The fourth Soul Ring blazed with sudden brilliance. In the next instant, the entire tavern was flooded with a crystalline blue glow.
Thick stalks of Blue Silver Grass erupted from the ground, their hardened conical tips piercing through body after body.
The fourth Soul Ring skill of the Blue Silver Emperor — the mutated Blue Silver Thorn Formation — activated.
It seemed as though everything came to a standstill. Even that Soul Ancestor failed to escape the fate of being skewered. No human body could withstand Blue Silver Grass that had evolved to a sharpness rivaling the Eight Spider Lances. Lifeless corpses were lifted into the air, each one pierced clean through by the Blue Silver Emperor. The life force within them drained away at a terrifying pace.
"You shouldn't have insulted my mother." The blue in the depths of Tang San's eyes flared with sudden intensity. When he turned around and sat back down across from his father, the Soul Rings around him and the Blue Silver Grass outside both vanished simultaneously.
Thud, thud, thud— one after another, corpses collapsed to the floor, their blood staining the tavern's ground crimson. Tang San, however, wore an expression of perfect calm — a calmness so complete it even surprised Tang Hao.
Tang Hao nodded slightly and said in an even tone, "It seems I still underestimated you. Remember — once you enter the City of Slaughter, the only one you can rely on is yourself. I won't be by your side, and I won't protect you. There are no friends or companions there — only enemies. Kill everyone who poses a threat to you. Win the annual championship of the Hell's Arena, and I will come for you naturally."
The tavern's waiter hadn't panicked despite the dozens of deaths. He was as composed as Tang San, as though he had long grown accustomed to such scenes.
He had naturally overheard Tang Hao's words to Tang San. But what showed on his face was mostly contempt.
"Kill a few people and think you can enter the City of Slaughter? He's not qualified yet," the waiter said coldly. "If he can't even handle a single Bloody Mary, what right does he have to — Ugh…"
Shhk — a razor-sharp blade of Blue Silver Grass burst through his chest from behind. Tang San didn't even turn to look, merely saying flatly, "Am I qualified now?"
The waiter could obviously no longer give him any answer. He never could have imagined that Tang San would strike him. His pupils dilated gradually as the Blue Silver Grass swayed gently, and his corpse was flung aside, blood spraying outward to join the heap of bodies on the floor.
"You adapt quickly." Tang Hao looked at Tang San.
Tang San met his father's gaze. "Because I want to live. Because you told me that everyone here — including both of us — deserves to die. I believe you. The City of Slaughter, is it? This is where I'll temper myself." What he didn't say was that to protect his family, his loved ones, and his companions, and to live on for the sake of hope, he would not retreat. He could not afford to.
Tang San was already a sharp mind, and with the Wisdom Skull, his intelligence had grown even sharper. During that bout of vomiting, he had already figured it out — his father had brought him to this world drenched in slaughter, and the only choice available to him was slaughter. The alternative was being killed. That bout of vomiting had been the one moment of weakness he allowed himself. He would never permit himself a second.
Having said this, Tang San rose to his feet and strode over to the tavern's bar counter, not even glancing at the other two waiters who stood frozen behind it. He raised his hand and brought his palm crashing down upon the counter.
With a thunderous crash, the bar counter exploded into splinters that scattered in every direction, exposing the ground beneath.
The two waiters stood there, dumbstruck. The blue glow around Tang San had already receded, and in his left hand, a small black hammer had appeared at some unknown moment — the same one he had drawn before.
"The entrance to the City of Slaughter should be right here." He twisted his body, his calves surging with power, and the small black hammer transformed into a streak of dark light that hammered into the ground.
His spiritual sense had already detected the anomaly here earlier. Directly beneath this bar counter lay a hollow space. There was no doubt — this small town could not possibly be the City of Slaughter itself. An entrance was the most logical explanation. He wouldn't bother searching for some hidden mechanism; different places called for different methods.
A deafening boom shook the room as a massive hole tore open in the floor. A cold, frigid wind blew upward from the chasm below. Tang San turned his head toward the seat where his father had been sitting, only to find that Tang Hao had vanished. Without a moment's hesitation, he leaped forward and plunged directly into the pitch-black void. His body was swallowed by darkness in an instant.
Once submerged in the blackness, after descending only a few meters, Tang San's feet found solid ground. He needed no light — his Purple Extreme Demon Eye could perceive everything clearly in the dark.
Before him stretched a long, slanting corridor that extended downward at an angle. The chill of the passage blew ceaselessly against his body. But he pressed forward with long, unhurried strides.
After exactly one thousand four hundred and sixty-two steps, a cold, emotionless voice echoed from every direction: "Welcome to the City of Slaughter. This is the capital of hell — a world filled with slaughter. Here, you may obtain everything you desire. The price is your life."
He released his spiritual sense, but Tang San immediately discovered that the material of this corridor was highly unusual — his spiritual energy could not penetrate it at all. His expression shifted slightly, his features hardening a degree. But his steps did not falter. In the darkness, it was the Blue Silver Grass that reached out first, and then came the man himself.