Infinite Slaughter System: I Kill, Therefore I Ascend!-Chapter 193: Interlude: Andrew Han Vs Li Ling! - End

Emily screamed and jumped to her feet in horror, sparking chaos as the diner erupted with fear and terror.

People immediately scrambled to their feet, chairs tipping and plates crashing to the floor.

Someone shouted for help with a pale face while another person sobbed as they tried to claw themselves away from the scene of the crime.

One relatively brave man lunged toward Andrew from the next table, then hesitated when the blood-covered knife swung toward him, that moment of cowardice freezing him in place.

Andrew laughed and lunged forward with a wild swing, tearing out the throat of the brave fellow turned coward with surprising familiarity.

"Look at you all! More than thirty people in here! Any one of you could tackle me! Break my arm! Smash my head with a chair!" Andrew roared with bloodshot eyes filled with calm malevolence.

Then his voice softened rapidly. "But you won’t, because you’re all meek as sheep. You’ve spent your whole lives outsourcing violence, and now that it’s at your table, you don’t remember how to bite."

He moved again and stainless steel flashed, red blood sprayed, and bodies staggered then fell.

Andrew didn’t think about targets; he simply moved toward the nearest neck, the closest torso, the most proximate set of wide and terrified eyes.

"You call him an edgelord! You call him a monster! But at least he fights! At least he understands that when the knives come out, words don’t matter!" he bellowed, breathless yet determined.

He stepped over a fallen chair, his boot sliding briefly in some blood, and drove the knife into another overfed stomach.

By now, the diner was a maelstrom of panic, with people squeezing to exit the narrow door, some crawling under tables, while the rest were simply frozen in place, shocked into stupor.

A woman mustered her courage and finally rushed him with a desperate yell, holding a plate and throwing it at him.

Andrew pivoted and slashed across the woman’s arm while avoiding the thrown object, the sudden hot line of red pain sending her falling back with an agonized scream.

"Too little, too late, madam," Andrew said with a cold smile.

For a moment, he stood in the center of it all with a heaving chest, the ruined dinner knife dripping with blood, surrounded on all sides by whimpers and tears.

"This is the true nature of the world you lot live in; you just pretend it isn’t. Violence can come upon you at any time, and there is nothing you can do without the power to defend yourself."

He smiled. "This is a dog-eat-dog world that has been sprayed with perfume and put in a fancy dress, but strip it bare, then pour water over it, and it shows its true nature."

He walked over to the shaking Emily and squatted before her. "Does it make sense? This random act of violence that shattered your worldly beliefs? Don’t you find the situation a little familiar?"

Andrew turned his head to his ’fellow countryman.’ "Right, Jin?"

Jin was cautiously hiding near Marcus’s body and, upon being called out, he first blanched, then nodded shakily.

"Indeed, Li Ling went through something similar."

Andrew’s eyes shone. "And what did Li Ling do as a result of it?"

"He almost broke down and lost himself, but awakened to the path of killing and power as the system awakened," Jin answered carefully.

Andrew nodded with satisfaction and turned to the fearful crowd who just wished this would end. "So take it that I am your system. Though I won’t grant you power, I can grant you clarity. Remember this violence today, my words, then act on them, and watch yourself dominate this weak society."

Suddenly, Andrew noticed the edge of his vision begin to blur.

"And this... is the end, it seems. I get the feeling that I don’t belong here," he muttered with some strange understanding.

The sounds of the diner stretched and warped, the cries turning into echoing voices in a canyon, the fluorescent lights stretching into lines of pixel-like white.

The knife in his hand suddenly felt weightless while the smell of grease, blood, and fear thinned, replaced by a faint scent of condensed universal essence... spiritual energy!

The Donovan Family Diner, along with the rest of the world, shattered into white.

......

Li Ling’s eyes shot open as his mind, soul, and body merged into one and everything came back to him immediately with no need for adaptation.

He had left the illusory world of Earth constructed from his memory and come back on the tournament stage in Firmament Heaven’s Six Paths Demon Sect, seated cross-legged at his assigned spot.

The mist of the Dao Heart Formation was dissipating around him, the illusory qi falling away as the roar of the crowd rushed in all at once.

"Holy shit, he’s back!"

"The heck, how long was that, less than an hour?"

"Some of the others are still in the formation!"

Most disciples were shocked, while those above were not too moved. Formations like these didn’t matter in terms of how long you spent within, but rather how solidly you performed.

As Li Ling had not been ejected from the Dao Heart Formation, it meant that he had achieved some level of success, but they would have to wait for the formation handler to check the results after everyone was done.

However, they were expecting too little if nothing would occur after this event. Li Ling was an introspective person who always questioned his thoughts and actions, generally summarizing his broad spectrum of thoughts and personality into one word.

When he was hiding in the Number 9 Qing Shan Marketplace, he deemed himself a coward. When he awoke the system after his mental shock, he deemed himself impulsive due to his actions.

After suffering consequences and near enslavement by Wen Caiyi and Bai Ruyi, he shifted his thoughts and sought to become adaptable while he built a foundation on Tian Ming Continent.

Now, after going through this Dao Heart Test, Li Ling’s thoughts and ideas had changed once more, but not necessarily for the better.

Indeed, the next moment, the fellow threw his head back and laughed loudly.

It wasn’t polite laughter, or even mocking amusement.

It was a deep and thunderous sound of elevated joy that came from somewhere far beyond his fleshy body, spilling out into the open air as if the illusion had awakened something in him.

This would have been just a normal event in a demonic sect given how crazy they all were most of the time, but this was Li Ling.

THWOOM!

The moment he stood up to laugh, the world shook as spiritual phenomena erupted from behind the young man.

A vast shadowy tableau unfolded in the sky above the arena, causing everyone to look up involuntarily.

What they saw were rivers of blood-like pitch-black qi winding through wastelands of broken weapons and shattered armor.

Countless vague silhouettes of soldiers, cultivators, and demon beasts rose and fell in endless slaughter, each death feeding a towering presence at the center, which was converging onto Li Ling.

The air thrummed with boundless killing intent that was not directed at anyone present, but as a pure concept... as a Rule made manifest.

Li Ling’s eye shone with a Dao symbol that only he could see, one of his three Rules surging with power!

All across the stadium, disciples and elders of the Six Paths Demon Sect shuddered as a line of green text only Li Ling could see flickered before his inner sight.

｢Infinite Slaughter System

Owner: Li Ling || Status: Healthy || Age: 21/650

Rules:

The Rule of Mountain Earth - Entry (100/1,000,000)

The Rule of Spiritual Void - Entry (0/1,000,000)

The Rule of Infinite Slaughter - Advanced (0/100,000,000)｣

The Rule of Infinite Slaughter experienced a minor breakthrough!

The arena itself trembled like there was an earthquake, the in-built formation lines roaring to life as they strained to contain the phenomenon.

On the high platform, more than one sect elder jumped to their feet, faces pale with disbelief.

"He... broke through in Rule Power comprehension... in a Dao Heart test?!"

"His demonic heart is that firm...?"

Somewhere in the lower stands, a disciple whispered hoarsely, "He’s laughing after that... what the heck did he experience in there...?"

Li Ling’s laughter gradually quieted into a low chuckle as he lowered his head, dark blue eyes gleaming with a cruel and satisfied light.

’So that’s my nature, huh? A murderhobo edgelord?’ he thought with amusement.

He glanced at his hand and clenched his fingers together, cracking his knuckles and causing a minor shockwave due to the strength of his third-realm perfection body cultivation.

’Haha, only the ignorant would think such! After knowing about the rules of survival in Firmament Heaven, how many would turn out better than me?’ Li Ling chuckled internally.

Far above the stadium, the spectral battlefield slowly faded, the blood-like rivers dissolving into mist while the broken weapons turned to dust.

The pressure of the Infinite Slaughter Rule lingered for a few breaths longer, then receded, leaving only a faint murderous intent in the atmosphere.

On the stage, the Divine Deva Overseer swallowed once, forcing his heart to calm. He looked at Li Ling, who sat at the eye of the storm with a smile, and couldn’t quite stop the chill that ran down his spine.

After a two-hour period, the time for the Dao Heart Test elapsed and around half of the competitors were ejected out with pale faces while the other half calmly exited with smiles on their faces, some indeed laughing like Li Ling.

There were no sudden comprehensions nor spiritual phenomena, though.

The Divine Deva Overseer hesitated and then glanced upward to the smiling Sect Master for confirmation before raising his voice.

"The Dao Heart Test... is complete! Your demonic Dao Hearts have been weighed and recorded!" he announced, striving for steadiness.

He paused for dramatic effect, then continued.

"Prepare yourselves! The fifth and final test of the preliminaries, the Test of Karma, will now begin!"

______________________________________________

Volume 2: Adaptability has come to an end.

Volume 3: Supremacy, begins now!