Back then, although he had not yet become a Titled Douluo, he had not been entirely powerless against the five-person Soul Hunting squad. After a bitter struggle, he had successfully wiped them out.
Only after the crisis had passed did he belatedly realize what had happened, and then he vomited violently.
He remembered it clearly: he had nearly passed out from vomiting.
Back then, he had only been able to temporarily ignore the discomfort brought on by killing because of the special circumstances. If he had not killed the Soul Hunting squad, they would have killed him. In that state of extreme tension, he had temporarily ignored his discomfort.
But how did Tang Mo look remotely tense now? He was treating killing as an art, calmly disposing of every bandit before him.
In no time at all, Tang Mo had disposed of the eleven bandits one by one. Eleven corpses lay piled on the ground, while Tang Mo reappeared inside the carriage as though nothing had happened.
Tang Mo looked no different now than he had before leaving. After all that killing, his face was not flushed, nor was he out of breath. He looked nothing like someone who had just taken eleven lives.
Even Yue Guan, who was sitting close to Tang Mo, could see no sign that he had gone on a killing spree just moments before.
Neither Tang Mo's clothes nor his aura had changed from when he left. Even more absurdly, there was not the slightest scent of blood on him.
Even a butcher cutting meat would have the smell of blood left on him.
Yue Guan looked as though he wanted to say something, but after hesitating for a moment, he asked nothing.
As far as he was concerned, it was perfectly understandable for a genius to have a few peculiar habits. Even if those habits sounded rather creepy, there was no need to probe into them.
"I have never cared for fighting to prove my courage or ferocity. I only enjoy settling disputes for others." At this, Tang Mo smiled faintly.
As everyone knew, the most important part of breaking up a fight was not laying out facts and reasoning, but having the strength to pin both arguing-or even fighting-parties to the ground and grind them into the dirt.
Thus, Tang Mo's way of settling disputes was to wipe out both sides, leaving no one alive. That way, there would be no more conflict.
He did not love killing, but if it served his purposes, he did not mind staining his hands with blood.
After that little interlude, the three arrived outside Spirit City. Yue Guan lifted the carriage curtain and showed his face to the guards, and they continued all the way to the foot of the mountain.
Spirit City had been built against the mountain. Pope Hall stood halfway up, while Worship Hall stood at the summit.
At the foot of the mountain, the horse-shaped Soul Beasts pulling the carriage seemed to sense something that terrified them utterly, and refused to climb any farther.
Even without the Titled Douluo in Elder Hall and Worship Hall actively releasing their pressure, their presence alone was enough to frighten the vast majority of Soul Beasts into refusing to advance.
This was the suppression of weaker life by stronger life. Unless they were Soul Beasts several tens of thousands of years old, they would not dare set foot on the road to Pope Hall.
Thus, the only way up the mountain was on foot. At least now, with the techniques for crafting Soul Tools lost, there was no way to ascend using external means.
Inside Pope Hall, Bibi Dong sat alone on the raised dais, looking down at Tang Mo, Yue Guan, and Gui Mei as they entered.
Once Yue Guan and Gui Mei entered the hall, they stood on either side of Bibi Dong like a pair of bots, serving as her left and right guardians.
Just as Bibi Dong carefully sized Tang Mo up, two faint strands of divine consciousness watched him without her noticing at all.
One strand brimmed with darkness, resentment, slaughter, and other negative emotions. It belonged to the Rakshasa God.
The other seethed with killing intent, yet retained an air of righteous judgment. It belonged to the Asura God.
The Asura God's faint divine consciousness lay hidden within Bibi Dong's Divine Slaughter's Domain, while the Rakshasa God's divine consciousness came from the Rakshasa God Trial she was undertaking.
The Asura God's Divine Exam followed a wide-net approach. Anyone who passed through Hell Road in Slaughter City could obtain Divine Slaughter's Domain, thereby earning the qualification to undertake the Asura God Trial.
To truly undertake the Asura God Trial, however, one had to keep strengthening Divine Slaughter's Domain.
For that reason, every Soul Master who obtained Divine Slaughter's Domain would, in a sense, receive the Asura God's attention.
The Rakshasa God's power conflicted with the Asura God's, and was even restrained by it. In addition, the Rakshasa God's power also contained an element of slaughter. Following the principle that those who were too slow got nothing, the Rakshasa God was very fond of poaching the Asura God's chosen candidates.
When Tang Mo appeared before Bibi Dong, both gods' divine consciousnesses sensed the aura of the assassin's way within him, which was why they had appeared simultaneously to observe him.
And so, without Bibi Dong knowing anything about it, the Rakshasa God actually began considering another successor, while the Asura God also took a slight interest in Tang Mo.
Generally speaking, a Divine Exam consisted of multiple tests, and their difficulty gradually increased, so the time required for each test would also keep increasing.
Bibi Dong had already completed part of her Divine Exam. For the Rakshasa God, the sunk cost of replacing her now was too high, so the strand of divine consciousness could only cast a reluctant glance at Tang Mo before vanishing without a trace.
Compared with the Rakshasa God, who already had a successor likely to pass the tests, the Asura God had far fewer concerns.
For him, it was enough if the net he cast ultimately caught a fish.
Although Tang Chen, who had been parasitized by the Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King, had already obtained the Asura God Sword and completed most of the Divine Exam, he had now been corrupted by the Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King. Even if he could break free of its control, he had lost the qualification to continue the Divine Exam.
The Asura God was probably quite dumbfounded upon seeing Tang Chen's condition. He had finally found a successor he considered worthy, one who had even completed most of the Divine Exam, only for that successor to play himself straight into ruin.
Although Tang Mo, standing below the dais, could not detect the two gods watching him, his practice of the Observation Method had made him extremely sensitive to changes in his surroundings, and he still sensed an abnormal change in the environment.
It was a very strange feeling. He clearly could not detect any trace of the two strands of divine consciousness, nor could he say for certain whether someone was watching him, yet he felt uncomfortable all over.
Bibi Dong noticed that Tang Mo seemed somewhat ill at ease, but paid it no mind.
After all, she had felt somewhat ill at ease herself when she first met Qian Xunji.
Never mind an orphan with neither father nor mother-even Soul Masters from the Upper Three Sects or members of the two great empires' imperial families would show fear or reverence upon meeting her for the first time.
By comparison, the fact that Tang Mo was merely a little ill at ease upon first meeting her was already quite remarkable.
As the divine consciousness dissipated, the strange feeling in Tang Mo's heart faded, and his awkwardness vanished without a trace as well.
Seeing this, Bibi Dong believed she had gained a new understanding of Tang Mo. In her eyes, this showed that he had adjusted his state of mind as quickly as possible.
Her first impression of Tang Mo rose considerably in an instant. At the very least, he had left her with the impression of exceptional talent and a firm temperament. For a moment, Bibi Dong even seemed to see her former self in him.
But whenever she thought of her former self, she inevitably thought of Qian Xunji. And the moment she thought of Qian Xunji, most of her goodwill toward Tang Mo instantly disappeared.
"Not bad," Bibi Dong assessed him in a lukewarm tone. "Starting tomorrow, you will attend classes with the Saintess and the others."
Before you continue