Dugu Feng hovered above the blood pool, not in a hurry to advance.
According to Tang San and Hu Liena's path, they had only encountered the Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King further ahead. Here, for the moment, he was safe.
Beneath him, his two serpents alternated, endlessly drawing in the blood pool's energy through the pearls.
Their emerald-green glow shimmered with dreamlike brilliance, bodies nearly translucent, eyes gleaming like rubies.
As they absorbed more and more, their aura swelled steadily.
Days passed.
Then, their bodies began to flicker, shifting between solidity and illusion.
One moment, their forms vanished entirely, as though they had ceased to exist—yet Dugu Feng could still feel them beneath his feet.
An illusory body?
Dugu Feng's mind flashed to Seagod Island's Seven Sacred Pillars—Illusion Douluo, whose martial soul was the Illusionary Serpent.
That spirit beast was one of the top serpents, straddling the line between beast and tool spirit. Capable of both iron-hard defense and intangible illusion.
And the changes his serpents now underwent… were nearly identical.
Could they be evolving toward that path?
He sank a wisp of spirit into their pearls.
A faint voice echoed in his mind.
"We are not Illusionary Serpents. We are Jade Phosphor Dragon Serpents! How can those be compared to us?"
Dugu Feng's eyes widened in shock.
It was the first time the serpents had spoken directly to his mind. Before, they had only shared the tacit bond between master and beast.
Now, aided by the pearls, they could truly communicate.
"Jade Phosphor Dragon Serpents?" he asked, astonished.
"Yes, Master. Our bloodline is awakening. We are dragons' descendants. What the Illusionary Serpent can do, we can as well…and more. Normally, our evolution was impossible. The energy required was too vast. But with this endless blood pool… we can return to our true lineage!"
Their tone carried pride.
Dugu Feng was dumbfounded.
Their intelligence is too high…
Most soul beasts, even with spirit, were not so wise.
He had struck gold.
Two months crawled by.
The energy devoured by the serpents was immeasurable.
At last, their bodies lengthened, their aura surging with majesty.
It was a pressure he had only felt from the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion.
The aura of a ruler!
And more than that…it was the aura of dragons.
The sight brought to mind Yu Yuanzhen's martial soul.
Before his eyes, two serpents, each stretching for dozens of meters, coiled in the air.
Still lacking claws or horns, their forms remained serpentine.
But then, change came.
Verdant scales unfurled, each one like a master artisan's carving. The scales glowed with emerald halos under the blood pool's crimson light.
Dragon scales.
No doubt remained! They were true descendants of dragons.
Their cultivation had soared from four thousand to six thousand years in just two months.
A terrifying growth.
The newly reborn Jade Phosphor Dragon Serpents writhed joyously, vanishing and reappearing, swelling and shrinking, flickering between reality and illusion.
Whenever they vanished, only Dugu Feng's lone figure seemed to hover in the void, which made an eerie sight.
Standing upon their backs, he raised a hand, blood boiling with exhilaration.
With these two Dragon Serpents, what Hell Road could possibly stop me?
He recalled his pearls from the blood pool, fully aware now that it was the City of Slaughter's energy core—pure blood and evil qi, fatal to any creature within.
The Dragon Serpents, empowered by it, were proof enough of its danger.
Guiding them forward, Dugu Feng's pace slowed. Purple light flickered from his fingers, exploding outward in bursts to guard a radius around him.
The blood pool's heat did not harm the Dragon Serpents; emerald halos from their bodies shielded even him.
Dropping to just ten meters above the pool, he considered. Perhaps this blood pool can be used…
For half a day, he advanced. No sign of bats.
Until, glancing to the right, he understood.
Across the blood pool, in the cliff wall several li away, yawned countless black caves.
So that was their nest.
The Dark Gold Three-Headed Bat King, and its countless brood.
The narrow Hell Road passed directly above those caves.
But he floated above the pool itself, it was close enough that even the Bat King would hesitate to approach, for this pool's heat was death even to them.
Dugu Feng chuckled bitterly. So all my caution may have been for nothing…
"Screee!"
A shrill cry split the air.
From the cliff, a colossal bat unfurled, wings spanning ten meters.
Its body shimmered with dark gold, three grotesque heads shrieking in unison.
The Bat King.
And around it—dense clusters of lesser bats, clinging like a living carpet to the cliffside.
Dugu Feng's lips curled. He cupped his hands and bellowed,
"Come, then!"
"Screee! Screee!"
The cave erupted in a chorus of shrieks.
Yet not one bat crossed the blood pool to attack.
Even the king of bats dared not linger above its molten surface.