The sky was dark as ink, the ground was caked with filth, and the oppressive air all around made it hard to breathe.
Slaughter City, the Arena of Purgatory.
A man in black wore a ferocious ghost mask and used a fresh corpse on the ground to wipe the crimson bloodstains from the strange scythe in his hand.
"Blood Mantis, No. 0091, has achieved victory in one hundred slaughter duels! He is newly promoted as Slaughter City's Slaughter God—the Blood Scythe Slaughter God!"
"Hell Road is open!"
The King of Slaughter had appeared on the throne atop the platform at some point. His gaze burned as he fixed his eyes on the man in black in the arena of life and death below, announcing in a deep voice.
The crazed Fallen Ones in the stands instantly erupted into thunderous cheers, celebrating the birth of a new Slaughter God.
Yet the man in black merely swept his indifferent gaze around. He was not the least bit surprised by the madness of the Fallen Ones around him. Turning silently, he stepped into the newly opened Hell Road without hesitation.
Only the King of Slaughter watched his departing back with an exceedingly grim expression.
The instant he entered Hell Road, his vision suddenly went black, and his consciousness seemed to plunge into an abyss. Immediately after, a majestic and imposing figure abruptly appeared in his mind, chanting in a deep voice:
"The Slaughter God rises, the godhood returns, Hell opens, Asura descends!"
After the meaningless whisper faded, the towering blood-red figure did not linger long in that scarlet space. It quietly vanished after leaving behind a blood bead within him, leaving only the unconscious man in black at the entrance to Hell Road.
The man's name was Chen Chu. He had been born in a small village. His father had died in the chaos of war, and upon hearing the news, his mother had fallen gravely ill. Before he had even reached his first birthday, she too had died of illness.
Fortunately, the village chief had taken him in, allowing him to survive. It was also then that he realized, to his shock, that he was actually in the Douluo Continent.
When he awakened his martial soul at the age of six, he had unexpectedly awakened Sagros, a top-tier combat-type spirit from the Sail world of his previous life. With Innate Full Soul Power and the talent of a top-tier martial soul, he had smoothly enrolled in the academy and cultivated all the way to the Soul King realm.
However, he had deliberately concealed his cultivation. Moreover, the Soul Master who had tested his martial soul had died at the hands of wolf bandits, so very few people knew his true strength. After secretly breaking through to Soul King, he had decisively left the academy instead of staying behind to teach.
Instead, he had headed straight for Slaughter City and completed one hundred bloody battles there. He had done so not only to temper Sagros's most primal battle instincts, but also to seek the elusive Asura God Position. Now, it seemed his luck was rather good.
After an unknown amount of time unconscious, Chen Chu finally regained full awareness and began to retrace everything that had just happened.
When his divine sense entered his sea of consciousness, the first thing he saw was the scarlet bead that had appeared out of nowhere.
"Hold the Slaughter Blood Bead and wield the authority of Slaughter City!" The instant his fingertip touched the bead, all information concerning it flooded clearly into his mind. Then the scene before him abruptly changed, and the entirety of Slaughter City unfolded like a scroll. It was as though he had become a god overlooking all living beings, viewing everything from above. He could clearly see every person in the city, their appearances and actions, including the King of Slaughter seated high upon his throne.
"Suppress, command, control, release, order, purgatory..."
"The authority of Slaughter City? Does that mean I can control everyone here? Like the King of Slaughter?"
Chen Chu stared at those options, his heart stirring as he decided to test the King of Slaughter first.
"Suppress! King of Slaughter!"
The instant the command was issued, the King of Slaughter, who had been enjoying Bloody Mary on his throne, was forced to lower his head beneath an immense, malevolent force from a higher dimension. He tumbled from the throne and crashed heavily to his knees.
"Which lord has descended?!" The King of Slaughter, parasitized by the blood-red bat, had always feared death. Now he was terrified beyond measure, his eyes wide as he looked around in panic, his voice trembling. The Slaughter Envoys nearby also all dropped to their knees, prostrating themselves on the ground, not daring to raise their heads or even breathe loudly.
A flicker of delight flashed through Chen Chu's eyes. "Amazing! With this blood bead, the people and things of all Slaughter City are truly entirely under my control."
He immediately projected himself into Slaughter City and sat upon the throne. His gaze swept across the kneeling crowd as his voice rang out cold and hoarse. "Guard this precious land of Slaughter City for me. I will return!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an invisible force of rules instantly suppressed every Fallen One in the city, including the Slaughter Envoys and the King of Slaughter. They could not summon even the slightest resistance in their hearts. All that remained was absolute submission.
"Yes!"
Amid the cries of submission that echoed into the sky, Chen Chu quietly withdrew his divine sense. He chose not to reveal himself and continued to leave this place in the King of Slaughter's care. He did not want anyone to know of this or expose his identity.
He still needed to study the bead's other authorities and investigate this long-standing paradise of the Fallen Ones more deeply.
"Purgatory?" Chen Chu murmured as he looked at the option. He lightly tapped it with his fingertip, and a few seconds later, his figure vanished from Hell Road and appeared in another strange space.
The first thing he felt upon arriving was a wave of scorching heat crashing toward him. Looking up, he discovered that molten lava was floating above his head. Before him stood a stone tower thrust upside down into the earth, and the words "Nine-Layered Purgatory" were boldly carved upon the lowest floor's gate.
Chen Chu walked over and pushed against the stone gate, only to find that it would not open at all. He then looked toward the stone stele beside it. Some words were engraved upon it, recording information about the tower: Nine-Layered Purgatory imprisoned every Fallen One since the birth of the Douluo Continent. The lower one descended, the greater their sins and the stronger their power. The condition to open it was—the Nine Asura Trials.
Chen Chu frowned slightly. "The Nine Asura Trials? Aren't those the tests only given to the inheritor of the Asura God? I already control Slaughter City, so why has there been no sign of a divine trial?"
"Could there be another hidden condition?" He stared thoughtfully at the tightly shut tower gate for a moment, then took out the bead and fiddled with it for a while, but gained nothing.
"Forget it. I should leave first. Perhaps once my strength improves further, the divine trial will descend on its own."
There was no point in merely staring at it. His most urgent task was to leave Slaughter City and obtain his sixth soul ring.
When he had first arrived in Slaughter City, he had been a level 53 Soul King. Because Sagros could absorb and refine killing intent to cultivate automatically, by the time he left Slaughter City, he had naturally broken through to level 60, a quasi-Soul Emperor. With just one more soul ring, he would enter the ranks of true powerhouses on the Douluo Continent.
When he withdrew from the Purgatory space, he found himself still within Hell Road. As Slaughter City's new master, he naturally no longer needed to undergo Hell Road's perilous trials. With a single command, he appeared at the end of the exit and stepped through the light curtain before him.
When he opened his eyes again, he was already in a silent forest, with not a trace of human habitation in sight.
The moment he left Slaughter City, the Slaughter Domain he had gained uncontrollably released itself, and violent killing intent instantly enveloped the entire forest.
Chen Chu's eyes glowed blood-red. Yet moments later, that killing intent was devoured by the figure behind him—a savage and domineering blood-red mantis. It was none other than his martial soul, Sagros. At that moment, it was immersed in the pure aura of slaughter, continuously absorbing and devouring the killing intent.
"The choice of my sixth soul ring is crucial. I'll follow my original plan and go to Beast Canyon."
After Sagros finished feeding, Ling Jue withdrew his martial soul. A hint of anticipation flashed in his eyes. "Rumor has it that there is a soul beast called the Dragon Mantis there, and it possesses a trace of ancient dragon bloodline. Only with the aid of that powerful bloodline can Sagros evolve into the King lineage in one stroke."
He could already sense that Sagros had entered a special state. It lacked only a single opportunity.
With that thought, he steadied himself and sped toward Beast Canyon according to the map in his memory.
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