After flying for two more days across the wasteland, Linley finally encountered the first person willing to tell him the truth.
It was an old man with gray hair, sitting cross-legged on a broken stone pillar, with a rusty long knife stuck diagonally beside him. When Linley approached, he neither dodged nor attacked, but slowly raised his eyelids, and a glint of light flashed in his cloudy eyes.
"Is this newcomer?" the old man asked in a hoarse voice.
Linley stopped and clasped his hands in a fist salute, saying, "Yes."
" Wind Element, Lowgod." The old man saw through Linley's true nature with just one glance, his tone calm. "You've got some nerve, daring to venture into Gebados all by yourself. Judging from your appearance, you've been fooled by those swindlers in the wasteland, haven't you?"
Linley was taken aback, then smiled wryly, "Senior has keen insight."
"Not surprising," the old man waved his hand. "In this wasteland, nine out of ten merchants are swindlers. The remaining one is trying to swindle you out of your life too. You're already lucky to have made it this far unscathed."
Linley's heart skipped a beat, and he clasped his hands in greeting, saying, "May I ask who you are, senior?"
"Just an old man who's been imprisoned for three thousand years," the old man said. "You can just call me Old Huo."
As Old Huo spoke, he suddenly pointed east. "Kid, you've come at the wrong time. Fiend Castle is massacring the exiles in the east. If you want to live, avoid the east and head south."
Linley was taken aback. " Fiend Castle, just what is its background?"
Old Huo glanced at him and said calmly, "The strongest force in the Gebados Plane. Composed of Deity Level powerhouses, they guard this prison for the Sovereign God of the Yulan Plane. Joining the Fiend Castle will grant you protection, resources, and... the opportunity to leave Gebados."
Linley's heart skipped a beat. An opportunity to leave Gebados.
"How do I join?" Linley asked.
Old Huo suddenly laughed, a hint of mockery in his smile, "You, a mere Lowgod? The lowest threshold for Fiend Castle is Midgod. Lowgod can only enter by passing the 'Trial'—and that trial is a matter of life and death, where perhaps only one in a hundred will survive."
Linley was not discouraged. Instead, he pressed on, "Senior, what exactly is the interior of this Fiend Castle like?"
Seeing his interest, Old Huo didn't hold back, gesturing on the dust. " Fiend Castle is the only order in Gebados. Inside the castle, they are divided into three ranks according to strength. At the bottom are ' Ordinary Fiend,' who must be Midgod or Lowgod who have passed the trials; above that are ' Emperor Wing Fiend,' who must be the best among Midgod or those who have just entered the Highgod realm; at the very top are ' Seven Star Fiend,' each one a top-tier powerhouse among the Highgod, dominating their respective regions, and there are only a handful of them in the entire castle."
"As for that trial," Old Huo paused, his voice lowering, "It involves throwing Lowgod into the ' Blood-colored Wasteland,' leaving them to fight ferocious beasts, risk their lives against exiles, and kill each other among their fellow trial participants. Only those who can emerge alive from the wasteland within seven days are considered to have passed. Out of a hundred people who go in, often only three or five emerge."
Linley's heart sank slightly. This trial was even more brutal than he had imagined.
"Why must we go into the castle?" Linley asked. "Can't we survive in the wasteland?"
"Live? Of course you can survive," Old Huo sneered. "But have you seen the fate of those exiles on the wasteland? No shelter, no resources, no way to leave. They can only eke out a living like wild dogs, between ferocious beasts and the strong, until one day, they are killed with a single blow. This Gebados doesn't support idlers, much less lone wolves. If you don't rob others, others will rob you."
As he spoke, he pointed south and added, " The City of Fiends is just to the south. Once you get there, you'll understand why everyone wants to squeeze into the Fiend Castle."
Linley was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Senior, what about you? Three thousand years have passed, why haven't you gone to the Fiend Castle?"
Upon hearing this, a deep sense of desolation flashed across Old Huo's cloudy eyes. He looked down at his withered hands, and after a long while, he said in a hoarse voice, "I've been there."
"You've been there?"
"Three thousand years ago, I was also an ' Ordinary Fiend ' of Fiend Castle." Old Huo's voice was low, almost carried away by the wind. "Later, I offended someone I shouldn't have, was severely injured, and expelled from the castle. For the past few thousand years, I've only been able to eke out a living in this wasteland."
Linley's heart skipped a beat. If an Ordinary Fiend from Fiend Castle had fallen to such a state, how terrifying must the "person who shouldn't have been offended" be?
"So, kid," Old Huo looked up at Linley and said, word by word, "Entering the Fiend Castle doesn't mean you're safe. The fighting inside is a hundred times fiercer than in this wasteland. You'd better watch yourself."
Linley nodded slowly, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Thank you, senior. Linley will remember this favor."
Old Huo waved his hand. "What favors are you talking about? I'm an old man with one foot in the grave, I just don't want to see a young man like you die a muddle-headed death on the way."
As he spoke, he looked Linley up and down, then added, "You don't need to be discouraged. I've been in this wasteland for three thousand years and have seen countless young Lowgod. Most of them died along the way. But there were a few who managed to fight their way through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and finally, they truly stepped into the gates of the Fiend Castle."
Linley didn't speak, but slowly tightened his grip on the Purple Blood Soft Sword.
Nine out of ten chances of survival?
Throughout his journey, every single time he faced imminent death, it was a brush with death.
"Thank you for your guidance, senior." Linley clasped his hands in a fist salute, turned around, and walked south.
As Old Huo watched his departing figure, a faint, strange light suddenly appeared in his cloudy eyes.