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The City of Slaughter, Hell's Arena.
"Shura King!"
"Shura King!"
"Shura King!"
A chorus of passionate shouts echoed again. All the fallen spectators in the stands were watching the blue-haired, handsome man wielding a massive black iron hammer in the Hell's Arena.
This man was Tang San. He had been in the City of Slaughter for over six months and had already completed nearly forty challenges in the Hell's Arena.
Normally, a fallen one would only gain recognition after completing around fifty challenges in the Hell's Arena. However, Tang San was an exception.
On one occasion, after Tang San had defeated two opponents with soul powers above level 80, he left the arena in a weakened state. Immediately, he was surrounded by over a hundred people. The number of cuts and wounds on him was uncountable. Yet, the final outcome was that all one hundred of them were dead, their bodies completely vanished. Tang San, still surrounded by black aura, emerged from the pile of corpses, his muscles bulging.
This news spread quickly, shaking the entire City of Slaughter. The title of Shura King became known to every fallen soul in the city.
In the stands, a stunningly beautiful woman leaned on her hand, staring intently at the blue-haired man in the arena. This woman was, of course, Hu Liena.
As early as when Tang San had won his twentieth match, Hu Liena had been certain that he, like her, had come to the City of Slaughter for self-training.
When Tang San earned the title of Shura King, Hu Liena made it a point to watch every one of his matches from that day on.
Before, she had always thought that, aside from Qian Renxue, her older brother was the most outstanding man she had ever seen. Men like Kuang Xiao and Qian Gu Yun Tian didn't have lesser talents, but the resources distributed by the Spirit Hall were unfair. Her brother's resources were not as good as theirs. Had he received the same resources, his cultivation would have definitely been comparable.
Furthermore, Kuang Xiao was such a flirt. He couldn't compare to her pure and noble brother, which was why Hu Liena never thought highly of him.
As for Qian Renxue, while undeniably powerful, his arrogance, coldness, mood swings, and disdain for life made him almost suffocating to be around. Hu Liena was terrified of him, afraid that a single slap from him would end her life. After all, if it hadn't been for Bibi Dong's protection, she might have been killed by him years ago.
Even her brother, who was excellent in his own right, had remarked that the Maze Canyon was a place only demons could come out of. He was reluctant to go there, and the City of Slaughter, an even more terrifying place, was unthinkable for him.
But the man before her was different. He dared to come here, and his results were even better than hers. Despite the countless women throwing themselves at him, all they received in return was a cold killing intent.
He wasn't much older than her, with a handsome face and an unshakable resolve that resisted the temptations of the fallen. Every aspect of him deeply attracted Hu Liena.
When a woman falls for a man, there are usually many reasons. Besides his extraordinary talent and pure nature, Hu Liena felt a sense of mutual understanding with him.
Coming to this place, with such refined combat skills and mastery of the hammer, meant that this disciple of the Haotian Sect must have been a star pupil there. But with the Haotian Sect now destroyed by the Spirit Hall, he had become a stray dog. Not only did he have to flee from the pursuit of the Spirit Hall, but he also needed to train hard to avenge his sect.
Hu Liena herself had a similar experience. She had once been the closest to becoming the Saintess of the Spirit Hall and had even been chosen by the Pope as the successor. But now, she was marginalized by the younger generation of the Spirit Hall. Those two giants never acknowledged her, and now she fought in the City of Slaughter to regain her dignity.
For all these reasons, Hu Liena realized she had already fallen for this man. Although they hadn't exchanged a word since the first day they met, she was sure that no one else could take his place in her heart. Unless there was someone from the Spirit Hall who was even more handsome, talented, and brave enough to come to the City of Slaughter for training—without being a womanizer—she could never love anyone else.
With a deep sigh, Hu Liena thought to herself, "There's no one else in the Spirit Hall like him... What a pity. The Haotian Sect has already been annihilated by the Spirit Hall. He must be one of the surviving disciples, and I, coming from the Spirit Hall, have a mortal enemy relationship with him. There can never be anything between us."
Just as Tang San was walking toward the stands to return to his place for training, a white-haired man carrying a blood-colored giant sword entered the Hell's Arena.
This man was none other than Qian Renxue, who had once killed the Evil-Eyed Tyrant on the Sun and Moon Continent with a single sword strike, and now came to face the Ninth Trial of Shura.
"The King of Slaughter."
Qian Renxue's indifferent voice carried an oppressive wave of soul power, and everyone in the stands, including Tang San and Hu Liena, felt a sharp sweetness in their throats, nearly coughing up blood.
Hu Liena, watching Qian Renxue's figure, briefly showed a flash of confusion in her eyes. She quickly turned her gaze to the passage where Tang San had just left and saw him standing there, unharmed. She let out a slight sigh of relief.
Then, a deep sense of humiliation surged within her again. It was just as she expected—cold, indifferent, viewing life as expendable. Qian Renxue probably had no idea that she was sitting in the stands. If she had been killed by the soul power emanating from his voice, Qian Renxue would likely have treated it as if he had simply stepped on an ant. Whether she lived or died, it wouldn't matter to him in the slightest.
"Qian Renxue, did you not come to take my life because you see me as an insignificant ant? Are you too lazy to make a move, or do you simply not even deem me worthy of your attention?"
Tang San gripped his chest, swallowing the sweet taste in his throat. His blood-red eyes locked onto Qian Renxue, and his fists clenched tightly, his fingers digging into his flesh.
If he had his Peacock Feather, the Storm Pear Blossom Needle, or the Buddha's Wrath Tang Lotus, he might have had a chance to sneak attack and kill Qian Renxue. But unfortunately, his strongest hidden weapon now was the Phoenix's Call for Nine Chicks. How could such a weapon deal with a Title Douluo capable of using soul techniques?
Using it would only reveal his identity, making it impossible to seek revenge against the Spirit Hall.
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river. Qian Renxue, Spirit Hall, just you wait, Tang San will make you pay!"
Tang San almost bit through his silver teeth. He shot Qian Renxue a final, deep glare before turning and walking out of the Hell's Arena.
Qian Renxue, sensing an intense and tangible aura of hostility directed at him, glanced at the retreating figure of the blue-haired man in black robes. His eyes showed a moment of contemplation. But in the next instant, a middle-aged man in blood-red robes, tall and thin, flew toward him. This man was the newly appointed King of Slaughter in the City of Slaughter, formerly the Captain of the Enforcement Team.
"Your Holiness the Pope," the man saluted.
"Open the Hell Road," Qian Renxue said coldly, an invisible pressure enveloping the newly appointed King of Slaughter.
"Yes, Your Holiness the Pope," the man responded.
The new King of Slaughter was nowhere near as powerful as the previous one and lacked the courage to resist the Spirit Hall. With a wave of his hand, he coldly ordered, "Offer your blood, open the gate to Hell Road."
In the next moment, dozens of fully armed Enforcers from the City of Slaughter rushed out, surrounding the spectators in the Hell's Arena. A bloody massacre ensued.
With the support of armored weapons, the Enforcers' battle power skyrocketed. They severed heads, slashed open bellies, and dismembered bodies, with blood splattering everywhere.
Since the new King of Slaughter lacked the control over the fallen ones that the old bat had—he couldn't control all the fallen souls—the only way to make them bleed was through force.
Had Hu Liena not been backed by the Spirit Hall, with the current Pope herself present here, she too would have become a sacrificial offering, torn apart in the bloody chaos.
(End of Chapter)