Faced with the Titan Giant Ape's roar, the man in black remained unruffled. He raised his right hand and held it open as if grasping something.
A massive, pitch-black hammer with a simple, ancient design appeared out of thin air in his hand. Its handle was about a meter and a half long, and it bore no ornate decorations, only the pure texture of raw power.
"The Clear Sky Hammer!"
Tang San cried out inwardly, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
Although the Clear Sky Hammer in the man's hand differed in some details from his own Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul, they were essentially the same.
Then came a sight that left everyone stunned in an instant, including Zhao Wuji, who was about to attack.
One ring, two rings, three rings... a full nine Soul Rings rose as if from the deepest depths of the underworld, appearing beneath the man in black's feet one after another before circling around him!
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red!
The first eight Soul Rings matched the optimal Soul Ring ratio Yu Xiaogang had described, while the energy fluctuations from the final ring alone were enough to make one's heart tremble.
A red Soul Ring! A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring!
A Titled Douluo! A Titled Douluo with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!
Dai Mubai and the others stood rooted to the spot. They never would have expected to encounter both a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and a Titled Douluo with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring in the space of a single day!
And yet that wasn't the end.
Just as the red Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring blazed with light, the man in black suddenly raised the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand and gave it a gentle turn.
Apart from the red Soul Ring, the first eight Soul Rings around the man in black all burst into blinding light at the same time, then shattered with a thunderous crash!
An indescribably terrifying force surged into the pitch-black Clear Sky Hammer in his hand the instant the Soul Rings shattered!
The Clear Sky Hammer in the man in black's hand did not grow larger, but the aura it emanated surged several times over! His presence now even suppressed the Hundred-Thousand-Year Titan Giant Ape before him!
Xiao Qing, standing on Thunder Feather's back, had been somewhat stunned when the man in black appeared. He had tried hard to recall which Titled Douluo from the original story had connections to the Shrek students.
But no matter how he thought about it, aside from Tang Hao, that idle king of doing nothing, the other Titled Douluo connected to the Shrek students had no reason to conceal their identities.
It wasn't until Xiao Qing saw the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring appear beneath the man in black's feet that he dared confirm the newcomer was Tang Hao!
Tang Hao, dressed in black, raised the Clear Sky Hammer and used Ring Detonation, instantly detonating his first eight Soul Rings.
Xiao Qing thought that if the last Soul Ring hadn't belonged to Tang San's mother, Tang Hao probably would have detonated that one too, just to teach the Titan Giant Ape a lesson and make Zhao Wuji and the others take Tang San seriously.
Tang Hao gripped the Clear Sky Hammer, its aura swelling, in both hands. The muscles in his arms bulged, and his black robe fluttered in the wind despite there being no breeze.
He used no fancy moves. He simply lifted the hammer high above his head and, as the Titan Giant Ape charged right up to him, brought it down in one plain, straightforward swing!
"BOOM—!!!!!"
A sonic boom erupted from where Tang Hao and the Titan Giant Ape stood.
Centered on the point of impact, a visible, semicircular black shockwave roared outward!
It kicked up dust several meters high. Countless trees thick as a man's embrace turned to powder the instant the shockwave touched them, with not even the process of their explosion left to see.
The Titan Giant Ape let out a roar mingled with pain, fury, and disbelief.
Its massive arms hadn't even had time to cross fully in front of it when the black shockwave and the Clear Sky Hammer in Tang Hao's hands slammed straight into its abdomen!
"THUD!!!"
The impact was so deep and muffled that it felt as if everyone's hearts had stopped beating.
The Titan Giant Ape's mountain-sized body flew backward through the air like a boulder hurled from a catapult!
It shot backward at an astonishing speed. Even Zhao Wuji couldn't make out what was happening. Xiao Qing and the others only knew that the Titan Giant Ape had smashed through countless trees along the way, plowing a trench nearly a hundred meters long through the ground.
Only after all that did it finally manage to stop amid the wreckage. It dropped to one knee and braced itself against the ground with its two immensely thick arms, barely keeping itself from collapsing completely.
A powerful gale swept out in every direction, carrying soil, wood chips, and shattered stone like the most violent sandstorm.
Xiao Qing, standing on Thunder Feather's back, and Zhao Wuji, Tang San, and the others on the ground all scrambled for cover, but the wind still buffeted them until they staggered, barely able to keep their eyes open.
A full dozen breaths passed before the sky-darkening cloud of dust slowly cleared.
Standing on Thunder Feather's back, Xiao Qing peered through the fading dust toward the Titan Giant Ape.
The once-arrogant Forest King was now kneeling in a crater. Its glossy black fur across its chest and belly was in tatters, caked with dirt and its own dark-red blood.
Its enormous head hung low, and dark-red blood streamed from the corners of its mouth, dripping into a small pool in the crater it had made.
Its chest heaved violently. Each breath made the blood at the corners of its mouth flow faster; it had clearly suffered serious internal injuries.
It had taken only one strike, one swing of the hammer.
A Titled Douluo with a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring had sacrificed his first eight Soul Rings in a desperate attack, and sent the Titan Giant Ape—a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast famed for its strength and defense—flying a hundred meters and coughing up blood!
No wonder Tang Hao could hold his own against those worshippers during the final battle, despite having wasted so many years.
The entire forest fell silent, save for the Titan Giant Ape's heavy panting and the scattered cries of Soul Beasts in the distance.
Everyone had been so shaken by that heaven-defying strike, which lay beyond the limits of their understanding, that they had lost the ability to speak.
At some point, Zhao Wuji's Martial Soul Avatar had already been dispelled. He stood there, staring at the man in black's back, his eyes filled with incomparable awe and shock.
Tang San, meanwhile, stared fixedly at the pitch-black Clear Sky Hammer. He had studied under Yu Xiaogang for so long that he naturally knew Martial Souls were influenced by one's parents.
His Twin Martial Souls had been inherited from his parents. Now that he had seen an unknown Titled Douluo with a Clear Sky Hammer much like his own, Tang San couldn't help wondering what connection the man before him might have to him.
Tang San first ruled out his father, Tang Hao. Based on years of observation, if his father had possessed such strength, he certainly wouldn't have ended up a drunken madman as he had before.
Tang San thought the man before him was probably a relative of his father. That would explain why his father knew how to forge metal.
It would be strange for a family with a hammer-type Martial Soul not to have blacksmithing skills.
The Titan Giant Ape slowly raised its head. Its lantern-sized eyes were filled with pain and fury, but above all, with incredulous fear.
It stared at Tang Hao, who stood before it with the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand. Though his aura had weakened somewhat after the Soul Rings shattered, he still stood his ground. A low, menacing growl rumbled in its throat.
But even after growling for a long while, the Titan Giant Ape remained where it was and didn't attack. That one blow had truly frightened it—and brought it to its senses.
Looking at the bright-red Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring beneath Tang Hao's feet, the Titan Giant Ape knew that the man in black before it hadn't yet decided to kill it outright. Otherwise, he would have shattered that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring as well!
This human possessed the power to threaten it—even kill it! Perhaps running away while it still could was its best option.
Otherwise, if it stayed here, the man in black might kill it and take its Soul Bone!
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