"What was that? A dragon?!"
Xiao Wu stared dumbfounded.
Lin Qing now looked like a Humanoid Dragon.
His three-meter-tall body was covered in golden scales, with a long tail trailing behind him. Standing there, he looked like a Dragon-Man God of War.
But what happened next was even more terrifying.
Soul Rings appeared!
Red! Red! Red! Red!
Four Blood Red Soul Rings rose side by side, hovering behind Lin Qing like four Little Suns.
"!!!"
Xiao Wu stopped breathing.
"How is that possible?!"
Tang Hao froze completely.
His grip on the Clear Sky Hammer tightened involuntarily, veins bulging on the back of his hand.
His eyes, hidden in the shadows, stared fixedly at the four Red Soul Rings, his pupils shrinking to pinpoint size.
"Four... Hundred-Thousand-Year?"
His voice was dry, as if he had not had water in a long time.
"How is that possible? Your Soul Power Fluctuation is only rank 93!"
A Titled Douluo's senses could not be wrong.
Lin Qing's Soul Power Fluctuation was indeed rank 93.
But these four Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings... this was unreasonable.
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring could only be obtained by killing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
What did a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast represent?
It was an existence capable of going toe-to-toe with a Super Douluo above Level ninety-five.
Killing even one was harder than ascending to heaven. Killing four? And successfully absorbing them all?
His Soul Ring Configuration was wrong as well!
A normal Soul Master's perfect Soul Ring ratio was yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.
Even having a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring as the Ninth Soul Ring, like himself, was already heaven-defying.
Why did Lin Qing have four?
Could it be that he had begun absorbing Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings from his Sixth Soul Ring onward?
Tang Hao's mind was in a mess.
Lin Qing rolled his neck, and his Dragonified cervical vertebra made an even louder cracking sound.
"If you want to fight, then fight. What's with all the nonsense? Who cares how many Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings I have? As long as I can smash you to pieces, that's enough."
"!"
Tang Hao's gaze sharpened.
So what if Lin Qing had four Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings? Who had Tang Hao ever feared in his life?
Back then, several Titled Douluo from Spirit Hall had surrounded and tried to kill him. Not only had he survived, he had even killed one of them in return.
Would he be afraid of a rank-93 junior today?
"Utterly arrogant!"
He growled, and his first Yellow Soul Ring lit up.
There were no flashy movements, only the simplest charge.
His entire body transformed into a black shadow that tore through the air.
He was too fast. From afar, Xiao Wu only saw an afterimage flash before Tang Hao appeared in front of Lin Qing.
"Hah!!!"
The Clear Sky Hammer swung down in a full arc.
Simple, brutal, pure force.
The hammer head carved out a dull howl through the air. Wherever it passed, the compressed air burst with crackling explosions.
This was the Clear Sky Hammer's style of combat—breaking all techniques with strength.
No matter how endlessly varied your Soul Skills were, he would shatter them with a single hammer blow.
But Lin Qing neither dodged nor evaded.
He did not even assume a defensive stance. He simply raised his Dragonified right arm and spread his five claws—meeting it head-on.
Clang—!!!
The Dragon Claw and Giant Hammer produced a thunderous metallic collision.
It was dull and heavy, like two mountains crashing together.
The sound manifested into a visible ring of soundwaves.
"Urgh!"
Xiao Wu covered her ears, but the impact still left her dizzy.
She watched nervously as a huge crater collapsed beneath the two men's feet.
Cracks spread outward from the edge of the crater like a spiderweb, reaching all the way to Xiao Wu's feet several hundred meters away.
The shockwave uprooted all the surrounding trees.
More than a dozen massive trees flew into the sky, broken branches and leaves scattering everywhere before crashing down in the distance with a series of crackles, raising clouds of dust.
The first strike ended in a draw.
Lin Qing remained where he was, completely unmoving.
His Golden Dragon Arm held up the Clear Sky Hammer, and not even a white mark appeared on its scales.
"?"
Tang Hao's expression changed.
He had used at least sixty percent of his strength in that blow.
Ordinary Titled Douluo below rank 93 would not even dare receive it head-on. Even if they did, they would cough blood and be forced back.
Yet Lin Qing had actually taken it!
And he even looked relaxed. His arm had not trembled in the slightest!
"Interesting."
Lin Qing licked his lips, a golden gleam flashing through his eyes.
"The power of the Clear Sky Hammer, the number one Tool Martial Soul under heaven, truly lives up to its reputation."
If his Martial Soul had not been the Golden Dragon, which possessed Ultimate Power, he might truly have been unable to contend with it in a contest of strength.
The moment he finished speaking, the first Red Soul Ring behind him blazed brightly.
Blood red light surged into Lin Qing's body like water flow, slipping into the gaps between his scales and merging with his muscles and bones.
First Soul Skill: Golden Dragon Transformation One!
First Soul Skill: Thousand Jun Dragon Power!
Two Soul Skills activated simultaneously.
The golden light surged again.
He swung his claw backhandedly at Tang Hao's chest.
There was no technique involved, only the pure speed granted by an All Attribute Boost.
He was so fast that he left a string of afterimages behind him.
"Hiss—!"
His Claw Tips tore five golden streaks through the air, emitting a piercing shriek.
Tang Hao raised his hammer to block.
Clang—!!!
The second collision rang out.
Then came the third, the fourth, the fifth...
Clang clang clang clang—!!!
In just three seconds, the two exchanged more than a dozen blows.
Every collision unleashed a visible Shockwave.
Golden Soul Power and black Soul Power mixed together, exploding outward in all directions.
The ground within a hundred meters around them was plowed over again and again, leaving not a single patch intact amid the craters.
The trees had long since vanished, and the turf had been torn away to reveal the black earth beneath.
Xiao Wu had long since been carried by Lin Qing's Soul Power to behind a large tree a thousand meters away.
She clung to the trunk and peeked out, her eyes round and her mouth hanging open, forgotten.
This... this was a Titled Douluo-level battle?
It was terrifying!
At the same time, despair filled her heart even more deeply.
How could she possibly escape from such an existence?
On the battlefield, Tang Hao grew more alarmed the longer he fought.
His Clear Sky Hammer was famed for its incomparably powerful strength.
Among opponents of the same level, no one had ever surpassed him in strength.
Back then, Spirit Hall's three Titled Douluo had relied on coordinated Soul Skills and long-range attrition. No one had dared clash with him head-on.
But this Lin Qing, this Lin Qing who was only rank 93...
Every dragon fist that struck the hammer left Tang Hao's tiger's mouth numb.
Lin Qing was not barely holding on. They were truly exchanging blows head-on, and Lin Qing even seemed to hold a faint advantage in strength.
Something was wrong!
Very wrong!
Tang Hao pulled back, opening a distance of ten meters.
His chest rose and fell as the muscles beneath his black robe tensed and relaxed.
He stared at Lin Qing with a grave expression.
His second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Soul Rings lit up in succession!
The patterns on the Clear Sky Hammer began to glow.
They lit up bit by bit along those savage lines, like magma flowing through blood vessels.
The hammer seemed to have grown larger again?
Yet in Tang Hao's hand, it felt weightless.
"Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer!"
He shouted again and charged forward, his hammer technique changing.
It was no longer a simple smash.
Instead, it carried a strange rhythm, one hammer following another as their power stacked layer upon layer.
The first blow fell, borrowing force to rebound. The second came faster and heavier, then borrowed that force again, and the third became even heavier...
Every strike was heavier than the last, and each was so fast that its shadow could not be seen clearly.
Hammer Shadows intertwined into a massive net, airtight as it engulfed Lin Qing.
The air was torn apart with shrill screams, while the hammer wind stripped away layer after layer of earth.
At first, Lin Qing could still receive the blows head-on.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
He caught them with his left claw, blocked with his right, and swept out with his dragon tail to deflect the incoming hammer.
But after taking dozens of blows, his arms began to go numb.
He clicked his tongue.
This stacking damage is absurd. Every strike is heavier than the last. If it keeps stacking like this, the ninety-ninth strike might be able to smash apart an entire mountain.
Before you continue