Qian Xunji's cold voice sliced into the silence."Look at yourself. You are only a Soul Douluo. Even if you crawl on your knees, even if you explode every last ring, you cannot stand against us. Did you really think Clear Sky Hammer's fame would let you overturn reality?"
His lips curled into mockery."Did you think you could fight fate itself?"
Tang Hao's bloodshot eyes blazed with rage, but his broken body betrayed him.
At that moment, Ah Yin stepped forward. Her arms trembled as she held her child tighter, silver-blue hair cascading like falling starlight, her expression serene yet resolute.
Her voice was clear, cutting through the battlefield:"I am the Blue Silver Emperor. My life is not so easily claimed. But I will surrender…" her eyes flickered toward her husband, "…if you swear to let Tang Hao and our child leave alive, I will yield myself to you."
Tang Hao's pupils shrank. His heart convulsed in terror as he forced out a hoarse scream:"No! Ah Yin, don't—don't you dare! I will protect you! I swore—"
But his words were drowned by her calm, unshakable resolve.
Qian Xunji stroked his chin, considering. His eyes glimmered with cold calculation."Interesting. A one-hundred-thousand-year soul beast willingly offering herself… Very well. Tang Hao and the child can leave. You, however, belong to us."
Ah Yin nodded, but her lips curved with bittersweet gentleness. Slowly, step by step, she approached Tang Hao.
Qian Xunji's instincts jumped. His body jolted, as he barked out sharply:"Stop her!"
But it was too late.
Ah Yin was already before Tang Hao. Her slender hand reached out, brushing his bloodstained cheek as tears blurred her eyes.
"Hao…" she whispered softly, voice trembling yet firm. "I can't walk this path with you anymore. But our child… he must live. Let his name be… San."
She gently placed the infant into Tang Hao's arms. The baby stirred, crying faintly, as if sensing the grief saturating the air.
Then, Ah Yin straightened her back, and her body glowed with a radiance that shook heaven and earth.
The sacrifice of a one-hundred-thousand-year soul beast began.
An unseen force blanketed the battlefield, vast and immutable, preventing all interference. Even Qian Xunji, Yue Guan, and Gu Mei felt their powers recoil, their souls shivering as they were forced back.
The air trembled. The rules of the world themselves seemed to bow before the act.
A crimson soul ring manifested above Ah Yin, vast and dazzling, pulsing with divine power. Her body shimmered, dissolving into countless threads of silver-blue grass, weaving into Tang Hao's soul. She smiled through her tears, gaze never leaving her husband.
Tang Hao fell to his knees, his cry tearing from the depths of his soul."Ah Yin!!! Noooo!!!"
The final threads vanished, sinking into his spirit.
Eight soul rings surged to life behind Tang Hao—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black. Then, with a thunderous boom, the ninth appeared: a crimson one-hundred-thousand-year soul ring, glowing with Ah Yin's sacrifice.
Tang Hao's body convulsed as the Clear Sky Hammer roared within him, his cultivation skyrocketing past its former limits. The aura of a Titled Douluo erupted like a storm, shaking the heavens, flattening the valley, and driving some Spirit Hall's elite to take a step back.
But Tang Hao did not rejoice. He did not exult in his newfound strength.
For in his arms, his infant son cried.And in his heart, half his soul had been torn away.
He had become a Titled Douluo… at the cost of the woman he loved most.
Tang Hao's roar shook the heavens."ARRRGHHHH! — Death God Domain!!!"
A wave of pure killing intent erupted from him like a black sun bursting open. The once shattered valley was now drowned in endless crimson-black light. The air thickened; the ground seemed to groan beneath the weight. Even the Soul Douluo and Soul Sages at the back staggered, their knees buckling as suffocating pressure crushed their chests.
The Death God Domain spread outward, swallowing the battlefield whole. Unlike before, its weight was immeasurably heavier, its killing intent sharper than blades, pressing directly into the souls of all present.
Ghost Douluo's voice trembled as he warned:"Be careful! Last time… last time he used this, his strength rose monstrously. We nearly lost control!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo's expression darkened, his usually delicate face twisted with rare seriousness."His aura… it's nothing like before."
Qian Xunji narrowed his golden eyes, his instincts prickling. Indeed—it was different. This was not the same Death God Domain as before.
They thought it was simply the product of his breakthrough into Titled Douluo. But reality was crueler.
What none of them knew… was that Tang Hao's domain had been touched by another force. His despair, his loss, his rage—they had resonated with the laws of slaughter themselves. Unlike the usual 120% amplification, Tang Hao's Death God Domain now surged with a 300% boost, as though an unseen existence had lent him its power, urging him to drown the world in grief.
"ARRRRGHHHHH!"
Tang Hao's eyes turned scarlet, blood vessels bursting in his whites. His hair whipped about wildly as if caught in a storm. His Clear Sky Hammer trembled, covered in cracks from the strain. Then, with savage abandon, he forced more of his life away.
Ring Explosion!His third, fourth, and fifth soul rings shattered one after another in bursts of horrifying power. His aura surged like a volcano erupting, unstable yet unstoppable.