Chapter 28: Slaughter King, A Disordered Timeline
The soft click of the heavy door locking echoed in the room, and the Slaughter Envoy's presence was gone. The silence that fell was thick and immediate.
Qin Xuan let out a slow breath. He walked to the door and reset the simple spirit power thread he used as an alarm, a trap for any uninvited guests. Satisfied, he turned back to the relative safety of his small, grim room.
"Now for the real prize," he muttered, his consciousness sinking into his mind. He opened the system's "big turntable," the lottery panel, ready to cash in the draws he'd accumulated over the past year.
He clicked to draw twice consecutively.
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000. Congratulations to the Host for obtaining 10 Low-Grade Stamina Pills (Automatically restores spirit power: Spirit Master 100% restoration, Spirit Grandmaster 90%, Spirit Elder 80%... Spirit King 60%, decreasing sequentially, Titled Douluo 10%).]
"Consumables. Useful, but boring," Qin Xuan mused, mentally pocketing the pills. They would be a lifesaver in the Hell Road, where spirit power was suppressed.
[Ding, Emotion Value -1000. Congratulations to the Host for obtaining the Wu Shuang Sword Case, the treasure of Peerless City from the Song of Youth world.]
[Inorin's Note: Song of Youth (Shaonian Gexing) is another Chinese novel/animation. The Wu Shuang Sword Case (无双剑匣) is the signature weapon of Wu Shuang, which contains 13 flying swords.]
At this point, all of Qin Xuan's accumulated lottery draws for the year were used up.
A dark, intricately carved sword case, about a foot and a half long, materialized from light and fell into his hand. It was cold to the touch.
Qin Xuan felt a strange, complex pang. Because of this system, the people or items drawn were not copies; they were real entities, plucked from a certain world.
He thought back to the secret manuals he'd obtained, the ones from the Ghost Valley. "Those came from the master of Gai Nie and Wei Zhuang... from the world of Qin's Moon."
[Inorin's Note: Qin's Moon (The Legend of Qin) is a Chinese animation/franchise. Gai Nie, Wei Zhuang, and the Ghost Valley are central elements of its plot.]
He looked down at the sword case in his hand. "And this... from Song of Youth. Peerless City. Wu Shuang..."
He knew the story. Without this sword case, Peerless City was just an empty name. Without it, would the young Wu Shuang ever be able to reach the Sword Immortal realm in a short time?
Qin Xuan felt a brief, strange connection to that other world, a flicker of guilt, and then severed it. This was his reality. His survival. Their fate was not, and could not be, his concern.
He was already engrossed in studying the sword case. He didn't need to inject spirit power; he focused his will, and it clicked open.
Inside, 13 slender, dark-metal blades lay nestled in black velvet, each one humming with a faint, sharp energy.
"This..." A slow smile spread across his face. "This is a game-changer."
It was a perfect match for his Longitudinal Sword Technique. The Hundred Steps Flying Sword was no longer limited to just his own condensed sword qi. He could now command 13 blades at once.
"Great King, that is how the matter stands."
In the tallest, darkest tower of Slaughter City, the Slaughter Envoy knelt in the vast, dim throne room.
She had changed her clothes and meticulously reported the entire incident to the Slaughter King, concealing only the part about her own humiliation and terror in front of Qin Xuan.
"So, he agreed?" The Slaughter King's voice was a low rumble from the depths of the massive, dark-red skull chair. He sounded somewhat surprised.
Slaughter City and Spirit Hall had always maintained a complex, cooperative relationship. With Spirit Hall's foundation, it was impossible for them not to know about the Hell Road, and even less possible for them not to know about the Slaughter God Domain.
For that young man to be escorted here by two Spirit Douluo who were on the verge of advancing to Titled Douluo—his identity must not be simple. He was most likely sent here specifically for training, to gain the Domain.
It was truly surprising that he would so easily agree to become an "Honored Guest," giving up that ultimate opportunity.
"Yes, my great King," the Slaughter Envoy replied respectfully, her head bowed.
"He didn't touch you?" The Slaughter King's voice sounded again. A bat's senses were extremely keen, and he had not detected any sign of the Slaughter Envoy's virginity being broken.
"No, Great King." She flinched, the memory of the shark's blood flashing in her mind. She lowered her head further, hiding her shame. "He... he does not seem interested in me."
"Alright. You may leave for now," the Slaughter King waved his hand, losing interest in that line of questioning.
"What about his 100th Hell Slaughter Field match, Great King?" the Slaughter Envoy asked hesitantly.
"Satisfy his conditions first," the Slaughter King said indifferently.
Compared to this trivial matter, he was more curious about something else. "This 'Black Dragon'... he mentioned an 'old man more terrifying than the Slaughter King.' Who could he mean?"
Could it be one of the revered Consecrated Elders of the Elder Palace? he wondered. Or perhaps... Qian Daoliu? One of the three Limit Douluo of that time, on par with this body's original power?
The former was fine. After all, in this place, he was an invincible existence. No matter how many Titled Douluo came, he was not afraid.
But Qian Daoliu was different.
Just his Angelic Domain, his 99th-level spirit power, his demigod body, and that full set of Angelic Spirit Bones... that man would be enough to destroy the entire Slaughter City.
Time flew by like a white steed, and two days were ultimately too short. It wasn't until noon on the third day that the participants for the 100th match were finally gathered.
When the nine fallen ones, the strongest remaining contenders in the city, were led to the arena and saw that 'Black Dragon' was among them, their souls were instantly scared out of their bodies.
They looked at each other, and in a desperate, unspoken pact for survival, they tacitly surrounded Qin Xuan the moment the match began.
The result was predictable.
They charged. Qin Xuan, standing in the center of the arena, didn't even draw his sword. He simply raised his right hand.
The Wu Shuang Sword Case, hidden beneath his black robe, clicked open.
"Hundred Steps Flying Sword," he whispered.
Instead of a single blade of condensed qi, nine tangible, dark streaks of light erupted from his back. They were the real swords from the case, imbued with his own murderous sword qi.
Swish—
Before the nine fallen ones could even unleash a single Spirit Ability, the nine blades completed a perfect, horizontal arc through the air, faster than the eye could follow.
The arena fell silent. The nine men stopped charging, their bodies frozen.
Then, one by one, their heads slid cleanly from their shoulders. Nine headless corpses collapsed to the ground, and the nine blades, dripping with blood, flew back to the case with a quiet click.
The atmosphere in the Hell Slaughter Field surged to its absolute peak. After a beat of stunned silence, the fallen ones in the stands erupted in a frenzied roar, mistakenly believing they were about to witness the opening of the Hell Road.
Little did they know that this path required them to pave it with their own blood.
"Congratulations... young Black Dragon."
At this moment, a blood-red figure descended from the sky, stopping 5 meters above the ground. The Slaughter King appeared at the opportune moment, his low and sharp voice echoing in all directions.
Along with him came an icy chill and a thick, sweet, metallic scent.
But within the vast Hell Slaughter Field, apart from Qin Xuan, no one seemed to notice this chill and sweet scent; they merely roared wildly in his presence.
"SLAUGHTER KING! SLAUGHTER KING!" Even if their throats were hoarse, none of the fallen ones stopped.
Qin Xuan's heart was solemn, his hand resting on the hidden sword case. This was the first time he had met the Slaughter King face-to-face.
He was tall, pale-faced, with completely blood-red eyes and two pairs of eerie, dark-red horns on his head. His entire body was enveloped in a set of dark-red bat-like armor.
No wonder, Qin Xuan thought, that when Tang Hao achieved his 100 consecutive victories, he didn't recognize the Slaughter King as his own grandfather. He had almost completely lost his human features.
"I am very pleased," the Slaughter King's voice boomed, "to witness the birth of another Hell Slaughterer, a mere 5 years after the last! He has made you tremble with his powerful strength and killing intent, hasn't he, my subjects?"
"YES! YES! YES!" The crowd was completely bewitched.
But Qin Xuan's mind latched onto something else. Five years?
He immediately knew something was wrong. The original timeline of Douluo, as written by that author, was a notoriously unreliable thing.
Let's see... Qin Xuan calculated internally. Tang Hao entered Slaughter City at 26 and left at 28. If he left 5 years ago, that means he's 33 years old right now.
He supposedly broke through to Spirit Saint at 30, then began roaming the continent with Tang Xiao, who was 15 years older and Level 78.
If Tang Hao is 33, he's only been roaming for 3 years. He shouldn't have even met Ah Yin yet. The novel said he met her after 5 years of wandering, when he was 35.
But that's where the first bug appeared. When he met Ah Yin at 35, Tang Xiao was somehow still Level 78. A Spirit Douluo at that level should have been able to see Ah Yin's 100,000-year-old Spirit Beast identity, but he didn't.
Qin Xuan's mind raced, cataloging the errors. Then the timeline gets worse. They travel for 3 years, Tang Hao is 38. Tang Xiao supposedly leaves. But another passage says at 35, Tang Hao was Level 84, brought Ah Yin back, and crippled a Titled Douluo.
In that same year, his father died of anger, and Tang Xiao—who had suddenly been promoted to Titled Douluo—was appointed Sect Master and expelled Tang Hao.
Then Tang Hao hid with Ah Yin for 9 years. At 44, his spirit power broke through Level 90, and Ah Yin, entering her mature phase, was discovered by Spirit Hall.
Tsk, tsk... Qin Xuan sneered beneath his hood. This timeline is a pain in the ass.
Tang Xiao, stuck at Level 78 for 5 years, suddenly travels with Tang Hao and Ah Yin for 3 years and breaks through all the way to Level 90 upon returning to the Sect? Even Tang San, that cheat, wasn't this exaggerated, right?
This means, Qin Xuan concluded, his eyes narrowing at the Slaughter King, if the King is correct and it has been 5 years, then Tang Hao is 33. My own timeline is already disordered. This isn't the same story I read.
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