The comments said I was deeply affectionate, I just added points by using an alternate account.

Chen Guan's heart sank. He glanced at Guan Jinyue beside him, whose pure black pupils reflected the same wariness.

Just as Chen Guan was about to take a step to find the direction of the teleportation array, an irresistible force appeared out of nowhere.

An invisible hand suddenly gripped his and Guan Jinyue's bodies.

The surrounding space instantly distorted into blurry blocks of color.

The world spun around him, and Chen Guan felt as if he had been stuffed into a high-speed spinning drum, unable to move even a finger.

Before he could even activate his gray energy, the force violently dragged them toward a point in the city center.

Guan Jinyue grunted, and the silver light that had just flashed across the back of his hand was completely suppressed by that tyrannical power of law.

The whole process takes less than a second.

A feeling of weightlessness washed over them, and the next moment, the two were slammed heavily onto the cold, hard ground.

Chen Guan propped himself up and found himself in an unbelievably magnificent palace.

The dome was so high that its top was invisible, and light streamed in through the huge stained-glass windows on both sides, which depicted fallen gods with beautiful faces and sorrowful expressions.

At the far end of the main hall, a figure leaned against a magnificent soft couch that seemed to be solidified by moonlight.

The figure was neither male nor female; it was only draped in a loose white silk robe, and its long, peach-pink hair spread out like flowing sand.

He was idly raising his hand, using a quill pen to trim his smooth nails.

Seemingly hearing a noise, the figure paused its movements.

He slowly raised his head, and pairs of gray eyes looked over.

His eyes held only a bottomless aura of annoyance at being disturbed.

"here we go again?"

A disgusted voice rang out in the hall, filled with impatience: "How annoying!"

Chen Guan's heart jumped into his throat; his relationship with Astaroth wasn't exactly good.

The two were so close that they would go to great lengths for each other.

Chen Guan raised his hand, preparing to reveal Baal's mark, but the other party did not give him the chance at all.

"Alright, alright, stop turning it on."

Astaroth waved his hand impatiently, as if shooing away flies.

"I could smell that sour stench from Baldr even through two layers. Stop with your nonsense."

He sat up from the soft couch, his silk robe slipping down his shoulders to reveal large patches of pale skin. Only his gray eyes were visible as he swept over Chen Guan and Guan Jinyue, his brows furrowing even more tightly.

Astaroth walked up to the two men, looking down at them with an almost palpable annoyance in his eyes.

"Get out of here."

The moment he finished speaking, Astaroth raised his leg without warning.

That foot, so beautiful it resembled a work of art, kicked forward casually, and a constantly spinning red vortex appeared out of thin air.

The two didn't even have time to react before they fell in.

In the last moment before his vision was completely swallowed by red, Chen Guan heard Astaroth's final, furious complaint from above.

"Next one, if anyone else dares to cross this path, I'll dismantle the teleportation array!"

……

The tearing sensation was more intense than ever before.

Chen Guan felt as if he was no longer a person, but had been stuffed into a high-speed meat grinder, where every bone and every inch of flesh was being crushed and screaming.

He couldn't hear anything; all he could hear was a deafening roar in his head.

After an unknown amount of time, the power that shattered everything disappeared.

He was thrown out of that force, and the back of his head slammed hard onto the hard ground.

boom.

After a dull thud, the tinnitus lasted for more than ten seconds before being drowned out by my own heavy breathing.

He opened his mouth, and a liquid with a metallic smell trickled down the corner of his mouth, spreading into a small dark patch on the grayish-white ground.

He tried to sit up by supporting himself on the ground, but his arms were as limp as noodles and wouldn't obey him at all.

His body felt completely empty, and he couldn't muster even a shred of strength. Forget about the protective membrane; he felt it was a luxury to even move a finger.

The lingering burning sensation in his right arm was his only source of strength, but that remaining warmth, in this deathly silent space, was like a spark thrown into an icy sea, about to be extinguished in an instant.

What kind of place is this?

Chen Guan finally propped himself up, raised his head, and looked around.

Beneath my feet stretched an endless, gray-white wasteland.

The earth was long dead, cracked open with countless hideous wounds, and deep within those spiderweb-like fissures, a dim gray light was faintly seeping out, the only illumination for this land.

His gaze swept across the wasteland to the distant horizon.

A city ruin, so vast it defies description, stands there silently.

Its outline is dilapidated, with countless towers and city walls collapsed, but the remaining skeleton still exudes a majestic and awe-inspiring grandeur that transcends time and space.

Like the skeleton of a colossal beast that died millions of years ago, lying prostrate at the edge of heaven and earth, silently recounting its former glory.

The City of Ashes.

Without anyone telling him, the name automatically appeared in Chen Guan's mind.

This is where Baal is.

"cough."

A soft cough came from not far away.

Chen Guan turned his head and saw Guan Jinyue kneeling on one knee on the ground, one hand supporting her on the ground, the other hand covering her mouth, blood seeping from between her fingers.

Her signature silver hair was somewhat disheveled, and her face was paler than ever before, but her pure black eyes were filled with shock when she saw the city ruins before her.

Noticing Chen Guan's gaze, she lowered her hand and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth with the back of her hand, her movements still swift and efficient.

"You're still alive! That's great!"

"temporary."

Chen Guan replied, then felt another wave of exhaustion, and his whole body fell forward uncontrollably.

He simply lay there, his cheek pressed against the ground, not wanting to move a single finger.

collapsed.

His mana bar was no longer empty; his health bar was flashing red like crazy.

Inside the pocket, Leopard curled up into an even tighter ball than usual, too afraid to move.

"Come back, Leopard."

Chen Guan weakly raised his hand and put Leopard into his Poké Ball, preventing it from suffering any longer.

"arrive."

Baal's voice echoed in my mind.

"This is the City of Ashes."

"The kingdom that once belonged to me, now, is a city destroyed in my own fire."

Chen Guan lay on the ground, unresponsive.

All he wanted to do now was fall asleep, not care about anything, not think about anything.

too tired.

From the moment he entered the Demon Realm, his nerves had been on edge. Now, as he suddenly relaxed, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, threatening to overwhelm his consciousness.

But he can't.

He saw that Guan Jinyue had already stood up, his body still swaying slightly, but he had indeed stood up.

Chen Guan closed his eyes, then suddenly opened them again.

He bit his lower lip hard with his teeth until an even stronger taste of blood exploded in his mouth.

With my own advantages, how could I possibly be outdone?

He braced himself on the ground with the handle of his sickle, the muscles in his arms taut as if they were about to tear, twitching uncontrollably.

stand up.

He said to himself.