The sea of blood and the path.

"The lion boy is watching you. I don't mean to pour water on your fire, but if he makes a move then you're done for so I'll once again recommend slipping away by using my disguising technique."

The voice of Li Jun once again rang in his head as he carved a path through the sea, Huang Ying's head rising slightly. His gaze landed upon the figures hovering in the distance, a youth standing upon a winged lion while a shark-like beast swam through the air around him. Yao Long Chi, one of the Six Heavenly Kings, had been attracted by the commotion.

But while he was attracted by it, he didn't make a move, at least not yet. He stood at the pinnacle of the younger generation, he was even above several of the older generations, there was no way the reward offered by Domecliff Cove would be able to spur him into action. There was also the fact that he had his own pride, attacking someone like Huang Ying in an unprovoked manner was not something he could do.

A pair of black eyes and a pair of dim blue eyes met despite the distance, one flashing with madness while the other remained as placid as the ocean. Huang Ying's grin was directed towards the distant figure, not even the sea of blood and horde of enemies around him was able to alter the curve of that grin.

"One day I'll come for you."

Yao Long Chi was way too far away to possibly hear the words, but the distant figure still nodded his head. The Six Heavenly Kings, the rulers of generations, how exhilarating would it be to fight them? How hard would his heart beat if he duked it out with them? He didn't know, at least not yet. But one day, one day he would know, on that day he would be alive.

He lowered his head again and pushed Yao Long Chi to the back of his mind, one step at a time, that was how you reached the future, that was how you lived. His spear tore through flesh and bone as he moved, but he could feel that things were getting tougher. He needed more energy to carve through people, the clean cuts became jagged, eventually, it reached a point where he was tearing through them with brute force alone.

His weapon was strong and heavy, but it was just a normal weapon in the end. And just like all weapons, it would dull with use. Bones chipped the blade, blood and flesh stuck to the handle and seeped into the opening that allowed it to split into twin blades. He started a massacre greater than any before, but it was taking its toll on his weapon, it would probably be rendered useless once everything was said and done.

"Seems like I'll have to expedite the forging...I hope I can find some good materials."

Ling Uyong, the one who had forged this weapon and handed it to him, had also prepared the blueprints of the weapon so that he could forge it for himself in the future. He had gotten his hands on one ingredient that he wanted to use and wanted to take his time finding the rest, but now it seemed like he would have to speed things up a little if he wanted to actually have a proper weapon.

"There, that one. He's still inside, he's having a meal at the moment so it seems like he doesn't really care about the commotion."

Li Jun's voice once again sounded in Huang Ying's head as they approached a group of clustered buildings, guiding him towards the correct one. Huang Ying showed no hesitation and kicked down the door, the wood splintering as it flew through the air and embedded itself in the walls.

"Excuse me! Good morning, and goodbye."

Huang Ying's voice echoed through the rooms as he ran through the hallway and into the dining room, spotting the man who was enjoying his meal. The man instinctively recoiled as Huang Ying charged into the room, he worked for Domecliff Cove, his expertise was selling and buying, not fighting.

Song Yi paled even further when she saw the man. She didn't know how Huang Ying had found him, but the sheer confidence he had when he charged here showed that he had some way to acquire information. And if that was the case then it probably meant that he was about to learn the truth, he'd learn what she had done. And then that would be it, they were already surrounded by enemies, all he had to do to end her was cut off the constant supply of energy he was providing her with.

But then again, was that not what she deserved? She had put not just her own life, but the life of a friend and one other person at risk, all for her own vengeance, for the dark emotions twisting and churning in her heart. Did she regret it? Maybe a little, but she was confident that she would do it again.

She hated the Liangyu, from the youngest member to the oldest, she despised them more than she despised the Dark King. She wanted to kill them, tear them apart, grind them into a powder that she could scatter all across the universe. She would only know peace when the entire clan was wiped from existence. She would be willing to do whatever it took to erase them. But having the desires and ambitions didn't mean that you wouldn't feel anything as you did the actions, especially when they involved a friend.

Huang Ying stepped over the table and reached the recoiling man before he could truly evade. His foot shoot forward, his sole planting itself against the man's face as he put some strength into his body. The man fell off the chair he was trying to rise from, falling to the ground with Huang Ying on top of him. The back of his head hit the wooden floor and cracked, Huang Ying's foot turning his head into a bloody mess of bone and brain matter.

The sludge rose again from the darkness, lamprey-like maws grinning malevolently as the man's body sank into the darkness with a sickly squelching sound. His memories flooded Huang Ying, everything he had seen, felt, and experienced surfacing in his mind. He went through the events one by one until he found the scene he was looking for.

The figure in question wore a large cloak that covered their face, but Huang Ying could sense everything the man had so he obviously also sensed the aura and energy of the cloaked person. And he recognized that aura, that silhouette, he was more than familiar with it. And in that moment, he understood. The truth, the cause, the things swirling beneath the eyes. And so he laughed, cackled even, as he turned his head slightly to look at Song Yi.

"HAHAHA, now that's fucking good! That's what I call gutsy, that's some grade-A madness, I love it! Let me tell you, we're gonna talk about that ballsy move later, but first, we have to get out of here."

Song Yi froze in place as Huang Ying's gaze landed on her, as that twisted grin of madness was directed at her. She...couldn't understand it. Why he was laughing, why she was still alive. It was one thing for him to direct that grin at Ying Feixu, it was obvious from the start that she just wanted to kill him, he knew that the moment he took her in. But she? She had been his friend, or did she even have the right to think that after what she had done? Whatever the truth there was, she had betrayed him, risked his life without even consulting him. Yet he was laughing, cackling like a maniac as he grinned. Why?

Huang Ying didn't care one whit about Song Yi's confusion, or the confusion that the rest of the group showed, he simply laughed a bit more as he turned away. A bit of wind breezed through the room, picking up the man's interspatial ring as well as some of his blood and depositing it into Huang Ying's hand as he charged forward, smashing through the wall to escape the building that was quickly flooding with people.

He fled the house with his group hot on his tail, his gaze directed towards the large dome that served as the headquarters for Domecliff Cove. It wasn't a coincidence that he had taken the man's interspatial ring, there was something inside of it that he needed, along with a bit of the man's blood.

"Don't fall behind now! I told you that as long as you watch my back, today won't be the day we die, and if there's one thing I'll do then it is uphold my own word. So let's go, we've got more chaos to spread!

He didn't look back as he spurred them on, changing his rather uncertain original plans now that a better one had revealed itself. He picked up his pace as he charged towards the dome, there were relatively fewer people on this stretch of land, most of the horde was now actually a bit behind his group thanks to the speed with which he had carved a path through them.

He ran and swang his weapon, the now blunt blades tore through flesh and shattered bones. Blades of wind swept through the air and severed limbs, white was stacked upon white as the colours of the world all faded into that single blinding shade of white. The earth churned and tossed, cracks akin to maws opening to swallow the legs of those that tried to step on it. Bones shattered and people fell as they lost their support, death washed forward like a wave as Huang Ying charged. The blood sea was spreading without end, and the asura responsible for it waded through it with a twisted grin befitting a monster.

The gates of the dome quickly appeared before the group, open wide to welcome all who wished to spend their money. The sound of rumbling thunder emerged once more as Domecliff Cove updated the bounty they had placed on Liang Chen, but at this point it was already too late.

"The bounty on contestant Huang Ying of the Fierce Flame Academy has been updated. The reward will now be 200 Medium-grade Spirit Stones, 10 Bone-Replacing Pills, a medium-grade cultivation technique with four accompanying skills, and 25 Instantaneous Renewal Pills."

The bounty had risen by quite a bit thanks to the death he had spread as he moved, they clearly realized that they needed to hand out more bait if they wanted the stronger people to actually move. And the bait they threw out was definitely effective, a medium-grade technique with accompanying skills could be even better than some high-grade techniques.

The Bone-Replacing Pills were also extremely enticing since they could even regrow bones that had splintered into tiny fragments. There was no need to mention the Spirit Stones or Renewal pills, one was extremely useful currency while the other could almost completely refill the Qi reservoirs of people beneath the middle-stages of the Immortal Mountains realm.

But it was already too late, the gates of the dome were already right in front of them. There was still a chance for the horde to catch them, but it wouldn't be here, it wouldn't be in this city. No, it would be in the place that Domecliff Cove didn't want to be opened yet, it would be in the realm that everyone here had come to enter.

They barged through the open doors and entered the grand hall dotted with counters where you could do your shopping. Serving as the centrepiece of the hall was a massive crystal tree that connected the floor with the ceiling, reflecting the light in a beautiful display.

The loud intrusion obviously drew a great deal of attention from those that were currently in the hall, mostly workers thanks to the grand commotion. But Huang Ying ignored all of them as he charged towards the crystalline tree, splashing it with the blood of the clerk he had killed earlier. At the same time he also brought out the man's interspatial ring, bringing out a pen that looked like it was carved from withered wood.

He used the pen to move the blood about, copying the intricate symbol he had seen in the man's memories. Each stroke caused the crystalline tree to grow ever brighter, energy gathering within it as space started to fluctuate slightly.

This was Domecliff Cove, the ruler of Cliff's Convergence. This was where all the academies went before the Forge of Heroes opened, this was where their disciples fought to determine who got to enter the forge. But why? Why was it here, why did it have to be this particular place?

Huang Ying didn't know earlier, but he did now after scouring the memories of someone who actually worked for Domecliff Cove. The answer was that this place actually held the entrance to the Forge of Heroes, the true entrance. Everything else they had been told was only done so that the actual entrance could be kept secret so that people didn't try to enter the Forge ahead of time.

Entering the Forge too often without giving it time to rest would deplete all its resources without giving them time to grow, the interval at which it opened was calculated after thorough investigations to get the greatest yield. Things had gone fine so far, Domecliff Cove and the various academies were able to maintain a stable peace thanks to the fact that they were all wary of each other.

Domecliff Cove didn't dare to enter the Forge on their own, lest they be beset by the other academies and wiped out, and the other academies didn't dare to barge their way in lest they share that very same fate. But how could Domecliff Cove not prepare a bit of a safety net just in case the academies actually tried something? And this bloody symbol was exactly that safety net, the ability to force open the Forge so that their members could flee into it to buy time should an emergency occur.

Huang Ying finished the last stroke, the tree exploding with power as space around it rippled, eventually contracting and sinking into the crystal. The tree seemed to turn immaterial as space contracted into it, the entire thing had turned into a single large rift in space, kept stable by the myriad of arrays hidden within the dome. It was an entire month earlier than intended, and there were several thousands more people here than there was supposed to be, but the gate to the Forge of Heroes had been opened.

Huang Ying's grin remained the same as he looked at the gate ahead of him, now that the gate was open he could feel something from deep within resonating with the blood that flowed in his body. He was a bit curious just how many unintended people would flood the Forge thanks to this unplanned opening, and especially with such a horde of people chasing after him.

It would definitely be a different experience compared to all the previous openings, especially when you added the Six Heavenly Kings and the other academies who had yet to even arrive here. He turned his head slightly to look out through the open doors, the people from the Liangyu clan were somewhere out there.

His grin grew a bit more crooked as he thought about them. Since they already wanted to deal with him, how about he threw a bit more wood onto the fire? He drew in a deep breath and gathered his Qi in his throat, his voice thundering out as he amplified it with the gathered Qi.

"Hey, Liangyu Shao Zhe! You wanted to take Song Yi and Ying Feixu from me to hand them over to your slimebag of a master didn't you?! Well, they're still with me, so how about you try a little harder?! I'll be waiting for both you and your master, don't be as disappointing as the other men your pitiful clan has sent after me!"

Huang Ying's voice echoed throughout the city like thunder, bouncing from building to building as it tried to reach every living being there. Now there was no way Shao Zhe or his distant master could take a backseat and watch things unfold, they had been directly called out and challenged in front of everyone, even insulted. This was a direct blow to their pride, one they had to personally rectify unless they wanted it to forever stain their name.

Huang Ying turned around after issuing the challenge, his grin still the same as he checked his companions, all of them covered in blood, both their own and their enemy's. They had been surrounded by a sea of enemies, but they were still alive, just as he had promised. He gave a simple gesture towards the shimmering tree and steppe forward, his foot entering the tree as if it was made from water.

The others immediately followed him, there was no way the Forge of Heroes, their original target here, was more dangerous than their current surroundings. And so, they all entered the Forge, a bloody and twisted grin accompanying them. There was no telling how things would turn out inside the Forge, but this asura had already promised them life so that was what he would give them.