Xing Tian flipped through books about Titled Douluo. His purpose, of course, was to search for information on his enemy, Clear Sky Douluo.
In his eyes, Clear Sky Douluo was incredibly powerful, but also a coward—nothing more than a rat scraping out a wretched existence in a dark ditch.
Though he looked down on him, Xing Tian couldn't deny that a man like this was extremely dangerous, because he had no scruples.
That was why Xing Tian hadn't told Ye Renxin that Clear Sky Douluo had killed him, nor had he asked Dugu Bo.
"Found him! Clear Sky Douluo—Tang Hao!"
A murderous glint and fierce excitement flashed in Xing Tian's pair of purple, evil eyes. If he hadn't known Ye Lingling and Osler were nearby, he wouldn't have been able to hold back his killing intent.
The book's account of Tang Hao was indeed vague, with very little detail.
Tang Hao hailed from the Clear Sky Sect, the foremost of the Seven Great Sects and the foremost of the Upper Three Sects. His Martial Soul was the Clear Sky Hammer, possessed only by direct descendants, and hailed as the world's greatest tool-type Martial Soul.
It possessed an incomparably overbearing strength and the greatest destructive power. Upon Martial Soul Awakening, it weighed five hundred jin.
The Clear Sky Sect had been passed down for a thousand years. Every generation reliably produced at least two Titled Douluo, and the sect possessed a complete set of Self-Created Soul Skills unique to the Clear Sky Hammer.
In their youth, Tang Hao and his elder brother Tang Xiao were the two most outstanding direct descendants of the Clear Sky Sect. They were the leading figures of its new generation, acclaimed as the "Clear Sky Twin Stars."
At twenty, Tang Hao was hailed as the greatest of the younger generation.
At twenty-six, he broke through to Soul Emperor, then disappeared for two years.
At thirty, he broke through to Soul Saint, and his cultivation gradually caught up with that of his elder brother Tang Xiao, who was fifteen years his senior.
That same year, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao were ordered to go out and gain experience by the Clear Sky Sect's leader at the time, Wei Tian Douluo Tang Wei. Tang Hao was also designated as the next sect leader's successor.
It was said that during his travels, Tang Hao, while at Soul Douluo rank, smashed a leg of a Spirit Hall elder who had come to challenge him—a Titled Douluo.
At forty-four, Tang Hao clashed violently with Spirit Hall. The Pope at the time, Qian Xunji, led two guardian elders of Titled Douluo rank, along with several Soul Douluo- and Soul Saint-level experts, to encircle and kill him.
It was then that Tang Hao broke through to Titled Douluo, becoming the youngest Titled Douluo in history. He fought them for three days and three nights before finally breaking through the encirclement. One of the two Titled Douluo elders died, the other was gravely wounded, and former Pope Qian Xunji was also severely injured. A few months later, he succumbed to his injuries.
After Tang Hao hammered the Pope to death, Spirit Hall flew into a rage and launched an attack on the Clear Sky Sect.
Yet Tang Hao disappeared at that very moment, vanishing without a trace.
Unable to withstand Spirit Hall's pressure, the Clear Sky Sect announced that it was closing its gates and withdrawing from the world. Only then did Spirit Hall call off its attack.
Xing Tian sneered inwardly. So this is the mighty Clear Sky Douluo? The youngest Titled Douluo in history, and when his sect was in the greatest danger, he didn't even show his face. What a coward, hiding in his shell!
Alongside his scorn, Xing Tian had plenty of questions. Even if the Clear Sky Sect can't match Spirit Hall, it's still the greatest sect under heaven, while Spirit Hall is the leading organization in the Soul Master World. Why did the Pope bring so many experts to encircle and kill Tang Hao? If word got out, it would seriously damage Spirit Hall's reputation.
And the Clear Sky Sect got Spirit Hall to withdraw just by abandoning its affiliated sects and retreating behind closed gates? That doesn't make sense. Their own leader was killed. Even if they didn't wipe out the other side, they should at least have killed enough of them to count on one hand. How could it have ended so easily?
Xing Tian's expression grew more and more grave, because those weren't even the most suspicious points.
The most suspicious thing is, how did Tang Hao break through to Titled Douluo in the middle of that battle?
I don't believe this means he went from level 89 to level 90. Without a ninth ring, what gives him the right to be called a Titled Douluo?
And I don't believe that with only eight rings and level 90 cultivation, he could break through the encirclement of so many experts.
Then how did Tang Hao get his ninth Soul Ring on the battlefield? Even if he really did, how could he absorb it? The people from Spirit Hall would surely have interrupted him!
Xing Tian's questions multiplied, and his thoughts sank deeper and deeper.
Also, even if Tang Hao really did succeed in absorbing a Soul Ring, setting aside the Soul Douluo and Soul Saint, since a Titled Douluo crushes lower-ranked Soul Masters...
No matter how much of a genius Tang Hao was, no matter how powerful the Clear Sky Hammer was, a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring couldn't possibly have let him kill one Titled Douluo and gravely wound two more. It had to be a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring.
At that thought, Xing Tian formed a startling theory.
Wait! A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring! No one interrupted him... a sacrifice!
A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's sacrifice!
Senior Dugu once said that a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's sacrifice couldn't be interrupted. A Soul Master could perfectly absorb the Soul Ring and Soul Bone, and recover to peak condition.
That explains the first question. There must have been a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast beside Tang Hao. That would have been enough to make Spirit Hall encircle and kill him.
But Xing Tian came up with another question.
No, that's not right. Why would a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast follow Tang Hao? How did he tame it? And why would a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast willingly sacrifice itself? Besides, a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast should be enormous. There's no way Spirit Hall would have discovered it so late—or that Spirit Hall would have been the only ones to find it.
If Tang Hao and Qian Xunji had known what Xing Tian had guessed, they would have been utterly astonished.
Outsiders had never been able to figure out what had happened between them back then. Even the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, both fellow members of the Upper Three Sects, only knew that the two sides had fought over a priceless treasure.
Yet Xing Tian, who had barely gained a full understanding of the Soul Master system and the Soul Master World, had pieced together most of the truth from this small amount of vague information in a book.
If only Xing Tian had known that a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could take human form, all his questions would have vanished.
After learning about Tang Hao, Xing Tian lost interest in the book. He merely flipped through it casually and learned which Titled Douluo were relatively active on the continent.
There was the independent Jade Phosphorus Douluo, Dugu Bo; the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's two guardian Douluo, Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong; the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's leader, Thunder Douluo Yu Yuanzhen; and Spirit Hall's Pope Bibi Dong and two elders, Ghost Douluo Gui Mei and Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan.
Then Xing Tian turned to books on Soul Tools and gained a rough understanding of them.
The most important part of a Soul Tool was actually its Soul Guidance Core Array, discovered by a powerful spiritual-type Soul Master long ago.
Each array had a different structure and function. This was also the most difficult problem to overcome in Soul Tool research.
Since different arrays had different functions, one had to memorize all kinds of arrays by rote.
But ninety-nine percent of the Soul Tools currently in circulation were for civilian use or storage, so there were very few kinds of arrays available to study.
There was also the problem of inscribing the arrays.
It required not only compressing Soul Power into a tiny point, but also a Soul Master with considerable mental power.
Only with sufficient concentration could someone inscribe a precise array. Otherwise, the array would not last, and the material it was inscribed on would be damaged.
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