Tang San's mind went buzz.
Half a month ago, she had been only a sixty-ninth-rank Soul Master. Now, as she faced him head-on, she had actually held her ground?
Absolutely impossible.
He was the inheritor of the Sea God, the man chosen by the Asura God, the universally acknowledged heaven's favorite on the entire continent—
How could he possibly be stopped by a woman who had risen in rank by relying on someone else's betrothal gifts?
"Again!"
The Sea God Trident spun, and golden blades of light carved three afterimages, striking simultaneously from the left, center, and right.
This was a variation of the Sea God Sword Technique—Trident Sea-Splitting.
Hu Liena's three fox tails lashed out at once. One blocked the left, another whipped toward the right, and the third coiled around the trident's blade in the middle.
Clang, clang, clang—!
The three impacts rang out almost as one.
The first strike was blocked.
The second was deflected by half an inch, its blade of light grazing her ribs and tearing a slit in her clothes.
The third—
"Ugh!"
Hu Liena grunted as she was hurled sideways. A two-inch gash opened across her left shoulder, blood welling up and running down her arm to her fingertips.
Tang San had used a feint for his third strike. It looked like a thrust, but the instant he moved, he twisted the shaft and turned it into a sweep.
Combat experience.
Half a month ago, Hu Liena had still been a sixty-ninth-rank Soul Master. Though her Soul Power now far surpassed that of others at the same rank, her body's instincts were still stuck in the past.
Her reactions were faster, her judgment sharper, but the instinct to adapt in the heat of battle—
The kind of fighting intuition honed through hundreds and thousands of life-and-death battles—couldn't be built up by piling on Soul Power.
Tang San, on the other hand, had been rolling around in piles of corpses since the age of ten. The Capital of Slaughter, the Nine Trials of the Sea God—his countless brushes with death had honed his battle instincts to their limit.
After ten exchanges, another wound appeared on Hu Liena's right arm.
After twenty, the wind from a trident strike swept across her back. A large section of her clothes tore, and beads of blood seeped through.
Thirty exchanges.
Hu Liena's breathing began to grow ragged.
The purplish-gold glow around her fox tails had dimmed by a third. Blood kept flowing from her left shoulder, and her arm had gone so numb and sore she could barely lift it.
Grinding her teeth, she retreated a step, her fox tails raised in front of her as she seized a brief moment to catch her breath.
Tang San didn't give her the chance.
The Sea God Trident chased after her, its golden trail drawing an arc through the night as it thrust straight toward her throat.
Hu Liena twisted aside, but she was half a beat slower than before. The trident's blade grazed her cheek, and a lock of black hair drifted down.
It hurt. Her face burned, and warm liquid trickled down her jaw.
But she didn't retreat.
Her three fox tails whipped back around and wrapped around the trident's shaft, trying to wrench the weapon from his grasp.
Tang San gave a cold laugh.
Soul Power poured into the shaft, and golden light flared.
The Sea God's Power crushed the purplish-gold glow around her fox tails. One, then another—With a hiss, the third tail was knocked away, its white fur scorched in patches.
Hu Liena stumbled backward.
"Nana!"
Xie Yue's anguished shout came from the side.
He had somehow gotten back to his feet. Blood still ran from the wound in his left shoulder, and his right leg could barely support him. He staggered toward them.
Hu Liena didn't have time to stop him.
Xie Yue released his Martial Soul. A gray-white Moon Blade formed in his right palm as he attacked from behind Tang San's right side.
Tang San didn't even turn his head.
His left hand slipped free of the trident's shaft, and he struck backward with his palm.
There was no fancy technique to it, just a horizontal palm strike infused with the pure force of an eighty-third-rank Soul Master.
The palm wind sliced through the air with a shrill whistle.
The blow landed squarely on Xie Yue's chest.
The sound of bones breaking rang clear.
Xie Yue's body flew away—not stumbled back, but was hurled through the air.
He sailed over ten zhang before slamming back-first into a stone pillar of the Pope Palace. The pillar cracked nearly in half, sending fragments flying.
He slid down the pillar and fell to his knees. Blood sprayed from his mouth, splattering the ground. He braced a hand against the earth, trying to stand, but his arm shook three times before he collapsed facedown.
He couldn't get back up.
"Brother—!"
Hu Liena's scream split the night sky.
She tried to rush over, but Tang San's Sea God Trident blocked her path.
Its golden blade stretched across her way, shining with a cold light.
Tang San stood three steps away.
That flurry of attacks had cost him a fair amount of Soul Power, but his expression wasn't one of exhaustion. It was delight.
It was the twisted pleasure of finally finding an outlet for half a month's worth of pent-up frustration.
"Hu Liena."
His lips spread into a grin, baring his teeth.
"Hand over the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron, and I can spare your life."
He paused for a beat.
"And your good-for-nothing brother's."
Hu Liena stood rooted to the spot.
Blood still flowed from her left shoulder. The wound on her cheek burned fiercely. Her three fox tails drooped, their white tips stained dark red.
There wasn't a single part of her that didn't hurt.
Xie Yue lay motionless more than ten zhang away.
The Fate-Suppressing Cauldron was something he had given her.
That man she'd never met had placed a treasure capable of changing the balance of the entire continent in her hands. He hadn't done so for her to hand it over at the first threat.
Hu Liena raised the back of her hand and wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
A streak of blood marked her hand. She couldn't tell whether it came from the corner of her mouth or had run down from the wound on her arm.
She looked at Tang San.
"Keep dreaming."
She bit out the three words, each one perfectly clear.
Tang San's grin froze for an instant.
Hu Liena raised her six fox tails again, though two of them were trembling.
Smoke still curled from the fur on the third, but all six stood straight, poised to attack.
"The Fate-Suppressing Cauldron is mine."
She spoke each word slowly and firmly.
"Even if I die here, I won't give it to you."
The smile vanished from Tang San's face completely.
A layer of frost took its place.
"Then die."
He raised the Sea God Trident.
The remnants of his Sea God's Power poured madly into its shaft, and golden light blazed to its limit.
A visible golden vortex condensed around the three blades of the trident—the sign that all his power was being compressed into a single point.
One strike to kill.
Hu Liena didn't close her eyes.
The Sea God Trident rose above Tang San's head. Golden light swallowed him whole, and the blade tilted toward Hu Liena—
Then.
Dawn broke.
Not as a figure of speech. The sky literally grew bright.
Ten thousand beams of golden light poured down from the highest heavens, a hundred times more dazzling than the midday sun.
In an instant, the night over the entire Spirit City was torn apart. The deep blue sky turned into a pure, searing gold.
Everyone froze at the same moment.
Tang Hao's hand stopped in midair, the Clear Sky Hammer raised above him.
Bibi Dong's Rakshasa Demon Scythe hung at her side.
Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo stood with their mouths agape, their stiff necks turning toward the sky.
Tang San's trident was still raised overhead. Beside that boundless golden radiance, the golden Sea God's Power looked pathetically insignificant.
He stood rigid, a chill shooting up his spine from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
"Wh..."
His throat tightened, and the word broke off halfway.
"Why is it happening again?!"
Within the golden light, that vast, solemn Sanskrit chant that crossed the endless reaches of time rang out across heaven and earth for the third time.
Hu Liena lifted her head.
The golden light filled the sky and fell upon her battered face, forcing her to squint. But the corners of her mouth lifted.
They lifted on their own, instinctively.
The Nine-Tailed Fox Seal between her brows suddenly grew scorching hot, its pulse racing.
She knew the feeling all too well. Last time, the Primordial Spirit Bead had descended. The time before that, the Fate-Suppressing Cauldron had appeared.
Each time, he had protected her.
Each time, it had come at exactly the right moment.
Shen Yichen... you've come again.
The Sanskrit chant reverberated across heaven and earth, clear and impossible to defy, reaching every ear—
"The third Celestial Master Betrothal Gift—is about to descend!"
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