"It really was you pulling strings behind the scenes!" Mu Qing's gaze was icy.
That slash had easily cleaved the blood giant in two, yet it swiftly returned to its original state.
Heaven-Slaying Young Lord's features on the blood giant broke into a smile. "I've been waiting for you at the fifth stage for a long time. Still, you truly are fast—several times faster than I was back then!"
Mu Qing did not attack again. Instead, Heaven-Slaying Young Lord's words caught his attention.
He noticed something wrong with Heaven-Slaying Young Lord's phrasing.
"The you from back then?" Mu Qing looked at him, his eyes turning cold. "You aren't Heaven-Slaying Young Lord."
"Of course not!"
The blood giant burst out laughing.
"That so-called Heaven-Slaying Young Lord was nothing more than some pitiful worm I found at random. I deliberately had him strut about outside to lure people like you in."
"My master told me that when my lifespan neared its end, I should enter slumber. When he returned, he would awaken me."
"But I didn't listen. I was afraid that once I fell asleep, I would never wake again. And it turned out I was right—Master died... If I had truly gone to sleep, there would have been no one left to wake me!"
"I have always guarded my master's Slaughter Hall. Yet people from supreme factions like you covet my master's possessions. Though Master repeatedly warned me to hide myself and proceed with utmost caution, I could not endure it!"
The face of Heaven-Slaying Young Lord on the blood giant gradually transformed into that of another man.
"Slaughter Emperor!" Mu Qing said gravely.
The moment those words came from the blood giant, Mu Qing immediately understood who stood before him.
The Slaughter Emperor!
What Mu Qing had seen upon entering