Chapter 014: Hell

Then there’s the innate divine strength of the dwarves! Their strength is even greater than that of orcs! Those who don’t know this would never imagine that such a short-statured being, standing at just over 1.3 meters tall, could possess such immense power!
It can be said that aside from the dragons, as well as the extremely rare mountain giants, tree elves, and the legendary Titan giants, no one else has strength comparable to that of dwarves!
Not only do dwarves have great strength, but they also possess incredible explosive power! Their muscles seem to be concentrated within their short frames, with density so high that once their strength is unleashed, it creates an unimaginable force of impact!
Just as Bashaa swung his axe, the Ghost God had no choice but to raise his spear, barely blocking Bashaa’s axe!
When Bashaa’s axe struck the handle of the Ghost God’s spear, the dwarves’ formidable explosive power was unleashed!
That single axe blow forced the Ghost God to bend his knees and stoop forward!
The Ghost God pushed back with all his might, using that force to push Bashaa’s axe away!
Just as he managed to push them away, six arrows whizzed toward him again!
By the time he managed to block the attacks of four holy-grade or domain experts, he could no longer withstand the rapid attacks from six more!
He only managed to deflect four arrows; the other two struck his thighs, one on each side!
“Argh!” The Ghost God screamed in pain.
His combat strength was already weaker than that of ordinary gods, and his true strength lay not in face-to-face battles like this!
Things like the mist formation he used earlier, summoning undead creatures, were his true specialties!
Facing over a hundred level-9 undead knights, even a god-tier expert would find it tough, but he happened to encounter Du Fan and his group!
He also ran into Moses, who had just consumed the Ghost King’s war domain!
On top of that, there were so many rare holy-grade or higher archers!
There was also Naixiu, who had broken through the Ghost God’s mist formation with a single arrow!
And most importantly, the Ghost God was far too timid!
Seeing Du Fan and his group, he truly believed they had defeated the God of Food and the Sun God, reaching this place purely through their own strength!
The Ghost God had no idea that the God of Food had been drunk and collapsed, while the Sun God had deliberately given them an easy pass by beating Du Fan severely before letting them go!

Speaking of which, during the trial with the Yang God, Du Fan also felt extremely frustrated! He was brutally punched twelve times by the Yang God while he was still at the level of a mid-tier god! With Du Fan’s Absolute Protection Field, he could only withstand three of the Yang God’s punches. In a desperate situation, he had to keep drinking the Life Spring Water just to hold on! Thinking back to being punched twelve times by the Yang God, Du Fan felt extremely uncomfortable! The Ghost God was too timid and prone to suspicion, which meant his true strength was only about 70% of what it could be. In such a state, he was at a disadvantage when fighting against Du Fan and his group! The Ghost God shouted loudly, quickly pulled out the long arrows from his legs, and retreated at a distance. A god-tier expert not only has immense strength but also possesses a healing ability that is countless times stronger than that of ordinary people! As long as their divine essence isn’t damaged, even the most severe injuries won’t kill them! In just a short while, the wounds on the Ghost God’s chest had almost healed. The two arrow wounds on his legs had stopped bleeding, and the wounds were slowly healing at a visible pace! “Ghost God, give us the items quickly, and we won’t attack you anymore,” Du Fan said, not launching further attacks but instead starting to threaten him again. “I won’t give them!” the Ghost God shouted, snorting and gasping for air as he pulled out the long arrows from his thighs. Those arrows had barbs—the pain must have been unbearable for most people! Although the Ghost God was timid, his willingness to endure the pain and pull out the arrows was truly admirable. “Why not give them? According to the rules set by those above, you must give them to us,” Du Fan said. “Tch! Thousands of years have passed—do you really think they’ll remember so clearly?” the Ghost God sneered. “And unless I open the next level, do you think you can enter it?” “Ah, do we really have to kill you?” Du Fan pretended to sigh. To be honest, by this point, Du Fan found the Ghost God kind of endearing. He had seen gods before, but never one so timid! As a god, he could still be scared by him! The thought made Du Fan laugh. “Hmph, who knows who will kill whom yet? Right now, it’s just because you’re in numbers, isn’t it?” the Ghost God said sneeringly.

“I suddenly have a question I’d like to ask you,” Du Fan said seriously.
“What question?” the Ghost God asked.
“I’m really curious—how did you become a god?” Du Fan asked with a smile.
“I… I became a god from hell and then ascended to the realm of gods,” the Ghost God replied after a pause.
“From hell!” Du Fan was shocked.
“Yes, I became a god in hell and then moved to the realm of gods,” the Ghost God nodded firmly.
There was actually a hell in this world! This was the first time Du Fan had heard of such a thing!
“What kind of place is hell?” Du Fan asked quickly.
“Well, hell is quite vast. All beings who haven’t become gods have their souls sent to hell after death. The scale of hell is much larger than this world!” the Ghost God explained.
Much larger than this world! Du Fan was astonished again!
“Do you think the dark creatures summoned by your Dark Magic mages come from somewhere? They’re summoned from hell. And yet you don’t even know about hell?” the Ghost God asked in confusion.
“We really don’t,” Du Fan said.
After thinking for a moment, Du Fan suddenly understood why hell was so much larger than this world. Since all dead beings’ souls ended up in hell, over time, the number of souls in hell must be many times greater than in this world! With that realization, it made sense why hell was so much bigger.
In this world, no one had ever heard of hell, but Du Fan remembered some descriptions from his past life. That hell seemed to be opposite to the realm of gods. How could beings from hell get into the realm of gods?
“Hmm, isn’t there a Death God or Satan in your hell?” Du Fan asked.
“A Death God? Satan? I’ve never heard of them in hell,” the Ghost God said, puzzled by these names.
“Really not?” Du Fan stared at him.
“Absolutely not. Back then, I was one of the most powerful beings in hell! If such gods existed as you describe, I would definitely have known about them!” the Ghost God declared firmly.
“Then what kind of world is hell?” Du Fan asked curiously.
“What kind of world is hell?” Hearing this question, the Ghost God suddenly frowned.
“Hell is a very barren world,” he replied abruptly.

“Souls that have just arrived in hell lose their memories of their past lives during the journey there. Souls entering hell are like blank slates, just like newborn babies. Of course, there are some powerful beings who manage to retain some of their memories!” said the ghost deity.

“Did you retain your memories from your past life when you entered hell?” Du Fan suddenly asked.

“Yes,” replied the ghost deity.

“What kind of person were you in your past life?” Du Fan asked.

“All I retained were some knowledge about cultivation. There are no memories from my past life, as you might think,” said the ghost deity.

“So, you became a god by relying on that knowledge of cultivation?” Du Fan asked.

“That’s correct, but not entirely. As I said earlier, hell is extremely barren. By barren, I don’t mean a lack of resources, but rather an extremely unfavorable environment for those who practice cultivation! The magical and energy fluctuations there are at rock bottom!” the ghost deity said excitedly.

“Fights between ghosts there are also extremely fierce!” The ghost deity grew even more excited as he spoke.

“If it’s so barren, then how did you become a god?” Du Fan asked in confusion.

“Mainly by stealing!” the ghost deity said.

“Stealing! If that’s the case, you must be quite brave! How could a ghost who became a god mainly through stealing dare to act if he were timid?” Du Fan said in surprise.

“You’re wrong. In our hell, those who steal brazenly die very quickly! I stole slowly, bit by bit, accumulating over time. You don’t know—when I started stealing, I was extremely careful! It took hundreds of thousands of years for me to gradually become a god using those stolen resources!” Recalling his experiences of stealing while becoming a god, the ghost deity’s eyes showed a sense of fear and caution.

What a talent, Du Fan thought. He stole carefully for hundreds of thousands of years!

Could such behavior even be called stealing?

Suddenly, an idea struck Du Fan. Could it be that over those hundreds of thousands of years, he was mostly stealing rather than robbing?

“Were you stealing or robbing? You talk about it so carefully—I guess you were mostly stealing?” Du Fan said with a smile.

“Hehe, usually stealing, occasionally robbing,” the ghost deity said, a bit embarrassed at Du Fan’s question.

Damn, even a guess turned out to be right! So this ghost deity was actually a thief who became a god!

“What do you usually steal in hell?” Du Fan asked.
“Materials for cultivation. As I said before, the energy fluctuations in hell are extremely weak. That’s why materials that can be used for cultivation have become highly sought after,” the Ghost God explained.
“Although the energy fluctuations in hell are weak, there’s a type of crystal there that contains a large amount of energy! We rely on those crystals for cultivation. After all, gathering energy by collecting it in space in hell is far too slow. But the production of those crystals is very limited, so we have to fight over them just for that little amount of energy,” the Ghost God said.
“Crystals with a large amount of energy? What kind of crystals are they?” Du Fan asked curiously.