Chapter 162: Blood Fiend Art I'm Simply Doing What the God of Shura Would Do
After chatting for a while and having a meal, Han Li and Dugu Bo each returned to their rooms.
The nights in the City of Slaughter were far from safe. In fact, they were even more dangerous than the daytime.
In just one night, Han Li and Dugu Bo had already killed more than ten people this was despite Han Li having already demonstrated his strength during the day.
Poisoning, ambushes these were just the most basic means.
Oh, and Han Li finally met the original owner of their house… hiding in an underground tunnel he had discovered earlier. This time, he showed no mercy and swiftly sent him off to meet Shura.
By the time the sky above the City of Slaughter turned its usual grayish hue, signaling the arrival of daytime, the walls outside their courtyard were adorned with fourteen corpses.
Around what would be equivalent to nine in the morning in the outside world, a squad of black armored guards arrived. They skillfully removed the corpses and cleaned the walls so professional that Han Li couldn't help but admire their efficiency, reminding him of the crime scene cleanup squads in Hong Kong movies.
And just like that, a few more days passed.
Though calling it "peaceful" would be an exaggeration, compared to the rampant bloodshed in the city, their lives were relatively stable.
During their first week, they were attacked at least twice per day. However, by the last two days, no one dared to attack them recklessly anymore the majority of ambushes had been concentrated within the first three days.
Eventually, upon discovering an enemy, the three girls even began volunteering for combat, with the rest providing backup. They were integrating into the City of Slaughter in the most direct way possible.
As for Han Li, he continued his routine of participating in a battle at the Hell Slaughter Arena every day, personally experiencing the peculiar energy it provided.
The rest of his time was spent collaborating with the Plane Consciousness, conducting various experiments.
After half a month, Han Li finally obtained what he had been searching for. Overjoyed, he gathered everyone together.
"From now on, we'll start increasing the frequency of our battles. This will also be a good opportunity for you all to familiarize yourselves with this technique."
Han Li split the papers in his hand and handed them out to the group.
Dugu Bo read through it briefly before looking up in surprise. "This is a new soul power circulation method?"
"No, not quite. To be precise, it's a technique for channeling killing intent."
Han Li's expression turned serious.
"The energy feedback we receive after killing people here?"
Dugu Bo nodded thoughtfully.
Over the past few days, he had personally sent quite a few people to their deaths. At first, he didn't think much of it, but thanks to Han Li modifying the energy distribution in their bodies, he gradually noticed the effect though for someone at his level, the energy was still too faint to matter much.
"For now, try to suppress your purification energy. Once you've gotten the basics down, you can gradually release it."
Han Li reminded Dugu Bo, keeping in mind the old man's natural resistance to external corruption.
Dugu Bo nodded in agreement.
"As for the three of you, when you sense the energy, circulate this technique and direct it into your external spirit bones first. This will help keep your soul power pure. Once it has passed through your spirit bones, then you can absorb it to enhance yourselves.
"Outside of battle, you can also practice this technique actively but don't exceed one hour per day."
Han Li looked at the three girls and warned them seriously. This was the best solution he could come up with for now.
The group nodded, carefully memorizing the energy circulation path described in the documents.
That's right every member of their team now possessed an external spirit bone.
Shui Bing'er had obtained hers upon acquiring her third spirit ring a pair of wings that increased her affinity and perception of ice elements, somewhat similar to Han Li's first spirit ring.
Xiu'er, on the other hand, had discovered a pair of damaged spirit bones while hunting for her fourth spirit ring. They were from a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear, though their age and integrity were poor.
Under Han Li's decision, she absorbed them anyway, relying on her martial soul and foundation to forcibly regenerate the broken bones. They eventually evolved into a pair of palm bones, albeit at a lower age, requiring gradual growth.
However, given the traits of spirit beasts, their age didn't matter as much what mattered was their potential.
As the group focused on memorizing the technique, Han Li sat down on the side, lost in thought.
He had named this technique Blood Fiend Art.
To be precise, this wasn't a cultivation method for soul power. Instead, it leaned more toward spiritual power refinement though in a highly specialized, City of Slaughter exclusive manner.
As Tang San had once said, the City of Slaughter was poisonous. However, the poison didn't target the body it was a spiritual toxin.
The main cause of this toxicity stemmed from the residual influence of the God of Shura and the Rakshasa God.
This was their inheritance ground. Even with their divine power diluted countless times, its remnants still seeped into the environment.
This was their law, inherently biased toward negativity.
As for why Bloody Mary could "neutralize" the poison it wasn't just due to its unique composition, but also the influence of these divine laws.
The energy feedback generated by killing within the City of Slaughter or rather, the energy collected by the city itself was essentially a condensation of life force and soul energy. For any living being, this was beneficial.
However, the killing intent and faint divine power mixed within it were more questionable. Given that all of this was part of the god's trial, though, it wasn't surprising.
Ultimately, Han Li didn't see himself as doing anything outrageous.
After all, he was merely doing what the God of Shura himself had set in motion.
After all, the energy in the City of Slaughter came from its people. While the city itself performed some level of conversion, it never intercepted its own energy source.
It was like an antivirus program that never blocks its own company's ads same concept.
Blood Fiend Art was essentially a patch created by Han Li and the Plane Consciousness.
After the initial filtering, the technique further refined the energy, redistributing it life energy to the body and soul energy to the spirit.
From there, it was directed into external spirit bones, forming a fixed imprint. The technique intercepted the killing intent and faint divine power, using the former to stimulate the growth of spiritual power.
However, a portion of the energy was still absorbed by the external spirit bones for their own enhancement, primarily the life energy. This was why Han Li classified it as a method geared toward spiritual cultivation rather than direct soul power growth.
It could be used for regular cultivation, but primarily absorbed scattered killing intent. In the City of Slaughter, the effects were obvious, but in the outside world without a constant influx of killing intent the benefits would naturally weaken.
This was the current limit of what Han Li and the Plane Consciousness could achieve. While killing intent was the most obvious and tangible component, the emotional energy contained within it was still beyond Han Li's ability to harness.
At that moment, Han Li was contemplating another possibility. The success of Blood Fiend Art had led him to a realization.
Could he use this place's unique properties to mass produce Soul Masters?
Over the past few days, he had thoroughly studied the city, and while there were similarities with the records kept by Spirit Hall, there were also discrepancies.
For one, not everyone who came here was a Soul Master. Of course, those who entered willingly were far from saints.
He learned that some people had entered as ordinary individuals but later became Soul Masters due to the city's special nature. In fact, one of the current leaders of a small faction had climbed his way up step by step from nothing.
The City of Slaughter was undeniably a land of opportunity.
The energy feedback from killing, while largely absorbed by the city or rather, this inheritance ground still left enough residual energy to benefit the killer.
If Han Li could understand and manipulate this process, he could effectively create Soul Masters in bulk. It was a dark method, but undeniably effective.
Life energy and spiritual energy combined to replenish one's essence, feeding into their Martial Soul. This was the essence of what made a Soul Master.
Moreover, due to divine influence, the City of Slaughter had broken the traditional restriction of spirit rings. Soul power could be increased without the need for spirit rings.
Perhaps this was the true cultivation system that should have existed in Douluo Continent all along.
Han Li exhaled deeply. Coming here had been far more enlightening than he had anticipated.
And this realization would define his next goal. He didn't need to immediately unravel all its mysteries, but this was undoubtedly the direction he would pursue moving forward.
For now, mass producing Soul Masters could wait. The city's current method was still too brutal. Understanding the principles behind it and refining the process would be a better approach.
After leaving, he would have to pay Tang San a visit.
Oh, and Bloody Mary couldn't be overlooked either.
Even though his group didn't need to drink it, keeping it for themselves was equivalent to stockpiling cultivation resources.
Spiritual energy could be replenished by the killing intent that filled the city, but the life energy trapped within their external spirit bones needed to be supplemented meaning they had to take it from others.
Han Li silently made up his mind.
Not outright killing them in the City of Slaughter and only taking their Bloody Mary was already an act of mercy.
As expected, the God of Shura was ruthless he even understood the principle of sustainable development.
Han Li was simply doing what the God of Shura would have done.
For the next three months, Han Li's group maintained the same routine they had followed in Spirit Hall.
The only difference was that in Spirit Hall, their schedule was cultivation, combat training, rest.
Here, it was cultivation, slaughter, collecting protection fees (Bloody Mary), rest.
Under the effects of Blood Fiend Art, everyone could clearly feel their progress and their killing intent remained under control.
Of course, when dealing with outsiders, they would actively release their killing intent, appearing even more ruthless.
This gradually changed the atmosphere of the City of Slaughter. Even the usual infighting had significantly decreased.
A storm was brewing.
Divine Realm Core The God Realm Committee
Several gods observed Han Li's group from above.
At first, Shura had been filled with disgust. But as time passed, his expression became neutral his gaze now carried a hint of contemplation.
This shift in Shura's attitude made Destruction visibly uncomfortable. He had no personal grievances against Han Li's group, but he had deliberately stayed behind, hoping to catch them breaking the rules.
Now, with Shura's reaction, his own persistence seemed rather foolish.
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