Terrifying Ability: Petrification!

(Zhong Wuyan illustration)

Zhong Wuyan spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. Not only was she utterly fearless, but an even fiercer, almost crazed fighting fire blazed in her eyes:

"Borrowed power is borrowed power in the end! Watch me break all laws with sheer force!"

A wildly savage smile curled across her lips.

The immense Soul Power around her erupted like a volcanic explosion.

"Eighth Soul Skill, Hurricane Hammer!"

Before her words had even faded, the Savage War Hammer in her hand began spinning madly with several times the ferocity of before!

Her figure was instantly swept into a self-contained, even larger and more vicious dark-red energy hurricane.

The hammer winds tore through the air, releasing shrill howls like wailing ghosts and screaming spirits!

Within that hurricane, countless phantom great hammers seemed to be roaring!

"Hmph! A dying struggle! I've already built up fifty-three hammers. The next hammer will smash you to pieces and leave no corpse behind!"

Tang Lie's furious roar came from within the pitch-black whirlwind, filled with absolute confidence in victory.

"Fifty-Fourth Hammer!"

Just as the dark-red and pitch-black destructive hurricanes were about to collide and determine life or death, a sudden change occurred!

That unstoppable pitch-black whirlwind, carrying the accumulated force of fifty-four hammers, strangely froze in midair as if instantly sealed in ice.

Seventh Elder Tang Lie remained in his hammer-swinging posture. Together with his boiling Soul Power and his incomparably violent Hammer Momentum, he became a grayish-white stone statue!

Lifelike, yet devoid of even the slightest trace of life!

The entire venue instantly fell into a deathly silence. A pin dropping could have been heard!

Everyone stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed in disbelief, as though they had witnessed the most inconceivable sight in the world!

The Clear Sky Hammer's strongest strike, which had been about to shatter heaven and earth and decide the victor,

had actually come to such a strange and abrupt halt!

This was Zhong Wuyan's Martial Soul's most unique and terrifying innate ability—Petrification!

At the very instant when thunder rumbled and victory was about to be decided, it forcibly reversed the battle and stripped away all life!

Zhong Wuyan's great hammer did not pause in the slightest. Carrying the lingering might of the dark-red hurricane, it crashed fiercely toward that rigid, icy stone statue!

"Pathetically weak!"

Along with her disdainful shout,

the stone statue shattered with a deafening boom, turning into dust that scattered through the sky. Not even the smallest remnant was left behind.

The Clear Sky Sect's Seventh Elder, who had once dominated all before him and acted with unrivaled arrogance, was utterly destroyed in body and soul, leaving not even a corpse behind!

The entire valley fell into an even deeper, more suffocating silence than before.

Everyone's minds seemed to have stopped working, their souls stunned out of their bodies by the repeatedly reversed outcome before them.

A Titled Douluo of the Clear Sky Sect had unleashed the famed Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, reputed to possess peerless offensive power.

Yet at the instant when his advantage was complete and victory was within his grasp, he had been counter-killed by an opponent one Soul Power rank below him through such a bizarre and domineering method, not even leaving behind an intact body!

What chilled everyone even more was that Zhong Wuyan, who called herself the Savage Hammer Douluo, was clearly only rank ninety-one!

She had not relied on a difference in rank. Instead, with her unimaginable Petrification ability and her incomparably Berserk, force-proving combat style, she had achieved a nearly impossible kill!

This overturned far too many people's understanding of Soul Master battles!

Ning Fengzhi drew a deep breath and quietly said to Gu Rong beside him, whose expression was equally grave:

"This King's Hall... every expert within it is actually this terrifying, and their methods emerge one after another, strange and unpredictable."

Only now did he truly realize that the Heavenly Ranking's placement of King's Hall at the top of the continent's Faction Ranking was absolutely not due to luck or any hidden manipulation. Its foundation was simply unfathomable!

Xue Qinghe outwardly maintained the composure and dignity of the Tiandou Crown Prince, but deep within, turbulent waves had already risen and were impossible to calm.

The Clear Sky Sect losing one of its peak combatants was naturally a major benefit to Spirit Hall, saving it much trouble.

Yet her attention had now been completely occupied by another figure who had never appeared.

Lin Jiang...

She could not help looking toward the still tightly shut city gates, towering like a divine palace. Her gaze was deep, as though she wished to pierce through those heavy walls and see the true face of that mysterious Hall Master beyond them.

To gather such a group of unruly, overwhelmingly powerful experts beneath his command,

to make them willingly, even fanatically, address him as "The Venerable One"... just what kind of peerless, heaven-defying figure was he?

An overwhelming curiosity and desire to uncover the truth grew and spread wildly within her like weeds.

After the brief dead silence came an explosive outburst of terror and uproar that could no longer be suppressed.

"Dead... he's dead? A Titled Douluo Elder of the Clear Sky Sect just... vanished like that?"

"That woman... that Petrification ability is too terrifying! There's no way to guard against it! How are we supposed to fight that?"

"Are all the people in King's Hall monsters?! Each one is more monstrous than the last!"

"Quick! Send the news back! The Clear Sky Sect is probably going completely insane! Something huge is about to happen on the continent!"

"The continent's sky... has truly changed from this day onward!"

The leaders of the various factions quickly exchanged glances. Beyond their fear was deep wariness and a reevaluation of the continent's balance of power.

Some small sects and independent cultivators who had originally harbored provocative or hopeful thoughts and wanted to test their luck on the arena had now completely lost the will to continue.

Even the wind in the valley seemed to carry the scent of blood and slaughter, brushing across everyone's faces and bringing bone-piercing cold.

Everyone's gaze once more gathered involuntarily on that silent city, standing as though it had existed since ancient times.

But this time, there was not the slightest trace of doubt or contempt in their eyes—only deep reverence, as if facing an abyssal beast,

as well as an increasingly heavy curiosity and fear toward Hall Master Lin Jiang, who had never appeared yet seemed to control everything.

Within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye, Bian Que's treatment was nearing its end.

Large amounts of thick Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Poison seeped from Dugu Bo's body, while the bluish-black aura that had once lingered between his brows had completely dissipated.

He let out a long breath, feeling more refreshed than he had in decades, as though a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from him.

He quickly came before Lin Jiang and, without hesitation, dropped to one knee:

"Thank you, Your Excellency, for saving my life! I, Dugu Bo, will never forget this kindness!"

Lin Jiang smiled faintly and raised a hand in a gesture to help him up.

"It was nothing. Then from now on, this Medicine Valley belongs to King's Hall."

"Only right! Only right!" Dugu Bo replied repeatedly.

"Since that is the case, Mister Dugu may leave first."

"Yes, this old man shall take his leave." Dugu Bo bowed, then turned and left the valley.

After he departed, Lin Jiang turned to Bian Que:

"This place is filled with rare flowers and herbs. I'll leave it to you to identify and properly gather them one by one."

Excitement gleamed in Bian Que's eyes:

"By your command! This subordinate will certainly study them carefully and not fail The Venerable One's trust."

"Besides..."