Ma Hongjun, who had just been slumped on the ground, scrambled to his feet and pointed at the Sky Curtain, shouting:
"See that? See that?"
"That's Third Brother's own father!"
"I told you we had powerful people on our side too!"
Tang San stared hard at the name on the Sky Curtain.
His deathly pale face finally regained a hint of color.
He gripped the Sea God Trident so tightly his knuckles turned white.
"Dad..."
Tang San's eyes reddened.
In this moment of despair, seeing his father's name make the list was, without a doubt, the greatest support he could have asked for.
Even if it was only fifteenth place.
This was the ranking of the entire continent, after all!
It included reclusive powerhouses, Soul Beast overlords, and even that monstrous Wind God.
Making the top fifteen was already enough to prove how terrifying Tang Hao was.
Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong stared at that name, her hand tightening sharply around her scepter.
"Tang Hao..."
She forced the two words through clenched teeth.
She made no effort to hide the hatred in her eyes.
Though she hated Qian Xunji, Tang Hao had gravely wounded the Pope—that was a slap in Spirit Hall's face.
"Fifteenth place?"
Bibi Dong let out a cold laugh.
"Looks like hiding away in a rat hole all these years hasn't done much for you."
The back garden of Godwind City.
Venti didn't react much at all.
He just took a bite of his apple and remarked indistinctly:
"Oh, he's a hammer-swinger."
"Looks like he's got decent strength. Just decent, though."
Bi Ji stood to one side, the corner of her eye twitching slightly at that "decent."
Who was Tang Hao?
He was the ruthless man who'd hammered Spirit Hall into submission.
And in this man's eyes, he was merely "decent"?
Then again, compared to Venti's feat of casually blasting a star apart, Tang Hao's strength did seem to be at an infant's level.
Just then,
golden light blazed across the Sky Curtain once more.
[Reward for making the ranking has been issued]
[Tang Hao has received a reward: Martial Soul Avatar evolution, second stage · Asura Mark]
[Effect: The quality of the Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul is increased. It gains Asura killing intent, doubles attack power, and possesses an absolute destructive property against defenses below the god level.]
Hiss—
At the sight of this reward, countless people drew in sharp breaths.
Double the attack power?
Absolute destruction?
This was taking the aesthetics of violence to its ultimate conclusion!
Immediately afterward,
the image on the Sky Curtain shifted.
It was no longer static text, but a live scene.
An unknown wilderness unfolded before them.
Gale-force winds howled, and dark clouds pressed down overhead.
A middle-aged man in a tattered black robe stood atop a mountain.
It was Tang Hao.
His beard was unkempt and his face weathered, but his eyes shone with astonishing brightness.
A beam of golden light descended from the sky, enveloping him.
Tang Hao didn't dodge.
He spread his arms and let that power pour into his body.
Boom!
A dark-red shockwave surged out from him in every direction.
The Clear Sky Hammer in his right hand was undergoing a startling transformation.
Dark-red patterns emerged across its pitch-black surface, as if they'd been forged from blood. A sickening reek of blood and slaughter spilled from them.
It was the Asura Mark!
Tang Hao clenched the hammer's handle.
At that moment, even through the Sky Curtain, everyone could feel the suffocating pressure bearing down on them.
Tang Hao raised his head.
A wildly arrogant smile appeared on his weather-beaten face.
He said nothing.
He simply raised the giant hammer in his hand.
And aimed it at the mountain beneath his feet, a peak a thousand meters high.
"Hah!"
A thunderous shout.
No fancy technique.
Just pure strength.
He brought the hammer down.
Crack!
The earth wailed.
On the screen, the thousand-meter peak fractured inch by inch, starting from its summit, beneath that single blow.
Like tofu struck by a boulder.
Boulders came tumbling down, and dust blotted out the sky.
The entire mountain collapsed.
Tang Hao stood amid the dust above the ruins, the Clear Sky Hammer resting on his shoulder.
His tiger-like eyes seemed to gaze down at the entire continent through the Sky Curtain.
"Spirit Hall?"
Tang Hao's voice was deep and resonant, echoing between heaven and earth.
"The debt you owe is due."
Then,
his gaze seemed to pierce through the void, turning toward Godwind City.
He couldn't see Venti.
But he knew there was a powerhouse at the top of the ranking in that city.
"So what if you have a lot of divine weapons?"
A sneer tugged at Tang Hao's lips.
"In this world, it's ultimately your fists that do the talking."
"If I get the chance, I, Tang Hao, would like to see what you can do!"
Arrogant!
Arrogant beyond all bounds!
Before the entire continent, he'd declared war on Spirit Hall—and thrown in a challenge to Venti, who'd just dominated the rankings.
That was the Clear Sky Douluo!
That was Tang Hao!
The Heaven Dou Army erupted at once.
Their morale reached its peak.
"Glory to the Clear Sky Douluo!"
"The Clear Sky Douluo is invincible!"
Tang San stared at his father's imposing figure, trembling with excitement.
This was his father!
A man who stood tall between heaven and earth, fearing nothing!
What did it matter if you were the Wind God, or had divine weapons? One hammer would smash it all!
Godwind City.
Bi Ji watched the mountain crumble on the screen, then looked at Tang Hao, brimming with killing intent.
She couldn't help shrinking her neck.
How savage.
That kind of raw violence made even her, a healing-type Soul Beast, wince just watching it.
She instinctively looked at Venti beside her.
She wanted to see how the man Tang Hao had challenged would react.
Would he be angry?
Would he sneer?
Or would he rush out and shoot Tang Hao with an arrow?
Yet,
Venti remained seated on the stone stool, lounging at ease.
He didn't even raise an eyelid.
He was completely absorbed in... picking out an apple.
There were three apples left in the fruit bowl. He picked one up and studied it, seeming to debate which one was redder.
"My lord..."
Bi Ji couldn't help speaking up:
"That Tang Hao... he's challenging you."
"I heard."
Venti finally chose an apple he liked, rubbed it against his clothes, and took a crisp bite.
Juice ran everywhere.
"Mmm, this one's sweeter than the last."
Venti narrowed his eyes in contentment, then replied at his leisure:
"Young people get a little hotheaded. It's perfectly normal."
"He yells that loud just to smash a mountain. Doesn't he worry he'll lose his voice?"
His tone was light.
Casual.
He hadn't taken the scene to heart at all.
It was as if Tang Hao hadn't just smashed a mountain, but broken a plate.
Watching Venti's nonchalant manner, the fear Bi Ji had felt toward Tang Hao miraculously vanished.
That was right.
Tang Hao smashed a mountain.
The man before her smashed stars.
The difference between them was more than a thousand miles.
In the face of such an overwhelming gap, that so-called challenge was nothing but an ant's squeaking.
At that moment,
Bi Ji gazed at Venti's profile.
The young man's features were handsome and delicate, with that faint smile always playing at his lips.
The breeze stirred the hair beside his ears, and his green eyes reflected the entire sky.
He looked so harmless, so easygoing.
Yet he gave her the sense of security that came from someone capable of holding up the whole firmament.