Xena turned to look at Reynalds. "Just a few Seven-star Devil clansmen from the Four Divine Beast Family, and they dare bully my Xue Na Family like this?"
There were ten large cities within Red Maple Prefecture. Beyond the cities lay territories controlled by bandits and various major powers.
Lost Lake was an extremely famous area within Red Maple Prefecture.
It was a stagnant lake spanning ten thousand miles. Its waters were blood red and churned endlessly year-round. To the north of the lake stretched the boundless Red Leaf Forest. Along its southern shore stood a snow mountain that gave off heat, making it particularly unusual.
At the bottom of Lost Lake stood a massive city: Lost City.
For God level experts, living on land or underwater made little difference.
Outside Lost City.
Lota and Kakqi strolled along with the crowd entering the city. From time to time, they could see strange fish swimming in the distance. Those with even a little talent had reached the Saint Domain.
In a Divine Plane, living beings reached the Saint Domain upon adulthood. Even newly born life possessed soul potential sufficient for the Saint Domain; otherwise, they simply could not endure the pressure of a Divine Plane.
This was a form of "protection" granted by the Heaven and Earth Rule to life born in the Divine Planes.
However, in the Divine Planes, Saint Domain life was merely food, slaughtered at will.
Only upon reaching the God level did one gain even a slight ability to survive.
After spectating Wai and Stuke's battle at Gray Blood Mountain, Lota had taken Kakqi to travel through the surrounding cities for several years.
The last time he had come to Hell was a hundred billion years ago, and even then, he had only appeared briefly. So much time had passed, yet Hell had not changed much.
It remained a world of endless slaughter and battle.
Just as the crowd entered the city, a blade-shaped Metal Life flew "frantically" toward Lost City from afar. Ripples continuously appeared on both sides of the Metal Life.
Once those ripples spread beyond the lakewater, they caused disturbances.
That was one reason why Lost Lake's waters appeared to churn endlessly when viewed from outside.
Nearly every battle or action caused the lakewater to ripple.
The appearance of the Metal Life immediately caught the attention of the surrounding God level experts.
Even the city guards grew vigilant at once. Still, they were not overly flustered. No one dared cause trouble or fight within the city; those were rules set by the Overgod.
Fighting in the city might allow one to escape the City Lord's punishment, but no one could escape an Overgod's extermination. An Overgod needed only a thought to kill a God level expert.
Other than Paragon High Gods, no one could withstand an Overgod's thought, not even peak Asura experts. Such was the power of the Sovereign's Will—powerful beyond defiance.
Soon, the Metal Life flew before the city, and more than a dozen God level experts emerged. Only one was a High God; the rest were all Middle Gods.
"Mr. Lille!"
The guard captain at the city gate was greatly surprised upon seeing the High God. He hurriedly flew forward. "Mr. Lille, what happened to you?"
"The mission failed."
Only then did the High God called Mr. Lille let out a slight breath of relief, though lingering fear remained in his voice.
He was a member of Lost City's Fiend Castle. This time, he had led a group of God level experts participating in Devil assessment missions.
This mission had been a Five-star Fiend mission. In addition, there had been several one-star through four-star missions, which had been relatively simple.
But who could have expected an unexpected development?
The target's location had contained not only the target, but other powerful experts as well. Their mission had nearly been wiped out. If he had not reacted quickly, even he would have fallen this time.
Of nearly a thousand God level experts, only a dozen or so lucky Middle Gods had escaped back with him.
Hearing Lille say that the mission had failed and seeing his bedraggled state, the guard captain was deeply alarmed.
Lille was an extremely famous expert in Lost City. Many believed he had already reached the level of a Six-star Devil. He was second only to the City Lord.
Anyone capable of forcing Mr. Lille into such a state was probably at least a Six-star Devil mission target—and likely a powerful expert even among Six-star Devils.
"Is the City Lord in the city?"
Lille looked at the guard captain and asked directly.
"He is."
The guard captain replied.
Although Fiend Castle, Bloodridge Castle, and Black Gauze Castle were all backed by Overgods, the Overgods had no time to manage such matters. Everything was handled by the City Lords of the various cities.
The City Lords themselves were powerful Seven-star Devils and, in some respects, were members of Fiend Castle as well.
"I'll go see the City Lord first."
Upon hearing that, Lille ignored the Middle Gods who had escaped back with him and entered the city directly.
The Middle Gods did not dare linger either. They hurriedly took out Ink Stones and entered the city. Only after entering could they be considered safe. Recalling their experience, many of them still felt lingering fear and no longer even wanted to undertake Devil assessment missions.
No matter how prestigious the Devil title was, one needed to stay alive to possess it.
"Line up! Violators will be killed!"
Seeing the Middle Gods' panicked state, the guard captain frowned, inwardly disdainful. What a bunch of cowards.
Only after hearing the guard captain's words did those Middle Gods calm down slightly.
Lota and Kakqi stood nearby, watching the scene unfold.
Kakqi could not help sighing. "Another failed mission."
Devil assessment missions were not guaranteed to succeed. In fact, the failure rate was even higher than the success rate. Even successful Devil missions sometimes had a death rate as high as ninety percent.
When he had been a Middle God, he had also taken part in the Life Walker assessment in the Life God Realm. Life Walkers were similar to Hell's Devils and the Netherworld's demons.
They were all titles bestowed upon powerful experts.
Kakqi's first mission had failed as well. However, he had managed to preserve his life. Only after growing stronger did he continue taking assessment missions, after which he cultivated and rose all the way upward.
As for Lota, he had never undergone such an assessment.
In the era when he had been born and risen to power, such things did not exist at all. There had not even been any Overgods then. The world had been chaotic, with slaughter far exceeding what it was now.
Any life capable of surviving in that era had been extraordinarily powerful.
Only after Sovereign Sparks descended, and he became an Overgod and created the Dark God Plane, did assessment missions come into existence, established by Overgods like them.
As the Destruction Overlord, Uthred had established a Fiend Castle in Hell.
Meanwhile, he had established a Shadow Castle in the Dark God Realm. Shadow Walkers were the Dark God Realm's title for powerful experts.
At first, he had paid attention to Shadow Castle and discovered several talented experts there. But as time passed, his interest in such things waned, and naturally, he no longer paid as much attention as before.
Lota and Kakqi had not revealed their identities. Traveling through Hell was naturally more interesting when their identities were hidden.
Just as it was their turn to enter the city, a tremendous Dark Wave suddenly surged through the lakewater from afar. The immense force left the surrounding God level experts somewhat unsteady on their feet.
Every God level expert outside the city turned pale.
Even the guard captain's expression grew solemn. "Be on guard!"
As the guard captain's words fell, the surrounding High God guards drew their weapons and took positions behind him.
After the Dark Wave swept through, an enormous black dragon Metal Life swam over.
After approaching the city gate, the massive black dragon vanished, revealing nearly a thousand figures. All of them were High Gods, each emanating a powerful aura.
The guards' expressions changed drastically upon seeing so many High Gods.
Of the two leaders, one had black curly hair, two black horns growing from his forehead, and two whisker-like strands of beard at the corners of his mouth.
The other was bald, dressed in a tiger-skin short shirt, with dark golden eyes.
"My lord, this is Lost City."
The man with the whiskers and black horns spoke in a deep voice, anger evident in his tone.
He had never known that someone had issued a Devil mission against him. If Lord Bert had not happened to be in his castle this time, he would likely have fallen.
Don't let me find out who issued that Devil mission, or I'll destroy every one of your Divine Clones!
Although the mission against him had been issued through Fiend Castle, he did not dare harbor any resentment toward it. After all, Fiend Castle was backed by a great Overgod. Resenting an Overgod was simply courting death.
Bert looked at the city before him, completely ignoring the guards below. A grave look appeared in his eyes before he finally spoke. "Are you certain the person is here?"
"Rest assured, my lord. Others may not know, but I, Lewan, can be certain that the clansmen of the Xue Na Family's branch reside in Lost City."
The man with the whiskers and black horns answered, "I also investigated in secret. This branch of the family is said to be stationed here to guard Ice Snow Mountain."
"Mm."
Bert nodded, then said, "If what you say is true, I will reward you."
"Thank you, my lord!"
Lewan's face lit up with delight upon hearing Bert's words.
"Everyone, once you discover any Xue Na Family clansmen leaving the city, kill them immediately! I do not want anyone escaping back."
Bert spoke coldly.
Although Bert was arrogant, he still did not dare fight within the city. If anyone fled into the city, there was nothing he could do.
"Yes."
The High Gods behind Bert all answered.
At that moment, several figures flew swiftly out of the city. The leading man wore a pale red robe embroidered with unusual plant patterns.
Thin red lines filled his eyes, while a distinctive leaf-shaped mark rested at the center of his forehead.
"City Lord!"
The surrounding God level experts cried out in surprise upon seeing him.
In Lost City, the City Lord was the strongest expert. He was also the strongest expert in all of Lost Lake, an object of worship for countless God level experts.
Several High Gods followed behind the City Lord, including Lille.
Upon seeing Lewan and Bert, the City Lord's brows furrowed slightly. A chill appeared in his eyes, and his voice sank. "People from the Four Divine Beast Family?"
He could sense the Four Divine Beast Family's aura from Bert.
What a suffocating aura.
"City Lord, this person is the mysterious expert from Lewan Castle."
Upon seeing Bert, Lille sent a Voice Transmission in secret, his tone grave. "With just one strike, he killed most of the assessment participants. Even Karla fell immediately. Even I could barely resist him. I suspect he may be a Seven-star Devil expert!"
Lewan was merely fairly capable among Five-star Fiends, yet he knew such an expert? That was truly unexpected.
"Are you Demir?"
Bert looked at the City Lord and spoke directly.
"May I ask which elder of the Four Divine Beast Family you are?"
Demir's tone grew more solemn as he asked directly.
Unless it came to the final moment, he did not want to have any conflict with an expert of the Four Divine Beast Family.
An elder of the Four Divine Beast Family?
The surrounding experts' expressions changed dramatically upon hearing Demir's words. He was actually an expert of the Four Divine Beast Family!
In other Divine Planes, some might speculate whether the First Family was the Four Divine Beast Family or the Augusta Family. But in Hell, especially on Blood Peak Continent, the only family everyone feared was the Four Divine Beast Family.
Even Lille's expression tightened. The expert before him was an elder of the Four Divine Beast Family?
Could the rumor that Lewan possessed a trace of Four Divine Beast Family bloodline be true?
"White Tiger Family Elder Bert."
As Bert introduced himself, his tone carried an unconcealable sense of pride.
"Elder Bert, may I ask what brings you to Lost City?"
A bad feeling rose in Demir's heart as he asked.
Bert smiled faintly before speaking. "I came here today because I have a few matters for which I would like City Lord Demir's help."
Demir frowned slightly. "Please speak, Elder Bert."
Before you continue