At the instant the Clear Sky Hammer shattered, Tang Hao's eyes widened in disbelief.
The next second, Blade Qi passed through his body.
He could clearly see his lower half before his eyes.
So this was it. He was dead?
He was a mighty Titled Douluo, yet not only had his martial soul been shattered by a single slash.
Even his body had failed to withstand a single move from his opponent.
Tang Hao's eyes were filled with disbelief.
"So this is what death feels like?"
Even five years ago, when Spirit Hall had hunted him down and he had stood at death's door, his sense of death had been nowhere near as intense as it was now.
Just as he was about to close his eyes.
The surroundings abruptly changed, and the forest instantly transformed into a hellscape.
Scorching magma erupted from beneath Tang Hao.
And his lower half miraculously returned beneath him.
"What... is going on?"
Suddenly, Tang Hao understood.
It was an illusion!
Tang Hao abruptly raised his head and saw the little black-haired girl with twin ponytails who had been sitting behind Lu Jiang.
She now stood before him with a yandere-like smile on her face.
Red glimmers flashed in her eyes, complementing the blood-red moon behind her.
"Oh my, you figured it out so quickly."
"I thought I could stall you for a little longer."
"But this much time should be enough for Acheron."
Tang Hao's eyes slowly widened.
What did she mean by stalling for time?
Sparkle turned around and skipped barefoot across the ground.
Each time she landed, ripples spread across the ground beneath her feet as though it were water.
Tang Hao gradually became entranced by those dreamlike ripples.
Yet just then, Tang Hao, realizing that he had fallen into an illusion, suddenly threw back his head and roared.
Nine soul rings immediately flew out around his body.
The light released by the soul rings directly pierced through the illusion.
The hellish scene instantly shattered, and Tang Hao returned to the original forest.
Tang Hao panted heavily and raised his head toward Lu Jiang.
At that moment, Acheron had just stepped out from the group, her hair still blue-purple.
Behind Lu Jiang stood Sparkle, wearing a sly smile.
It seemed the illusion he had just experienced had been her handiwork.
Had she deliberately shown him the gap in strength between himself and this young girl?
What a joke! He was the Clear Sky Douluo!
On the Douluo Continent, there were fewer than five people stronger than him.
What gave this teenage girl the right?
In his fury, Tang Hao summoned his Martial Soul Avatar once more.
A suit of red armor slowly formed over his body.
Facing Tang Hao's outburst, Acheron still wore an indifferent expression.
It was as though she could not sense Tang Hao's strength at all.
No, Tang Hao quickly dismissed that thought.
Because Acheron's expression was not ignorance, but indifference.
She simply did not care how strong he was, nor did she care what kind of moves he would use against her.
She looked at him as though he were already dead, and that infuriated Tang Hao.
By then, Acheron had already walked up to Tang Hao.
Once again, she placed her hand on the Katana at her waist.
Was it coming—the slash he had seen in the illusion?
Tang Hao assumed a fighting stance.
The instant Acheron drew her blade from its sheath, all color in the surroundings was instantly stripped away.
The once-solid ground took on the appearance of a lake's surface.
Ripples spread outward from beneath their feet.
Countless crimson Lycoris radiata bloomed wherever they passed.
A massive Black Hole suddenly appeared behind Tang Hao, as though it were sucking in everything in the world.
"Another illusion?"
"I won't fall for the same trick twice!"
Tang Hao shouted and summoned his true martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, into his hand.
"I mourn for the departed."
Acheron spoke the same words Tang Hao had heard in the illusion.
Tang Hao froze. Could what had happened in that illusion be about to replay in reality?
"No, that's impossible!"
Tang Hao opened his mouth to refute it all, only to discover that he could not make a sound.
In this utterly motionless world, even his life had already fallen into the void.
Acheron slowly walked toward him, flicked the handguard with a finger, and knocked the Katana out of its sheath.
Then she slowly placed her other hand on the hilt.
In an instant, lightning flashed around Acheron, and a suffocating sense of death immediately engulfed Tang Hao.
This feeling was far more real than the one he had experienced in the illusion.
Tang Hao stood rooted to the spot in shock.
"Tears fall like rain, filling the river crossing, surging like the tide, guiding you home..."
The next moment, Acheron drew the Katana before her, and her hair instantly turned ash-white.
Only two blood-red Lycoris radiata adorned the sides of her head.
Then Acheron directly unleashed a slash.
The blade light flashed, tearing a massive rift across the entire sky.
Immediately after, she delivered two more consecutive slashes, and three rifts passed through Tang Hao's body.
Tang Hao could only hurriedly raise the Clear Sky Hammer to block them.
After personally experiencing the power of those slashes, Tang Hao completely panicked.
A single slash could cut through the void?
Was that something a Titled Douluo could possibly achieve?
And even then, only a martial soul specialized in spatial abilities could do it.
With brute force alone, unless one was a legendary god, no one could withstand it.
Just when Tang Hao thought those three slashes were Acheron's limit.
A streak of bloody tears slowly ran from Acheron's eyes.
Her appearance became even more breathtaking, carrying the stunning beauty of Lycoris radiata.
"My name is Acheron. I come from the void."
"You may also call me Lightning Forgetfulness River Guardian... Mei."
After speaking, Acheron gathered all her power onto her blade.
Then she slowly swung out a slash that tore apart heaven and earth.
That slash struck the previous three rifts, forming an even larger one.
Tang Hao could only resist with all his strength.
"Clear Sky Nine Arts, Collapse Character Art!"
"Great Sumeru Hammer!"
Tang Hao directly unleashed the strongest power he could currently wield.
This move even stirred a trace of Divine Power.
At the cost of detonating part of his soul rings, it exchanged them for unparalleled destructive force.
This was also the skill that had allowed him to escape the encirclement of Spirit Hall's elders back then.
Yet even so, those rifts were like laws themselves, leaving him unable to resist.
He could only watch helplessly as his Clear Sky Hammer shattered before his eyes.
This time, his martial soul had truly shattered.
It was not an illusion created by Sparkle.
Tang Hao spat out a mouthful of blood and fell to his knees.
Acheron slowly closed her eyes.
Then she sheathed her Katana.
The illusion around them instantly vanished, as though the great battle had never happened.
Except for Tang Hao kneeling on the ground.
Before you continue