Yet as underground half-deities...
All of them were as poor as a church mouse!
When had they ever seen this many half-divine weapons?
“Can we really take our pick, Master?” A rather agitated Bubbles asked in a loud outburst as he looked at Meng Lei hopefully.
“Of course! Take whatever you want!”
Meng Lei gave them a slight smile. Then, he closed his eyes, and his consciousness entered the Tower of Time.
The 96th level was still the same dim and dull blood-red world with blood-red skies and blood-red lands.
Unlike in the past, however, the entire half-plane was dead silent and completely soundless now.
The dark-elemental Magical Beasts were nowhere in sight, and neither were the tens of thousands of Devils he’d stocked up here!
They’d all vanished!
As for Little Cola...
Meng Lei found her in a pile of bushes. The little fellow had wrapped her wings snugly around herself and was exceptionally blissfully fast asleep.
“She’s really eaten them all? Isn’t that too great an appetite?”
Meng Lei was rendered somewhat speechless. In spite of that, what must be summoned still had to be summoned. Otherwise, the little fellow would have to starve.
At once, Meng Lei tried to detect the faraway Demon Realm’s location and began to summon the Devils.
As a high-end existential plane, the Demon Realm and Heaven’s Vault Continent difference was apparent to Meng Lei.
The laws of nature were more obvious there, and magic elements were also richer in concentration there. Dark magic elements, in particular, were extremely abundant. It was practically the dark-elemental beings’ sanctum!
Apart from that, the Demon Realm’s dimensional structure was also stabler. Half-deity-level attacks were completely incapable of shaking the space-time dimension there!
Ripping a fissure into the void?
Don’t even think about it!
Of course, the Demon Realm was also wider and vaster than Heaven’s Vault Continent and was nearly boundless.
For the same reason, many regions in the Demon Realm were void of any presence.
And wasn’t that so? Meng Lei had been wandering about in the sky in the Demon Realm for half a day, yet he’d only managed to catch a paltry hundred or so Devils. It wasn’t even enough as a snack for Little Cola!
“This won’t work. I have to find a Devil who’s about as strong as myself and ask them for directions...
“Eh? The demonic aura there is so strong!”
Meng Lei had spied a large, bald mountain devoid of any vegetation. Smoke rose from the mountain.
Evidently, that was a volcano, and the demonic aura was coming from the volcano’s mouth!
He came to the volcano’s mouth. The boiling-hot lava inside constantly bubbled as it gave off shockingly high heat. A torrential wave of demonic aura was also coming from the lava.
Meng Lei mumbled, “It’s probably a half-deity-level Devil!”
Then, he manifested his divine cognition into a humanoid form and began to provoke it!
Roar!
A low, deep roar traveled over to him, and then, a gigantic ram-horned head emerged from within the lava. Its eyes were blood-red like rubies and looked incredibly unholy.
“Lowly, cheap human Magician, how dare you disturb the great Lord Gabriel’s slumber! I’m going to eat you!”
“This aura... It’s... A Fire Demon?”
Surprise appeared on Meng Lei’s countenance. He’d found the demonic aura from the volcano very familiar when he was on the way over just now. As it turned out, a Fire Demon had been in deep slumber in the volcano!
The Fire Demon!
There was no way Meng Lei could forget about it, of course. He had assimilated the Fire Demon bloodline back then, after all!
Roar!
The Fire Demon in the lava launched its attack. A couple of fire dragons formed from lava soared out of the volcano and rushed toward Meng Lei!
However, with a flick of Meng Lei’s fingers, the two fire dragons immediately turned around and flew toward the Fire Demon instead.
“Damn it!”
At the sight, the Fire Demon smacked the lava lake, causing a waterfall of lava to rise from the lake and using it to block the fire dragons.
“Surprisingly, you do have a bit of skill to you. This is my turf, however, so how can I allow you to horse around here?”
The Fire Demon let out an icy snort. Then, it slowly rose from the lava—it was actually a 100-feet-tall adult Fire Demon bathed in flames!
“Die!!”
The Fire Demon roared, instantly turning into a flash of lightning that shot toward Meng Lei.
Meng Lei uttered two words, “Ultimate Alchemy!”
He was currently here in the Demon Realm in his divine spirit form, so he couldn’t use his divine body, his power of divinity, his special abilities, or his divine weapons. Thus, his combat power had taken a huge dip!
There were simply too few options available to him while he was in his divine spirit form. Apart from spiritual attacks, laws of nature were the only option he had!
If he wanted to subdue the half-deity-level Fire Demon within the shortest amount of time possible, then the only choice he had was to use his most powerful skill—his control of metal laws of nature!
Whoosh!
A dazzling golden light beam descended from above, instantly crashing down onto the Fire Demon and completely transmuting it into gold in a split second.
Meng Lei opened up the Devil channel and brought the Fire Demon out with him before dispelling Ultimate Alchemy’s effects on it.
Roar!
The Fire Demon was right about to attack the moment it was freed, but upon sensing the aura in the surroundings, it became thunderstruck at once, and a look of fear and shock appeared on its face.
One, two, three, four, five!
There were a good five half-deities around him, and every single one emanated an aura that was much more powerful than his!
“S-sir...!”
The fearful Fire Demon bowed down to Meng Lei at once.
“Raise your head!”
Meng Lei replied calmly.
“Yes, sir!”
The Fire Demon trembled as it raised its head, looking at Meng Lei with an expression of fear. By now, it could already tell that Meng Lei was the one who had brought him here.
“Tell me about the Demon Realm!”
Chapter 244: A Million Sacrificial Offerings, Lord Ram-Lion
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
With regard to Meng Lei’s inquiry, Gabriel the Fire Demon Overlord told him everything he knew and withheld nothing.
The Demon Realm was very big! Unimaginably so!
Even the Fire Demon Overlord couldn’t come up with a concrete answer as to just how big it was exactly. All it knew was that its place of residence was called the Campas Wastelands and that it spanned 10 million miles from the north to the south and 30 million miles from the east to the west.
The nearest city was the Magic Wings City. The lord of the city was a true god-level Demon Lord, and he ruled over all the districts 100,000 miles of the city. He was the most influential Devil in the vicinity!
At this point, one must make a mention of Hell’s combat prowess classification.
The Demon Realm was a high-end existential plane that was unlike Heaven’s Vault Continent. Saint Domains lived a life worse than dogs, and deities could be found everywhere. All those weaker than Saint Domain were cannon fodder that the Demon Realm termed as Demon Soldiers.
Above the Demon Soldiers, in ascending order, were the Demon Generals, Overlords, Demon Lords, Great Demon Lords, Demon Gods, Great Demon Gods, and... The Demon Grandmaster!
Demon Generals were the equivalent of Saint Domains;
Overlords were the equivalent of half-deities;
Demon Lords were the equivalent of true gods;
Demon Gods were the equivalent of intermediate deities;
Great Demon Lords were the equivalent of higher deities;
And the Demon Grandmaster... was the equivalent of a Chief God!
“How many Devils are there in total in Magic Wings City?”
Meng Lei popped the most crucial question.
The Demon Realm’s vastness was beyond what he’d imagined. How big must the Demon Realm be when the Campas Wastelands alone were already this big?
Based on the Fire Demon Overlord’s description, the Campas Wastelands was just a corner of the Purple Cloud Island, while Purple Cloud Island itself was no more than just an island in the Demon Realm!
So, how big exactly was the Demon Realm?
Meng Lei couldn’t even begin to fathom its size!
Considering the Demon Realm’s vast size where large expanses of area were desolate with not even a single Devil in sight, Meng Lei could only try and come up with a solution that centered around Magic Wings City.
The Fire Demon Overlord answered truthfully, “No fewer than one trillion!”
“One trillion?”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp. “In other words, a weak true god is actually ruling over one trillion Devils?”
“Yes, sir!”
Deep down in the Fire Demon Overlord’s heart, though, he was secretly dissing Meng Lei.
A weak true god? The lord of Magic Wings City is a true god! He’s no doubt the strongest and most powerful in his personal fiefdom known as the Magic Wings City!
Meng Lei barked, “Tell me the way to Magic Wings City, as well as the lowdown on the Devils occupying the area around it!”
He couldn’t wait to rob Magic Wings City now!
“Yes, sir!”
Not daring to show any disrespect, the Fire Demon Overlord quickly went into detail about everything he remembered about the situation around Magic Wings City and its vicinity. He was so forthright that it was almost ridiculous!
“And now, the last question—do you wish to live or die?”
The Fire Demon Overlord shuddered in fear and hastily pleaded for mercy. “Spare me, sir!”
Meng Lei replied aloofly, “If you don’t wish to die, then hand over your divine spirit origin energy and become my servant!”
Although the Fire Demon Overlord didn’t amount to much in the Demon Realm, it was still a native half-deity of the Demon Realm, after all. With it leading the way for him, at least he wouldn’t need to go about blindly.
“Yes, sir!”
A pained look appeared on the Fire Demon Overlord’s countenance. Nevertheless, it still released its divine spirit origin energy right away.
The Demon Realm was a place where it was the survival of the fittest. Weaklings submitting to the strong was something that happened all the time and wasn’t something to be ashamed of.
After refining the Fire Demon Overlord’s divine spirit origin energy, Meng Lei returned to the Demon Realm with it and got it to lead the way toward Magic Wings City for him.
Things would be a lot easier, now that he had someone who knew their way around!
This was a truth that would never change!
Under the Fire Demon Overlord’s lead, Meng Lei no longer went about aimlessly. Instead, he found a Devil tribe with pinpoint accuracy!
Catch everything!
Plunder everything!
Take everything!
He caught all the Devils and Devil tribes he encountered along the way, whether they were strong or weak!
Meng Lei managed to catch a million Devils after patronizing just three to four Devil tribes. The Tower of Time’s 96th level was already close to filling up!
Yet they were still a great distance away from their destination, the Magic Wings City. Left with no other choice, Meng Lei could only hastily end his hunt.
After that, Meng Lei tasked the Fire Demon Overlord with a mission—it was to do its best to summon and gather all the Devils nearby.
Even though the Fire Demon Overlord wanted very much to reject him, owing to Meng Lei’s tyrannical bearing, it had no choice but to obey.
“Do your best! And I’ll bestow upon you a divine core someday and let you become a Demon Lord, too!”
After giving the Fire Demon Overlord a boost of encouragement, Meng Lei’s consciousness left the Demon Realm.
“I didn’t think that patronizing the Devil tribes would reap me such benefits! What a pleasant surprise!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but grin as he gazed at the additional assets. He’d ransacked a total of more than three million Laws of Nature Origin Crystals during the trip earlier!
This transaction was much simpler than ransacking the Dragon Island, Sunset Ranges, and the Titan Empire!
“The Demon Realm is a gigantic gold mine. The number of riches there is beyond one’s imagination. I can focus my money-making efforts on the Demon Realm in the future!”
Meng Lei quietly made up his mind.
“Where are we now?”
Meng Lei opened his eyes to discover that they were above an endless ocean.
“Master, we’ve just left Dragon God Empire and arrived at the Endless Oceans’ eastern waters!”
Klaus said respectfully, “We’re two hours away from the Golden Archipelago!”
“Two hours? That’s pretty fast!”
Meng Lei stretched, and then, he asked, “Have all of you picked your weapons?”
“Yes, we have, Master!”
Meng Lei then kept the rest of the half-divine weapons away.
Two hours passed in the blink of an eye, and the group finally arrived at the Golden Archipelago.
When one overlooked the area from high up in the sky, they would see innumerable islands dotting the vast, boundless ocean.
Spread all over the place, they looked just like green turtles floating on the surface of the ocean. They formed a massive chain of islands, providing a unique seascape scenery and a rather magnificent sight!
“This is the Golden Archipelago, Master!”
Bubbles pointed at the chain of islands and said, “The Golden Dragon-Lions have lived here for generations. They are the local tyrant of the waters here and control the life and death of billions of living beings here!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly and instructed, “Let’s go down and take a look!”
“Yes, Master!”
The islands were home to many people, including humans, as well as Beast People. However, they seemed to be completely out of touch from the rest of Heaven’s Vault Continent and appeared to be extremely primitive!
They lived in simple and crude straw huts and wore torn and tattered grass skirts and straw hats. They appeared to be living fairly hard lives!
On the other hand, the most magnificent and lavish building on the island was actually a grand, lofty, and towering divine temple!
There was a divine temple on almost every island. Many joss sticks burned within the temples and formed a flourishing sight while worshipers constantly went to and fro.
“The number of cultivators don’t even come up to 10% of the people here!”
Meng Lei shook his head. “The Golden Dragon-Lions’ reign is really a dark one!”
“How does ‘dark’ even cut it?”
With a sigh, Bubbles said, “The Golden Dragon-Lions are the most supreme local tyrants in the Golden Dragon-Lions. These islanders are just their slaves, servants, and tools that provide them with power of faith. They don’t see them as humans at all!”
“So, what’s the point of leaving a clan like that in the world?” Meng Lei shook his head and said, “Let’s go. We’ll head straight to the Golden Dragon-Lions’ base!”
“Yes, Master!”
...
The Golden Dragon-Lion Continent was the biggest, flashiest, and grandest island in the Golden Archipelago!
Rather than an island, it was actually more like a continent. It measur
ed 7,000 kilometers from the north to the south and stretched on for 9,000 kilometers from the east to the west. The surface area spanned a size as big as over 50 million square kilometers. One could call it a continent on the ocean!
An incredibly huge palace complex stood in the very center of the Golden Dragon-Lion Continent.
The buildings were well-spaced, splendid, and majestic.
In the center of the palaces stood a Golden Dragon-Lion statue that was as tall as 100,000 feet. Fully forged from gold, it gave off an imposing and endless might.
At the moment, an infinite number of people were kneeling in the square in front of the statue. There were humans dressed in torn and tattered clothes, Beast People with animal heads and human bodies...
There were as many as a million people there!
With no exception whatsoever, every single one of them was bound and immobilized, making them look just like criminals who had been sentenced to be beheaded and were awaiting the executioner’s arrival!
In reality, however, they were no criminals but sacrificial offerings that the Golden Dragon-Lions had captured!
A million sacrificial offerings!
This was something terrifying!
Standing in front of the sacrificial offerings were almost 10,000 people from the Golden Dragon-Lion clan. With weapons in their grip and a stern look on their countenances, they were crowded around a single person.
Closer inspection would reveal that the man looked identical to someone whom Meng Lei had previously killed—yes, he was the Golden Dragon-Lions’ grandmaster, Thackeray!
“Reporting!”
A handsome and mighty-looking Sea Eagle suddenly flew toward him in the sky, and a brawny figure leaped off its back and quickly ran over to Thackeray.
“Grandmaster, we’ve discovered traces of strangers. We were unable to discern how strong they are, but they travel at a speed that’s as swift as lightning and far beyond what a Saint Domain is capable of. We suspect that they’re half-deities!”
The man reported aloud, “At the speed they’re moving, we predict that they’ll arrive at the clan’s ancestral home in an hour’s time!”
“Half-deities? That knave has indeed come!”
A cold glint shot forth from Thackeray’s eyes. He commanded, “Everyone, the clan’s moment of life and death has come. Hear my command—everyone is to return to their respective positions and activate the summoning rite!”
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