Inside the dark abyss passageway that spanned across the Eight Purgatories floated seven Great Lords of the Abyss over seven thousand meters tall.

They were the seven Devil Monarchs of the Abyss Purgatories!

After Yellow Springs Purgatory had crumbled, the board that was the Abyss Purgatories changed drastically. Qin Lie’s Flaming Sun Abyss had consumed Grom’s territory and evolved into Flaming Sun Purgatory, and Qin Lie himself had passed the trial of the Abyss to become the eighth Devil Monarch.

After that, all six of Castor’s avatars regained their physical form and awakened from the Nether River thanks to Tian Qi and Lieyan Yuan.

Castor successfully avoided the six Devil Monarchs’ attempts to hunt him down and escaped to the upper levels of the Abyss.

Many Great Lords of the hundred Abyss levels were ambushed and killed as of late.

It was clear to all seven Devil Monarchs that Castor was regaining his strength.

It wouldn’t be long before all eight of his avatars regained their peak form.

Everyone here had gone through the dark period that was Castor’s rule before. When Castor entered the ultimate realm and became the Abyss Master, the seven Devil Monarchs were forced to obey his every whim.

During that time, the violent and bloodthirsty Castor acted on his own and murdered many foreign races.

As a result, almost all foreign races joined forces to fight back against the Abyss Devils.

The Imperial Soul Monarch also incited the eight great Devil Monarchs—Grom included—and the Demon Spirits of Space and Time to kill Castor. In the end, they succeeded.  

Everyone here had participated in that assassination back then, so they knew that Castor would madly retaliate against them the second he became the Abyss Master again.

The reason they invited Qin Lie to the abyss passageway was in hopes of combining the power of the eight Devil Monarchs and killing Castor once more.

This time, they didn’t want to give Castor even the slightest chance to resurrect!

“What’s taking the Flaming Sun Monarch so long?” 

the Ghost Sacrificial Monarch complained. 

His skin was covered in strange, abyss devil patterns. He looked like he was running out of patience.

“The Flaming Sun Monarch is at God Realm right now… He just forced Lieyan Yuan to surrender the throne of the God King,” Nine Hells Monarch Auston explained to his comrades after interacting briefly with Qin Lie. “It may take a while for him to notify the God Race about everything.”

“Hmph! He shouldn’t be interacting with the God Race after he was acknowledged by the ancient laws of the Abyss! He’s a Devil Monarch right now!” the Devil Monarch of Molten Rock Purgatory said irritatedly. His strange smell resembled sulfur. “He can’t be thinking about replacing Lieyan Yuan as the God King, right? He’s the Devil Monarch of Flaming Sun Purgatory! A God King who’s also an Abyss Devil? That’s ridiculous!”

“I think it’s ridiculous as well!” the Devil Monarch of Frost Purgatory agreed with a sneer. “He’s clearly not a pure Abyss Devil, and it was sheer luck he was able to become the Devil Monarch of a purgatory. Everyone here had to start from the bottom and fight, evolve and survive for several million years before they became a Devil Monarch. But all that guy did was steal our bloodline! Honestly, I find this hard to accept.”

“I agree!” the Ghost Sacrificial Monarch echoed.

All six Devil Monarchs present had to go through countless dangers and crises to reach their current status.

The time they took was no joke either.

But Qin Lie’s transformation to the Flaming Sun Monarch was so fast it was ridiculous.

It was to the point where they even doubted their own intelligence.

Were they really that stupid? If not, then how in the Abyss did Qin Lie manage to become a Devil Monarch in less than ten thousand years?

Auston stared at them with strange eyes and said, “He’s showing up anytime now. As for whether he has the right to become a Devil Monarch or not, that is not up to us to decide.”

“Whoosh!”

It was at this moment a dark light appeared at the center of the seven Devil Monarchs.

The dark light flashed like a strange eyeball before swelling rapidly.

An instant later, the dark light had transformed into a black hole where the howls of the wind could be heard.

The Devil Monarch of Plague Purgatory stared at the growing black hole while saying, “I don’t think it’s a bright idea to meet with him inside the abyss passageway. Don’t forget he holds the Galaxy Mirror!”

“It is a bad idea, if you put it that way,” Auston said with a chuckle, “but this is where we always meet, right?”

It was true. The eight Devil Monarchs always met each other in the flesh inside the abyss passageway.

It was because a Purgatory Creator would gain massive power if they were present in their own purgatory.

Abyss Devils were hot-tempered creatures who could lash out at the slightest offense. The Devil Monarch in their own purgatory would gain a massive advantage in case conflict broke out.

That was why they had always met inside the abyss passageway.

It was for fairness’ sake.

However, Qin Lie was a Devil Monarch unlike any other.

Qin Lie had the Galaxy Mirror of the Demon Spirits of Space and Time. They were creatures born inside the abyss passageway, so the Galaxy Mirror’s power would be greatly enhanced.

“Riiip!”

The growing black hole was torn even wider from inside. Then, Qin Lie abruptly emerged in his giant Abyss Devil form.

He seemed to have heard their earlier conversation. Standing in the middle of the seven Devil Monarchs, Qin Lie grinned and said, “What’s wrong? It seems you’re afraid that the abyss passageway gives me an unfair advantage. Does that mean that you guys are planning to test my worth as a Devil Monarch?”

“I have no objections to offer, of course,” Auston said while laughing. “However, I cannot make up the others’ mind, nor do I care to.”

After Qin Lie arrived, everyone besides Auston had fallen silent.

All six Devil Monarchs were staring at Qin Lie with glowing, abyss devil eyes.

They were trying to measure Qin Lie’s strength.

“Seven thousand meters tall. This means his flesh and blood energy is at the level of a Devil Monarch.”

“His soul is… strange. I can’t quite see through it.”

“His physical toughness and strength is almost there, but I wonder if his understanding of the laws of the Abyss is up to standard.”

“He has just become a Devil Monarch. There’s no way he knows the laws of the Abyss better than us.”

“Should we test his strength?”

“Who would like to go first?”

The six Devil Monarchs communicated soundlessly with each other through a bloodline secret art.

They had purposely excluded Auston from the conversation.

“I heard that he has my lord’s life crystal. In that case, I’ll be the one to test him and see if he’s worthy of being our equal!” the Devil Monarch of Molten Rock Purgatory roared.

“Flaming Sun Monarch! Allow me to test your strength and see if our long wait for you was worth it!”

The Molten Rock Monarch growled as the lava flowing around his body suddenly turned into giant rivers. They attacked Qin Lie like fire whips.

The Molten Rock Monarch was a senior even among his fellow Devil Monarchs. It was rumored that he used to be the King of Flame Devil’s loyal subordinate.

Ever since the Flame Devil King suffered a fiendish rebound and perished, the Molten Rock Monarch had been looking for his heart.

He wanted to revive his master and restore him to peak form so that he’d continue to rule as the Abyss Master.

Unfortunately, he never found the Flame Devil King's life crystal. He never managed to fulfill his wish.

A knot was formed in his heart when he heard that Qin Lie had obtained the life crystal of his master. He dreamed of robbing Qin Lie of the life crystal and finding a way to revive his senior to life!

Even now, he still addressed the King of Flame Devils as his lord.

He didn’t believe that this Qin Lie of unknown origin could truly comprehend his master’s full power. That was why he decided to bear the heavy responsibility of the first challenger.

“Qin Lie, you'd better be careful. This guy used to be the Flame Devil King's strongest subordinate. He also has two million years of experience over me as a Devil Monarch,” Auston messaged Qin Lie in secret. “You don’t need to worry about the rest of the Devil Monarchs ganging up on you, they’re not shameless enough to try something like that. Once you survive the Molten Rock Monarch and prove your strength, they should have no complaints regarding your status.  You’ll be able to speak with them as equals after obtaining their acknowledgment.”

“Oh. Got it,” Qin Lie replied.

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