Shrouded in Mystery

At the ruins of Cold Stone Town, the north wind howled, and even the sunlight filtering through the sky carried a chill. ♣☝ 🎀♦

Suddenly, a thin golden line appeared out of thin air in the cold wind, like folds in the air refracted by sunlight, with continuous wind blades slicing through it as if passing through a phantom.

A few breaths later, the thin line twisted, and a tall, black and red figure suddenly appeared in mid-air.

Tall and thin, wearing a blood-red robe and a stand-up collar cloak, his pale face was covered with hideous and terrifying demonic patterns. He was the Slaughter King!

A pair of bat wings unfurled behind him, and no matter how the howling wind lashed at him, the Slaughter King remained motionless. His red-glowing eyes scanned the surroundings, and his blood-red brows furrowed. "Douluo Continent?"

The next second, the expression on his sinister face changed slightly, and his body shifted several meters to the side in an instant, leaving the original spot.

Just then, a sharp, scorching Sword Radiance flashed, and the faint lines on the ground were stretched open, from which a figure with three pairs of brilliant golden wings burst forth.

It is Qian Daoliu!

Upon seeing Qian Daoliu, the Slaughter King's eyes flashed red, and a clear look of fear appeared on his face.

Back in the sub-plane of "Slaughter City," even with the power of the Divine Realm, he was still overwhelmed by Qian Daoliu. Now that the space has shifted and he has arrived on the main plane of the Douluo Continent, although he, as the Slaughter King, can still mobilize the power of the Divine Realm to cover him, the effect and consumption are incomparable. Isn't he doomed to lose?

For some reason, the Slaughter King, who always valued his own safety highly, couldn't help but feel a sense of defiance upon seeing Qian Daoliu's face.

So, war?

Fight my ass!

The moment his fighting spirit arose, it was extinguished by the Slaughter King's pure and extreme killing intent. With a sudden flap of his two enormous bat wings, he flew northward against the howling north wind.

When the two sides are evenly matched, that's called a battle; if you're weaker than the other, that's just asking for trouble.

A cold wind, sharp as a knife, struck his face, which was covered in demonic markings. To be honest, the Slaughter King was feeling rather terrible at that moment.

He felt his mind was a jumble of thoughts, as if two or three different consciousnesses were intertwined. One was urging him to turn around and fight that "Angel" Martial Soul Master again to settle the score, while the other was urging him to speed away and avoid the enemy's sharp edge. Weighing the pros and cons, he chose to listen to the latter and ignored the former's restlessness.

The Slaughter King's red-glowing eyes held a chilling aura, colder than the biting wind from the Land of the Far North.

Who am I, really?

The moment this thought appeared, it lingered in the mind of the Slaughter King, swirling around for Jiujiu.

He had never considered this question before, but now the two thoughts in his mind that were completely beyond his control were clearly telling him that his consciousness was not entirely under his own control.

"Tang Chen? He called me Tang Chen before, so am I Tang Chen?"

Only then did the Slaughter King realize with horror that he seemed to have no memory of anything before becoming the Slaughter King in the Slaughter City ".

It was as if one day, he suddenly sat on the throne of the Slaughter King, holding the power of life and death over the ' Slaughter City '.

His thirst for blood and pursuit of power made him completely oblivious to his past thoughts and any reflections on his past.

Flying several miles out of the Cold Stone Town ruins, the Slaughter King, having gained the advantage of being the first to Qian Daoliu, had created a distance of several hundred meters between himself and Qian Daoliu behind him. A red light flashed in his eyes, and the demonic patterns on his face seemed to come alive, wriggling like centipedes. A blood-red light, barely visible to the naked eye, flew out from his body, creating strange phenomena in the air in front of him, resembling ripples on the surface of water.

In less than half a second, the towering figure of the Slaughter King rushed into the rippled phenomenon and disappeared.

In less than half a second, Qian Daoliu at the spot where the Slaughter King had disappeared, his golden eyes shining with divine light as he looked around, searching for any trace of the Slaughter King.

On the other side, having just arrived at Hell Road and temporarily escaped Qian Daoliu's Slaughter King, before they could even catch their breath, they were startled by the scene before them.

"Who are you?! How did you end up here?!" the Slaughter King asked in a fierce voice, his eyes filled with even more shock and fear than when he faced Qian Daoliu.

Faced with the Slaughter King's questioning, Ling Yi glanced back casually and replied, "Wait a moment."

Slaughter King: "???"

His blood-red eyes reflected a figure covered in dark armor, his gloved hand gripping a massive, dark red snake over ten meters long and as thick as a bucket.

The giant snake was dead. Its not-so-large golden-red eyes had become dull and lifeless. There were nine protrusions on its back and head, each of which looked like a bright red mushroom, as if blood was flowing inside.

With a wave of his hand, Ling Yi stored the "Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent," whose spirit had been extinguished, into his Storage Soul Tool. He then turned around and looked at the Slaughter King, glancing at the long, half-foot-wide stone path that had been interrupted not far away.

That was the tail that the "Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent" had broken when it ambushed him. He then chopped off half of it with a chop to the neck. Just as the serpent was about to run away, he caught up with it by taking two steps into the air, grabbed its head, and used his vast mental power to kill it on a spiritual level.

Watching Ling Yi, whose entire body was covered in black armor, put the "Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent" body into his Storage Soul Tool, the Slaughter King did not make any rash moves.

The Slaughter King didn't care that the "Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent" guarding the Hell Road had been killed. The "Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent" was nothing to him. If it were him, killing this beast would only take three or four moves. But where was this place?

This is the core area of the "Slaughter City," within the Hell Road!

But this black-armored man had actually managed to enter the Hell Road out of thin air without the Slaughter King activating the Hell Slaughter Arena Blood Sacrifice. This was truly astonishing for the Slaughter King.

First, a "Spirit Hall" "Angel" Martial Soul Master broke into the "Slaughter City". Now, someone has even bypassed him, the Slaughter King, to enter the Hell Road. Does this mean that the "Slaughter City" has become a sieve, allowing outsiders to come and go as they please?

"Squeak squeak squeak—!" *N

Just as Ling Yi's eyes met those of the Slaughter King, a sharp, piercing cry suddenly rang out from the dark space above.

Upon hearing the sound, Ling Yi merely frowned slightly, finding it somewhat noisy. However, the Slaughter King, who had always been wary of Ling Yi, trembled, and red light began to flash in his eyes.

Noticing the Slaughter King's unusual behavior, Ling Yi raised his head and looked upwards. With his current eyesight, he could easily see the scene in the darkness.

Hanging upside down from the dark rocky cave ceiling was a dense swarm of blood-red bats, and in the center of this cluster of Blood Bat was a huge, dark golden bat that was over four meters long.

Most strangely, this giant dark gold bat had three heads.

At this moment, under this guy's leadership, thousands of Blood Bat cried out in unison, seemingly telling the Slaughter King something.

"Tsk tsk~"

Ling Yi raised his head and looked down at the Slaughter King, dozens of meters away. "These beasts are yours to raise? They've come to seek your back, their master?"

Just now, he found a spatial node in the Hell Slaughter Arena and followed the spatial fluctuations to enter this Hell Road.

He appeared in mid-air, using the Yu Feng to step onto the half-foot-wide stone path that was suspended in the air and had no end in sight. The Blood Bat then showed some aggressive tendencies, making sharp cries as they were about to pounce. However, just before they could attack, they were intimidated by a look from Ling Yi and fell into the blood pool below like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

In other words, Ling Yi didn't exert much force. The Blood Bat fell halfway before regaining control of themselves, flapping their wings to escape again, and obediently returned to the top of the Hell Road space and hung upside down.

Just as he had taken a few leisurely steps, the "Ten-Headed Fierce Yang Serpent" burst out from beneath the half-foot-wide stone path that resembled an abyss, spewing scorching red poisonous mist from its mouth and smashing the stone path with its tail to attack Ling Yi.

Ling Yi's words seemed to have touched a nerve. The red light flashing in the Slaughter King's eyes suddenly stopped, and the demonic markings on his face emitted a faint black glow. A sinister smile appeared on his face, "Hehehe—!"

"Whoever you are, once you've come here, become my sacrifice—!"

As soon as the sound faded, the Slaughter King, whose entire demeanor had suddenly changed, unfurled his bat wings and roared.

Almost simultaneously, the Blood Bat hanging upside down above, as well as the enormous "Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King," also began to hiss in unison.

Powerful sound waves echoed throughout the Hell Road space, growing louder and louder, carrying with them a captivating and eerie power.

"Click-clack—"

Amidst the immense sonic boom, the subtle cracking sounds were inconspicuous, yet they did not escape Ling Yi's keen perception. Ignoring the pervasive sound waves and mental interference, he looked down at the rapidly spreading cracks on the half-foot-long stone path beneath his feet.

With an indifferent stomp, Ling Yi crushed the already crumbling stone path, standing casually in mid-air. He looked down at the Slaughter King, whose bat wings were spread and hovering in mid-air as well, and tilted his head. "You don't think I'm going to fall, do you?"

As he spoke, he pointed to the huge pool of blood below, which churned like lava.

Watching the fragments of the broken stone path fall into the blood pool, splashing up huge waves of blood, and then looking at Ling Yi, the black-armored man who stood steadily in mid-air despite having no wings, the corner of the Slaughter King's mouth twitched unnaturally on his eerily pale face.

"Die--!"

A low growl of rage escaped the Slaughter King's lips. With a flash, his blood-red claws and two giant, sword-like bat wings attacked Ling Yi's chest, head, and neck.

However, Ling Yi remained extremely calm under the black mask, his body swaying slightly to deflect all the attacks. He clenched his fist in the metal gauntlet and delivered a seemingly ordinary straight punch, which appeared instantly on the dark red breastplate of the Slaughter King as if breaking through space.

The breastplate was as fragile as paper, and it shattered instantly. The black metal fist slammed into the Slaughter King's chest, and a powerful fist force pierced through his body, tearing apart the blood-red cloak on his back and forming a huge fist-shaped gash.

"Puff--!"

A mouthful of bright red blood spurted directly from the Slaughter King's mouth, but Ling Yi turned his head to avoid it.

At the same time, controlled by the Slaughter King, countless Blood Bat swarmed towards Ling Yi, including the enormous "Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King".

With a punch that sent the Slaughter King flying, Ling Yi retaliated by striking the incoming Blood Bat with a palm strike. The blood, still in mid-air, was drawn by an invisible force, transforming into a pale red cloud that rushed towards the "Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King" and the swarm of Blood Bat.

"Hiss hiss hiss—!"

The sound of needles piercing leather rang out, and Blood Bat fell from the pale red cloud of mist like dumplings, plummeting straight down into the blood pool below.

On the other side, in just a split second of combat, the Slaughter King confirmed one thing:

He couldn't defeat the person in front of him, who was shrouded in black armor and was even stronger than the Soul Master with the "Angel" Martial Soul from the Spirit Hall!

"Run--!"

The idea of a strategic retreat came to mind. Cunning and decisive, he ignored the Blood Bat that were still rushing to their deaths, turned around, stuck his hands into the void, and then pulled them apart forcefully, as if opening a sluggish door, opening a spatial passage, and without hesitation, he went inside.

Darkness turned into light in an instant, and the Slaughter King once again arrived in the main plane of the Douluo Continent.

Before he could even catch his breath, a radiant and sacred aura that he felt a deep-seated loathing approached from afar, arriving within a dozen meters of him in an instant.

"Wait a minute!" Seeing the newcomer, before the other could even raise their golden sword, the Slaughter King cried out urgently, "I am not Tang Chen, but I know where he is—!"

The escape of the Slaughter King caused the Blood Bat swarm's offensive to pause, especially after Ling Yi waved his hand and put the corpse of the "Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King" into his Storage Soul Tool. All the Blood Bat, big and small, flapped their wings and fled in panic into the depths of darkness.

Ling Yi looked up at the spot where the Slaughter King had left. The spatial fluctuations were still there. If he wanted to chase after him, it wouldn't be a big problem; he could just follow the path.

But now, Ling Yi has a new goal.

With one step, when he reappeared, Ling Yi was already standing in front of a huge pool of blood.

The pool of blood, surging and occasionally bursting with crimson bubbles, emitted an astonishingly high temperature, as if the water contained not blood, but magma that could melt gold and iron.

Ignoring the high temperature inside the blood pool and the intense stench of blood that assaulted his brain, Ling Yi stared intently into the blood pool.

With a shimmering light between his brows, Ling Yi's ' Holy Embryo ' released a surge of spiritual power, quietly probing into the blood pool.

At the center of the bottom of the blood pool, a huge sword-shaped pattern stretched across the surface. As soon as Ling Yi's mental power approached, an indescribable strange feeling welled up in his heart.

Out of caution, Ling Yi controlled this mental power and extinguished it into nothingness.

Outside the blood pool, Ling Yi stared intently at it, a strange light flickering in his deep eyes.

After a while, Ling Yi turned and left without looking back.

In the darkness, a faint murmur could be heard:

"Nineteen claps of stone falling into a deep ravine, still a level above hell. What a Ghost's Sorrow!"