Road to Hell

Xiaofei did not set off immediately. Instead, he adjusted his breathing for a while, waiting until his mind had calmed and his Soul Power had recovered to its peak.

Once he had fully recovered, Xiaofei began walking forward along the Road to Hell. Though the road was extremely narrow, it was smooth sailing for Xiaofei, who had mastered flight. If he had not been worried about something going wrong with the trial, he could have simply flown straight ahead.

As Xiaofei advanced, he felt the air growing hotter and hotter, as though immense heat were rising from below. However, this had almost no effect on Xiaofei, who possessed the Fire Attribute.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound seemed to rise from below. Xiaofei steadied his mind, knowing that the Blood Red Bats had arrived. Before long, the buzzing grew louder and louder, and countless red lights appeared in the sky. Looking closely, they were innumerable blood-red bats.

Those blood-red bats flew swiftly, closing in within moments. Their eyes were blood-red as well. Upon spotting their target, they let out harsh screeches, baring sharp fangs. The flapping wings of over a thousand blood bats stirred up a foul, bloody wind.

As Xiaofei walked, he swung the Iron Sword in his hand, fending off the bats' attacks. As more and more bats attacked, his movements grew faster and faster. Xiaofei aimed at the densest cluster of bats ahead, and his right hand suddenly transformed into a Fire Phoenix. The scorching Phoenix Flame instantly annihilated countless bats, wiping out a full tenth of the swarm.

Seeing Xiaofei's flaming right claw, the bats did not dare approach. Yet they refused to leave, continually harassing him.

Suddenly, Xiaofei sensed an even more powerful energy fluctuation ahead. Directly before him, beneath the narrow path, hung an enormous creature upside down. Bathed in a faint red glow, it emitted a dark golden radiance. It was over four meters long, and its two massive claws gripped the narrow path. Each claw was over a meter in diameter, its sharp talons embedded in the stone.

Amid the shrill cries of countless blood bats, a pair of enormous wings slowly unfolded from that dark golden body. Its terrifying wingspan reached a staggering ten meters. Its claws suddenly released their hold, and with a beat of its huge wings, its massive body took flight. It was an incomparably gigantic bat.

The Darkgold Three-Headed Bat King let out a low cry before flying rapidly toward Xiaofei. Before its immense body even reached him, an incomparably tyrannical aura had already rushed at his face. The terrifying gale it generated was more dreadful than all the Blood Red Bats combined.

Xiaofei had been waiting for its arrival. Flames suddenly erupted all over his body, and his limbs transformed into those of a phoenix as he shot toward the Darkgold Three-Headed Bat King. Xiaofei suddenly extended five steel claws from his right hand and slashed at the Darkgold Three-Headed Bat King, cutting it directly in half. Golden light instantly spread out. With a bang, a large amount of golden liquid splattered in every direction. Any blood bats struck by the golden liquid immediately perished amid miserable shrieks.

With the Darkgold Three-Headed Bat King's death, the other blood bats instantly became leaderless and charged at Xiaofei in a nearly vengeful frenzy. Faced with even more incoming bats, Xiaofei did not transform into a phoenix this time. Instead, he spread the Fire Phoenix Bone Wings on his back. The fifty-thousand-year Fire Phoenix Bone Wings were now as sharp as blades. Before long, they had sliced the surrounding bats into fragments.

After eliminating the blood bats, Xiaofei rested for a while before continuing along the Road to Hell. Suddenly, he spotted a pair of enormous fiery-red eyes ahead. Looking closer, he saw a gigantic snake coiled in the middle of the Road to Hell.

The snake's head was enormous, with a diameter of a full five meters. There were nine fleshy tumors atop its head. Xiaofei knew that this was the ancient exotic beast, the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent. The giant snake suddenly spat a mouthful of pungent breath at Xiaofei. It carried intense fiery heat and clearly seemed mixed with some kind of toxin.

Xiaofei instantly transformed all four limbs through Beast Transformation, then beat his bone wings and hovered over the giant snake like a phoenix. Relying on his extreme speed, he continuously darted through the air, occasionally striking the giant snake. The snake's poison was virtually useless against Xiaofei, whose body had undergone Ice and Fire Body Tempering, while the giant snake was far slower than him.

The Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's weakness was the nine fleshy tumors on its head. Taking advantage of the instant its injuries slowed it down, Xiaofei seized the opportunity and drove his five steel claws into its weak point. In the end, the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's entire head was torn to pieces, and its body collapsed to the ground. Xiaofei finally let out a long breath.

A fiery-red orb emerged from the snake's body. Xiaofei used his Soul Power to draw the orb into his hand. The orb was incredibly hot. This was the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's Inner Core, the essence of its entire body.

After putting away the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent's Inner Core, Xiaofei had passed two consecutive trials. Only the final trial remained. He continued forward along the Road to Hell. As he went deeper, the temperature continued to rise, and the dark-red liquid flowing through the abysses on either side gradually became clearer, changing from barely visible to distinct. The terrain seemed to have been sloping downward all along. Xiaofei understood that he had finally reached the last trial.

Xiaofei quickened his pace. As he drew closer to the abyss, his descent accelerated. The air clearly grew hotter and hotter, his vision more and more blurred, the Killing Intent around him heavier, and the evil aura within his body stronger.

The immense evil aura, the scorching and sinister blood plasma, and his own powerful killing aura—passing through the Road to Hell amid these three auras was the final test.

Xiaofei pushed the Spirit Wisdom Soul Bone on his head to its limit. A trace of white light had appeared a thousand meters ahead; that should be the exit of the Road to Hell. Enduring every kind of pain in his heart, Xiaofei beat his wings and flew swiftly toward the exit. At last, just before he lost control, he flew through the light. Then Xiaofei gradually lost consciousness.

No one knew how much time had passed before Xiaofei slowly awoke and gradually regained his awareness. Looking around, he found himself in a lush forest. Xiaofei knew that he had finally emerged from the Road to Hell. Examining the changes in his body, Xiaofei found several strange patterns on himself. Those patterns were the very same ones that had appeared when the Road to Hell opened—the Nine-Headed Bat King. Xiaofei tried activating the patterns, and in an instant, surging white light quietly spread out. The white light was released from Xiaofei's body, but it soon turned colorless. Everything around him seemed to tremble beneath that white light. This was a domain formed from Killing Intent: Divine Slaughter's Domain. It was also one of his gains from the past two years in the City of Slaughter.

Withdrawing Divine Slaughter's Domain, Xiaofei left the forest. It was time to return to Blazing Academy.