Douluo Continent: My Martial Soul is the Black Dragon, I am the Lord of the Gods

Chapter 357 God-level Fighting Spirit
……

After Bibi Dong finished dealing with some matters concerning the Spirit Empire, Xuan Ming and the other two set off towards the City of Slaughter.

Approaching the killing capital.

A faint smell of blood and an unsettling sense of oppression began to fill the air. The scene below gradually became desolate, with sparse vegetation and the earth displaying an unhealthy dark red hue.

On a relatively flat wasteland, a sizable army of the Heavenly Dou Empire was slowly advancing, carrying large quantities of grain, supplies, and other necessities.

However, the most eye-catching group was a large contingent that was being closely escorted by the army at the very back of the procession.

It was a dark mass, and I estimated there were nearly five thousand people.

They were ragged, emaciated, and their faces were etched with fear, confusion, and despair. They were neither spirit masters nor soldiers, but simply a group of unarmed ordinary people. There were men, women, and children among them, many supporting each other, staggering like lambs to the slaughter.

Xuanming's spiritual domain, like an invisible spider web, silently covered the ranks below. The refugees' whispers filled with fear and despair, and the soldiers' impatient shouts, all entered his mind clearly.

"...They said they were going to find us a way to survive, but why are we going to such remote places?"

"Don't ask. It's good enough that you're alive... It's better than being captured and enslaved by those demons of the Spirit Hall..."

"I heard there's a really eerie place up ahead, where once you go in, you can't come out..."

"Can officials really be that kind? The way they look at us is no different from how they look at livestock..."

"The Martial Soul Empire...it's all those damned invaders! If it weren't for them, how could we have suffered such devastation and loss of life..."

Listening to these desperate whispers, Xuanming roughly guessed what was going on here.

These people are all refugees who were displaced by the war between the Martial Soul Empire and the two great empires.

They lost their homes and fled to the relatively safe territory of the Heavenly Dou Empire, but they never expected that instead of relief and resettlement, they would be treated as "tribute" and sent to the killing capital, which was more terrifying than hell, to become the "raw material" for Bloody Mary, which maintained the distorted order there.

For the high command of the Heavenly Dou Empire, these refugees from enemy-occupied territories were both a burden and a disposable bargaining chip. Using them to temporarily satisfy the greed of the Killing City in exchange for peace on the border was a worthwhile trade.

Xuanming frowned slightly. This wasn't the first time he'd witnessed such a scene. He had already seen the cruelty of war on his way back to Wuhun City from Seagod Island. The plunder and enslavement of the defeated by the victors was often more naked and brutal than the old aristocratic rule.

Newly rich people who have climbed up from the bottom often treat their former "fellows" more ruthlessly in order to consolidate their power and status, because they know the pain of losing everything and are even more afraid of falling back down.

Whether they are nobles or newly emerging Soul Master elites, there is no fundamental difference in how they extract value from the lower classes.

However, sending these war-displaced people to the killing capital as "nourishment" is more disgusting than mere enslavement.

"The Heavenly Dou Empire... has certainly made a good calculation." Bibi Dong's voice carried a hint of cold sarcasm. "It has dealt with the refugees who were difficult to resettle, reducing logistical pressure, and temporarily met the needs of the Killing City, preventing its riots from affecting itself. Killing two birds with one stone, truly merciful."

As the Pope of the Spirit Empire, she was all too familiar with these dirty political tactics. Sacrificing a few useless civilians in exchange for overall stability was, in the eyes of those in power, an extremely worthwhile deal.

Gu Yuena's silver-purple eyes swept over the crowd below, who were being herded like livestock, and her brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

She had no interest in the infighting among humans, but this systematic sacrifice of life, purely for the purpose of maintaining a filthy place, touched her instinctive aversion as a half-dragon god who wielded the laws of creation.

"Should we save them?" Gu Yuena asked Xuan Ming.

For her, dealing with these ordinary soldiers was a matter of a snap of the fingers.

"Save them? How?" Xuanming's voice was flat, his gaze passing over the terrified refugees and wary soldiers, landing on the distant mountains shrouded in a dark red aura. "Winter is coming. Even if they don't go to the Killing Capital, they will starve to death, freeze to death... or be captured by the Martial Soul Empire to do hard labor. Their fate may not be any better than it is now."

"Save them, give them hope, and then... let them be drained of their last bit of value in despair?"

"I don't care, this has nothing to do with me. How could I possibly get involved?"

Xuanming's voice was calm to the point of being cold, yet it revealed a cruel reality.

save?
What happens after the rescue?
Tell them, "You are free"?
In this war-torn, resource-scarce land, where can they go after losing their homes and support? How long can they survive?

With winter approaching, without food, shelter, or protection, their fate is simply to die in another form—starving, freezing, or being captured by other forces. Their end may not be any better than becoming raw material for Bloody Mary.

Is it not another form of cruelty to give people a brief glimmer of hope and then plunge them into deeper despair?
A temporary rescue, if it cannot change the root cause, may bring even deeper despair.

Salvation should not be a self-indulgent consumable.

……

After a brief stop, Xuanming and the other two continued their journey towards the City of Slaughter.

The closer you get, the stronger the stench of blood and evil in the air becomes.

A dark red mist shrouded a vast valley in front of them. At the entrance of the valley, a massive portal made of pale bones and black rocks could be vaguely seen, emanating a chilling aura of death.

That is the new entrance to the Killing City.

Limbs and congealed dark red blood covered the ground, including the corpses of several recently deceased soldiers of the Heavenly Dou Empire. Clearly, the previous "tribute" transport process was filled with violence and resistance, but the resistance only added to the number of dead souls in this place.

"How do we do it?" Bibi Dong asked.

"Should we just charge in?"

"No need. You all hide. I'll handle this." Xuanming flew into the sky, summoned the Blood Spear, and his aura suddenly became incredibly terrifying.

The crimson killing domain, like a boiling sea of ​​blood, spread out from him and instantly enveloped the entire valley, including the pale bone gate entrance.

Immediately afterwards, his spirit rings lit up one by one. The most eye-catching were his seventh spirit ring, a dark red, 500,000-year-old killing ring with killing god patterns flowing over it, and his eighth spirit ring, an evil ring that exuded a deep and evil aura!
Two soul rings originating from a god-king level being shone brightly together. The domineering power of slaughter and the cunning of evil, two completely different yet equally top-level powers, did not clash under Xuanming's abnormally precise control. Instead, they began to intertwine and merge with each other in a mysterious way!
Om-!
The energy between heaven and earth surged instantly! Centered on Xuanming, a huge energy vortex, interwoven with dark red and black gold, appeared out of thin air, frantically devouring all the energy around it, even distorting the light.

Xuanming looked up at the sky, his icy blue eyes seeming to crackle with lightning!
Boom--!!!
The sky, which was originally shrouded in a dark red killing field, was suddenly covered by endless tribulation clouds that seemed to come from the depths of the Netherworld! This was no ordinary heavenly lightning, but a calamity of destruction that Xuanming had triggered with divine power and mixed with killing and evil aura!
The tribulation clouds presented an eerie dark purple and blood red color, within which billions of lightning snakes darted wildly, emanating a destructive will that would wither all things and make souls tremble!
Its power is far more terrifying than the heavenly tribulation that Xuanming triggered when he completed the first test, and it has truly reached the threshold of the god level!

Below, Bibi Dong gazed up at the apocalyptic scene, her purple eyes filled with shock. But soon, a flash of understanding appeared in her eyes.

She understood Xuanming's intention.

Infiltrate? Fight? Cleanse step by step?

Too slow! Too troublesome!
For a malignant tumor like the Killing City, which is rooted underground, has a complex structure, and is filled with countless corrupt individuals and filthy energy, the fastest, most thorough, and most permanent solution is to wipe it, along with all the filth within it, from this world from the outside with absolute power!

With godlike power, execute the final destruction!

(End of this chapter)