Beyond the Slaughter Guards lay a passage more than twenty meters long.
The stone walls on either side were densely carved with reliefs depicting slaughter, battle, and sacrifice. Blades flashed, flesh and blood flew, and the sight made one's scalp prickle.
Ling'er trembled softly inside the Sword Box, seemingly uncomfortable.
"It's all right. They're only murals," Xiao Yun soothed her quietly.
There was light at the end of the passage.
Unlike the eternally gloomy, blood-colored sky over the Outer City, this light was a warm golden red, like the richest blaze of sunset at dusk.
Xiao Yun narrowed his eyes. The instant he stepped out of the passage, he froze.
Before him stood a city.
No, another city would have been more accurate.
If the Outer City was a slum, a rubbish heap, a meat grinder the City of Slaughter used to digest its lowest-ranking fallen soul masters, then the Inner City was an utterly extravagant den of squandered gold, a city of bliss built from flesh, blood, and desire.
The street was broad enough for ten carriages to travel abreast.
Its surface was paved with black stone slabs polished to a mirror sheen. Intricate patterns were carved into them, with faint streams of light flowing through the grooves, illuminating the entire avenue like a river of stars.
Towers and pavilions lined both sides of the street, their sweeping eaves, interlocking brackets, carved beams, and painted pillars pushing extravagance to its utmost.
Fist-sized Night Pearls were embedded in vermilion doors, glazed wind chimes hung from the corners of the eaves, and elaborate patterns were carved into doors and windows. Within, shadowy figures moved amid brilliant lights.
The first building directly opposite the city gate was a three-story teahouse.
The entire teahouse was built from a dark red wood that gave