Chapter 90: News from the Sun-Moon Continent

The reconciliation between Dugu Yan and Shui Bing'er had far-reaching consequences that neither young woman had anticipated. What began as a private duel quickly evolved into something that would reshape the relationships between their respective academies.

Following their discovery of spiritual compatibility, Skywater Academy and Heaven Dou Imperial Academy held a formal seven-person team battle to test the strength of both institutions. The match was intense, with Heaven Dou's team fighting valiantly under Dugu Yan's leadership, but ultimately they faced an insurmountable challenge.

Despite having Dugu Yan as their sole Spirit Ancestor—a significant advantage in individual combat—Heaven Dou's team found themselves outmatched when Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu unveiled their devastating spirit fusion technique. The combination of ice and snow elements created a battlefield control effect that even Dugu Yan's poison abilities couldn't counter effectively.

The defeat was honorable, but it was still a defeat.

However, what could have been a source of renewed tension between the academies instead became an opportunity. Given the extraordinary circumstances of Shui Bing'er and Dugu Yan's spiritual resonance, Li Xian Yue and the three education committee members reached an unprecedented agreement.

Shui Bing'er would be granted an exchange student position, allowing her to temporarily remain at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy to research spirit fusion techniques with Dugu Yan. It was a diplomatic solution that satisfied everyone involved—the academies strengthened their ties, the two young women could explore their remarkable compatibility, and both institutions would benefit from the research into such rare collaborative techniques.

As the arrangements were finalized and Shui Bing'er settled into her new temporary quarters, she often found herself gazing toward the academy gates, wondering when a certain absent young man might finally return to see what had changed in his absence.

Neither she nor Dugu Yan spoke of it openly, but both women were curious about how he would react to their newfound alliance.

---

Six Months Later - The Slaughter City

Far from the political maneuvering and academic exchanges of the imperial capital, in a place where civilization's rules held no sway, a different kind of education was taking place.

Slaughter City existed as a sanctuary for the desperate and the damned—a place where those who had committed crimes too heinous for normal society could find refuge, provided they could survive its brutal realities. Here, spirit abilities were suppressed by the city's unique environment, reducing even the mightiest Spirit Douluo to relying on physical prowess, weapons, and cunning.

It was in this hellish arena that the young man both Dugu Yan and Shui Bing'er had been wondering about was forging himself into something far more dangerous than either could have imagined.

Ignaz stood amid the rubble of what had once been a stone house, his originally black clothing now permanently stained crimson with blood. The Blood Thunder War Spear in his hands gleamed with a malevolent light, its surface having absorbed the life essence of countless fallen opponents.

His eyes remained sharp and vigilant as he scanned his surroundings, every muscle coiled with deadly readiness. Six months in this place had transformed him from a talented young spirit master into something approaching a force of nature.

"Bang—"

Another door exploded inward under his kick. Before he could fully enter, over a dozen desperate figures came rushing toward him—fallen spirit masters wielding crude weapons, their faces twisted with the desperation of cornered animals.

They never had a chance.

Ignaz moved with fluid precision, the Blood Thunder War Spear dancing in his hands—thrusting, slashing, and decapitating in one seamless motion. The dozen attackers died instantly, their blood essence flowing into his weapon like rivers returning to the sea.

"We just want to live," one of the remaining fallen ones cried out, his voice breaking with terror and unwilling rage. "Why, why must you, White Demon, kill us all?"

The nickname had followed him through months of systematic slaughter. In a place where most residents were stained with sin and shadow, Ignaz's efficient brutality and pale features had earned him a reputation that preceded him into every confrontation.

"Why?" he repeated quietly, more to himself than to his pleading victim.

The answer came not in words but in action. A blade suddenly stabbed through the speaker's back, emerging from his chest in a spray of crimson. The perpetrator—another desperate soul—stepped on the fresh corpse and shouted to rally his remaining allies.

"Brothers, this White Demon refuses to spare any of us, so we must fight him to the death! Come with me and kill this monster!"

But his rallying cry was cut short as Ignaz executed one of his most devastating techniques.

"Sea Wave Phantom - Void Resonance Ocean Kill!"

The third of his self-created spirit skills erupted outward in a wave of crushing force. Nearly two hundred fallen ones who had been hiding throughout the building died simultaneously, their bodies simply unable to withstand the technique's overwhelming power.

As Ignaz stepped out of the structure, the entire building collapsed behind him with a thunderous crash, raising clouds of dust that completely erased all traces of the slaughter within.

Without any lingering attachment or remorse, he continued toward the next target. The killing never stopped, the sounds of terror never ended.

---

In a different section of the city, twenty-five of the most powerful remaining residents—Spirit Douluo and Spirit Sages who had managed to survive the hellish environment through cunning and strength—were engaged in a fierce battle over two rare spirit bones.

More than ten of their number already lay dead among the rubble, their bodies testimony to the lengths desperate men would go to claim such precious resources.

The sound came from above—an explosive whistle that made them all look up just in time to see death descending.

A war spear filled with ultimate killing intent fell from the sky like a meteorite, piercing straight through a Spirit Sage's entire body and pinning him to the ground in one devastating strike.

"All of you, die."

Before the surviving fighters could fully process what was happening, Ignaz was already among them, his right hand closing around the Blood Thunder War Spear's shaft and pulling it free from the earth with casual strength.

"Red Moon Tribulation - Six Paths Spinning Devastation Slash!"

The weapon began to spin with impossible speed, seeming to multiply until six identical spears carved through the air simultaneously. The high-level fallen spirit masters, who had relied on their spirits and armor for so long, had no defense strategy that could counter such overwhelming physical technique.

They were all cut in half at the waist in perfect synchronization, their heads separated from their bodies as their life essence joined the countless others that had fed Ignaz's weapon.

This massacre brought his total kill count to over four hundred high-level fallen spirit masters—equivalent to participating in more than forty consecutive Hell Slaughter Arena battles, an achievement that should have taken years to accomplish.

The few survivors who witnessed this display of power looked upon him with unconcealed terror, their footsteps gradually retreating before breaking into full flight. Their hearts chanted the same desperate prayer:

"White Demon, don't kill me, please don't kill me."

But mercy was not a concept that existed in this place.

Several of the slower runners were violently thrown through the air, smashing through stone houses and dying with shattered skulls. The remainder found themselves caught in the radius of another devastating technique.

"Sea Wave Phantom - Void Resonance Ocean Kill!"

All spirit masters within sixty meters had their mobility completely impeded. Panic filled their faces, and some had lost control of their bodily functions entirely, the terror causing them to forget even basic dignity.

Ignaz's figure moved among them like death given form, and several heads were separated from their bodies in quick succession, transforming into blood essence that fed his insatiable weapon.

---

Following the residual spirit power fluctuations from the battle, Ignaz approached a partially collapsed building and quickly located a hidden underground passage that had been deliberately damaged to conceal its entrance.

The passage led deep beneath the city, and as he descended, the familiar sensation of potential ambush made him tense with anticipation.

"Whoosh—"

A sword gleam thrust toward him from the darkness. Ignaz dodged smoothly and countered with his war spear, seeming to pierce only empty air as his opponent proved more elusive than expected.

Then torches began lighting in sequence throughout the underground chamber, revealing both the identity of his attacker and the trap that had been prepared.

Swift Wind Dog stood at the far end of the cavern, both hands pressed against the controls of a massive two-meter-high device that hummed with dangerous energy.

"Die, White Demon!" he shouted, activating his trump card.

An enormous black energy blast shot toward Ignaz with devastating force—the kind of attack that should have been impossible in Slaughter City's spirit-suppressing environment.

Facing an unavoidable situation, Ignaz immediately executed his most penetrating technique.

"Stormy Night - Thousand-Li Piercing Extreme!"

The Blood Thunder War Spear shot forward like a streak of lightning, its extreme penetrating power rapidly suppressing and overwhelming the incoming energy beam.

"Hiss—"

"Boom—"

The massive explosion sent Swift Wind Dog flying while simultaneously destroying the support columns of the underground chamber. One side of the tunnel collapsed entirely, ten meters of stone and earth shifting with grinding finality.

As the injured Swift Wind Dog struggled to escape the destruction, a war spear shot directly toward his face with unerring accuracy.

"I still have other things, no—"

He had just pulled out a golden communication device and was about to activate it when the spear pierced through the top of his skull, pinning him to the cave wall and ending his life instantly.

---

Ignaz approached the corpse and carefully examined the fragments of what had nearly cost him his life, shaking his head with a mixture of admiration and frustration.

"This spirit tool looks exactly like the soul guidance cannons from ten thousand years in the future," he murmured to himself. "Unfortunately, the violent explosion has completely destroyed everything useful."

But as he turned to leave, something caught his eye—a shiny object on the ground not far away, alongside what appeared to be a storage spirit tool.

Ignaz quickly retrieved both items and input his spirit power to examine their contents. His expression gradually changed from cautious interest to genuine delight as he cataloged the treasures within.

Besides the two spirit bones that had triggered the earlier battle, there were no fewer than forty to fifty spirit tools of third grade and below, along with several designs he had never seen before. Even various assembly components for the massive cannon that had attacked him were preserved in perfect condition.

More importantly, the storage device contained extensive mineral samples—common ores weighing about one ton, with rare minerals totaling three to four thousand pounds. It was a fortune that suggested extensive mining operations somewhere beyond Slaughter City's borders.

But the most significant discovery came when he examined what had initially appeared to be a simple cowhide map.

"The areas marked here—Gold Iron Ridge, West Mountain Range, Forging Peak, and these other locations—these are all mineral-dense regions," he said, studying the detailed geographical markings. "And this map is far more comprehensive than anything sold in normal markets. Could this be...?"

Suddenly struck by inspiration, Ignaz turned the map over to examine its reverse side.

What he found there made him catch his breath.

A landmass approximately two-thirds the size of Douluo Continent was depicted in meticulous detail, complete with political boundaries, major cities, and resource locations. He studied the terrain features and the names of various major powers with growing excitement.

"It seems I've obtained far more valuable intelligence than just spirit tools and minerals," he said, carefully rolling the map and securing it within his own storage device. "This continent... this must be what will eventually become known as the Sun-Moon Continent."

The implications were staggering. If this map was accurate, it represented advance knowledge of an entire civilization's development, including their technological capabilities and resource distribution. In the right hands, such information could reshape the balance of power across the entire world.

As Ignaz made his way back through the collapsed passages toward Slaughter City's surface, his mind was already racing with possibilities. His time in this hellish place had made him stronger than he'd ever imagined possible, but perhaps more importantly, it had provided him with knowledge that could change everything.

Soon, he would need to decide whether to continue his brutal education in this lawless sanctuary, or return to the wider world with the power and intelligence he had gained.

Either choice would have consequences that would ripple far beyond his own fate.