GDK 522: City of Demons
There was no day or night in the abyssal world, but every few days the sky would turn pitch black as though the abyssal world had been sheathed under a thick, dark cloak. At such times, it was impossible to see anything without another light source.
The abyssal realm used this sudden nightfall as a measurement of time. The passage of time marked by this abrupt cover of darkness was equivalent to one day on Profound Continent, but for each day that passed in the abyssal realm, half a month would have gone by on Profound Continent.
As of then about three days had passed in the abyssal realm since Han Shuo set off for War Demon Valley, lead by Nambrough, the battalion leader of Shero regiment. And it was then that they had finally arrived.
Along the way, Nambrough, Hemanna and Sylph had shared with Han Shuo much more about War Demon Valley, but upon arrival, he discovered that it was rather different from what he had anticipated.
The War Demon Valley was larger than Han Shuo had expected. From a distance, it looked like a city of demons. Abyssal creatures of all shapes and sizes sat upon the hundreds of metres of city wall. Despite its name, War Demon Valley was in fact a city. The city gate with its sheer magnitude was just too grandiose for Han Shuo to take in. From the front it looked very much like a large demon brandishing its claws and fangs at them.
Above them, many abyssal creatures circled the city gates. This place, War Demon Valley just seemed to pass on a feeling of savagery to Han Shuo. This could have possibly been attributed to the fact that some of its inhabitants were particularly humongous, such that War Demon Valley had to be structured like a bald mountain.
Following behind Nambrough, they arrived just before the enormous city gates. The gates guards recognized him and opened the gates once they noticed others from Shero regiment, allowing them entrance.
As Han Shuo entered War Demon Valley he discovered the many different kinds of abyssal creatures living there. The larger ones were almost twenty metres tall while the smaller ones were the size of human babies.
Of course, the most common were still humanoid beings like Sylph and Hemanna. War Demon Valley was a place where higher beings congregated, and those who resided there were immensely powerful. The large creatures were merely the higher beings’ mounts, or their subordinates. They came in all shapes and forms, all hideous and menacing.
Upon arriving at War Demon Valley, Nambrough immediately told Han Shuo, “My friend, I must first go to see Lord Crosius, you’ll have to stay with Hemanna and Sylph for the time being. I will also alert Lord Crosius of your presence. With the help you’ve given us and your immense power, I’m sure that Lord Crosius will treat you well.”
Han Shuo nodded and said, “Sure, you go on ahead.”
Nambrough said nothing more, and with an apologetic smile to Han Shuo, quickly left towards a big, black stone building of three or four hundred metres tall in the centre of the city. This enormous structure was supported by tall pillars of black stone covering an area of two thousand square metres. At first glance, it gave off a feeling of oppressive solemnity.
Han Shuo had taken notice of the gigantic structure the moment he entered War Demon Valley, and not just because it was the tallest, grandest building, right at the centre of War Demon Valley, but also because there was a presence within it that was dripping with immense power.
It took no effort to deduce that it was the master of War Demon Valley, Crosius, himself. Since the abyssal realm was ruled only by the strong, Crosius was naturally the strongest!
Expanding his consciousness, Han Shuo took note of all of the most extraordinarily powerful beings in War Demon Valley. He was able to sense six presences on par with Profound Continent’s demigod expert, but Crosius was by far the most powerful.
As Han Shuo gauged Crosius’ might, he became almost certain Crosius had divine powers. In War Demon Valley alone there were six demigod experts and one godly existence! The abyssal realm was indeed a terrifying place!
Up until this moment, Han Shuo had only a vague understanding of the overall power within the abyssal realm. He could not form an accurate judgement of the place from just the words of Hemanna and Sylph but now, he finally understood from the experts within War Demon Valley that the abyssal realm was in another league compared to Profound Continent.
Back on Profound Continent, Han Shuo was at the top of the food chain, but from what he had gathered through his consciousness, at his current power level he stood slightly above average at best.
Crosius possessing divine power meant that he had not only formed his body into a Body of Element, but his soul had also transformed into a Soul of Element. Seeing how abyssal creatures cultivated their bodies, to form one’s soul into a Soul of Element seemed an incredibly difficult task. It was astounding that Crosius could have achieved such a feat.
“Hemanna, is Lord Crosius able to cultivate his soul to use elemental power?” With these suspicions, Han Shuo just had to ask the pretty girl next to him.
“Something like that. For people like us, even if we train to our limits, we would never be able to cultivate the power into our brains. Just look at Nambrough, his body has been refined to quite the vessel, but he still hasn’t been able to infuse every bone and every cell of his body with dark power.”
“As for distributing the power to the brain…” she chuckled.
“That could only be done with the help of the demon king Manticore. Lord Crosius hit a wall after cultivating his power into every cell of his body, and was only able to achieve it with the help of demon king Manticore.
“In the entire abyssal realm, the only ones who have managed to infuse their brains with power on their own cultivation alone were the five abyssal demon kings. The others who have managed to do so all required help. Even with this power they’ve acquired, they’re still far from on par with the five demon kings. There lay many experts in the abyssal realm, but the only ones worthy of being called great demon kings are those five existences as they reached that stage entirely on their own training and cultivation, with no help or interference. If you achieve that, you could become the abyssal realm’s sixth great demon king. Tens of thousands of higher beings will bow at your feet, willing to tend to your every wish,” Hemanna explained.
Solely on their own power and without any outside assistance, they managed to infuse every bone, every cell and even their brains with elemental power to form the elemental body and elemental soul. To think that all five of the abyssal realm’s great demon kings had done all that to get to where they were, it was no wonder that they were the top five experts!
From Crosius’s aura, Han Shou knew that he had similar godly strength to the six-horned tribal king and the Saintess of the Church of Light back at Profound Continent. As for the great demon king Manticore who was Crosius’ master, the one who made him what he was, how much power could he possess? Han Shuo did not dare continue thinking about it.
Han Shuo however, was not in the least bit discouraged, he instead felt a sense of lofty aspiration rise in his chest. The last time he had been pushed past his limits to the Carnal Realm, his power underwent drastic change. Han Shuo was certain that once he reached the Nine-Changes Realm, regardless of whether his power was divine or not, he would be ten or even a hundred times stronger than he was now.
By then, even the five great demon kings of the abyssal realm might not be too much stronger than him!
“Come, let’s get a little rest at my place,” said Hemanna as she giggled. Her smooth, pretty frame had somehow gotten extremely close to Han Shuo, and she laid her pale hand upon his arm as she made the invitation.
Han Shuo glanced at Hemanna and felt his heart skip a beat. He then laughed and said, “Sure, but before this, you’d best bring me around War Demon Valley. I’m still very unfamiliar with this place.”
“I’m most familiar with War Demon Valley, I’ll show you around.” The purple-eyed Sylph snatched up Han Shuo’s other arm the moment he finished his sentence, as though she was fighting over him, and began pulling him to leave.
“What’s the meaning of this, Sylph. You’re trying to steal him from me?” Hemanna was furious and glared at Sylph as she snapped in her delicate voice.
“So?” Sylph showed no signs of weakness and stared at Hemanna as though she was challenging her.
“Hey!” Right at that moment, a light cry was heard. A man slowly approached them. He was as thin as a bamboo shoot, with sickly green skin and a rode with a gigantic demon-masked abyssal creature which resembled a spider on it.
In the War Demon Valley, aside from Crosius, there were also six demigod beings. This sickly-looking man was one of them, Han Shuo could feel it.
“Hemanna, Sylph, have you forgotten what I said? The both of you are my intendeds, and now you’re fighting over a man in such a place. Do you wish to die a cruel death?” The strange, sickly man glared at Hemanna and Sylph with a cold death stare.
Hemanna and Sylph, both turned bone pale at the man’s arrival and released Han Shuo’s arms without a second to spare. They seemed terrified of the man, and stuttered but just could not speak.