Tang Hao Trapped in an Encirclement

"So, what are you going to do next?" After returning to the Pope's Hall and listening to Ye Kai's detailed report, Bibi Dong pulled him into her arms. After more than a month apart, she took in the scent of her disciple before casually asking.

"I'm planning to make another trip to Holy Soul Village." Feeling the softness of his Pope Teacher, Ye Kai still voiced the words that might very well put his backside in danger.

"What did you say?" The lotus-like arms holding Ye Kai suddenly tightened, as if she wanted to knead him into her body.

Sensing Bibi Dong's anger, Ye Kai shrank back slightly. "Near that village, my martial soul sensed an extremely powerful source of Life Energy. It could be some heavenly treasure, or perhaps a Soul Beast with a Life Attribute."

Feeling the force around him ease slightly, Ye Kai continued, "But Tang Hao was there at the time, so I didn't investigate. I came back immediately."

"Now that the Grand Elder and the others have moved out, Tang Hao probably won't be able to escape. If that aura belongs to a Soul Beast, I can have the Grand Elder and the others hunt it for me while they're there."

Bibi Dong fell silent for a moment. She knew how powerful Ye Kai's martial soul was. Whatever it had sensed could hardly be anything ordinary.

"But the Grand Elder and the others have already left. How are you going to catch up?"

"I have a unique soul skill that lets me leave a mark somewhere and then teleport directly there. That's how I came back." Ye Kai demonstrated his Teleportation. "It's just that the farther the distance, the more Soul Power it consumes."

Bibi Dong's eyes lit up at Ye Kai's demonstration. This soul skill was extremely useful. Though its setup time seemed rather long and made it unusable in battle, its applications outside combat were immense.

As for the consumption issue, was that even a problem?

"In that case, go ahead. But be careful, and come back early." In the end, Bibi Dong agreed to Ye Kai's request. Since it concerned his martial soul, he could go if he wanted to.

"Don't worry, Teacher." Ye Kai readily agreed, then resumed his routine of teleporting, drinking medicine, teleporting, drinking medicine.

After returning to Nuoding City, Ye Kai first went to the Nuoding Branch Hall to summon the two guards and let them know that he had returned.

Seeing Ye Kai safely back, the two Soul Saint guards sighed in relief—only to receive a strange order from him: they were to jointly hold a martial soul knowledge lecture with Nuoding Academy in the name of the Nuoding Branch Hall, and the two of them were supposed to be the lecturers?

What kind of game was this?

Ye Kai ignored their confusion. No matter what, Tang San had barely passed his test. It would be best if nothing like "I may not have killed him, but he died because of me" happened. He had already given Tang San a chance. If Tang San failed to seize it, that would be his own fate.

Now, everything was ready. All that remained was to wait for Qian Daoliu and the others to arrive.

Though Titled Douluo could fly, it would likely still take them several days to get here.

After all, aside from Qian Daoliu and the Third Elder, Azure Phoenix Douluo, who could fly using their martial souls, the rest had to rely on themselves. Over such a long distance, they could easily consume too much Soul Power.

It would be troublesome if they rushed here only to become an opening Tang Hao could exploit.

During the day, Ye Kai continued cultivating in the Blue Silver Forest, exchanging insights with the Blue Silver King on the use of Life Attributes.

As an eighty-five-thousand-year Soul Beast, the Blue Silver King did have some unique insights into the use of life force, though not many.

With the Blue Silver King's immense Life Aura mixed around him, Ye Kai did not have to worry about being discovered by Big Hammer.

(From the original work, Big Hammer had long known about the Blue Silver Forest and the Blue Silver King within it that had lived for over eighty thousand years.)

A few days later, several powerful auras suddenly erupted from the direction of Holy Soul Village. Looks like the Grand Elder's side has started fighting.

Sensing those terrifying auras, Ye Kai teleported directly to the waterfall. Familiar with the route, he climbed it, opened the stone chamber, and carefully sensed the Soul Power fluctuations around Ah Yin. Hmm... it's a little strong. It'll probably take an attack at the Soul Saint or Soul Douluo level to break it. I should call the Blue Silver King over to try.

Ye Kai then found Ah Yin's Soul Bone and left the stone chamber.

The reason he specifically wanted to break the restriction was mainly to divert some of Tang Hao's attention.

After all, Tang Hao had only just reached Rank 95 when he escaped from Qian Daoliu. Uninjured, he could fight Golden Crocodile, a Rank 98, to a draw despite being two ranks lower.

Though Ye Kai had faith in the seven elder offerings joining forces, he still intended to add another layer of insurance.

Acting immediately, Ye Kai teleported back to the Blue Silver Forest. The Blue Silver King was already vaguely uneasy because eight powerful Titled Douluo were engaged in a chaotic battle near Holy Soul Village.

Seeing this, Ye Kai comforted him. "Don't worry. Seven of them are my elders. The remaining one is probably the person who placed the restriction around your emperor."

Over the past few days, Ye Kai had already told the Blue Silver King about Ah Yin's current condition and his suspicions regarding Tang Hao.

In response, the Blue Silver King had said that if the man who took his emperor's soul ring were not a Super Douluo, he would have bound him up and hung him from a tree for a good whipping.

"I just went there again. The restriction he left behind is rather strong, and I can't break it with my current Soul Power. I need your help." Ye Kai invited the Blue Silver King to come with him.

"I am duty-bound to help."

Meanwhile, after Tang San asked Tang Hao if he could attend that lecture, Tang Hao considered it for a moment before agreeing.

Though Xiao San practiced some strange things on his own, and Tang Hao could teach him the Dai Family's Sect Secret Technique, lacking proper guidance was still troublesome.

Tang Hao could teach him himself, but his training methods were not very suitable for Xiao San at his current stage. It would be good for him to go listen.

That "Grandmaster" also seemed to be in Nuoding City. Though his strength was somewhat lacking, his theories were passable. He could certainly give Xiao San a foundation.

(Though Grandmaster had poor character and abysmal talent, he had at least read every book in his family's collection in order to solve his martial soul defect. Then, by living off a woman, he had read most of Spirit Hall's books as well. At least his head was full of formulas. Although he only knew how to plug things into formulas like an idiot, and the things he painstakingly innovated were riddled with flaws, he still had more formulas in his head than the teachers at other junior academies.)

A few days after Tang San left, Tang Hao suddenly felt a wave of unease in his heart.

As a Titled Douluo, he trusted his instincts completely. Something must have happened. He immediately left a letter for Tang San and prepared to depart.

He had not flown far when his entire body went numb.

Killing intent! Before Tang Hao could locate its source, the attack had already arrived!

"Fifth Soul Skill, Instant Arrival! Eighth Soul Skill, Boundary of Cessation!" Several invisible attacks came simultaneously from afar and from the ground below. No matter how Tang Hao dodged, they pursued him relentlessly.

With no other choice, Tang Hao summoned his Clear Sky Hammer to block them. Though he successfully stopped the attacks, the tremendous force made it seem as though his internal injuries were about to flare up.

Looking up, he saw an old man with six wings on his back rapidly approaching. Behind him flew six other Titled Douluo.

"Qian Daoliu!" Tang Hao recognized the old man before him. It was Qian Daoliu, who had once pursued him four years ago. He had not expected Qian Daoliu to bring others this time.

"Tang Hao, you will die here today! Angel Assault!" Qian Daoliu threw a punch at Tang Hao.

(Qian Daoliu had no recorded soul skills in the original work. However, from the Dai Family and the Zhu Family, one could see that Dai Mubai and Dai Weisi had identical first three soul skills in the original work. The animation changed Dai Weisi's third soul skill, while the little cat and her older sister, the big cat, also had identical first two soul skills. This shows that within great families, there are fixed paths for hunting certain Soul Beasts to obtain certain skills. So here, I worked backward from Qian Renxue's soul skills to infer Qian Daoliu's.)

Taking advantage of Qian Daoliu tying down Tang Hao, the remaining six elder offerings formed an encirclement around the two of them, preventing Tang Hao from escaping again.