The City of Slaughter was still shrouded in blood-red mist that never dispersed. The air was thick with despair, madness, and an overwhelming stench of blood. Yet unlike his last visit for training, Ling Yun sensed a deeper unease the moment he set foot on this land.
The laws of slaughter here seemed more active... and more twisted. The negative energy drifting through the air was no longer merely chaotic killing intent; it carried a trace of something extremely obscure, sharing the same origin as the evil aura of the Far North, yet far older and colder. It was as though something was awakening in the abyss, quietly changing the very nature of this domain.
Ling Yun concealed his aura and moved like a ghost through the ruined streets. The fallen ones he encountered were even more crazed than before. Some had undergone physical mutations, growing bone spurs or extra organs. They slaughtered and devoured one another, creating an even bloodier, stranger scene.
He ignored the riffraff and headed straight for the core region of the City of Slaughter—the area beneath the arena where he had once fought the King of Slaughter, the parasitized host. Based on his previous exploration and the Haotian Stele's warning, the true secret of the City of Slaughter was likely hidden deep underground, connected to the Asura God's inheritance and that so-called "hidden danger."
After passing through layer upon layer of restrictions and maze-like passageways, Ling Yun arrived once more at that enormous underground space. At its center stood the massive stone gate, still tightly shut, glowing dark red and covered in ancient sword-shaped runes. Beside it, the tall phantom in dark-red armor, condensed from the Asura God's Divine Sense, appeared again.
"Intruder, it is you again." The Asura God's Divine Sense fixed Ling Yun