Chapter 23: The Fourth Spirit Ability
Gui Mei finally spoke, his voice a hoarse, ghostly rasp that seemed to suck the warmth from the air. "Go in with them. We can only send you this far."
This was the first time he had spoken a full sentence to Qin Xuan since they had left Spirit Hall.
After speaking, he glanced sideways at the team of black-armored knights inside the dilapidated room, his shadowy form hesitating for a fraction of a second. He then added, his voice low, "I very much look forward to what heights you can reach in the future... but the premise is that you survive."
"Remember," Gui Mei said, his tone turning ice-cold, "in the City of Slaughter, you can trust no one but yourself. You must kill anyone... anyone... who might threaten you. Hesitation is death."
Qin Xuan, who had been observing the silent, menacing knights, turned his head. A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips. "I thought Senior Gui Mei was truly as cold-hearted as he appeared. But it turns out, he's also an honest person who cares about his companions."
He then looked back at the knights, his smile vanishing, replaced by an expression of pure, icy disgust. These men were drenched in a palpable, foul aura of bloodlust.
"However," Qin Xuan said, his voice dropping, "compared to being led by the nose by these... strangers... I prefer to take the initiative myself."
Under the suddenly surprised gazes of Yue Guan and Gui Mei, Qin Xuan stepped forward, his hand already on the hilt of his sword.
A wave of red aura, hot and violent, surged from his body, thrumming with the combined power of his spirit and his internal energy. The Changming Sword instantly solidified in his grasp.
At the same moment, five spirit rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black—quietly appeared, rising from his feet to circle his body in a rhythmic, powerful display.
The fourth spirit ring, the deep 10,000-year purple ring, suddenly flared with a blinding light.
The next second, the entire house was filled with a dazzling, fiery red.
Thick, long, scarlet sword edges, formed of pure, condensed energy, burst forth from the ground. They erupted from the floorboards like a forest of crimson thorns, instantly impaling everything and everyone in the room.
Crimson flames, born from the sword qi itself, immediately erupted from the blades, soaring into the sky.
The fourth Spirit Ability, Changming Stab Array, was activated.
The sharp, fiery sword blades pierced through body after body. The eleven-person team, including the mounted leader, was instantly skewered. They didn't even have time to register the attack, let alone scream.
The wooden roof of the house offered no resistance whatsoever and was directly penetrated by the dozens of soaring sword-flames, which shot twenty meters into the air before dissipating.
Hmm!
The bodies, the armor, the horses—everything caught in the array—were not just killed; they were incinerated.
The flames were so intense that in a matter of seconds, the eleven-person team, along with the entire roof, were scorched and utterly vanished, not even leaving behind dust or the smell of burnt flesh.
Now, he finally didn't have to feel disgusted.
Qin Xuan, his face an impassive mask, held the Changming Sword, its crimson blade humming. He stomped his right foot on the ground, his body shooting high into the air, easily passing through the massive, burning hole where the roof had been.
He gripped the sword hilt with both hands reversed, and with the sword tip pointing straight down, he plunged through the hole like a falling meteor, landing in the center of the now-empty, burning house.
Crack—!
Half of the sword body sank into the ground. The earth began to crack in a spiderweb pattern, then, with a groaning sound, it collapsed.
Qin Xuan's figure flickered, his Ghost Valley movement technique carrying him back to a safe area on the perimeter just before the ground gave way.
A huge, broken hole, ten meters wide, had appeared where he had been standing. A chilling, foul wind howled from the darkness of the cavern below, carrying with it the distant, muffled sound of screams.
Qin Xuan turned his head, his red robes fluttering in the updraft. He looked in the direction of the two stunned Titled Douluo.
"Senior Yue Guan, Senior Gui Mei, I'll go ahead. We'll meet again."
Leaving these words behind, Qin Xuan did not hesitate for a second. He leaped directly into the broken, dark hole. His body was instantly enveloped by the oppressive darkness, and he completely disappeared into it.
Yue Guan only then reacted, taking a deep, shuddering breath. The sheer, casual brutality of the act had stunned him.
"I... I thought he still couldn't adapt," he whispered, his effeminate voice lacking its usual confidence. "It seems we... underestimated him. Greatly."
"That array... the power was comparable to a Spirit Ancestor, but the killing intent... it was absolute."
He looked at the dark, gaping hole. "Perhaps... perhaps he can truly create a miracle, just like that once-in-a-century genius from the Clear Sky Sect."
Although the strongest of those black-armored knights was only a Spirit Elder, what truly surprised him was not the power, but Qin Xuan's decisiveness.
The decisive killing, the ruthless and efficient treatment of enemies... it was completely unlike a hothouse flower from the Supreme Pontiff Palace who had never truly experienced slaughter.
Gui Mei stared blankly at the place where Qin Xuan disappeared, remaining silent for a long time. The dust from the collapse slowly settled around him.
He recalled the words Qin Xuan had spoken just before acting: "I thought Senior Gui Mei was truly as cold-hearted as he appeared..."
He suddenly realized that Qin Xuan was the first person, after Yue Guan, who did not feel disgust or fear towards him. He hadn't flinched from his aura, his voice, or his reputation.
The corner of his mouth, hidden beneath the swirling black mist, slightly curved upward, forming a subtle, almost imperceptible arc.
Perhaps, as Yue Guan said, this kid might truly create a miracle.
"Let's go," Gui Mei rasped, his voice back to its normal, chilling monotone. "It's time to report back to His Holiness the Supreme Pontiff."
Gui Mei finished speaking and, without a backward glance, turned to leave in the direction they had come from.
"Hey! Old ghost! Wait for me!" Yue Guan was stunned by his partner's abrupt departure and quickly chased after him, his own delicate sensibilities rattled.
"Hey, old ghost, I've noticed you're quite talkative today," Yue Guan teased, trying to regain his composure. "Is it because of little Qin Xuan? Hmm?"
"That kid actually said you care about your companions. Tsk tsk... that's truly a small knife cutting a butt. An eye-opener!"
[Inorin's Note: This is a Chinese colloquialism (xiǎo dāo gē pì gu, kāi le yǎn le), which literally means "a small knife cut the buttocks, opening the eyes." It's a crude, humorous way of saying "I've seen something new and unbelievable," or "That's an eye-opener."]
"Hey, old ghost, why are you running so fast... Wait for me!"
Two figures, one ghostly black, one flamboyant pink, gradually receded into the distance under the blood-red setting sun. Gui Mei remained as indifferent and silent as ever. Before long, they disappeared into the afterglow.
Only Yue Guan's faint, effeminate, and complaining voice lingered on the wind.
Several meters below the destroyed house was a pitch-black passage where one could not see one's hand in front of their face.
Once Qin Xuan's feet touched solid, damp stone ground, he discovered it instantly.
His Spirit, the powerful, blazing Changming Sword, was being suppressed.
It felt as if a mountain of cold, wet mud was being pressed onto his very soul. The connection between his Spirit and his five spirit rings was severed. He could no longer access any of his abilities.
"Is this the anti-magic effect inherent to the City of Slaughter?"
Qin Xuan's face showed no surprise. He had anticipated this. This was the city's fundamental rule.
He gently stroked his face, his other senses heightening to compensate. He released his mental force, which, thankfully, was unaffected. It spread out like radar, painting a picture of the darkness in his mind.
Ignoring the oppressive, suffocating darkness, he continued forward.
As he walked, his mind focused. The disguise effect of [Thousand Faces], the reward from the system, quietly activated. It didn't require spirit power, only his will.
A few seconds later, beneath his hood, his features began to shift and reform.
When the transformation was complete, a new, strange face had appeared. He now had naturally flowing golden hair, and a face that was cold, arrogant, and bore three or four points of uncanny resemblance to both Qian Xunji and Qian Daoliu.
This was one of Qin Xuan's life-saving measures.
He did not have the protection of two great future Killing Gods, as Tang San and Hu Liena did in the original work.
To survive, to pass through the Hell Slaughtering Field and gain the qualification to open the Hell Road, he had to make the master of the City of Slaughter wary.
And what identity was more terrifying than a direct descendant of Spirit Hall?
The identity of a "bastard son" of the High Priest of Spirit Hall, Qian Daoliu—one of the three undisputed Limit Douluo on the continent—was undoubtedly the best choice. It was a perfect, unverifiable deterrent.
As for why Tang Hao and Bibi Dong had obtained the qualification to enter the Hell Road without the protection of a future Killing God, Qin Xuan had already formed a conjecture.
He guessed that Tang Hao received it because, at that time, the Slaughter King was Tang Chen. Though Tang Chen was parasitized by the Nine-Headed Blood-Red Bat King, a trace of his original consciousness, his demigod will, still remained. It must have recognized Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer.
The Nine-Headed Blood-Red Bat King, to prevent Tang Chen's true will from awakening and going all out in a suicidal battle, did not make things difficult for Tang Hao.
And Bibi Dong's survival was even simpler.
She was already the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall, the wife of the current Supreme Pontiff, and Qian Daoliu's daughter-in-law. She was the future of the most powerful organization on the continent.
If the City of Slaughter truly violated its own rules and forcibly kept Bibi Dong, or did not allow her to open the Hell Road, it would be strange if Spirit Hall didn't retaliate furiously. A Level 99 Limit Douluo leading the full might of the Elder Palace would be unstoppable.
The City of Slaughter was the ideal kingdom in the heart of the Nine-Headed Blood-Red Bat King, but it could not bear such a price.
There was also the most important, most secret point: Bibi Dong was the chosen successor of the Rakshasa God. The Nine-Headed Blood-Red Bat King, the master of this city, was merely the Rakshasa God's pet.
To dare to touch Bibi Dong, unless it was an old man hanging himself—thoroughly tired of living—it would be an act of suicide.
The pitch-black passage extended diagonally downward, and a chilling, foul-smelling aura constantly blew across Qin Xuan's newly disguised face beneath his hood.
But he still strode forward, his pace steady, continuously scanning his surroundings with his mental force to prevent any unforeseen events from suddenly occurring.
After walking about 700 or 800 meters and turning a sharp corner, a faint, blood-red light became visible ahead, accompanied by a cacophony of sounds—shouting, screaming, and a low, maddening roar.
Qin Xuan squinted his eyes and continued forward. The source of the light was a doorway.
Creak—
The heavy iron door opened in response to his approach. On the other side stood more black-armored knights, and their leader was also riding a tall, skeletal warhorse.
The slight difference was that this time, it was no longer a ten-person team, and the leader was no longer a mere Spirit Elder.
Instead, it was a full hundred-person team, their black armor stained with fresh, dark blood. The leader was a Spirit King, his aura thick and menacing. His warhorse also had thick, spiked armor that the previous ones lacked.
"If I defeat you, will I be qualified to enter the City of Slaughter?" Qin Xuan's words, sharp and cold, were transmitted directly to the leading knight's ear via a precise burst of mental force, crossing the 100-meter distance instantly.
The leading knight was visibly stunned. How did he know? I haven't even spoken yet!
He then reacted, his helmeted head snapping up to stare at the hooded figure. He nodded slowly. "You have violated the rules by killing the guides. You must defeat me, the Captain of the Guard, to gain the qualification to enter the City of Slaughter."
The low, grating voice sounded somewhat similar to Gui Mei's, extremely cold, as if it wasn't coming from a human mouth.
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