Hell’s Handbook

The man seemed more like he was on a holiday rather than in a Challenge. His eyes were filled with curiosity and love for the things around him, but such leisurely times did not last too long. The rune creatures quickly descended on the Challenge and began to destroy and gobble up the world they were in.

That’s right – compared to the first time Su Jin had run into these monsters, the rune creatures had learned a new trick. They started gobbling up everything around them without caring what it was, and everything they gobbled became nothing but darkness. But nobody could go near the darkness. It was as though an invisible wall had been built there.

“They’re here!” The man smiled brightly at the rune creatures, then said to the Demon Lord, “Go see what they’re good for?”

“Yes, O Great One!” responded the Demon Lord obediently before taking less than a second to appear in front of one of the creatures. She brought a palm down on it and the air around her hummed loudly. She had become so much more powerful compared to the time when she left Su Jin’s house. Just one slam of her hand was enough to tear through space.

Her palm had sliced the rune creature in half, but the creature did not die. Just one second later, it healed itself and began charging at the Demon Lord. The conflict attracted the attention of the other rune creatures, so they too, started charging at the Demon Lord.

The rune creatures weren’t very powerful, but their structure was foreign and their behavior was unpredictable. The Demon Lord didn’t know how to handle them at all. If there was just one of them, she could keep things within control. But now that there were so many of them, she found it difficult to fight them all. She was soon surrounded by rune creatures that kept attacking her nonstop.

“It looks like she might not make it. Should we help her?” asked Jing Hua.

But the man grinned as he shook his head. “Let’s watch and wait. I’ve not seen something so interesting in a very long time now!”

“You call THAT interesting?!” muttered Jing Hua in shock. But all of them were obedient followers of the man’s instructions. None of them tried to help and just stood there as they watched the Demon Lord get attacked by all the rune creatures.

Ten minutes later, the Demon Lord was definitely on the losing end. Twenty minutes later, she could only keep trying to defend herself. Thirty minutes in, one of her arms had been torn and swallowed by a rune creature. Forty minutes later, her body was cut in half. Fifty minutes later, her entire body was covered in blood and the light in her eyes was about to go out.

But the man still did not make any attempt to help her. He continued to watch this mass attack with great interest. Finally, after a full hour had passed, the Demon Lord was left with barely more than her head and even her head itself had been hacked into half, revealing the sparkly blackness within. She was about to breathe her last.

“Save her,” said the man. Jing Hua clutched the air in front of him with one fist and brought whatever was left of the Demon Lord’s body back next to the man.

“Don’t worry, as long as I’m around, you won’t die,” said the man with a smile as he placed a hand on the last half of her head.

A brilliant cloud appeared and traveled from her head all the way down to the ground. Her body grew back and was completely restored, and it was even stronger than before.

The man let go of her and ignored her befuddled expression as he took a step forward and used a finger to tap the air. The roaring rune creatures suddenly froze, as though time had stopped.

He stood in front of the frozen rune creatures, rubbed his chin, then waved a hand, which effectively dissected the creatures lengthwise. Everything inside them could be seen clearly.

Phoenix walked over and began inspecting the creatures as well. A moment later, she nodded and said to the man, “This is an incredible design that has completely deviated from Hell’s Handbook… or rather, I should say that it was designed to go against every rule within the Handbook’s universe, but it can still exist within the rules of the new cycle. That makes it completely independent, yet able to have control over everything within the rules.”

“It’s a design that even you would compliment? It must be a truly incredible design. After all, you were the one who designed all the living creatures of the Handbook’s new cycle,” said the man with a smile.

Phoenix scoffed, “Well, I’m definitely very capable, but I’m not the only one who’s able to do something like this. In fact, I sense that the one who made these creatures is even more capable than myself.”

“Such high compliments? I think I know who designed these things,” said the man.

“Oh? You know the designer?” asked Phoenix with some excitement in her voice.

But the man shook his head and said, “I wouldn’t say I know the designer, but… I also can’t say I don’t. I don’t know how to express it. But in the past, I called them primordial deities.”

“Primordial deities!” Everyone’s gaze flickered. Many others did not know, but this group knew very well that the primordial deities were the true creators of Hell’s Handbook. They were the most powerful of beings in any cycle, the highest in the order of beings.

“I heard that primordial beings are the most perfect among living creatures, and we can’t compare to them at all. Is that right?” Jing Hua asked the man.

The man smiled and nodded without hesitation. “I can only say that they are a miracle of life. After they were all wiped out, I never saw such perfect beings again. Of course, all of you are very perfect too, but you are the minority of your race, or perhaps even the only one of your race who is like that. But the primordial deities are different. Any one of them is extremely powerful and equal or better than you!”

Everyone fell silent for a while before the Dog God finally opened his mouth, “There’s at least one thing you got wrong.”

“Oh?” The man turned to look at the Dog God.

“The primordial deities did not really go extinct. It would be impossible to create these creatures otherwise, unless you’re telling me that these existed right from the start,” said the Dog God.

The man did not disagree and said, “You’re right. I thought they had all been wiped out, but it looks like some were missed. I hope that this time… I can really wipe them all out!”

“But even if a primordial deity did this, they couldn’t have created such a creature with their own abilities, right? I needed the power of the Handbook to create living creatures, so… could it be that the primordial deities had managed to use the power of the Handbook without us realizing it?” Phoenix frowned deeply, then shook her head. “No, that doesn’t make sense. If Hell’s Handbook was the basis of their existence, then such creatures could not possibly be created. In other words…”

“The primordial deities have created a new system. A powerful system that can rival Hell’s Handbook,” said the man calmly.

Everyone exchanged nervous glances, because this sounded completely insane. Hell’s Handbook was created by both the will of the universe and the primordial deities. If either party were missing, it would not be possible to create such a system.

“Do not look down on the living creatures of the universe. That’s the most important lesson I’ve learned after so many cycles. The only fascinating thing about living things is their potential,” said the man with a faint smile before waving his arm and causing all the rune creatures to turn to dust.

“Alright now, we’re done having fun here, so let’s go back and rest.” The man stretched his arms, then flicked his fingers. The group left the Challenge and returned to the temple of the elder gods.

When they returned, they found two people already waiting for them. The man wasn’t surprised. He smiled and said to them, “Looking for me?”

“Yes, that’s right. We have information that you need, and I think you will definitely pay us well for it,” said one of the ones waiting at the temple. He went into a little daze staring at the man, as though something had surprised him.

The man looked at the one who had just spoke and seemed to be trying to recall something. His eyes lit up as he said, “Ah! I remember you. Your name is… the Mad Hatter! Am I right?”

“That really touches my heart. You actually remembered my name.” The Mad Hatter took his hat off and bowed as though he was truly touched, but there was nothing but iciness in his eyes.

“Well, I always have a deep impression of the ones who are interesting. You weren’t the most powerful during your cycle, but you were very interesting. Very well, tell me what information you have,” said the man with a shrug.

The Mad Hatter went ahead, “Two things. Firstly, there are some elder gods who have joined forces and are trying to break free from their fate. I know where they are and can bring you there to destroy them.”

“Oh? It’s the group of elder gods that you gathered, right? Ah… what do you creatures call this behavior…” the man tapped his knuckles against his head to think.

“Betrayal!” hissed the Demon Lord by his side.

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