"Death God Light, Death God Light..."
With death closing in, Ye Xishui could no longer remain calm.
She frantically drove the Death God Tower, while pouring every last bit of Soul Power in her body into her ninth Soul Skill.
Ye Xishui had only one thought now.
To survive...
Unfortunately!
That hope of Ye Xishui's was nothing more than a fantasy.
Who was Qian Daoliu, after all?
To put it in a single sentence, he was the stern father of Evil Soul Masters.
If even one Evil Soul Master managed to survive a fight with Qian Daoliu, that would mean Qian Daoliu had failed.
The golden light faded...
Only Qian Daoliu remained on the arena.
The battle had lasted less than a minute, from beginning to end.
Ye Xishui had been killed instantly by Qian Daoliu.
It had happened so fast that countless people were still stunned.
"What just happened?"
"A battle between Limit Douluo ended that quickly?"
Ning Fengzhi's eyes widened as he rose to his feet in disbelief.
It wasn't as if he had never seen Titled Douluo fight.
Generally speaking, the stronger the combatants, the longer and fiercer the battle.
What was more, Ye Xishui had displayed enough power to destroy an entire sect.
A single blast of Death God Light from the Death God Tower would leave anyone but Qian Daoliu either dead or crippled.
And a powerhouse of that caliber had been killed instantly by Qian Daoliu in under a minute.
This was utterly ridiculous.
If he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, Ning Fengzhi would never have believed it.
"It seems the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect will have to keep a low profile for a while."
Ning Fengzhi shuddered at the thought.
With Qian Daoliu nowhere to be seen before, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had been acting rather brazenly.
Whenever Spirit Hall made a major move, Ning Fengzhi had to oppose it.
If not, he would sabotage things behind the scenes.
In short, Ning Fengzhi didn't want Spirit Hall to have an easy time.
Spirit Hall was already powerful. If Ning Fengzhi didn't cause them trouble, they would only grow stronger.
Until, in the end, they ruled the entire continent.
But now, Ning Fengzhi had decided to play it safe and avoid drawing attention from Spirit Hall for the time being.
There was no helping it. Qian Daoliu's battle had shaken him to the core.
Ning Fengzhi didn't want to provoke him into coming to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Sword Douluo fell silent for a long while, then finally forced out a single sentence.
"A gentleman's revenge can wait a hundred years."
After seeing Ye Xishui killed instantly, Sword Douluo suddenly felt there was no need to hurry into challenging Qian Daoliu.
He still had plenty of years ahead of him.
After a hundred years, his swordsmanship would be even sharper.
He could challenge Qian Daoliu then.
The Heaven Dou Empire...
Xue Ye sat on the throne, silent for a long time.
There had been far too much to take in from the battle between Qian Daoliu and Ye Xishui.
First, there was Tang San.
This prodigy, who would one day attain Dual Godhood, had to be won over by the Heaven Dou Empire.
Spirit Hall had spent these years mediating the wars between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire.
But Xue Ye had always been most wary of Spirit Hall.
There was only one reason: Spirit Hall was too powerful.
If Spirit Hall wanted to unify Douluo Continent, the Heaven Dou Empire would be powerless to stop it.
Therefore, Tang San, the prodigy capable of destroying Spirit Hall, had to be brought under the Heaven Dou Empire's control.
With Tang San on their side, the Heaven Dou Empire would no longer need to fear Spirit Hall.
Second, there was the Soul Tool Ye Xishui had used.
The Death God Tower's power was simply terrifying.
Xue Ye had only one thought now: to push the development of Soul Tools with all his might.
The Heaven Dou Empire lacked high-level combatants.
In an empire as vast as theirs, Dugu Bo was their only Titled Douluo.
It was laughable, to say the least.
Without enough Titled Douluo to guard the empire, Xue Ye's personal safety could not be guaranteed.
If Spirit Hall decided to launch a decapitation strike, the entire royal family could be slaughtered to the last.
The Heaven Dou Empire had no way to stand against Spirit Hall's many Titled Douluo.
Xue Ye didn't want future emperors to face the same predicament.
But cultivating a Titled Douluo was no simple matter.
It took not only ample resources, but also someone with extraordinary talent.
Across the land, those capable of becoming Titled Douluo were all exceptional.
And there were pitifully few of them!
Among that limited number, most of the gifted individuals were already under the control of the great sects and powers.
They were either in Spirit Hall or among the Upper Three Sects.
In other words, for Xue Ye to make up for the royal family's lack of high-level combatants by cultivating Titled Douluo was extremely difficult.
The only one he had recruited, Dugu Bo, had joined the Heaven Dou Empire only because Spirit Hall was hunting him.
Fortunately, Ye Xishui's appearance had given Xue Ye a new idea.
The terrifying power of Soul Tools could make up for the royal family's lack of Titled Douluo.
If the Heaven Dou Empire could make many Soul Tools like the Death God Tower, then even Soul Douluo could easily kill Titled Douluo above their rank.
Then, even without any Titled Douluo, the Heaven Dou Empire wouldn't need to fear a decapitation strike.
"Summon the Crown Prince. Have him come see me at once."
"Put the Crown Prince in charge of advancing Soul Tool development."
Xue Ye gave the order in a tone that brooked no argument.
Over the years, as the Crown Prince had become more and more capable, Xue Ye had grown comfortable entrusting him with all sorts of affairs.
Xue Ye was unquestionably pleased with the Crown Prince's performance.
And so this burden, one that concerned the fate of the Heaven Dou Empire, naturally fell to the Heaven Dou Crown Prince.
It was a sign of Xue Ye's trust and approval.
Meanwhile, at the Heaven Dou Crown Prince's residence...
Watching Qian Daoliu win, Qian Renxue couldn't feel happy at all.
Ye Xishui's words about Spirit Hall's destruction kept echoing in her mind.
That revelation left Qian Renxue too restless to eat or sleep.
She had never imagined that Spirit Hall, with its ten-thousand-year legacy, would be destroyed by a mere brat.
Even harder for Qian Renxue to accept was the fact that, even after inheriting the Angel God's power, she still couldn't defeat Tang San.
It shattered every ounce of her pride.
After all, ever since she was little, she had striven to inherit the Angel God's power.
She had also taken pride in being a descendant of the Angel God.
But everything she had once been proud of was worthless in the face of Tang San.
It was something Qian Renxue simply couldn't accept.
She had already mobilized every resource at her disposal to search for Tang San.
The moment they found him, she would lead people to chop him into mincemeat.
Qian Renxue would never allow Tang San to destroy Spirit Hall.
Nor would she let him ruin her future.
"Tang San, you'd better pray you never show your face before me."
"Otherwise, I'll make you understand the price of offending Spirit Hall."
Qian Renxue clenched her fists, her eyes full of cold defiance.