An ancient prophecy was passed down in the City of Slaughter.
It came from a mysterious wall deep within the ruins.
It said that when a God of Slaughter descended, a great disaster would follow. Its exact meaning was unclear.
There were currently two Gods of Slaughter in the world: Tang Hao and Bibi Dong. When they obtained their Domains, they had both left this place badly damaged.
As a result, everyone, including the King of Slaughter, firmly believed the prophecy. Within the limits of the rules, they would do everything they could to prevent another from appearing.
Yet they treated Long Xingyu differently.
Quite the opposite, in fact. They had even gone out of their way to speed up his chances of winning consecutively.
That was why the alluring woman beside him had grown suspicious and cautiously voiced her question.
Hearing her, the King of Slaughter curled his lips into a strange smile, then nodded.
"Correct. You've been very observant. I did nothing to stop him—in fact, I helped speed up the trial."
"The reason is simple. I sensed something in that fellow that drew me to him. Something very special..."
As the King of Slaughter spoke, his eyes narrowed.
He recalled the first time he had paid attention to Long Xingyu.
When they had drawn close, something inside the other man seemed to make his blood inexplicably surge, filling him with an intense yearning.
He didn't know about the Divine Throne of Apocalypse and Slaughter, so he assumed it had something to do with bloodlines. That was why he had decided to do the opposite of what he normally would.
He would help Long Xingyu achieve a hundred consecutive victories and earn the right to challenge the Hell Road. If he died along the way, the King would naturally get his corpse—and with it, whatever was inside him.
Even if Long Xingyu had exceptional talent and made it through safely, he would surely be exhausted and weakened. A sneak attack then would have a better chance of success than one now.
The King of Slaughter had already guessed that Long Xingyu possessed a special ability. Either he had found a way around the rules of the City of Slaughter and could use his Martial Soul, or he had some other means at his disposal.
In any case, attacking now wasn't worth the risk.
Better to let his guard down first than to take a chance.
What he could never have imagined was that his own covetous gaze would throw Long Xingyu's plans off course.
The large teleportation array hadn't finished being inscribed, yet Long Xingyu was already approaching a hundred consecutive victories. He had no choice but to put his backup plan into action.
"That fellow is probably hiding other secrets, too."
"But no matter what, he can't escape my grasp."
"Heh heh, I'm already looking forward to sucking the flesh and blood from his body."
"Go make the arrangements. Find some stand-ins to fill out the matches. The sooner, the better!"
The King of Slaughter gave his latest instructions. The alluring woman bowed and left at once.
Soon, the next slaughter match began. Long Xingyu performed as usual, maintaining his winning streak with ease.
Some time later, he reached ninety-nine victories. The immense killing intent he had accumulated so far swirled around him.
The Divine Throne of Apocalypse and Slaughter had fully accepted it. The bond between the man and the divine artifact had become stronger than ever.
"One last match! Let's finish this quickly."
Long Xingyu calmly headed for the arena.
He had long grown tired of the City of Slaughter's wretched environment and felt no attachment to it whatsoever.
All he could think about was completing the task as soon as possible, challenging the Hell Road to obtain Divine Slaughter's Domain, and activating the hidden array.
Once the Demon God Vanguard Army arrived, he would have nothing more to do here. Those battle-hungry, ferocious warriors were better suited to clearing this place out than he was.
"Congratulations. You've achieved a hundred consecutive victories."
The final battle began, and its outcome was never in doubt.
Long Xingyu stood alone, with not a single enemy left around him, when a low, piercing voice echoed through the arena.
In midair, a vortex of darkness and blood-red light appeared out of nowhere, forming a passage. The King of Slaughter made his grand entrance.
The towering body that had once belonged to "Tang Chen" wore a crimson cloak. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot—he was practically a vampire.
Long Xingyu immediately grew wary.
He hadn't forgotten Lin Feng's warning.
There was a peak-level Douluo in the City of Slaughter.
Judging by his aura alone, this man was nowhere near that level. But surely there was more to it than that?
He had come this far, so caution came first. Long Xingyu gathered every ounce of his focus and looked up at the man.
All around them, shouts of "King of Slaughter" rose and fell in a frenzy. It took quite a while for the crowd to settle down.
"I am delighted to witness the birth of a new powerhouse."
"The Hell Road stands open. Enjoy your reward!"
"Walk it, and you will earn the title of God of Slaughter, as well as the right to come and go freely from this place."
The King of Slaughter's words seemed to carry a bewitching quality, gently tugging at the crowd's emotions and making the fallen even more frenzied.
At the same time, ripples of red spread out in every direction, enveloping the entire arena in an instant. Only Long Xingyu remained unaffected, golden light shining from within him.
The energy of the Divine Throne dispelled the strange ripples. The King of Slaughter gave him a long look, thinking that his suspicions had been right.
There was something inside Long Xingyu that drew him in. Could that also be why Long Xingyu was "immune" to the rules of the City of Slaughter?
If they fought openly right now, the King might not come out on top. He hurriedly sacrificed the fallen around them, using their lives and blood to fully open the Hell Road!
A great quantity of blood gathered in the center, forming the shape of a bat on the floor. Blood-red mist parted to reveal the passage, and a powerful force swept Long Xingyu inside. In the blink of an eye, he was gone.
"Heh heh, whatever tricks you've got, once you're in there, you'll be at my mercy."
Seeing his plan go smoothly, the King of Slaughter grinned smugly and followed him inside.
But he had no idea that in that brief moment, Long Xingyu had already used his powerful spiritual energy to activate a certain ward.
Again and again... Meanwhile, inside a stone house in the outer city, more and more dormant array patterns began to glow with an uncanny light.
The concealment array, already fully completed, once again proved its worth. It blocked both energy and light, so no one in the City of Slaughter noticed a thing.
On the contrary, Lin Feng, far away on the Holy Demon Continent, and the First Demon Legion, poised for action, were immediately drawn by the disturbance. They realized that the second phase of the plan had officially begun!
"That's the energy fluctuation of the temporary teleportation array."
Electrolux served as the link, connecting the souls of the two continents.
With practiced ease, he interacted with the energy and established a spatial passage.
Compared with the large teleportation array, the temporary one lasted far less time and consumed far more energy. It could only transport a small number of people.
At Electrolux's current strength, he could take at most twenty ninth-rank powerhouses. Afterward, he would need a long time to rest—or his soul would collapse.
So Lin Feng had prepared a backup plan long ago.
The First Demon Legion numbered more than ten thousand.
Clearly, they could not meet the requirements for the teleportation array. So they had to settle for the next best thing.
They would use the Vanguard Army, led by Samigina, the Fourth Pillar Necromancy Demon God, and Marbas, the Fifth Pillar Hell Demon God.
The First Demon Legion had a total of twelve ninth-rank Demon Gods. They would bring in several more from other legions to make up a temporary team of twenty.
They would head to Douluo Continent first, seize the City of Slaughter, and completely clear it out. Then they would turn it into a new Outpost and safely set up the large teleportation array.
"Everyone, it's your turn to take the stage..."
Before you continue