Hell Road

In the blink of an eye, two years had passed.

Huo Yuhao had already achieved ninety-nine consecutive victories in the Hell Slaughter Arena. No one dared underestimate this frail-looking twelve-year-old boy.

The boy's brows and eyes were cold and stern, his skin pale. His black hair was tied into a ponytail, streaked here and there with gold, its ends falling around his neck. Combined with the strange vertical-eye tattoo on his forehead, he seemed as silent as a ghost.

He possessed a body as powerful as a soul beast's, unpredictable footwork, exceedingly refined combat techniques, battle instincts that seemed heaven-given, ever-changing bizarre weapons, and endless methods of using poison. He seemed born to embody slaughter itself, as though his very existence was meant to reap the lives of this world.

As early as the second time the boy stepped into the Hell Slaughter Arena, someone had opened betting odds on how many matches the child could survive. The stakes kept rising, but later, no one dared mention it again.

There had once been rumors that the boy possessed an extraordinarily precious top-tier soul bone. Otherwise, there was no way to explain his heaven-defying physical constitution.

Because of this, he had been besieged many times. Yet without exception, those people had all died, and their deaths were especially gruesome, as though their life force had been drained away. Only then did the people of the inner city realize it.

The monster that had appeared at some unknown point, wandering the inner city and stealing people's vitality, was the boy before them!

"Undead!"

"Undead!"

"Undead!"

All the spectators were cheering. No one knew why the boy had chosen such a codename, but it did not matter. They were about to witness a legend.

The battle was decided quickly. Huo Yuhao stood in the center of the platform, waiting for Killing City's administrator to descend.

"Congratulations, Undead. You are the youngest champion in Killing City's history." A low, piercing voice struck at Huo Yuhao from every direction, attempting to disrupt his consciousness. Yet Huo Yuhao immediately fixed his gaze on the space above and to his side.

A blood-red figure was slowly descending from the sky.

At the sight of this person, the surrounding crowd's cries abruptly stalled, only to erupt into even more fervent cheers the next moment.

"Slaughter King!"

"Slaughter King!"

"Slaughter King!"

Huo Yuhao pressed his lips tightly together. The Slaughter King felt extremely dangerous to him, very likely an Ultimate Douluo-level powerhouse!

The man was entirely wrapped in a blood-colored cloak and was exceptionally tall. His eyes were crimson as blood, and his aura was incomparably dangerous. Yet Huo Yuhao sensed an air of decay emanating from him.

Most importantly, Huo Yuhao felt a trace of familiarity from the man's pale face. He had definitely seen that face somewhere before.

Just as Huo Yuhao was pondering where exactly he had seen this person before—

"Hell Road, open!"

Red energy rippled out from him in an instant, swiftly covering the entire Hell Slaughter Arena.

The stone carvings on the ground began to glow as well. The spectators immediately let out miserable screams. Even more people were blasted into blood mist before they could make a sound, and countless streams of blood gathered on the stone platform beneath Huo Yuhao's feet.

Huo Yuhao paid no attention to this change. From beginning to end, his focus remained on the Slaughter King!

That greedy gaze made every muscle in his body tense.

The red light before his eyes quickly faded, and Huo Yuhao found himself atop a high platform.

He rapidly scanned his surroundings. Ahead was a suspended stone path only a foot wide, while below churned Bloody Mary like magma.

Without the slightest hesitation, Huo Yuhao strode forward.

After walking for roughly half an hour, the temperature around him grew hotter and hotter. Sweat continuously dripped along the lines of his firm muscles, forming shallow puddles on the ground before quickly vanishing.

Huo Yuhao had long since taken off his clothes. He wore only a pair of snug shorts on his lower body, with Twenty-Four Bridges Under Moonlight tied around his waist. The God Realm belt that had accompanied him for many years was slung diagonally over his shoulder.

The ice silkworm silk brought a faint coolness, temporarily easing some of Huo Yuhao's discomfort.

The sound of beating wings grew louder and louder in his ears. Huo Yuhao gradually slowed his steps as a visible mass of red cloud sped toward him.

Huo Yuhao instantly activated his Spirit Eyes, and the red cloud was immediately analyzed.

It was not a true red cloud at all, but a swarm of enormous bats, each with a wingspan exceeding one meter. There were at least a thousand of them, by rough estimate.

Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes.

His toes tapped the ground several times, and he shot forward. At the same time, his hands swept over Twenty-Four Bridges Under Moonlight at his waist, and all manner of needle-like hidden weapons shot from his fingertips.

More than a dozen enormous bats immediately fell into the blood pool below, splashing up blossoms of blood.

With their companions dead, the bat swarm halted briefly. Then some of the bats split off, not attacking Huo Yuhao, but instead tearing at the path behind him.

Huo Yuhao frowned slightly. Such a massive colony that even knew tactics must have a king of considerable intelligence.

This discovery made Huo Yuhao instantly alter his battle plan. With a grab of his right hand, a long blade of refined iron appeared in his grasp.

In Killing City, as long as one was willing to kill, spoils such as weapons would always gradually accumulate.

"Dragon Rain Dance." Huo Yuhao darted left and right through the bat swarm, leaping from one bat to another. As he slew the bats, his Spirit Eyes continued searching.

Suddenly, Huo Yuhao precisely caught sight of a flash of gold.

A massive golden bat with three heads hung upside down beneath the stone path. Judging by its aura, it was absolutely no weaker than a ten-thousand-year soul beast.

The instant Huo Yuhao discovered it, the bat moved. Its enormous wings spread wide, carrying fierce gusts of wind as it swooped down at Huo Yuhao from above.

At the same time, a ring of dark-red ripples spread from its heads, and the bats beneath Huo Yuhao's feet instantly turned into blood mist.

Having lost his foothold, Huo Yuhao began to fall. He twisted in midair and found another landing point within only two or three breaths.

He continued leaping, rapidly closing in on the Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King.

When less than twenty meters remained between them, the Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King's foul breath rushed straight at him.

Huo Yuhao stomped down hard, instantly crushing the spine of a blood-red bat beneath his feet.

Gathering all his strength into a single strike, he spun and hurled the long blade in his hand in that direction. The tremendous force was unstoppable, startling the dark-gold three-headed bat into gathering a great number of blood-colored bats to block it.

The next moment, the Dark-Gold Three-Headed Bat King felt a sharp pain in its heart.

Taking advantage of the opening beneath it that had been exposed just now, Huo Yuhao had launched another throwing knife.

The knife passed beneath its ribs and struck straight into its heart.

Ten-thousand-year soul beasts possessed extremely powerful vitality. An ordinary throwing knife could not immediately take its life, but it did drive it into a frenzied state. The bat swarm that had been attacking Huo Yuhao immediately lost its target.

Huo Yuhao did not linger in battle either. He threw out the Flying Divine Claw, and with a pull of the rope, directly left the underside of the stone path.

He had once sworn that he would not slaughter soul beasts indiscriminately. Even now that he had returned twenty thousand years into the past, he still wished to uphold that vow.