Great Arthan's Will
After collecting the pair of ladies Xue Long returned to the arena.
The arena was eerily quiet, yet they could not feel any sort of dread from this place. Instead, they felt at peace here. This was because of the purification which was done here.
A place which saw bloodshed for years every single day now feels like a relaxing destination.
"...This…is strange… this place should be packed and since you killed all of them here… I don't understand… where is the blood or the bodies?" Liu Erlong asked with a confused tone.
"I purified them instead of killing them. Now however we need to find a way to unlock the Hell Road."
"...How does it open up regularly?" Zi Ji asked with crossed arms. Worst case she will turn into her true form and force open it. Her size should be able to do it.
"By sacrificing the whole Arena full of people." Xue Long said while looking around. Now that he spread his senses he could feel how wrongish this place was. This place was good for him to get that Darkness Core…
If this is true then he can finish the first set of cores. The basic elements… well 'basic' for the technique he is practising, he doubts the Taoist who made this technique give any damn about which are basic and which are not in Douluo Continent.
"Then how are you going to open it?" Liu Erlong asked as she looked around.
"We shall see, for now, I have something to do." As he said that pair of his wings manifested on his back. He took to the skies.
The Crown Prince ended up floating above the city. He crossed his legs and looked like he was meditating in the air. Moments later a pillar of Light exploded from him as golden radiance consumed the whole of Slaughter City.
Seconds later the enormous Deva Monk form manifested like a mirage into existence.
Its six arms clapped their hands as it started to pray, and then behind it, countless more hands manifested in different praying stances.
This was the Deva Monk Martial Avatar at its full potential.
Xue Long summoned it to sense all the negative energies in the city. The city is full of death and bloodshed but at the same time it was committed by evil people. The trial is corrupt by this point as Rakshasa's influence is fermenting in this place.
Perfect place to create his two remaining basic cores.
Once he filtered out he started to call forth Darkness to gather into a core, at the same time he used the Deva Monk's radiance to create Light Core as well.
If one could see it from the sidelines one could see how wisps of darkness, and smokey energy was rising from corpses and blood from the streets, buildings and the very air itself.
"What is going on… nothing makes sense to me. What is he doing?" Liu Erlong asked with a frown on her bloody face, the woman looked like she was bathed in blood, but it didn't matter for the purple-haired Dragoness who was in a similar state.
Then they saw smokey black energy leave from the blood. They looked with frown at this.
"Don't ask me… I am clueless just like you. A Lot of the stuff he doesn't make sense to me. I got used to it, I simply follow his lead since he is much stronger than me." The Great Beast said with a shrug.
"...I see… it seems so simple for you Spirit Beasts." The Human Dragoness said with quite a jealous tone. She was jealous of the simpleness of Spirit Beast logic.
"It is, we don't make our lives complex like you humans do. It seems like a waste of time to me." Zi Ji casually agreed, and didn't even see or notice the jealous tone Liu Erlong had. She is far too blunt to see that kind of stuff.
They stayed like that for several more minutes as they noticed how… the atmosphere changed into Slaughter City… it's like all the wrongness disappeared. What was left was the… simplicity of slaughter? It felt like this place was just a battlefield. A sad feeling of so many lives wasted? It's something like that.
In a way, the pair of ladies don't know how to describe this. They are not the right kind of people to describe this properly. However, what they can agree with is that this place wasn't as bad as it was before.
Whatever Xue Long did has cleansed the wrongness of this place.
Then the Golden Radiance disappeared and was replaced by a solid-looking disc which was black and white. This was… the perfect sign of Yin and Yang.
As it appeared above the city it continued to spread through the whole sky before glowing brightly and replacing the surroundings.
The Slaughter City turned into a mountainous valley with several buildings built into the mountainside with a waterfall falling next to the arena which was made from stone tiles.
This was the Cultivation domain… well…by this point you can't call it a domain… it was more like… reality of cultivation. The energies of Heaven and Earth fermenting this place were even greater than usual.
At least this is what Zi Ji sensed when she was transported here.
It was better now, as Xue Long broke through the bottleneck he was for a few years now. After finishing the basic Taoist Elements the Crown Prince finally reached the sixth stage of Heaven and Earth and now he knew what to do next.
With Light Core and Darkness Core finished he can progress further in Lotus Meditation this was what did next.
As he was in the cultivation Domain of Cultivation Golden Lotus started to manifest above him. It was a pure physical one. It slowly opened its petals and golden radiance descended upon him, the domain started to rearrange itself.
All mountainous valleys were replaced into simple valleys, a stream of water was flowing next to a tree. Under this unique tree was a person meditating. Just by looking at it… one could grasp… mysteries of the world…
This was…Domain of Enlightenment, Xue Long once again had a breakthrough in this Meditation, this time it was Lotus Meditation.
Because he had a breakthrough in this art it was much easier to grasp what was lacking in his Arthan meditation!
So he simply opened his eyes and gazed upon the domain.
For the first time…in a long while his inner self asked him.
'How can you practise martial arts if you are not looking at it? Observe, watch, adjust, practise, master it…
Gaze upon it and add it to your arsenal, people watched animals and made their nature their own… do the same…'
With a clear state of mind, Xue Long's eyes started to burn in golden fire. He just achieved Great Arthan's Gaze.
'Now, let's test, to see if your will is strong enough!'
Without any sort of notice, the calm valley shifted immediately into the mountainous temple with countless looking monks practising daily their martial arts in this background.
That moment crushing pressure crashed down on Xue Long.
The Prince who was in the air was forced to crash down on the ground.
While the two ladies who were on the side. Felt like their very being is going to get crushed into dust.
What the hell was this!?
Is the domain going on a rebellious streak? Is that even possible!?
While the pair could not even move or even breathe the Crown Prince on other hand slowly was getting up on his feet. And starting to practise the stance of the basic Great Arthan's Meditation.
At first, it was very sluggish as he was under pressure but eventually… After some time it was easier and easier for him to do it.
As it was easier the golden steam which was coming out from his body slowly disappeared and was replaced by a thin layer of diamond glow.
This… was the Stage Seven of Great Arthan's meditation.
Through single go… Xue Long passed two stages and his Willpower just transcended the boundaries of what mortals should be able to do.
One could say… he was one step closer to what is considered Godhood, through nothing more than Martial Arts.
Once he achieved this the surroundings shifted back into Slaughter City… Xue Long, who had a sweaty forehead, inspected himself…
He was feeling… simply unstoppable now… like… there is no doubt in his mind that he can become a God, or demon, or whatever… there is no such thing as doubt to him anymore.
This was Great Arthan's Will.
The funny thing was he knew how to progress further in Great Arthan's path… he was so close… now…
Though he looked around and saw the pair of ladies on the ground, they looked ashen, like they just went through a horrifying ordeal.
Xue Long leisurely walked over and inspected the pair.
"Ladies… the break time is over…"
"Break…time… did you try to kill us with your Domain?" Zi Ji said with a frown. As her face looked like blood had been drained from her face.
"Oh… I see… so you experienced Stage Seven of Great Arthan's Meditation." The Crown Prince said with realisation. He can now train the willpower and disciple of his students!
That's kind of cool!
"...Stage Seven… I see… I think it makes sense… or not…" The purple-haired Dragoness was… slightly terrified that even she… a Three Hundred Thousand-year-old Abyss Demon Dragon…was nearly crushed into meat paste through nothing but meditation…
This was getting out of hand… pretty quick…
"Yes, anyways rest, for now, I will do my thing here." Xue Long said that as he looked around. He was pretty sure they are trapped here unless they open Hell Road.
And open it… he needs a lot of blood.
Thankfully the city experienced a bloodbath just recently…
And the majority of blood is naturally… water.
~~~
As the pair were slowly getting back on their feet and resting Xue Long was above the arena, floating. There was blood gathering specifically above the arena just in the middle of it.
The Crown Prince was gathering just about every single drop of it. Just for this with his ability to control water.
The moment he sensed that the pair was ready to move out he motioned for the blood to descend into the ground. He used his new Great Arthan's Gaze to decipher the way the road is accessed.
Using Blood as fuel he linked the paths between Slaughter city and the Hell Road.
Once the 'hole' opened up the prince started to descend towards it.
"Ladies, let's move, it won't be open for long."
The pair listened to him and followed after him.
After a short darkness, the surroundings changed and they saw a round of some sort carved from the mountain… they were surrounded by a sea of blood…
"...This… I can feel bloodlust rising… what is this…" Liu Erlong, who is quite sensitive to such things, said with a frown.
"This is where Death God's Domain materialises. However, it has been corrupted by a certain God who loves to meddle in other people's businesses."
As he said that Golden radiance surrounded him and it spread out and encased the pair of ladies.
Moments later his Deva Monk manifested. It was no longer ghostly or even… statue-like… it was almost like a living and breathing being… this was Martial Arts crystallised and taken proper form… almost like Martial Spirit…
The monk clapped its six arms and a wheel with lotus flower manifested behind it… Diamond radiance like a tsunami washed the entirety of the road… even killing the Dark Golden Three-Headed Bat King which was waiting for him.
"Now that this is cleansed we can proceed. I do not doubt that the pair of you have powerful Killing intent strong enough for the Domain to manifest."
As Xue Long said that they proceeded with their walk, the prince cancelled his Deva Monk Martial Avatar and basked in the vicious energies which were trying to consume him.
And just like he expected… the pair did succeed with their killing intent…
At the end of the road… the trio reappeared not far from the village… they were out of the Slaughter City…
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