At that moment, heaven and earth lost their color!
"No!!!"
Qian Xunji let out a terrified scream, pouring every last ounce of strength into urging his Angel Martial Soul to defend him.
But this strike fused Tang Hao with the power his wife had given up her life to offer. He had burned through all his Soul Rings and wagered everything on this blow of vengeance!
The hammer fell!
A black pillar of light, impossible to describe in words, swept across the land.
The two Spirit Hall Titled Douluo caught in its path didn't even have time to scream before the blow smashed them to death.
The Angel Holy Armor covering Qian Xunji shattered piece by piece. As if struck by ten thousand bolts of lightning, he spat out a mouthful of blood and was sent flying, his life force instantly dwindling to almost nothing.
He looked at Tang Hao, who seemed like a demon god descended upon the world, and his eyes filled with a terror he had never felt before.
He could no longer afford to preserve the dignity of the Pope. Burning his Soul Power, he turned into a streak of light and fled into the distance in utter disarray.
The might of a single hammer blow: two Titled Douluo killed instantly, and the Pope of Spirit Hall gravely wounded!
At that moment, all of Douluo Continent fell silent.
On the Sky Screen, the black pillar of light that had seemed to destroy heaven and earth slowly faded, revealing the devastated landscape.
Tang Hao knelt on one knee, his body swaying. Mouthful after mouthful of blood poured from his lips, soaking the front of his shirt red.
The backlash from Ring Detonation had nearly destroyed every meridian in his body.
He didn't even have the strength to pursue the fleeing Qian Xunji.
Tang Hao lowered his head and looked at the baby sleeping peacefully in his arms. The infant's delicate face, so much like Ah Yin's, restored a trace of tenderness to his heart, which had been consumed by rage and hatred.
With trembling hands, Tang Hao tucked the warm Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone and the seed that represented hope into his clothes. Then, with the last of his strength, he rose to his feet and carried the child away, staggering step by step into the depths of the forest.
He was no longer the bold and spirited Clear Sky Douluo. Now, he was a father who had lost the love of his life and carried a blood feud on his shoulders.
When Tang Hao's figure vanished completely, the Sky Screen's image slowly darkened as well.
The silence that had fallen over the continent erupted! Discussion crashed through every corner like a stormy sea.
"My god... So that's the Clear Sky Douluo!
Is that the power of the world's greatest weapon-type Martial Soul?
He fought three alone, killed two Titled Douluo instantly, and gravely wounded the Pope!"
"How tragic... He was willing to burn his rings and fight to the death to protect his wife and child!
Tang Hao's a true man!"
"Wait, I have a question!
Hasn't Spirit Hall always claimed that the former Pope, Qian Xunji, died at Tang Hao's hands?
But on the Sky Screen, Qian Xunji clearly escaped, gravely wounded!"
The question immediately stirred up a storm of debate.
"That's right! He escaped! Did Spirit Hall tell a monstrous lie to pin the crime of 'murdering the Pope' on Tang Hao?"
However, a Soul Master with greater knowledge soon stepped forward to refute them:
"Are you stupid?
Didn't you see the state Qian Xunji was in at the end?
His Angel Holy Armor was shattered, and his Martial Soul had nearly been smashed apart. He was covered in blood. Even a god couldn't have saved him from those injuries!
Even if he made it back to Spirit Hall, he would still have died from his wounds!
When all's said and done, Tang Hao's hammer was what killed him!"
At these words, everyone suddenly understood, and their awe of Tang Hao deepened.
Inside the Papal Palace, Bibi Dong watched the Sky Screen, the corner of her mouth curling into a cold smile that no one noticed.
"Died of his wounds? Heh..."
Bibi Dong laughed coldly to herself.
"Qian Xunji, you escaped Tang Hao's killing blow, but you couldn't escape my grasp.
If Tang Hao hadn't beaten you to the brink of death, how could I have devoured you so easily...?"
The Sky Screen's account continued despite the commotion outside.
The image lit up again, and the narrator's voice turned low and sorrowful.
[After this battle, the name of the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao, shook the continent and struck fear into Spirit Hall.
But from that moment on, he seemed to vanish from the world, disappearing without a trace.]
[To escape Spirit Hall's relentless pursuit, and to protect the bloodline his wife had given her life for, the once-famous genius put aside all his glory and sharpness.]
The scene shifted. The towering peaks and battlefield of the past were gone.
In their place stood a remote, peaceful, and somewhat dilapidated little village.
[With the baby in his arms, he went to Nuoding City in the south of the Heaven Dou Empire. There, in a place outside the city called Holy Soul Village, he lived in seclusion under an assumed name.]
The camera drew closer. An old blacksmith's shop appeared before everyone.
In the image, a tall man with a face full of stubble and clothes in tatters blankly swung a hammer, clanging away at a piece of red-hot iron.
A cheap wine jug sat beside him.
So dejected and disheveled was he that he seemed like a completely different person from the Clear Sky Douluo who had once dominated the world!
Countless Soul Masters across the continent who had once admired Tang Hao felt their hearts break at the sight.
"No... How is this possible?
That... That's Tang Hao?"
"A hero in his twilight... For his child, he actually... actually let himself sink this low!"
The Sky Screen's image finally settled on the doorway of the blacksmith's shop.
A little boy of about five or six, dressed simply but with clear eyes, was standing on tiptoe, struggling to make a meal.
The narrator's voice rang out slowly, bringing this legendary tale's opening chapter to a temporary close.
[The Clear Sky Douluo of the past was dead. All that remained was a blacksmith named Tang Hao and a child called Tang San.]
As the image on the Sky Screen settled on the dilapidated blacksmith's shop in Holy Soul Village, an eerie silence fell over the Shrek Academy examination grounds.
The examination, which had been suspended because of the Sky Screen's account, no longer mattered to anyone.
Everyone's eyes—Dai Mubai's and Oscar's, as well as Zhu Zhuqing's, Ning Rongrong's, and Xiao Wu's—
and even those of teachers like Flender and Zhao Wuji, all converged on Tang San like searchlights.
Their gazes were filled with shock, disbelief, and a hint of curiosity.
Dai Mubai took a deep breath. His eyes held an unprecedented mix of emotions as he became the first to break the silence, asking in a somewhat hoarse voice:
"Xiao San... No, Tang San, you... You couldn't be that child on the Sky Screen... could you?
The Clear Sky Douluo... is your father?"
His voice wasn't loud, but in the silence, it rang out as clearly as thunder.
Xiao Wu gripped Tang San's arm tightly, her little face pale. Her voice carried a faint, almost imperceptible tremble:
"Third Brother, is what he said... true?"
Her heart was racing, but it wasn't entirely because of the shock.
A fear born of instinct had seized her.
A Titled Douluo!
Third Brother's father was actually the legendary Titled Douluo who stood at the pinnacle of the Soul Masters!
Before you continue