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Su Wen mobilized the "Book World," and pages began to flutter and fly. As they descended, they carried the weight of falling mountains.
Rumble!
Tang Hao swung the Clear Sky Hammer, his third soul ring flashing as he continuously smashed Su Wen's incoming pages into fragments.
Yan's throat moved convulsively, his face a mask of terror. "Were we really just fighting a monster like that?"
Xie Yue and Hu Liena were also stunned into silence by Su Wen's sheer power. It wasn't just them; everyone present at the Spirit City square found Su Wen's strength difficult to believe. It felt illusory, like a dream.
"He's using the Great Ring Explosion secret technique, but how can a ring explosion yield such a terrifying boost?"
No one knew the truth: Su Wen had detonated a nine-thousand-year ring, a fifteen-thousand-year ring, two twenty-thousand-year rings, and a forty-five-thousand-year ring. With such high-quality soul rings, exploding even one would provide a noticeable boost to a Title Douluo. Exploding all five could potentially elevate a Super Douluo by an entire rank!
Against an ordinary Title Douluo, it might increase their power by two or three ranks. While this boost might not have threatened Tang Hao in his prime, in his current state of severe injury, it bridged the gap between him and Su Wen.
"Clear Sky Nine Absolutes!"
Tang Hao's gaze was cold, and his killing intent erupted. Blood-red soul power steamed around him, and the force emanating from the Clear Sky Hammer became increasingly horrific.
Su Wen's "Heavenly Book" quickly distanced him from the threat, and a square seal condensed in front of him. The four elements of Earth, Fire, Water, and Wind converged, with the power of Space fused into the center.
"Sky-Opening Seal!"
BOOM!
The two clashed again. This time, the resulting shockwave reached the level of a Title Douluo's strike.
"This Su Wen... his talent is horrifying," Yue Guan (Chrysanthemum Douluo) said solemnly.
Bibi Dong's brow twitched. She was highly surprised by Su Wen's strength. With such power, even without Twin Martial Souls, as long as his luck held out, he had a high chance of receiving a God's inheritance.
The collision continued. Su Wen began to feel the strain. Tang Hao was indeed a veteran; through the combat, he was gradually gauging how much explosive force his body could handle, and the soul power he mobilized was creeping closer to his limit.
BOOM!
Su Wen's Sky-Opening Seal was shattered. Tang Hao lunged forward, swinging the Clear Sky Hammer toward Su Wen's head. After a ripple in space, Su Wen blinked away to dodge the strike.
Tang Hao held his hammer, his soul power turbulent. Feeling the internal injuries shifting within him, he frowned deeply. He couldn't drag this out. He had originally thought Su Wen was a mere Soul King—that even with space skills, he could be captured with overwhelming force. He hadn't expected Su Wen to be this strong. Since Su Wen could contend with him and possessed teleportation, capturing him alive was now impossible.
"Tang Hao! To think the dignified Clear Sky Douluo is being forced back by a Soul King," Su Wen taunted. "I think the title of 'Clear Sky' cannot bear such an insult!"
"You!" Tang Hao was furious.
Su Wen's words had effectively cut off his path of retreat. If he were truly driven off by a Soul King in a duel today, how could he ever show his face in the world again? But to keep dragging this on...
"Su Wen, you seek death!"
I have to kill you!
Tang Hao steeled his heart and erupted with the full force of a Title Douluo. He spat out a mouthful of blood, but it didn't slow the hammer in his hands. Su Wen had already been mobilizing his soul power while speaking; the moment Tang Hao erupted, Su Wen condensed three Sky-Opening Seals.
The three seals linked together, forming a perfect defensive array.
BOOM!
The seals shattered one by one, but they successfully absorbed the impact of the hammer. Su Wen could have dodged, but without the collision, the damage Tang Hao suffered from mobilizing his soul power wouldn't be maximized. Thus, Su Wen continued to use his seals to clash directly with Tang Hao.
BOOM!
Pfft!
Tang Hao finally reached his breaking point and sprayed blood. He freed one hand to clutch his chest; his meridians were snapping, and the circulation of his soul power was becoming blocked. This was only the beginning—the real issue was the chain reaction. His internal injuries were completely collapsing.
"Tang Hao, Clear Sky Douluo... today you shall be slain by me, a Soul King."
"You will die, and the reputation of the 'Clear Sky' will be nailed to the pillar of shame forever!"
Su Wen's voice drove Tang Hao into a frenzy. "Su Wen, you despicable villain!"
Tang Hao erupted once more. This time, the meridians in his body were nearly all severed as he launched one final, terrifying hammer strike. Su Wen used "Void Traverse" to blink away.
With the aid of the Phantom Spirit Pupil, Su Wen judged clearly: this was Tang Hao's last burst. Even without the recoil of a counter-attack, Tang Hao was finished.
"A tiger down on the plains is bullied by dogs!" Tang Hao muttered through a mouth full of blood, his eyes filled with unwillingness.
"A tiger on the plains?" Su Wen shook his head. "You are simply a few years older than me. Give me time—not even as many years as you have had, just ten years—and what would you be in my presence? And am I, a genius who hasn't fully grown, not also a 'tiger on the plains'?"
"I am the tiger. You are nothing but a stray dog that lost its home."
Tang Hao could not win the verbal spat. His eyes bulged with rage as he spat out a final torrent of blood and collapsed backward.
The youngest Title Douluo in the history of the continent—the Clear Sky Douluo—was dead!
A solo kill!
Though he had Ning Rongrong's boost, Su Wen actually had the ability to replicate the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and buff himself. He simply didn't want to be too ostentatious, so he let Ning Rongrong do it. In reality, Su Wen could have achieved this solo kill on his own, but in the eyes of outsiders, it wasn't a "true" solo kill.
I'm still being low-key...
"Father!" Tang San cried out in agonizing grief. Every clash between Tang Hao and Su Wen had felt like a weight on his heart. As Tang Hao was "angered to death," Tang San's grief turned into an explosion of sound.
He looked at Su Wen with eyes filled with pure killing intent, bloodshot and wild. "Su Wen, I will kill you!"
"What a coincidence. I was going to kill you, too."
To pull up weeds, one must remove the roots. Su Wen's gaze was cold as a Sky-Opening Seal condensed in his right hand.
Boom!
Su Wen narrowed his eyes, looking at Bibi Dong, who had stepped in front of Yu Xiaogang. A deep, hidden killing intent flickered in Su Wen's eyes. Yu Xiaogang stood in front of Tang San, and Bibi Dong stood in front of Yu Xiaogang.
"Su Wen, misfortune should not befall the family," Bibi Dong said indifferently.
"I only want to kill Tang San."
"Then you will have to step over my corpse," Yu Xiaogang said, shielding Tang San behind him.
Su Wen looked at Bibi Dong in silence. He definitely couldn't beat her yet. So...
Su Wen turned around and walked to Tang Hao's corpse. He condensed sharp wind blades in his hand and slashed down, dismembering Tang Hao's body.
Seeing this, Tang San's eyes nearly burst from their sockets.
Six soul bones were dissected out by Su Wen. Two of them erupted with a blinding radiance, their fluctuations more intense, powerful, and domineering than the three premium soul bones awarded as prizes for the tournament. They were the two inheritance soul bones that belonged only to the successive sect leaders of the Clear Sky Sect.
Premium among premiums. Everyone's breathing became heavy.
"The Clear Sky Sect expelled Tang Hao and made no effort to hunt him down. Therefore, I assume these soul bones were abandoned along with him," Su Wen said. He collected the full set of six soul bones and placed them into his storage soul tool.
Bibi Dong, you want to protect Tang San? I'll give you that face. But I can't do nothing.
Having taken the soul bones, Su Wen spoke slowly. His voice seemed low, but it rang clearly in everyone's ears.
"If my investigations are correct, the root cause of Tang Hao being hunted down all those years ago... was because of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast..."
(End of Chapter)