With their faction chosen, Yue Yang and Ika turned toward the left-side passage.
From this moment on, anyone from the Dark Alliance they encountered would be an enemy to the death — even the closest of friends, even family, if such a thing applied. Fortunately, Yue Yang had no such agonizing complications to deal with. He had precisely zero friends who’d entered the Trial Grounds from the Heavenly Realm, and as for family — every last one of them was safely tucked inside his Grimoire World. Whatever enemy showed up, he could simply kill them and move on, no agonizing over whether to show mercy needed.
Beyond the massive entrance hall, stepping outside brought you straight onto the battlefield claimed by the two factions.
This enormous battlefield dwarfed even the Dragon-Soaring Continent.
A dividing line ran down the middle.
Along that line stood ten fortresses, five held by the Angel Alliance and five by the Dark Alliance.
The fortresses only prevented the native inhabitant forces on both sides from crossing over — actual challengers were a different matter entirely. A challenger with sufficient strength could simply storm across into enemy territory and start killing at will, becoming exactly the kind of murderous force that had the native inhabitants trembling at Ji Wuri’s name.
“Are you certain you want to join our Angel Alliance?” At the end of the left-side passage, a kindly old man stood beneath a towering angel statue, smiling as he asked.
“If there were a beautiful woman standing here to welcome new recruits, I have no doubt the Angel Alliance’s numbers would shoot up dramatically.” Yue Yang raised a point no one had apparently ever brought up before — the kindly old man blinked at him for a moment, then burst out laughing.
“You know, you’re absolutely right — I should have thought of that ages ago.” He laughed heartily. “Here I’ve been wondering why so many people prefer to join the Dark Alliance. It really does come down to the guide’s looks and gender, doesn’t it! Ha! Young friend, your feedback is genuinely appreciated. Unfortunately, that’s not something I can change at present — are you still willing to join the Angel Alliance with this old man as your guide?”
“Do I have a second choice?” Yue Yang sighed deeply. It wasn’t as though he could pick the Dark Alliance now — otherwise why had he bothered coming over to this side at all?
“Though I can’t make the decision for you, some challengers before you have found a way around it. If they couldn’t choose the faction they wanted, they would send a large number of their followers to join the other side until the numbers evened out enough to allow free choice.”
“How many followers would that take?” Yue Yang’s curiosity ignited immediately.
“The most extreme case involved a challenger who wanted to join the Angel Alliance back when it was dominant — he had to send a hundred and eight followers over to the Dark Alliance before the numbers balanced out enough.” The old man’s answer prompted a cold sweat from Yue Yang.
That was literally climbing to victory on the bodies of your own people.
The ancient laws were set and couldn’t be altered, but enough clever people bashing against their walls had eventually found the gaps worth slipping through.
To get through the gate smoothly, sending nearly a hundred capable subordinates in as fodder, their war beasts converted into points — it really was the most efficient way to clear the stage.
Perhaps reading Yue Yang’s astonishment, the old man chuckled. “Truth be told, this Demon Valley had no native inhabitants originally. They’re all descended from the followers left behind by ancient challengers — those who survived by luck, found themselves unable to leave the valley, and were forced to settle here. They had children, built lives, and passed everything down generation by generation. Their descendants became the valley’s true native population.”
Yue Yang quietly wiped a bead of sweat from his brow. Thank goodness he hadn’t released Princess Qianqian and the others to clear the gate alongside him. If one of them ended up short on points and couldn’t leave Demon Valley, that would be a genuine catastrophe. As it turned out, the moment anyone entered this valley, the ancient laws automatically recognized them as a challenger and assigned them that status — regardless of whether they were a supreme powerhouse or an absolute weakling, whether they were master or servant.
Before this, neither Vivienne, the Prison Emperor, nor any other Sky Tower powerhouse who’d entered Demon Valley had ever exploited this loophole — they’d all cleared it through sheer personal strength, never even knowing such a gap existed.
“You really should have led with that. If I’d known, I would’ve brought a thousand or two with me.” Even as he said it, Yue Yang knew it was just idle talk — someone with his drive to push his own limits and the pride of a true Sovereign would never actually do something like that.
“Would you like this old man to walk you through how Demon Valley works, or shall I skip it?” the old man offered, presenting himself as a qualified guide.
“Do you charge for the explanation?” Yue Yang’s hand moved protectively toward his coin pouch.
“Obviously.” The old man took considerable offence at the question. These days, who worked for free?
“Skip it, then.” Yue Yang’s money was not so easily parted from him. He wasn’t exactly a miser, but tightfisted certainly applied.
“One hundred gems of sixth grade or higher, or items of equivalent value.” The old man’s aged face spread into a smile that looked disturbingly like a chrysanthemum in bloom, one shameless hand extended, index finger crooked and beckoning with the eager urgency of a starving ghost catching the scent of food.
“Why not just rob me instead?” Yue Yang refused flatly.
“Wrong framing entirely — this is better than robbery, if anything. Without a gem, you won’t get the Angel Emblem I have here, and without that Emblem, you won’t earn a single point no matter how many thousands of war beasts you kill. Sooner or later you’ll have to come back to me to exchange for it. Take your time if you like — I’m not in any rush. Just know that the next time you come, the price will be two hundred gems.” The old man laughed, entirely secure in his position.
“I genuinely want to cut you down where you stand…” Yue Yang muttered, and would have drawn his blade already if he hadn’t noticed this greedy old man carried at least Supreme tier nine strength.
“Now, now — when this old man is in a bad mood, prices go up.” The old man indicated that insults delivered to one’s face were not good for business negotiations.
“Here.” Yue Yang produced a Starfall Pearl worth at least fifty sixth-grade gems and handed it over through gritted teeth.
“Not bad, this — but it doesn’t quite reach a hundred sixth-grade gems!” The old man’s eye for value was sharp.
“You don’t want it?” Yue Yang, officially past his limit, grabbed the old man by the collar with one hand while the other yanked out the Waning Crescent Moon blade. If this old man said one more syllable of objection, he was going to cut the greedy old geezer down right here. It was always him, Third Young Master Yue, doing the extorting — having the tables turned on him today had already put him in a foul enough mood, and if this man dared push it further, Yue Yang would absolutely make it a matter of life and death.
“Don’t be hasty now, rashness is the devil’s tool — young people shouldn’t let tempers run so hot. Take a breath, the world opens up when you step back a little. Think of it as paying to ward off bad luck.” The old man recognized that someone like Yue Yang wasn’t easy to squeeze further — voluntarily producing a seventh-grade Starfall Pearl at all was already his absolute limit.
He pocketed the pearl and cheerfully ignored Yue Yang’s murderous glare.
First he turned it over in his hands, examining it thoroughly from every angle.
Then he clicked his tongue several times and sighed with profound regret. “Losing money, I really am — this honestly doesn’t match a hundred sixth-grade gems. But fine, fine, consider it this old man doing a good deed.”
Yue Yang pressed the Waning Crescent Moon against the old man’s throat. “Say one more word and I will gut you for your loot, I swear it…”
The fury was real. He was half seriously considering treating this old man as a boss encounter.
The old man, having weathered more storms than he could count, kept his expression perfectly composed. Chuckling pleasantly, he produced an Angel Emblem — a small medallion depicting a compassionate female angel with her palms pressed together at her chest, sheltering a sword and shield with outspread wings. The sword and shield gleamed gold, the guardian wings shone silver-white, and on the tiny angel’s forehead sat a gem smaller than a grain of rice, casting the faintest flicker of seven colors.
“Hold this and you can begin the demon-slaying challenge tasks. Your point total can be checked at any Angel Statue in Angel Alliance territory. My responsibility covers the main tasks only — side tasks of various kinds may also be available inside, and you’re welcome to take those on if you like, or ignore them entirely if you’d prefer to save time. Once your points reach the required threshold, enter the portal beneath the first Angel Statue and return here. I’ll then tell you how to leave the valley and proceed to the next gate, Human Valley.” Despite having been on the receiving end of a threat, the old man’s demeanor toward Yue Yang was actually quite decent — still smiling pleasantly throughout.
“You could just tell me how to reach the seventh gate’s Human Valley right now and save us all the trouble.” Yue Yang had zero genuine interest in the demon-slaying challenge tasks — the only reason he was here at all was to deal with the Heavens-Splitting Demon Lord sealed in the hidden Demon God Hall. Without that, he’d want nothing to do with this whole exercise. Time was money, and burning it on busywork made him genuinely miserable.
“There’s no entering the seventh gate without clearing the sixth gate’s trial first. Even if someone got in, they wouldn’t be recognized as a valid challenger.” The old man indicated that some things couldn’t be rushed — they had to be done in proper order.
“Let’s hope Demon Valley’s tasks aren’t too boring.” Yue Yang sighed. No matter how tedious, the Demon Valley had to be entered.
Because this accursed divine game had no GM to file a complaint with.
He’d treat it as sightseeing, Yue Yang told himself.
Just as he was about to step into the portal, the old man suddenly said, “Young friend — this place is more entertaining than you’re expecting. It won’t disappoint you.”
“…Could you maybe not say ominous things behind people’s backs?” Yue Yang nearly broke into a cold sweat on the spot.
Angel Emblem in hand, he stepped into the portal at the passage’s end and was instantly transferred to the center of a makeshift camp. The camp made the most run-down mercenary outposts on the Dragon-Soaring Continent look refined by comparison — the surrounding walls were wooden stakes, hammered and lashed together in a haphazard ring that Yue Yang was fairly confident even the worst carpenter on the Dragon-Soaring Continent could have done significantly better.
The one thing that made any impression at all was the brilliant, gleaming Angel Statue standing at the center of the camp behind him.
The statue stood ten meters tall, and at its base sat a crystal stele roughly three meters high.
Engraved on the stele were names and numbers.
At the very top, in red letters the color of fresh blood, was Ji Wuri’s name — followed by the number 10,001.
In second place was Her Majesty Empress Vivienne, her number 9,876.
The names in third through eighth place meant nothing to Yue Yang.
Ninth was the name of Prison Emperor Zhanfeng, with a score of 3,512. Tenth, oddly enough, was Central Divine Hall’s Hall of Light Master Zhonghua — a name Yue Yang recognized but had never formally met, barely qualifying as an acquaintance. Scanning further down with some effort, he found Captain Cook Caribbean’s name at ninety-seventh place, with a score of 1,946.
“What you’re looking at there is both the combat record and the points tally.” A large man in battered leather armor strode over and struck up a conversation with easy familiarity. “New challenger, right? Usually someone who makes it to this gate has decent enough strength — though you look like you’ve only just hit Sky-rank… Well, maybe you didn’t have much say in ending up here. Either way, once you’re in this brutal world, the more you know the better. Even if there’s no hope of leaving, staying alive still matters — fate’s better off in your own hands. The name’s Mark — I’m deputy captain of Camp 1385. Whether or not you join us, our camp offers a relatively safe place to rest through the dangerous early stretch. Oh, and where’s your war beast?”
“She was bored, so she went back to rest.” Yue Yang pointed to the numbers following each name on the stele and asked, “How did Ji Wuri’s record end up ahead of the Conquest Queen’s?”
“That demon.” The man called Mark’s eyes went red at the name, grief and fury barely contained — clearly more than a few of his friends and family had died at Ji Wuri’s hands. “His points were already enough to clear the gate, but he just wouldn’t leave. He stayed for months, killing and killing until he’d pushed his score above the Conquest Queen’s record — then he left. And those subordinates of his were working with him the whole time, feeding him points through the most shameless grinding you’ve ever seen, and we didn’t even realize they were all on the same side…”
“And then there’s that treacherous dog Zhonghua from the Hall of Light,” added a short, stocky man nearby, seething. “Human face, beast’s heart — turns out he was in on it with Ji Wuri the whole time. The two of them played our Angel Alliance like absolute fools.”
“We were all deceived!”
“The greatest humiliation in thousands of years!”
“A blow we won’t recover from for thousands of years to come — after Ji Wuri’s slaughter, the Angel Alliance probably can’t rebuild its strength for a century!”
“If only I had the power to—”
At the name Ji Wuri, people scattered throughout the camp began drifting over, one after another, all adding their voices to the chorus of condemnation raining down on the Central Divine Hall’s challengers.
“Hearing all this, I’m finding myself getting a little invested.” Yue Yang had come into Demon Valley with no particular motivation to begin with — but seeing just how low Ji Wuri had stooped, something stirred in him. He found himself firmly decided: he was going to drag Ji Wuri’s shameless first-place record back down to where it belonged. Otherwise the pure indignation of watching Ji Wuri deliberately farm points to overtake Vivienne’s score was going to eat at him.
(End of Chapter)