Getting Straight to the Point!

The Breaking Clan's reception hall was even more shabby than Dugu Bo had imagined.

The walls were piled from stone, unplastered, with grayish-white surfaces exposed.

Several rough wooden tables and chairs had been polished fairly smooth, but the materials were ordinary. In Heaven Dou City, they would not even compare to the storefront furnishings of an average merchant.

There were no calligraphy or paintings on the walls, nor any decorations. Only a model of a Soul Breaking Spear hung in the center, its tip pointing upward, symbolizing the Breaking Clan's Martial Soul.

Yang Wudi took the seat of honor and ordered tea to be served.

The tea cups were coarse pottery, the tea leaves were inferior, and the water was mediocre.

Dugu Bo lifted his cup, took a light sip, and set it down without changing expression.

His movements were unhurried as his Dark Golden Dragon Eyes swept across the plain hall before finally settling on Yang Wudi's face.

Yang Wudi was studying him as well.

Three months ago, Dugu Bo had still been the Old Poisoner everyone in Heaven Dou City knew. His hair was white, his face covered in wrinkles, his back hunched, and he wore a garish green robe. Wherever he went, he carried an eerie air with him.

But the man sitting before him now had ink-black hair and handsome features. His Profound Black Robe accentuated an emperor-like noble bearing, while his Dark Golden Dragon Eyes were as deep as an abyss.

If Dugu Bo had not introduced himself, Yang Wudi would never have recognized him.

"Nine Nether Douluo."

Yang Wudi spoke, his voice neither warm nor cold.

"Speak. What exactly do you want with my Breaking Clan? Our clan is small and weak. We cannot withstand the torment of a Titled Douluo like you."

Dugu Bo set down his cup and looked Yang Wudi directly in the eye with his Dark Golden Dragon Eyes. Getting straight to the point, he said, "I have come to absorb your Breaking Clan."

Yang Wudi's expression darkened instantly.

"What did you say?"

"Absorb you."

Dugu Bo repeated himself calmly, as though he were discussing something insignificant.

"The Breaking Clan will join my Nine Nether Hall and relocate to the Tiandou Empire. I will provide cultivation methods, cultivation resources, and protection at the level of a Titled Douluo. You need only do one thing: grow stronger."

Yang Wudi abruptly rose to his feet. His chair scraped backward half a foot with a harsh sound.

"Nine Nether Hall? Never heard of it."

His voice carried suppressed fury, but he was still holding himself back.

After all, the other party was a Titled Douluo. He did not wish to make things too hostile.

"Dugu Bo, it is true that you are a Titled Douluo, but though my Breaking Clan has fallen on hard times, we have not sunk so low as to become someone else's dogs. Please leave."

Dugu Bo did not stand.

"Won't you hear the terms first?"

"No."

Yang Wudi's answer was decisive, his voice echoing through the stone house.

He walked to the wall, took down the Soul Breaking Spear model, and gripped it in his hand, as if the model could lend him some strength.

"The Breaking Clan would rather lead a chicken than follow a phoenix. What is this Nine Nether Hall? And who do you think you are, Dugu Bo? Three months ago, you were still that Old Poisoner everyone despised. You poisoned yourself until you looked neither human nor ghost. Who in all Heaven Dou City did not know that you, Dugu Bo, were the most worthless Titled Douluo? Now you change your title and clothes, and you think you can come absorb me? Dream on."

Dugu Bo did not grow angry.

He lifted his tea cup and took another sip. The bitterness of the inferior tea spread across his tongue, yet he did not even frown.

"Then how about this?"

Dugu Bo set down his cup and stood. A faint glimmer of dark purple flashed through his Dark Golden Dragon Eyes.

"Let us make a bet."

Yang Wudi narrowed his eyes. "What kind of bet?"

"If I lose, I will leave immediately and never bother you again. If you lose, the Breaking Clan will join Nine Nether Hall, and the entire clan will obey my orders."

Yang Wudi fell silent for a moment.

He examined Dugu Bo, his eyes filled with scrutiny and calculation.

He truly could not defeat a Titled Douluo.

But being unable to defeat him and losing were two different matters.

He could fight, lose with dignity, and then refuse.

After all, the wager only required his clan to join if he lost. He could simply refuse the bet.

But Dugu Bo's next words changed his mind.

"I will let you attack first. I will only defend and not attack. If you can force me back even one step, it will count as my loss."

Yang Wudi's pupils contracted sharply.

Only defending without attacking, and even one step backward counted as defeat.

This was not a contest. It was humiliation.

"Fine."

Yang Wudi squeezed the word out through clenched teeth. He placed the Soul Breaking Spear model back on the wall, then turned and headed outside.

"There is more room outside. Do not fight here. If you tear down my house, I cannot afford to repair it."

The corners of Dugu Bo's lips curled slightly upward as he followed him out of the reception hall.

News spread quickly.

No one knew who shouted, but the Breaking Clan members came flooding in from every direction.

Men and women, young and old, more than a hundred people stood in a circle around the open space at the center of the valley.

Some looked worried, some angry, but most were simply curious.

A Titled Douluo—they had never seen a Titled Douluo fight in their lives.

The clearing lay at the center of the valley, nearly a hundred meters across. Its ground was packed yellow earth, dotted with sparse weeds.

Surrounding it were dilapidated stone houses and several half-dead old trees.

Yang Wudi walked to the center of the clearing, turned around, and faced Dugu Bo.

He took a deep breath and suppressed every distracting thought in his heart.

No matter who the opponent was, once he stepped onto the battlefield, he had to give it everything.

"Martial Soul, Soul Breaking Spear!"

A pitch-black spear emerged from Yang Wudi's palm. It was over three meters long, black as ink from end to end, its spear tip gleaming with a cold light.

Faint patterns flowed across the spear shaft. They were traces left behind by generations of powerful members of the Breaking Clan.

Eight Soul Rings rose from beneath Yang Wudi's feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black.

Two yellow, two purple, and four black—standard for an eight-ring Soul Douluo, yet already among the best at the same level.

Yang Wudi's Soul Power surged madly through his body, and the tip of the Soul Breaking Spear emitted a low, trembling hum.

His presence continued to rise. His robe snapped in the wind from his Soul Power, while spiderweb-like cracks spread across the ground beneath his feet.

The Breaking Clan members' eyes lit up.

This was their clan leader, an eighty-first-level Soul Douluo and wielder of the Soul Breaking Spear.

Even if the other party was a Titled Douluo, their clan leader would not admit defeat easily.

Dugu Bo looked at Yang Wudi and nodded.

"Not bad."

Then he released his Martial Soul.

The phantom of the Nine Nether Divine Dragon emerged behind him.

It was completely black, with Dark Golden Dragon Eyes and dark purple Nether Qi swirling around its body.

The dragon's body was long and powerful, every scale clearly visible, as if it were not a phantom at all but a true black dragon descending from the Nine Nether Abyss.

Nine Soul Rings rose beneath Dugu Bo's feet and slowly revolved around his body.

Black.

Black.

Black.

Black.

Black.

Black.

Red.

Red.

Seven black Soul Rings and two red Soul Rings.

The entire area fell silent.

The Breaking Clan members gaped. Some even forgot to breathe.

Seven black and two red—what kind of configuration was that?

Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings were legendary treasures that only Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts could produce. Across the entire continent, there were only a handful of Titled Douluo who possessed Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings.

And Dugu Bo possessed two.