As soon as they stepped into the blood-colored great hall, Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er's eyes were immediately drawn to a colossal divine statue standing over fifty meters tall.
The statue had a firm and resolute expression, clad in dark red armor inscribed with demonic patterns, holding a massive greatsword that was entirely blood-red and covered in dark golden demonic markings. With the sword in hand, it stood solemnly in the empty hall, exuding an indescribable majesty.
Logically speaking, the dark red armor with demonic patterns and the blood-red greatsword marked with dark gold implied that this was an evil god accompanied by slaughter and bloodshed.
Strangely enough, however, this divine statue gave off no sense of evil at all. On the contrary, it instinctively made one feel that this was a god of justice, a deity who maintained order, judged evil, and used killing to stop killing.
As expected, it's the Asura God's statue!
Gazing at the awe-inspiring statue before him, Mu Yang thought inwardly.
"Mu Yang, is this the deity behind the City of Slaughter?"
After inspecting it for a moment, Shui Bing'er asked softly.
"Mm."
Mu Yang nodded slightly.
At that moment, a sudden change occurred. The doors of the blood-colored hall shut, and a white light surged from the center of the statue's forehead, landing not far in front of it.
The white light instantly expanded, forming an oval-shaped white screen of light, exactly the same as the exit found in the Hell Road.
Seeing this, Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er's expressions changed, raising their alertness.
"Trial takers, welcome to your arrival!"
Soon, the white light screen rippled slightly, and accompanied by a deep voice, a tall humanoid figure walked out from behind the screen.
"Who are you?"
Stepping forward and shielding Shui Bing'er behind him, Mu Yang fixed his eyes on the humanoid figure emerging from the white screen and asked in a deep voice.
This figure was not truly "human," at least not a pure human.
Standing nearly three meters tall, it wore a dark-gold robe, but the parts of its body exposed outside the garment were like black stone, as if it were a rock monster.
Although Mu Yang couldn't detect a strong aura from this figure, he was certain that this creature of unknown race and origin was by no means weak.
"My god bestowed upon me the name: Shang. I am my god's divine servant in the human realm."
'Shang' replied.
Understood—just like Qian Daoliu or Bo Saixi, he was a high priest of a deity.
"Younger generation Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er pay respects to Senior."
The two bowed respectfully.
Waving his hand, 'Shang' continued, "The City of Slaughter is a trial ground established by my god in the human world, with the purpose of selecting a successor capable of inheriting His mantle. Trial takers, are you prepared?
If you are not yet ready, considering it's your first arrival, I can allow you to leave and return once your preparations are complete.
However, once the trial set by my god begins, if you fail to complete it within the allotted time, then you will… die!"
As his words fell, a terrifying aura burst forth from 'Shang', enveloping Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er.
In an instant, both felt as if they had fallen into endless hell, with an overwhelming sense of death arising in their hearts, as if they were being targeted by a monstrous predator.
Fortunately, 'Shang's' aura only flashed briefly before it quickly returned to its previous seemingly harmless form—aside from his fearsome appearance.
Even so, in that brief moment, cold sweat had already beaded on both of their foreheads from the pressure emitted by 'Shang.'
Demigod? At least a demigod!
Mu Yang inwardly judged 'Shang's' strength.
Indeed, those who could become a divine servant were never to be trifled with. At the very least, they stood at the pinnacle of the mortal world, and it was entirely possible he had already surpassed level 100.
It could be said that without the enhancement of battle armor or martial soul fusion techniques, the two of them—currently only level 80 and 70 respectively—were no different from ants before someone of Shang's strength, who was at least a demigod.
"Senior, we are ready."
Bowing slightly again, Mu Yang said in a firm voice.
"Very well!"
Nodding, 'Shang' approached the awe-inspiring divine statue and respectfully bowed before it.
Accompanied by a stream of dark red energy shooting forth and entering the statue, in an instant, the statue seemed to come alive, emanating a faint dark red glow.
After 'activating' the statue, 'Shang' turned and said, "You two, stand before my God's statue."
Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er obeyed and walked up to stand before the statue.
Then, 'Shang' dropped to one knee, his face full of pious devotion as he prayed, "Great Lord Asura God, the trial takers have arrived. Please descend the trial."
This deity… is called the Asura God?
Shui Bing'er wondered silently.
In the next second, two brilliant blood-red beams of light erupted from the Asura God statue, landing upon Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er respectively, enveloping their figures entirely.
At the same time, in the distant God Realm, far from the Douluo Continent—
Inside a majestic dark red divine palace, a towering figure seated upon a divine throne slowly opened his divine eyes. His gaze pierced through space, and the scene within the blood-colored hall of the City of Slaughter appeared within his sight.
"Young one, I look forward to your performance. Ah, the unknown chaos… what kind of scenery will it be?"
With the arrival of his chosen successor, at this moment, the towering figure seemed to glimpse a near future, in which he would break free from the "cage" and set out to explore the unknown world.
That's right. For ordinary soul masters—or even a transmigrator like Mu Yang—the position of God King was something to yearn for. But for this figure who had long since achieved the supreme, it was no different from a cage.
Because only by passing on the divine seat could he venture into the unknown.
Of course, this wasn't to say that the position of God King physically restricted him from leaving the Douluo Universe. Rather, as a maintainer of divine order, this towering figure bore the duty and obligation to cultivate a new keeper of order, ensuring that the God Realm and even the entire universe wouldn't fall into chaos due to his departure.
Similarly, the unknown world would surely be fraught with unknown dangers. He needed an outstanding successor to inherit his legacy.
Such is the essence of master-to-disciple inheritance.
The dark red glow emitted from the divine statue enveloped Mu Yang and Shui Bing'er. Their consciousness was drawn into an unknown place, where a towering figure surrounded by dark red light appeared before them.
"My name, Asura!"
A majestic voice resounded. As he pointed forward with a single finger, golden-red light entered both their foreheads, and then the world shattered, and their consciousness returned to reality.
Soon, the dark red glow enveloping them faded.
Suddenly, brilliant red light flared from Shui Bing'er's body. Then, the red light condensed into eight red light screens circling above her head.
Among these eight red light screens, only the first one was lit, while the remaining seven appeared dim, as though sealed.
Eventually, the eight light screens merged into a stream of red light and entered Shui Bing'er's forehead, leaving behind a red eight-pointed star mark at its center.
For additional chapters
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