The killing intent he bore when he had first entered the City of Slaughter… compared to now, it was like a speck of starlight beside the blazing moon.
Here, every soul taken added to one's killing aura!
That foul, evil energy gnawed constantly at a soul master's spirit.
But Dugu Feng had mastered the Jade Phosphorus Crimson Venom, turning poison against poison. That was why he could both accumulate killing intent and yet remain clear-headed!
At this moment, his heart surged, his arms spread wide.
Hell Road… I'm coming!
"Congratulations, young Poison Demon King!"
The Slaughter King's sharp, resonant voice echoed from all directions.
In that instant, the killing intent that had filled the Hell Arena vanished and was forced back into the bodies of every spectator!
From the sky descended a figure clad in a blood-red cloak, pausing above the arena.
"I am pleased. Today I have witnessed the birth of a new Killing God…he is the Poison Demon King, a youth of merely the Grandmaster rank! From this day forward, he shall stand as an honored guest of the City of Slaughter.
Poison Demon King, now I will open the Hell Road for you. That path is a trial drenched in terror. Are you ready?"
The Slaughter King's aura surged, killing intent flooding outward.
"No matter the trial, I will face it," Dugu Feng replied firmly.
At his words, the Slaughter King no longer hesitated.
Waves of dense crimson mist spread out from his body. This mist was an amalgam of evil qi and killing intent, it was icy cold.
It rippled out like crimson waves, sweeping across the stands.
In an instant, every spectator was shrouded.
Agonized howls filled the arena as the mist tore into their spirits, driving them mad.
One by one, they ripped themselves apart with their own strength, self-mutilating in shrieks of torment.
Blood rained down from the stands, spilling into streams that flowed toward the arena's center.
"My children… you are the fortunate ones. To witness the opening of the Hell Roa…this is your greatest honor!"
Dugu Feng cursed inwardly. Honor? More like a mass sacrifice, bloody lunatic!
The Slaughter King pressed his hand against the earth. A crimson glow flared, blood gathering and shaping into the form of a Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King.
The beast solidified, spreading vast wings before swooping down to envelop Dugu Feng.
His spirit reeled as an overwhelming tide of evil qi and spiritual poison crashed against him.
Yet in the same breath, the killing aura he had accumulated since his first step into this city erupted.
That endless killing intent, fused into his very being, surged forth.
Under the pressure of the bat king, it condensed into a white ripple, very much like a shield, wrapping around him, cutting him off from the blood-red monstrosity.
Pure killing intent!
A spark of understanding flashed in Dugu Feng's mind. Soon relief followed, if not for his Jade Phosphorus Crimson Venom, his spirit would have long shattered beneath this flood.
Normally, the killing intent here was tainted, a mix of spiritual poison and killing qi.
But his poison, a spirit poison under his control, countered it.
The result was purified killing aura…it was untainted, pure!
The legacy left by the Asura God was meant to forge such pure killing intent. Yet the Rakshasa God had left a hidden trap, turning all successors into slaves of the Slaughter King.
Like moments ago, when the Slaughter King's evil qi stirred, the entire crowd sacrificed themselves without resistance.
Dugu Feng gazed inward at that white ripple. Someday, this would bloom into the Killing God Domain, his first true domain.
He did not know how much time passed. When his feet touched solid ground again, the bat king had vanished, the white killing aura sinking back into his body.
He now stood upon a circular platform, no more than five meters across.
Hell Road.
Looking down, faint crimson light glimmered below. His heart tightened.
That was the Blood Pool, the core of the City of Slaughter.
The endless sea of Bloody Mary, the energy wellspring of the Slaughter Domain.
And the Slaughter King's greatest nourishment.
Below lay the pool. Ahead, a narrow road. It was barely wide enough for two feet side by side.
Tang San and Hu Liena had once walked this same path, besieged by bats, surviving only through Tang San's hidden weapons.
But Dugu Feng chuckled softly. Two jade-green serpents coiled into the air beside him.
The Nine Sectioned Jade Serpent, creatures he had nearly forgotten.
Their bodies were no longer than five inches, yet both were thousand-year soul beasts.
Two years in the City of Slaughter had raised his rank to level twenty-seven.
And with the help of his Pearl, the serpents had grown to nearly four thousand years!
No longer mere serpents, but powerful soul beasts.
Dugu Feng leapt lightly onto their backs.
"Let's go!"
The serpents carried him aloft, wheels of green flame, diving off the platform into the abyss.
Flying was not an issue for him.
Why crawl the narrow road, when he could soar?
The platform hung only about a kilometer above the pool, not too far.
The deeper they went, the hotter it grew. The heat pressed down, rising with every meter.
At five hundred meters, the blood pool was in full sight, its surface unnervingly still, a faint mist veiling its searing heat.
Dugu Feng paused, opened his mouth, and spat out two pearls.
He flicked one downward.
It plunged into the blood pool without harm, drinking greedily of the pool's energy.
His mind sank into it and what he sensed was not poison, but raw blood-essence.
Violent and frenzied energy, unsurprising for a pool born from endless Bloody Mary.
It was not fit for him to absorb.
Instead, he pressed the second pearl into one serpent's body.
At once, the serpent shuddered in bliss. Pure energy, filtered and refined, poured into its veins.
Its eyes glowed, its body quivering with ecstasy.
"This blood pool… it's their paradise," Dugu Feng's heart blazed with expectation.
"Could the serpents evolve again?!"