The man with the ram horns looked at the youth. His expression was full of interest. He spoke with an amused smile, “How interesting! Is this human fated with us?” His face could be described as ‘sinister’. But his intentions did not match his face.

“A human?” one of the other figures spoke. The youth turned around to look at them. It was a woman with long white hair which was red at its end. She had pair of fox ears above her head and nine swaying bushy tails the same color as her hair. Her figure was extremely seductive. But instead of the seductive aura that should’ve come with her body, her every action dripped with seductiveness. She wore a dress that neither revealed too much nor too little.

She looked at him curiously, “How young…”

“Hahahahaha!” another figure laughed maniacally. The parts of his skin that could be seen from his robes seemed to be rotting. He had long purple hair. What was odd about him though was that his sclera were black and his green irises looked as though they were rippling. “What circumstances lead you to such an accursed place!?”

“Shut it!” a scholarly-looking man berated him. However, that scholarly aura was in sharp contrast to his body. He had the head of a snake and his body was filled with green scales. He looked like a Naga. He held a fan in his hands which was currently closed and used by him to point at the purple-haired man as profanities flowed out of his mouth like a waterfall. “You motherfucker, how dare a bastard like you call the resting place of one of the greatest Cultivation Art ‘accursed’?”

“Bwahahaha!” the purple-haired man laughed again, paying no heed to the scholarly man. This made the latter explode in fury.

“Oi, you two,” a rough voice silenced the bickering men. The youth had a hard time distinguishing whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman. But his eyes were telling that it belonged to a woman. A valiant-looking one. She had much more apparent muscles on her body, unlike other women who disliked them. In short, she had the body of a male bodybuilder. She had flaming red hair. It swayed and looked like cracklings of flames. The battle armor she wore fully emphasized her muscles. Just like the others, her peculiarity was that she had goat legs and small horns on her forehead.

She sensed his gaze and looked at him. “What’re you looking at brat?” The boy didn’t immediately turn his head away. Instead, he did it slowly, making it seem like he lost interest in her.

The youth looked at a hooded man. He didn’t speak or rather; it seemed he disliked social interactions. He was short, very short. Even though all eight figures were floating in the air, the youth estimated that if that man was brought to his level, he wouldn’t even reach his chest. Other than his shortness, the hooded man had a long, pointy nose poking out of his hood. His skin was light green.

When the youth tried to peek under his hood, the man turned his head to the side shyly.

“Ahaha…” an awkward chuckle reached his ears. He shifted his head and saw a relatively human-looking girl staring at him apologetically. She had pale skin and a fragile body. It seemed as though she would shatter at a moment’s touch. Her short blonde hair and beige-colored eyes were a rare combination. Her canines peeked out from his lips.

“Don’t mind them,” she tried to placate the youth. “They mean well…”

The youth looked at the sight in front of his eyes with expressionless eyes. He didn’t even know what to feel right now; everything happened so abruptly.

“So, boy,” the man with the ram horns spoke again. “Why don’t you say something?”

The youth opened his mouth and hesitated. After a while, he asked the one question that had been bugging from the start, “Why does this cultivation art have such a lame name?”

His words seemed to have poured a bucket of cold water into the atmosphere. All eight of the figures had become silent and an awkward atmosphere started to fester in their midst.

The fragile-looking girl started to shrink and became meeker as time went on. The scholarly man finally opened his mouth and broke the silence, “It’s because that moron-” he pointed his fan towards the fragile-looking girl, “-thought that that would be a good name!”

“I’ve been apologizing for millennia now,” the latter groaned. “When will you guys let it go?”

“Well, I don’t know,” the purple-haired man’s words were laced with mockery and sarcasm, “when will our Cultivation Art have a better name?”

“Let it go, you two,” the fox woman’s calm voice interrupted the two. “Little Eighth has been bullied enough.”

“But Second Sis,” the scholarly man sulked. If he had lips, he would’ve pouted.

“It seems both you and fourth have grown enough guts to talk back to me,” The fox woman called smiled at the two. The two instantly shut up after seeing that smile.

“Then, boy-” the man with the ram horns leaned in, “tell me what you think a good name is.”

“How am I going to suggest a name when I don’t even know the history behind it?” the youth shook his head and sighed.

“History?” the man repeated slowly before laughing uproariously. “Right, right! Your introduction was so out of left-field that I completely forgot. Oh, I forgot-” he looked at the youth, “-you haven’t even introduced yourself.”

“The time for introductions can be left for later. First, give some context.”

“By context you mean…?” the fox woman asked politely. When she took a closer look at the youth, her expression froze.

Without looking at her, the youth continued, “Didn’t you say something about being fated with you? There has to be a reason why you said that, right?”

The fox woman did not say anything after he was done. Instead, she shakily tugged at the ram-horned man’s clothes which surprised the youth since all eight of them looked like holograms. After a moment of thought, it did make sense. It wasn’t surprising that holograms would be able to touch each other.

As she tugged at his clothes, the woman said, “D-Doesn’t he fit the description of the mythical Perfect Harmony Body?”

“Wha-?” the ram-horned man was startled before looking at the youth with bulging eyes. The youth felt his burning and invasive gaze on him. He tried to hide his body with his arms like a woman does against a peeking tom but it was all in vain.

“…ahahaha!” the man suddenly clutched his face and laughed mirthlessly. “This must be a cruel twist of fate!” He let go of his face and looked at him, “To think someone with the same constitution as they would appear in front of me!”

“You know…” the youth stopped standing. He walked to a nearby wall and sat down with his back leaned on it. “It’s really frustrating when you guys keep on chatting like this. Actually, if you want to go on then, don’t mind me and keep on talking. I’ll sleep for a while.”

“Such insolence!” the valiant woman raged. “How dare you act this way in front of the Monarchs of Hell?”

“I…” the youth was dumbfounded. D-Did she really just say something like that?

“Aren’t you guys dead?” the youth shook off the cringe and asked suspiciously. “Otherwise, you guys won’t be here as projections.”

“Wahahaha!” the purple-haired man laughed like a mad man. “You’re the first one among us to guess so close to the truth!”

“…fuck me,” the youth absolutely loathed not getting an answer.

“Stop it, Fourth,” the fox woman softly reprimanded the purple-haired man. She then looked at the youth, “We have died but we are still alive.”

The youth raised a finger as he opened and closed his mouth. Doesn’t being dead mean you’re not alive? Did I miss a page somewhere?

“Ah, First Brother will tell you the rest,” the fox woman gestured towards the ram-horned man.

The latter took a deep breath and asked, “Boy, how many worlds do you think there are?”

“More than one?” the youth guessed.

“Well…you’re technically right,” he nodded. “There are innumerable smaller realms but there are only 27 big realms. And these 27 big realms are divided into 3 worlds: Hell, Spiritual Haven, and Heaven.”

“So, are you eight the rulers of eight realms in Hell?”

“Good observation!” the ram-horned man praised.

“Where’s the ninth one then?”

“He hasn’t been crowned yet. Rather, he hasn’t even been found.”

“Is this why this book is here?”

“Yes, we placed it in hopes that the one fated to be the Monarch of Ninth Hell will find his way here.” He affirmed the youth’s words.

“Then would it not be better to place it somewhere less hidden?”

“Those who are fated-” the fox woman smiled sweetly, “-will always find their way to us.”

“And not any retard can just take the mantle of ‘Monarch’!” the scholarly man added.

The youth looked at the ram-horned man and asked, “Another question.”

“Go ahead.”

“Why are you here? If those who are fated can find their way regardless, then even if you leave them to their devices, they’ll still be able to cultivate it, right?”

“Well, the reason why we left our spiritual projections in the book isn’t to guide but we’ll delve into that a bit later. Let me tell you something else.” The man changed his expression. He solemnly asked, “Do you know how the worlds were created?”

“They were formed from the energies and laws of the Universe.”

“T-That’s right.” The man looked startled that the youth answered that correctly but he coughed and continued, “However, the three worlds were not all built the same. This world, in which you stand, Spiritual Haven, was actually a singular realm.”

“Wait,” the youth stopped him in a hurry, “if what you said is true, then this world has nine realms now. Which realm are we on now?”

“The Fifth Realm.”

“Then if they were a singular realm then why are there nine realms now?”

“Well, I was going to explain that if you hadn’t interrupted me,” the man glared at him.

“Sorry, please continue.”

“Right, the three worlds gave birth to three consciousnesses. They started fighting as soon as they met. However, soon two of the three realized that they were no match for the third one.”

“Why? How was the third consciousness so much more powerful than the two other two?”

“Didn’t I say that Spiritual Haven was originally one realm?”

“Wait, then you’re saying that both Hell and Heaven were nine realms from the beginning?”

“Exactly.”

“Then the consciousnesses of Hell and Heaven were weaker than the one of Spiritual Haven?”

“Yes, and so the two allied to deal with the other first?”

“And you succeeded?”

“We did,” the ram-horned man nodded. “It was a fierce battle, spanning many days. The battlefield was littered with craters and ravaged by their powers. Each of them bore grave injuries but at the end, Hell and Heaven won.”

“So, you were the consciousness,” the youth finally understood.

“Oh, how did you come to that conclusion?” the ram-horned man looked at him with interest.

“You were describing it like you were there yourself.”

“Ah, right,” the man smiled. “It’s nice talking to someone smart. I don’t have to explain every single fucking thing.” He glared at the valiant woman who shrunk under his gaze.

“Then what happened?”

“Me and Heaven’s consciousness died. We were still injured from our injuries with Spiritual Haven and died together in our fight.”

“Don’t you guys have names?”

“My name is Di Yu. Heaven’s consciousness had the name Tian Tang and Spiritual Haven’s one had the name Jing Diqiu.”

“Okay, good to know.”

“As I was saying, we killed them and died.”

“Wait, was Jing Diqiu non-binary? Why are using ‘them’?”

“What’s ‘non-binary’?” Di Yu looked at him puzzlingly.

“I mean, was Jing Diqiu genderless?”

“Yep, so am I and Tian Tang.”

“A-Ah…”

“Do realms have a gender?” Di Yu counter-asked.

“…no?”

“Then why would we have one?”

“R-Right…”

“Now, I know what you’re going to ask next. ‘How am I speaking to you if I died?’ Well, as long as the realms we’re associated with aren’t destroyed, we will not die. Both I and Tian Tang died in Spiritual Haven. Our deaths made us unable to step into Spiritual Haven.”

“Why?”

“Call it Jing Diqiu’s last-ditch effort. When he knew he was dying, he expended all his energy to create this law for his world. We did see him doing something but did not know what it was until we died.”

“But shouldn’t he still be alive? I mean Spiritual Haven is still here.”

“We fragmented the singular realm of Spiritual Haven into nine smaller realms. Although we did not destroy it, it was enough to cause irreversible damage to him. He’s not dead but he’s sealed. But this seal is permanent, so, he’s as good as dead.”

“But why did you start fighting as soon as you saw each other?” the youth asked with an exhausted expression. This was too much information to process all at once.

The man stopped speaking and smiled sinisterly, “Why else? We wanted to conquer each other’s realm.”