Yu Luomian Joins the Battle, a Deadlocked Fight

The air at the edge of the forest was thick with the charred smell left behind by lightning scorching pine needles.

The clash between the two Title Douluo continued, shockwaves spreading outward one after another. Trees within a hundred paces were uprooted by the blasts, while dirt and shattered stones scattered through the night wind.

Yu Jin did not directly join the close-quarters battle. His Thunder Hawk martial soul circled above the treetops, and every dive sent a bolt of lightning slashing precisely toward Tang Hao's back. An attack from an eighty-eighth-level Soul Douluo could not pose a lethal threat to a ninety-fifth-level Title Douluo, but it was enough to disrupt Tang Hao's rhythm.

Tang Hao forced Yu Yuanzhen back with a hammer strike, taking one of Yu Jin's lightning bolts on his shoulder. A charred gash tore through the right shoulder of his brown cloak, exposing the solid muscle beneath.

He ignored the tear and swung his hammer toward the treetops. The aftershock of the Clear Sky Hammer shattered the crowns of three ancient trees. Yu Jin shot upward through the air, narrowly avoiding the fiercest core of the hammer's wind.

"Third Brother, don't get close! Use a lightning prison to restrict his movement!" Yu Yuanzhen's voice exploded amid the lightning.

Yu Jin did not answer, but the Thunder Hawk immediately changed its flight path. He no longer dove to attack, instead circling rapidly around the edge of the battlefield and casting down a bolt of lightning each time he swept past Tang Hao's side.

Dozens of lightning bolts intertwined around Tang Hao, forming an irregular lightning prison that steadily narrowed his range of movement.

Tang Hao crushed the last fallen leaf beneath his foot and stopped holding back. He raised the Clear Sky Hammer overhead, and every inscription on its surface lit up. Red light surged outward from its core, condensing in the night sky into a colossal hammer phantom that seemed to reach from heaven to earth. The giant hammer was pitch-black, its surface flowing with countless blood-red patterns, each one like a winding river of blood.

"Clear Sky Avatar."

Tang Hao's body swelled beneath the giant hammer phantom, and his aura surged to its peak in an instant. The ground beneath his feet could not withstand the pressure and collapsed into a deep pit three paces wide.

Blood-red light spread from the hammer, blasting apart the lightning prison Yu Jin had set.

Yu Yuanzhen's expression darkened. Rather than retreating, he advanced. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul behind him roared toward the sky, its cry shaking even the clouds above. His seventh soul ring lit up as he held nothing back.

"Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Avatar."

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon phantom merged with Yu Yuanzhen's body at that moment, transforming him into humanoid lightning. His hair and beard stood on end, his robes snapped in the wind, and every inch of his skin was covered in a translucent layer of blue lightning. From afar, it did not look like a man standing there, but a dragon.

The humanoid lightning crashed into the Clear Sky Hammer. Lightning and blood-red radiance collided in midair, and the burst of light turned the entire forest bright as day. The shockwave flattened every tree still standing within a hundred paces. Yu Jin was forced back dozens of steps before he regained his footing. Yu Yuanzhen and Tang Hao each retreated, only to slam into each other again almost at the same instant, meeting force with force head-on.

Every strike of the Clear Sky Hammer carried the power to shatter mountains and split the earth. Every counterattack from Yu Yuanzhen tore a trail of lightning across the night sky. The two fought from the forest's edge to the foot of the hillside, then from the hillside back into the depths of the forest. Trees fell in swathes wherever they passed, and countless craters of varying depths were blasted into the ground.

At that moment, a bolt of lightning tore through the night sky and struck Tang Hao squarely in the back.

Tang Hao let out a muffled groan and was blasted back a full five steps, each one stamping a deep crater into the earth. He whirled around, holding the Clear Sky Hammer across his body as his gaze swept toward the source of the lightning.

A third figure came hurtling through the air from the direction of Suotuo City. A dark purple robe fluttered in the night wind, while nine soul rings revolved around him. Two yellow, two purple, and five black soul rings made it clear that he was a Title Douluo.

Yu Luomian landed at the edge of the battlefield. A dark purple lightning dragon coiled behind him, its draconic eyes fixed on Tang Hao as lightning flickered within them.

"Big Brother, I came too late." Yu Luomian's voice carried barely restrained killing intent.

Yu Yuanzhen did not turn around. He only said three words: "Attack together."

Yu Luomian asked no further questions. The lightning dragon threw back its head and roared, and his eighth soul ring lit up at the same time. Dragon Soaring Thunderstorm erupted, a bolt of lightning shooting from his martial soul directly toward Tang Hao's crown. Tang Hao smashed apart the dragon-shaped lightning with a backhand hammer strike, but Yu Yuanzhen's dragon claw struck his chest in the instant he was distracted. A large scorched patch exploded across Tang Hao's cloak, revealing the burn marks underneath. He exhaled heavily and staggered back three steps before steadying himself.

Three people: one at the peak of level ninety-six confronting him head-on, one at level ninety-one bombarding him from the perimeter, and one at level eighty-eight restricting his movement and harassing him. Tang Hao was caught in a three-sided assault, his consumption immense. Fine beads of sweat had already appeared on his brow, and the web of his hand holding the hammer was slightly numb.

He suddenly smashed the Clear Sky Hammer into the ground. "Divine Slaughter's Domain, fully unleashed."

Blood-red light swept outward from Tang Hao like a tide, instantly engulfing the entire battlefield. The moment they were covered by it, the circulation of Soul Power within everyone inside Divine Slaughter's Domain slowed by several degrees. Intense killing intent, almost tangible, eroded their wills, and countless blood-red illusions surfaced in their minds.

The suppressive power of the domain was especially apparent against soul masters. Yu Luomian and Yu Jin's attacks visibly slowed, but Yu Yuanzhen was not greatly affected.

Yu Tianlin stood outside the battlefield. The Divine Tree Mark automatically released an emerald-green barrier, blocking the residual force of the domain three paces in front of him.

Under Divine Slaughter's Domain, the radiance of Yu Yuanzhen's Blue Lightning True Body was suppressed somewhat. He compressed his lightning aura to within three paces of his body, enduring the domain's erosion as he exchanged a blow with Tang Hao. The Clear Sky Hammer crashed against the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Avatar, and lightning and blood-red light exploded at once. Both men retreated three steps.

Taking advantage of that instant of deadlock, Yu Luomian charged in from the side. The lightning dragon bit toward Tang Hao's left shoulder. Tang Hao twisted aside to evade it, but Yu Jin's lightning strike hit his back in that opening, adding another scorch mark to his cloak.

The two sides remained locked in stalemate. On the surface, Tang Hao was being besieged by all three, and every swing of the Clear Sky Hammer had to deal with attacks from both the front and the flanks. Divine Slaughter's Domain was powerful, but suppressing all three at once consumed an enormous amount of Soul Power.

Sweat continued to drip from Tang Hao's brow, evaporating into wisps of white mist under the lightning. Although Yu Yuanzhen's side held the numerical advantage, Divine Slaughter's Domain continually eroded the three men's minds and Soul Power. Yu Jin's face had turned pale, and the Thunder Hawk's offensive had noticeably weakened. Yu Luomian's breathing grew heavy, as the domain suppressed him most severely.

Yu Yuanzhen was in the best condition. The foundation of his peak level ninety-six Soul Power allowed him to maintain a steady output within Divine Slaughter's Domain, but the Martial Soul Avatar alone was still not enough to overwhelm the Clear Sky Hammer.

The battle had fallen into a deadlock. Neither side could completely overpower the other in a short time. Lightning and blood-red radiance clashed endlessly in the night sky, every collision accompanied by deafening thunderous blasts. From afar, above the forest north of Suotuo City, two colors of light were locked in fierce conflict—one deep blood-red, the other dazzling lightning.