At that moment, Tang San's voice rang through the hall, cracking like a broken reed.
He suddenly struggled off his chair and stumbled toward the man, disregarding the wounds splitting open across his body and the blood seeping from them. He crawled and scrambled to the man's side.
At the sound of Tang San's hoarse cry,
Yu Xiaogang, Flender, and Zhao Wuji, standing nearby, froze on the spot, as if struck by five thunderbolts!
They stared dumbly at the man lying in a pool of blood, both arms severed, like a dead dog.
Was this the Clear Sky Douluo who had suffocated them with nothing but his Divine Slaughter's Domain last night?
Was this Tang Hao, owner of the greatest Tool Spirit under heaven, the Peerless Douluo who had once smashed the Pope of Spirit Hall into a cripple with a single blow of his hammer???
At last, Yu Xiaogang's legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the floor, his lips quivering.
"No... impossible. This can't be!"
Zhao Wuji was so terrified that his face turned deathly pale. He stumbled backward, looking at Su Chen on the raised platform as if he were a true monster.
And it wasn't only the Shrek group.
In a corner of the hall, Gui Mei and Yue Guan, who had been sitting there calmly, shot to their feet when they recognized the Clear Sky Hammer, now little more than scrap metal.
The two exchanged a glance, both looking utterly incredulous.
"It's that madman, Tang Hao!" Yue Guan lowered his voice, his words trembling.
Back then, Pope Qian Xunji had been smashed into a cripple by that very hammer!
Yet now, the renowned God of Slaughter had had both arms crippled and been tossed before the public like a piece of trash!
Nearby, Yu Yuanzhen crushed the teacup in his hand. Scalding tea spilled over his hand, but he didn't even notice.
He looked at Su Chen on the platform. He had assumed Dugu Bo's defeat was because poison-users had frail bodies.
But what about Tang Hao?
The Clear Sky Sect's strength and physique ranked among the best on the entire continent!
And on top of that, he had a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and Ring Detonation as trump cards!
And this Storyteller had still crippled him completely?
Deep in the crowd, Bo Saixi's peerlessly beautiful face, hidden beneath her hat, changed color.
With the spiritual power of a Peerless Douluo, she instantly discerned Tang Hao's condition.
"His Soul Power has been completely suppressed by an incredibly domineering force of vitality and blood. His meridians are all shattered..."
Bo Saixi drew a deep breath, her hands trembling slightly.
She was certain that this was no method any Spirit Master could use!
Su Chen really did possess that kind of physical might beyond all reason!
Everything he had said had actually been true!
For a time, the whole hall fell utterly silent. Only Tang San's wails still echoed through it.
"Dad! Wake up, Dad!"
Tang San frantically shook Tang Hao's body, then turned toward Su Chen on the raised platform and roared.
"What did you do to my dad?"
"I'll kill you!"
"I, Tang San, swear that I'll tear you limb from limb one day!"
Watching Tang San rage helplessly below, Su Chen folded his fan and smiled faintly.
"You didn't look like this last night, when you sent your father to smash up the place."
Su Chen looked down at him, undisguised mockery in his eyes.
"Didn't you think that having a Titled Douluo for a father meant you could run amok across Douluo Continent and kill people with Hidden Weapons whenever you pleased?"
"Too bad your precious backing couldn't even withstand a single slap from me."
At those words, Tang San, already on the verge of breaking down, fell silent at once, unable to say another word.
Then Su Chen paid no further attention to Tang San's bloodshot eyes.
He slowly walked to the edge of the platform and swept his gaze over the powerful figures from the various factions concealed among the crowd below.
"Listening Rain Pavilion has its own rules."
Su Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to every person in the hall.
"Since Tang Hao was inferior and lost to me, everything he owns now is my spoils of war."
As he spoke, Su Chen snapped open the fan in his hand.
"Before today's storytelling, we'll hold an impromptu auction."
At this, everyone in the hall froze.
An auction?
What was there to auction in a teahouse?
Before anyone could react, Su Chen's slightly amused voice rang out again:
"The item up for auction: Tang Hao, a ninety-fifth-rank Titled Douluo!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the entire Listening Rain Pavilion erupted!
Auctioning off a Titled Douluo?
Never in the history of Douluo Continent had anyone heard of such a mad act!
This was a supreme powerhouse standing at the very pinnacle of the continent!
And now he was being displayed and priced like livestock?
Seeing the commotion below, Su Chen added fuel to the fire.
"Although I crippled both his arms and his Soul Power, he still has the Clear Sky Sect's most prized legacy technique within him: the cultivation method for the Great Sumeru Hammer."
"More importantly..."
Su Chen paused, the smile on his lips growing wider.
"He has a complete set of Top-Grade Spirit Bones—and even a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, the treasure every Spirit Master dreams of!"
Hiss!
At the words "Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone," everyone in the hall stopped breathing.
The eyes of the Spirit Masters who had only come to watch the spectacle turned red, and their breathing grew ragged.
A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone!
It was a supreme treasure capable of driving any sect mad, even of sparking a war between two nations!
Buy this cripple, pick his bones clean one by one, and the peerless treasure would be theirs!
"You dare!!!"
Hearing that Su Chen meant to auction off his own father—and have people strip his bones—Tang San spat out another great mouthful of blood in fury.
He tried desperately to charge the platform and fight to the death, but two attendants kicked him to the ground and pinned him down.
"The starting price is ten million Gold Soul Coins, or an equivalent value in rare treasures."
Su Chen ignored Tang San's impotent rage and rapped his knuckles on the table. "Bidding starts now."
"I bid fifteen million Gold Soul Coins!"
As soon as Su Chen finished speaking, an exceptionally effeminate voice came from the corner.
Yue Guan yanked off his black robe, making no attempt to conceal his identity as a Martial Soul Hall Elder. His eyes were fixed on Tang Hao's body on the floor.
Qian Xunji's death had been a disgrace to all of Spirit Hall.
If they could buy Tang Hao and hand him over to the Pope, they would not only erase that disgrace, but also obtain a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone.
Spirit Hall would bankrupt itself to make this deal!
"Spirit Hall is certainly generous, but my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has its eye on Tang Hao too!"
Yu Yuanzhen snorted and stood up at once. "Twenty million Gold Soul Coins, plus three ten-thousand-year Thunder attribute Soul Bones!"
A commotion swept through the hall!
At this, the atmosphere in the entire hall was instantly pushed to its peak.
The Sect Masters of the Upper Three Sects and the Martial Soul Hall Elder, usually lofty figures, were now red-eyed and bidding furiously in public like street vendors, all for a cripple.
The great factions below were squabbling over Tang Hao, their faces flushed.
And there was Tang San, pinned to the ground, watching helplessly as his father was auctioned off like a piece of merchandise, weeping in agony.
Su Chen withdrew his gaze and slowly turned away.
He walked back to the storyteller's table, picked up his teacup, and took a small sip.
Before you continue