"Tang Hao, as a Titled Douluo, you should understand how precious a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast is." Clearly, Dugu Bo had no intention of giving up on Xiao Wu.
Not only for Ye Qingzhou's sake, but also for his precious granddaughter.
Tang Hao ignored Dugu Bo and looked toward Ye Shuyuan, as if asking for his opinion.
Ye Shuyuan had naturally noticed Tang Hao's gaze. He spoke calmly. "I agree with Dugu Bo."
Hearing the decision from Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo, Tang Hao stopped speaking in a mild tone.
He had originally wanted to keep the inscrutable little fellow beside Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo. But since they weren't even willing to leave him a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, there was even less chance they'd hand over that little fellow.
Beneath Tang Hao, nine Soul Rings slowly rose and revolved: two yellow, two purple, four black, and the last one, a red ring that looked as if it had been condensed from blood. Under the sunlight, it gleamed with a heart-stopping brilliance.
"Since you won't listen to reason, don't blame me for showing no mercy."
Tang Hao considered himself a man who valued old ties. Faced with two Titled Douluos he'd dealt with before, his first move hadn't been to fight, but to reason with them.
Since they wouldn't listen to reason, he had no choice but to attack.
The moment the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring appeared, Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo's pupils contracted sharply.
A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!
All at once, they realized why Qian Xunji, the former Pope of Spirit Hall, had led a team to hunt down Tang Hao.
If it had really been because of this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, then it all made sense.
Seeing Tang Hao about to clash with them, Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo could no longer speak to him in a friendly manner. "If you want to fight, then we'll take you on!"
Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo refused to back down. The Nine Heart Begonia floated in Ye Shuyuan's hand, while Dugu Bo entered his Martial Soul possession state.
Two yellow, two purple, and five black Soul Rings—the classic configuration of a Titled Douluo—rose slowly from beneath Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo.
Tang Hao's gaze turned icy. Without another word, the sixth black Soul Ring beneath his feet lit up.
The Clear Sky Hammer in his hand let out a deep hum. A pitch-black hammer shadow, wrapped in power enough to destroy the heavens and earth, came crashing straight down toward Dugu Bo.
That strike had no fancy tricks and no complicated changes. It held only pure, crushing power.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar!" Dugu Bo's pupils contracted sharply as his Soul Rings lit up together. His Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor Avatar instantly unfolded, dark green scales covering his body.
In the blink of an eye, Dugu Bo transformed into a thirty-meter-long, vat-wide, emerald-green serpent.
He took Tang Hao's sixth Soul Skill head-on with his own body.
"Dugu Bo, I'm coming to help!"
The ninth Soul Ring beneath Ye Shuyuan's feet lit up. The Nine Heart Begonia bloomed, pouring vast life energy into Dugu Bo's body.
The Nine Heart Begonia of the Ye family had only ever possessed one Soul Skill.
That was all-around healing.
Ye Qingzhou hid in a corner and watched Dugu Bo and Tang Hao fight.
"Did Tang Hao really have to start a fight in Nuoding City?"
With only Soul Ancestor cultivation, he couldn't recklessly interfere in a battle between Titled Douluos. All he could do was watch from a distance.
This was driving him crazy.
Dugu Bo was already the weakest Titled Douluo of them all.
Against the stronger Tang Hao, even with Tang Hao grievously wounded and Ye Shuyuan's help, Dugu Bo still stood no chance.
Tang Hao was holding back, too.
Starting a fight in a little place like Nuoding City wasn't ideal. All he wanted was to drive them off.
He swung the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand and aimed it at Dugu Bo, now transformed into the Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor.
"I'll give you one more chance. Give up the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast and leave that little fellow behind. You two can go, and I'll let bygones be bygones."
Since he couldn't sense that little boy's cultivation, it meant that a power even stronger than his was protecting him from within.
Then he couldn't just let the boy leave.
He could only take him away and make him Tang San's good friend, so he could help the father and son take revenge on Spirit Hall.
Wait, what?
Ye Qingzhou, watching from the corner, was baffled.
What did he have to do with this?
He hadn't done anything.
Following Tang Hao's gesture, Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo both looked toward the spot where Ye Qingzhou stood.
Was Tang Hao after Ye Qingzhou?!
Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo rejected him outright. "Impossible. Keep dreaming."
"Rejected again. Medical Saint, Old Poison, you brought this on yourselves."
A cold glint flashed in Tang Hao's eyes.
Almost the instant the thought arose, his figure vanished from where he stood. It wasn't that he had disappeared; he was simply too fast.
Before Dugu Bo and Ye Shuyuan could react, Tang Hao was already standing in front of Ye Qingzhou.
Ye Qingzhou tried to fight back. But just as his Magnolia was about to appear, Tang Hao showed no mercy.
His rough, calloused hand, hard as an iron clamp, closed around Ye Qingzhou's throat.
Tang Hao wasn't using all his strength, but even so, nine-year-old Ye Qingzhou couldn't fight him off.
"Stop!" Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo roared together, both launching attacks.
Tang Hao tightened his grip slightly and used Ye Qingzhou to threaten Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo. "Stop. If you take another step, don't blame me if my hand slips."
Hearing Ye Qingzhou's pained cry, Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo both stopped.
Ye Shuyuan clenched his hand into a fist inside his sleeve, his knuckles turning white. His voice carried barely restrained fury. "Clear Sky Douluo, is holding a junior hostage what a Titled Douluo should be doing?"
Tang Hao fell silent for a moment. A complicated look passed through his eyes, but in the end, he didn't let go.
"I gave you a chance. You chose not to take it."
With Tang Hao's hand around his throat, Ye Qingzhou struggled to breathe.
At that very moment.
A beam of jade-green light burst without warning from Ye Qingzhou's brow and swept out in every direction.
Tang Hao was hit first. The hand gripping Ye Qingzhou was violently knocked away by a force beyond description.
Tang Hao was flung back, tumbling again and again across the ground.
Suppressing the shock in his heart, he stared at Ye Qingzhou, who was floating in midair.
"This guy..."
Ye Shuyuan and Dugu Bo exchanged a glance, then hurried to Ye Qingzhou's left and right.
Ye Qingzhou spoke, but the voice that came out wasn't his own. It was a woman's, reprimanding him. "So this is what a Titled Douluo of the Douluo Continent is like?"
"You won't even spare a nine-year-old child. You're utterly shameless!"
"So you like picking on the weak, do you? Then let me see how you like being picked on!"
As she spoke, Ye Qingzhou slowly raised his right hand and spread his fingers. With a casual gesture, divine power surged forth, washing over Tang Hao's body.
"You... You are..." Hearing that voice, filled with absolute authority and impossible to defy, Tang Hao's face turned ashen.
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