Yue Guan raised his pinkie, pointing at the Golden Light Eagle from afar. His voice was thick with undisguised mockery. "You Golden Light Eagle can't hit the broad side of a barn. What a waste of the opening your little rabbit made for you."
Halfway through, he lifted a foot to retreat.
But in the next instant, the smile on Yue Guan's face froze.
No matter how far he stepped back, he didn't move an inch!
At last, Yue Guan realized what was happening.
Someone had pinned his shadow to the ground!
Before he could figure out how to break free of the shadow, a sound like rolling thunder erupted—the beating of wings.
A pair of Dark Gold Bone Wings slowly unfurled overhead, blotting out the sky.
Lightning coursed across their surface. Every wing bone radiated a hair-raising aura of destruction. As the wings spread wide, the thunder of heaven and earth answered their call, and the entire sky seemed to tremble beneath them.
Titan Giant Ape Er Ming rose completely out of the earth.
His body swelled with the wind, his muscles bulging in layers like mountains, while blinding lightning coiled around him from head to toe.
In just a few breaths, he had grown so enormous that Chrysanthemum Douluo had to crane his neck to see him in full.
Then he raised his right palm.
Within the palm of that hand, larger than a house, countless bolts of lightning fell simultaneously from the nine heavens. Each was as thick as an arm, and all poured into his palm.
It was as if nothing remained between heaven and earth but that dazzling sea of lightning.
Yue Guan stared at that palm. His mind went blank with a buzz.
During the day, this beast had beaten Golden Crocodile Douluo to a pulp!
And now he had to take that strike himself?
The palm hadn't even fallen yet, but its gust had already shattered every last flagstone beneath Yue Guan's feet.
The gale pressed his robes tightly against his body and swept the loose hair from his forehead straight back.
"Martial Soul Avatar!!!"
Yue Guan's scream was nearly hysterical.
The Seventh Soul Ring beneath his feet suddenly blazed. Layer upon layer of golden, chrysanthemum-shaped shields burst from his body—nine in all, each containing every last bit of his Titled Douluo-level Soul Power.
The densely packed petals wove together in the air, wrapping him up like an enormous chrysanthemum on the verge of blooming.
But before the lightning, that chrysanthemum was as tiny as a speck of dust.
Thunderlight Palm crashed down.
The nine layers of petal-shaped shields shattered one after another. Fragments of Soul Power burst apart, turning into countless golden specks that vanished into the night sky.
The defense Yue Guan had erected with every last drop of his Titled Douluo-level Soul Power was as fragile before that palm as a paper lantern.
All he could see was the outline of that palm growing larger and larger. Every sound in the world vanished from his ears.
An unprecedented aura of death rushed toward him!
"Pfft—!"
Yue Guan spent the last of his Soul Power to summon his Soul Bone.
It was a plate-shaped Soul Bone embedded at the center of his chest, gleaming dark gold from end to end. Dozens of ancient patterns flowed across its surface, each one containing the finest essence of his century of cultivation as a Soul Master.
He had kept this Soul Bone hidden for sixty whole years. Even Gui Mei didn't know about it.
It had been his trump card to save his life when he eventually tried to break through to a higher realm, but right now, he couldn't afford to care about that.
The instant the Soul Bone plate burst open, a pillar of dark-golden light shot into the sky and collided head-on with the descending Thunderlight Palm.
Rumble—!!!
Centered on the collision, the ground sank a foot across a radius of a hundred zhang.
The shock wave ground every remaining wall and ruin into dust.
The last few intact halls in the side palace district collapsed all at once. Broken tiles and splintered beams sprayed in every direction like a downpour.
The shock wave continued spreading until it had reached a hundred zhang away, then gradually faded.
The dust slowly settled.
Yue Guan knelt in the center of the ruins, drenched in blood.
His left arm hung at his side at a grotesque angle; his shoulder blade was shattered.
The life-saving Soul Bone plate on his chest had lost all its luster. Its surface was webbed with cracks, and the slightest touch would reduce it to pieces.
Blood seeped from all seven apertures. Every breath forced a ragged, blood-flecked wheeze from his throat.
"What are you doing...?"
Yue Guan's voice was hoarse and weak. It took all he had to force the words out of his throat.
"You tore Spirit Hall apart once already, and that still wasn't enough? Now you dare come back for a second round? Are you declaring war on Spirit Hall?!"
The beast tide during the day had killed plenty of low-ranking attendants, and two Titled Douluo elders had been punched into critical condition, but Spirit Hall's foundations hadn't truly been shaken.
Aside from Golden Crocodile Douluo, hardly any of the lords from the Worship Hall had even lifted a finger. Grand High Priest Qian Daoliu hadn't shown his face at all.
As Chrysanthemum Douluo saw it, that had already been tremendous restraint on Spirit Hall's part.
So why had they come back?
Why were they determined to wipe them out?
The Golden Light Eagle slowly landed on Er Ming's shoulder and folded its wings. Its dark-golden eyes looked down at Chrysanthemum Douluo, kneeling on the ground.
"You dared lay a hand on our Princess Xiao Wu. So what if we declare war?"
It paused, its tone full of scorn and pride.
"Got a problem with that?"
"Then do as we did. Go slaughter your way into the Star Dou Forest."
Yue Guan: "..."
A complicated mix of indignation and absurdity welled up inside him.
Spirit Hall was the most powerful force on the continent, with at least seven Titled Douluo in its ranks, not to mention Limit Douluo Qian Daoliu commanding the Worship Hall.
Such strength was enough to make any sect on the continent tremble in fear. Even the two empires dared not provoke them lightly.
Yet here he was, kneeling among the ruins and drenched in blood, without even understanding why the other side was fighting so desperately.
How had this little rabbit become a princess?
The Star Dou Forest didn't even have a king!
Yue Guan took a deep breath and forced his complaints back down.
Since he couldn't win, he decided to try explaining things and buy some time.
"Though we were the ones who made the first move today..."
"But the truth is, Tang San exposed your Princess Xiao Wu. Why are you coming after us?"
If Tang San hadn't pulled all those stunts at the Soul Master Tournament and exposed Xiao Wu as a hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast, would Spirit Hall have pursued her?
If Tang San hadn't brought Xiao Wu to Spirit City, would any of this have happened?
At the end of the day, Spirit Hall was the one that had been wronged!
Now Spirit Hall's roof had been ripped off, and its main hall reduced to ruins.
Two Titled Douluo elders were still laid up in the side palace, and Gui Mei had nearly been beaten into a dead dog.
If Yue Guan hadn't summoned his life-saving Soul Bone at the critical moment, he probably wouldn't even have the strength to speak now.
And after all that, he still had to let them beat him senseless?
Where was the justice?
Where was the law?!
The Golden Light Eagle tilted its head, looking Chrysanthemum Douluo up and down with its dark-golden eyes. Then it continued its tirade:
"We'll settle Tang San's score another day."
"For today, we'll just collect a little interest."
For fuck's sake... The blood Yue Guan had been holding back in his chest finally burst free.
Interest?
Since when had Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan fallen so low that he had to pay someone else's debts?!
Was there any justice left?
Was there any law?!
Before you continue