2 Hell? Always wanted to go there...

Ben Li didn't know how the pitch-black rose got in here in the first place. In fact, the first time he came into this dark world illuminated by a mountain size star ball, the first thing he noticed was the peculiar presence of the pitch-black rose floating harmlessly in the black void.

This place of mystery, or rather, this space of consciousness was Ben Li's mindscape. A space where he can access the whole set of essences belonging to him and tamper them to meet his requirements according to what cultivation path he treads on. With those kinds of growth perks, Foundation Formation cultivators can freely build their foundations here and gain powers much stronger and superior to what they have cultivated back in their gate practitioner days.

To gain access of one's mindscape, one must completely unlock all twelve gates and use all of its revitalizing attributes to stimulate the hidden potential of the mind and use all of its enervating attributes to weaken the barriers that blocks the inner-mind from the subconsciousness and the outside world. Thereby, creating a space between consciousness and subconsciousness where one can dabble and tamper the essences of oneself housing within into a strong cultivation foundation for them to breakthrough to the next realm and beyond.

And the mountain size star glowing inside this seemingly endless dark void was Ben Li's entire set of essences all globed up into a round-ball filled with black and white hazes and threads swirling about inside.

And according to Wang Xie, his own soul is inside there currently. Staying there in order to maintain itself because his soul lost its connection with the other essences that's supposedly maintaining it due to Ben Li's soul hijacking them from it in its moment of transmigrating into his body.

But even if he stayed there, losing his connection means also losing the control of his mind, body and spirit. And since he no longer has the connections, his body outside the mindscape was no different from an empty shell devoid of his soul. Therefore, Ben Li was free to use it as he wishes since his soul had fully synced in with the connections.

As to why Ben Li had a mindscape of his own when only Foundation Formation cultivators could have and the fact that the body he currently possesses was only a 12 gates practitioner. It was because the previous owner, Wang Xie, was talented cultivator who had restrained himself in the pinnacle of the Gate Practitioner realm for so long that the prolonged refortifications and tempering of his already solid foundations had resulted in the opening of his mindscape as a bonus.

However, he is unable to bring his mindscape to further enhance his battle prowess as he cannot access it so freely like this time around. And apparently, it seems he can only enter when Ben Li sleeps in REM state.

As the author who had written the cultivation system in his 1st novel, Ben Li had a complete understanding of the profound structures of cultivation in his unique perspective. He knew the perks and quirks as well as the standard limits of cultivation realms and the importance of building a sturdy and deep cultivation foundation through tampering and tempering the essences of oneself along with the accumulated powers which he had cultivated.

Although he was a bit mystified how Wang Xie's soul managed to maintain itself by staying inside his glob of essences even though losing its connections to the essences was no different from a car having no driver, it wasn't really worth worrying compared to the pitch-black rose that managed to invade here without Ben Li or Wang Xie noticing it.

Wasn't it supposed to be in Ben Li's storage ring, right? How did it end up here?

That was a mystery they have yet to solve.

In their time here, both Ben Li and Wang Xie had investigated the pitch-black rose for long time. And had manage to discover that not only was it some super Yin essence generator. It was also a key to opening another realm apart from Ben Li's realms of consciousness and subconsciousness.

After discovering that, they soon delved themselves into even deeper discoveries and realized that the pitch-black rose was the fortuitous encounter they had been looking for.

This pitch-black rose could potentially raise their astronomical chances of destroying destiny by 1% after some rough estimation.

Even though the chances were still miniscule and vague, having it raised to that level shows how important it was to add it in their plans for the future.

Ben Li walked forward and went to grab the pitch-black rose floating in the void.

After picking it up, a slight tremor suddenly occurred and the Void before him was ripped open to reveal a portal leading to a realm far beyond his imagination.

Wang Xie catches up to Ben Li's side and focuses his gaze at the portal ahead. Seemingly intrigued by its mysterious concepts.

"Let's go." As if in sync with each other, both Ben Li and Wang Xie stepped into the portal at the same time. Feeling excited to meet the unknown rather than fearing the outcome of death.

They entered and arrived at the other side, with Ben Li holding on to the pitch-black rose which was the key to entering this mysterious realm they have once been before.

Soon as they entered, what welcomed them was the crimson sky and the ashen lands, the putrid air and the black smoke around them. As well as the two giant statues guarding the entrance leading to another place far away.

The two giant statues were made of metal that was black as coal, had muscular bodies with proportions that were out of norm, had faces like evil ogres, with two sharp horns crowning their foreheads and two sharp saber teeth attached to their jaws. The two both held ferocious looking halberds on each of their hands. Gripping them tightly as if they were ready to kill.

When comparing these statues, one couldn't help if they were actually looking at the demons of hell.

As if they were looking at devil gods. Such was the horror that struck the mortal heart.

In face of this hellish greeting by two devil gods, Ben Li and Wang Xie showed delighted expressions on their faces.

One was bitterly smiling how the statues had almost frightened his heart out while the other was coldly sneering at how ugly the statues were.

"Welcome back to hell." said Ben Li to himself which Wang Xie said back.

"Yeah well, I always wanted to go anyway. It wasn't like we didn't even knew we were gonna end up here to begin with."

They both laughed off their worries and the pressure they felt before was finally released.

They soon marched forth with steady strides and passed through the entrance without anything hindering them.

Time passed, and soon they found themselves walking on a ruined stone bridge that was longer than the longest bridges on earth.

Ben Li looked above and saw the crimson sky. When looking at it, he felt as if the heavens had been overturned to reveal its fragility and was bleeding crimson blood profusely from its open wounds that will never heal no matter how much time passes.

He felt as if the Demonic army of hell had ascended to the heavens and brought merciless slaughter in the kingdom of God. Ruining it from its everlasting glory.

Wang Xie looked below the edge of the bridge and saw countless things burning in the sea of raging black flames.

He saw millions of souls screaming in anguish and crying for mercy with countless dreams burning into ashes. No longer remembered to be pursued forever.

This is hell.

No other place in the physical realm could compare to the pandemonium established here. Thought Wang Xie as the scenery shook his heart.

Right now, both Ben Li and Wang Xie had the same thing going on in their heads as they took their time strolling in this hades.

Heaven and earth were crumbling in chaos.

The skies were bleeding and the lands were burning.

Harmony was lost and turmoil had prospered.

The living were dead and the dead were living.

This is hell... and there is no place like it.