The terrible, red-haired Vivian reminded Hao Ren that the information Hessiana brought was very important. He gathered everyone in the family. Y'zaks joined them as he returned from the outside. Since the coffee table was broken, Hao Ren moved the dining table to the center of the living room. Hessiana placed the dried body of the "Infernal Fleshripper" on the table and began to explain.

"It was Mythological Period," Hessiana said, facing Hao Ren, her serious face looked the same as when Vivian was lecturing them. "You should know already that Earth was quite different back then. Magic was widespread, supernatural power was the norm, humans weren't well-verse in magic and the cities they built were fragile, they needed protection. The otherworldlings at that time had not only built super structure unimaginable to humans today but the magical environment at that time also made the planet very different from today. The alien dimensions were linked to the earth, some of them were artificial and the others naturally occurring since the beginning."

Hao Ren nodded slightly. He had heard of this before from Vivian, but no harm to brush up the knowledge, he thought.

"At that time, the otherworldlings had built many things. Families who self-proclaimed as G.o.ds had built huge 'divine kingdoms', such as Mount Olympus and Asgard. But now the ruins of these magnificent places are nowhere to be found on earth because these 'divine kingdoms' are in different dimensions," Vivian said, continued what Hessiana started. "These divine kingdoms are artificial dimensions. There are some natural dimensions, which have existed and linked to Earth as far as I can remembered. They include Inferno and some demonic planes. Even some of the otherworldlings, such as the shadelings originally lived in these dimensions. Their hometown is called the Shadowy World; it is a frozen place with no starlight. I have been there once and it's astounding."

This was new to Hao Ren. He immediately link it with the coming of otherworldlings to Earth.

They were originally inhabitants of the Plane of Dreams. They came to this universe through the crack on the Wall of Reality.

Were the alien dimensions of ancient times also from the Plane of Dreams? Or, in other word, had the rupture on the Wall of Reality not only brought a large number of other races to this s.p.a.ce, but also flung the dimensional debris of the Plane of Dreams here?

Hao Ren exchanged a look with the others as if they already had the same conclusion in this mind. But they did not harp on this point. Taking into account the condition of the Wall of Reality and the theoretical model of Grand Unified Theory, the leaking of dimensional debris into this universe through the crack on the Wall of Reality was entire normal. Instead, what mattered most was the scale of the leakage. By now, it seemed that the leakage was more serious than imagined.

"After the collapse of the Mythological Era, the alien dimensions were basically gone," Hessiana continued. "The artificial divine kingdoms lost their support after the death of the master. Most of them collapsed, and the rest closed. The one dimension that we have found in the Temple of Olympus is a closed dimension while the natural dimensions are in exile. The demon hunters could not have destroyed the s.p.a.ce-time structure, so to sever the foundation of the otherworldling races the demon hunters locked them in and destroyed the link between them and the main plane."

"Now those alien dimensions should be still floating in the cracks of s.p.a.ce-time. There are no way to rebuilding links from the inside, so they wander in an endless s.p.a.ce-time until the universe comes to an end," Vivian said. Suddenly, she felt a chill ran down her spine. "I was lucky that I didn't go and hibernate in any of those dimensions. I would have been trapped inside and drifting endlessly now."

Hao Ren looked at the Infernal Fleshripper on the table, wondering what kind of environment could give birth to this quirky creature. "What kind of place is Inferno?"

"The craziest among all the dimensions. There are no intelligent life in it, only beasts," Hessiana said as she compressed her lips and looked up at Vivian. "You should ask Vivian. Everything about the ancient times I heard it from others but Vivian was the one seeing it."

Vivian sighed, recalling the past memory. "I have not been to Inferno though. Even during Mythological Era, few had been there. The link between Inferno and the main plane was unstable. Unlike other dimensions where there were fixed pa.s.sages or method of access, the door to Inferno opened randomly on Earth. The first level of Inferno was easier to understand. Some daring wizards would explore the dimension, where there were poisonous air and hot springs of extreme temperature, so hot that the whole world was boiling. The Infernal Fleshripper lived on the first level. Monsters occupied the second level of Inferno. They were beasts in flesh and blood, lacking intelligence. They mauled and killed each other. Killing instinct dictated their actions. They would rip apart all the mortals that intruded into their s.p.a.ce. Back then, Hades had tried to form an Undead Legion explore Inferno. But the twisted monsters in Inferno ripped those skeletons and zombies apart. It is an insane place."

"An awful dimension filled of primitive beasts," Hao Ren said, scratching his jaw. "Why did the wizards want to study the place?"

"The creatures in Inferno were born with immense strength, and their flesh and blood contained a special primitive energy," Vivian said. "Although those bloodthirsty monsters are dangerous, the wizards regarded them highly. Some ointments made from Infernal creatures were said to be useful in casting taboo spells, such as elevating human beings into immortal witches, or opening the portal to deeper, distorted dimensions. During the Mythological Era, wizards were minions of the otherworldlings. At that time, they were forced to explore Inferno by their masters, but after the end of Mythological Era, some wizards did that on their own initiative."

Lily immediately yelled. "Oh, wait a second. Inferno not in exile? I thought the demon hunters had cast it away together with other alien dimensions after the Mythological Era ended?"

"The demon hunters had cast away other natural dimensions, except Inferno." Vivian shook her head. "Like I said before, Inferno is an unstable dimension. Its connection with the main plane is completely random. There is no native intelligent races, no one could control the connection—even the demon hunter could not get hold of the dimension. So after the end of Mythological Era, Inferno still linked to Earth from time to time when some surviving otherworldlings or wizards were crossing over. But after that, the demon hunters interfered. They used a kind of dimensional disturbance power to push Inferno away. Though it hadn't destroyed the connection with Earth completely it had greatly reduced the frequency of connection. Since then, Inferno had not appeared for almost two thousand years. The last time it appeared was during Augustus period, a door was opened in the north of Rome where monsters swallowed up a few villages. That was the last time the appearance of the 'gate'. Unfortunately, the Inferno gate incidents at that time wasn't big enough to leave any historical clues behind."

Hao Ren listened to the stories, wide-eyed. What happened after the end of Mythological Period surprised him. His eyes landed on the specimen of the Inferno Fleshripper. "That thing..."

"That thing was made into specimen hundreds of years ago," Hessiana said as she nodded. "It means that a wizard had opened the Inferno gate hundreds of years ago, and brought something out of it alive."

"Hundreds of years ago? It was already the time when humans and the demon hunters ruling the earth." Hao Ren felt it incredible. "Hadn't the demon hunters discovered the opening?"

"I don't know, but the wizard obviously had evaded the demon hunters. We found some clues pointing to the activity of the wizard in Europe until American Revolution broke out."

"So in summary there was a wizard who had opened the gate to Inferno hundreds of years ago, and brought something out from it. Then the wizard had left behind a magic book that could summon the evil-spirit Vivian…" Hao Ren knocked on the table with his knuckles. "What is the connection between the two things?"

"There is evidence shows that the summoning ritual recorded in the book is just one of the wizard's many taboo spells. We found some random ma.n.u.scripts left behind by the wizard," Hessiana said as she slid a glance at Vivian. "His summoning of the 'King of Blood' was not the ultimate goal, but he wanted to make use of the power of the King of Blood to bring him deeper into Inferno. He must have left behind many more ma.n.u.scripts. And, there may be more than one taboo spell a.s.sociated with Vivian. The secrets should be hidden somewhere where he opened the gate to Inferno."

"Where?"

"Northern Europe."