The spirit bone skills were exactly as Ignaz had expected. The first was the flight ability, though since his martial spirit wasn't particularly compatible with Blue Silver Grass, the flight spirit skill required considerably more spirit power to use.
The second spirit skill's effectiveness was somewhat reduced—the spirit power recovery speed was halved, and correspondingly, the limb regeneration effect would likely be greatly diminished as well.
Ignaz stood up, brushed the dust off his body, and consoled himself, "You win some, you lose some. Well then, it's time to complete my final major task."
After a brief moment of reflection, he headed south toward the Star Luo Empire, alternating frequently between his Wave-Treading Mountain Sea Steps and spirit skills throughout the journey to become more proficient with his spirit bone abilities.
...
Time flowed on, day and night alternated, and the dense forests had long passed. Vast amounts of withered trees came into view.
In just a month and a half, Ignaz had witnessed countless atrocities with his own eyes. The further south he went, the fewer common people there were. Crows constantly circled overhead or perched on dead trees, pecking at the living people hanging from the withered branches.
This was paradise for the fallen, a burial ground for the dead.
He stopped his rapid advance and looked at the deserted village he found himself in—filled with flying crows and reeking of foul odors.
"This must be the station village at the entrance to Slaughter City!"
At that moment, several Spirit Masters wandering through the village like walking corpses were licking blood from their blades, watching Ignaz with sinister and malevolent gazes.
Ignaz walked to the village's only wooden inn that still had some candlelight and signs of human presence.
Inside, six or seven Spirit Masters were drinking Bloody Marys and bragging, exchanging glances with each other.
"Looks like we'll have more Bloody Marys to drink. Brothers, how many cups do you think that outsider will provide us with?"
Just as they stood up, preparing to join the fallen Spirit Masters outside to finish off Ignaz, a Blood Thunder War Spear pierced through the inn's wooden door.
"Puchi—"
Two Spirit Ancestors who were about to open the door were run through before they could even activate their spirit rings, pinned to the wall.
"Ahh—"
Their bodies rapidly withered at an alarming speed, their blood essence flowing into the spear. The blood dragon on the spear handle appeared particularly excited, and finally, only two sets of stark white skeletal frames remained.
The fallen Spirit Masters who witnessed this scene were terrified, but the fanaticism in their hearts was ignited once again.
"Great! Another one of our kind has arrived. Kill him!"
All the fallen Spirit Masters present charged out, each displaying their spirit rings. Only two had standard spirit ring configurations; the rest were small fries with white first spirit rings.
"Third Spirit Skill, Azure Underworld Eyes!"
"Fourth Spirit Skill, Ferry Crow Blood Inquiry!"
...
Most of the fallen Spirit Masters unleashed their strongest spirit skills as they charged toward Ignaz.
Ignaz responded by leaping into the sky, the Blood Thunder War Spear appearing in his hand as his body danced along with the spear.
"Fifth Spirit Skill, War Spear Mad Dragon Dance!"
As the spear danced, seven bloody tornadoes suddenly arose, lifting all buildings within 800 meters and hurling them away. The dozen or so fallen Spirit Masters present were all terrified by such power.
"Spirit King???"
The fallen Spirit Masters capable of flight frantically flapped their wings to escape, while the others turned and ran, shouting as they fled,
"Spare us, spare our lives! We can take you to Slaughter City!"
"Too late. Your lives now belong to me."
As soon as the words fell, endless screams erupted from within the bloody tornadoes. Wind blades sliced and diced while blood rust invaded muscle tissue. In an instant, nearly half the wooden houses were razed to the ground, and blood mist filled the sky above the entire inn, flowing into the Blood Thunder War Spear martial spirit.
As Ignaz's feet touched the ground, the entire village returned to silence. He walked to the counter that hadn't been destroyed by the tornado and roared,
"Where is everyone? Where did they go? Come out here and get me a cup of Bloody Mary!"
As soon as he finished speaking, two men with sallow faces, extremely thin and terrified, crawled out from beneath the counter.
"Customer, please, please wait just a moment. The Bloody Mary will be provided immediately."
The man beside him quickly urged the other to fetch it. They dared not offend such a murderous Spirit King whose martial spirit fed on others' blood essence.
Ignaz placed two gold spirit coins on the counter and casually found a relatively intact wooden barrel to sit on while recovering the spirit power he had consumed.
"Customer, your, your Bloody Mary."
The man tremblingly presented the Bloody Mary to Ignaz. Looking at the drink before him—crimson red in color, constantly emitting blood-red vapors, appearing even more sinister against the black skull cup—
He gently lifted the cup's bottom and took a sip, a look of disdain appearing on his face.
"Bloody Mary is nothing special. It doesn't even taste as good as some spirit beast blood!"
After a moment, Ignaz had completely recovered the spirit power he'd previously consumed. He took the Bloody Mary and walked to the counter, saying coldly,
"Where is the entrance to Slaughter City?"
The two servers beside him didn't dare provoke Ignaz's ire and pointed to a stone foundation floor beside the counter.
Ignaz walked forward and lightly stepped on it a few times. The hollow echo revealed that it was obviously empty below. He gripped his Blood Thunder War Spear and thrust it toward the foundation's tip. The ground collapsed, revealing a crimson hole of unknown depth before Ignaz.
Looking down at the hole below, with a feeling of great reverence, Ignaz spilled the Bloody Mary on the ground as an offering.
"Slaughter City, here I come!"
"Hahaha—"
Then he leaped down, and the shattered floorboards began to automatically repair themselves.
...
A blood moon hung in the sky, surrounded by desolate colors. Massive beast bones were buried in the Red Desert. Above in the bloody sky, a pale white vortex suddenly appeared.
Ignaz fell from within it, landing quite steadily on the red desert. The pale white energy surrounding the area was gathering into the form of every person Ignaz had previously killed.
"Welcome to Slaughter City!"
"This is hell's dueling ground!"
"Here you can obtain anything!"
"You need only pay with your life!"
...
"Get lost—"
Ignaz roared in response, his tremendous mental power directly scattering these white killing auras completely. In an instant, a black stone road appeared beneath his feet.
Ahead stood a black fortress city a hundred zhang tall, with endless boiling lava below the fortress. Countless black chains bound the only stone road leading into the city.
Beside the road stood soldiers of the Slaughter City guard corps, one after another, wearing black skull armor with glowing red eyes. The closer one got to the black fortress, the more intense became the internal sounds of fanaticism, pain, and wild cries.
At this moment, Ignaz suddenly discovered that the spirit skills of his spirit rings seemed to be sealed, completely unusable.
"This is Slaughter City's specialty, and one of the Slaughter King's domain abilities."
Fortunately, his self-created spirit skills and spirit bone abilities weren't restricted.
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