Chief General of the Blood River Battlefield

All along, Anbaixiu had been played like a fiddle in the palm of the Goddess of Fate's hand. His feelings toward this goddess—whom he had never met, yet who constantly asserted her presence—were exceedingly complicated. He had to be grateful for the blessing she had bestowed upon him, which had allowed him to survive in this perilous world through the power of divination. Had he not become a divination wizard, Anbaixiu might have ended up in Hell just a few years after transmigrating, joining his teacher as cannon fodder on the Blood River battlefield. Yet Anbaixiu hated the despair and helplessness that fate brought just as fiercely. Even if he were branded a scoundrel, he was determined to break free completely. Attaining godhood was the simplest and most direct form of rebellion. Just as the Goddess of Magic held dominion over all magic, yet could not stop Talos from calling down thunder and rain in his own divine realm, the same went for the Goddess of Fate. Even if that deity could weave threads of destiny that influenced countless planes, as long as Anbaixiu hid inside a divine realm of his own, he should be able to sever that influence. If that weren't the case, the Goddess of Fate would have long since become the mightiest power beneath Ao, leaving no room for the Goddess of Magic and the Elven God-King to squabble over second place. Quasi-deities possessed power comparable to that of gods, equally capable of slipping free from fate's control. For reasons unknown, Ao seemed blind to his existence, but Anbaixiu wasn't about to sit around and wait for death. He might as well start fresh in Hell. Melina's territory was Anbaixiu's first move, and the Hell Bank was his next. Earning money on one side, converting it into power on the other, and then farming military merits on the Blood River battlefield—once he accumulated enough, Anbaixiu could directly tap into the laws of Hell to become a quasi-deity hell lord. At worst, he could follow Tiamat's example by allying with Zariel, taking the third seat of power in the First Layer of Hell. No matter how weak a god was, a god was still a god, entitled to all divine privileges. Of course, Anbaixiu could actually afford to be a bit greedier. Why couldn't he pull Zariel down from her pedestal? Zariel had distinguished military merits, so farming achievements alone wouldn't unseat her. But gods could die, couldn't they? Who knew whether tomorrow or an accident would arrive first? Still, no matter how ambitious the goal, it had to be pursued step by step. Anbaixiu was in no rush right now; helping Melina manage the territory she had secured came first. Anbaixiu didn't go into excessive detail, but it was enough for Aige and Herki Stone to grasp his objective. Neither of them found anything amiss with it. Given Anbaixiu's past track record, merely wanting to exploit a loophole and scrounge up quasi-deity status was nothing; it was practically modest. Back when he was still a mere mortal, he had conned both Lolth the Spider Queen and Shar, and had even captured the Kuo-toa Goddess to deliver her to Talos. When others bragged, it was about rivaling the gods with mortal flesh; in Anbaixiu's case, it was kidnapping deities as a mortal. The difference was stark. With Anbaixiu looking to stir up trouble in Hell, there was no need to worry about how the devils might deal with him. If anything, one had to worry about whether the devils would be swindled by Anbaixiu until they didn't have a copper left to their names. Aige spoke up. "Then what can I do to help you?" To Aige, it felt as if Anbaixiu had already planned everything out. Had she come to this dream meeting merely to freeload again? Aside from getting Herki Stone's help in sorting out her doctrines, what had she contributed? Aige found that hard to accept. She couldn't let Anbaixiu be the one giving every single time. "There actually is something I must trouble you with, Lady Aige." Anbaixiu looked at her right hand, which bore a pitch-black ring. This was the artifact gifted by the President of the Elegy Poetry Society to the overseas Dragon Tomb to help the dragons hatch bone dragons. Anbaixiu had later pocketed it and passed it on to Aige so she could construct her divine realm ahead of time. And now, Anbaixiu needed the power of that ring. Without a second thought, Aige moved to take off the ring, only to remember that this was merely a dream. Embarrassed, she said, "I'll have it delivered to you later." Curious, Anbaixiu asked, "You don't need it anymore?" Aige nodded. Her divine realm was nearly complete, and once the kuo-toa regained their sanity, they provided her with faith at an astonishing rate. The ring was no longer of much use to her. "Still, it shouldn't just be handed over casually," Anbaixiu told her earnestly. "This is the President's artifact, and I'm no longer a member of the Elegy Poetry Society. So, Lady Aige, I'd like you to ask the President if I may borrow this artifact. I don't want the President suddenly coming to settle scores with me. It's best if we part on good terms." "All right. I'll make sure the President lends you the ring." Aige didn't say she would inquire after the President's thoughts, but that she would see to it that the President lent the ring. Clearly, she was determined to fulfill Anbaixiu's request no matter what. Anbaixiu then discussed the upcoming moves with them in greater detail, primarily instructing Herki Stone to hurry and help Aige draft and compile the doctrines so that the scattered kuo-toa and exiled merfolk could quickly form a new faith. At the same time, he asked Herki Stone to send him a copy of every work the dwarf had ever written. Herki Stone had no idea what Anbaixiu was planning. He had initially considered charging some royalties, but after thinking it over, he chose to give them all away for free. Since he had already decided to invest, there was no point in haggling over pennies. Herki Stone believed that this time, he would reap outsized returns. Only after Aige and Herki Stone vanished from the dream did Anbaixiu turn to the Rose of Decay, who had remained silent throughout. "You need to be careful as well. I keep getting the feeling something's wrong with Youjiaxi. If anyone in the Elegy Poetry Society poses a danger, it's very likely to come from that ghoul." "Don't worry. I feel the same way you do now. All I want is to break free from the shackles of the undead. If I succeed, I'll leave the Elegy Poetry Society just like you did. Even if the organization is hiding some secret, it will have nothing to do with me." The Rose of Decay had no desire to vie for anything now; she only wished to try a new way of living. Whatever Youjiaxi wanted, let him ask the President for it himself. The Rose of Decay couldn't even be bothered to leave the Underdark. The Rose of Decay suddenly asked, "By the way, why did you ask Herki Stone for his works? I have no taste for that so-called unofficial history." Anbaixiu smiled. "I know you don't care for stories of that sort, but that kind of material ought to be very popular in Hell. It'll come in handy. But there's no rush right now; I have to help Melina sort out her territory first." Hearing this, the Rose of Decay felt a twinge of reluctance to part, but quickly said to Anbaixiu, "Then go hurry and tend to your business." Yet Anbaixiu didn't vanish. Instead, he took several steps toward the Rose of Decay and said, "You misunderstand. Just because I have work to do doesn't mean I have to leave the dream." Looking at Anbaixiu standing so close, her face flushed slightly as she asked, "What do you mean?" Anbaixiu smiled gently. "I just wanted to tell you that I can be here in the dream and in Hell at the very same time... So, do you want to keep listening to stories?" ... In the First Layer of Hell, Melina stared blankly at the massive pile of parchment before her. Every word written upon them seemed to dance relentlessly, but that was no magical trait of infernal script—it was hallucinations dancing before her exhausted eyes. Was running a territory really this exhausting? She even had to decide how many soul shards those dretches were allowed to eat! Who knew how much devils needed to eat to be full? And then there was the ratio between personnel gathering soul shards and the standing army. Who knew how to allocate that? Weren't all devils soldiers by default? An invitation from a neighboring territory? Was this a trap, or merely a polite courtesy? Melina felt like she was going insane. Was being a lord this complicated? This was just a tiny domain of a few tens of thousands! Managing the Underdark's tens of millions hadn't seemed half this complicated. Melina had forgotten that the vast majority in the Underdark were undead who neither ate nor drank and obeyed orders without question. As for the few living beings remaining... that Undead Queen had never managed them like actual people anyway; if they died, they died. In Hell, however, that wouldn't fly. Every single devil, without exception, was an unruly thug. If clear rules weren't laid down in advance, those devils would dare loot every last thing belonging to Melina. Yet after toiling for hours, Melina found that her workload hadn't shrunk at all; if anything, it had piled up even higher. Her efficiency was simply abysmal. Fortunately, whenever she needed help, Melina could bring out the magic mirror. Anbaixiu's face appeared on the surface of the glass. Looking at his daughter's aggrieved expression, he could only say helplessly, "All right, leave this to me." Melina cheered and dumped all the paperwork in front of the magic mirror, then obediently sat down beside it. She didn't slack off either, keeping her father quiet company. The rules and regulations for the territory were actually not that complicated. Anbaixiu casually laid down a few rules so harsh they would make even devils grit their teeth, ensuring they lived in this territory on the verge of starvation, and then, taking cues from the rules of the Blood River Fortress, designed a few charts for redeeming merits. Make contributions, and you could redeem more—soul shards, or even soul coins. Of course, these regulations were quite crude and full of flaws. None of that mattered, though. The right of final interpretation belonged to Anbaixiu; he could alter them whenever he pleased. There was no need to worry about the devils lodging complaints—this was Hell, after all. What truly caught Anbaixiu's attention, however, was that invitation from the neighboring lord. This was a hell lord whose domain bordered Melina's, and according to the intelligence provided by the erinyes Monica... the other party was a hell lord of quasi-deity rank. Not only that, this figure had powerful backing. The hell lord was a subordinate of Bel, and rumors even had it that this lord was actually an avatar of Archduke Bel. As for Bel, he possessed two notable titles: the former master of Avernus, the First Layer of Hell, and the Chief General of the Blood War battlefield. However, Bel also had a little-known past. He had once betrayed Zariel, imprisoning the fallen angel within his Bronze Citadel. Through this treachery, Bel had seized authority over the First Layer of Hell, becoming the master of Avernus. Now that Zariel had reclaimed power, the fact that this fellow hadn't been purged was quite a miracle in itself. So why had such a figure come to provoke him?