Tang Hao Strikes, Gu Sheng Intervenes!

In an instant.

A gigantic pink rabbit-shaped phantom slowly took shape above Xiao Wu's head, radiating an aura of supreme nobility.

In its eyes gleamed a wisdom no different from that of a human.

At Xiao Wu's feet, rings of eerie red light began to flicker faintly across her body.

That was the essence light unique to a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

"This... this aura..."

Ning Fengzhi's pupils shrank to pinpricks in an instant.

For the first time, his usually gentle, refined, and unflappable face showed extreme shock, even horror.

The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Staff in his hand trembled violently, nearly slipping to the ground.

"This isn't a human aura!"

Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong nearly lost control of their Soul Power in that instant.

Chen Xin gripped the Seven Kill Sword in his right hand and stood rooted to the spot, his eyes filled with horror.

"How is this possible... She, she actually is..."

Gu Rong's eyes widened as well. His withered hand trembled faintly in the air, and for a long while he couldn't utter a word.

Meanwhile, in the Heaven Dou Empire's seating area.

The moment Xue Qinghe, seated there, sensed that aura, she couldn't help leaning forward slightly.

Complex shock showed on her exquisitely disguised face.

She had never imagined it.

After lying low in Heaven Dou City for so long, she had never expected the Shrek Team to be hiding such a being!

The entire Martial Soul Grand Plaza fell into deathly silence in that instant.

So quiet...

That even the sound of a needle hitting the ground could be heard clearly.

Then came an uproar like an avalanche crashing down.

Yue Guan stared fixedly at Xiao Wu, breathing as hard as a man on his deathbed. His hands shook violently with excitement.

"That's it! Hahahaha! That's it!"

"This is the aura of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast! And one that has taken human form and is still in its juvenile stage!"

Yue Guan's shrill voice rang especially harshly across the silent plaza, yet it struck the depths of everyone's souls like a heavy hammer.

"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?!"

"She... she's a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that took human form?!"

The Soul Masters from the various academies in the surrounding stands, officials of the Heaven Dou Empire, and countless spectators were plunged into utter confusion and shock at Yue Guan's cry.

To ordinary Soul Masters, the words "Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast" existed only in ancient texts and legends.

They were the supreme rulers of the Soul Beast Realm, terrifying beings with power that reached heaven and earth, capable of wiping out a vast empire with a casual wave of the hand.

But what had they just heard?

That pure-looking girl, usually so lively and adorable, who represented Shrek Academy in the competition.

The girl who had just fought desperately on the field.

Was actually a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?

And a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had taken human form, with only a little over forty levels of Soul Power!

What did that mean?

It meant that as long as they killed her...

They would be guaranteed a red Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring, a symbol of the highest glory in the Soul Master World!

And a priceless Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone!

In an instant, countless pairs of eyes in the once-calm stands gleamed with burning red light.

It was naked, undisguised greed.

Everyone present, including renowned Soul Douluos and even Titled Douluos, began breathing heavily.

They no longer looked at Xiao Wu with the coldness and sympathy they had shown before.

Instead, they looked at her as if she were a peerless treasure piled high with mountains of gold and silver.

"Xiao Wu..."

Flender felt as if he'd been struck by lightning.

He stared blankly at Xiao Wu, pale-faced as she stood in front of Tang San.

Then he looked at the phantom Soft Bone Rabbit gradually taking shape above her head.

His usually sharp mind ground to a halt in that instant.

He had watched this girl grow up!

She was a student he and Zhao Wuji had carefully looked after all along, treating her like their own daughter!

How had she suddenly become a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?

"This can't be... How can this be?"

Flender kept muttering to himself. He seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, and his body swayed, nearly unable to stay upright.

Zhao Wuji's eyes were wide as copper bells, too.

His usually fiery temper had been knocked clean out of him by this earth-shattering revelation.

He scratched his big head, looked at Xiao Wu, then at his own hands, and stood there dumbfounded.

"Grandmaster, is... is this true?"

Zhao Wuji's voice trembled as he turned to Yu Xiaogang beside him.

Yu Xiaogang was already speechless.

His self-proclaimed all-knowing mind had turned to mush.

"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast... taking human form..."

"The girl my disciple brought back... was actually a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"

Yu Xiaogang's legs nearly gave way, and he almost toppled over.

He had spent his life studying Martial Soul Theory and naturally knew the conditions and significance of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast taking human form.

But when a being that existed only in theory and legend appeared right beside him, and was someone he had kept by his side and trained all this time...

The absurdity and horror of it nearly shattered his mind.

He turned and looked at Tang San, shielding Xiao Wu.

"Little San... did you, did you know all along?"

Tang San didn't pay Yu Xiaogang the slightest attention.

At that moment, his eyes held only Xiao Wu.

When the pink rabbit phantom appeared, Tang San had already known there was no turning back.

His background and experiences had given him a different understanding of Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

"Xiao Wu, no matter what you are, you're still my little sister."

Tang San reached out and wrapped an arm around Xiao Wu's shoulders.

His eyes, once clear and bright, were now filled with madness and bloodshot veins.

"Brother..."

Xiao Wu leaned against Tang San's chest, tears streaming from her eyes.

Her body trembled violently. The gazes directed at her were like countless sharp knives, stabbing her dignity and hope until they were riddled with holes.

The thing she feared most had finally happened.

In Spirit City, before the Pope's Palace, under the watchful eyes of so many Titled Douluos.

Her identity had been exposed.

She knew that no matter what happened, she probably wouldn't be able to leave Spirit City today.

Meanwhile, Gu Sheng remained calm on the high platform beside Bibi Dong.

Dressed in black, he was like a god watching coldly from the sidelines.

Watching the chaos below, with everyone overwhelmed by shock, he felt not the slightest ripple within him.

"Gu Sheng, you don't seem surprised."

Bibi Dong's voice was soft, yet keenly probing.

She turned her head slightly, her noble, beautiful eyes lingering for a moment on Gu Sheng's flawless profile.

At a time like this, faced with a living Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Soul Beast, even she couldn't help feeling a stir within her.

But the young man beside her...

Not only was his gaze as calm as water, but even the fluctuations of his Soul Power had not changed in the slightest.

Gu Sheng smiled faintly.

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, a hint of amusement appearing in his eyes as he murmured to himself:

"Why be surprised by a mere rabbit that hasn't even grown up yet?"

"Before absolute power, human or beast, they're all playthings that can be crushed with a casual squeeze."

Gu Sheng's offhand words made the two Douluos behind Bibi Dong, Chrysanthemum and Ghost, jolt inwardly.

A Soul Master with only a little over twenty levels dared to describe a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that had taken human form as "a mere rabbit" and "a plaything that can be crushed with a casual squeeze."

What kind of arrogance did it take to say that?

But when they remembered how Gu Sheng had purified the entire arena single-handedly, even triggering the God Trial seal and summoning the phantom of Holy Spectrum Puni, a being that made souls tremble...

The two Titled Douluos fell silent again.

This young man truly had the standing to say such things.

"Well said."

Bibi Dong withdrew her gaze, her eyes full of approval.

"What the Spirit Hall wants is precisely that sort of domineering spirit that sees all living beings in the world as ants."

Having said that, she looked down at the Shrek group once more.

"Sect Master Ning, Your Majesty."

"Will you still obstruct me from taking her?"

Bibi Dong's voice rang out once again.

"A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that has taken human form is the common enemy of every human Soul Master on the continent. Anyone who shelters her is no different from betraying humanity!"

"What is it, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? Will you stand with this beast, or does the Heaven Dou Empire intend to collude with an animal?"

Faced with Bibi Dong's soul-piercing question, Ning Fengzhi, who had still meant to say something, was rendered speechless.

He opened his mouth, only to realize he couldn't utter a single word.

On one side was the Spirit Hall, representing the pinnacle of the human Soul Master world. On the other was a little girl who was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form.

The two simply couldn't be compared.

Ning Fengzhi took a deep breath, slowly lowered his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Staff, and gave Sword Douluo Chen Xin a helpless look.

Seeing this, Chen Xin could only let out a soft sigh.

The Seven Kill Sword Intent that had been hovering in the air quietly vanished.

Emperor Xue Ye of the Heaven Dou Empire looked even more ashen.

Though he was the ruler of an empire, he couldn't shoulder the infamy of "sheltering a Soul Beast" when it came to such a matter of principle.

This concerned the Heaven Dou Empire's authority over the entire continent.

Emperor Xue Ye swept his sleeve around and returned to his seat. He closed his eyes and said nothing more.

His stance was already clear.

At that moment, Shrek Academy was left fighting alone.

"Dean, Aunt Erlong, Teacher Zhao..."

Tang San looked at the gazes gradually turning away around him, his heart filled with sorrow.

He knew no one could help them now.

"Brother, go."

Xiao Wu tugged at Tang San's sleeve, her voice choked with hopeless tears.

"They want me. Don't worry about me anymore."

Tang San abruptly turned around and gripped Xiao Wu's shoulders with both hands.

"Don't talk nonsense!"

"I said, if they want to take you, they'll have to step over my dead body!"

Tang San's eyes turned wild in that instant.

He raised his right hand, and a small, pitch-black hammer exuding a heavy aura slowly appeared in his palm.

The Clear Sky Hammer!

When the hammer appeared, Bibi Dong's eyes narrowed slightly on the platform.

"Someone from the Clear Sky Sect..."

Bibi Dong snorted, making no attempt to hide the killing intent in her eyes.

"If you want to die, then I'll grant your wish."

"Elder Ju, Ghost Elder, seize these two rebels as well!"

Yue Guan and Gui Mei exchanged a glance and immediately acted without hesitation. Their Soul Rings blazed brightly as they reached out toward Tang San and Xiao Wu.

The terrifying pressure of the Titled Douluos shook the ground around Tang San until it cracked apart inch by inch.

Tang San gritted his teeth, ready to fight to the death.

At this critical moment.

"Boom—"

A thunderous crash suddenly rang through the sky.

The sound came without warning, shaking the entire Martial Soul Grand Plaza violently.

The sky had been clear, but in that instant, it suddenly darkened.

A vast black cloud, without warning, enveloped the sky above the Pope's Palace.

"Chrysanthemum, Ghost."

"You two think you're worthy of laying a hand on my son?"

A wildly arrogant, domineering voice boomed down from within the black cloud like rolling thunder.

The voice contained an utterly overwhelming Soul Power.

It shook Yue Guan and Gui Mei, who were charging forward, to a sudden halt. Their expressions changed at once, and they hurriedly circulated their Soul Power to protect themselves.

"Tang Hao?!"

The instant Bibi Dong heard that name, her expression darkened.

Her beautiful eyes fixed on the sky.

Within the black cloud, a gigantic shadow was rapidly growing larger.

It was an enormous black hammer!

The hammer was pitch-black all over, carved with countless ancient, intricate patterns. It radiated a crushing aura that seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth.

Wherever the hammer passed, the air let out piercing explosions, unable to withstand the crushing pressure.

"Fall!"

A shout rang out from the empty sky.

The black hammer, as large as a small mountain, crashed down toward the center of the Pope's Palace plaza, carrying an endless pressure.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei's expressions changed drastically, and they frantically retreated.

"Boom!!"

The hammer struck the ground, and the entire plaza of the Pope's Palace split apart in an instant.

Countless shards of stone shot in every direction like bullets, kicking up a vast storm of dust.

And standing quietly atop the hammer was a man.

He was a middle-aged man who looked rather disheveled.

He wore a tattered gray robe. His hair was messy, his beard unkempt, and he even carried a faint smell of alcohol.

Yet this seemingly down-and-out man, simply by standing there, exuded an oppressive presence that made everyone present feel as though they were gazing up at a towering mountain.

At his feet,

rings of Soul Power slowly rose.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red!

When the final ring lit up—a ten-thousand-year red Soul Ring, symbolizing the supreme heights of the Soul Master World—

the entire plaza once again fell into deathly silence.

"Dad..."

Tang San stared blankly at the figure standing atop the giant hammer, his eyes instantly reddening.

He had always thought his father was merely an ordinary blacksmith.

But he had never imagined that his father was the Clear Sky Douluo, who had once shaken the world!

Tang Hao did not look at Tang San.

His slightly clouded eyes swept coldly over the surrounding members of Spirit Hall.

At last, his gaze fell on Bibi Dong.

"Bibi Dong, the debt Spirit Hall owes me from back then—I'll come to collect it sooner or later."

"Today, I'm taking these two children with me."