Chapter 340: Dark Hell Imperial Palace, Fire Demon Prefecture Master
“One punch can break the void within millions of miles!”
Dodola sighed emotionally. “Your divine body is now on par with high-level higher deity. Including the metal-origin divine body, you should be scarier than ordinary high-level Great Demon Gods right now!”
“This means that I can compete with the three most powerful Great Demon Gods of Dark Hell Continent already?” Meng Lei’s eyes lit up.
“Why? You want to refine Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane?”
Dodola raised an eyebrow and shook its head. “Unless you don’t want to enter the Dark Canopy of The Heavens, please drop that idea for now. Given your current divine spirit, you’ll need a few hundred or even over a thousand years to refine the Heart of The Existential Plane of a mid-end existential plane.”
“So long?”
Meng Lei’s brows knitted together.
“If it wasn’t for this long period, Dark Hell Continent’s Heart of The Existential Plane would have been secretly refined by someone. Why would they wait till now?”
Dodola shook its head again. “It’s because of the difficulty to refine it. It will take a lot of time and effort, so the three most powerful Great Demon Gods can deter each other!”
“Fine!”
Meng Lei was slightly disappointed. “Then we’ll go to the Boundless Plane before coming back to refine the Heart of The Existential Plane. I believe that I’ll become stronger by then!”
“Sure!”
They started their journey toward the Dark Hell Demonic Kingdom’s capital as they flew at their quickest speed. Still, it took them over half a month to reach the capital.
Compared to the Ice Demon City, the capital was even larger and prosperous. Countless live volcanoes stood within the city as billowing smoke and brimstones were everywhere.
“See these smoking volcanoes? They are the Divine Netherworld Phoenix’s favorite place to live in. Though they are rare in numbers, mixed-breed descendants with their bloodline are common here as 90% of the volcanoes are occupied by them.”
“Sure!”
When they flew within the range of the capital, the city guards on patrol stopped them. They were demons with a pair of wings and a lion’s body.
“These are Netherworld Demonic Lions.”
Meng Lei smiled confidently. “They are the descendants of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix and the Dark Demonic Lion. They didn’t just inherit some Divine Netherworld Phoenix abilities; their reproduction rate is much higher than Divine Netherworld Phoenix. Naturally, they are Demon Gods after they become adults, hence making them extremely successful descendants of the Divine Netherworld Phoenix.”
“That’s not bad indeed.”
Dodola approved. Many powerful races chose to crossbreed with races that had great fertility rates to guarantee the size of their race. There were many types of descendants, with only a few that could inherit both races’ strengths.
It was similar to the Dragons in Heaven’s Vault Continent in the past. Of all the Drakes, the most successful ones were the offspring between Dragons and humans—the Dragon People.
“Who are you? Did you not know that it is forbidden to fly in the sky above the capital?” The leading Netherworld Demonic Lion questioned fiercely, staring at them with its savage eyes.
“I’m the Prefecture Master of the Ice Demon Prefecture!”
Meng Lei remained expressionless.
“Prefecture Master?”
The Netherworld Demonic Lions’ expression changed. Indeed, it was forbidden to fly in the capital. However, it only applied to ordinary demons, not mid-level Great Demon Gods like Prefecture Masters.
Prefecture Masters were allowed to fly here.
“Sir, since you are a Prefecture Master, why have I not seen you before?” The Netherworld Demonic Lion in charge frowned. “If I’m not wrong, the Ice Demon Prefecture Master should be Lord Cador...”
“That’s already a thing of the past. Lord Cador is dead, and I’m the current Ice Demon Prefecture Master.”
Meng Lei shook his head as he released an overwhelming aura upon the squad of Netherworld Demonic Lions.
Whoosh!
The Netherworld Demonic Lions went crashing toward the ground as if they were thunderstruck. Before they hit the ground, Meng Lei retained the aura, and they could finally steady themselves.
The looks on every Netherworld Demonic Lion were full of fear for a while.
The capital was where some of the most powerful demons congregated, where Great Demon Gods were aplenty. Yet, there were only a few that had such a terrifying aura as Meng Lei.
“He’s definitely a mid-level Great Demon God!”
The Netherworld Demonic Lions did not dare to obstruct Meng Lei anymore. “If we offended you just now, please forgive us! Please carry on!”
“Sure!”
Meng Lei nodded slightly as he flew straight towards the volcano where the imperial palace was located. The squad of Netherworld Demonic Lions watched Meng Lei’s back and wiped the cold sweat on their foreheads. They were still shaken up in fear.
“Who is this guy?”
“Didn’t you hear him say that he’s the Ice Demon Prefecture Master?”
“This is too scary. His aura was more overwhelming than our princes! When did such an expert appear in our kingdom...”
Meng Lei and Dodola carried on flying as their action caused a huge commotion. Demons of all kinds gesticulated and speculated wildly.
Weaker demons gave off reverent looks.
Stronger demons had intense fighting spirits.
Among these, the two arrived at the largest live volcano of the capital. Its height above sea level was not very high. Still, it was massive nevertheless, like a gigantic chimney shooting out thick black smoke incessantly.
The volcano’s body was embedded with black-red crystals, emitting dark elements and fire elements that almost manifested into a solid-state.
“Meng Lei, where’s the imperial palace?” quizzed Dodola.
It sized up the huge and vast volcano and could not find any trace of the imperial palace.
“You’ll know when you get down!”
Meng Lei answered as he brought Dodola toward the crater of the volcano. As they approached it, the crater became increasingly extensive while the temperatures were getting increasingly higher, getting up to a few thousand degrees Celsius.
A lava lake within the vast crater—it seemed boundless. The lava boiled as it released stunningly high temperatures. Among these, a grand palace stood above the lava lake like a resort built on a sea.
Meng Lei smiled as he said, “That’s the imperial palace.”
“Oh, it over here!”
Dodola suddenly realized.
“Who are you?”
A cold voice rang as a human figure came with the wind. Although it was in human form, the intense aura and scorching breath revealed its identity.
A Divine Netherworld Phoenix!
And it’s a pure one!
It was Meng Lei’s first time meeting a Divine Netherworld Phoenix other than himself. He could not help but size this person up, forgetting to reply in the process.
“Who are you?”
Seeing that Meng Lei did not answer, its voice became amplified. Meng Lei could not help but pick his ears and reply dryly. “I’m the new Ice Demon Prefecture Master!”
With the previous experience, Meng Lei did not bother to explain further by adding the word ‘new’ to his introduction.
The Divine Netherworld Phoenix understood straight away as it took another look at Meng Lei. It then said respectfully, “Please follow me.”
It did not doubt Meng Lei’s identity since it was unnecessary. He would be meeting the other Prefecture Masters, princes and princesses, court officials, and even the Demon Emperor. If Meng Lei did not have the capability and impersonate the Prefecture Master, he would surely die a horrible death.
Meng Lei and Dodola arrived before the grand hall under its lead.
At present, the palace was full of demons. There was a strong, forceful aura around each of them, and they gave off a powerful demonic might—they were all savage devils.
“Please proceed... Ice Demon Prefecture Master!”
The one leading Meng Lei stopped by the door of the palace hall and cued him to enter. It then shouted, “The Ice Demon Prefecture Master has arrived!”
Upon hearing this, a burst of hearty laughter sounded off. “Hahaha, my brother Cador you’ve finally come. I thought I would be meeting you on the way here, yet who knew that you would reach after I’ve been here for three days. You’re pretty slow this time!”
“Why would you think that Cador is as impatient as you. He’s an Ice Demon, not a Fire Demon...”
“Prefecture Master Cador?”
Meng Lei shook his head and giggled softly as he stepped into the hall.
Whoosh!
Many pairs of eyes looked over. When the demons saw Meng Lei, astonishment, puzzlement, and confusion surfaced on their faces.
Was that Cador?
“No! He isn’t Cador!”
“It’s a stranger!”
“Perhaps...”
After being stunned for a short moment, the demons came to their senses and started whispering among themselves. It seemed that they had realized what had happened.
“Who are you? Where’s my brother, Cador?” a Fire Demon bellowed. It was bathed in flames as it stared at Meng Lei coldly with its brass bell-like eyes.
Having read the memory of Cador, Meng Lei would naturally know this guy. Cato, the Prefecture Master of the Fire Demon Prefecture who had a lifelong brotherhood with Cador.
“Since I’m standing here, why would you still ask what happened to Prefecture Master Cador?” Meng Lei shook his head. “But if you want to know, I don’t mind telling you that I killed him.”
The moment the words left his mouth, a furor went through the entire hall!
Even if they had already guessed it, hearing the confirmation from Meng Lei still sent shockwaves across the hall.
“Cador had been in the Prefecture Master position for more than 40,000 years, plus he was one of the stronger one of the 108 Prefecture Masters. Who would have thought he was killed!”
“Do any of you know this guy?”
“I don’t know who he is!”
“Never seen him before!”
“Never heard of him at all!”
“That’s weird! To think that such a nameless guy could kill Prefecture Master Cador, it just sounds fishy...”
“Scoundrel! My big brother had been a solid Ice Demon Prefecture Master for over 40,000 years, proving his combat prowess! How could a little scoundrel like you defeat him head-on?”
Prefecture Master Cato’s demonic aura was surging as its eyes were bursting with flames of rage. “Own up now! How did you assassinate my brother?”
“Assassinate?” Meng Lei sneered, “Why do I need to plan an assassination when it’s just Cador? You’ve overestimated him.”
“How dare you disrespect my big brother!”
Cato was enraged further as his overwhelming aura attacked Meng Lei.
If it were an ordinary Great Demon God, it would have struck onto the ground. However, Meng Lei did not even move as if the suppressive aura was a breeze.
“In Dark Hell Continent, power speaks the loudest!” Meng Lei snapped his fingers and continued coldly. “Since Cador was weaker than me, isn’t it normal for me to look down on it?”
“Since power speaks the loudest,” Prefecture Master Cato’s eyes were spitting fire, “Do you dare to fight me?”
A hint of joy flashed across Meng Lei’s eyes as they lit up. This fellow was a genuine mid-level Great Demon God, which killing it should at least earn him 60 million Divinity Crystals from the system.
Not forgetting the spatial ring it carried around...
“Why? So you’re afraid?”
As Meng Lei did not reply, Prefecture Master Cato thought Meng Lei was afraid as its voice became even bitter.
“What is there to fear?” Meng Lei hummed. “If you want a battle, we shall have one. Why would I be afraid of you?”
“Follow me then!”
Cato left these three words behind as it turned into a fiery beam that shot out of the palace. A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face as he followed suit.
“Let’s go!”
“Let’s go out and take a look!”
The various Prefecture Masters, princes, and princesses could not sit still as they got out of the palace. They all flew above the palace as they anticipated the battle that was about to start.
No-one stopped them!
And no one would ever think of it!
In the Demon’s world, only the strong were revered. Thus, they would settle any disagreement with a fight.
Conflict? Feud?
Fight it out, and it’s settled!
Just do it!