Douluo Continent: Simulating Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, Exclusively Screwing Over Tang San
As the red light descended upon the spectator stands, the fallen who had been cheering wildly gradually fell silent.
The eyes of every fallen gradually grew vacant, then turned bloodshot.
Before long, as the red light formed a massive barrier over the entire Hell Slaughter Arena, agonized screams began to rise from those who had first come into contact with it.
Under the red light's influence, the fallen seemed half-mad, clawing desperately at their faces and every part of their bodies.
They turned all their strength upon themselves, and their screams contained the pleasure of extreme excitement, as though they derived endless enjoyment from the process of mutilating themselves.
Skin peeled back and blood sprayed everywhere. They even dug their own organs out, stopping only when their madness ended in death.
The blood of the fallen spilled onto the ground and began to gather. Great quantities of blood flowed like little streams through inconspicuous narrow channels beneath the spectator stands, toward the center of the arena.
Countless winding streams of red liquid could be clearly seen flowing into the arena like little snakes.
The blood did not spread across the arena floor in straight lines. At some point, grooves had appeared in the ground.
Blood flowed into the grooves, gradually gathering into a massive blood-red pattern on the ground.
The pattern formed from the blood was a birdlike creature, but it looked strange. Rather than an ordinary bird, it resembled a bat, and in the end, Gong Yu confirmed that it was indeed a bat pattern.
"Rakshasa!" The corners of Gong Yu's mouth rose slightly as he softly spoke the name.
Suddenly, the bat's eyes lit up, and an immense pillar of red light shot into the sky. It engulfed Gong Yu in an instant, dragging him into an unknown space.
Everything around him grew indistinct to his senses. Only the King of Slaughter's low, sharp snort echoed in his ears.
"Hmph... I hope you don't die in there!"
After the world spun around him, Gong Yu found himself on a circular platform.
The platform was only about five meters in diameter, and he lay sprawled on it.
He sat up cross-legged and first steadied his breathing.
After he had done so, he stood and carefully observed his surroundings for a while.
Everything around him was tinged a faint blood-red. Beyond the five-meter-wide circular platform beneath his feet lay nothing but a bottomless abyss.
The sight alone made Gong Yu draw several sharp breaths.
A narrow path less than half a foot wide stretched before him into an unknown darkness. Barely wide enough for both feet to stand side by side, it was the only route off the platform.
"Never mind. I'll get moving first!" Gong Yu glanced once more at the abyss below, which was entirely blood-red. He knew it was the core of Slaughter City: down there lay the pool of blood whose energy kept the city running normally.
But as he was now, he could not descend to it.
"Perhaps it'll be useful someday. If my Dragon Elephant Prajna hits a bottleneck, maybe I can come here and use the blood pool's energy to give it a push."
As he thought this, Gong Yu strode quickly forward.
The farther he went, the hotter it became. Gong Yu knew it was because he was drawing closer to the blood pool.
Before long, Gong Yu heard a noisy buzzing in the air.
Using his Purple Demon Eye, he could faintly make out some red shapes rapidly approaching.
"They're here?" A slight smile curled Gong Yu's lips. He didn't need to guess what was coming-it was just a swarm of bats!
When they drew closer, Gong Yu saw them clearly. Each bat was a full foot long, with a wingspan of over a meter.
As for their number, Gong Yu couldn't be bothered to count. There were hundreds, if not thousands.
Gong Yu immediately circulated his Qi and blood and unleashed a Golden Dragon King's Roar. The bats quickly wilted, afraid to advance but equally afraid to retreat.
Whenever Gong Yu took a step forward, they followed with a step forward; whenever he stepped back, they retreated in turn. Their movements were as synchronized as those of soldiers who had undergone rigorous training.
But the bats looked more as though they were seeing Gong Yu off, eager for him to leave quickly.
"Alas..." Gong Yu sighed heavily. He figured the big bat probably wasn't going to come out.
"This is all because of Break Evil Dragon's recklessness. Now I can't even have a proper bit of fun. I hope the creature in the next trial comes out, or this trip will have been a loss!"
Gong Yu didn't care whether he killed the big bat, but he had to kill the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent. He was determined to obtain its Inner Core. It was the Seventh Soul Ring he had prepared for Gong Xue, the key to making her Martial Soul evolve again.
Sure enough, he passed the first trial with ease. The big bat never appeared from beginning to end, almost as if it had been arranged.
With no other choice, he continued onward.
The surrounding air grew hotter and hotter. Gong Yu had already taken off his shirt, and sweat could be clearly seen running down his bare skin.
Then a gust of hot wind blew past, and he finally realized danger was approaching.
That delighted him. He had spent most of the day traversing Hell Road without encountering the slightest danger, and it had left him dissatisfied.
Chapter 109: Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent
Straight ahead, a rustling sounded, and a pair of fiery red eyes as large as lanterns suddenly lit up.
Once he could see the path ahead, Gong Yu discovered a dark red body lying across the narrow road.
He couldn't tell how enormous its body was, but he could see that it was a snake, its entire body coiled around the narrow path.
"I've been waiting for you. Good thing you didn't show up." A smile appeared on Gong Yu's face. He had thought the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent might stay hidden like the big bat!
With a rustle, the dark red snake began to slither slowly forward.
When it came closer, Gong Yu finally saw what the great serpent looked like.
It had nine protrusions on its head and back, each resembling a bright red mushroom, with what looked like blood flowing inside.
Its belly was especially enormous, bulging atop the narrow path, and its body was over ten meters long at the very least.
The serpent had clearly seen Gong Yu as well. Its tongue, which had lain on the narrow path, slowly rose, and its golden-red eyes abruptly shone as brightly as lanterns.
As the strange serpent continued to slither, it seemed to bring an invisible pressure to the air.
It had blocked the path ahead so completely that not a drop of water could get through. He would have to kill it to pass.
"That works. I've got my eye on your Inner Core anyway." Gong Yu parted his lips and slowly spoke, a cold light bursting from his eyes.
He walked forward step by step, and as the distance closed, he could hear the strange serpent making croaking sounds like a crying infant.
When they were about twenty meters apart, the serpent attacked first. A streak of fiery red light suddenly shot from its mouth, spreading rapidly toward Gong Yu with a powerful fishy stench.
The flames spread along the narrow path. It was so narrow that there was nowhere to dodge.
The fiery red light surged violently along the path, even producing the crackle of burning rock. More terrifying still, the light was shrouded in a faint red mist that contained a potent poison.
Gong Yu tapped the ground lightly with his foot, and the Domain of Fire enveloped him. The flames and red mist actually veered away of their own accord just as they were about to reach him.
He charged at the strange serpent, but after taking only three steps, a long staff suddenly appeared in his hand. He pushed off with one foot and leaped into the air.
Gong Yu swung the staff with both hands, twisting halfway around as he descended from the sky and smashed it down.
The serpent was clever too. At that moment, it lashed out with its tail, intending to use the force of the swing to send Gong Yu flying.
Suspended in midair, Gong Yu was practically a live target. If he didn't respond, not only would his strike fail to accomplish anything, but he himself would be trapped.
Seeing the serpent's enormous tail sweep toward him, Gong Yu made a snap decision. He abandoned his half-finished attack, and the wings of his External Soul Bone instantly unfurled behind him. He tilted his body and narrowly dodged the tail.
As he dodged, he thrust the staff in his hands into the serpent's skin, then beat his wings and flew along its body as fast as he could.
He did not release his grip on the staff, and its other end, embedded in the serpent's body, forcibly tore open a gash several meters long.
Crimson blood erupted from the gash. Some of it fell into the magma beneath the narrow path and sizzled before being evaporated.
Enraged, the serpent swung its enormous body around, and the nine golden-red fleshy growths on its back grew ever brighter.
After several furious cries, it arched its body on the narrow path, pointing all nine growths directly at Gong Yu.
Suddenly, all nine growths burst at once, shooting out nine streams of golden-red liquid. They flew toward Gong Yu and merged in midair, then paused just as they were about to reach him.
In an instant, all the liquid contracted into a golden-red ball no larger than a fist, which then hurtled toward Gong Yu.
"That's the thing." Looking at the golden-red ball before him, Gong Yu knew his chance had come.
He immediately beat his wings at extreme speed again, leaving several afterimages in the air. When he stopped, the staff in his hand became a heaven-shaking shadow that smashed into the golden-red ball.
After being struck, the ball trembled several times, then shot skyward, trying to escape.
"Where can you possibly run?" Gong Yu paid no attention to the fleeing ball. Instead, he turned and seized the chance to attack the serpent.
He used the same method, bringing a heaven-shaking staff shadow crashing down. Perhaps the serpent's attention was entirely on the ball.
This time, it made no attempt to dodge the heaven-shaking shadow and let it strike.
The immense staff shadow flashed and vanished. The giant serpent's body suddenly froze, and the shadow disappeared without a trace into the silent darkness. No grand, earth-shaking sound rang out.
In the blink of an eye, every part of the serpent's enormous body above the narrow path quietly vanished, crumbling into fine specks of powder.
The body below, having lost the support above it, broke into several sections and plunged into the abyss.
Gong Yu raised his head and looked overhead.
There, a speck of golden-red descended from the sky. He beckoned with his right hand, and the golden-red light fell into his palm, drawn by an invisible suction force.
It was the golden-red ball formed from the liquid that had shot out of the strange serpent's nine growths.
"At last, the Inner Core is mine," Gong Yu murmured, making no effort to conceal the joy on his face. Then he casually put the Inner Core into his Soul Tool.
Gong Yu sat down where he was and rested for a while. Once he had recovered his strength, he continued onward.
The path ahead was just as easy as the first trial. He reckoned Rakshasa or Asura was behind it again-they wanted Gong Yu to leave sooner!
As for the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent in the second trial, he figured it had attacked him simply because it had only been trapped there, not controlled by Rakshasa or Asura. If the serpent had been under their control like the big bat, he probably wouldn't have had a chance at its Inner Core.
Gong Yu soon reached the end of the narrow path.
Here, a vast expanse of magma surrounded him on all sides, and there was no path forward.
Gong Yu looked up. High above, he could just make out a black cave opening, about two hundred meters up.
He immediately unfurled the wings of his External Soul Bone again, pushed off with his foot, and flew diagonally upward toward the opening.
A few breaths later, Gong Yu emerged from an opening in a mountain ravine.
Chapter 110: The Disdained Slaughter Domain
"Wait, why do I feel like something's not right?"
After emerging from the opening, Gong Yu kept feeling that something was wrong. He thought it over carefully, and realization finally dawned.
"Wasn't I supposed to pass out for a while after coming out?"
"I should pass out for a while, right?"
Gong Yu wasn't certain either, but as soon as the words left his mouth, his mind grew hazy. He fell backward and lost consciousness.
As his body fell, Gong Yu felt his consciousness sink into a world of endless white, where there was only one sensation: cold.
Countless strands of cold converged on him, while countless more poured out of his body. In that white void, they ravaged his body and mind again and again.
That cold was nothing other than the purest slaughter Qi. Every time it ravaged Gong Yu's body and mind, a little more of it gathered within him.
This continued for an unknown length of time until a domain formed from pure killing intent suddenly took shape. At the moment it formed, Gong Yu woke again.
"So this is Divine Slaughter's Domain?"
Gong Yu murmured to himself. Naturally, the first thing he did after waking was summon Divine Slaughter's Domain to take a look.
"It feels like garbage. It's not even as strong as my Domain of Fire or Domain of Ice."
After seeing it, Gong Yu inexplicably felt disdain for the so-called Divine Slaughter's Domain. With the two pearls of his ice and fire domains already before him, obtaining the so-called Divine Slaughter's Domain in its most basic form made him feel as though the quality had suddenly dropped.
"Still, that makes sense. Asura cast a wide net to find a successor, so what good things could he possibly give people? Handing out a cheap domain is generous enough."
After comforting himself with that thought, Gong Yu checked his Soul Power and discovered it had risen by one level, reaching level 57.
In the moment before he passed out, he had felt his Soul Power burst through its restraints and surge, a sign that his Soul Power Level had advanced. But after losing consciousness, he no longer knew exactly what had happened.
"I'll head back to Heaven Dou City first."
Without giving anything else more thought, he headed straight south. The map was useless now, and Gong Yu didn't even know where he was, but going south was the right choice.
Ten days later, Gong Yu finally came across a small town.
Using the town as a reference, he found the direction of Heaven Dou City. After another two days of travel, he finally returned.
Back home, he ran into Gong Xue as soon as he walked through the door.
"Hey, big beggar, it's against the law to barge into someone's home! Here's a Gold Soul Coin. Take it and buy yourself something to eat, and I won't haul you off to the authorities!"
Seeing the sharply dressed Gong Yu enter, Gong Xue did not chase him away. Instead, she offered him a gold coin.