The Infernal Spirit World.

A century ago.

Within the ocean of a huge valley beyond the reach of sunlight from the world’s surface, darkness became a constant rhythm in this part of the world.

In the midst of darkness, a patch of blood-red light flickered like a beating heart. A school of tiny octopus, glowing in a hue of phosphorous green, was hunting for their prey around the dark red glow. Yet, none of them dared to approach it.

The blood-red dim came from an undersea rock twenty over meters in size. It was completely round and smooth.

Images of fire-elemental creatures that defied the natural laws of the Infernal Spirit World occasionally appeared on this blood-red rock. The elemental giants were huge and imposing. They looked fearsome.

Poof…

Suddenly, in the midst of darkness, a pair of blue eyes blinked open.

Lit faintly by the dim blood-red glow, a dark-flaming shadow that was over a hundred meters tall could faintly be seen. There was a gush of ripple within the energy of the Infernal Spirit World. There seemed to be some sort of special relationship between the World Guardians.

Some time later.

An exceptionally hoarse voice came from the dark flames. “Sky, Earth, this mysterious piece of rock may very well be the beginning of a natural tear between the Acraepoid World and another powerful world. We must guard this at all times to prevent any mishaps. Go take a look at the gate to the Burrow World. If you can’t handle it yourselves, summon the First Acraepoid King to return earlier.”

The inter-world communication was terminated. The pair of blue eyes watched over the mysterious rock calmly for a while.

As if it could sense something, the image of a fiery giant raising up its two heads appeared on the mysterious rock. Its two pairs of eyes were emitting a fearsome, cruel glow. There was a grin on both of its faces.

“Hmph…”

The dark flame snubbed at the mysterious rock before closing its eyes gradually.

***

Fifteen years later.

This was the Kingdom of the First Acraepoid King that was built within the void world with the power of faith.

Similar to the mysterious stigmata realm of the Sorcerer World, the First Acraepoid Kingdom was linked to the Infernal Spirit World and owed its existence to the world itself.

As the wide space was not part of the world fragments, and because it had never had its own heart of the world, the laws were almost similar to the Infernal Spirit World. One could even say that it was an area cut out from the Infernal Spirit World!

The flame-colored divine weed was lush; their praises to the gods aplenty.

Within the tall temple of the First Acraepoid King built completely from red rubies, six of the Acraepoid World’s strongest gathered round.

“The Sorcerer World?”

At the main altar, strains of energy ripples were converging towards a red-crowned Acraepoid.

The black flame on top of the Acraepoid’s head was like a candlelight. His deep eyes had lasted for thousands or even tens of thousands of years and had already seen all of the Infernal Spirit World.

“Yes, the creature that lured the Dark Destroyer into the Burrow World claims to be a sorcerer from the Sorcerer World. First Acraepoid King, amongst the powerful foreign gods that you have dealt with, did they have any information regarding the Sorcerer World?”

The Infernal God Darkborne raised his head and looked at the most powerful infernal god of the Acraepoid World. His eyes were solemn, but his heart was bleeding.

Fifteen years ago, four foreign gods came from the Sorcerer World and destroyed the Temple of Darkborne in the capital. Since then, the Darkborne Kingdom had gone down in a spiral.

Now.

Although there was no effect on the Infernal God Darkborne’s capabilities, losing the faith of his supporters meant that it had become a god who had fallen from grace.

And in accordance with some of the legends from the Infernal Spirit World, a god who had fallen from grace and lost his temple meant that the common people have now earned the right to slay the god!

Of course, this was a rule that was exclusive to the Infernal Spirit World.

The First Acraepoid King furrowed his brows. Underneath the flame-colored crown, he did not promise anything immediately. He looked at the infernal gods Lightglow, Darkglow, Sky Guardian, and the Earth Guardian.

“What is… your take on this?”

“Conspiracy, this is a conspiracy against the great Acraepoid World!”

Infernal God Darkglow’s voice was deep; his eyes were cold.

Infernal God Lightglow too nodded. In a deep voice, he spoke,” Obviously, the fact that Infernal God Dark Destroyer could be lured into the Burrow World where they had an ambush waiting

meant that Dark Destroyer must have dealt with the puny, evil sorcerers before. There was hatred in the process.”

“That’s right!”

Infernal God Darkborne seemed to have thought of something. He said,” Dark Destroyer has made huge progress over the past few centuries, I’m sure that has something to do with the Sorcerer World.”

“Hmm.”

The First Acraepoid King nodded.

“I was able to gain some information from the corpses of the sorcerers’ soul slaves. Out of the eight hundred and seventy-nine bodies, all of their souls were under apparent influence. Their manipulation over the souls is much more mature than the infernal soul enslavement. All those creatures seemed to come from different worlds…”

After listening to the First Acraepoid King’s analysis, the Sky Guardian’s eyes glistened as he hovered in mid-air.

“In other words, the enemy that the Infernal Spirit World is about to face is quite possibly a powerful world that has dominated a few worlds?”

The Earth Guardian placed an infernal divine fruit into his mouth and drank a chalice of fine wine offered by the temple attendant. He continued on,” The key to solving all these mysteries lies in Dark Destroyer, yet he has gone missing. Hmph, I’ll see what kind of beautiful lies he will conjure up to push away his responsibilities!”

Three days later.

“Alright, it’s meaningless to continue on with these unfounded claims. What’s more important is to know more about this Sorcerer World and come up with a plan to mitigate it. I’ll try and contact the powerful gods from distant foreign worlds and see if we can get any information about this mysterious Sorcerer World.”

The First Acraepoid King hath spoken.

The infernal gods Darkborne, Lightglow, Darkglow, and the World Guardians Sky and Earth nodded in agreement. The flames on top of their heads were burning, their bodies gradually dimmed as they left the First Acraepoid King’s kingdom.

***

In the deepest sanctum of the First Acraepoid King’s Kingdom, there was a thousand-meter tall altar that was shrouded in mystery.

Millions of souls wailed as they spiraled above the altar. A black flame was burning profusely at the center of the altar, emitting a mysterious and forceful ripple from the center of the hall.

Beneath the red crown, the First Acraepoid King pondered for a moment before throwing a purple lightning pendant into the black flames.

Plop!

The mystical energy dissipated in an instant. After patiently waiting for awhile, a powerful mysterious will from a distant world came through.

“Hahahaha, it’s only been two millennia and you’re contacting me again. Lord of the Acraepoid World, what kind of deal are you going to strike with me this time?”

Above the thousand-meter tall altar, a three-hundred over meter tall, huge shadow image of a giant purple scorpion appeared in the dark flame. It was as big as the First Acraepoied King. The scorpion asked the question jokingly.

The Purple Lightning Giant Scorpio was a powerful World Lord that the First Acraepoid King came to know by chance during an offering ritual almost two millennia ago.

“I wish to get some information regarding a world, what kind of price am I looking at?”

In order to maintain the communication channel with the Purple Lightning Giant Scorpio, it consumed a lot of souls that were spiraling around the altar. Hundreds of thousands of souls were pouring into the Giant Scorpio’s image.

“That depends on what kind of world you need information on. There is much information about powerful world clusters within the records of Bloodbath Scorpio World, but if it’s some minor world then we may have not much information about them. Tell us the name of the world you wish to know and I will set the price.”

The First Acraepoid King nodded as he casually waved his hand. The altar was once again replenished by millions of souls to maintain the communication channel.

“The name is… Sorcerer World.”

With the First Acraepoid King’s reply, the Purple Lightning Giant Scorpio, who was looking forward to the deal, trembled. It looked directly at the First Acraepoid King in disbelief.

“You! You…”

The giant scorpion’s tone changed. It started howling, its voice was filled with disbelief.

“Why would you come into contact with that terrifying world! Are you crazy? Have you any idea what kind of terrifying monsters are lying in that world? You have no idea how powerful those monsters are over there, you maniac! I’m terminating this deal immediately, you’re preparing for your own funeral…”

Bam! The shadow image of the Purple Lightning Giant Scorpio scattered into millions of souls.

The First Acraepoid King’s pair of blue eyes were filled with bewilderment.

He seemed to have sensed that the Infernal Spirit World had accidentally unleashed the wrath of a terrifying world!

His breath became rapid. The First Acraepoid King spared no cost. He once again gathered the power of a million souls and dropped a white crystal into the black flames.

The brilliant white light of the white crystal did not exude any bone-chilling coldness, instead it emitted a glow that made people around it feel relaxed.

Plop.

The mystical energy dissipated instantly. A while later, another mysterious but powerful will of a distant world came through.

There was a gentle light. It was a hundred-meter large crescent moon that was shining in gentle white brilliance.

“I am the sixth child of the Eternal Spring, Eternal Moon. As long as you can afford it, you can make any deal with me. World Lord from a distant land, what do you wish to gain from contacting me?”

Slowly, the gentle brilliant white light created a scale between the First Acraepoid King and Eternal Moon.

This World Lord seemed to be an existence that exclusively dealt with interworld exchanges.

The First Acraepoid King took a deep breath. He placed a crystal core at one end of the scale beneath his feet, making his position lower. At the other end, Eternal Moon was propped up.

The First Acraepoid King spoke in a serious tone. “The Sorcerer World, I want to know everything you have regarding the Sorcerer World!”

“The Sorcerer World…”

Eternal Moon’s voice remained calm as ever. However, the end of the scale over at Eternal Moon’s tipped downwards in a steady manner. The brilliant white scale had completely lifted the Acraepoid up on its end.

“That’s impossible, this is the crystal core of a World Lord!”

The First Acraepoid King roared in disbelief.

Eternal Moon still remained serene as ever, his voice was very tranquil.

“The principle of dealing with Eternal Moon lies in the balance of trades. To get information regarding the Sorcerer World from me, you need to pay the price of ten enslaved worlds and sign a contract that binds our fate together so as not to reveal anything about me.”

The price of ten enslaved worlds?!

The First Acraepoid King was gasping for air. With his wisdom, he understood what Eternal Moon was trying to convey.

He was asking him to abandon this deal!

The Sorcerer World was a powerful world that no one wished to disturb.

If not, he would have to keep paying the price until the scale was balanced according to the rules of the trade.

Gritting his teeth, the First Acraepoid King murmured,” I relinquish the trade.”

Poof! Eternal Moon vanished into millions of souls.