amount of money they were spending was astonishing as well.
The dishes came, and Linley’s group began to enjoy these wondrous delicacies.
“Mm!” As Bebe ate, his eyes began to grow lidded in enjoyment.
Delia and Linley also had the feeling that eating these delicacies was indeed a sort of absolute enjoyment.
“Whew,” Bebe said with a sour look on his face, “Boss, after eating this food, in the future, I won’t be able to swallow the food of our homeland. Man, this is simply too delicious. This is absolutely one of the best ways one can enjoy one’s self.” Bebe continued to eat as he spoke, while praising the food nonstop.
Linley couldn’t help but laugh.
“Linley.” Delia nudged Linley gently
“Huh?” Puzzled, Linley looked over. Delia said softly, “Linley, look outside the window.”
Linley immediately looked outside the window. He saw many people clustered outside on the streets, amongst which included some who were looking into the restaurant with a hint of envy in their eyes.
“This is very normal. There are many people there who just entered Royalwing City,” Linley said softly. “Delia, this is much like how, when we first arrived at Royalwing City and saw these places for the first time, we also looked everywhere with curiosity and anticipation, right?”
The Infernal Realm was a very brutal place.
If you had money, you could enjoy all sorts of delicacies.
But in the Infernal Realm, most people were struggling to survive.
But of course, the worst off were the Saints. Many Saints had come from material planes to the Infernal Realm, but only after they arrived did they discover that they were the lowest rungs in this place. Their lives could be taken from them at any moment… what they wanted was to acquire a Demigod spark.
But a Demigod spark wasn’t even as costly as the table of food in front of Linley.
“Big brother, congratulations on becoming a Fiend. Today, the two of us have to have a good celebration.” From behind Linley, a voice rang out. Upon hearing the word ‘Fiend’, Linley’s couldn’t help but listen carefully.
“Haha, this time it was really dangerous. Fortunately, I’m skilled in the Elemental Laws of the Wind,” the thick, deep voice rang out. “Only, several of my dear friends failed. Alas… before this, we were saying that we would all succeed and all celebrate together.” As the man spoke, his voice lowered.
Upon hearing this, the mood at Linley’s table dropped as well.
The Fiend trials were very brutal.
“Delia, in the next few decades, you need to focus on training in the Elemental Laws of the Wind. When the time comes, if anything dangerous appears, at least you’ll have a better chance of staying alive.” Linley was worried about Delia. Once he became a God, the weakest of the three would be Delia.
“Right.” Delia nodded gently.
As for Bebe’s power, Linley actually felt rather confident in his heart.
“Fortunately, Delia has learned the profound mysteries involving the ‘doppelgangers’.” Nieff, who had tried to assassinate Linley, utilized the doppelganger technique.
Ti
me flowed on. Linley, Delia, and Bebe lived a quiet life in Royalwing City. In the blink of an eye, thirty-two years passed. Linley’s training had reached the final step long ago, and he was about to break through and reach mastery at any moment.
Within the inner courtyard.
Bebe was wearing his straw hat, a sour look on his face as he mumbled, “Boss said he reached a bottleneck two years ago, and he’s been in closed-door training ever since, not coming out. It has been two years… didn’t he say that the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth is the simplest profound mystery of the Laws of the Earth? But he hasn’t broken through after spending two years.”
It actually wasn’t too hard to gain insights into the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth.
But what Linley was doing was simultaneously gaining insights into the Essence of the Earth while fusing it with another profound mystery.
“Boss being in training is one thing, but Delia is by his side training as well. I’m bored to death.” Bebe once again let out a long sigh. With a flip of his hand, Bebe retrieved a God spark, then tossed it into his mouth and swallowed it.
“As for Grandpa Beirut, ugh. He gave me a whole sack full of divine sparks and told me to eat them all. But digesting these divine sparks is so slow.”
Bebe let out another sigh.
“So many divine sparks. How many years will it take me to eat them all? Right, once Boss is out of money, I’ll sell some of them off,” Bebe mumbled to himself.
But suddenly…
“Rumble…”
A surge of unique energy ripples appeared, as the natural Laws descended upon the room where Linley was living in. This happened very commonly in the Infernal Realm, so nobody paid any attention. But this… was a huge source of joy for Bebe.
“Boss finally broke through?”
Bebe rejoiced as he charged towards Linley’s room.
“Creak!” Bebe pushed the door open.
Delia, within the room, saw Bebe and immediately used her eyes to tell Bebe not to make any sound. Bebe hurriedly nodded. Holding his breath, he raised his head to look at Linley, who was enfolded by the unique natural Laws and hovering in mid-air already.
Linley’s eyes were shut. Suddenly…
Linley’s earth-type Demigod spark seemed to have become immaterial. It came out from Linley’s forehead, then floated about Linley’s head. A large amount of earth elemental essence swirled around that divine spark. Under the control of the natural Laws, Linley’s divine spark slowly began to transform…
Transform from a Demigod spark to a God spark!
The earth elemental essences disappeared, and that divine spark which emanated an earthen light clearly had a much more powerful aura now.
“Rumble…”
The earthen yellow divine spark slowly revolved, then re-entered Linley’s body.
Moments later…
“The natural Laws have vanished. Why hasn’t the Boss opened his eyes yet? What’s he doing?” Bebe was somewhat unable to wait any longer. He couldn’t help but speak. Delia just stared at him, then said through her divine sense, “Bebe, don’t make any sound.”
Linley, hearing Bebe’s words, opened his eyes and laughed as he looked at Bebe. “I just reached the God level, so I wanted to sense what about myself has changed, that’s all.”
At this moment, Linley had already completely fused the Throbbing Pulse of the World and the Essence of the Earth, entering the full God level!
17
Profound Mysteries Fused, Power Greatly Strengthened
“When breaking through from the Demigod-level to the God-level, the descent of the natural Laws that surrounded my soul lasted only a short while, but the transformation of my soul was comparable in effect to me absorbing those eleven amethysts.” Linley was absolutely amazed.
Over the past thirty-two years, those eleven amethysts that he had purchased had been completely absorbed long ago.
Linley’s spirit was now incomparably more powerful than it had been in the past. After becoming a God and having his soul transformed yet again, the effect was actually superior to absorbing soul essences.
“Delia, have you finished absorbing those two Golden Soul-Pearls?” Linley looked at Delia.
Linley had Delia go buy two Golden Soul-Pearls to strengthen her soul as well. That way, she would find it easier to resist the soul attacks of others. That time, Delia hadn’t just purchased two Golden Soul-Pearls; she had also purchased an amethyst.
“I’ve completely absorbed the Golden Soul-Pearls, but absorbing that amethyst truly is slow.” Delia sighed. “No wonder there are so many who are willing to buy Golden Soul-Pearls but so few who buy amethysts.”
“Boss, when are we going to the Fiend trials?” Bebe urged frantically.
Bebe had been waiting for this day for a long time.
“When?” Linley looked at the sky, then laughed. “No rush. It isn’t even noon yet. Let’s go have a meal at a restaurant to celebrate. After eating, we can go to the Fiend Castle.”
“Restaurant?” Bebe’s eyes lit up.
After Linley’s group finished and left the restaurant, it was already near nightfall. However, the Fiend Castle was open at night as well. Linley’s group immediately went to the Fiend Castle. Upon reaching the Fiend Castle, they saw that there were actually quite a few people here at the Fiend Castle.
They strode into the first floor’s main hall of the Fiend Castle.
“A familiar face.” Linley immediately saw Yuna behind the counter, and the three of them walked over.
“Miss Yuna, I want to participate in the Fiend trials,” Linley said.
Yuna lifted her head up to look at them, and then her eyes suddenly widened as she started to laugh. “It is you three?” Linley had left a very deep impression in Yuna. After all, on that day, even the Lord Governor, Lord Royalwing, had made an appearance. Yuna naturally remembered that day very clearly.
“Oh, you reached the God level.” Yuna glanced at Linley in surprise.
“Were you already at the verge of a breakthrough, the last time you came?” Yuna laughed.
She wasn’t too surprised. As she saw it, last time Linley should have been stuck at the bottleneck for Demigods. From the Demigod level to the God level, a breakthrough could be very fast or very slow.
Linley only chuckled. “Help the three of us register for the Fiend trials, please.”
Yuna looked at Linley’s group then nodded. “Fine. You know the rules. Ten thousand inkstones per person. Thirty thousand for three.” Yuna laughed as she stretched her hand out, and with a flip of his hand, Linley retrieved three of those long azurites.
Accepting the three long azurites, Yuna withdrew three medallions with a devilish cyclopean eye design, handing them to Linley’s group.
“What are these?” Bebe looked curiously at the image as he asked.
“This is the proof that you are qualified to participate in the Fiend trials.” Yuna laughed. “Right, tell me where you are living. I’ll record it down.”
“Miss Yuna, you haven’t even told us what the mission is. Why do you want our address?” Linley didn’t understand.
Yuna shook her head. “The mission for a Fiend trial will only be explained clearly when you actually participate in it. Right now… nobody knows. Even the exact time of the Fiend trial is uncertain. This is because generally speaking, only when the numbers are filled up will a Fiend trial begin.”
“Fill up the numbers?” Linley began to understand.
Only when the number of participants reached a certain number would a Fiend trial begin.
They couldn’t be certain of who would come to register, so naturally, there was no way to ascertain the exact time the trials would start.
“Still have to wait? We won’t wait another few decades, will we?” Bebe said hurriedly.
“Of course not. Actually, just two days ago, a group of people went to take the Fiend trials. Only, the results were as cruel as ever. Less t
han a hundred succeeded. Too many died.” Yuna let out a sigh. “Oh. Don’t be in a hurry. In about a month or so, the numbers will be filled up again.”
One month? Linley’s group was in no rush.
“After the numbers are filled up for the Fiend trials and the mission has been selected, the employees of the Fiend Castle will notify you at your residence. Thus, you need to leave behind your address.” Yuna laughed.
Linley’s group understood. They immediately recorded their address.
“Hey, beautiful Miss Yuna.” Bebe chortled. “I’d like to ask, last time, that fellow named Anji, who failed twice in a row but still wanted to participate in a third Fiend trial. Did he succeed or fail in the last Fiend trial?”
Bebe’s question caused Linley and Delia to look at Yuna as well.
“Anji?”
Yuna began to laugh. “His luck really is not bad at all. He succeeded on the third Fiend trial. After succeeding, he accepted a long-distance escort mission out of Royalwing City. Most likely, he has long since left the boundaries of Nightblaze Prefecture. But of course, it’s also possible that he might have encountered danger during the escort mission and perished. Who knows?”
Linley’s group rejoiced for Anji. No matter what, in the end, that stubborn fellow had finally succeeded.
Linley’s group thus began to wait calmly. In the end, they waited more than twenty days.
Royalwing City. That quiet little courtyard where Linley’s group was staying. The blood-red sun shone down upon the courtyard. Linley was seated meditatively at the floor of the courtyard, a layer of earthen light roiling about on his body.
“Boss’s defensive power has far outstripped that of a God-level defensive artifact, and it’s continuing to grow stronger.”
Bebe sat there on the chair, clutching a bottle of fruit wine in his hands, continuously drinking. “This type of fruit wine is the fairly cheap sort in the Infernal Realm. A single inkstone can buy ten bottles. While drinking it is far better than those fruit wines which are acclaimed so highly in the Yulan continent.”
The Infernal Plane: Book 5 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 13
