He had thought the commotion was finally over, but Tang Yu had no intention of letting it end there.
He slowly turned his head. His deep eyes, seemingly bottomless as an abyss, swept across the crowds before settling precisely on Yu Yuanzhen, the Sect Master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
The atmosphere across the plaza grew oppressive once more.
Tang Yu straightened his sleeves. His voice was calm, yet carried a pressure that chilled everyone to the bone:
"The ground of my mansion isn't something just any trash can stain with their blood."
"Sect Master Yu, don't you think you owe me an explanation?"
As soon as he said this, the entire crowd was stunned.
No one had expected Tang Yu to turn his sights on Yu Yuanzhen after punishing Yu Xiaogang.
He was the Sect Master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, after all.
A Super Douluo with Soul Power at level ninety-five, he was a top powerhouse who had long been renowned across the continent.
Yu Yuanzhen had already been sitting on pins and needles. At Tang Yu's blunt questioning, his expression darkened instantly.
He was the leader of one of the Upper Three Sects. Wherever he went, people had always looked up to him.
Today, he had brought lavish gifts to the banquet. After witnessing Tang Yu's strength, he had even made a huge concession in public to protect his clan, expelling Yu Xiaogang.
Yet Tang Yu still wanted to call him to account.
Yu Yuanzhen drew a deep breath, suppressing his anger as he replied in a low voice:
"Prince Wuyang, I already expelled that wretch Yu Xiaogang from the clan in front of everyone, and struck his name from the family register."
"He has absolutely nothing to do with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan anymore."
"Everything he did was the result of his own foolishness. What else does Prince Wuyang want me to answer for?"
Facing Yu Yuanzhen's question, Tang Yu gave a cold snort, a playful glint in his eyes:
"Expelled from the clan?"
"Yu Yuanzhen, what do you take this place for? You think you can shelter him when you want and kick him aside when you feel like it?"
"For twenty years, Yu Xiaogang has been swaggering around the Heaven Dou Empire and deceiving people. He's been living off the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's prestige and using your clan's name."
"Now that he's caused trouble, you think you can just brush it off with a single sentence? There's no such easy escape in this world."
As he spoke, Tang Yu slowly rose to his feet.
With his movement, a vast ocean of Soul Power rippled faintly through the air. Though he hadn't unleashed his full strength, the weight of that pressure, heavy as a mountain, still shook everyone present.
The powerful figures from the various factions around them couldn't help whispering among themselves.
"Isn't Prince Wuyang being a little too arrogant?"
"That's the Sect Master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the Upper Three Sects. Its ranks are filled with powerful experts, and its Martial Soul is hailed as the greatest Beast Martial Soul in the world."
"Even if his strength is extraordinary, isn't it a bit much to pressure a Super Douluo like this?"
"Exactly. Young people are bound to be hot-blooded, but if he really pushes the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan too far, no one will benefit."
In the eyes of many, Tang Yu's actions were too overbearing and unwise.
Hearing the faint murmurs around him, the pride and fury Yu Yuanzhen had kept suppressed finally erupted.
As the head of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, he had the pride of a true dragon flowing through his veins.
He could compromise with the strong for the sake of his clan, but that didn't mean he would let some junior trample his dignity underfoot.
Boom!
A violent surge of blue lightning burst from Yu Yuanzhen's body.
Brilliant arcs of electricity danced wildly over his skin, crackling and popping. The pressure of a level-ninety-five Super Douluo swept across the entire plaza without restraint.
Yu Yuanzhen glared at Tang Yu atop the platform, gritting his teeth as he growled:
"Tang Yu! I respect you as a noble of the Heaven Dou Empire, and I respect your strength, but that doesn't mean the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan fears you!"
"My clan has been passed down for ten thousand years and has deep foundations. How dare you humiliate us again and again here?"
"I've already done everything I can to make amends for what happened today."
"Don't forget, even before Emperor Xue Ye, I'm entitled to a measure of respect. He wouldn't dare treat the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan with such contempt!"
Yu Yuanzhen's voice rolled like muffled thunder, making the entire plaza tremble.
He had invoked the highest ruler of the Heaven Dou Empire, hoping to use the greater political balance to pressure Tang Yu into backing down.
In the Heaven Dou Empire, the Upper Three Sects held a lofty position. Even the royal family had to consider their stance when making any major decision.
Emperor Xue Ye had always sought to win over and appease the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He would never casually burn bridges with them.
Everyone watched Tang Yu.
They wanted to see how this newly appointed Prince Wuyang would handle Yu Yuanzhen invoking the Heaven Dou Imperial Family.
And yet—
When Tang Yu heard the words "Emperor Xue Ye," he showed not the slightest trace of apprehension. Instead, he laughed with reckless abandon.
His laughter rang out clearly amid the crackle of thunder, brimming with contempt and mockery.
"Emperor Xue Ye?"
Tang Yu stopped laughing, his expression turning icy in an instant. He spoke one word at a time:
"What is Emperor Xue Ye, that he thinks himself worthy of standing on equal terms with me?"
"What he doesn't dare do, I dare."
"Who he doesn't dare kill, I dare kill!"
The instant the words fell—
Rumble!
A pressure a hundred times more terrifying than before burst from Tang Yu, sweeping outward like landslides and crashing seas.
The immense Soul Power of a level-ninety-four Titled Douluo erupted without restraint, transforming into a massive pillar of dark red light that shot into the sky and tore the clouds apart.
The Forest of Eternal Treasures Domain unfurled in an instant.
The dark red domain covered the entire plaza. It was as though countless hideous fiends were roaring in the sky, while terrifying gravity and an aura that drained life spread wildly through every inch of space.
Before this power, Yu Yuanzhen's proud blue lightning was like a lone candle in a gale. It was ruthlessly suppressed and devoured, fading in the blink of an eye.
Yu Yuanzhen's face turned ghastly pale.
He felt as though two towering mountains were pressing down on his shoulders. His bones creaked under the strain, and the Soul Power circulating within him became unbearably sluggish beneath the domain's suppression.
He stared at Tang Yu atop the platform in utter shock, unable to believe that a youth in his teens could wield such terrifying dominance—one that seemed to surpass even the limits of a level-ninety-five powerhouse.
Tang Yu stood at the edge of the platform, looking down at Yu Yuanzhen and at the powerful figures from every faction, all trembling below.
His black robes snapped in the gale, and his entire presence exuded the domineering air of one who looked down upon the heavens.
"On Douluo Continent, those who follow me prosper, and those who oppose me perish."
"Under heaven, I alone reign supreme!"
Not a sound stirred across the vast plaza of the Blue Silver King Mansion.
Only the gale continued to howl overhead.
Every noble and powerful sect expert present drew a sharp breath.
Yu Yuanzhen stood where he was, hearing those words of unbridled arrogance.
When had the Sect Master of the mighty Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan ever been humiliated to his face like this?
His chest heaved violently.
The rage he had forced down finally broke through the bounds of reason.
"Brat, do you really think you're invincible?"
Yu Yuanzhen jerked his head up, his eyes blazing with fury.
He had planned to keep yielding, hoping only to protect his clan's bloodline.
Who could have guessed that Tang Yu would keep pressing him, refusing even to respect the Heaven Dou Imperial Family?
Even a clay figurine had a temper.
And he was a true dragon who had dominated the continent for decades!
"If I don't teach you a lesson today, how will the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan ever show its face in this world again?"
Yu Yuanzhen roared.
Before his voice had even faded, his lean frame shuddered violently.
Boom!
Violent lightning surged from his body.
Blue bolts of electricity wound around his limbs like swimming dragons.
With a deafening dragon's roar, Yu Yuanzhen's body began to change dramatically.
Layer upon layer of blue-violet scales burst through his skin.
His hands transformed into sharp dragon claws.
He had fused with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul!
Right after—
Brilliant lights rose one after another from beneath his feet.
Yellow! Yellow! Purple! Purple! Black! Black! Black! Black! Black!
A full nine Soul Rings circled his body, rising and falling.
The terrifying aura of a level-ninety-five Super Douluo erupted without restraint.
Waves of Soul Power, visible to the naked eye, surged wildly outward in every direction.
Several banquet tables and chairs nearby were instantly overturned by the force.
The sound of shattering cups and plates rang out all at once.
The guests were driven back again and again by the waves of power.
Yet there was little fear in their eyes. Instead, irrepressible excitement welled up within them.
The powerful figures from the various factions exchanged glances.
Everyone could see the barely contained fervor in the others' eyes.
"Sect Master Yu is finally making his move!"
A noble from Heaven Dou City cried out, keeping his voice low.
"Tang Yu is far too arrogant. Does he really think Douluo Continent belongs to him alone?"
"Exactly! He doesn't even take a Sect Master of the Upper Three Sects seriously. Someone ought to step up and put him in his place."
"The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon is the greatest Beast Martial Soul in the world, and Sect Master Yu is a level-ninety-five Super Douluo."
"Even if Tang Yu has that strange domain, he may not be able to beat this enraged old dragon!"
"Let them fight. The best outcome is for both sides to suffer!"
The sect representatives and nobles hiding behind the crowd usually held themselves high above everyone else.
But today, Tang Yu had treated them like grandchildren and kept them under his thumb.
They had long been choking on their resentment.
Now that Yu Yuanzhen had finally dared to stand up against Tang Yu's tyranny, they couldn't have been more pleased.
Everyone's eyes widened, afraid they might miss a single detail of this peak duel.
Atop the platform—
Tang Yu looked coldly at Yu Yuanzhen, whose body was wreathed in lightning.
He heard the whispers around him, buzzing like flies.
His expression didn't change in the slightest.
"Teach me a lesson?"
Tang Yu let out a scoff, not moving an inch.
"You think a bloodline-impure worm like you is worthy?"
He didn't even release his Martial Soul.
He merely raised his right hand and abruptly clenched his five fingers in empty space.
"Forest of Eternal Treasures."
There were no flashy gestures or lengthy incantations.
Only four words.
In an instant, every color in the world was stripped away.
The dark red glow that had only covered the edges of the plaza surged outward like a broken dam.
Hum!
A piercing wail rang through the void.
The dark red domain expanded several times over, swallowing the entire front courtyard of the Blue Silver King Mansion.
Everyone present, whether nobles eagerly watching the spectacle or sect experts standing ready, was forcibly dragged into this lightless space.
Oppression.
Absolute oppression.
A weight like Mount Tai pressing down crashed onto everyone's shoulders.
The guests who had been whispering to each other a moment earlier couldn't move so much as a finger.
They were like insects trapped in amber, frozen in place by the earth.
Even breathing became unbearably difficult.
Fear slithered through everyone's heart like a venomous snake.
They discovered that the Soul Power within them had stopped circulating.
Even experts who had reached the Soul Douluo level couldn't draw on the slightest trace of power in this domain.
This wasn't a battle at all.
It was a one-sided slaughter!
Xue Qinghe, standing behind Tang Yu, was also within the domain's range.
Tang Yu had deliberately spared the area where she stood.
Even so.
Xue Qinghe could still clearly feel the destructive aura filling the space.
Her beautiful eyes widened slightly as she stared blankly at the figure ahead, whose back loomed like a demon god's.
"Just how terrifying is this power...?"
Xue Qinghe cried out inwardly in shock.
She wasn't someone who had never seen the world.
As the young master of Spirit Hall and Qian Daoliu's granddaughter, she had witnessed the might of far too many peak experts.
Yet before the dark-red domain before her, all those powers seemed so dim and insignificant.
This domain contained not only extreme gravitational suppression.
It even held a strange rule that could forcibly strip others of their Soul Power and vitality.
She couldn't even imagine how many seconds she would last if Tang Yu turned this power on her.
"It seems I still underestimated him."
"This man's strength has definitely surpassed the limits of what should be possible."
Xue Qinghe took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the shock in his heart.
Far away, in a shadowy corner of the plaza,
Tang Hao, draped in a tattered cloak, gripped the stone wall beside him.
The hard granite crumbled to dust beneath his terrifying grip.
His bloodshot eyes widened.
As the Clear Sky Douluo who possessed the Divine Slaughter's Domain,
Tang Hao's sensitivity to domain-type abilities far surpassed that of ordinary people.
When the dark-red light swept across the edge of his hiding place, the Divine Slaughter's Domain within him instinctively trembled.
It was the absolute submission of a lower power before a higher one.
"Impossible..."
Tang Hao clenched his teeth, breathing heavily through his throat.
"My Divine Slaughter's Domain was formed from Asura Divine Power. How could it possibly be suppressed?"
He carefully sensed the power of the laws permeating the air.
The more he sensed, the more horrified he became.
The domain Tang Yu had unleashed was far more than a simple boost or reduction to Soul Power.
It was rewriting the laws of heaven and earth in this space.
"This power... couldn't be wielded without a foundation of at least a hundred-thousand-year level."
"Perhaps... perhaps it's already nearing the threshold of the divine realm!"