The Infernal Realm, one of the four Higher Planes!
A cold purple moon shaped like a sickle hung in the night sky, casting a hazy, eerie purple moonlight over the boundless world below.
Chilly, dim...
In the middle of an endless wasteland, a peculiar mountain rose abruptly.
This mountain was pitch-black and strangely shaped. Rather than rising straight up, it was wide at the top and bottom and narrow in the middle, like an hourglass, making for a bizarre sight.
It had existed here since the birth of the Infernal Realm, standing undisturbed through countless years.
And this peculiar, hourglass-shaped peak was known in the Infernal Realm as "Sky-Piercing Peak."
Atop this hourglass-shaped Sky-Piercing Peak stood a dark cyan castle several hundred meters tall. The castle exuded an ancient, mysterious air. From a distance, a hazy, peculiar halo could also be seen faintly radiating from it.
At the center of this dark cyan castle was an enormous, perfectly level clearing paved with a special bright yellow stone.
Two enormous magic formations, each a hundred meters across, lay side by side in this clearing. Even their markings alone were incomparably intricate and profound.
Beside these two magic formations stood two burly men.
Both burly men had bare arms and wore close-fitting dark cyan armor, with peculiar dark cyan marks on their foreheads.
Aside from these two burly men in dark cyan armor, two other men dressed the same way stood beside the clearing, chatting casually. Besides them, there were over a hundred creatures of all kinds.
These were all Saint-level beings teleported here from various Material Planes, while there were only three Deity Level beings, all merely Lowgods.
These hundred-odd Saint-level beings and three Lowgods stood quietly to one side. Facing the burly armored guards, they could not muster the slightest thought of resistance.
Any beings who dared to defy their rules would be killed outright.
"Almost all the beings coming to the Infernal Realm these past few days have been Saint-level. There have been far fewer Deity Level ones."
One of the burly men in dark cyan armor guarding the magic formations spoke.
The other, a blond burly man, also laughed. "Weren't they all hoodwinked into coming by those Plane Guardians? I really don't know what these Saint-level beings were thinking. A little smooth talk was enough to make them dare come to the Infernal Realm. What fools."
Probably half of these Saint-level beings would end up as ingredients. After all, in the Infernal Realm, Saint-level beings had no safety to speak of.
Though the nearby Saint-level beings felt some resentment at their words, they dared not show the slightest trace of it.
Besides, what they said was true.
On their Material Planes, they had almost all stood at the pinnacle. Who could have known that upon coming here, they would become the weakest? Now even their lives and deaths hung on another's whim.
At this moment, a massive magic formation beside the blond burly man once again emitted a hazy glow. Immediately afterward, two figures appeared in the center of the distorted formation.
Only when that hazy glow faded did the two figures become clearly visible.
Standing on the left was a black-haired, black-eyed young man clad in cyan armor. Beside him stood a beautiful girl with lovely silver hair and a pair of beautiful azure, qilin-like horns on her head.
This man and woman were none other than Luo Ao and Echidna.
Both first looked around.
"Such dense worldly elements!"
Echidna's little mouth fell slightly open, and she was inwardly rather startled.
Though she had heard about it long ago, only after actually coming here did she truly feel that the Infernal Realm's cultivation environment was indeed as different from the Material Planes as heaven was from earth.
Luo Ao also closed his eyes at this moment, trying to sense the elemental Laws. The result left him very satisfied.
The fluctuations of the elemental Laws in this Infernal Realm are at least a hundred times clearer than on the Material Planes! Luo Ao thought to himself.
People all said cultivation in Divine Planes and Higher Planes would advance by leaps and bounds. It was indeed true.
"But correspondingly, the gravity and restrictions on divine sense in this Hell Plane really are strong." Luo Ao had just tried extending his divine sense a little, only to discover a sense of restraint that could be called terrifying.
Under such restraints, even with divine sense comparable to a Highgod's, he probably could not spread it over much of an area.
Just then, Luo Ao heard someone across from him speak. "You waited until you were a God before coming to the Infernal Realm. You're a relatively clever one. You two, stand over there."
Opposite Luo Ao and Echidna stood a red-haired man in dark cyan armor, looking coldly at them as he pointed to a clearing on one side.
Several dozen creatures stood there silently. Luo Ao and Echidna could not help looking over.
Nearly half of these several dozen creatures were human, while the others belonged to other races.
"So many of them are actually Saint-level." Echidna was somewhat surprised. Luo Ao had told her about the cruelty of the Hell Plane. For Saint-level beings, coming to the Infernal Realm was essentially no different from seeking death.
As Luo Ao and the others watched, many more creatures from Material Planes appeared in the teleportation formation, including quite a few magical beasts.
Under the guards' rebukes, they obediently shrank their bodies one after another, then stood over on Luo Ao's side.
It was little wonder these fellows dared not act rashly, for the auras these guards gave off alone were enough to make them tremble!
Without a doubt, these people were powerful deities.
"My lord, where are we going next?" Seeing that these formidable guards were making no further moves, someone finally lost patience and asked.
At that moment, a green-haired woman in dark cyan robes walked straight over and looked at the crowd. Her cold voice rang out. "We will tell you what you need to know. You don't need to ask. Once day breaks tomorrow, we will send you away!"
With that, the green-haired woman left again.
Of course, the green-haired woman was not the only person overseeing things in this castle. Besides her, there were over a dozen others, both men and women, the weakest of whom were Gods. Some were smiling and chatting, while others cultivated with their eyes closed.
As time passed, humans, beastmen, magical beasts... or simply beings of other species were teleported to the Infernal Realm one after another.
By the time a sun tinged with red leaped above the sea's horizon and shone upon the castle on Sky-Piercing Peak, over a hundred creatures had arrived in the Infernal Realm from Material Planes.
Finally, a large number of people in dark cyan armor poured into the clearing where they stood. Every one of them had an imposing aura. The weakest were Gods, while even more were Highgods.
These several hundred people in dark cyan robes split into several squads. Among them, a woman with a voluptuous figure and long red hair stepped toward them with a smile.
"I'll take charge of this transport assignment."
"Then thank you for your efforts this time, Miss Gumonli Leiya."
From the attitudes of the other soldiers, it was clear that this red-haired woman's strength and standing were far from ordinary. She was presumably the leader of this operation.
Her long hair, red as fresh blood, cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall, giving her a distinctive charm.
The red-haired woman seemed to be in a good mood. She turned her gaze toward Luo Ao and the hundred-odd others, a slight smile still on her face. "I, Gumonli Leiya, am a captain in the Muja Army, the army under the command of one of the great Seven Sovereigns of Hell-the Sovereign of this Muja Continent. I will be responsible for transporting you arrivals from the Material Planes."
"I know you have many questions, but what you should do now is obediently follow my instructions. Someone will answer your questions shortly!"
Luo Ao could sense that this red-haired woman was very powerful, presumably considerably stronger than the other Highgod soldiers present.
With such a powerhouse speaking, who would dare disobey?
Soon, everyone learned what they needed to do next.