A low, resounding voice echoed through the Hell Slaughter Arena, as if rising from the depths of hell itself.
"Congratulations, young Thunder Demon."
"You completed 100 wins in eight months—the fastest in the history of the Hell Slaughter Arena."
As his words fell, a single figure appeared on the central high platform.
It was a pale, middle-aged man in a magnificent robe trimmed in deep red and black.
He did not unleash any obvious soul power, but his presence instantly silenced the entire boiling arena.
The next moment, frenzied cries resounded.
"Slaughter King!"
"Slaughter King!"
The sound waves almost toppled the coliseum of bone and blood.
In this lawless land, only the Slaughter King was deity.
The Slaughter King raised a hand, and the noise ceased instantly.
"My people—"
The Slaughter King's voice rang clear in every ear.
"Today, I am delighted."
"For today, I have once again witnessed the birth of a Hundred Victories Champion."
With that, the Slaughter King's gaze turned to the lone figure standing in the field.
At this moment, Chen Yi's black clothes were soaked in blood, red and white fluid still dripping from his fingertips.
Eight months of killing had hardened the once-quiet youth, making him colder and sharper.
"Thunder Demon, thank you for bringing these eight months of slaughter to my city…
I hereby grant you the title of 'Deathgod.'
And I will appoint you as the Minister in the Slaughter City.
Your status will be second only to mine."
Countless eyes in the stands filled with envy and greed.
A Seat Minister in Slaughter City meant privilege and power—second only to the Slaughter King.
"Fine."
A calm voice rang out. Chen Yi looked up at the King on the high platform, his gaze showing no excitement.
"Slaughter King, please open the Hell Road."
The Slaughter King stared at him, blood-red eyes shining with a strange light.
"Thunder Demon, have you considered?
Once you step onto the Hell Road, there is no turning back."
"Life is only lived once."
Chen Yi looked at the King with a hint of mockery.
"Slaughter King, to say this here… don't you find it a bit ironic?"
In Slaughter City, where life was the cheapest commodity and countless died every day, talk of cherishing life was the cruelest joke.
The Slaughter King stared at Chen Yi.
"Heh… amusing.
Very well. I will grant your wish.
May your journey on the Hell Road be… an interesting one."
As his words fell, a thick blood-red mist erupted from the Slaughter King, spreading rapidly with a sweet, cloying scent, instantly enveloping the entire arena.
In the stands, the faces of the fanatical, degenerate crowd froze in terror.
"No—!"
"Slaughter King! Spare me!"
"Ah—!"
Shrill screams were cut off as the blood mist swept past. The bodies collapsed, blood forcibly drained, flowing together toward the center of the field.
"It is your glory to become the sacrifice that opens the Hell Road,"
came the Slaughter King's cold voice from within the blood mist.
On the ground, countless streams of blood converged, twisting into a giant rune shaped like a bat, over fifty meters across.
The rune blazed with a ghastly brilliance, pulsing ominously.
When the last scream ceased, the stands were empty—only thousands of shriveled corpses remained.
"Buzz—"
The bat rune shot up a pillar of blood-red light, enveloping Chen Yi standing at its heart.
Just before he vanished, Chen Yi heard the Slaughter King's chilling laughter—
"Good luck, Thunder Demon."
…
When Chen Yi opened his eyes again, he was already standing atop a round platform about five meters across.
He stood up, quickly checking his condition.
Soul power was full, body unimpeded. At the edge of the platform, a narrow stone bridge barely wide enough for one person led into a bottomless darkness.
This was the Hell Road.
Without hesitation, Chen Yi stepped onto the bridge.
Beneath it yawned a bottomless abyss. Occasionally, dark red lights flickered below, accompanied by faint hissing and scraping sounds.
As Chen Yi ventured deeper, the temperature rose sharply. The smell of sulfur grew stronger, heat waves surging upward from below.
Suddenly, Chen Yi's eyes narrowed, his steps halting.
"It's coming."
The next moment, a piercing screech echoed from ahead!
A swarm of blood-colored bats burst from around the corner, each the size of a housecat, flapping their wings like fish swimming in the air.
Facing this cloud of blood bats, Chen Yi's entire body erupted with a vivid purple-gold lightning.
"Crackle—!"
Centered on him, a ten-meter radius field of lightning instantly spread, the intense power burning fiercely.
The blood bats were incinerated in the dazzling lightning before they could even scream.
But there were simply too many. Even the mighty field couldn't wipe them out instantly.
Chen Yi caressed the soul guide at his waist. A long black staff appeared in his hand—loot obtained before entering the Slaughter Arena.
At the same time, only the sound of "shhk" was heard as the Frost-Ending Heavenly Wings spread from his back. In the next instant, Chen Yi surged forward, leading the charge into the bat swarm.
The staff in his hand swept out, every strike wrapped in thunder and lightning. Blood-colored bats were smashed into mist or reduced to ash by the lightning.
Chen Yi dashed left and right through the bat cloud. Wherever he passed, blood mist rose and a burning stench filled the air.
Clearing a path through the swarming bats, he advanced rapidly along the stone bridge.
Soon, within a brief vacuum in the dense swarm, he was suddenly attacked.
"Skreeeeee—!"
A piercing screech stabbed his eardrums.
The bats scattered to either side as a gigantic dark golden creature slowly emerged from the passage ahead.
It was a giant bat the size of an elephant!
Its entire body dark gold, three ugly heads covered in bony spikes, six crimson eyes fixed on Chen Yi.
The Dark Gold Three-headed Bat King.
Chen Yi's eyes hardened. He knew that to kill this guardian of the Hell Road, all three heads must be destroyed at once—otherwise, it would regenerate endlessly.
So the instant the Bat King appeared, Chen Yi was already moving!
"Go!"
The black iron staff shot out like a bolt of black lightning, wrapped in condensed thunder, and struck the Bat King's left eye.
"Bang!"
The staff stabbed straight into the left eye socket, thunder exploding within.
Almost simultaneously, Chen Yi's wings flashed, his body moving like lightning to the right side. The edge of his right wing condensed into a peerless purple-gold blade.
"Whoosh!"
The right head was severed at the neck, the cut scorched black.
The moment the right head fell, Chen Yi's left hand formed claws, curving like talons. The soul bone claws shot out.
"Slash—!"
Five purple-gold claw marks crossed the central head's forehead, slicing precisely, shattering its internal structure.
The giant body of the Bat King froze in midair, all three heads smashed, life instantly extinguished. Its huge wings flapped weakly twice before it tumbled into the abyss.
With the Bat King's death, the remaining blood bats lost their backbone, scattering in chaos and vanishing into the darkness.
Chen Yi retrieved his staff, slowly retracting his wings, casting a glance in the direction the Bat King had fallen before continuing without pause along the stone bridge.
The deeper he went, the harsher the environment grew.
The temperature soared unbearably. The darkness below the bridge was replaced by roiling magma.
The air was thick with sulfur. Waves of heat pressed in.
Any weaker soul master would have been roasted alive by now.
Chen Yi's speed slowed, but he remained steady. His spiritual energy was highly focused, sensing everything around him.
After about fifteen minutes, Chen Yi suddenly halted.
He stood in the void, gazing at the narrow stone bridge ahead. It was now barely a foot wide, with no guardrails on either side, and a rolling pool of magma below.
"Kwak… kwack…"
A dangerous aura shrouded the area ahead.
As expected, it wasn't long before a massive figure slowly moved into view.
Its entire body was red, over ten meters long, with a huge head. Nine swollen serpents sprouted from its back as it appeared before Chen Yi's eyes.