Driven to Desperation!

"Damn it, isn't this guy a spiritual-type Soul Master? How can he be so fast?"

Watching Su Mo effortlessly evade the interception of his Blue Silver Grass, Tang San cursed inwardly.

"First Soul Skill—Blue Silver Entanglement!"

A pale yellow Soul Ring lit up beneath Tang San's feet as he tried to use Blue Silver Entanglement to capture Su Mo.

Unfortunately, before the Sharingan's powerful insight, Tang San's attempt was doomed to fail.

Tang San's Blue Silver Grass had barely broken through the ground when Su Mo had already changed positions.

Seeing his attack miss while Su Mo drew ever closer, Tang San could not help but resent the Tang Sect and Yu Xiaogang.

The Tang Sect had increased his total Soul Power twentyfold, but the problem was that this body could not fully display the advantage of such immense Soul Power.

Compared to his former self, all his attributes had only increased fivefold.

Although a fivefold boost was enough to let a weak support-type Soul Master easily overpower an assault-type Soul Master in terms of strength—

He was the founder of the Tang Sect. How could a mere fivefold increase possibly suit his status?

As for Yu Xiaogang, there was even less to say. He was a thoroughly mediocre teacher. Tang San had respected him so much back then for nothing.

If Yu Xiaogang had not fooled him, he would not be left without a single offensive method now, able only to stare helplessly once his battlefield control failed.

If he used the Clear Sky Hammer, its weaknesses were far too obvious.

The Clear Sky Hammer was fine for bullying assault-type Soul Masters, but against agility-attack Soul Masters, it could only be led around by the nose most of the time.

Not to mention that the speed Su Mo had displayed was far beyond that of agility-attack Soul Masters at the same level.

Besides, when Wu Zhangkong had analyzed Su Mo's battle with the Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear for Tang Wulin and the others, Tang San had been watching from the side.

He knew better than anyone how outrageous Su Mo's speed and reaction time were.

That was why he had given Su Mo no chance to catch his breath from the very start, intending to exhaust him with his immense Soul Power.

Yet all of that had been neutralized by the Dark-Gold Terrorclaw Bear right arm bone Su Mo had just fused with.

Without the Clear Sky Hammer, he truly had no other options.

"Come, hammer!"

As Su Mo closed in, Tang San could only grit his teeth and summon his second Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer. A massive hammer taller than a person appeared in his hand.

Seeing that Tang San intended to engage him in close combat, Su Mo naturally welcomed it.

"First Soul Skill—Titan Hammer!"

While Su Mo was still some distance away, Tang San raised the Clear Sky Hammer overhead, charged it briefly, then smashed it violently into the ground.

"Boom—!"

The air buzzed violently as the terrifying impact tore apart the ground, sending shattered stones and clumps of dirt flying like a torrential downpour.

Rather than slowing down in the face of Tang San's attack, Su Mo accelerated toward it.

"!!!"

Seeing Su Mo's speed rise instead of fall, the killing intent in Tang San's eyes grew even denser.

Faced with such a dense barrage, even he would have needed the Purple Demon Eye and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to evade it. Yet Su Mo had dodged it all with an easy expression without doing anything at all.

How could Tang San know that, for Su Mo, who had once been a member of the Uchiha, an attack with such a simple trajectory could be avoided with his eyes closed after just one glance?

Su Mo twisted and darted about, his body moving through the shattered rocks and dust as effortlessly as a dragon swimming through the sea. In the blink of an eye, he had rushed beyond the Clear Sky Hammer's shockwave range.

"Die!"

Su Mo tapped off the ground, his body suddenly pitching forward and turning into an afterimage as he lunged at Tang San. His right hand, transformed into a Dark Gold Dreadclaw, tore toward Tang San's heart with a shrill sonic boom.

"Good!"

Tang San snorted coldly and swept the Clear Sky Hammer across, smashing it toward Su Mo with incomparably heavy force.

Amid a deafening clash of metal, Su Mo and Tang San were both sent stumbling back several steps by the powerful recoil.

"This guy... how is his strength this terrifying too?"

Feeling the numbness spreading through his arm, Tang San stared at Su Mo in disbelief.

But Su Mo had no intention of giving Tang San time to breathe. He swung the Dark Gold Dreadclaw again and attacked.

Caught by Su Mo's assault, Tang San had no time to think and swung the Clear Sky Hammer once more.

But at such close range, the Clear Sky Hammer's shortcomings were finally exposed.

Before Tang San's heavy blow could fall, Su Mo had already closed in right before him.

The Dark Gold Dreadclaw raked upward, grazing Tang San's chest and carving a bloody gash across his shoulder.

Tang San groaned, his body suddenly tilting backward as Blue Silver Grass spread beneath his feet and yanked him away.

However, Su Mo had anticipated this long ago, and his figure followed immediately after.

Almost the instant Tang San retreated, the Dark Gold Dreadclaw in Su Mo's hand swept down once more.

"Clang—!"

Sparks burst forth, and the air exploded with a violent shockwave.

Tang San held the Clear Sky Hammer horizontally before him, forcibly blocking Su Mo's killing blow.

But although Tang San had blocked the strike, he did not feel good afterward.

The powerful recoil made his blood and energy churn.

Su Mo pressed the attack, his movements as fast as lightning.

Under Su Mo's rapid close-range assault, the Clear Sky Hammer appeared exceptionally cumbersome. Tang San could only helplessly rely on the pull of Blue Silver Grass to evade Su Mo's attacks, but every dodge was perilously close.

Finally, during another close-range clash, Tang San failed to evade in time, and Su Mo's Dark Gold Dreadclaw slammed fiercely into the Clear Sky Hammer again. The terrifying force shattered the ground beneath Tang San's feet inch by inch.

Tang San felt both arms go numb, his palms splitting open. The intense pain nearly made him lose his grip on the Clear Sky Hammer.

"Damn it! What kind of monster is this?"

Facing Su Mo, a spiritual-type Soul Master with speed beyond agility-attack types and strength rivaling assault types, Tang San felt truly troubled for the first time.

"No, if this continues, Su Mo will catch an opening sooner or later and kill me."

Having lived for so long, Tang San was no fool. He understood his current situation perfectly well.

He had long thought of a solution, but the problem was that even if he had thought of it, he could not use it.

This damned Hero Hall restricted him far too much. He could not use his domain, could not use hidden weapons, and did not have any Soul Bones at all.

The only thing he could rely on was this fivefold increase to all his attributes, but Su Mo had somehow matched that number with a secret technique.

At that thought, Tang San wanted to curse the Hero Hall's creator's ancestors for eighteen generations.

"Fine, then!"

With Su Mo driving him into a dead end, a vicious glint flashed through Tang San's eyes.

"Great Sumeru Hammer's secret—Ring Detonation!"

Tang San raised the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand. The two yellow Soul Rings beneath his feet instantly shattered, transforming into an incomparably pure stream of energy that poured into his body as his aura surged higher and higher.

Watching Tang San's aura steadily climb after using Ring Detonation, Su Mo sneered inwardly.

He had originally been troubled over whether this Tang San was merely a simulation created by the Tang Sect based on ancient records or something else entirely.

But now, Su Mo could be one hundred percent certain that the Tang San before him possessed independent self-awareness.

Although the Tang Sect had always claimed that its Hero Hall had successfully recreated the successive ancestors of the Tang Sect, anyone who made even the slightest inquiry would learn that what the Tang Sect had recreated was extremely limited.

Apart from recorded Martial Souls and documented fixed Soul Skills, the rest had no connection to the original person whatsoever.

Su Mo had recognized the Tang San before him at a glance, but whether Tang San had actually looked like this as a child was still unknown.

This teenage image of Tang San had actually been reverse-engineered by the Tang Sect using the Sea God statue kept at Shrek Academy.

But there was one thing Su Mo could not understand: why had Tang San suddenly set his sights on him?

"Could I have been exposed?"

"That can't be right. I haven't even started making a move against Tang Wulin yet. How could I possibly have been exposed?"