Challenging the Hell Road

Using her fast little legs, Ru Shenqi evaded her attackers. She released her deadly golden wire and whipped it towards her opponents. Never before had the audience seen her tie up more than one person at a time, but for this last battle, she had gone all out. Her golden wire wrapped around the first person's neck, then the next, and the one after that. Soon, it's true, full length was revealed. This hidden wire was ten zhang in length. The spectators' eyes widened. In one short, quick move, Ru Shenqi had already won the battle. Her wire was wrapped around every opponent's neck... AT THE SAME TIME. She pulled on the wire, stretching it taunt, letting it cut deep into their necks. When she knew they wouldn't recover, she retracted the wire and watched as her opponents' bodies fell like dominoes.

The Announcer stared in shock. It had only been a short minute. One minute, and Ru Shenqi stood as the Champion of Slaughter City Arena. There was silence. Then, the crowd gave a standing ovation, clapping and cheering.

Ru Shenqi turned to look at Bai Huo. He stood in the wings, smiling and clapping along. Suddenly, a loud rumbling shook the arena. People lost their balance and fell to the ground. The Announcer shook with fear.

A deep bass voice boomed, "Every spectator evacuate the arena now. I won't repeat myself."

Most scurried out. A few brave souls who dared to stay were killed by an intense slaughter intent. Once everyone except Ru Shenqi was gone, the Slaughter King appeared. She looked up and watched as he descended from up above. Even she was finally fearful.

He looked down at her. "Hell's Little Empress, congratulations on become a Champion of Slaughter City Arena. You can either stay here and be my personal guest, with the ability to use your spirit skills, or you can choose to challenge the Hell Road."

She stared him straight in the eye, inwardly shocking him. He wasn't expecting her to be so fearless at such a young age. "I choose to challenge the Hell Road."

Already almost eight, Ru Shenqi's spirit power had barely increased during her time in Slaughter City.

"Very well then. If you can successfully make your way through the Hell Road, you will gain the innate Death God Domain. You will also be able to come and go from Slaughter City as you please and will still be able to use your spirit skills here."

"So will I be able to use my spirit skills on the Hell Road?"

"No. Just as you can only rely on your spirit power and your own strength here, the same goes for the Hell Road."

"Okay."

The Slaughter King raised his hands. The center of the arena fell away as a deep pit appeared, similar to the one leading into Slaughter City. Ru Shenqi took a few steps back, keeping her gaze on the widening pit. When the diameter of pit stopped growing, a bright red light surged up from it. She immediately felt the intense slaughter intent coming from the pit.

The Slaughter King chuckled. "I can see you thinking. Yes, the blood and souls of everyone killed in Slaughter Arena is absorbed by the Hell Road, making its slaughter intent very ravenous. It's truly a decrepit place."

"Do I just jump down?"

He nodded. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay, Hell's Little Empress?"

She repeated, "I choose to challenge the Hell Road."

Giving in, he drew back to let her enter the Hell Road. Ru Shenqi walked to the crumbling edge of the pit. After taking one look down, she jumped.

<><><>

After an undiscernible amount of time, her feet finally hit the ground. She looked around. There were sandstone colored pillars and multiple road pathways. Confused, she scratched her head.

"Where am I supposed to go?"

She noticed immense heat coming from below her and looked down. She saw entire reservoirs of Bloody Mary, with lines of magma running in between them. Thus, she decided to choose a higher pathway. Ru Shenqi leapt up and landed on a higher road. She began walking along it, but it wasn't long before her fist challenge arose. Thousands of blood bats appeared and suddenly flew towards her.

"AHHH!" she screamed and started running.

But she was still small and couldn't outpace the blood thirty bats. Instead, she used her golden wire to to wrap around one bat. From then one, she used it like a meteor hammer, knocking the other bats away. After a long and arduous shichen, a ginormous Dark Golden Three-Headed Bat King appeared.

Its wings were golden, but the body was obsidian black(1). Three horned heads as cried at the same time, shaking the atmosphere in the Hell Road.

She realized that it was in charge of the blood bats and to get rid of all the bats, the leader had to be disposed of. Retracting the golden wire, she aimed her wrist towards the Bat King and released it again.

It shot out and landed around the Bath King's neck like a lasso. She tugged on the wire as hard as she could. The Bat King screeched and tried to fly away. But because of its resistance, it only tightened the wire around its neck, thereby cutting into its neck. Ru Shenqi steadied her feet in order to not be pulled away by the Bat King. Eventually, the Bat King fell towards the Bloody Mary reservoir below. She quickly retracted her golden wire and watched as it receded into her silver bracelet.

Ru Shenqi continued along the crumbling pathway. She leapt up to avoid gaps in the road and landed on another one. Taking of running, she made it to a "checkpoint" pavilion area, which thankfully was solid ground. Bent over, hands on her knees, she huffed, trying to catch her breath. She could tell that the temperature on the Hell Road had risen significantly. Beads of sweat dotted her forehead. Her palms had become clammy long ago. She really wanted a drink of nice, cool water.

"Hell Road, indeed. This is harder than fighting in Slaughter City Arena. I'm glad I haven't been consuming the Bloody Mary."

After having made it to four other checkpoints, her next challenge arose. A humongous Six Headed Flying Hell Serpent(2) blocked her path. It's thick maroon scales served as a perfect protective barrier, one her golden wire couldn't cut through. Her hands clenched into fists as she gritted her teeth.

How many more challenges will the Hell Road give me before I can leave?

Her slaughter intent was too high, and even her childish innocence couldn't keep her sober any longer. Her blood red eyes flashed white as her true strength appeared.

<><><>

Back in Slaughter City, the Slaughter King watched Ru Shenqi's journey through the Hell Road. But suddenly, he leaned forward and stared in shock, eyes widening. He watched as she, a little seven year old, released an innate domain. Dumbstruck, the Slaughter King sat back in his throne, unable to believe what he was seeing.

"How can she already have a spiritual innate domain?!"

He watched intently as a huge shield-like power emanated from her. This shield was made entirely of red fire, the flickering flames tipped orange, therefore keeping the Six Headed Flying Hell Serpent at bay. She expanded her innate domain, pushing the serpent even further back.

How did she get such a powerful domain at such a young age?

When her shield burst, radiating outwards, even he seemed to feel the heat projected from her. The Slaughter King couldn't help but be amazed.

"She must be a truly powerful spirit master already, how else could she, at seven years old, make it so far down the Hell Road?"

The Six Headed Flying Hell Serpent hissed in pain as sparks got in between its scales causing it's body to catch on fire. The beast started to burn to death. Unable to focus on flying anymore, it started to fall towards the magma and Bloody Mary below. Ru Shenqi stood, breathing hard, watching as the beast splashed far beneath her. A bright, vibrant white light surrounded her like an old friend. Soon, a small orb of golden light floated up towards her. She reached for it and quickly palmed it.

The Slaughter King knew then that Death God, Hell Emissary, had indeed chosen a good one to send. This little girl had managed to get the neidan (3) of the Six Headed Flying Serpent. "She's the youngest ever to come through Slaughter City and walk the Hell Road. If she can succeed and gain the Death God Domain, she will be the youngest Death God to ever emerge on Douluo Continent."

<><><>

Meanwhile, Ru Shenqi tried to calm her slaughter intent. She knew that if she didn't, she'd never make it out of the Hell Road alive. Sitting down in the lotus position at the next checkpoint, she spent a few hours meditating to calm her mind. When she had suppressed the slaughter intent as much as she could, she stood and continued onwards. The heat raged around her, but with her own fire spiritual domain, she was able to combat it for the time being. The white glow of strong slaughter intent still shimmered around her, but thanks to the meditation, it was greatly reduced from before.

She ran along the path, winding up, sprinting down. Soon, she came to the end where a oval of shining white light greeted her, but the close proximity to the magma and Bloody Mary really was too severe. She tried her best to repress the slaughter intent stemming from her. Ru Shenqi noticed the over one kilometer gap and hesitated. How am I going to get across? I can't fly, and my innate domain can't help with this.

She looked around for other ways to get to the exit. There weren't any. Left with her sole option, she eyed the gap warily.

It was at this moment that the Slaughter King aided her. He shortened the gap between her and the exit without her realizing it. So when she jumped, she was able to land on the other side. Ru Shenqi quickly darted into the white light, and felt the atmosphere condensing around her. Soon, she fell unconscious.

When she finally woke up, she was in a grassy area. The fresh air and wind whipping through the tree leaves greeted her. She sat up, closed her eyes, and massaged her temples. After a few minutes, Ru Shenqi opened her eyes. They had returned to the charcoal blue of the Pearl Armored Shark, but the rims of her irises remained tainted red from the effects of her slaughter intent.

"I've advanced two spirit power ranks while I was in Slaughter City. Things really do work differently there. If I had been cultivating here, I would've probably broken through to fortieth rank already."

But now, instead of a thirty seventh ranked Spirit Elder, Ru Shenqi was a thirty ninth ranked Spirit Elder.

~~~

1. This Bat King is a descendant of the one Tang San and Hu Liena fought, so it's different colored than theirs.

2. This Six Headed Flying Hell Serpent is a relative of the Ten Headed Fierce Yang Serpent

3. internal alchemist pill in Daoism