Chapter 141: Hell's layout

Yun Jhin could feel his whole body as he fell through the entrance towards Hell, he had been multiple times in Hell and he knew what to do in this situation as he braced his body and started to slowly float.

However, as he got closer to the actual surface of Hell he could feel his body growing heavier at a quick speed as he fell faster, Hell's gravity was considerably high compared to the normal environment outside, combined with the immense heat and the random meteorological events that could happen the environment was really adverse for normal people and cultivators who didn't do any kind of body refining.

The gravity in the upper levels of hell wasn't that high, the lower you went the more it increased to the point that those who didn't have a body refining rank of at least 8,000 wouldn't be able to move at all and they would be crushed into a meat paste on the ground if they ever laid their foot in that layer.

Yun Jhin took in a deep breath as he felt the sulfurous air in hell, even though he just reached the 1st layer at the moment and there wasn't much sulfur in the air and there weren't any lava pools at this level, the air still changed.

Yun Jhin could feel that hell had the same layout as before, however, he didn't know how the factions in Hell had changed, all he knew was that the demons and devils could be considered butting heads now due to the skulls he saw on the entrance.

He changed the color of his carapace to a deep red as it would blend better in hell.

The first layer was mostly populated by newly born devils and demons, demons evolved from demonic beasts and insects while devils were born as small imps with exceeding intelligence, however, their physical prowess could be considered lacking if you compared it even to normal humans, but their souls were exceedingly strong even though they didn't know how to use them properly.

Yun Jhin saw hundreds of thousands of demons fighting and eating each other below him, they were all fighting to the death with crazed looks in their eyes, these were normal events at the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd layers.

In the first layer demons and devils would be born at the 1st stage of the earthly realm and while they couldn't' cultivate, devouring their own kind would rapidly evolve their beings to the point that they could cultivate if they wished to, but it was still faster to devour each other.

The 2nd Hell layer was where things got a little bit more interesting as the devils there got their souls enhanced by cultivating to the 2nd stage, also demons started to gain basic intelligence which meant they could now be fooled by the devils properly.

3rd layer was where they made contact with ki properly, 4th and 5th were the lower bases of society as they were made from high staged ki cultivating devils and demons and very few King Realm experts.

6,7th layers were where things started to get a little more interesting as blood and lava pools would spawn deep inside those layers and they were especially useful at upgrading one's bloodline and cultivation base while refining the body at the same time, they were rare resources that everyone would want.

8,9th layers were where sages and Gods of hell resided, in the 8th layer there were only sages and above and a few lower Gods while the 9th layer had the late stages Gods and the peak Gods of Hell, the most insidious minds and the strongest muscles of Hell lived in the 9th layer plotting or scheming for the time they would invade the mortal realm again, it seemed that the last invasion could be traced shortly after Yun Jhin died.

As he didn't find any more information about Hell's invasion in these 500,000 years of history that he pieced together from absorbing so many memories, he realized that they must have invaded shortly after his death, after all, he could be considered one of the stronger supporters of the mortal realm despite his evil alignment, while he would do what was considered evil he didn't want to share his piece of the pie with anyone else so he would defend the mortal realm when in need while also trying to make some profit on the side. Yun Jhin wasn't that evil technically speaking from the view of the cultivation world, he was just really honest because most cultivators would the same things as him but plaster righteous faces the moment they did so.

Take for example the fortuned ones, if someone absorbed a person they would say he was evil, but if he killed and absorbed the person who did that it would be justice from the heavens while all they did was continue the cycle of killing, in the end, they weren't much different from the first person.

Yun Jhin didn't need to loiter in the first hells as absorbing these lowly demons and devils wouldn't help him at all, he started to quickly fly away going deeper into the layer, the first layer was basically a wasteland and there wasn't much lava or anything around as it was very close to the surface, the demons and devils were spawned from the surrounding demonic ki that came from the lower layers.

As Yun Jhin went further into the layer he finally found the entrance to the second hell which wasn't much different to the one of the actual hell, he quickly entered it and started falling deeper into Hell as he went to the 2nd layer.

Similar things happened in the second layer, demons fought demons, and devils now started to bewitch and try to fool the dumb demons to absorb their souls or eat their flesh.

As Yun Jhin flew through the place his eyes started to shine as he looked at a small imp that was crouching on the ground while putting both of his hands over his head, the imp was rather short being only 1,35 meters he had a moderate-sized belly and wore no clothes, he had a short spiky tail growing from his tailbone, he had two small horns protruding from his head and two white slitted eyes, around his eyes were two dark circles and he seemed to be scared of what was going around him.

The moment one demon approached him he immediately cowered and started to dig seemingly afraid and ready to run away but the moment the demon jumped on him to eat him a dagger appeared from his rather portly stomach and he stabbed it into the head of the demon before he quickly started to feast.

Yun Jhin found this imp to be quite peculiar, imps were the starting form of the devils and he could feel that his intelligence was very high, considering he was in the 2nd layer the devil should have been in the heavenly realm but surprisingly he was in the lower stages of the earthly realm, and due to his wits he was quickly increasing his cultivation right now!

"Could he be a reincarnated one? Or is he special? I need to get closer to him... maybe he could be useful."

Yun Jhin didn't have a disciple that he could call his own in a very long time, all of his disciples and offsprings disappointed him sorely and unfortunately for him, they also learned from his paranoia and they would look out for him backstabbing them, thus they weren't always on good terms with each other.

Yun Jhin's body disappeared as he used his stealth technique and followed the little imp around trying to see what he would do next, he was interested in the imp's intelligence and craftiness, it reminded him of his first lives.

As Yun Jhin watched the imp going at his business killing and eating he could see his belly getting bigger and bigger, the imp started laughing showing his sharp saw-like teeth, after he filled his belly well enough he dug a deep hole and entered it before he covered it into a layer of dirt, he was closer to the battlefield but no one seemed to see his hiding!

"Hmm? a rudimentary stealth formation?"

"This really got interesting."

Yun Jhin flew down to the hole and caught the imp by the shoulders like a hawk would do to a rabbit before flying away at speeds so fast no one even saw what happened.

The imp cried out in surprise and fear as he felt his shoulders being caught by something strong, when he looked up and saw Yun Jhin's form he blacked out with foam at his mouth due to fear.

Yun Jhin chuckled seeing his reaction, it seemed he wasn't a reincarnated one but was very talented, this was better for him as reincarnated ones were harder to control due to their former lives memories unlocking themselves as time passed and they could scheme against you if you didn't control them properly.

Yun Jhin landed near the entrance to the third layer and woke up the imp, when the imp saw Yun Jhin's form again he fell to the ground and started to back away in fear as he fell to his knees and started to speak in Hell's language:

"Oh please great devil spare me! I'm just a lower imp, I'm just trying to survive!"

Yun Jhin chuckled as he approached the Imp and put one of his small feet on his forehead imparting to him a cultivation technique he could use later in life while also giving him some more experience in scheming.

The imp started to kowtow to Yun Jhin as if he was his father while tears dripped from his big eyes, Yun Jhin knew they were all fake but with the knowledge, he also inserted a soul controlling symbol into his soul, because he was so low in his cultivation the symbol will evolve along with his soul and he would always be in Yun Jhin's control.

Yun Jhin nodded as he looked at his protruding belly and said:

"You should evolve soon, at the time you would have broken through the heavenly realm 2nd or 3rd stage and I think you should be able to fight in the 3rd layer, that's why I helped you here, I will be waiting for you further down in hell, I hope you will be able to find me, also here take this."

Yun Jhin gave him a bit of his energy that he could use to summon him later when he entered deeper into the layers.

Yun Jhin flew into the next entry as the gravity around him increased in intensity.

Yun Jhin could see the imp smiling and doing a small dance as he watched him go down in the third layer, Yun Jhin chuckled maybe he would be one of the next paragons of Hell?

Yun Jhin flew deeper and deeper inside Hell as he went through the 4th, 5th, and 6th layers in one go.

As he went deeper into hell he actually had to start fighting as each Demon and devil had unique abilities that made them sensitive to stealth, not everyone got them but especially stronger ones did.

However, considering in which layer he was he easily dispatched them, his target was the 7th layer where the strongest people would be sages around the 2nd or 3rd stage!

Yun Jhin reached the 7th layer after a long while of traveling through hell, unfortunately, he didn't find any pools in the former layers as they were all mostly used and he couldn't go through the whole layer for a pool of low quantity, only from the 7th layer and above one could find the truly good stuff, especially since his cultivation agreed with the environment in hell, actually, the celestial energy that was slowly unfolding in his body was like Yang and the demonic energy in hell was like Yin, if he could combine them properly he could strengthen his body without the need of the pools.

After he reached the 7th layer he decided to find a secluded place where he could cultivate as the demonic energy reached a higher concentration.

As the intelligence of demons and devils increased they started to create societies and sects just like normal people, the 7th layer was full of such places but Yun Jhin didn't want to go towards the populated places yet if his identity was revealed or his blood was seen through he would be attacked by the whole layer, not because he was someone that they would hate, but due to how nutritious and treasure-like his body was!

If they ate him they would skip an evolution and reach the peak of the Sage Realm as long as they were in the Emperor Realm or above, they would also gain a Ying-Yang Celestial-Demonic Physique.

Yun Jhin entered Hell to escape from such a situation of being eaten, and it would be easier to do so in here because the cultivation base of the higher echelons was restricted per layer, but he still needed to not attract much attention if words got to the top dogs of the 9th layer things won't end up for him.