Hell's Handbook

“Of course we’re gods. We’re here to judge mere mortals like yourself! How dare you build an altar and even name your city as God’s City!” The Demon Lord glared at Shen Wu with disdain in her eyes. She was a real deity, while Shen Wu was an ant who was only on the road to becoming one. As long as the ant wasn’t a god yet, it remained an ant.

Shen Wu was expressionless as he said in a low voice, “I did hear that some deities managed to escape the control of Hell’s Handbook when that major incident happened which changed all the rules. Looks like you’re one of those. If we were in a Challenge, I’d certainly avoid getting in your way. But now… as long as you’re in my city, then even if you’re real gods, I’m going to kill you today!”

The Demon Lord and Pinocchio looked like they were sneering at him, but they weren’t really all that nonchalant about the whole thing. Shen Wu was one of the few owners who was really close to becoming a god, and they were on his home ground too. Also, despite being real gods, their powers were being suppressed by the laws of this universe and they could not utilize their powers to the maximum. Because of that, it was hard to say for sure that they would defeat Shen Wu.

Shen Wu clearly knew this limitation as well. He blew a shrill whistle and beams of light shot out from around the city. That was a defense mechanism that Shen Wu had set in place for the city he lived in.

“Oh? A Heaven Level Formation! That formation coupled with his powers will make for a tough battle indeed,” said the Demon Lord with a frown as she looked at the beams of light.

But Pinocchio continued to grin cheekily as he said, “We’re not here to spar with him, we’re just here to have fun!”

“You’re right! So… let’s go have some fun!” A wicked smile spread across the Demon Lord’s lips as her body suddenly trembled and a few dozen clones appeared. All of them looked just like her and they ran in different directions.

Pinocchio cackled mischievously as he poured out countless little toys from his backpack, which exploded at different times in different places.

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Shen Wu’s eyes were wide and burning with anger. He looked like a child, but his expression was terrifying now. This was what he had been most afraid of. Instead of fighting him head on, the two gods had decided to play this whack-a-mole game.

“Team Court of Wrath, stop these two right now! All members of other teams are to do the same! I want them to die in this city today!” yelled Shen Wu. All the owners in the city slowly raised their heads and ran to carry out these instructions. The nine owners leading the way exuded an authoritative pressure that weighed down on the city. If Su Jin saw them, he would have recognized one of them. That was the old friend that Ye Yun had seen during the fight at Cloud Mountain, Alex.

“They’re gods?” murmured Alex to himself. A maniacal look appeared in his eyes as he said, “Excellent. If we can kill them, then what we’ll receive in return will be enough to satisfy us all.” With that, Alex led the other eight owners to chase after the Demon Lord and all her clones, while Shen Wu went after Pinocchio himself.

Su Jin and the Mad Hatter watched on in the shadows, and once both Shen Wu and his team were occupied with the two gods, the two of them made their move. Their target was the center of the city where a group of buildings that formed a palace stood. That was clearly where Shen Wu himself lived. Since Ye Yun was so important to him, she was probably somewhere in there.

Meanwhile, in another corner of Shen Wu’s planet, Kano Mai, Situ Jin, Bo Ya, Chu Yi, and Wu Chen appeared. They could sense something wrong immediately. The soldiers nearby immediately surrounded them when they saw the group appear out of nowhere.

“Jin seems to have created quite the commotion!” commented Kano Mai. The ear piercing sirens and these fully armed soldiers made it obvious that something terrible must have happened.

But Kano Mai just needed to stretch her palms out and the soldiers running toward them collapsed weakly onto the ground with a sleepy look on their faces. Kano Mai was very good at controlling her sloth inducing abilities and was developing the effects of the other six deadly sins.

“What do we do now?” asked Chu Yi. There was another Chu Yi next to him, but this Chu Yi looked emotionless and did not speak.

Situ Jin eyed the second Chu Yi and couldn’t help but ask, “Are you sure this clone of yours is reliable? It’s something that used to be in the control of that cult after all. If it betrays us suddenly, we’re all doomed.”

Chu Yi scratched his head and wasn’t the most confident as he replied, “I think it’s reliable? But this guy’s really formidable. His entire body, including his dantian, is exactly the same as mine. When I was training in my world, I actually resonated with him. It felt… I felt like he’s a second me.”

It turned out that this second Chu Yi was the Chu Yi that the cult revived. Back then, Su Jin had not destroyed the body but only killed the soul within, leaving this empty shell behind.

After that, the cult just randomly threw this empty shell into a storeroom. They didn’t know that after Chu Yi was properly revived, he would be able to sense this body while training in his own world. On top of that, Chu Yi was able to move both bodies with just one soul, so it was as though he had a backup body now.

Wu Chen waved his hands to tell everyone to keep quiet. “Okay, let’s work in pairs to gather information. Regardless of whether it’s about Ye Yun or how Jin is doing, every piece of information is important. We’ll gather back here in one and a half hours.”

“In pairs? But there are five of us,” said Chu Yi puzzledly.

“Aren’t there two of you? You’re considered a pair!” said Wu Chen. He ignored Chu Yi’s annoyed expression and said to Situ Jin and Bo Ya, “You two will work as a pair, so be careful out there. I’ll pair with Mai. Use everything you’ve got!”

“Don’t worry!” Situ Jin assured Wu Chen with a confident look, then expanded his own shadow to encompass himself and Bo Ya. The shadow quickly camouflaged itself among the shadows of the surrounding buildings and disappeared.

“Let’s go,” Wu Chen said to Kano Mai. He grabbed the head of the leader of the soldiers that had surrounded them earlier and transformed himself to look like that leader in one second. Even his clothes were exactly the same. He then left with Kano Mai.

Chu Yi blinked a few times as he started thinking about what he could do. He wasn’t good at collecting information, so he decided to create some chaos so that the other two pairs could get a chance to gather information.

“Chu Yi No. 2, let’s go have some fun!” Chu Yi rubbed his palms, then led his clone into the busiest part of the city. Booms and blasts quickly started resounding all over the city, wearing the soldiers down as they tried to quell the chaos.

Su Jin and the Mad Hatter arrived at the entrance to the palace. Su Jin had managed to use his psychokinesis to control the guards, but he had nearly failed to do so initially. These guards all had a Spirit Power item that could defend themselves against psychokinesis, which meant that these people were not only owners but veterans as well.

“Using owners as palace guards? What a luxury,” muttered Su Jin as he clicked his tongue. Handbook owners were people who could enjoy very opulent lives in their own universes after all. They didn’t need to be mere guards.

The Mad Hatter scoffed at his words. “So what if they’re owners? You’re all nothing but a bunch of worms in the universe of Hell’s Handbook. In the face of absolute power, they have no choice but to bow to it. Shen Wu has already taken full control of this universe. If they don’t become one of his slaves, do you expect them to take Shen Wu on themselves?”

Su Jin nodded in agreement. But just as they were about to enter the palace, they ran into an invisible wall.

“It’s a formation!” The Mad Hatter touched the invisible wall with some interest.

“A formation? Which sort are you referring to? The magic circles of the west? Or the formations of the east?” Su Jin knew a thing or two about formations but he wasn’t an expert in them.

The Mad Hatter placed his hands on the wall for a while, then said, “It’s a magic circle, which is good news for us. You can smash through magic circles if you’re strong enough. They’re not like those formations you’re talking about. If you run into those and you can’t figure out the exact steps needed to undo them, you’ll get trapped in them for the rest of your life.”

“So… what do we do? Smash through it?” asked Su Jin.

The Mad Hatter shook his head. He threw his hat in the air, then jumped in. Su Jin quickly followed suit. When they leaped out again, Su Jin realized they were now on the inside of the invisible wall.

“It’s easy to smash through a magic circle, but once they’re broken, they’ll cause a huge commotion. We’re supposed to be in stealth mode now,” said the Mad Hatter with a smile.

Su Jin rolled his eyes immediately. Clearly, they didn’t need to figure out what this wall was at all in the first place. But this wasn’t the time to argue with the Mad Hatter about this.

“It’s your turn now.” The Mad Hatter patted Su Jin’s shoulder.

Su Jin nodded in response. A silver light flashed in his eyes as he spread his psychokinesis throughout the palace. He searched every corner of the palace, as well as the minds of all the owners inside the palace, so that he could locate where Ye Yun was.

In no time, his eyes widened as he detected a familiar presence in one part of the palace. He was sure that Ye Yun was right there.

“I found her!” Su Jin’s face lit up.

But immediately after he said that, a few people stood in his way. They exuded a powerful aura and were clearly not people to be trifled with. The one leading the group, in particular, was a woman who actually made Su Jin feel like he was facing a deity.

“Shen Wu’s subordinates are so useless! They’ve allowed two little worms to wriggle their way in! I’m supposed to be his guest, yet I’ve got to help him clear the trash!” The woman had dark red hair and her green eyes were hypnotizing.

“Ah! Miss Natasha, ranked #2 on the Handbook owners ranking!” said the Mad Hatter with a slight smile as he bowed in a gentlemanly fashion.

Natasha was surprised that the Mad Hatter knew who she was. She asked a little curiously, “You know me?”

“The Jade Dragon King, Natasha!” The Mad Hatter raised his eyebrows slightly and said, “It is my honor to meet you!”

Natasha was even more curious now. It wasn’t too surprising that someone knew that she was Natasha, but no more than ten people knew her as the Jade Dragon King. These people were either her closest friends, or the owners with extremely high ranks. She didn’t remember this person to be among them.

“Who in the world are you?” asked Natasha.

“I… I am a god!” said the Mad Hatter with a smile.