Chapter 301: Devil’s Wasteland
On the Qi Plane, the Dao Clone of Qi spent 32 years cultivating in seclusion before entering the Nirvana Life Realm…
On the Sage Plane, the Dao Clone of Mind acted similarly, only he spent his time within the Dao Formation, cultivating his Psyche Power whilst comprehending dao on a conscious and intellectual level…
The Dao Clone of Soul's path towards Nirvana was very different.
Devil was not the type to sit around and meditate idly. Even if he did do such a thing, he would achieve nothing anyway, because his 'talent' was non-existent – but Devil disdained the very concept of talent to begin with.
Whilst all three Dao Clones essentially possessed the same goal – reaching the Immortal Step – they each had very different ways of going about it.
The Dao Clone of Qi relied on his cultivation talent and his intuitive comprehension of dao. The Dao Clone of Mind studied the Sage's Dao Formation to cultivate his mental strength and intellect…
The Dao Clone of Soul cultivated his soul via slaughter.
Devil's first act in this world was his slaughter of Verdant Devil City. This city wasn't the grandest on the 1st Layer of Abyss, but it was by no means insignificant either.
The average strength found amongst the living beings increased with each lower Layer of Abyss. The average strength on the 1st Layer of Abyss wasn't that high, even though this layer was quite vast, simply because this environment was not only barren, but also not very useful even to those who cultivated unconventional techniques.
Mindless demons appeared on every Layer of Abyss, but the strength of these demons increased the further down Abyss you descended. These demons were often one of the main resources used by the devils and unorthodox soul cultivators in Abyss, so those with strength would almost always leave the upper layers and venture further down – that, or they would choose to leave Abyss altogether and ascend into the much more forgiving environment on the Central Layer.
There were very few Rank 5 or Imperial Spirit Realm beings on the 1st Layer, and the number of publicly acknowledged immortals could be counted on one hand. Each of those immortals had their own reasons for remaining on the 1st Layer, and no matter what happened amongst the mortals below them, they wouldn't bother themselves with it…
With this in mind, it wasn't surprising that Devil easily raised hell during the three years that he spent on the 1st Layer.
The massacre of Verdant Devil City was just the beginning…
From Verdant Devil City, Devil left the bloody wreckage in his wake and trekked out into the endless barren lands.
Unlike his first experience with the barren lands, his second venture into this gloomy region was far more eventful. Every few hours, he would be attacked by mindless demons, either lone demons, or entire hordes of the savage creatures. The mindless demons were unlike anything that the main body had encountered before, somewhat surprising Devil on his first encounter with them…
Their bodies were always black, sometimes with other dark colours decorating their grotesque forms which did not abide by any of the reasoning that governed the beasts found on the Qi Plane and Blood Plane. These mindless demons sometimes had countless eyes, or sometimes they had no eyes, or even no face whatsoever. Their number of limbs was also seemingly completely random, with some possessing dozens of arms, whilst others had no limbs and simply slid or rolled about as they dripped corrosive miasma all around their disfigured spiritual bodies.
Before Yaan created his three Dao Clones, back when the Spirit Plane Lord took it upon herself to show him all of the wonders of this world, he learned something quite interesting. Apparently, in the beginning, before the Spirit Plane was partially destroyed and forced to become an entirely spiritual realm, it was a physical plane just like the Qi Plane and Blood Plane – and it was also the plane from where the spirit beasts originated from. As for the demonic beasts, they were originally from the Blood Plane.
Over the years, the strict boundaries between the four planes had loosened on several occasions, resulting in the beasts moving between the planes by chance. These mindless demons in Abyss were the result of the demonic beasts that had travelled over from the Blood Plane, only to find themselves torn from their physical bodies and thrust into this spiritual state, which clearly didn't do them any favours.
Whenever Devil cut down these demons, which didn't seem to understand the concept of fear, they sprayed out corrosive miasma that was able to corrode his spiritual body. Even the weaker demons released a fairly strong corrosive miasma, far surpassing their actual strength. Not only that, but within each of their bodies, there was a dark green crystal, similar to the cores possessed by beasts and cultivators, only containing a deep and demonic power of the soul. Devil immediately understood that these crystals would be extremely useful for those who cultivated unorthodox soul cultivation methods. That said, Devil had no use for these things and simply discarded them.
He only had one interest, and that was slaughter.
He slaughtered every devil in Verdant Devil City, then slaughtered his way through the region that he later came to learn was called the Miasmatic Demon Wasteland. He learned the name of this wasteland after spending weeks walking through it and killing countless mindless demons along his way, before finally reaching yet another city - Azure Devil City.
The fate of Azure Devil City was no different from Verdant Devil City; every single devil within was slaughtered, not a single living being was able to escape.
After being trapped in that wasteland for so long, Devil hung around in this city for a bit longer, eventually finding a map of the region. As it turned out, the Miasmatic Demon Wasteland was a renowned forbidden region on the 1st Layer of Abyss. There were nine cities surrounding this region, all similar or slightly higher in strength compared to Verdant Devil City.
And so, naturally, after learning about this, Devil had finally found his first proper direction.
Verdant Devil City. Azure Devil City. Crimson Devil City. Dark Devil City. Golden Devil City. Scarlet Devil City. Maroon Devil City. Violet Devil City. Light Devil City.
The nine cities, known collectively as the nine coloured devil cities, vanished within the span of six months. Soon enough, this news spread across the 1st Layer and the other devils and demonic soul cultivators started searching for the unknown cause of their demise.
It wasn't long before Devil was found by those people…
After all, he wanted to be found.
After slaughtering his way through each of the nine cities, he left countless corpses in his wake. After finishing this massacre, he made his way back into the Miasmatic Demon Wasteland after leaving behind a trail of dismembered body parts that he knew others would follow.
And so began the three year legend, resulting in this region being renamed to the 'Devil's Wasteland'. It was called as such, because it was said that every single devil to enter the region during these three years was laid to waste.
The 1st Layer of Abyss was too huge, too vast, and too barren. Devil saw no reason to search his way across the entire world, when he could simply entice his nutrition to deliver itself to him.
Perhaps anywhere else across the four planes, a 'forbidden region' would be a place that nobody would dare venture into, but this wasn't just anywhere, this was Abyss. In Abyss, war, murder and death were daily occurrences that practically every single resident would witness almost every day. In a place like this, where everywhere was at war and nowhere was ever safe, in this barren land where there was no hope, a forbidden region was not a region to avoid, because it was a region where hope could potentially be found!
The monster of Devil's Wasteland became a legend, and this legend caused cities, and even entire nations, to send out their armies in search of the mysterious monster within. Nobody had even seen the appearance of the monster, so nobody knew what to expect, other than a powerful foe…a foe who could be considered a huge treasure in this 1st Layer of Abyss!
The monster was clearly intelligent, meaning that it must have collected all of the belongings of those who came before them. Because of this, as time passed by, and hundreds of armies vanished into Devil's Wasteland, the attention of stronger and stronger beings was aroused. They knew that the collective wealth of everyone who had failed before them must have been gathered by that monster, meaning that if they killed the monster of Devil's Wasteland, their lives would take a complete change of direction!
And so, for two and a half years, Devil remained within the centre of this place, fighting almost endlessly, slaughtering foe after foe, until finally…
"Too weak." Devil sighed and shook his head with a faint sigh. "This place has become boring, it's time to move on."
And just like that, the monster of Devil's Wasteland vanished.
Devil, who had accumulated so many different maps over the past three years, not only learned where to find the entrance into the 2nd Layer of Abyss, but also came to understand the layout of Abyss as a whole.
It was quite simple, really. Each lower Layer of Abyss was a harsher, more suppressive, more destructive environment than the last. Because of this, despite each lower layer being smaller in size than the layer above, the lower layers felt much larger, because your power would be more thoroughly suppressed further down.
As for how to travel between the layers, it was fairly simple - at least, it was simple for the 1st through 6th Layers. The gateway between the layers could be found within the centre of each Layer of Abyss. However, after passing through a gateway and descending into the layer below, you would find yourself at a completely random location on the layer below. Not only that…it was seemingly impossible to ascend to a higher layer. At least, during his three years spent on the 1st Layer, Devil had not found a single way to go up.
In the end, he determined that going up should only be possible for immortals, who were able to force their way through the membrane which separated each layer from the last. And so, with this knowledge in mind, Devil had no reservations about going down.
The only way was onwards, there was no room to step back; he would descend through Abyss, passing through each layer and raising a new hell, until he finally reached the Nirvana Realm, at which point…
"At which point…"
Devil stood alone on the 6th Layer of Abyss. This was the lowest that it was possible to descend using conventional methods, as the 7th, 8th and 9th Layers were like prisons, impossible to enter, and even more impossible to leave.
The 6th Layer of Abyss was a dangerous place, filled with not only Rank 5 beings, but also those at the Nirvana Realm, and many at the Immortal Step! Devil himself had encountered far too many immortals during his time here…honestly, any other 'mortal' in his position would have died countless times over, but after Devil reached the Imperial Spirit Realm, his battle strength reached such an absurdly high level that he could actually contend against those weaker immortals! Naturally, he had developed quite the reputation because of this.
Killing an immortal was still impossible for him, even after ascending his soul into a Peak Imperial Slaughter Spirit, but he could at least hold his own in this desolate place. Despite all that he had encountered and all that he had faced, his heart had not wavered a single time. He had not once doubted his own resolve to slaughter his way to the Immortal Step!
That is, until now, 32 years after he had embarked upon this journey of slaughter, and he finally stepped into the Nirvana Realm. After devouring his Nirvana Blessing and gaining over 200,000 drops of Mortal Life Essence, Devil suddenly realised something…
"I've reached the Nirvana Realm…in three years, I will certainly succeed in my Immortal Ascension…but…what then?"
For the first time in his 32 years of life, Devil felt a faint, unfamiliar feeling of trepidation in his heart. This feeling couldn't quite be called fear, but it actually caused him to shudder, because like the Dao Clone of Qi, he suddenly realised that he not only had no idea what the main body was planning, but he hadn't even considered this fact until now!
This was strange, far too strange!
As Devil sat there atop the throne of his most recently slain enemy, and the countless corpses of that enemy's lineage stacked up around him, his eyes narrowed and his heart continued to tremble. It seemed absurd, and he simply couldn't comprehend it, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he could only reach one conclusion…
"The main body…is scheming against me?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone