The next morning, above the waterfall:
Tang Hao stared at the collapsed cave with countless stones scattered on the ground. At this sight, his killing intent exploded completely. The ground began to shake, and the rubble turned to powder.
"Who? Who was it?"
Tang Hao couldn't detect any unfamiliar spirit power fluctuations, and even the aura of the Blue Silver Emperor had completely vanished.
In his rage, he suddenly noticed several bold and elegant characters on the intact waterfall cliff face to his right. He read them from top to bottom:
"Your Grandpa Was Here."
"What a 'Your Grandpa Was Here'!"
"What a 'Was Here'!!"
The Clear Sky Hammer, radiating deadly killing intent, appeared in Tang Hao's hand. He roared furiously and smashed toward the characters on the cliff face. The several-thousand-pound Clear Sky Hammer completely shattered the entire waterfall, and the commotion it caused directly changed the river's course, making it rush down both sides.
It swept across nearly a mile of surrounding land, and dozens of animals that couldn't escape in time were swept away by the rushing water, with heavy casualties.
"What a 'Your Grandpa'! If I, Tang Hao, catch you, I'll smash you to pieces!"
With the complete disappearance of the Blue Silver Emperor, he seemed to lose his mind, rapidly searching within a five-mile radius. Whether small or large animals, they all fell victim to his violence—all were smashed to death.
......
In Skywater City, at Skywater Academy:
A spirit master radiating cold air and extreme frigidity was organizing a mere fifty envelopes.
"Ignaz, you bastard! You ran off to Heaven Dou Royal Academy and got mixed up with that poison woman—is this why you've been putting off coming to Skywater City to meet me?"
Shui Bing'er nearly crushed those fifty envelopes in her grip. If she hadn't heard the name "Ji Wuming" from the Heaven Dou Royal Academy team at the Spirit Master Competition two years ago, she still wouldn't know Ignaz's exact whereabouts.
But after she found out, especially when she heard about his unclear relationship with Dugu Yan, she became quite furious. What made her even angrier was that when she prepared to go to Heaven Dou Royal Academy, clan scouts informed her that Ignaz had already left the academy, with his specific destination still unknown.
Shui Yue'er suddenly appeared from behind and looked at her sister, who had been angry for a year, saying kindly:
"Sister, don't be angry anymore. According to my inside information, we'll be going to Heaven Dou Royal Academy in three months for the annual academy exchange competition. We can settle things in the spirit arena and beat her decisively!"
"Yue'er, you scared me to death!"
After stabilizing her emotions, Shui Bing'er's gaze became extremely determined:
"You're right. That bastard Ignaz doesn't like weaklings—I need to become stronger."
Even if Dugu Yan was already a Spirit Ancestor, so what? With her Spirit Elder strength, she could still put up a fight against her.
......
At this time, at the Dugu residence:
Dugu Yan looked worriedly at Dugu Bo beside her and asked:
"Grandpa, Big Brother Ji has had no news for so long—could something have happened to him? Why don't you go to Sea God Island to check on the situation?"
"Yanyan, that brat's got nine lives, and he's got Sea Spear Douluo helping him besides. He definitely won't have any problems. As for no news coming through right now, maybe he's undergoing some hellish training."
Dugu Bo could only comfort his granddaughter with his shallow understanding of Ignaz. During this period, he'd occasionally gone to Vast Sea City but heard no news of Ignaz coming ashore.
As for Sea God Island, he wanted to go but couldn't. First, he was an honorary elder of the Heaven Dou Empire and had to protect his granddaughter's safety. Second, Sea God Island never received mainland spirit masters, especially Titled Douluo like him—he didn't want to make things difficult for Ignaz.
"Yanyan, you have to trust that kid. Maybe right now he's somewhere hunting spirit beasts and getting his sixth spirit ring."
"Grandpa, it's been less than a year—how could Big Brother Ji get his sixth spirit ring so quickly?"
......
At this time, inside Slaughter City:
"Let us once again congratulate contestant 16528 on his brilliant four-win streak in Hell's Slaughter Arena!"
Ignaz had taken seven days to fight only four matches, and he was no longer satisfied with the blood essence reserves the competitions provided.
When he walked out of Hell's Slaughter Arena, quite a few fallen ones on the streets looked up at him, gripping their weapons tightly, with frenzied killing intent already showing in their eyes.
After Ignaz had distanced himself from Hell's Slaughter Arena, a Spirit King-level fallen spirit master shouted loudly:
"The previous battle against five Spirit Ancestors has left contestant 16528 with almost no spirit power left! Kill him and we'll have endless Bloody Marys to drink!"
"Being able to kill a newcomer on a winning streak would be the greatest honor of my life!"
"Kill—!"
......
Hundreds of fallen spirit masters charged toward Ignaz following the principle of "kick them while they're down."
Ignaz was absolutely delighted by this. Four days—it had taken these fallen ones four days to organize a proper, large-scale siege like this. He'd been waiting forever!
Ignaz gathered strength in his legs and leaped up, blood essence exploding around his body as a dark red blood mist swirled around him.
"Boom—!"
As the blood mist suddenly erupted, all the fallen ones participating in the siege were blown back. Ignaz gripped the Blood Thunder War Spear's shaft:
"Being the first to die under my soul technique should be your greatest honor."
"Stormy Night: Thousand-Mile Piercing Extreme!"
The Blood Thunder War Spear shot out, carrying rolling waves of blood essence as it stabbed toward the many fallen ones marked by the Condensed Blood Killing Aura.
No matter what weapons or martial spirits they used to resist, with their inability to use their own soul techniques, they were like weaklings being pierced through the chest one after another, their blood essence forcibly devoured by the Blood Thunder War Spear at that moment.
"This... how is this possible? He can use soul techniques?"
"No, this isn't a spirit ring skill—it's his self-created soul technique!"
"This self-created soul technique must lock onto targets using the blood mist—everyone quickly dispel the blood mist on your bodies!"
......
The fallen ones in the rear were extremely terrified as they watched the war spear act like an agile and extremely vicious beast, slaughtering freely among the crowd and draining their blood essence, while the blood essence clinging to their own bodies became even thicker.
Hearing this, the fallen ones at the front of the siege frantically tried to wipe off the Blood Killing Aura stuck to their bodies:
"It won't come off—it's stuck to our bod—!"
Before he could finish speaking, the fallen one was pierced through the armor protecting his chest, his corpse turning into blood essence that flowed into the war spear.
"Bang!"
In less than two seconds, the bones inside the heavy armor turned directly to ash and scattered away, leaving the armor to crash heavily to the ground.
Ignaz watched the fallen spirit masters closest to him die miserably one by one while he continued to strike down the charging fallen ones, saying excitedly:
"Slow! Still too slow!"
The war spear dissipated as Ignaz's two soul tool rays blasted through, penetrating two fallen ones' bodies. The Blood Thunder War Spear reappeared in his hands. Moving like a shadow, he rapidly appeared and disappeared among the crowd—wherever his spear rose, people died. Quite a bit of fresh blood splattered on his body.
Five minutes later, broken stones, weapons, and armor lay scattered everywhere in complete chaos. All the corpses had turned into towering blood essence that surged into the Blood Thunder War Spear.