Seeing the Clear Sky Douluo's Clear Sky Hammer strike Lin Feng and produce nothing more than a knockback effect, Dragon Duke Meng Shu thought of his earlier arrogance and was instantly drenched in cold sweat.
Fortunately, his wife was still dependable. Seeing Dragon Duke's fear, she hurriedly took his hand. "It's all right, old man. That's the Clear Sky Douluo—the man who once defeated three Titled Douluo with Soul Power at level ninety-five all by himself."
"Who could have imagined that, under those circumstances, the Clear Sky Douluo would defeat Spirit Hall's powerful enemies? He does seem to be at a disadvantage now, but this should only be a temporary setback. It won't be long before he turns things around."
Upon hearing this, Dragon Duke's expression had only just calmed slightly when the two of them saw Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao turn around. Then, the soul bone skill in his right leg activated once more, and in an instant, he appeared over a hundred meters away.
Dragon Duke: "???"
Snake Dowager: "???"
"Old woman, is the Clear Sky Douluo... running away?" Dragon Duke remained dazed for a long while, unable to process what he was seeing.
Or rather, he had already understood, but the moment that thought surfaced in his mind, he rejected it.
Even though that thought perfectly matched what was happening.
Snake Dowager's aged face twitched. Though she also found it unbelievable, she still nodded. "It seems so."
The instant Snake Dowager nodded, Dragon Duke felt his legs go weak again.
"Could it be a feigned defeat?"
"As the wielder of the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul..." Snake Dowager had wanted to say that it was impossible for the wielder of the Clear Sky Hammer martial soul, but seeing Dragon Duke's expression, she had no choice but to change her words. "Perhaps it's possible."
Dragon Duke forced himself to calm down. He had never imagined that the mighty Clear Sky Douluo would flee so decisively.
It was not just Dragon Duke who had failed to anticipate this. Even Lin Feng had not expected such a turn of events.
Lin Feng still remembered how, when Tang Hao taught Tang San the Great Sumeru Hammer, he had told him that the Great Sumeru Hammer was about doing what had to be done despite knowing it was impossible.
Yet Tang Hao still had two Soul Rings left to explode, and he had already turned around and run. Moreover, while fleeing, he had consecutively detonated his third and fourth millennium Soul Rings to increase the power of his right leg bone skill, pushing his escape speed to the limit. What happened to doing what had to be done despite knowing it was impossible? At this speed, had Tang Hao really turned into a mouse?
If he saw someone he could not beat, he ran? And ran this fast? Was this really the arrogant Clear Sky Douluo from the original story?
Lin Feng could not understand why Tang Hao, who had always displayed such a domineering personality in the original story, had turned and fled. Nor could anyone else understand why Tang Hao was running so fast, because they were not Tang Hao himself.
In Tang Hao's eyes, Lin Feng was definitely not as young as he appeared. In this era, even a Soul Emperor in his teens was unimaginable, let alone a Titled Douluo.
Tang Hao did not have Battle Armor, so how could he understand the enhancement Battle Armor brought to soul masters? At the same time, as someone whose ninth Soul Ring had only recently fused with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, he likewise could not understand why Lin Feng's Sixth Soul Ring was already a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
Thus, in Tang Hao's eyes, Lin Feng was simply an old monster who had concealed his true age.
Facing an old monster with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring and soul bone—especially when the skill of that Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone so thoroughly countered the Clear Sky Hammer's brute-force style—Tang Hao ultimately chose to leave quickly and regroup.
The Hundred-Thousand-Year Invincible Golden Body was indeed immensely powerful. It could be said to ignore any physical attack below the divine level, but Tang Hao also had a trump card against the Invincible Golden Body.
That was the eruption of the Clear Sky Hammer after all nine Soul Rings were shattered.
According to the records in the Great Sumeru Hammer manual left behind by his grandfather Tang Chen, that kind of power could briefly reach the God-Level.
Although the Invincible Golden Body was formidable, when facing the God-Level attack power of the Great Sumeru Hammer with all nine rings shattered, it was destined to lose the word "invincible" from its name.
Before God-Level power, whether it was the Invincible Golden Body, Void, immortality, or any other soul skill, all would be countered by the overwhelming force of God-Level power. That was Tang Hao's trump card, and also the reason he fled.
Not to mention his condition, he could not even gather all nine Soul Rings now.
The Fifth Soul Ring had been the first to explode, followed by the First, Second, Seventh, and Sixth. More than half of his Soul Rings were gone, so how could he possibly perform the shattering of all nine rings?
Therefore, fleeing was Tang Hao's best choice at the moment. Once his Soul Rings recovered and he nursed his body back to health, only then, in his complete state, would he possess the ability to detonate all nine rings.
As for how to restore his body, that was not difficult for him. The Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone left behind by Blue Silver Emperor Ah Yin was enough to heal all his injuries.
As for how someone already equipped with all six soul bones could absorb a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, that was not difficult either.
First, he was a Titled Douluo. Second, the Blue Silver Emperor's Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone possessed a healing ability.
He only needed to use a steel blade to cut open his right leg, remove the original right leg bone, and insert the Hundred Thousand Year Blue Silver Emperor soul bone.
For a Titled Douluo, removing a soul bone would not cost him his life. It would merely cause him to lose ten levels of Soul Power.
And Douluo was not Battle Through the Heavens. Here, recovering lost Soul Power through cultivation did not take much time.
Especially since the soul bone Tang Hao would fuse afterward was the Hundred Thousand Year Blue Silver Emperor. In terms of quality, it far surpassed the right leg soul bone Tang Hao had acquired while traveling in his early years. Tang Hao had a feeling that once he fused with the Hundred Thousand Year Blue Silver Emperor, it would not be long before his Soul Power advanced further, reaching level ninety-six, or even the higher level ninety-seven.
Of course, all of that depended on whether he could escape today.
Seeing that Tang Hao had already detonated several Soul Rings, how could Lin Feng possibly allow him to escape so easily and waste the six soul bones on his body? Thus, after only a moment of bewilderment at Tang Hao's sudden flight, Lin Feng immediately chose to pursue him.
The Clear Sky Hammer's attack and the two explosions had widened the distance between them enormously. However, as a soul master with a spiritual martial soul who followed a path half spiritual and half wind, Lin Feng was somewhat confident in catching up to a strength-type soul master—though that was before Tang Hao went all out.
Sensing that Lin Feng had begun pursuing him, Tang Hao hesitated for only a moment before gritting his teeth and gambling that the shattering of his eighth soul ring would not immediately cost him his life. Then, without hesitation, he shattered the eighth soul ring and used its power to activate his right leg soul bone skill. In an instant, he transformed into a shooting star and vanished from Lin Feng's sight.
"Looks like I won! Just wait, old bastard! Time is ultimately on my side!"
Tang Hao said this with his spine stiffened, his teeth gritted, and humiliation endured.
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