Counterattack Storm

Bibi Dong's eyes brimmed with tears as she looked at the figure before her. It wasn't Hals himself, but it still gave her an immense sense of security.

The ape's Soul Body and the elderly Soul Douluo were still facing off. In life, the ape Soul Beast had come very close to the hundred-thousand-year threshold. After becoming a spirit upon its death, it had absorbed many fragmented spirits while Hals hunted far and wide, raising its strength to a whole new level.

The Soul Douluo had already released his martial spirit and Soul Rings. His entire body was tense. The strange Soul Beast before him put him under considerable pressure, and he didn't dare make a rash move.

The Soul Body crouched slightly, leaning forward. With a deafening boom, its legs—much shorter and thinner than its arms—suddenly drove it forward, leaving behind a crater more than three meters across.

The old man didn't dare let his guard down. To his surprise, even he could only make out the Soul Body's attack trajectory indistinctly.

He roared toward the sky. The Soul Ring behind him flashed, and his body suddenly grew much larger, bringing him close to three meters tall. He gripped a pair of enormous Wolf-Fang Hammers, each half a meter in diameter. Faint dragon patterns could be seen on their handles.

The old man let out another roar, twisted halfway around, and swung one of the Wolf-Fang Hammers at the charging Soul Body.

The Soul Body made no attempt to dodge. It took the giant hammer head-on as it swept toward it with a vicious gust of wind, then slashed at the old man's chest with its long, sharp claws.

"Boom!"

The giant hammer smashed into the Soul Beast before him, breaking its body in half at the waist. Though the enemy had already "died," the old man's expression remained grim. He looked down at his chest, where four deep gashes exposed the bone.

Gone was the old man's earlier swagger. His face dark, he lowered his hammer, raised his hand in a delicate, feminine gesture, and gently stroked the wounds on his chest. It was hard to imagine how jarring it was to see a nearly three-meter-tall, muscular man making such a gesture.

Bibi Dong had panicked for a moment when the Soul Body was smashed to pieces, but then she calmed down. That was thanks to the trust in Hals she had built up over the years.

But even Bibi Dong, who had always kept her composure in the face of danger, was badly shocked when she saw the old man's gesture.

Coming back to herself, Bibi Dong looked at the old man still "fretting" over his wounds and couldn't help making a sharp-tongued remark.

"You really don't look like a man." Bibi Dong pretended she had just thought of something, covered her mouth daintily with one slender hand, and giggled.

"Oh, could it be you're impotent? A eunuch?"

The old man stiffened. His hands lowered slowly, then gripped his giant hammers again. He suddenly looked up at Bibi Dong, his face twisted and his eyes bloodshot.

"You're asking for death!"

"Boom!"

A loud explosion sent up a cloud of dust where the old man had been standing. When the dust settled, only a web of radiating cracks remained in the ground. He had vanished.

Bibi Dong looked up instinctively. The old man was leaping through the air, the Seventh Soul Ring flashing behind him. Man and hammer had become one as he came crashing down from above with overwhelming force.

The fierce wind blowing against her face sent Bibi Dong's hair flying, but she wasn't the least bit frightened. She simply kept her eyes open and watched as the giant hammer drew closer and closer.

"Boom!!"

The hammer seemed to have struck some kind of barrier. Countless icy fragments pelted her face. Once the wind died down, Bibi Dong's lashes quivered, and she opened her eyes.

A colossal figure stood before her.

The Titan Giant Ape Soul Body was Hals's most powerful Soul Body to date. In life, it had failed to break through the hundred-thousand-year threshold. Hals had stumbled upon it just before it died, and after it became a spirit, it had devoured vast amounts of Soul Essence. Its strength was now probably around one hundred and fifty thousand years.

But Bibi Dong's eyes weren't on the enormous ape. They were fixed on the figure standing on its shoulder, cloaked from head to toe in a robe.

"Hals..."

At Bibi Dong's call, the Green Flame in Hals's eye sockets flickered beneath his hood. He turned, drifted down as a cloud of Black Mist, then took solid form before Bibi Dong.

Hals dropped to one knee and bowed. "I'm sorry for the wait, Master."

The fear and anxiety Bibi Dong had hidden beneath her calm finally broke free.

"Hals!"

Bibi Dong rushed forward and threw her arms around him. Tears streamed from her eyes, her lower lip quivering, her face full of hurt.

Feeling arms suddenly wrap around him, Hals went rigid and didn't dare move. After a long while, he hesitantly raised his hands and held Bibi Dong in return. His usual deference softened a little, replaced by a hint of tenderness.

"It's all right now. I'm here. I'll always be by your side from now on."

"You promise?" Bibi Dong murmured, her face buried deep in Hals's chest.

"I promise." Hals's hoarse voice strained to sound gentle. The rigid face beneath his hood softened too as he tried to form a smile.

They held each other like that, neither saying another word.

But some people simply never learned to read the room or pick up on the mood. They just kept asking for trouble.

The old man, who had changed back into human form after his attack failed, looked at the two of them with a dark expression. Jealousy filled his chest. In a low voice, he said,

"What, starting with the sweet talk already? Fair enough. You probably won't live through today, so go ahead and have your fun while you still can. Then you can keep at it on the road to the underworld."

At the sudden sound of his voice, Bibi Dong immediately straightened up and stepped away from Hals. She lowered her head, but her fair face was still faintly flushed.

When Bibi Dong left his arms, Hals suddenly felt hollow inside, as though he had lost something—and yet something else had filled him. His hands clenched. The Lantern at his waist flashed violently, and a speck of Green Flame drifted out and landed on his right hand. A spark caught, then became a dancing flame that gradually spread across his body. Wherever it burned, the exposed flesh turned to white bone; his skin and muscle disappeared. The flames swept over his robe, transforming it into a more elaborate style, patterned with intricate designs that lent it an air of mystery.

Hals rose to his feet. At over 1.9 meters tall, he was dwarfed by the nearly three-meter-tall old man and the ape, which stood nearly ten meters high. Yet the aura he exuded with every movement far surpassed theirs.

Hals turned around. The ape dissolved into a cloud of icy mist. Beneath his lowered hood, the Green Flame in Hals's eye sockets flickered ever more fiercely, and his lips curved into a strange smile.

The Lantern flashed with a soul-stirring light. Rather than releasing his Soul Rings all at once, as others did, they appeared one by one.

Yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black. The first six Soul Rings alone would have shocked ninety-nine percent of the continent, but the last one left both Bibi Dong and the old man gasping.

A Blood-colored Soul Ring, like a crimson moon, slowly rose into the air, unleashing its full might.

"A h-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring!!!" The old man's voice turned shrill with fright, his face unable to hide its shock.

"Heh heh heh."

A strange, deeply suppressed laugh rasped from Hals's throat. He slowly raised his head, finally revealing half of the face he had kept hidden beneath his hood. His lips curved into an exaggerated grin as he stared at the old man with a look of near-madness.

Perhaps Hals's smile had frightened him, or perhaps it was Hals's face. The old man stumbled backward several steps.

The Blood-colored Soul Ring behind Hals flashed. A layer of deep, ethereal Black Mist drifted from his body, then spread freely across the ground. Everywhere it reached was swallowed in darkness.

A low voice rang out. "I don't recognize you. Are you an elder from a branch hall?"

The old man tried to speak, but to his horror, he found his body had grown completely rigid and no longer obeyed him.

Then Hals's low, hoarse voice came from all around, making it impossible to tell where it was coming from.

"Never mind. You don't need to answer."

The old man's bell-like eyes strained to look toward his own left chest. A bony hand had pierced through it from behind, clutching a beating heart.

Blood dripped. A voice rang out.

"The dead have nothing left to say."

A wisp of Green Flame rose from the bony hand and broke free, drifting slowly onto the old man's chest. In an instant, the flames surged. Before long, the old man had vanished into nothing, his soul burned away as well. The Soul Essence left behind was devoured by the souls inside the Soul-Guiding Lantern, serving as nourishment.

Truly, his body and soul had been annihilated!

Hals reined in his aura and floated down to the ground. Flesh slowly regrew over his bones.

He looked at Bibi Dong, who was still blushing. After a moment's hesitation, he walked over and crouched down, speaking gently.

"Master, shall we go back?"

"Mm," came her barely audible reply.

Bibi Dong held out her right hand. Hals was taken aback, then quickly understood. With a slight tremble, he held out his left hand. Bibi Dong's warm hand rested on his cool one. Both hands were pale, but hers was soft and fair, while his was deathly white.

Holding Hals's hand, Bibi Dong stood up, but didn't let go.

Hals was taken aback again. It took him a long moment to understand. Gently, he clasped her hand in return, and together they walked into the distance.

Beneath the setting sun, their shadows grew longer and longer until, at last, they merged into one.