A gigantic monster was creating chaos at the River of Blood.
It had a green face and vicious fangs and was quite a few hundred meters tall with big muscles. It was scooping up sea monsters and chewing them up in its mouth.
It looked like a classic monster seen in a fairy tale that had just crawled out from some television series…
Everyone at the shore went aghast watching this scene.
They did not know when did this malevolent spirit showed up exactly, only that it had suddenly appeared when the Azure Dragon had been cleaning up the river for a while.
After it made an appearance, it started to swallow sea monsters in the river…
Black Robe went into thought after witnessing this…
Later, he suddenly left the protection area and disappeared without a trace.
“Hey, why did that dark old man run off? It’s very dangerous out there,” said an astonished Saki Yamanashi.
“Who knows what he’s doing? Those sea monsters do look delicious though…” said Chong Daqing, who was lying down on her Big Cotton Ball. She was looking earnestly at the fight in the river and salivating at the scene.
“Erm, little insect, those sea monsters look really dirty, just look at all that bloody water… They’re really unhygienic. If you eat them, you’re sure to get a tummy-ache,” said Saki Yamanashi with concern.
“Oh, is that so? I won’t eat them then. Although I can’t remember much, I do still remember what a tummy-ache feels like. It felt terrible and I’ll need to take a certain medication,” Chong Daqing shuddered.
“Good that you’re obedient. Let’s not eat them but enjoy the show instead. I have some snacks with me.” Saki Yamanashi felt warmth at the acceptance of her advice and picked up Chong Daqing in her hand. They sat together on the Big Cotton Ball and she proceeded to feed it a few little biscuits…
“Great,” Chong Daqing’s eyes brightened and shadows of a few girls flashed in its eyes. Every time they visited, they would bring a variety of snacks…
…
System Space.
Fang Ning sat there watching the video feed from the outside and was deep in thought.
He was trying to decipher the roots of this realm.
He had some ideas about it.
“Can I kill it now?” Sir pushed.
“No, let’s observe it a little while more. I think I’ve figured something out. This place is truly frightening, it’s definitely cultivating voodoo parasites. Anyone who enters this place are the parasites. Especially us, we are the Voodoo Parasite Kings,” Fang Ning said fearfully.
“What’s so scary about that? Isn’t that a good thing?” said Sir excitedly.
“What do you know? You are a hero system. If it was a real demon, it would be like getting its way, all it needs is a bloodbath to finish everything. If I told you that only one soul is allowed to remain in order to escape this realm, what would you do?” asked Fang Ning.
“That would be easy. I’ll just lock every soul up in the Draconic Penitentiary…” Sir said matter-of-factly.
“Look at you, always never learning anything. All brawn and no brains… Those that committed suicide were the ones that were unable to defend themselves from the attack of this realm. The ones that are left were able to but are suffering from amnesia. You can’t very well make them kill themselves. Isn’t that where the problem lays? It’s hard to be a hero, and even harder to be an ambitious hero…” Fang Ning said with much feeling.
“Then what should we do? I can’t very well ask them to kill each other, can I?” Sir was troubled.
“You, you actually are aware of such a vicious trick… You’ve really been sinking lower by the day. How can we do such a thing? Matters of the realm are small, but matters of the rules are big. If we do not have this treasured land, there will be others later. Stabilizing the system rules is the most important thing,” Fang Ning was shocked by the statement and quickly reminded the system.
“You are right. If it was Anderson, they would have come up with a plan where I can kill with another’s hands and at the same time not affect my reputation as a hero…” said Sir confidently.
“Damn you, if it wasn’t for me, you’d have already sunk so low, you’d become an evil system… You have to remember, love and justice is the grand path, the path that is everlasting. Even though history has always stated that ‘justice is a book written by the victorious’, real evil will not last because evil itself has sacrificed the majority to satisfy the lust of the minority. They will always be resisting and it will be hard to exist in the long run…” Fang Ning lectured.
“You can use this to lecture to placate others, I’m too lazy to argue with you, I’ll just go get rid of the lesser sea monsters first,” Sir made its escape the moment the lecture started.
“That’s too bad…” Fang Ning was gloomy at the losing this change of lecturing Sir.
This guy was getting smarter by the day…
…
At the shore, Qiao Anping was in discussion with Qiao Zijiang and others.
“Everyone is more or less familiar with the situation now. According to my observations, this realm’s terrain is simple and there are portions of the land that is normal. This river is the only place that is quite strange. We’ve been walking for so long and yet we still haven’t seen where it ends. There is also no sign of the river’s source. Besides that, all the slaughtering has been happening on this river,” said Qiao Anping solemnly.
Even though his memories have been blocked, it did not affect his reasoning or turn him stupid.
Qiao Zijiang had confirmed a few of their identities through the video and voiced her agreement, “Uncle is right, now we only have four of us to combine our powers but without the use of magic nor flight. The black-robed man leaving has made me curious and I’ve suddenly had a thought.”
“What would that be? Sister?” Qiao Zishan was uncertain.
Xu Rui lowered his head in thought at the side. No one knew what was he thinking.
“This place encourages us to kill. We will be able to gain power through killing, which is why he left us. If my guess is correct, he will find a place in the river soon to begin his kill,” Qiao Zijiang said with certainty.
“I see,” Qiao Anping realized at the moment and there was a flash of memory.
It was a benevolent-looking young man… talking to him, “Anping, the most important thing about you entering the Land of Sanguinity was not to take over the realm, but to allow yourself to follow the Path of Sanguinity to cultivate to a higher boundary. When you achieve the Boundary of No Killing, you will make a breakthrough to the Inland-Sea level.”
He suddenly felt a shockwave go through him and streaks of bloody light emanated from him. He immediately ran towards the nearest river flow.
He then jumped into the river.
Suddenly, a porcupine with barbs all over ran viciously towards him. It was a few meters tall, much like a baby elephant.
Qiao Anping used his palm like a knife and aimed it towards the porcupine with a slice of the hand.
The ferocious porcupine was sliced in half instantly…
Numerous black shadows appeared almost immediately to flock towards the dead porcupine and devoured it.
It was then that Qiao Anping saw very clearly that those black shadows were like numerous tiny blood vessels, it was frightening to watch them…
After a while, another group of blood vessels started coagulating nearby. It looked like they had turned into a new porcupine. The moment the new porcupine was born, it seemed to be immediately given the instinct to kill, picking its prey to consume.
So that was it, the River of Blood would never be dry because the killing would never stop.
But how was one to break through to the Boundary of No Killing?
This question lingered in Qiao Anping as he killed the new sea monster yet again…