Chapter 3: Slaughter
Within that endless sea of blood, the bones and corpses were also varied. Some corpses were giants nearly ten meters tall, their bodies covered in scales and with two horns growing from their heads. The bones of some skeletons faintly shimmered with an eerie golden light...
"Ah..."
A faint red tinge appeared in Linley's eyes, and his entire being naturally emitted a terrifying murderous aura. This aura was so tangible that it formed a faint, blood-like red mist around Linley's body. At the center of this murderous aura, Linley was like a god of slaughter.
Bebe, who was not far from Linley, naturally felt the pressure of this aura.
Bebe's fur stood on end in terror. He could clearly feel his muscles trembling, his blood boiling, and even his sharp claws seemed to be out of control.
Fear.
Unprecedented fear!
"B-Boss, what's wrong with you?" Bebe asked in panic.
At this moment, Linley still had his wits about him, but after being invaded by that murderous aura, he felt an overwhelming urge to kill.
"This Violet Blood Soft Sword?" Linley suppressed the urge to kill and looked down at the sword in his hand.
"Hummm~~" An eerie red light flowed across the surface of the Violet Blood Soft Sword in Linley's hand, as if it were covered in flowing blood. The entire sword trembled incessantly. Linley could feel the sword's desire—a craving for slaughter, endless slaughter!
The more Linley suppressed the urge to kill, the stronger it became, and his eyes grew redder and redder.
"Ah!" Linley let out a wild roar.
In an instant, Linley shot down from the mountain like a fierce gale. The Violet Blood Soft Sword in his hand flashed like lightning. Wherever it passed, trees shattered, rocks split, and everything turned into ruins.
Bebe watched Linley charge down the mountain like a madman. He hesitated for a moment. He was terrified of that unprecedented, horrifying murderous aura. But for the sake of his boss...
"Ya!" Bebe gritted his teeth and shot down the mountain after him.
...
Not far from the foot of the mountain where Linley was, there was a clear blue lake. On the shores of this lake lived a pack of Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs. These were pack-dwelling magical beasts, unlike ordinary leopards or tigers. Leopards and tigers might gather during large-scale wars, but they usually lived separately. The Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs were different.
Moreover, Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs had a strong sense of group identity and were skilled at cooperation.
Their claws and fangs were incredibly powerful. This pack consisted of over a hundred Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs. Although they were only rank 8 magical beasts, even ordinary rank 9 magical beasts wouldn't dare provoke them. They were undoubtedly the overlords of this region.
At this moment...
The pack of Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs was either lying on the grassy shore of the blue lake resting, strolling casually along the shore, or jumping into the lake for a leisurely swim. It wasn't time to hunt yet, and with their abilities, they had no worries about catching food.
Suddenly, several Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs alertly turned their heads toward the mountain. With their keen senses, they could feel a creature rapidly approaching. Those that had been lying down stood up, staring coldly in the direction from which the creature was coming.
The Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs were three meters tall and over six meters long, covered in golden fur. They looked similar to lions, but their eyes glowed eerily with a golden light.
"Roar~~" The leader of the pack suddenly let out a low growl.
They finally saw the creature that dared to challenge them—a human shrouded in a faint red mist, holding an eerie purple longsword. The highly intelligent Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs felt a slight relief. Just one human. Unless he was a Saint-level powerhouse, he couldn't possibly threaten them.
But in an instant—
When the human approached and the red mist enveloped them, all the Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs felt an unprecedented terror. This was even more terrifying than the pressure of a Saint-level magical beast. Under this murderous aura, all the Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs felt their limbs go weak, and they knelt in fear, lowering their proud heads.
"Blood... blood..."
Linley struggled to maintain his sanity, but he could feel the Violet Blood Soft Sword's craving for blood. Once the deep-seated murderous aura within the sword was triggered, the sword had to drink its fill of blood.
"Puchi!"
The Violet Blood Soft Sword turned into a streak of purple light, directly slicing through the neck of a Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiff. A massive head, a meter in diameter, flew into the air.
Linley was too fast.
No, to be precise, the Violet Blood Soft Sword was too fast at killing. By the time it had sliced off the heads of eight Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs, the first head was only just flying into the air. It was only then that all the terrified, kneeling Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs fully realized what was happening.
"Roar~~" The largest Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiff leader, not far away, struggled to its feet and roared to the sky. But even so, its limbs still trembled, and its eyes were filled with undeniable fear.
But they were highly intelligent.
They understood... that the human radiating this unprecedented, terrifying aura was going to kill them. Despite their fear, they had to fight back.
The Violet Blood Soft Sword drank the blood, letting out a joyful sword hum.
"Die... die." The more he killed, the more Linley felt the urge to slaughter rise within him. At this moment, all he wanted was to kill.
The remaining hundred-plus Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs didn't dare face Linley head-on. They turned and tried to flee.
"Swish." Linley's Violet Blood Soft Sword slashed at another Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiff.
This Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiff knew it couldn't escape, so it turned and opened its bloody maw to bite Linley, simultaneously spewing scorching flames from its mouth. A black-green Dragonblood battle-qi shield naturally formed around Linley's body, blocking the flames.
When the Violet Blood Soft Sword neared the Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiff, the beast clearly felt the murderous aura's pressure increase severalfold. This unprecedented terror caused its limbs to go weak, and even the surging energy from its magicite core stalled. It could only let the Violet Blood Soft Sword slice off its head.
Shrouded in the tangible murderous aura, Linley relentlessly pursued the Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs.
The once-dominant Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs were now panicked. They didn't know where this god of slaughter had come from. The murderous aura was so intense that it disrupted their bodily functions. Even when they wanted to fight back, their bodies wouldn't obey.
Blood splattered.
Limbs and heads flew everywhere...
In the blink of an eye, over thirty Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs lay dead.
"Boss! Boss!" Bebe called out anxiously.
Bebe could sense Linley's state and was afraid that he might turn into a mindless killing machine. Gradually, Linley's movements came to a halt.
"Bebe, I'm fine." Linley's voice echoed in Bebe's mind.
Bebe immediately rushed over. He could clearly see that Linley's bare upper body and forehead were covered in sweat, and his skin was slightly flushed. Linley was now closing his eyes, his chest heaving like a bellows.
"Whoosh..."
Letting out a long breath, Linley finally opened his eyes. They had returned to their normal, clear state.
"Boss, what... what happened to you?" Bebe asked worriedly.
Linley looked at the Violet Blood Soft Sword in his hand with lingering fear. He was now certain that this sword was a weapon of slaughter, and it had killed far more than an ordinary number. Linley even suspected that the endless corpses and bones in the sea of blood he had seen earlier were the sword's handiwork.
But those corpses... Linley couldn't even recognize most of their races.
"A race with a bull's head and a human body? Could it be the legendary Minotaurs from another plane?" Linley wondered. He had read about Minotaurs in books, but there were none on the Yulan continent.
Moreover, many of those corpses weren't even mentioned in the books Linley had read.
For example, those colossal beings, ten meters tall, covered in thick scales, with two massive horns on their heads. Just the aura emanating from their corpses made Linley's heart tremble. He felt that those beings were no weaker than some of the Saint-level magical beasts he had seen.
And there were countless corpses of that level!
Yes, corpses with auras no weaker than Saint-level magical beasts were scattered everywhere in that sea of blood.
"Who was the previous owner of this Violet Blood Soft Sword? How many experts did they kill?" Linley thought in shock. He was certain that this sword came from a higher plane, because the Yulan continent didn't have that many experts.
Recalling the scene when he first obtained the Violet Blood Soft Sword, Linley understood that it was indeed not from the Yulan plane.
With a thought, Linley stored the Violet Blood Soft Sword in his interspatial ring.
"Whew. Unless absolutely necessary, I must never trigger the murderous aura within this sword again." Linley made a firm decision.
Bebe jumped onto Linley's shoulder.
"Boss, what exactly happened?" Bebe asked.
Linley smiled at Bebe. "Bebe, do you remember when we were underground in the Misty Valley and found that mysterious magic array? Grandpa Doehring said it was even more complex and mysterious than a Saint-level magic array. The Violet Blood Soft Sword was the key to that array. It's clearly not as simple as I first thought. Now I see that's true."
Bebe listened intently.
"This Violet Blood Soft Sword has experienced countless killings, mostly of experts—Saint-level and even stronger! Because of that, it contains a terrifying murderous aura. Once triggered, even the Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs trembled and knelt. But there's a downside... once triggered, the sword must taste blood. Otherwise, it won't obediently return to the interspatial ring."
Bebe nodded.
"Boss, that sword is truly terrifying. That murderous aura made my heart tremble and my limbs shake. Even at my rank 9 level, I could probably only use half my strength under that influence," Bebe admitted honestly.
As for rank 8 magical beasts, under that aura, their strength would likely drop to just ten percent.
When the Violet Blood Soft Sword's aura was triggered, the opponent's strength would be greatly reduced. Even a rank 9 beast was so affected, showing how advantageous this aura was in battle.
"But that feeling of wanting to kill and go berserk is really unpleasant. Once the aura is triggered, I have to kill a certain number of creatures to calm that violent, maddening energy." Linley had just experienced it and understood clearly.
Unless absolutely necessary, it was best not to trigger that aura.
"Alright, Bebe, let's collect the magicite cores and continue our journey."
"Magicite cores? So many!" Bebe immediately excitedly went to collect them.
After taking the magicite cores from the dozens of Golden-Eyed Lion Mastiffs, Linley and Bebe left the corpses behind and continued on. In the Magical Beast Mountain Range, no matter how powerful a magical beast was, its corpse would eventually become food for other creatures.
The discovery of the Violet Blood Soft Sword's murderous aura was just a small episode.
Linley continued his arduous training, traveling only about ten li each day, spending most of his time in cultivation. He gained new insights into the use of the "heavy sword" almost every day. Linley was completely immersed in the wonderful feeling of training and progress.