by Translator: Pokka; Author: 我本纯洁 (I Am Pure); Licensed From: Migu
Xiang Shaoyun's aura had reached the peak at this moment. He prepared to take the third step, but he was unable to complete the step no matter what. It was as if a boundless force was trying to prevent him from doing so.
"LET—ME—GO!" Xiang Shaoyun roared. The purple and silver lightning energy around him turned into a roaring dragon, and a lightning tribulation formed in the sky.
Rumble! Rumble!
Six natural lightning bolts shot down from the sky and struck Xiang Shaoyun's body. Instead of causing him any damage, the energy of all six bolts converged at his raised foot, helping him complete the third step.
Bang!
Instantly, the space within tens of meters around Xiang Shaoyun started shaking as if the sky was falling apart, filling any onlookers' hearts with fear. A massive lightning wave spread out, destroying everything in the area.
Sphhlt!
The instant the step was completed, Xiang Shaoyun seemed to have been completely drained of energy. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and started swaying, looking like he was about to fall from the sky. Devouring Ghost, Du Xuanhao, and Jin Wo quickly rushed over.
Devouring Ghost was the first to arrive. He caught Xiang Shaoyun and asked, "Young master, are you fine?"
Xiang Shaoyun stabilized himself, a smile forming on his pale face. "Hehe, I'm fine. I'm doing splendidly!"
Chapter 395: Bloodsin City
Xiang Shaoyun had completely exhausted his lightning energy and had even suffered some energy backlash, yet he was still laughing. Both Du Xuanhao and Jin Wo were confused.
Only Devouring Ghost understood what Xiang Shaoyun meant. He laughed and bowed, "Congratulations, young master, for comprehending the true essence of the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps."
Xiang Shaoyun laughed, "Yes. After cultivating the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps for so long, I have finally understood its essence. This is also my first time using it in this way. The result is excellent."
"Of course the result will be excellent. This is the best footwork the previous master had used his entire life to create. But it is still too hard for you to use it, young master. Your current cultivation realm is not enough. The first two steps are sufficient for now. You need a few more breakthroughs before you can properly make use of the third step," said Devouring Ghost.
Xiang Shaoyun nodded. "Don't worry. I will watch out the next time I use it."
He then climbed onto Jin Wo's back and sat down in meditation to recuperate. They continued heading toward the Bloodsin City.
Three months passed. During the three months, Xiang Shaoyun had consolidated his gains in footwork intent. He had also further familiarized himself with the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps and was now much faster than he was before.
Apart from that, he had also accumulated a sizable amount of nine-colored fog in his astral cosmos sea. The spiritual herbs he had planted there had also undergone some transformation.
The herbs that were initially low-grade spirit medicines had suddenly turned into mid-grade spirit medicines. Furthermore, their medicinal power seemed to be much stronger than regular herbs of the same grade.
Their change caused Xiang Shaoyun to place even more importance on the nine-colored fog. It was a power of destruction and a power of life. It might also contain some other powers waiting for him to discover.
As for the horned lightning snake, he was living a good and comfortable life in the astral cosmos sea amid the nine-colored fog. Even when Xiang Shaoyun called him out to take a breather at the outside world, he refused.
Xiang Shaoyun could no longer be bothered about him anymore.
On his travels, Xiang Shaoyun experienced and witnessed numerous local traditions and customs of the various places he passed. He had also encountered numerous powerful demonic beasts and bandits trying to intercept his group.
They were able to smash their way through all obstacles with pure strength. That was how Jin Wo had gotten the demonic core of a fourth-stage Demon Emperor cultivating the gold element. He had swallowed the core and was now nearing the third-stage Demon Emperor realm.
As for Devouring Ghost, he had started cultivating again. By making use of the time return grass, he erased the light elemental energy from four of his stars and filled them with dark elemental energy instead. As for the other three stars, he kept the light elemental energy there.
He was planning to go beyond his original realm, cultivate two elements, and achieve the power of yin and yang. As a side effect of using the time return grass, his cultivation level had dropped to fourth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm, but with the large quantity of spirit crystals and dark elemental herbs, he soon recovered much of his cultivation base.
But he would still need about a year before he could return to eighth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm. That would also be when he would finally achieve perfect fusion with his body.
However, he would be able to find some items capable of expediting the speed in which he regained his strength at the Bloodsin City. He had also been channeling his will into the blood egg every single day and had occasionally fed it his blood essence.
After three months of doing so, he was able to sense that some changes had occurred in the blood egg. The blood demon inside would be able to come out after being fed enough blood.
Devouring Ghost had been taking it slow for fear that the blood demon would be disobedient in the future. Otherwise, he would have been able to hatch the egg with the blood of all the Demon Emperors they had killed along the way.
He was planning to wait until he reached eighth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm before releasing the blood demon into the world. At that time, he would possess sufficient strength to both control and raise the blood demon.
Everything was progressing smoothly, and finally, they arrived near the outskirts of the Bloodsin City. There were five Bloodsin Cities in existence. They were respectively located at the Eastern Pass, Western Desert, Northern Border, Southern Wasteland, and the Central Region.
Each Bloodsin City was the same: essentially a place where numerous wanted criminals, killers, and banished individuals gathered. In a sense these people represented evil, bloodthirst, and chaos.
One could say that there was no kind soul to be found in any of the Bloodsin Cities. All of them were cold-blooded killers. They were either there to hide from the pursuit of their enemies, because they were addicted to killing, or simply because they had been banished by some powerful organization.
In short, the Bloodsin City was a city of strife. Within the city, one could kill and rape as one wished. There were no rules whatsoever, and the only way of survival was through killing. Apart from that, the five cities also served a different purpose: devil suppression.
All five of the cities were built at the entrance to the Devil Domain where numerous blood-thirsty devils resided. The devils resided beneath the dominion and had waged endless wars against the surface races since the ancient times.
The devils wanted to enter the surface through the five exits and conquer more land for themselves, but the surface races would naturally not allow that. Thus, the five cities were built for devil suppression. They were also known as the Five Devil Suppressing Cities.
It was rumored that during the ancient times, the surface's supreme experts had forcefully pushed the devils underground. In fact, during the ancient times, the devils had invaded and started a period known as the Dark Age. At that time, the devils had nearly turned the entire world into a world of devils.
Fortunately, numerous heroes had risen amid the chaos and pushed the devils back to the Devil Domain. Xiang Shaoyun had learned all that from Devouring Ghost, and he had also finally learned what he was supposed to do at the Bloodsin City.
There, he would forge his own path to the Emperor and Sovereign Realms through battle. Only in such a chaotic land of slaughter would a person's potential be squeezed out, turning one into an overlord. That was also one of the fastest methods a cultivator could grow.
As they we
re nearing the Bloodsin City, Devouring Ghost was growing more excited. He said, "Young master, numerous evil criminals from the Western Desert are gathered at the Bloodsin City. There will also be numerous geniuses from the various organizations there to temper themselves. They are all people with talent and combat prowess surpassing their peers. Are you ready for it?"
Xiang Shaoyun answered confidently, "Even if this is hell, I will still go. I have no fear."
"Haha, that's right! I believe you will definitely become an overlord of slaughter and rise into the Emperor Realm," said Devouring Ghost as he laughed heartily. He looked at Du Xuanhao and said, "When we arrive, you will need to head into the Devil Domain. I guarantee you that your combat prowess will multiply several times over if you can survive for at least three years. At that time, I will take you to search for the Saber Devil's inheritance. But if you can't even survive for three years, it can only mean that you are not qualified to obtain his inheritance."
"I will do just that, Lord Devouring Ghost," said Du Xuanhao resolutely.
Suddenly, a group of decently powerful people blocked their path to the Bloodsin City.
Chapter 396: I Want the Leader Alive
The group blocking their way consisted of about 20 or 30 people. Each of them was mounted on a valiant demonic beast, with a few of them being Dragon Ascension Realm experts. In fact, one of them was even a late-stage Dragon Ascension Realm expert. This could be considered a group of decent strength.
Each of them had a dreadful human skeleton emblem embroidered on their clothes, signifying that they were members of this Bloodsin City's Skeleton Gang. They were known for being cruel and partaking in all sorts of crimes, including murder, arson, rape, banditry, and so on. They weren't exactly the strongest in the city, however. Their reputation was generally only used to scare the newcomers or the weaker cultivators.
This group's leader was mounted on an armored skeleton horse. His eyes radiated bloodlust, and he had a dagger in his hand. He looked at Xiang Shaoyun's group coldly and said, "Leave all your storage rings and this Demon Emperor behind, and you will be allowed to enter the Bloodsin City alive. Or else, die."
The person speaking was a peak seventh-stage Emperor. His name was Badar, and he did have the strength to speak so arrogantly. Unfortunately for him, he had not noticed that there was a ninth-stage Emperor among Xiang Shaoyun's group.
"You are actually trying to rob us? You sure are brave," said Devouring Ghost with a sinister glint in his eyes.
Over the three months, he had restored his cultivation level to the fifth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm. Even when facing these Skeleton Gang members, he would still be able to put up a fight.
"Where are you from?" Badar probed cautiously.
He knew very well that among the visitors to the Bloodsin City, a lot of them were from the large organizations of the Western Desert, and they were the people the Skeleton Gang could not afford to offend.
"You are not qualified to know. Piss off if you know what's good for you. Or else, die," said Devouring Ghost with a sinister smile.
"Lord Badar, since they have not arrived through the teleportation formation, it is obvious their background is nothing special. Just kill them and get this over with," said someone beside Badar.
"Ok. Let's not waste any time. Kill them," said Badar while licking his lips with a cruel glint in his eyes.
At that command, Badar's underlings attacked. They did not have the habit of fighting people one on one. Rather, they generally swarmed their enemies with their numerical superiority. A large number of energy attacks flew toward Xiang Shaoyun's group; no mercy was shown.
But before the attacks could arrive, a saber energy of several meters long shot out. Instantly, the sharp saber energy crossed a large distance. Next, about eight heads were cut off from their bodies like vegetables being cut by a kitchen knife.
Nearly half of the incoming attacks dispersed, and the remaining attacks could no longer pose much threat to Xiang Shaoyun's group. That was the work of Du Xuanhao the Saber Emperor.
"Big Brother Du, I want the leader alive," said Xiang Shaoyun.
"Sure," Du Xuanhao replied as he started slaughtering his opponents.
Badar was completely dumbstruck. He had just realized that he had provoked the wrong opponent this time. He took out an object and tried to call for help from his companions in the city, but before he could do that, Du Xuanhao stamped him into the ground. Du Xuanhao was now a ninth-stage Emperor, residing at the peak of the realm. It was far too easy for him to defeat these opponents.
"I beg you, please spare me," Badar quickly begged, not daring to resist at all.
"You want to live? Sure. But you have to be obedient. Or else, you will end up like them," said Xiang Shaoyun.
"Yes, yes, I will definitely be obedient. I will do whatever you tell me to," Badar completely conceded.
In truth, he was still scheming inwardly. He was hoping that they would spare him for now. The moment they entered the city, his gang leader would definitely come rescue him. Little did he know that he was now beyond saving.
"Good. Open up your soul to me and do not resist. Otherwise, just wait to be destroyed in both body and soul," said Xiang Shaoyun, smiling like a fiend.
Badar instantly grew anxious. "W-what are you trying to do?"
"You don't need to know. Just shut up and do as told. This is your only choice if you want to live," said Xiang Shaoyun.
He then activated his Nether Dragon Soul Curse, sending numerous abstruse symbols drifting through the air toward Badar. Instantly, Badar's soul reacted. He could sense that the symbols were definitely bad for him, and he started struggling by instinct.
As a seventh-stage Emperor, his soul power was considerably powerful. The current Xiang Shaoyun was completely incapable of binding his soul with force. And thus, his curse was defeated and failed to accomplish anything.
"He actually dares to resist? Big Brother Du, let him suffer for a bit," said Xiang Shaoyun.
Du Xuanhao immediately increased the strength in which he stepped on Badar, pushing him into the ground and causing him to yell in pain unceasingly. Xiang Shaoyun took this chance to use his curse again, trying to put Badar under his control.
Badar still struggled initially, but with Du Xuanhao stepping on him harder and harder, he could no longer put much focus on guarding his soul. Bit by bit, Xiang Shaoyun's curse latched on. Finally, a secondary Nether Dragon Soul Headband formed around Badar's soul, and the curse started eating away at his soul like maggots.
"Ahhhh!"
Badar started howling miserably, feeling like 10,000 maggots were chewing on his brain at the same time. His mental fortitude started collapsing from the intense suffering that made being alive feel worse than death.
Unfortunately for him, the pain would only torture him and not kill. He rolled about on the ground, and the pain even reached a point he started knocking his head against the rocks in the area to try to kill himself. Even Du Xuanhao shivered at the sight. More and more, he found Xiang Shaoyun to be completely shrouded in a veil of mystery.
What secret technique is this exactly to be capable of torturing even a seventh-stage Emperor to such an extent?
After a while, Xiang Shaoyun finally stopped chanting. He looked at the battered and exhausted Badar before saying, "From now onward, you will be loyal to this young master. Otherwise, you will relive the same experience where living is worse than death. Also, don't dream that you will be free after my death. You will also die if I die."
Badar was filled with utter regret, and he hated himself for somehow provoking such a little fiend out of nowhere.
"Badar pledges absolute and eternal loyalty to the young master," pledged Badar while kneeling before Xiang Shaoyun. He never wanted to experience the same suffering ever again.
"Good. Now tell me the current situation in the Bloodsin City," said Xiang Shaoyun with a satisfied look on his face.
Chapter 397: City of Chaos
This particular Bloodsin City was located at the common borders of Soaring Dragon Province, Yu Province, and Darkstone Province. The three provinces shared the responsibility of suppressing the city.
Presently, there were five major organizations in the city. Of them, the strongest was the Yu Clan. They were an ancient clan and one of the most powerful organizations in the Yu Province. They enjoyed great prestige in the entirety of the Western Desert, and by extension, their branch at this Bloodsin City was also the city's strongest organization.
Second to them was the Thousand Buddha Society, which was also an ancient organization. They were based here not to suppress the devils but to purify this place of sin. The other organizations were the Dragon Society from the Soaring Dragon Province, Dark Devil Sect from the Darkstone Province, and a local faction led by the city's governor.
Apart from these five organizations, there were more than 10 other organizations in the city. All of them had Emperors among their ranks, and some of them even had Sovereign Realm experts. As for the Skeleton Gang, they were merely a tiny organization.
The Skeleton Gang's leader was a peak Dragon Ascension Realm expert with two ninth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm experts and numerous other Emperors and Kings under his command. His force was comparable to a tier-5 organization.
And yet such an organization was among the weakest in the city, making it obvious how powerful this chaotic city was. Xiang Shaoyun's blood started boiling with excitement. This was the kind of place he needed to rise in power.
Of the ten years he had given himself, three years had passed. In the remaining seven years, he had to grow as fast as he could. On top of that, he needed to gather an army of followers. Only then would he stand a chance in regaining all that was once his.