The Clear Sky Hammer Falls: The Road of Slaughter
--
On the night of the finals, the Great Soul Arena was brightly lit.
The Shrek Seven Devils stood in the center of the arena. Tang San was carried on their shoulders.
The Nan Feng nestled in the shadows of the last row.
He did not approach.
Old Huai said, "Aren't you going over?"
"Now is not the time."
Nan Feng looked towards the VIP seating area. A dark cloud gathered there, Primordial World Imprint flickered.
"They've arrived."
The air pressure dropped.
A figure descended from the sky. Black hair was loose over his shoulders, his face was weathered, and there was an old scar on his left chest.
He held a massive, jet-black hammer in his right hand.
The hammer hit the ground, and the ground shook three times.
Clear Sky Hammer.
Nan Feng's pupils contracted. The Gravity Field reduced the pressure by 70%, and his knees bent an inch.
Several Soul Master in the front row knelt on the ground, blood seeping from their mouths and noses.
Tang Hao stood at the edge of the arena, his gaze fixed on Tang San.
"Tang San," Tang Hao spoke, his voice like sandpaper scraping against an iron plate, "You should come with me."
The room quieted down.
Flender rushed out from the sidelines: "This senior—"
Tang Hao didn't look at him. With a thud of his Clear Sky Hammer, Flender was pushed back three steps.
Yu Xiaogang stood there, his face pale.
"Grandmaster?" Tang Hao's lips twitched. "My son has been taught by you for so many years, what have you taught him?"
"Blue Silver Grass's First Soul Ring absorbed Ten-Year Soul Beast? Or is it just that nonsense about the Soul Ring's age not being able to be surpassed?"
Yu Xiaogang's face turned from white to gray.
Tang San jumped down and walked up to Tang Hao.
He looked back at Xiao Wu, then at Flender and Yu Xiaogang.
That gaze met Nan Feng's in the shadows. Nan Feng nodded.
Tang San turned to face Tang Hao: "I'll go with you."
Tang Hao turned and left. Tang San followed, stopped a step past Xiao Wu, and whispered something.
Tang Hao didn't stop walking.
Two figures disappeared into the night.
The Nan Feng rises.
Old Huai said, "Tang Hao came this time not just to take Tang San away."
"I know." Nan Feng stepped down the stairs. "He's here to cover Tang San's escape route, to let everyone know that Tang San has the Clear Sky Douluo behind him."
"The Spirit Hall should think twice before trying to harm Tang San."
"And what about you?" Old Huai asked. "What you said to the reporters was heard all over the mainland."
"The Spirit Hall will not let you off the hook. Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo may make their move at any moment."
Nine days later.
Nan Feng walked down the night street. Her red hair ribbon fluttered in the night breeze.
"Old Huai," Nan Feng said, "Where is the entrance to the Slaughter City located?"
The tower was silent for three seconds.
Have you thought it through?
"My Primordial World Divine Ability needs to be tempered by killing intent," Nan Feng said. "I've already grasped the basics of the first chapter of the Mountain Suppression Art, I'm just one step away."
"That breath must be broken through with extreme killing intent. The Slaughter City the best place."
"The killing intent in the Slaughter City will cleanse your soul," Old Huai said. "Ordinary Soul Master who enter will either become madmen who only know how to kill, or be corrupted by the aura of depravity."
"Your Primordial World Imprint can protect your soul, but the process will be very painful."
"I possess Gravity Field, a Tower Realm, and the Primordial World Imprint." Nan Feng raised his right hand.
The runes on his palm glowed with a bluish light.
"Killing intent is poison to others, but it's a tempering flame for the Primordial World Power. The Primordial World is the master of all souls, and it has a natural advantage against soul-based attacks."
"If I can refine the killing intent, I will be able to fully master the first chapter of the Mountain Suppression Art."
Old Huai snorted, "You're even crazier than I thought."
"The entrance is located three hundred miles north of Heaven Dou City, deep within the Withered Bones Mountain Range, in a place called Hell Canyon."
"There's a gatekeeper at the entrance; you need to pay with a Soul Ring to enter."
"Pay for Soul Ring?" Nan Feng frowned.
"Any Soul Master entering the Slaughter City must sacrifice a Soul Ring to brand their soul with the Fallen One's Mark."
"The mark suppresses one-tenth of your Soul Power, but it also grants you the right to legally kill within."
"Your Soul Power will temporarily decrease after the sacrifice. You are currently level 35; sacrificing one Soul Ring will reduce your level to around 30."
The Nan Feng looked down at its hands.
The three Soul Ring are arranged as follows: the first ring is yellow in 920 years, the second ring is purple in 2100 years, and the third ring is black in 12,000 years.
Each link exceeds the limits of Yu Xiaogang's theory.
"The first step of the sacrifice."
Old Huai said, "You traded the life of the Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf for the first ring. Tower Suppression: Mountain Suppression is the most basic suppression skill of the Tower Martial Soul. Are you sure?"
"The first ring is the weakest," Nan Feng said. "The Soul Power Level is constantly suppressed within it, so sacrificing it comes at the lowest cost."
"I have already mastered the basics of Tower Suppression - Mountain Suppression using the Gravity Field and the Mountain Suppression Art. Even without the support of Soul Ring, I can use it at 70% of its power."
Old Huai laughed, "You're a shrewd fellow."
"Remember, once your Soul Power drops to level 30, there will be no Soul Beast for you to hunt in the Slaughter City."
"Soul Power cannot be restored through normal cultivation. You must survive to re-form your First Soul Ring."
"I know," Nan Feng said, "I don't plan to only make one trip."
What is that?
"Tower Spirit Fragment," Nan Feng said. "The Bronze Tower shattered under the hands of its previous owners. There's a third fragment at the bottom of Sea God Island, and a fourth beneath the Slaughter City. You already knew that, didn't you?"
"You can't fool me."
"On the third underground level of the Slaughter City, there is a Tower Spirit Fragment, guarded by a Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King."
"After the fragments merged into the tower, the Tower Spirit Space opened, and the time flow rate reached 1.2 to 1."
"Your Mountain Suppression Art requires the Primordial World resonance of the Tower Spirit Fragment to be fully activated."
"Therefore, we absolutely must go to the Slaughter City."
When I returned to my lodgings, there was a letter on the table.
The letter was sealed with an ice-blue wax seal, bearing the mark of the Skywater Academy. The letter was written in Shui Bing'er's handwriting.
"I heard you're leaving Heaven Dou City. The tower's ice attribute affinity should have stabilized after the Ice Marrow refinement."
"I'll wait for you to come back, to the Skywater Academy. Your soul contains both extreme cold and extreme heat; I have new ideas."
The last sentence. "Beware of the Spirit Hall. The way Chrysanthemum Douluo looked at you that day was like he was looking at a trophy he had already obtained."
Nan Feng tucked the letter into his bosom.
Xiao Wu is probably still crying.
"Leaving tomorrow?" Old Huai asked.
"I'm leaving tomorrow. Before I go, there's one thing I need to do."
He sat cross-legged on the bed and sank into the tower.
The gap in the third door widens by one line.
The Nan Feng guided the Primordial World Power to seep into the tower.
He removed the First Soul Ring from the sequence.
A sharp pain surged up. Nan Feng gritted her teeth.
The First Soul Ring emerged from the body, the yellow ring of the Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf from 920.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I'll find you a better place when I come back."
The Soul Ring shattered in his palm and was absorbed by the tower.
The first door at the bottom of the tower trembled. The Power of Mountain Suppression dimmed for a moment, then was rekindled by the Primordial World Power.
Nan Feng opened his eyes; his Soul Power had dropped to level 30.
"You're more ruthless than I thought," Old Huai said.
"If you're not ruthless to yourself, how can you reach a place higher than God?"
Before dawn, Nan Feng left Heaven Dou City.
He didn't go through the city gate.
He climbed over the wall behind the guest quarters, waited for the patrol to pass, and then climbed over the wall to leave the city.
A few months ago, Ye Lingling waited for him at the city gate; he was level 34 at the time.
"Let's go," Old Huai said. "The road to the Slaughter City is long; it will take you at least seven or eight days to walk there."
The Nan Feng turned north.
The Withered Bones Mountain Range appeared as a blurry black in the night. Thunderclouds gathered in the distance, an aura of hell at the entrance.
"Old Huai," Nan Feng asked, "I sacrificed the first ring, and my Soul Power dropped to level 30. What level is that in the game?"
"Barely able to protect themselves," Old Huai said. "The Slaughter City houses the most insane Fallen Soul Master on the continent."
"Soul King are only considered mid-tier among them; there are quite a few Soul Emperor Soul Saint as well."
"Only those with a hundred wins in the Hell Slaughter Arena are qualified to challenge the Hell Road. At your level, you'll have to fight tooth and nail from the very first match."
"What I'm best at is working incredibly hard."
He quickened his pace.
Old Huai watched his retreating figure.
"For three lifetimes, every tower master has gone to the most dangerous places."
"Your ancestor did the same thing back then, insisting on suppressing some Abyss, only to perish from it. And you, you just jumped straight into the Slaughter City."
There was satisfaction in Old Huai's eyes.
That thing was called the Slaughter City, the first true testing ground.
Xiao Wu sat on the windowsill, clutching half a red hair ribbon.
She gazed northward, her heart tightening.
That's Primordial World Seed leaping.
"Tower Simpleton..." she said, "You ran off alone again."
She pressed the headband to her chest.
At daybreak, the city gates opened.
Chrysanthemum Douluo led a team of the Spirit Hall Soul Master out of the city, carrying Bibi Dong's warrant, demanding Nan Feng.
Xue Beng stood atop the city wall.
"The Immortal Master left Heaven Dou City last night," Xue Beng said. "I don't know where he went."
Chrysanthemum Douluo squinted and looked north.
"Let's go," he said, "To the north."
That road, unmarked on the map, leads to the Slaughter City.
Nan Feng wants more than just to survive. He wants the Mountain Suppression Art to be fully mastered and the Tower Spirit Space to be opened.
The Nan Feng sets foot on the northern wilderness.
The Primordial World Imprint is pulsating.
"The Slaughter City..." Nan Feng said, "I've arrived."