Tang Hao's Utter Shame, This Sword, Toad Palace Wins Laurel!

"Arrogant!"

At Luo Li's move, Tang Hao was both shocked and enraged.

He had never expected Luo Li, a Sword Cultivator, to take his hammer head-on!

It made him feel as though he had been slighted.

"Young people being high-spirited is understandable, but you must also be prepared to pay the price for it!"

Tang Hao put even more force into his arm.

The piercing sound of metal clashing rang through the forest.

A terrifying shockwave spread outward from the point where the two clashed.

The ground overturned and split open, sending dirt flying everywhere.

It was as though a sandstorm had erupted within the forest.

The towering trees around them were instantly pulverized by the terrifying shockwave, becoming countless splintered chunks of wood.

As the smoke and dust dispersed, the view gradually cleared.

Luo Li stood with his longsword behind his back, his expression calm. His white robes were as pristine as snow, untouched by even a speck of dust.

Only the hand holding his sword trembled slightly.

The Clear Sky Hammer truly deserved its reputation as the strongest Tool Martial Soul in the world, renowned for its power.

With the gap in cultivation, even though Luo Li's combat strength surpassed all others of the same rank, that exchange had still affected him somewhat.

The faint numbness in his hand felt unfamiliar to Luo Li.

It had been a long time since he had felt that way.

The last time, he recalled, had likely been when he sparred with Sword Douluo.

Yet compared to Luo Li, Tang Hao's heart was in even greater turmoil.

Even in a contest of pure strength, he had failed to gain the upper hand!

The cheap hemp clothes on his body had already been torn open in several places by sword qi.

Though he was uninjured, it proved that in that brief exchange, he had been at a disadvantage!

He—a Titled Douluo with the Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul—had actually fallen behind an Soul Douluo with a sword Martial Soul in a contest of pure strength?!

Disbelief, and an unwillingness to believe, spread and grew within him.

As the most dazzling genius of his era, the so-called youngest Titled Douluo, Tang Hao naturally had his pride.

To be suppressed in his most proficient field by a junior whose cultivation was inferior to his—there was no doubt that this had ruthlessly trampled his pride beneath its feet!

Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupine Douluo looked at each other.

When they had seen Luo Li use his longsword to directly meet Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer, they too had thought he was simply being too hot-blooded.

But upon seeing the result of the clash, they understood just how wrong their earlier thoughts had been.

That was not youthful recklessness, but absolute confidence in his own strength!

"The Clear Sky Hammer is heavy and fierce. Its reputation is well deserved," Luo Li softly praised.

In terms of raw power alone, Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer surpassed even Sword Douluo Chen Xin's Seven Kill Sword.

But to Tang Hao's ears, those words of praise were naked mockery.

A junior was praising him in such a lofty tone?

Was that not an insult to him, the mighty Clear Sky Douluo?

"Don't get smug. This isn't over yet!"

A fierce gleam flashed through Tang Hao's eyes.

Blood-like killing intent spread from his body, and the temperature in the air abruptly dropped.

A blood-red domain enveloped the two of them.

Blood-red patterns spread across the originally pitch-black Clear Sky Hammer, as though blood were flowing within it.

Seeing this, Porcupine Douluo and Snake Lance Douluo, who were watching the battle, formed a guess and could not help crying out:

"Divine Slaughter's Domain?!"

Like their Pope, Tang Hao was a Slaughter God who had emerged from the City of Slaughter, and he had used this domain before.

Coupled with such dense killing intent, it was not difficult to guess the name of this technique.

Tang Hao swung his hammer, smashing the heavy Clear Sky Hammer into the ground beside him and sending spiderweb-like cracks spreading across the earth.

A hint of smugness entered his voice:

"This is what I gained after walking out of a hellish place."

"You should feel honored to be among the few who have seen this move."

Tang Hao lifted his chin slightly.

Domains were exceedingly rare abilities even among Titled Douluo.

That was why he believed he had every right to be proud.

However...

"So it's the City of Slaughter. You're making it sound like no one else has ever been there."

Luo Li scoffed.

Who among the Slaughter Gods who had emerged from the City of Slaughter was any different?

He was even the current inheritor of the Asura God!

What was there to be proud of about a Divine Slaughter's Domain?

Tang Hao, however, assumed Luo Li was merely young and concerned with saving face, still stubbornly putting on a brave front.

He grinned. "Do you know what the Divine Slaughter's Domain is?"

"Only those who achieve a hundred victories in the City of Slaughter and emerge from Hell Road can obtain such a powerful domain!"

"Within this domain, you..."

Tang Hao's words came to an abrupt halt.

His eyes suddenly widened, his pupils trembling violently as though he had seen something utterly unimaginable.

Luo Li raised his longsword.

The sword in his hand no longer retained even a trace of its former holiness and blazing heat. It had become cold and dangerous.

Moon Devourer Sword!

Luo Li had switched to the other of his twin swords.

Yet that was not what had provoked such a reaction from Tang Hao.

What truly shocked him was the scarlet domain unfolding beneath Luo Li's feet, as well as the killing intent that bared its fangs with almost tangible substance.

He knew that feeling all too well.

"Divine Slaughter's Domain?!"

Tang Hao cried out in shock.

He had never imagined that Luo Li possessed the Divine Slaughter's Domain as well!

As far as he knew, only he and Bibi Dong, the current Pope of Spirit Hall, should possess this domain on the continent!

Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupine Douluo, who were watching the battle, were equally unable to conceal their astonishment.

Luo Li had rarely displayed his Divine Slaughter's Domain before others.

Only a handful of people knew that he had entered the City of Slaughter and emerged from it.

Thus, to most people, Luo Li should have had nothing whatsoever to do with the Divine Slaughter's Domain.

They had never expected that King Frost Extreme also had such a trump card.

Naturally, they knew what kind of place the City of Slaughter was.

They knew that anyone who emerged from it could obtain a domain as precious as a supreme treasure, yet why did all of Spirit Hall have only Bibi Dong as its sole possessor?

Because they knew all too well how lethally dangerous that place was!

Even a Titled Douluo would have the vast majority of their strength restricted upon entering.

There were no few records of people falling in a ditch after carelessly overturning their boats.

This man had silently achieved a hundred victories in that hellhole and walked out alive?!

Though they were unwilling to admit it, they had no choice but to do so.

Even the young lady they considered exceptionally gifted and brilliant seemed to pale beneath this man's radiance!

Tang Hao's old face burned bright red.

Remembering how smugly he had flaunted his domain just moments ago, then looking at the Divine Slaughter's Domain Luo Li had unleashed, he felt too ashamed to show his face.

No wonder Luo Li had been so disdainful when he released the Divine Slaughter's Domain!

It was not youthful pride at all. Luo Li possessed one himself!

"You threw one hammer strike."

Luo Li spoke slowly. Silver light, like the cold frost of a bright moon, flowed along the blade of the Moon Devourer Sword in his hand.

With a slight lift of his wrist, his long fingers gently slid across the sword's body.

Though there was no wind in the forest, his snow-white hair began to flutter softly.

"Now, I'll strike with one sword."

The longsword rose, as though heaven and earth themselves answered its call.

Though it was noon, the blazing sun hanging in the east concealed itself from view.

The sky was strangely dim and overcast.

Deep within the clouds, a bright moon seemed to emerge!

Luo Li spoke softly, his voice ethereal and detached:

"This sword is called..."

"Toad Palace Wins Laurel!"