The exit of the Slaughter City is hidden deep within the cliffs of the Western Border Mountains.
When Tang San pushed aside the drooping vines and stepped out, the sunlight from outside was falling on the mountain rocks, spreading like scattered gold on the ground.
He subconsciously squinted. After two years of not seeing the light of day, the dark red lines under his eyes flashed by, but quickly returned to silence.
There was no trace of blood stench emanating from him, and his dark robes were lifted by a corner in the mountain wind, making him look no different from an ordinary Soul Master on his journey.
Only his fingers, hanging at his sides, had a very faint layer of dark red calluses at the knuckles, marks left from two years of repeatedly gripping the hammer and refining the Asura essence.
The Divine Slaughter's Domain had long since been completely dispelled, and even the low-level Soul Beast patrolling the surrounding mountains could not detect the slightest bit of pressure, treating him merely as an ordinary passerby.
He wasn't in a hurry to get going.
Standing on the edge of the cliff, I glanced in the direction of Spirit City. Beneath the clouds, the majestic outline of the city was hidden at the horizon, like a lurking beast.
Two years ago, he retreated from there in a sorry state, covered in wounds and filled with fear. Two years later, when he returned, he was no longer a chess piece pushed by divine will to crash into the chessboard.
With a slight condensation at his fingertips, a wisp of extremely fine Asura aura drifted out with the wind, probing the Spirit Hall outpost ahead.
Along the 300-mile route, there are eight hidden sentry posts, with sixteen teams taking turns patrolling. Each team is led by three Soul King, and the defenses are nearly twice as dense as they were two years ago.
Clearly, Bibi Dong hadn't let her guard down and was still on guard against him returning to rescue people.
Tang San withdrew his gaze, and with a flicker, disappeared into the shadows of the forest.
They no longer smashed open the city gates as recklessly as before.
After two years of honing his skills in the Blood Domain, the thing he understood best was that you have to strike the softest spot with the least amount of force to break through the most difficult situation.
Heading east, he deliberately chose to take desolate mountain paths, remaining completely unnoticed by the checkpoints along the way.
Occasionally, a team of Soul Master would pass by, but they would only assume he was a lone Soul Master. No one would connect this ordinary-looking young man with the son of Clear Sky Douluo had caused a great disturbance in Spirit City two years ago.
When the Divine Slaughter's Domain is fully concealed, even fluctuations in Soul Power can be completely hidden. This is a skill he honed for two years in the darkness of the Slaughter City.
At dusk, he arrived at the southern outskirts of Spirit City.
Under the cover of dusk, he lay close to the woods outside the city wall, quietly observing the defenses on the city wall.
The city's guardian Soul Master rotate in four shifts, with twelve people in each shift and two soul emperors as commanders. Every hundred steps along the city wall, there is a soul guidance detection tower, and Soul Power fluctuations sweep through the forest, as fine as a net.
There were also patrol teams in the streets and alleys below the city, patrolling every half hour, with fixed routes and no loopholes.
Two years ago, he might have simply smashed through the city wall and stormed in.
But now, he's just waiting patiently.
When dusk has completely fallen, when the Soul Guidance Lamp on the city wall light up, and during the shift change, that is the three breaths when the Soul Power connection of the detection tower is at its weakest.
Three breaths are enough.
In the instant the lights on the city wall switched, a dark shadow silently clung to the base of the wall.
His robes blended into the night, his fingertips gripped the cracks in the wall tiles, and he was like a weightless shadow, moving upwards along the cracks in the wall.
When the detection tower's Soul Power swept over, he happened to stop in the tower's blind spot, not even a sliver of his clothing showing.
After a few leaps and bounds, he landed in the streets and alleys of the south of the city.
The stone slabs beneath his feet carried a familiar coolness; he had trod the same path two years ago when he fled in panic. But this time, his steps were as steady as nails to the ground, without the slightest hint of panic.
They did not go straight to the Tranquil Mind Hall.
He followed the shadows and first circled around to the abandoned house where he had hidden two years ago.
The gate to the courtyard was ajar, and the courtyard was overgrown with weeds. Cobwebs covered the corners of the walls, indicating that no one had been there for a long time.
He pushed open the door, closed it behind him, and only then did he finally relax a little.
Standing in the center of the courtyard, he closed his eyes and concentrated.
The soul slowly probed downwards along the rock strata beneath its feet, and soon touched that familiar, sinister black aura.
It was thicker and heavier than it had been two years ago, seeping into the city's earth veins like ink, seeping up along the cracks in the rock layers, and eventually converging continuously towards the direction of the Pope's Palace.
The roots of the Rakshasa have long been embedded in the earth beneath Spirit City.
My great-grandfather was right; this ley line and the Slaughter City of the same origin.
Bibi Dong imprisoned Xiao Wu in the Tranquil Mind Hall not only as bait, but also to use the essence of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast to nurture the Rakshasa Rift underground.
The fingertips tightened slightly, and dark red lines flashed across the knuckles.
He did not act rashly.
The earth's veins are too extensive to be touched; acting rashly would only alert the enemy and put Xiao Wu in danger.
We must first find the weakest point and strike it successfully, disrupting the city's defenses while preventing the Rakshasa's essence from leaking out on a large scale and harming innocent people.
He withdrew his divine sense from probing the earth's veins and turned back towards the Tranquil Mind Hall.
Across several streets and alleys, that wisp of pink Soul Power floated steadily in the night, pure and peaceful, without the slightest sign of weakness or dissipation.
It's more solid than it was two years ago; clearly, she hasn't been idle during these two years, constantly refining her Soul Power.
Tang San's heart, which had been hanging in suspense for two years, quietly returned to its original place.
She's fine, she's doing well.
Then there's no rush.
He walked to the stone steps in the corner of the courtyard and sat down, leaning his back against the cold wall, his aura once again becoming completely still.
The next step is to wait, to explore, and to thoroughly understand the city's defense rotations, the direction of the earth's veins, and the strength of the restrictions.
Saving lives is the goal, but it is not the only goal.
This time, he not only wants to take Xiao Wu away, but also to create a major opening in Bibi Dong's Rakshasa scheme.
As night deepened, the patrol team made its third round of patrols through the streets and alleys.
Tang San sat in the shadows, his eyes closed, like a lifeless stone.
Only the occasional whistling of the wind would carry with him the patrol rhythms and sentry positions he had memorized, gradually piecing together a complete defense map in his mind.
At the same moment, on a mountaintop thirty miles west of the city.
Chen Jieqi pressed his palm against the exposed rock layer, and platinum-gold holy light slowly seeped into the earth's veins along the cracks in the rock.
This is the largest ley line node around Spirit City, and also the main gateway for the spread of dark power to the Western Territory.
Two years ago, he could only make minor repairs on the periphery, but now that he has broken through to the Soul Saint, he can finally touch the core rock layer.
Wherever the holy light passed, the evil and dark energy melted away, and the cracks in the rock strata were gradually filled with purified light patterns.
Midway through the setup, the Heart of the Naaru between his brows stirred slightly.
From the south of the city, a familiar dark red aura silently descended into the city.
It was well hidden; if he hadn't been so deeply impressed by the aura, he would have hardly noticed it.
I'm back.
It was more stable and heavier than he had expected.
He didn't charge recklessly or disturb anyone; clearly, the two years of training in the Blood Domain had not only increased his cultivation but also tempered his temperament.
Chen Jieqi's fingertips did not pause; the holy light continued to steadily penetrate the rock strata.
He neither searched for it nor touched it.
The other party had their own grudges to settle, and he had his own earth veins to seal. The two auras, one internal and one external, separated by dozens of miles of night, did not interfere with each other, each doing their own thing.
Half an hour later, the last sacred rune was embedded deep into the rock strata.
A faint white-gold light array illuminated the mountaintop, then vanished underground in an instant.
The surging dark power deep within the earth's veins abruptly halted, its outward spread being forcibly suppressed by more than half.
Chen Jieqi withdrew his hand, stood up, and looked in the direction of Spirit City.
With the core nodes blocked, it can hold out for a long time.
He didn't leave; he simply sat cross-legged on the mountaintop.
Sealing the ley lines doesn't mean everything is fine; he still needs to keep an eye on things happening inside the city.
If things really escalate and the Rakshasa essence leaks out of control, he has to stop it immediately to prevent the pollution from spreading to the surrounding villages.
The night wind swept across the mountaintop, carrying bits of grass, and his white robes fluttered slightly in the darkness.
The hammer is hidden within the city; the light is guarded outside.
After two years of peace, Spirit City finally welcomed a key player to break the deadlock on this night.
Everyone is waiting, waiting for the perfect moment, waiting for the first roar to sound.