Before his words had even faded, Tang Hao sprang into the air.
The Clear Sky Hammer in his hand whipped up a violent black gale and came crashing straight down toward Lin Yuan's back.
A terrifying sonic boom erupted through the forest.
The immense air pressure uprooted every ancient tree within dozens of meters.
Soil and splintered wood whirled wildly through the air.
The instant Tang Hao's aura erupted, Lin Yuan had already reacted.
He didn't look back, and he held nothing in reserve.
The bloodline power of the Nine Nether Beast burst from within him like a river breaking its banks.
A dark phantom appeared behind him, its nine tails thrashing wildly.
At the same time, he unleashed the Nine Nether Slaughter God Domain with all his might.
A dark red halo, filled with Asura's killing intent and the deathly aura of the netherworld, suddenly spread out from beneath his feet.
The domain's power forcibly tore open a gap in the space crushed by the Clear Sky Hammer.
Lin Yuan seized that brief opening and pushed his speed to its limit.
His entire body became a black afterimage as he desperately sprinted forward.
But the gap in their power was simply too vast.
The air pressure above him was already as heavy as a mountain.
The Clear Sky Hammer hadn't even come down, yet the ground had begun to collapse over a wide area.
A Titled Douluo's full-strength attack had locked firmly onto his aura.
That despair, like a mountain bearing down on him, left him nowhere to escape.
Just as the Clear Sky Hammer was about to smash into Lin Yuan's back,
a bone-chilling woman's voice rang out above the forest.
"Tang Hao, don't you dare touch him!"
With that furious shout, a dazzling streak of purple light plunged down from the sky.
A colossal pillar of purple light, like a sword sharp enough to cleave the heavens, struck the descending Clear Sky Hammer with unerring precision.
"BOOM—"
A deafening roar shook the entire Soul Hunting Forest.
Violent waves of energy swept in every direction, flattening everything within hundreds of meters.
The shock wave sent Lin Yuan skidding more than ten meters forward before he finally managed to steady himself.
He turned to look.
Bibi Dong's tall, graceful figure had already placed herself in front of him.
Her long skirt snapped in the storm, and in her hand she held a purple-black scepter radiating terrifying poison.
Her stunning eyes were fixed on Tang Hao ahead.
Her peerlessly beautiful face was now set with fierce, furious resolve to protect her own.
Lin Yuan was precious to her.
Tang Hao's hammer had crossed her line.
Tang Hao steadied himself, holding the Clear Sky Hammer at his side with one hand, then threw back his head and laughed wildly.
"Hahahaha!"
"Good! Very good!"
"I truly didn't come here for nothing!"
Tang Hao's eyes were bloodshot. He stared at Bibi Dong as if she were prey.
"I've been looking everywhere for you, and now you've delivered yourself right to me."
"I'll kill the old one, and I won't spare the young one either."
"Two birds with one stone. Today, I'll use your lives to pay tribute to Ah Yin's spirit in heaven!"
The terrifying clash swept across the edge of the inner forest in an instant.
Dugu Bo, far away on the other side of the forest, was startled by the disturbance.
He took Dugu Yan and Hu Liena with him and quickly leaped to the top of a towering tree, gazing toward the battle from afar.
He saw a rugged man wielding an enormous black hammer, a red Soul Ring beneath his feet.
Dugu Bo sucked in a sharp breath.
That was the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao.
Dugu Bo's expression changed dramatically, and he instinctively shrank back.
He was a clever man and knew that even among Titled Douluo, there were differences in strength.
Tang Hao had a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, and the weapon in his hand was the greatest weapon-type Martial Soul in the world.
If they really fought, Dugu Bo's old bones wouldn't withstand even one blow from that hammer.
He thought highly of Lin Yuan, that Little Monster, and he owed him a favor.
But offending Tang Hao, a god of slaughter, for a child he'd only just met—
and risking his own life in the process—was a terrible bargain.
Dugu Bo pressed down on Dugu Yan's shoulder and concealed himself even deeper.
In a clearing deep in the forest, the air currents whipped about wildly.
Bibi Dong gave Tang Hao no chance to keep spouting nonsense.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red.
Nine dazzling Soul Rings rose in a spiral from beneath her feet.
Her body shuddered as she released her Martial Soul.
Death Spider Emperor possession!
Purple-black armor instantly covered her body, and her lower half transformed into the form of a gigantic spider.
Then a brilliant purple light flared behind her.
Her six-winged purple light wings unfurled completely.
Six wings, thin as a cicada's but hard as steel, beat rapidly in the air.
Using the speed granted by her External Soul Bone, Bibi Dong became a bolt of purple-black lightning and charged straight at Tang Hao.
Eight thick, razor-sharp spider legs, like eight spears, thrust toward his vital points, carrying poison that could kill with a single drop of blood.
"Know your place, you poisonous woman!"
Tang Hao sneered. The muscles in his arms bulged as he swung the Clear Sky Hammer down to meet her head-on.
"CLANG!!!"
A thunderous metallic clash exploded.
The Death Spider Emperor's legs collided head-on with the Clear Sky Hammer.
A shower of sparks burst in midair.
Bibi Dong felt a force like a landslide surge through her spider legs and into her body.
That overbearing power was impossible to dispel completely with Soul Power.
She grunted and staggered several steps backward, shaken by the force.
With every step, the hard rock beneath her feet crumbled to powder.
At last, she managed to steady herself.
Bibi Dong looked down and saw faint white marks on her nearly indestructible spider legs.
A tearing pain came from the base of her thumb, and threads of blood seeped out.
The power of the world's greatest weapon-type Martial Soul, amplified by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring—
in a direct clash of strength, she had ultimately come off worse.
In the distant treetops,
Dugu Yan saw how the fight was going.
Bibi Dong had been forced onto the back foot with a single blow, while Lin Yuan stood behind her, still in grave danger.
Dugu Yan was so anxious that tears nearly filled her eyes.
She shook Dugu Bo's arm hard.
"Grandpa, hurry and help them!"
"Lin Yuan helped suppress the backlash from my Soul Ring! How can you just stand by and watch him die?"
Dugu Bo frowned deeply and brushed his granddaughter's hand away, his expression stern.
"Don't be ridiculous!"
"That's the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao! You think he's just that several-thousand-year-old worm from before?"
"This is a matter for adults. A little girl like you should stop butting in."
"If I go in, I won't be able to save anyone. The entire Dugu Family will be dragged down with us!"
Dugu Yan stamped her foot, urgently arguing back.
But Lin Yuan was still over there.
Dugu Bo remained unmoved, holding his granddaughter firmly in place.
Just as Dugu Bo was preparing to lead them away quietly,
a clear yet piercing voice cut through the raging storm and reached his ears.
"Dugu Bo, help me."
"I have a way to cure the snake poison afflicting your family."
The voice wasn't loud, yet it rang through Dugu Bo's mind like a thunderclap.
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