"Chrysanthemum, are you alright?!"
The ghostly figure appeared beside Yueguan, his dark eyes locked on Tang Hao with open dread.
Even after being hit by a ninth spirit ability, Tang Hao still stood solid. His sheer power was terrifying—an unbroken wall of force.
"…Can't die yet." Yueguan's voice rasped hoarsely. His chest was heaving, wounds aching. Only because Ghost's ninth ability had distracted Tang Hao for a heartbeat had he avoided being turned to paste.
The two exchanged glances. They had to stall.
"Martial Soul Fusion—Polar Realm!" they shouted together as their nine glowing rings flared high. The two Martial Souls began to merge in a deadly combination—
But before the technique could fully integrate, the massive dark-red Clear Sky Hammer smashed down.
Boom!
Their fusion instantly shattered.
"Tch… Ghost, Chrysanthemum… so many years, and you still haven't grown up," Tang Hao spat coldly. He'd been wary of their fusion skill from the beginning. There was no way he'd give them the chance.
"The Clear Sky Hammer—Chaotic Cloak!"
Tang Hao's body spun like steel, hammer arcs accelerating. Each swing heavier and faster than the last, overlapping in countless blows until storm winds burst outward.
Half of Martial Soul City howled with tornados spiraling from his hammer.
Ghost's throat went dry. "…With strength like this, anyone would think he really abducted his wife."
"Bold Tang Hao, how dare you rampage in Spirit City!"
A majestic female voice cracked through the roar.
At once, Yueguan and Ghost looked up with relief.
Bibi Dong.
Floating high, golden-purple robes fluttering, eyes sharp with disdain. Rings of spirit power glowed beneath her feet—her own ninth ring, like Tang Hao's, shining crimson. Her aura was as oppressive as his.
Tang Hao's blood-red eyes locked onto her. "Bibi Dong! Ah Yin's just a Blue Silver Emperor, an ordinary herb, useless to you. What you want… is my life, isn't it? Then take me. Just return her!"
His hammer trembled with fury. If he truly fought head-on here, in the heart of Spirit City, there was no hope. But if they released A Yin, he would go quietly to his death.
Bibi Dong's brows arched ever so slightly. Ah Yin?
That hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor that had sacrificed to Tang Hao more than a decade ago?
Nonsense. All sacrifices ended in death.
Her eyes slid toward Yueguan in question.
"Under the Pope's crown, I know nothing!" Yueguan's voice cracked in panic. Tang Hao had stormed in, shrieking about his wife being stolen—as if he had seen her. Preposterous.
"Tang Hao, this has nothing to do with Martial Soul Hall," Bibi Dong said coldly. "But since you dared raise chaos here, today—you won't leave."
Her hand lifted elegantly. A flash of violet erupted: tangled webs, dripping venom, spraying out like fanged nets. Not one—eight. An airtight cage.
"Despicable!" Tang Hao roared.
He spun his hammer wildly, tearing the nets apart, purple mist scattering like rain.
"Ling Tian Strike!"
He lunged, swinging high. The Clear Sky Hammer—ten meters long—descended at Bibi Dong's crown.
"Fourth soul ability—Thorn Spider Armor!"
Chitinous purple carapace erupted over her body, jagged black spines sprouting across her frame. She crossed her hands, bracing.
Boom!
The hammer struck. Armor cracked. The collision collapsed buildings in the city around them, airwaves blowing out windows.
Dozens of bishops, Ghost, and Yueguan held their breath. Did the Pope… just tank a Clear Sky Hammer head-on?!
But then—
Behind Tang Hao, another Bibi Dong appeared.
"Sixth soul ability—Bloodsucking Spider Stab!"
A dagger wrapped in violet poison speared through the air.
Tang Hao twisted, but the blade still grazed his shoulder. Poison spread instantly, blackening his arm.
His chest flared with pain, his soul squeezing the venom to a halt. His vision wavered.
He realized too late. The "Bibi Dong" who blocked the hammer earlier—only an eighth soul ability clone.
"Drink!" Tang Hao shouted, forcing spirit through his heart. His hammer swelled larger—over ten meters wide.
He swung in an arc—past Bibi Dong.
Straight toward the Papal Palace.
Gasps ripped the air.
The Papal Palace—the symbol of all Martial Soul Hall. If it collapsed, their face across the continent would shatter!
The hammer's arc was too precise. Yueguan and Ghost couldn't reach in time.
But Bibi Dong moved. In a purple flash, she appeared between hammer and palace.
Boom!
Her jade hand struck the hammer, force-for-force, halting its path. She was forced back several steps, but the Papal Palace was saved.
Tang Hao exhaled bitterly. "Bibi Dong… Martial Soul Hall owes me a debt. One day, I will reclaim it in blood."
And then—he slipped into shadows, vanishing.
"CHASE!" Yueguan howled at once, veins trembling with rage.
Dozens of Spirit Hall masters surged after Tang Hao's fleeing aura.
Wounded, poisoned—this was their chance. If they killed him, his soul bones would scatter to their grasp.
But an hour later, Yueguan and Ghost returned, faces twisted in frustration.
Tang Hao remained unstoppable. Even poisoned, his hammer blazed a path through twenty soul masters, vanishing into the forests.
The debt remained unpaid.
Bibi Dong's expression remained calm, unsurprised. "Spread word throughout every Hall. Watch Tang Hao. Report the moment he surfaces."
In the depths of the forest, Tang Hao staggered, blood dripping, lips blackened with venom. Each breath rattled.
But he refused to fall.
Not before finding A Yin.
He crushed his soul power inward, purging little by little. Purple-black seeped from his arm, expelled into the soil.
Half an hour later, he slumped onto a stone, pale-faced. His chest heaved.
"A Yin…"
His eyes fell to a clump of Blue Silver Grass at his feet, trembling in the wind.
They looked like her.
His mind raced.
From Bibi Dong, Yueguan, Ghost—he had seen their confusion, their shock. They truly didn't know where A Yin had gone.
Then… which bastard did?
He clenched his fists.
The two Soul Douluo who aided Lu Yuan that day—they smelled of Martial Soul Hall. And the boy himself, that sword cultivator—he reeked of A Yin's aura.
If not Bibi Dong… that left only one other in Martial Soul Hall with the power and secrecy.
Douluo Palace? Qian Daoliu?
Possibilities raced through his mind.
Whoever it was, whatever had happened—
Tang Hao's eyes blazed scarlet in the moonlight.
It still ties back to Martial Soul Hall.
And for that, he would never forgive them.
--
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