A blizzard of cold flashes screamed toward Lin Yuan, sealing off every possible escape route around him.
The piercing whistle of blades hurt the eardrums of everyone present.
The venomous needles glinting with a ghostly blue sheen and the barbed steel caltrops wove together in midair, forming an impenetrable death net that descended upon the black-clad youth on the steps.
Overcome with excitement, Yu Xiaogang waved both hands wildly in the air.
His bloodshot eyes had already pictured Lin Yuan being shot full of holes and dropping to his knees to beg for mercy.
Yet in the face of such a vicious, deadly attack, Lin Yuan didn't so much as raise an eyebrow.
His hands still hung casually at his sides. He made no move to dodge, and didn't even shift his feet.
At the critical moment, just as the cold flashes were about to touch his brow,
Lin Yuan lowered his eyes and parted his lips.
"Third Soul Skill, Shadow Devour."
There was no unnecessary buildup, nor any earth-shaking roar.
As those few words fell, the ten-thousand-year black Soul Ring beneath Lin Yuan's feet, as deep as ink, suddenly erupted with a terrifying black radiance!
A circle of pure darkness surged outward from Lin Yuan, spreading wildly like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
In the blink of an eye, a dark domain so dense it swallowed even the light enveloped the area dozens of meters around him.
That darkness was so deep it chilled the heart. From within came the faint, spine-tingling sound of the Nine Nether Beast's heavy breathing.
The Tang Sect Hidden Weapons that Tang San had always been so proud of plunged into the dark domain and seemed to slam into a dead sea without a trace of buoyancy.
The Mysterious Heaven Skill inner force attached to the fine-steel throwing knives was met by the most terrifying plunderer in the world.
"Chi-chi-chi—"
The grating sound of dissolution ran together in the darkness.
The blue Soul Power glow on those swaggering Hidden Weapons lasted less than half a breath before that domineering force of Devour drained it completely.
With their inner force and Soul Power gone, the Hidden Weapons Yu Xiaogang had regarded as a surefire trump card instantly became a pile of scrap metal.
"Clang, clatter..."
The crisp clash of metal rang through the hall.
Dozens of Hidden Weapons stopped dead in their tracks less than half a foot from Lin Yuan's face, then fell helplessly to the hard stone floor like raindrops.
They scattered everywhere.
A moment earlier, Yu Xiaogang had been shouting wildly. Now it was as if someone had shoved a fistful of rusty nails down his throat. His laughter and cheers were abruptly stuck there, unable to escape.
He stared wide-eyed at the scrap metal on the floor, his mind utterly blank.
Across from him, Tang San's pupils had shrunk, and all color had drained from his face.
Only he knew what had just happened!
The Mysterious Heaven Skill inner force he had attached to those Hidden Weapons had been drained dry by an incredibly brutal, unreasonable force the instant they touched that black light!
That wasn't resistance. It was pure plunder!
An unprecedented sense of mortal danger hung over Tang San like a blade.
No! There was absolutely no way to win!
Conventional methods were a joke against this monster!
Tang San bit through his tongue, trying to stay alert through the pain.
He abruptly drew back both hands, lowering his left palm. An incredibly heavy, domineering black radiance began to gather wildly in it.
He was going to use his last trump card!
The Second Martial Soul he had been repeatedly warned never to reveal lightly—the Clear Sky Hammer!
Only the absolute destructive power of the world's number-one tool Martial Soul could possibly smash the terrifying dark domain before him!
A dark halo rapidly took shape in Tang San's left palm. The outline of a hammer handle had only just begun to appear.
But Lin Yuan's patience had run out.
"You're still wasting your strength."
Lin Yuan's voice pierced the dark domain, calm and unhurried, yet filled with an oppressive force that brooked no resistance.
Before the words had even faded, the dense darkness suddenly contracted.
Lin Yuan's figure tore through space like a bolt of lightning, leaving behind an afterimage that slowly faded.
Tang San didn't even have time to blink.
His vision blurred. The black-clad youth, who seemed like a fiendish god, had already crossed more than ten meters and appeared right before him like a ghost.
The two were less than half a meter apart!
Lin Yuan's dark, deep eyes held not a trace of emotion. He looked at Tang San as if he were a weed by the roadside.
Tang San's heart hammered. The Clear Sky Hammer in his left hand was only half-formed, and he had no time to swing it.
Lin Yuan casually curled his right hand into a fist.
There was no flashy opening move, nor any glow from a Soul Skill.
He simply threw an utterly ordinary, brutally direct punch at Tang San's abdomen.
The punch looked casual, but it held the Nine Nether Beast's terrifying physical strength, enough to crush everything.
His fist cut through the air with a sonic boom!
"BAM!!!"
A deep, skull-rattling impact exploded through Spirit Hall.
Tang San's body went rigid in that instant.
His eyes bulged, bloodshot veins covering them. His mouth gaped wide, but not a sound came out.
When the fist struck his abdomen, it felt as if an entire mountain of solid steel had slammed into his body at tremendous speed.
His internal organs seemed to shift out of place.
A searing agony swallowed every nerve.
The next instant, Tang San shot backward like a cannonball. His body bent into a grotesquely twisted arch as he flew through the air!
He was moving so fast that he left a long wake in the air.
"CRASH—"
Tang San's back slammed into the immensely thick bluestone wall at the edge of the hall.
The entire main hall of Spirit Hall shuddered violently.
The hard wall couldn't withstand the terrifying impact.
Centered on Tang San's body, thick cracks spread in every direction like a spiderweb.
Tiny chunks of stone and dust pattered down.
Tang San remained stuck to the wall for a full second before sliding down like a limp rag and crashing to the floor.
"WAAH—"
Tang San suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with bits of his organs, staining the stone floor crimson.
He clutched his abdomen, curling into a ball like a shrimp as his whole body convulsed uncontrollably.
The phantom of the Clear Sky Hammer that he had struggled to form halfway in his left hand dispersed as well, dissolving into flecks of black light.
He had lost all ability to fight.
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