The third floor descended into utter chaos, some people rushing towards Liang Chen and Yan Ling while others fled as quickly as they could, only hoping to save their lives. The blood that splashed everywhere turned into a fine mist that soared into the sky and gathered together into clouds that brought all the blood back to the ground again in the form of rain, drenching most of the third floor.The only time something similar had happened in any of the three towers was right after the arenas were established, at a time where the three towers didn"t even have the most basic of rules. With how big of the commotion was, news quickly spread to the other towers, even reaching some of the more common populace on the planet after a while.
A few kilometers away from Ten Thousand Souls city, the city that housed the Heaven Reaching Souls tower, stood a small and cozy wooden hut. The wooden hut was hidden away in a small forest and had a small garden adjoined to the side, a few mushrooms and vegetables currently growing in the garden. A strangely tall man from the Undead race walked up to the hut, respectfully knocking on the door. The man was missing his third eye, he only had a hole where the eye should be, a large scar going over the hole. After a short moment of waiting, the door to the hut swung open and the man entered.
The inside of the hut was very simple and only contained three rooms, a small kitchen, a single bedroom, and a living room. The living room was spa.r.s.ely decorated, a round table with a two-seater couch on each side of it taking up most of the center of the room. Other than this table and the couches, the only other furniture and decorations in the room were a few cabinets which had various flowers in pots placed on top of them.
There was a graceful and mature woman sitting on one of the couches, calmly sipping tea from an earthenware cup. The woman was from the Undead race, but her skin wasn"t pale like it usually was, it was a more healthy wheat-like color. She had a curvaceous figure that her loose white robe couldn"t hide, black hair that hung down to her ears, and eyes that were as golden as the sun. The woman smiled at the man, beckoning towards the couch in front of her.
"Dai Hong, it"s been a little while since you last visited me. Come, this year"s harvest has been especially good so I"ve been able to brew some excellent tea."
The man, Dai Hong, walked over to the empty couch and sat down, another earthenware cup appearing on the table in front of him. Dai Hong picked up the porcelain kettle that was standing on the table, pouring himself a cup of tea and giving it a few sips before turning to the woman and stating his business.
"Miss Slayer, I trust you"ve already heard about what is going on in the Endless Heart tower, I"ve come to ask how you think we should deal with this."
The woman living in this wooden hut was the strongest person on this planet, and the only one known to have reached the top of all three towers, Sun Cailin, the Tripart.i.te Slayer. Sun Cailin drank a bit more tea before placing down her cup and slightly c.o.c.king her head.
"What a strange question. Why should we deal with it? They haven"t killed anyone in the areas where we forbade combat, there is no need for us to do anything."
The only places where combat was forbidden in the towers were the areas that had been surrounded by the special fences, killing someone anywhere else was perfectly fine. The man"s eyebrow twitched slightly, seemingly somewhat surprised at the answer, but he immediately collected himself and drank some more tea.
"But they have already killed almost 1000 people, and the number is rising as we speak. No one on the third floor is able to stop them, they are only getting more and more ferocious as they kill. If we let them continue, there is no telling how many more will die at their hands."
There were so many people in each tower that 1000 people was actually an incredibly small number, but it was the fact that Li Yang and Fang Ying were killing them all at once outside of a match that made it somewhat special. Sun Cailin picked up her cup of tea and took a long sip before answering, her eyes not showing the slightest reaction to hearing how many people had died.
"So? Deaths are common in the towers, killing people who have just left the markets is common, why should we care now that a few more people are killed? As long as they don"t break the rules, we have no need to do anything."
The towers were the symbol of death, only 1 in ever 10 000 that entered the towers would come out again alive. Entering the tower was the same as agreeing that it was fine that you might die at any moment. The man"s eyebrow twitched again, his grasp on the cup tightening as he couldn"t help but raise his voice and let out his true feelings.
"But they are humans! A pair of humans is kicking up a storm of blood in one of our towers!"
He wasn"t angry that there were so many people being killed in one of the towers, he was angry that it was a pair of humans committing the murders. The way he saw it, what right did some escaped cattle have to kill so many people, to be so strong? Sun Cailin placed down her cup, giving a light shake of her head and sighing.
"Dai Hong, how often must I tell you this? Humans are treated like cattle here, but that is only here. In the wider universe, and even beyond, it is humans that have conquered almost everything. Looking down on someone just because of their race will only lead to your downfall. Dai Hong, stay out of this, leave those two alone as long as they don"t break the rules. That is an order, understood?"
Sun Cailin"s gaze left no room for retort or question, her words were an unviolable order that had to be followed. Dai Hong"s eyebrows twitched further, but he managed to keep his emotions under control, taking a deep breath and finishing the cup of tea before standing up and giving Sun Cailin a bow.
"I understand. I will take my leave, thank you for the tea, Miss Slayer."
Dai Hong calmly walked out of the hut, closing the door behind him and returning to the Heaven Reaching Souls Tower. Sun Cailin looked at the closed door, shaking her head slightly before picking up her cup of tea again.
"Oh, Dai Hong, when will you learn? This planet needs to change, otherwise, we will all die. A storm of blood like this is exactly what we need to change, we need someone to take on the roles of b.l.o.o.d.y emperors, otherwise, we will never change."
They were doing fine now, but what if in the future a powerful human came to this planet and saw what they were doing to other humans? It wouldn"t be strange for that person to wipe out everyone but the humans on this planet in his rage. Sun Cailin had seen it happen before, and she refused to let it happen on her planet. They had to change how they viewed humans, change how they treated them, otherwise their death would be a.s.sured.
--
Liang Chen and Yan Ling were completely unaware of the conversation Dai Hong and Sun Cailin had just had, they were completely engrossed in their slaughter. Liang Chen had even been forced to let go of Shentu Gang"s body and pull out his spear to make it easier to kill the people surrounding them. Shentu Gang"s body was now covered in cracks and wounds after being used as a weapon, Liang Chen"s timeless lightning and timeless poison were also wreaking havoc on him, so Liang Chen wasn"t worried that he would escape. Even if he somehow managed to flee, Liang Chen knew that he wouldn"t be able to escape.
Everyone they killed had their own interspatial rings, so they had a practically endless stream of pills and herbs to restore their rapidly draining energy, allowing them to fight without worries. The attackers knew this, but they still thought that Liang Chen and Yan Ling would at least end up getting physically or mentally tired at some point, revealing an opening or two.
But contrary to what they thought and hope, Liang Chen and Yan Ling only grew more and more ferocious as the killing dragged on. Both of them had the bloodline of truly supreme Origin Beasts, beasts that were born for ma.s.sacring and killing. The more they killed, the more their bloodlines and instincts were stimulated, resulting in them only getting wilder and wilder, their attacks growing stronger and stronger.
But despite this wild and berserk manner of fighting, they still kept their wits about them, they still kept an eye on each other. Yan Ling blocked some attacks for Liang Chen and he did the same for her, both of them perfectly in tandem as they became a perfect killing machine.
Slowly but surely, more and more people realized that heading towards the two of them was the same as heading towards death, the number of people a.s.saulting them growing smaller and smaller. And after engaging in a wild ma.s.sacred for over half a day, the two finally killed the last person, the rain of blood finally stopping. There were no corpses spread around, but the destroyed houses and blood-drenched ground made sure that no one would think that what had just happened was nothing but a dream.
Liang Chen and Yan Ling were standing shoulder to shoulder, everyone else giving them plenty of s.p.a.ce. Despite the rain of blood that had drenched most of the floor, the two of them were completely clean, any blood that had gotten close ended up getting burned away by Liang Chen"s lightning or blown away by Yan Ling"s wind.
The two were breathing heavily, but their lips were turned up slightly, their bodies exuding pride and confidence. It was this confident smile of hers that had caused Liang Chen to first fall in love with Yan Ling, and it was this confident demeanor of his that always caused Yan Ling to fall in love with Liang Chen over and over again, but neither knew this about the other. Yan Ling swept the surrounding people, her smile tinged with a hint of a challenging intent.
"What, no one else wants to try their luck? Come on, you were all so d.a.m.n confident earlier, weren"t you?"
Some people were aggrieved that a "mere" human was taunting them, but no one dared to move closer, they had all just seen the terrifying might that these two possessed. Liang Chen turned his head to the side, gazing into the distance with narrowed eyes, a sneer forming on his mouth.
"I already told you that you can"t flee. I"ve let you live long enough now, time to end this."
His vision landed on the distant Shentu Gang, who was doing his best to flee while resisting the ever-present pain he was now feeling. Liang Chen swiped his interspatial ring and took out his bow, pulling back the string and forming an arrow out of concentrated emerald lightning. The tip of the arrow was made from crimson lightning, a tiny part of the two different types of lightning merging together where they met, creating a small arc of strange reddish-brown lightning.
Liang Chen didn"t even have to aim, he simply unleashed the arrow and let it fly. A crimson and emerald line was drawn through the air, an ear-piercing screeching sound resounding over the area as the arrow hit Shentu Gang almost immediately, a thick bolt of emerald lightning tipped with a tinge of crimson soaring into the sky and destroying the buildings around it.
Liang Chen could easily connect his lightning with the timeless lightning he had stuck to Shentu Gang"s body, which was why he was certain that Shentu Gang would be unable to flee. No matter where he ended up going, Liang Chen would be able to either find or hit him. Shentu Gang"s body was already cracked and wounded after being swung around as a weapon, this bolt of lightning was too much for him to handle, his body simply fell apart at the cracks as he died. Yan Ling stood next to Liang Chen, placing her hand abover her eyes in a salute-like manner as she peered into the distance.
"Heh, nice and eye-catching, I love it. Let"s pick up the interspatial rings and then find a quiet place, we got a bunch of bodies we can use to cultivate before heading up to the fourth floor. Heh, they better not try the same as the people here, they"ll never know what hit em."
Liang Chen let out a breath and smiled in response, Yan Ling"s casual chatter and joking were exactly what he needed to fully calm down. He grabbed her hand and the two of them turned into blurs as they rushed over to Shentu Gang"s corpse, picking up the various pieces and quickly storing them into their interspatial rings.
The two then found a house that hadn"t been touched by the battle, locking themselves up inside, no one daring to stop or disturb them, afraid that they might go on another ma.s.sacre. Yan Ling stepped behind Liang Chen and embraced him into a tight hug the moment they entered the house and closed the door, resting her head on his while speaking softly and gently.
"I don"t know what he showed you, Chen"er, but you don"t have to worry, something like that will never come to pa.s.s, we"ll make sure of that."
With how calm Liang Chen usually was, she knew that Shentu Gang must have shown him something truly vile to have him fly into such a violent rage. He had no one else, so in times like these, it was her job to comfort him and a.s.sure him that nothing bad would happen, they would overcome everything together. Liang Chen closed his eyes and took a deep breath of Yan Ling"s fragrance, leaning against her body and murmuring quietly.
"...Really, doing that is just unfair...You cheater."
Yan Ling didn"t say anything as a response, she simply giggled and continued to embrace Liang Chen, whispering comforting words. Liang Chen enjoyed her embrace for a few minutes before opening his eyes again and stepping out of the embrace.
"Right, let"s start our preparations to head up to the fourth floor. Don"t touch any of those bodies just yet, I wanna do something first."
Liang Chen sat down after talking, closing his mind and sending his vision into his own mind. In the past, the inside of his mind looked like a replica of Green Rivers city that was flooded with blood and corpses. This was a result of one of the abilities Liang Chen had as a Sebettu, the b.l.o.o.d.y Soul Sea technique. Whenever he killed a living being, he would automatically devour part of their soul and use it to strengthen his own, the larger the b.l.o.o.d.y sea in his mind was, the stronger his soul would be. It couldn"t help him break through to the next soul cultivation realm, but it would drastically strengthen his foundation and his Anima Essence.
With all the people he had killed since he last entered his own mind, the city had now become completely flooded, a large lake of blood forming in his mind. The lake was around 10 kilometers in each direction, countless corpses floating within it, their faces gazing at Liang Chen with empty eyes. Liang Chen only had soul cultivation equal to the middle stage of the Heaven"s Gate realm, but thanks to this b.l.o.o.d.y lake, his soul was now as strong as a soul cultivator equal to the early stage of the Soaring Immortal realm.
Liang Chen"s eyes landed on a spot above the lake, there was a black book hovering above the lake, some of the blood forming a vortex around the book. The black book had the words Chaos King Technique written on the front in large golden letters, the entire book radiating a terrifying amount of energy. Liang Chen"s soul had been strengthened greatly since he first acquired this technique, it was time to learn the second part of it.