The Infernal Plane: Book 5 of the Coiling Dragon Saga

by Wo Chi Xi Hong Shi

  “Haha…” The silver-haired elder laughed. “That’s understandable. This inkstone, to be precise, is the currency for the Infernal Realm!”

  “Currency?” Linley, Bebe, and Delia were all surprised. Having lived in the Yulan continent, Linley and the other two understand what the word ‘currency’ meant. So the ‘currency’ of the Infernal Realm was actually this unusual inkstone.

  “Why would this thing be considered currency?” Linley asked, not understanding. Something that could be used as currency should at least have a certain innate value.

  Buffett shook his head. “I’m not too sure either as to what exactly is so special about the inkstones themselves. But I do know one thing. There is no place in the Infernal Realm where inkstones can be mined. Only the Seven Rulers of Hell are able to create them. Based on this alone, inkstones are qualified to be used as currency.”

  Linley nodded slightly. So the inkstones were actually created by the Seven Rulers. Only, what special uses did inkstones have? Could it be that they were just made for people to look at? Linley still felt that inkstones had some sort of innate, unique value to them. “What can this currency purchase?” Linley asked.

  Buffett chuckled, “This currency can buy quite a few things. For example, divine artifacts. Divine sparks. Divine gemstones. Many more things. Also, some unique items such as amethysts, large golems, and more. But of course, there are some even more miraculous things… in short, this currency is good for many things. Even legendary Sovereign artifacts can be purchased using them. However, the sum required is simply astronomical.

  Linley began to understand the value of these inkstones. “Can you tell me what the price of a Demigod spark is?” Linley asked.

  “A Demigod spark is around a hundred inkstones. A Demigod artifact is generally only worth around ten inkstones,” Buffett said in a very experienced manner. “In the Infernal Realm, there are Deities everywhere, so a Demigod spark isn’t that valuable.”

  “However, God sparks are worth ten thousand inkstones, while Highgod sparks are worth ten million inkstones!” Buffett sighed. “Ten million inkstones. If I had a Highgod spark, I would become an upper-class figure in the Infernal Realm.”

  Linley, Bebe, and Delia glanced at each other. They all smiled at each other. “Boss, you actually thought that inkstones were some sort of special treasure,” Bebe messaged him through divine sense.

  “I just had the feeling that the inkstone itself seemed very unusual. I didn’t expect that this inkstone actually isn’t worth much at all.” Linley’s group naturally wouldn’t care too much about this inkstone any longer. After all, Linley was carrying Demigod artifacts as well as quite a few God artifacts. He even had two unused Highgod artifacts, as well as a single Highgod spark.

  By now, Linley, Delia, and Bebe didn’t have any further objections to joining the Black Dragon Tribe. It was just a single inkstone each, right? “If we join your tribe, what if we want to leave in the future?” Linley asked.

  “Leave? You can leave whenever you want, of course.” Buffett laughed. “However, only idiots would leave by themselves. Without the ability to protect yourself, roaming these lands where danger is omnipresent is as good as throwing one’s life away. In the Infernal Realm, killing people to steal their valuables is extremely commonplace. Even most Gods don’t dare to run about wildly.”

  Linley’s group glanced at each other, then shrugged. “Fine. We accept.” With a flip of his hand, Linley brought out his inkstone, while Bebe and Delia brought out theirs as well. Buffett reached out with his hand, but Linley suddenly pulled his arm back. “No rush. I’ll give it to you after we enter your Black Dragon Tribe.”

  Buffett was startled, and then he began to laugh loudly. “Are you afraid that I’m trying to cheat you? Fine, come with me then.” Buffett immediately flew downwards, while Linley, Delia, and Bebe all followed him down.

  The Infernal Realm’s gravity was nearly a hundred times that of the Yulan continent’s. Linley could clearly sense that his flying speed was quite a bit lower than in the material plane as well. While flying downwards, Bebe asked curiously, “Hey, old guy, just now you were talking about the Redbud Army. Those Redbud soldiers who escorted us here, who are they? Why is it that on our way over, we encountered many experts battling each other, but as soon as they saw the Redbud soldiers, they were immediately terrified and fled.”

  “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about this.” Buffett sighed. “The Infernal Realm has five great continents. The lord of our Redbud Continent is a mighty Sovereign of Destruction, one of the Seven Rulers of Hell, whom we refer to as the ‘Redbud Sovereign.”

  Linley and the others knew this. The Infernal Realm had five great continents and two oceans, which were controlled by the seven Rulers. The Seven Rulers were Sovereigns who trained in the Edicts of Destruction!

  “The Redbud Army is the army under the control of this mighty Sovereign of Destruction! This is the most powerful army in the entire Redbud Continent, and they are completely devoted to the commands of the Sovereign known as the ‘Redbud Ruler’! The Redbud Continent has no one who dares offend the Redbud Army!” Buffett’s eyes were filled with eagerness.

  Linley and the others were shocked. So it was an army under the authority of a Sovereign! No wonder none of the experts they encountered on the way over dared to antagonize the Redbud Army.

  “Perhaps a single small unit of the Redbud Army isn’t that frightening, but if you dared to offend a single unit of the Redbud Army, then most likely an entire regiment of the Redbud Army will come for revenge! Someone as powerful as our Lord Prefect of the Nightblaze Prefecture might be able to deal with a regiment, but then he would most likely then be faced with the entire Redbud Army which would come for revenge. In the entire Redbud Continent, there is virtually no one who dares offend the Redbud Army!”

  Buffett looked at Linley and the others. “You have to remember this. In the Redbud Continent of the Infernal Realm, no matter what, do not offend the Redbud Army. Offending them is disastrous!”

  “They are so powerful, and no one dares offend them. Then why haven’t you joined the Redbud Army, Mr. Buffett? I saw that many members of the Redbud Army were Gods. Aren’t you a God as well?” Linley joked.

  “Don’t you think I want to?” Buffett shook his head and sighed. “The requirements for joining the Redbud Army are very strict. First of all, you had to have become a Deity on your own! Anyone who became a Deity through fusing with a divine spark is immediately eliminated from consideration. This has caused more than 90% of the people in the Infernal Realm to have no hope of joining. And the second requirement is… you have to at least be a God who succeeds in a competition. Each time, they only recruit a very low number of people. Those capable of obtaining victory in the competition all have some sort of unique abilities.”

  Linley couldn’t help but sigh in astonishment at the quality of this Redbud Army. The weakest of them were Gods who had become Deities through their own power and who were specially chosen through a tournament. Over countless years, the number of truly powerful experts who had been recruited into the Redbud Army had to be unimaginably high. No wonder nobody in the Redbud Continent dared to offend the Redbud Army.

  Linley and the others landed on the ground, only to be welcomed by a series of roars which rang out from the massive mountains in front of them. Roaaaar. Roaaaaar. Countless enormous black dragons that were over a hundred meters long lay coiled throughout the mountain ranges. If one took a careful look, one would discover that every single enormous black dragon had a human standing or sitting atop of them.

  “This is our Black Dragon Tribe!” Buffett was clearly very proud. “Come, follow me inside.” As he spoke, Buffett strode forward. The mountain paths were winding, but Linley and the others were able to move forward easily.

  “Hey?” Bebe suddenly exclaimed in surprise, “Boss, that seems to be adamantite!” Linley turned. From not too far away, he did indeed see a small hill formed from a
damantite. Such an enormous amount of adamantite caused Linley to feel astonished.

  Seeing Linley stare in astonishment at the distant adamantite, Buffett couldn’t help but laugh. “That is adamantite. This is a very common type of ore in the Infernal Realm. You’ll see it everywhere. Look, over there, that blue ore? That’s blue nightmare ore. In terms of toughness, it is comparable to adamantite, but in terms of elasticity, it is actually superior. However… these things can be seen everywhere. In the Infernal Realm, divine artifacts are quite worthless. If you want a divine artifact, you can just have any random Demigod spend ten thousand years cultivating it, and then you’ll have a Demigod artifact. However, it will only be worth ten or so inkstones.”

  Linley, Delia, and Bebe maintained their silence. Indeed… only after cultivation and nourishing would a divine artifact’s power increase. A newly forged divine artifact couldn’t even be considered a Demigod artifact, just an non-graded weapon.

  “Buffett, you brought three more people. Haha, our tribe’s population has increased yet again!” A voice rang out afar as an enormous black dragon flew over, followed by someone leaping down down from the black dragon’s back. He wore a blue turban atop his head, and he appeared quite robust.

  Buffett laughed, “They just arrived in the Infernal Realm.”

  “Hey.” Bebe blinked his eyes. “It looks like everyone here is a Deity. Why do you raise these black dragons? These are all just Saints.”

  The robust man who had flown down laughed, “Don’t underestimate them. This type of black dragon is a very unique race of black dragons. It is known as the ‘Gerrard Black Dragon’ race. The saliva of Gerrard Black Dragons is quite valuable. If you raise a Gerrard Black Dragon, after ten thousand years, you’ll have earned thousands of inkstones. You fellows are quite lucky to be able to join our Black Dragon Tribe. If you joined the other tribes, you wouldn’t be as well off as you are with us.”

  Buffett said as well, “Indeed. If other Deities wanted to join our tribe, we wouldn’t be willing to accept them. You, however, were sent over by the Redbud Army so clearly you came from the material planes. That means you aren’t a spy from the enemy tribes!”

  Linley’s group began to laugh helplessly. So the reason why the tribe accepted them was because the three of them were very ‘innocent’, eh?

  “Haha, we have new brothers, eh?” Many of the dragonriders let out loud laughs. “Since you’ve arrived at our Black Dragon Tribe, in the future we will all be brothers. Haha, Buffett, hurry up and pick a place for them to live.”

  Linley glanced at those distant black dragonriders. In his heart, he felt a surge of warmth. It seemed that the people of the Black Dragon Tribe were all quite friendly.

  4

  Royalwing City

  Every single black dragon had a rider on its back, the vast majority of which were men. “Men still make up the vast majority of those who reached the Deity-level,” Linley said to himself. Actually, amongst the Yulan continent’s experts, the Redbud Army of the Infernal Realm, and here in the Black Dragon Tribe, the male-to-female ratio reflected a simple truth: Few women. Many men.

  “Linley, don’t just stand there like an idiot. Hurry up and follow me.” Buffett flew deeper into the mountains, and Linley, Delia, and Bebe followed him. The meandering, winding mountains grew deeper and deeper. Everywhere in the mountains, residences could be seen now, all of which appeared so marvelous. To Deities, building a residence was a very simple task.

  After flying for a while, Buffett led Linley’s group to land halfway up a high mountain. The area here was very large, at least a hundred meters across, more than enough for one to build a fairly large residence at. “In the future, you can stay here. As for the residence, you don’t need me to help you build it, right?” Buffett laughed.

  “Haha…” Linley laughed as well, and then suddenly stomped on the ground. The floor of the mountain trembled, and a strange vibration spread out. One enormous boulder after another began to float into the air, and in accordance with a set rhythm, connected with each other. Light from the dimly glowing yellow earth elemental essences shot out in every direction. Buffett stared in great surprise at this scene. Soon, a two-story building with a simple courtyard was finished.

  “The stones of the Infernal Realm really are heavy.” Linley let out a sigh. These stones were all similar to adamantite. In addition, the gravity here in the Higher Plane of the Infernal Realm was a hundred times that of the Yulan continent, causing each boulder to weigh as much as a small mountain peak in the Yulan continent.

  “So easily accomplished and so harmoniously done. Linley, can it be that you’ve already fully mastered the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth?” Buffett said with great surprise.

  “Not yet.” Linley shook his head.

  Buffett said unhappily, “Linley, don’t try to hide it. To be able to lift something so heavy with such ease and use these boulders of the Infernal Realm to create a manor, especially when making those boulders move in such a fluid, harmonious way… although I don’t train in the Laws of the Earth, I’ve seen quite a few people who do.”

  Linley chuckled and didn’t say anything further. Actually, he truly hadn’t yet fully mastered the Profound Mysteries of the Essence of the Earth. Only, because he had fused it with the Throbbing Pulse of the World, when utilizing it, it contained those Profound Truths as well. Naturally, he made it look easy.

  “You can live without fear here in my Black Dragon Tribe. I won’t disturb you any further. If you need anything, in the future, you can ask me or ask anyone else,” Buffett said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Buffett.” Linley smiled.

  After Buffett left, Linley, Delia, and Bebe entered their own residence. “It seems we’ll have to make our own tables and chairs as well.” Linley and the other two immediately began to take action. Linley controlled a boulder, making it fly over, and then used his palm to chop down using the principles of the Dimensional Decapitator. The boulder was immediately chopped into an extremely slick, smooth surface.

  An extremely sharp black dagger appeared in Bebe’s hands as well. In front of Bebe, a stone table quickly took form. As the three worked together, the stone table and three stone chairs were quickly completed.

  “Whew. Fortunately, I habitually store wine and some other things in my interspatial ring. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have anything to drink in this place.” With a flip of his hand, Linley withdrew a flask of fine wine, and Bebe immediately called out in jubilation, “Boss, you brought this as well?”

  “To the Infernal Realm, a strange new world.” Drinking the wine, Linley let out a sigh. As soon as they had entered the Infernal Realm, the vast majority of people they had encountered were all Deities. The weakest member of that Redbud Army was a God; that went without saying. But even here in the Black Dragon Tribe, everyone was a Deity. This truly was a world of Deities!

  “Boss. The distance between us and that Bloodridge Continent is way too far. What are we going to do?” Bebe was somewhat worried. “Buffett even said that if we run around wildly, we probably won’t last for more than three days.”

  Delia frowned as well. “Let’s not be hasty. Let’s first find our footing here in the Infernal Realm.”

  Linley nodded as well. “The Infernal Realm isn’t the Yulan continent. Experts are as common as the clouds here. We can’t just go wherever we want to go. Everything else aside, we don’t even know the general, basic geography of the Infernal Realm.”

  Knock! Knock! … Suddenly, the sound of knocking on the door could be heard.

  “I’ll get the door.” Bebe leapt over, easily pulling open the extremely heavy stone door. Behind the stone door there was a delicate-looking, golden-haired youngster who laughed as he greeted them. “Hey there. I’m Krate. I live very close to you.”

  “My name is Linley. Please, come in!” Linley rose and said. He could immediately tell that Krate was a Demigod.

  “My big brother and I live together to your
north, also halfway up the mountain. I heard you just arrived in the Infernal Realm.” Krate was very warm and friendly.

  “Please take a seat. This is some fine wine from my homeland. Have a taste,” Linley said.

  “Wine?” Krate’s eyes lit up, and he immediately sat down at the seat that Bebe had been sitting on. He hurriedly drank a cup, half-closing his eyes in satisfaction. “This wine really is excellent. Although it can’t compare to the fine wine sold in Royalwing City, it’s quite good to be able to drink any wine at all.”

  “Royalwing City?” Linley was somewhat puzzled.

  Suddenly understanding, Krate said, “Oh, right, you just arrived in the Infernal Realm. There are many things you don’t know yet. In Nightblaze Prefecture, there are a total of ten cities that are scattered throughout the prefecture. The city closest to us is Royalwing City, roughly ten million kilometers away or so.”

  Linley and the others were shocked. Ten million kilometers, and that was the nearest one?

  “However, to enter Royalwing City, you have to pay a fee of an inkstone.” Krate cursed softly. “They really are greedy!” Krate let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, if you actually want to buy some things or sell off your dragon saliva, or a divine artifact, it’s still better to do the trade within Royalwing City.”

  “Trade can only carried out in Royalwing City?” Delia didn’t quite believe it. “It makes sense for large transactions to be made within Royalwing City. But what about smaller transactions?” As Delia saw it, this was the sort of logic of the stores of the Yulan Plane. Cities had larger stores, while smaller towns also had some small shops.

  “Generally speaking, smaller transactions can be carried out at the chief’s place within the tribe. However, a Demigod artifact can usually be sold for seven inkstones in Royalwing City, while the chief will only give you five inkstones for it.” Krate was somewhat unhappy about this.