Xiang Shaoyun had completely exhausted his lightning energy and had even suffered some energy backlash, yet he was still laughing. Both Du Xuanhao and Jin Wo were confused.
Only Devouring Ghost understood what Xiang Shaoyun meant. He laughed and bowed, "Congratulations, young master, for comprehending the true essence of the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps."
Xiang Shaoyun laughed, "Yes. After cultivating the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps for so long, I have finally understood its essence. This is also my first time using it in this way. The result is excellent."
"Of course the result will be excellent. This is the best footwork the previous master had used his entire life to create. But it is still too hard for you to use it, young master. Your current cultivation realm is not enough. The first two steps are sufficient for now. You need a few more breakthroughs before you can properly make use of the third step," said Devouring Ghost.
Xiang Shaoyun nodded. "Don't worry. I will watch out the next time I use it."
He then climbed onto Jin Wo's back and sat down in meditation to recuperate. They continued heading toward the Bloodsin City.
Three months passed. During the three months, Xiang Shaoyun had consolidated his gains in footwork intent. He had also further familiarized himself with the Overlord's Nine Nether Steps and was now much faster than he was before.
Apart from that, he had also accumulated a sizable amount of nine-colored fog in his astral cosmos sea. The spiritual herbs he had planted there had also undergone some transformation.
The herbs that were initially low-grade spirit medicines had suddenly turned into mid-grade spirit medicines. Furthermore, their medicinal power seemed to be much stronger than regular herbs of the same grade.
Their change caused Xiang Shaoyun to place even more importance on the nine-colored fog. It was a power of destruction and a power of life. It might also contain some other powers waiting for him to discover.
As for the horned lightning snake, he was living a good and comfortable life in the astral cosmos sea amid the nine-colored fog. Even when Xiang Shaoyun called him out to take a breather at the outside world, he refused.
Xiang Shaoyun could no longer be bothered about him anymore.
On his travels, Xiang Shaoyun experienced and witnessed numerous local traditions and customs of the various places he passed. He had also encountered numerous powerful demonic beasts and bandits trying to intercept his group.
They were able to smash their way through all obstacles with pure strength. That was how Jin Wo had gotten the demonic core of a fourth-stage Demon Emperor cultivating the gold element. He had swallowed the core and was now nearing the third-stage Demon Emperor realm.
As for Devouring Ghost, he had started cultivating again. By making use of the time return grass, he erased the light elemental energy from four of his stars and filled them with dark elemental energy instead. As for the other three stars, he kept the light elemental energy there.
He was planning to go beyond his original realm, cultivate two elements, and achieve the power of yin and yang. As a side effect of using the time return grass, his cultivation level had dropped to fourth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm, but with the large quantity of spirit crystals and dark elemental herbs, he soon recovered much of his cultivation base.
But he would still need about a year before he could return to eighth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm. That would also be when he would finally achieve perfect fusion with his body.
However, he would be able to find some items capable of expediting the speed in which he regained his strength at the Bloodsin City. He had also been channeling his will into the blood egg every single day and had occasionally fed it his blood essence.
After three months of doing so, he was able to sense that some changes had occurred in the blood egg. The blood demon inside would be able to come out after being fed enough blood.
Devouring Ghost had been taking it slow for fear that the blood demon would be disobedient in the future. Otherwise, he would have been able to hatch the egg with the blood of all the Demon Emperors they had killed along the way.
He was planning to wait until he reached eighth-stage Dragon Ascension Realm before releasing the blood demon into the world. At that time, he would possess sufficient strength to both control and raise the blood demon.
Everything was progressing smoothly, and finally, they arrived near the outskirts of the Bloodsin City. There were five Bloodsin Cities in existence. They were respectively located at the Eastern Pass, Western Desert, Northern Border, Southern Wasteland, and the Central Region.
Each Bloodsin City was the same: essentially a place where numerous wanted criminals, killers, and banished individuals gathered. In a sense these people represented evil, bloodthirst, and chaos.
One could say that there was no kind soul to be found in any of the Bloodsin Cities. All of them were cold-blooded killers. They were either there to hide from the pursuit of their enemies, because they were addicted to killing, or simply because they had been banished by some powerful organization.
In short, the Bloodsin City was a city of strife. Within the city, one could kill and rape as one wished. There were no rules whatsoever, and the only way of survival was through killing. Apart from that, the five cities also served a different purpose: devil suppression.
All five of the cities were built at the entrance to the Devil Domain where numerous blood-thirsty devils resided. The devils resided beneath the dominion and had waged endless wars against the surface races since the ancient times.
The devils wanted to enter the surface through the five exits and conquer more land for themselves, but the surface races would naturally not allow that. Thus, the five cities were built for devil suppression. They were also known as the Five Devil Suppressing Cities.
It was rumored that during the ancient times, the surface's supreme experts had forcefully pushed the devils underground. In fact, during the ancient times, the devils had invaded and started a period known as the Dark Age. At that time, the devils had nearly turned the entire world into a world of devils.
Fortunately, numerous heroes had risen amid the chaos and pushed the devils back to the Devil Domain. Xiang Shaoyun had learned all that from Devouring Ghost, and he had also finally learned what he was supposed to do at the Bloodsin City.
There, he would forge his own path to the Emperor and Sovereign Realms through battle. Only in such a chaotic land of slaughter would a person's potential be squeezed out, turning one into an overlord. That was also one of the fastest methods a cultivator could grow.
As they were nearing the Bloodsin City, Devouring Ghost was growing more excited. He said, "Young master, numerous evil criminals from the Western Desert are gathered at the Bloodsin City. There will also be numerous geniuses from the various organizations there to temper themselves. They are all people with talent and combat prowess surpassing their peers. Are you ready for it?"
Xiang Shaoyun answered confidently, "Even if this is hell, I will still go. I have no fear."
"Haha, that's right! I believe you will definitely become an overlord of slaughter and rise into the Emperor Realm," said Devouring Ghost as he laughed heartily. He looked at Du Xuanhao and said, "When we arrive, you will need to head into the Devil Domain. I guarantee you that your combat prowess will multiply several times over if you can survive for at least three years. At that time, I will take you to search for the Saber Devil's inheritance. But if you can't even survive for three years, it can only mean that you are not qualified to obtain his inheritance."
"I will do just that, Lord Devouring Ghost," said Du Xuanhao resolutely.
Suddenly, a group of decently powerful people blocked their path to the Bloodsin City.