Hell Road, Blood Bats

The King of Slaughter lowered his head and looked at Oscar and Dugu Yan. His indifferent voice rang out. "God of War, Poison Queen, today you have once again made me feel the presence of passion."

"A hundred victories, very good." The King of Slaughter continued, seemingly somewhat excited:

"In recognition of your achievements, I have decided to grant you the title of God of Slaughter as an exception. From now on, you will be free to enter and leave the Slaughter City and will be invited to serve as Guest Elder of the City of Slaughter City under my command."

Hearing the King of Slaughter's words, Oscar looked at him and sneered inwardly. Guest Elder? So he doesn't intend to let them walk the Hell Road? Dugu Yan instantly understood the King of Slaughter's intention. Walking the Hell Road was undoubtedly extremely dangerous.

But behind the danger lies the immense temptation of the Divine Slaughter's Domain. The King of Slaughter before them clearly does not want them to obtain the Divine Slaughter's Domain.

The Divine Slaughter's Domain is a domain that can be obtained after passing through the Hell Road and gaining recognition.

The Divine Slaughter's Domain absorbs the killing intent of the Killing God himself, forming his own domain, and then it is incorporated into the Martial Soul. This is also known as the Martial Soul's Innate Domain. With this amplification, it is equivalent to a Soul Master who has passed the Hell Road test having one more skill than an ordinary Soul Master, and it is the most precious domain-type skill.

This gain is undoubtedly enormous. The Divine Slaughter's Domain alone is enough to greatly enhance a Soul Master's strength. Generally speaking, it can only appear when Soul Master reaches the Titled Douluo level and acquires their ninth Soul Skill, and the probability of it appearing is only one in ten.

Domain-type Soul Skill, also known as top-grade Soul Skill, can only appear at the level of a Titled Douluo or the innate skills of Martial Soul.

Within one's own domain, one's own strength is amplified, while the strength of one's opponent is suppressed. If applied properly, the effect can be extremely terrifying.

Furthermore, the Innate Domain will continue to evolve as one's strength increases, while the Divine Slaughter's Domain will strengthen as killing intent increases.

Oscar and Dugu Yan had explained the power of the Killing God Domain to them, so they both understood its strength. Their purpose in coming here to train was to obtain the Divine Slaughter's Domain.

Avoiding the Hell Road? Becoming Guest Elder in the Slaughter City? That's not what they want.

Oscar looked at the King of Slaughter and said calmly, "No need, great King of Slaughter. We cannot break the rules of the Slaughter City because of us. I am willing to undergo the trials of Hell Road and receive your reward in return."

"I hope to leave this place on my own and become a true god of death."

The King of Slaughter's eyes narrowed, and he said coldly, "You probably don't know how terrifying the Hell Road is. God of War, I hope you understand that a person only has one life."

Oscar just smiled when he heard this and replied, "Great King of Slaughter, isn't it a bit ridiculous for you to talk to me about life? This is the Slaughter City, a world of slaughter."

An even stronger red light flashed in the eyes of the King of Slaughter. His gaze turned to Dugu Yan. Even though Oscar and Dugu Yan were together, he wanted to see if Dugu Yan would make a different choice. After all, in her opinion, human emotions were the most unstable factor.

He looked at Dugu Yan and said, "And you? Are you willing to accept my reward and become a distinguished Guest Elder of the Slaughter City?"

However, the King of Slaughter's expectations were destined to be dashed. Dugu Yan smiled calmly and replied, "My goal is to walk that Hell Road. King of Slaughter, I appreciate your kindness."

"Please open the entrance to the Hell Road, and I will go through this trial with him."

Upon hearing this, the King of Slaughter's expression changed drastically. He glanced at the two of them, a mocking look on his face, and said, "You two want to join forces to pass through the Hell Road? Don't you know how treacherous people can be? Do you really trust each other?"

Upon hearing this, Oscar sneered, "King of Slaughter, I'm afraid you've never tasted the sweetness of love, have you?"

"Instead of all dying on the Hell Road, why don't we all live and become true gods of slaughter? You don't need to worry about our affairs, great King of Slaughter. Please act according to the rules of the Slaughter City."

The King of Slaughter said no more. Circles of pale red light emanated from his King of Slaughter. If he hadn't had some reservations, he would have destroyed the two people in front of him long ago.

With Oscar and his companion's current strength, they were nothing more than ants in his eyes, easily crushed, but he couldn't do that.

He also had his reservations; otherwise, Oscar and the other man wouldn't have been able to hold out until he reached 100 wins. After all, this was his home turf, and he had plenty of ways to make these two disappear without a trace.

However, these two young men have already caught the attention of the big shots above him, so he cannot and dare not do this.

Moreover, he has only just taken control of this body, so he dares not gamble.

After a moment of silence, the King of Slaughter spoke again, "In that case, you should take the Hell Road. Having company on the Hell Road will make it a worthwhile journey."

"If you can pass the test of Hell Road and become the new generation of killing gods, my promise will remain unchanged."

The King of Slaughter's tone turned noticeably colder, even carrying a hint of sarcasm.

Is the Hell Road really that easy to traverse? Even for two people, it's not so simple.

Now that he has a basic grasp of this body, it shouldn't be a big problem for him to tamper with things on the Hell Road, right? Thick red mist suddenly emanated from the King of Slaughter, and the immense aura forced Oscar and Dugu Yan to retreat rapidly, only managing to withstand it after retreating dozens of meters.

The King of Slaughter was not emanating murderous intent, but rather an aura of extreme evil, radiating a chill that could freeze one to the bone.

The evil, cold red ripples slowly spread out, and in the blink of an eye, they had already spread throughout the entire area.

The Fallen Ones sitting in the audience were all unusually excited. They all hoped to see the Hell Road open, but little did they know that their lives were coming to an end.

Apart from the God of Slaughter and the Great King of Slaughter who exist in the Slaughter City, no one has ever seen what the Hell Road looks like when it is open, because all those who have seen it are dead, or rather, they have all become sacrifices for the opening of the Hell Road.

As the red ripples spread, Oscar quickly realized that although the red light emanating from the King of Slaughter put a lot of pressure on them, it was not directed at them, but rather towards the surrounding stands.

The Fallen Ones, who had been cheering wildly, gradually quieted down as the red light descended onto the viewing platform. The eyes of each Fallen One gradually became dull, and finally turned from dull to bloodshot red.

Before long, as the red light formed a huge barrier across the entire Hell Slaughter Arena, agonizing screams began to emanate from those who were the first to come into contact with the red light.

Influenced by the red light, the fallen seemed to have gone mad, frantically scratching their faces and bodies...

Most of the Fallen Ones who survived in the inner city were quite powerful. At this moment, they put all their strength into themselves, and even their screams contained an extreme sense of pleasure, as if they were enjoying themselves immensely in this self-torture.

Their skin was torn off, blood splattered everywhere, and they even pulled their own internal organs out of their bodies. They went completely mad and wouldn't stop until the end of their lives.

More and more people fell into this depravity, until it spread throughout the entire area.

Faced with such a scene, with so much blood and gore spreading, even though Oscar and Dugu Yan had both experienced countless killings, their brows couldn't help but twitch in the face of this massive and terrifying situation.

Anyone who is human, with even a shred of humanity, would inevitably react strangely to this scene.

Countless drops of blood spilled onto the ground and continued to condense. Large amounts of blood, like streams, flowed through inconspicuous thin pipes beneath the audience seating towards the central area of Hell Slaughter Arena.

Countless clearly visible, meandering red liquids flowed into the arena like tiny snakes.

Oscar and Dugu Yan witnessed this scene. Dugu Yan's fists clenched unconsciously, and a strong killing intent surged within her, threatening to erupt at any moment.

"It is their honor to become sacrifices for the opening of the Hell Road," the King of Slaughter's deep voice rang out.

By this time, the screams had gradually subsided, and apart from Oscar, the other two, and the King of Slaughter, there seemed to be no other living person left here.

The blood flowed into the ground, but it did not spread in a straight line. Instead, grooves appeared on the ground at some unknown time, and the blood flowed into them, gradually converging into a huge blood-red pattern.

At this moment, Oscar and Dugu Yan were both within this pattern.

The pattern formed from congealed blood was actually a bird-like creature, but it looked rather strange because it wasn't as simple as an ordinary bird.

But Oscar knew what the bird-shaped pattern looked like, and the bat—it was a bat pattern.

Soon, the pattern was fully formed.

Suddenly, the bat-patterned eyes lit up, and a massive red light shot into the sky, instantly engulfing Oscar and Dugu Yan. Everything around them became blurred, with only the deep, sharp voice of the King of Slaughter echoing in their ears.

"Good luck on your Hell Road."

Under the crimson engulfment, Oscar and Dugu Yan simultaneously felt their feet sink into the void, and everything around them became illusory, with all their senses completely shut down at that moment.

The uncontrollable pain instilled a nameless fear in both of them. What they couldn't see was that the killing intent on each of them gathered into a faint white ripple that protected their bodies. If it weren't for the presence of this killing intent, they would have been truly devoured the moment the blood spread.

After an unknown amount of time, accompanied by a violent tremor, all senses returned, and the surrounding blood-red light gradually faded.

When Oscar and Dugu Yan fully regained consciousness, they found themselves on a circular platform, which was only about five meters in diameter and not very large.

At this moment, both of them were lying on the ground. They woke up almost at the same time, so their eyes fell on each other at the same time. They looked at each other, and then got up and began to look around at their surroundings.

Upon closer inspection, both of them gasped in shock; the situation before them was far more perilous than they had imagined.

Oscar's original clone did not reach the Hell Road level, so he was also unfamiliar with Hell Road.

Everything around was a faint blood red color, and apart from the circular platform with a diameter of five meters underfoot, there was nothing but a bottomless abyss.

Besides that, there was only a narrow path, less than half a foot wide and just wide enough for two feet to stand at the same time, leading into the unknown darkness. This was also the only way for their platform to reach the outside world.

Dugu Yan glanced around, then at the path leading into the darkness, her brow furrowing slightly. She then said, "I wonder what lies down there?"

Oscar glanced down at the dais and then looked troubled.

"How is it? Can you see what's down there?" Dugu Yan asked calmly.

Oscar nodded and said, "Below is blood, or rather, a pool of blood. If I'm not mistaken, that pool of blood should be the human blood accumulated by the Slaughter City over the years, which is what they call Bloody Mary and the sacrifices for this Hell Road."

Oscar naturally knew what was down there, but in order to avoid unnecessary trouble, he pretended not to know.

Upon hearing this, Dugu Yan pondered for a moment before saying, "Based on a simple analysis, this Hell Road is not only the path to leave the Slaughter City, but it should also be the core of the entire Slaughter City."

Oscar nodded in satisfaction upon hearing Dugu Yan's analysis. Although Dugu Yan rarely experienced real life-or-death crises while working by his side, she was not slacking off at all.

The fact that she could see this problem clearly without Oscar's reminder undoubtedly demonstrates her intelligence.

Oscar said calmly, "Sister, have you noticed that the most important thing in this Slaughter City is blood? The so-called Bloody Mary can be found almost everywhere here, and it's like currency."

"Just as I told you before, this blood contains a slow-acting poison, but it can also have a certain stimulating effect. There are many ways to control people, so why does the ruler of the Slaughter City always use blood? Is it just to give people a more mysterious feeling?"

After a pause, Oscar continued to guide Dugu Yan, helping her discover the unique aspects of this Slaughter City.

"Although we do not yet know the true secret of the blood within the Slaughter City, it is certain that if the source of the blood is lost, it will be a huge blow to the entire Slaughter City, and may even be devastating."

After hearing Oscar's words, Dugu Yan gradually understood and then said, "If that's the case, if we destroy this place, wouldn't no one be able to obtain the Divine Slaughter's Domain in the future?"

Oscar nodded, then said, "That's true, but there's no need."

"As I told you before, this Slaughter City should be the place of inheritance of some god. This is also our opportunity, so there is no need to destroy this place now."

After Oscar finished speaking, he looked into the darkness in the distance and continued, "This narrow road should be the so-called Hell Road. We don't know how long it is, but what is certain is that Hell Road is not just a simple road that you walk through here."

"There's a huge pool of blood down there, which could very well be inhabited by some special Soul Beast or something highly poisonous. Going down there is definitely not a good idea. The best way for us to get out of here is from the top."

Dugu Yan did not refute this, but calmly nodded.

This is where their exceptional mental fortitude is revealed. Most people, upon arriving at a strange and terrifying place, would be eager to leave as soon as possible.

However, Oscar and Dugu Yan were not in a hurry. Instead, they recovered their strength and made all the preparations before setting off.

Oscar came first, then Dugu Yan followed.

The two maintained this formation as they stepped onto the narrow path. The path was not wide, only wide enough for two feet to stand on, and the end of the path was not yet in sight.

For the average person, it would be quite difficult to walk on such a road for more than ten minutes, because a slight misstep could lead to a fall.

Oscar and Dugu Yan need no introduction. While their individual strength may not be the strongest, their experience and knowledge are unmatched by most.

At this moment, Oscar and Dugu Yan were like grasshoppers on a string; the slightest mistake could lead to a devastating disaster.

Maintaining a harmonious rhythm, the two slowly disappeared into the dark red, the circular platform behind them no longer visible.

As they continued forward, Oscar and Dugu Yan were extremely tense, not only watching their step but also being wary of the unknown dangers lurking in the darkness.

As they walked, Oscar suddenly said, "We've walked five hundred meters already. The air is starting to get hot, and it doesn't seem to be quiet anymore. There are sounds around us, though they are faint and far away, but they are probably targeting us. Be careful."

After hearing Oscar's words, Dugu Yan released her Spiritual Power to explore her surroundings, and then her expression changed slightly.

Using her powerful Spiritual Power, Dugu Yan discovered dark spots rapidly approaching them from the darkness in the distance.

The faint sound appeared in Dugu Yan's mental world. The sound was not loud, but the frequency was very fast. Just as Oscar said, these faint sounds were approaching their direction.

Oscar knew perfectly well that these subtle sounds came from the Blood Bat, but he revealed them so subtly, serving as a preemptive warning to Dugu Yan to be on guard.

Then, Dugu Yan glanced down with her blue eyes and said in a low voice, "Xiao Ao, I know why it feels hot now. It's because the blood pool below is closer to us."

Hearing this, Oscar nodded with even more satisfaction, because Oscar had not reminded Dugu Yan of this; she had discovered it herself.

Seeing Oscar nod, Dugu Yan continued, "Previously, the blood pool below was about a thousand meters away from us, but now the distance should have been reduced to about eight hundred meters. That's why we can feel the change in temperature."

"It seems that the blood pool may not contain blood, but may also contain magma. If the temperature continues to rise as we move forward, then I am almost certain that our final stretch will likely be submerged in that blood pool, which will be the truly difficult part of the Hell Road."

Upon hearing Dugu Yan's words, Oscar did not show any other unusual reaction, as if this was not the greatest threat.

Oscar suddenly said in a deep voice, "Let's not worry about that for now. In any case, let's deal with this crisis first."

"They're here!"

As Oscar finished speaking, the buzzing sound grew louder and louder, and Dugu Yan could vaguely see some red shadows rapidly approaching.

She quickly understood why the sound was so fast in her mental perception: the flying creatures were not one or two, but a group of at least a thousand.

As they got closer, the flying creatures became clearer. They were blood-red bats, miniature versions of the blood-red patterns left on the ground in the Hell Slaughter Arena. Each Blood Bat was about a foot long, but its enormous wingspan exceeded one meter.

One or two Blood Bat like that are nothing, but when thousands of them suddenly appear, it's like a red cloud flying rapidly towards them.

It has a sense of impending doom, like dark clouds looming overhead.

At this moment, Dugu Yan's expression had become extremely solemn, and she whispered, "Xiao Ao?"

P. S.: Typos will be corrected first and then fixed later.