In the end, Tianyi got nothing substantial from Chunsang’s mouth. However, he confirmed that Chunsang had likely lost her memories—though that did not come without a cost.

In order to interrogate her, Tianyi had searched her soul. The method was cruel, and even under the most optimal circumstances, the target of a soul search would likely become a waste. Only soul cultivators could access this method.

However, this time, it backfired. Soul-searching a devil meant exposing oneself to the core of a devil. Perhaps already knowing her fate, Chunsang wanted to retaliate against Tianyi, and she did not resist. If anything, she laid everything bare. Although it made it easier to read her memories, it also made Tianyi more susceptible to corruption.

It didn’t hurt Tianyi much, but it did increase the corruption rate of the realm conduit by one percent. That was about the same as if Tianyi had stayed on the fourth level of the Nine Hells Abyss for nearly a hundred years.

Despite all this, he did not kill Chunsang. The abyss lord lay peacefully on the grass with her eyes closed, as if in a peaceful sleep. In reality, it was nothing more than an empty shell.

It was not that Tianyi was merciful, but that she was still useful.

Every time Tianyi encountered and captured an abyss lord, he would never kill them. After making sure they were no longer a threat, he would imitate their aura so that it appeared he was linked to their territory in the abyss—implying that he had taken their position as an abyss lord.

Tianyi would keep only one abyss lord alive. Once he captured a stronger one with a better territory, he would kill the previous lord. No devil could hold multiple territories, especially if they were on different levels. Not even divine devils could accomplish this feat.

Naturally, Tianyi was not so foolish as to truly refine a territory and become a true abyss lord. That would have rendered all his efforts to stave off the corruption moot. Only devils could become abyss lords, and once he attempted to refine a territory, he would begin the process of falling.

And Tianyi did not want to test whether he could resist the transformation—or what changes would occur to his Nine Heavens Universe if one of his conduits became a devil.

Back in the Nine Hells Abyss, Tianyi’s realm conduit stood above a pile of corpses. The bodies were decomposing into pure devilish energy.

After he ‘killed’ Chunsang, he immediately stored away the two pairs of arms and fell to his knees. He was not really drained, but he had to act out the part. He had already shown the power of a devil capable of ruling a large territory on the sixth level. It would be too much if he showed no injuries or fatigue after his drawn-out battle with Chunsang.

This naturally attracted the hyenas. He and Chunsang had not hidden their conflict, and it alerted many devils who wanted to kill and absorb him during his weakened state. It would not be an exaggeration to say these devils could ascend from earth to heaven in a single step if they succeeded.

Or was it descend into the abyss in one step?

To keep up his act, Tianyi did not confront these devils head-on—especially since he could sense other abyss lords. He turned tail and fled.

In the process, he had to explode and counterattack against the speedy devils who were chasing him. Eventually, he escaped in order to ‘recuperate.’ But would a devil forget those who chased after him?

No. Devils were more vengeful than humans. Naturally, Tianyi had to take revenge.

It was impossible to remember all the devils and take revenge on each one. So he targeted only the abyss lords—but he did not replace Chunsang with them. He still wanted to use her aura as bait to draw out Duke Dantalion.

The reason he stood atop a pile of corpses was because of the last abyss lord he killed. This abyss lord was not a lone wanderer, but a lord. It used its power to gather a sizeable force to command and manipulate at will. It gave off the proper impression of a devil lord of yore, ruling over countless inferiors.

Of course, it was an imitation at best. Tianyi easily tore him apart. Compared to the other abyss lords, this one fell much more easily. If it were equated to an RPG, the abyss lord would be a mini-boss that specialized in summoning minions to fight for him. His own stats weren’t that high.

After defeating every last one of the abyss lords that had tried to besiege him after his victory over Chunsang, Tianyi slowed down. He entered Chunsang’s original territory and hid. His method slowed the encroachment of the devilish energy, which gave him more time to purify the first realm conduit.

In the True Nothingness, devilish energy continued to disappear into the realm conduit’s body. The pace was steady until the final few strands. They were especially stubborn. Had Tianyi not been able to speed up time around the realm conduit, the pace at which he expelled the devilish energy would not have matched the rate at which the devilish energy infiltrated his second realm conduit.

Even after dispelling the last trace of devilish influence, Tianyi did not immediately replace the two conduits. He was still unsure if the realm conduit had been completely purified. He could sense nothing, but it never hurt to be too careful.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

If he had an accident, it would delay his chances of saving his mother. He did not want to miss this chance because of his carelessness. That said, the wait was torturous. Second thoughts whispered in the back of his mind, telling him that he was being overly cautious—and that it would be because of his lengthy delay that he missed his chance to save his mother.

The worst part was that Tianyi couldn’t be sure if these were his own thoughts or the Nine Hells Abyss’s temptation.

After nine years, Tianyi couldn’t wait anymore and switched the two conduits. The first realm conduit became the devil conduit again, while the second entered another area of the True Nothingness, far away from any system part of the All Pantheon Alliance.

Tianyi became active again in the Nine Hells Abyss. He left Chunsang’s territory and made his way toward the closest entrance to the sixth level. As abyss lords of the fifth level, although they did not know the history before the Godsfall War, they had enough intelligence to record it. And Tianyi simply pieced it together to create a rudimentary map.

However, the map did not record the scenery. The Nine Hells Abyss was a chaotic land; a mountain that existed one day might turn into a lake the next. The only stable landmarks were the entrances, which were used as reference points.

Tianyi thought everything would go as usual, but this time he was blocked immediately after entering the sixth level. The devils who blocked him were of avian form—or had some bird-like features. In terms of aura, they could compare to weaker abyss lords of the fourth level.

“Hehe, it’s not a bird devil,” said the largest of the avian devils present. Although it had wings, its body was round like a bloated balloon. Black drool leaked from its twin-pointed beak.

The other devils did not reprimand the speaker. All their eyes shone with gluttony. Perhaps it was because Tianyi took on a beetle-like form, but these avian devils felt that he was extremely aromatic, causing all of their appetites to surge.

The first to take action was the bulbous devil. He opened his mouth, his face splitting far beyond his beak and making him resemble a gulper eel. He lunged forward, swallowing Tianyi and the ground around him whole.

The other devils were having none of it. They slammed their bodies into the gulper-like devil.

“You bastard! Don’t you dare eat it all by yourself!”

“Do you think you’re amazing just because you have a big mouth? I’ll tear it off your face and see how you eat again.”

“Die, you greedy devil!”

Although they acted angrily, they were used to it. That devil always took the first bite and wanted to swallow any non-avian devil whole. In fact, they also acquiesced—not because they were generous, but because they wanted to use this dimwitted fellow to test the waters. In their eyes, Tianyi was a weak devil despite the abundant devilish energy covering him. So they wanted to force the gulper-like devil to spit him out, then split him apart to share.

To their surprise, the gulper-like devil actually ignored them! Although he had the largest body, his strength was only upper-middle among the devils present. His intelligence was even lower, which was why the other devils liked to use him as a canary.

Just as they were wondering, something exploded inside the gulper-like devil. It caused him to expand to thrice his size instantly. The force sent the nearby devils careening backward. And just like a balloon losing air, his body squealed as it slowly deflated.

From the size, a humanoid form appeared, pressing against the flabby skin. The skin tore, and out walked Tianyi.

“What do we do now?” one devil asked. He was among the weaker ones, so he had a cowardly nature.

“Hmph, what else? Kill him!” another devil said. He charged at Tianyi.

Many of the impulsive ones did so. However, the crafty ones waited at the back. Compared to a momentary ecstasy, they preferred to keep their lives. If Tianyi was too dangerous, they would flee and report to their superiors. If Tianyi was weak, they would pounce and share the spoils.

The scheming devils were lucky. Tianyi’s brute force maimed the attacking devils. As devils, they would recover as long as they were in the Nine Hells Abyss and had enough devilish energy to absorb, but it would take years—decades, if not centuries.

Upon seeing this, the devils in the back wanted to flee. However, Tianyi would not let them. He appeared in front of them as if teleporting and incapacitated them like the first attackers. Then, he tossed them into a pile.

“Speak. Who told you to ambush me here?” Tianyi questioned.

There was silence for a moment. Finally, one of the weaker but more intelligent devils asked, “If we tell you, will you let us go?”

Tianyi answered physically. He tore off one of the three spikes growing out of his elbow and threw it at the speaking devil. The spike exploded his body into little chunks upon contact, instantly killing him. In less than a second, the spike had already grown back on his elbow.

“I’ll ask again. Who told you to ambush me here?”

This time, they spilled the beans. Apparently, they were vassal devils forcibly conquered by an abyss lord. That much, Tianyi could figure out himself. Unlike the previous ruler he defeated, this one ruled through power and not leadership. In order to grow his forces, the abyss lord ordered them to guard the entrances from the fifth level. If a flame-type or bird-type devil descended, it would be recruited. If they refused or were of another type, they would be killed.

What was interesting was the name of this abyss lord.

Phenex.

If it was the same one he thought, Tianyi wouldn’t find it strange if he had survived the Godsfall War.

It was not a misspelling of the word Phoenix, but there was undoubtedly a connection between the two names. According to the Lesser Key of Solomon, Great Marquis Phenex was the thirty-seventh devil recorded. He had the voice of a child, sang sweet notes, and spoke poetic words.

This sentence seemed to point to Marquis Phenex’s ability to charm with his voice, but in reality, that was an afterthought. The devil’s name was more than enough to tell many things. His name didn’t just sound similar to phoenix—he possessed the same abilities as a phoenix, especially the coveted immortality.

Just to be sure, Tianyi extracted the location of the other subordinates from the vassal devils’ mouths before killing them. Then, he searched for and interrogated those demons. Only after being sure that the information was correct did Tianyi walk toward the heart of Phenex’s territory.

Dantalion had the title of duke and Phenex had the title of marquis, but the latter was numbered thirty-seven while the former was seventy-one. This meant that the latter was far more powerful.

Still, Tianyi wouldn’t give up. If worse came to worst, he would just accept the loss of this realm conduit.