Silvermoon City

Hodan's plan was to scheme for the Azure Dragon Ring and the Purple Blood Soft Sword. The Azure Dragon Ring went without saying: as a Sovereign Artifact, even a damaged one was of immeasurable value. Its ability to instantly refine amethysts would save an incalculable amount of wealth and time. He could also use it to refine amethysts into Soul Golden Beads, pocket the difference, and buy whatever he needed.

Even Sovereign's Might had a price—about a hundred trillion inkstones per drop. It was just that no one was willing to sell it. In the original story, Salomon of the Boyi Clan had used the wealth his family had accumulated over countless years to get Aiken of the Bauhinia Continent to refine a drop of Sovereign's Might.

So with endless wealth, Sovereign's Might wouldn't actually be too hard to come by. Of course, that assumed you had the strength to protect your wealth. Otherwise, you'd be like a child carrying gold through a crowded marketplace.

The Purple Blood Soft Sword was the Purple Blood Fiend's signature weapon, and he had nurtured it for countless years. Its power was surely extraordinary. Hodan didn't know how much it was worth, but it certainly wouldn't come cheap.

Hodan planned to scheme for both of these treasures. He would control an ordinary person's soul and send him into Baruch's estate to steal the Azure Dragon Ring. Although Hodan didn't know the Death Rule, and his understanding of the Fate Rule had only reached the peak of the Saint-level, gods stood far above those beneath them. No matter how many mortals there were, they were still just ants. With Hodan's strength as a Mid-God, controlling the soul of someone who hadn't reached the Saint-level would be trivially easy.

As for the Purple Blood Soft Sword, it served as the seal at a planar node. Hodan figured the divine sword in his possession, which was also a High-God Artifact, would be more than adequate for the job. In the Coiling Dragon World, Hodan's father had once been a peak Five-Star Fiend, nearly a Six-Star Fiend. His father had nurtured the sword with divine power for ten million years, and it had seen many battles and killings. The sword had accumulated plenty of baleful energy, so it should be enough to suppress a planar node.

Hodan flew in a hurry. Even at his speed as a Mid-God, it took him a full month to fly under Hell's gravity. He had never traveled such a long distance in his life. Fortunately, he was already within Silvermoon City's jurisdiction. The city regularly cleared out the surrounding area, and the Fiend Castle also issued Fiend Missions from time to time to deal with bandits, so Hodan didn't encounter any.

After a month of flight, Silvermoon City finally came into view. It was a massive city, eight thousand li across, and its proximity to the Plane Teleportation Array made it a thriving commercial hub. Before Hodan had even drawn close, he saw streams of people gathering and heading toward the city.

The silvery-white city exuded an air of opulence and antiquity.

One of the ten great cities within a radius of more than a billion li in Yingxue Prefecture.

"So this is Silvermoon City?" Hodan's eyes lit up.

Hodan gazed at the massive city, visibly excited. A city eight thousand li across was something he would never see on Earth. After all, Little Broken Ball was only a little over twenty thousand li in diameter.

The walls stood a hundred zhang tall. That made sense. Most people in Hell were gods, and everyone could fly. Low walls would be completely useless. Hodan had visited ancient cities in Beijing and Xi'an, but he had never seen anything so vast and ancient. The aura of the ages radiating from the walls deeply shook him.

"I've finally made it to Silvermoon City." Hodan silently told himself.

It was Hodan's first time seeing a large city in Hell, and everything felt new to him. He flew along with the crowd, gazing at the grand, ancient city of silver.

"There are so many people!" Hodan exclaimed as he stared at the bustling crowds around him. The sight reminded him of the Spring Festival travel rush back on Earth.

So many people wanted to enter Silvermoon City, coming from all directions. Long lines had formed outside the gates. No one dared to force their way in. Hodan dutifully joined the queue and paid the entrance fee when his turn came.

Along the way, Hodan saw three people in black robes enter without paying. He knew they were either members of the Black Annihilation Army, Prefecture Guards, or Fiends, since only those three groups could enter the city without paying an entrance fee.

Hodan considered taking the Fiend examination someday. It would not only let him enter cities without waiting in line, but bandits outside the cities rarely harassed Fiends either. That would save him a lot of trouble in Hell.

Soon, it was Hodan's turn. He paid one inkstone and entered Silvermoon City.

Hodan walked along the broad streets, looking around at the large buildings. An ancient, elegant atmosphere washed over him. Every building was practically a work of art. He could tell that Silvermoon City had existed for an astonishingly long time—far longer than Earth.

The civilization of this different world left Hodan reluctant to leave, but he didn't forget what he had come to do.

Hodan followed the crowd to the busiest part of Silvermoon City.

Three castles stood before him. Far off to the left was a huge castle made entirely of black sand. As a god, Hodan had excellent eyesight, and he could tell at a glance that it was formed from countless grains of black sand. The strangest thing was that much of the sand was still slowly flowing.

Yet the castle remained completely intact. Hodan knew it was Black Sand Castle, the black market in Hell. Anything could be traded there, but it was far too dark a place, with a jumble of competing forces. Hodan was only a minor Mid-God, so it was best to avoid places like that for now.

Still, you could occasionally find good things there. Muli, an elder of Hodan's clan, had once found a pitch-black seed in Black Sand Castle.

Fortunately, the seller hadn't known what it was. At the time, Muli hadn't yet become an elder of the clan. He had only been looking for some unusual flowers and plants to grow in his courtyard, but instead he found a Thunder Spirit Tree seed.

With Elder Muli's meticulous care, the tree produced Thunder Spirit Fruits, which improved his aptitude for cultivating the Thunder Element and strengthened his bloodline. That was what allowed Muli to become an elder of the clan.

Unfortunately, it was unclear whether the seed had been weak from the start or had lost its vitality from being stored too long. After producing fruit, the Thunder Spirit Tree withered. Even the fruit pits couldn't sprout.

Otherwise, given the relationship between Hodan's parents and Elder Muli, they would surely have paid whatever it took to get one for Hodan.

Far off to Hodan's right stood an ancient castle built entirely from black ore. Sculptures resembling dark clouds held it aloft, making it look especially tall and imposing. Hodan knew that was his destination: Black Annihilation Castle, where he would trade for cultivation resources.

And directly ahead of him—

A huge, ancient purple castle stood a hundred meters tall, though its purple had darkened almost to black. A giant carving adorned the castle: a face with indistinct features, but one strikingly vivid red eye.

Hodan knew it was the Fiend Castle. If he wanted to take the Fiend examination, he could pay the fee and do so there. Fiends generally went to the Fiend Castle to trade and take on missions.