The next second, Su Chen's voice rang through the hall:
"Senior Bo Saixi, Grand Pontiff of Sea God Island."
"Would you be interested in trading the item in your possession for this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone and this man?"
Bo Saixi!
Grand Pontiff of Sea God Island!
The moment those words slipped lightly from Su Chen's lips, the entire Listening Rain Pavilion fell silent.
The ordinary civilians and low-ranking Spirit Masters might never have heard that name.
But the leaders of the great powers in the front rows stared as if they had seen a ghost, their faces changing dramatically!
In the corner, Yue Guan, the Martial Soul Hall Elder who had just been bidding so arrogantly, went weak in the knees. He nearly dropped back into his chair.
"Bo Saixi? That Peerless Douluo at level ninety-nine?"
Yue Guan covered his mouth, unable to believe it.
Back then, Qian Daoliu, Grand Pontiff of Spirit Hall, had personally admitted that Bo Saixi was the very definition of invincibility upon the seas!
Had that ancient monster, spoken of only in legends, really come to Listening Rain Pavilion to hear a story?
Nearby, Yu Yuanzhen and Ning Fengzhi were equally aghast. They instinctively followed Su Chen's gaze.
Deep in the crowd stood a woman in a bamboo hat and a sea-blue robe. The moment Su Chen called out her name, she stiffened beneath the veil that had hidden her face.
She had never imagined it.
She was a Peerless Douluo at level ninety-nine, and she had perfectly concealed her aura with the Sea God's Power. Yet the young man on the raised platform had seen through her at a glance!
Whoosh!
Thousands of eyes in the hall instantly fixed on her.
The crowd around her scattered like people fleeing a plague, backing away in a great wave and leaving a vast open space around her.
Now that her identity had been exposed, Bo Saixi stopped hiding.
She slowly raised a pale, jade-like hand and gently removed the bamboo hat from her head.
A cascade of sea-blue hair spilled down like a waterfall.
As the hat came off, the vast and boundless pressure of a level-ninety-nine Peerless Douluo swept through the hall without restraint!
Beneath that pressure, Yu Xiaogang, Zhao Wuji, and the others, who had been shouting moments ago, were instantly crushed to the floor. They could not even lift their heads.
Even powerful figures like Yu Yuanzhen and Ning Fengzhi felt their chests tighten and had to circulate their Soul Power to withstand it.
Bo Saixi now held a Golden Scepter that had appeared in her hand at some point. Step by step, she walked toward the raised platform as easily as if she were strolling across level ground.
"You have a keen eye, sir."
"This Tang Hao is the son of an old friend. I ought to save him."
"But I wonder what you meant when you said you wanted to trade for something in my possession."
"What could there be on the Douluo Continent that would catch the eye of an expert like you, who doesn't even take Titled Douluo seriously?"
At Bo Saixi's question, everyone in the hall pricked up their ears.
That was right.
He could casually put a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone up for auction. What on earth did Su Chen want?
On the raised platform, Su Chen looked at Bo Saixi, who was radiating her full presence below, and showed not the slightest apprehension. Instead, he casually tapped his folding fan against his palm.
"It's nothing particularly rare."
As he spoke, the corner of Su Chen's mouth curled up. He said lightly:
"I told you earlier that I need a prop to warm up tomorrow's storytelling session."
"I see that the broken fish fork enshrined in the temple on Sea God Island is just the right length."
"Why not bring it here and let me use it as a fire poker? In return, I'll grant you Tang Hao. How about it?"
The moment Su Chen said this, the entire Listening Rain Pavilion fell silent.
The broken fish fork enshrined in Sea God Hall?
That damned thing was the Sea God Trident!
It was the Sea God's Super Divine Artifact!
It was also the supreme faith of all Sea God Island—and of every Spirit Master of the sea!
Was Su Chen insane?
He was actually telling the Grand Pontiff of Sea God Island to bring him the Sea God's trident so he could use it as a fire poker???
"How dare you!!!"
At those words, Bo Saixi, who had been as calm as an undisturbed well, flew into a rage.
She slammed the Golden Scepter in her hand against the ground. A ring of visible blue energy rippled wildly outward.
"How dare you blaspheme Lord Sea God! You're asking for death!"
Killing intent surged in Bo Saixi's eyes. Her vast level-ninety-nine Soul Power instantly formed a gigantic Sea God Phantom, which crashed down toward Su Chen on the raised platform!
Yet facing this attack, powerful enough to destroy the heavens and shatter the earth, Su Chen merely shook his head.
"Lord Sea God this, Lord Sea God that."
"You're being kept as a sacrificial offering and don't even know it. How pitiful."
With that, Su Chen slowly raised a hand. He didn't need to use any technique; he simply flicked a finger.
In an instant, he shattered the Sea God Phantom Bo Saixi had summoned!
As Su Chen casually flicked the Sea God Phantom to pieces with a single finger,
a terrifying backlash surged through the void and slammed into Bo Saixi's chest.
The Peerless Douluo who had reigned supreme on Sea God Island for nearly a century was now sent staggering backward like a kite with its strings cut.
She only managed to stop when her back crashed heavily into a redwood pillar.
A startling streak of crimson blood slowly trickled from the corner of her beautiful mouth.
"You..."
Bo Saixi clutched her chest, her deep blue eyes now filled with fear.
She stared fixedly at the white-clad young man on the raised platform.
He hadn't used his Martial Soul or a Soul Skill. He hadn't even shown the slightest trace of Soul Power!
He had merely flicked a finger.
Not only had he shattered the furious attack of a level-ninety-nine Peerless Douluo like her, he had also completely erased the phantom that represented the Sea God's will!
Such overwhelming power nearly shattered the faith she had upheld for a hundred years.
"Since it's your first offense, I'll give you just one warning today."
Su Chen lowered his hand and looked down at Bo Saixi, whose face had gone deathly pale.
"Find a seat."
"If you dare disrupt the rules of my Listening Rain Pavilion again, I don't care if it's you or that charlatan Sea God behind you. I'll crush him with a single finger all the same."
His words were outrageously arrogant, yet no one in the hall dared contradict him.
He had flicked a level-ninety-nine Peerless Douluo until she spat blood. Who would dare provoke Su Chen now?
Bo Saixi bit her red lip hard. Though she was unwilling to accept it, there was nothing she could do.
In the end, she could only put away the Golden Scepter and silently retreat to a corner of the crowd.
Seeing Bo Saixi subdued, the hall once again sank into panic.
Just then, in a private room on the second floor,
the Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, who had been quietly observing the situation, seized the moment to speak with admirable cleverness.
"Mr. Su's might is awe-inspiring. Qinghe is impressed!"
Xue Qinghe stepped to the railing and bowed slightly to Su Chen on the raised platform, adopting a thoroughly humble posture.
"Tang Hao is a wanted criminal of the empire, guilty of unforgivable crimes against the Tiandou Empire."
"Qinghe is willing to offer eighty million Gold Soul Coins, along with any three treasures of his choice from the Tiandou Royal Treasury, to buy Tang Hao."
"I hope Mr. Su will grant me this favor."
Xue Qinghe's words not only showed Su Chen ample respect, but also raised the price so high that even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Star Luo Empire would feel the pinch.
Hearing this, Su Chen lifted his head and glanced at Xue Qinghe on the second floor with an amused smile.
"Since the Heaven Dou Crown Prince has asked, I'll grant him this favor."
Su Chen snapped his folding fan shut and made his decision.
"Sold."
"Someone, take this pile of scrap metal to His Highness the Crown Prince."
Pinned to the floor, Tang San raised his head, his face full of unwillingness.
"No, Xue Qinghe!"
"You dare!!!"
He knew all too well what sort of relationship Spirit Hall had with the Tiandou Imperial Family. If his father fell into the Tiandou Imperial Family's hands, even if they didn't kill him, they'd strip away his Soul Bones and every one of his secret techniques!
But no matter how much Tang San shouted and struggled, two Tiandou Imperial Family guards rushed forward without mercy and dragged the unconscious Tang Hao away like a dead dog.
"Throw him out too. Don't let him dirty the floor of Listening Rain Pavilion." Su Chen glanced at Tang San, who was rolling on the ground, and spoke indifferently.
Before long, Tang San, Flender, Yu Xiaogang, and the others were roughly driven out by the servants of Listening Rain Pavilion.
Once the hall had quieted down again, Su Chen returned to the storyteller's desk.
Clack!
The Gavel rang out crisply once more.
Everyone's spirits jolted. They hurriedly pushed their earlier shock to the backs of their minds and turned their attention to the raised platform.
"That farce is over. Let's get back to the story."
Su Chen picked up his teacup, moistened his throat, and his voice turned distant and profound.
"Yesterday, we reached the part where Little One had his Supreme Bone taken and was left on the brink of death."
"And what became of Shi Yi, who had taken that Supreme Bone?"
As Su Chen continued, a vast scene began to take shape faintly in midair.
In the vision stood a youth at the summit of the Great Wilderness. His eyes were cold, and the sun, moon, and stars seemed to swirl within his Double Pupil.
"After fusing with the Supreme Bone, Shi Yi became the very favorite of Heaven and Earth!"
Su Chen's voice rose.
"His left eye held life, his right eye destruction. With a blink of his Double Pupil, he could see through all illusions and laws!"
"Add the Supreme Bone that had originally belonged to Little One, and these two peerless talents combined to make him the brightest genius in all of the Stone Kingdom—and even the entire Eight Regions of the Lower Realm!"
"He joined the Heaven Mending Pavilion and swept aside all foes like an ancient god descending upon the world!"
"Among his peers, no one could withstand even a single move!"
Watching the invincible youth in the sky tear open the void and suppress Primordial Remnants with a mere gesture, the Douluo Continent's people in Listening Rain Pavilion felt their scalps go numb.
"Mr. Su..."
At the front of the hall, Yu Yuanzhen could not help addressing him that way as he asked:
"With two peerless talents in one, Shi Yi is even more terrifying than someone with twin god-level Martial Souls."
"Little One has lost even his original Supreme Bone. That makes him a cripple. What could he possibly use to catch up with a monster blessed with such heaven-defying fortune?"
"Could he really rely on that brute strength of a hundred thousand jin?"
Hearing Yu Yuanzhen's question, the others nodded in agreement.
In the Douluo Continent's understanding, if your Martial Soul was crippled, you were a cripple for life. There was no way to make a comeback, let alone challenge a genius with two god-level talents.
Yet Su Chen merely chuckled on the raised platform.
"A hundred thousand jin of brute strength?"
"Sect Master Yu, your horizons are still too narrow."
"I told you before: what makes someone truly invincible has never been their physique or Divine Bone. It's the person!"
"After losing the Supreme Bone, Little One didn't give up on himself."
"He was sent to his ancestral land, where he faced life and death and was reborn through the flames!"
The scene shifted. In the desolate Stone Village, an old, blackened Willow Tree glimmered with a soft green light.
The child who should have died young had stubbornly clung to life through his own unyielding will, regaining his vitality after being tempered by drops of true blood!
"He used the Great Wilderness as his whetstone and fought Primordial Ferocious Beasts!"
"Without the Supreme Bone, he tempered his body to its limits!"
"A hundred and eight thousand jin—the peak of physical strength—was only his starting point!"
"He entered the Void God Realm and broke one ancient record after another, trampling those so-called clan geniuses beneath his feet!"
As Su Chen's voice rang out like a surging war drum, the emotions of everyone in the hall were completely set ablaze.
Watching the youth rise from a pool of blood and fight his way through the Great Wilderness, striking such fear into the mighty Primordial Remnants that they trembled, they could not help but feel an indescribable shock.
"This... This is unbelievable," Ning Fengzhi murmured, amazement filling his eyes.
"At last."
Suddenly, Su Chen's voice dropped as he said:
"After countless battles to the death, these brothers bound by fate met on the Sky Battlefield of the Void God Realm..."
"To settle things once and for all!"
Rumble!
The void shattered in the vision.
Two youths, each peerless through the ages, stared at one another across the endless void.
One was Shi Yi, born with the Double Pupil and fused with the Supreme Bone, like a god descending upon the world.
The other was Shi Hao, a Young Demon King who had lost everything, yet carved out an invincible path with his own hands!
"The Battle of the Two Stones has begun!"
Su Chen swept his folding fan sharply.
In the vision, the two clashed at once.
For a time, all manner of ancient divine arts and long-lost abilities crashed against one another without restraint across the Sky Battlefield.
The power to destroy heaven and earth left every Spirit Master in the hall cold from head to toe.
"Even after losing the Supreme Bone, Little One still fought Shi Yi to a standstill with his peerless physique and wondrous arts!"
"But Shi Yi had ultimately fused with that Divine Bone."
Su Chen spoke faster and faster, driving the pace to its limit.
"Just as the two fought themselves into a frenzy..."
"A savage glint finally flashed in Shi Yi's Double Pupils."
"The Supreme Bone in his chest—the one that had originally belonged to Little One—suddenly unleashed a divine radiance that eclipsed the sun and moon!"
In the scene, Shi Yi seemed to have become the very embodiment of The Heavens.
A destructive aura that made everyone's soul tremble spread from the Supreme Bone.
"Heavenly Tribulation Light!"
Su Chen cried out.
"This is the supreme art born alongside the Supreme Bone. One strike, and all things fall silent!"
"Shi Yi wants to use the bone that once belonged to Little One to erase him from this battlefield for good!"
At the sight of this fatal strike, everyone in the hall clenched their fists, their hearts in their throats.
Bo Saixi stared fixedly at the scene, so tense she even forgot to breathe.
Faced with such a lethal tribulation light, how could Little One, who had even lost his source, possibly block it?
Before you continue