There Was a Catch

Tang Hao raised the Haotian True Body high.

The Shadow Clones on the ground, however, suddenly grew restless for some reason. The commotion grew louder and louder, and they started saying things Tang Hao couldn't understand.

"Call it off! Call it off!"

"It's all over now. Everyone, break it up! Go home to your own families!"

Like the end of a spring outing, everyone's taut nerves relaxed. They silently put away their Martial Souls, then even turned to the people beside them and started chatting about who knew what.

Tang Hao's eyes slowly widened. He couldn't make heads or tails of their thought processes. But if he couldn't figure it out, he simply wouldn't bother trying—that was Tang Hao's way of handling things. He gave a chilling snort.

"Playing tricks?"

As the words left his mouth, the Haotian True Body in his hands began to descend with a humming roar.

But the howling Haotian True Body suddenly froze in midair. It wasn't that Tang Hao feared harming innocent bystanders; the crowd below was behaving more and more absurdly! It had reached a point Tang Hao couldn't even describe!

On the ground,

after the recent chaotic battle, not a patch of green remained. The earth was blanketed in scattered dust. The densely packed figures of Naruto had vanished, replaced by a disorganized mass of refugees.

"Something's wrong! Run! An Evil Spirit Master is killing people!"

"You Evil Spirit Master! You won't even spare a six-year-old girl? Aren't you afraid the Spirit Hall will take revenge? I'll fight you to the death!"

"What are you talking about? My son! What a horrible death you died! He was a boy! You pervert, how could you even spare my son?!"

"Wait! That wasn't part of the plot we agreed on!"

"You already died from a ruptured anus. You're dead, so you can't talk!"

"..."

The refugees Naruto had transformed into wore all kinds of expressions and were brimming with emotion. It was a scene of utter pandemonium.

Accused to his face, right out in the open, Tang Hao's veins bulged, crawling from his neck across his entire body. His arm muscles suddenly swelled, and the Haotian True Body came crashing down with the might to overturn the heavens!

"You're asking for death!"

As the Haotian True Body fell, Tang Hao faintly heard an angry roar in the distance.

"Tang Hao! Don't you dare!"

He glanced up. Several streaks of light raced toward him from the far-off horizon, their surging Soul Power bursting forth!

Tang Hao immediately recognized them.

"The Spirit Hall!"

Just as Naruto had guessed earlier, if Tang Hao had been calm and cautious enough, he would have understood the wisdom of not pursuing a desperate foe. After a brief, fruitless chase, he would have left with Tang San. After all, this could have been a trap.

And now, the despicable, shameless Naruto could tell him for sure: it wasn't quite a trap, but it was definitely a pit!

Time rewound to early morning.

The Spirit Hall Branch in Nuoding City,

a bearded Spirit Master in the standard uniform of the Spirit Hall strode along with a broad smile. Every so often, he bowed slightly and gestured for the person behind him to proceed, carefully attending to his guest.

"This way, sir!"

While speaking respectfully, the bearded Spirit Master grumbled inwardly.

The person in front of him was a genuine oddball. His entire body was shrouded in a black cloak, and he'd only revealed his face once, when showing his credentials. After that, he'd hidden himself inside the cloak.

It was truly strange, and so was his request: he wanted to see the branch's bishop.

If this guy weren't a Spirit King,

he wouldn't be waiting on him!

The bearded Spirit Master stopped in front of a grand door, bowed slightly, and stepped aside respectfully to clear the way. "Sir, this is it. Our branch bishop is inside."

The strange figure merely nodded, passed the bearded Spirit Master, and entered the room.

Click.

The door shut.

With his task complete, the bearded Spirit Master walked back toward his workstation with his hands behind his back.

What he didn't know was that mere seconds after he left, the bishop he remembered as always dignified and composed was already trembling like a leaf behind that door, dropping to his knees with a thud.

Right before him, the strange figure reached out from beneath the cloak, revealing a token covered in intricate patterns and gleaming with golden light.

The Pope Decree!

Not the Pope Decree issued to the Upper Three Sects!

This was a personal Pope Decree, newly created after the current Pope's succession!

Only a branch bishop or Red Cardinal of the Spirit Hall could know of its existence and recognize its design. There was no chance an outsider could have forged it.

And whoever bore this token was as good as the Pope herself in person!

The bishop of this remote little city slowly raised his head, pursed his lips, and clasped his hands in prayer. His eyes were full of reverence, and his voice trembled.

"W-what... orders... do you have?"

"Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!"

Several sonorous bell tolls echoed through the branch. The bearded Spirit Master, who had been chatting with Su Yuntao and the others, suddenly turned pale and sprang from his seat.

The number of tolls indicated the urgency of the matter, and four was the highest level. In all his years working for the Spirit Hall, he'd only ever heard the bells ring four times when the previous Pope died.

The branch bishop rushed into the hall, shouting,

"Move! All of you, get moving!"

The entire Spirit Hall Branch sprang into action!

At the bishop's command, every Sharp-Tailed Rain Swallow kept in the hall was brought out, each carefully fitted with a letter before they fluttered out the windows in a flurry, flying in every direction.

The three oldest and fastest Sharp-Tailed Rain Swallows vanished into the distance in an instant, flying toward Star Luo City, Spirit City, and Heaven Dou City respectively.

Boom!

Beneath the night sky,

the mountain-like Haotian True Body crashed down. Several mountain peaks were sheared off, and the ground surged like ocean waves, sweeping out in every direction!

Countless "ordinary citizens" vanished beneath Tang Hao's strike. But there were so many of them that thousands of fleeing figures still escaped and disappeared into the night.

And Tang Hao...

Thud!

The Haotian True Body was suddenly thrown upward. Several beams of Soul Power slammed into the Martial Soul Avatar, sending him flying backward.

As soon as he steadied himself, Tang Hao looked down at the fleeing figures. The thread of reason in his mind snapped. His bloodshot, scarlet eyes began to seep blood!

But he had no chance to strike again.

Several streaks of light blocked his path.

The gaunt man at their head had nine Spirit Rings appear beneath his feet in succession, while the enormous phantom of a ghost leopard appeared behind him. The men behind him wore a variety of bishops' robes, their Martial Soul wings spread wide.

Ghost Leopard Douluo, the Spirit Hall's Platinum Bishop Salas, the Soul Douluo patriarch of the Spirit Kite Family—one of the Eight Great Families—and seven Spirit Saints with flying Martial Souls.

The first to arrive were the Spirit Hall Holy Hall in Heaven Dou City, the closest to them.

Ghost Leopard Douluo's Martial Soul possessed him. He glanced at the carnage below and shrugged, utterly unconcerned. Then he looked at the battered Tang Hao before him, unable to resist running his long tongue across his lips. In a strange tone, he gave an order.

"Send word!"

One of the Spirit Saint bishops nodded.

The Spirit Ring beneath his feet flashed, and several golden feathers shot out—not toward Tang Hao, but toward the large force behind them and the Spirit Hall.

Forcibly suppressing his old injuries, Tang Hao, now a ghastly sight, laughed wildly. He raised the Haotian True Body and pointed it at the group before him, roaring,

"Good! So you really are in this together! Is that little brat Bibi Dong's bastard?"

Ghost Leopard Douluo was simply baffled.

Bishop Salas, however, flew into a rage. Trembling all over, he pointed at Tang Hao's nose and cursed, "Tang Hao! You've got some nerve! How dare you address His Holiness the Pope by name!"

Tang Hao abruptly swung the Haotian True Body in his hands, kicking up a gale as he assumed a fighting stance. "You're just a useless Douluo, a few Soul Douluos, and a bunch of Spirit Saints! What's there to be afraid of?!"

"Hmph, good!"

Ghost Leopard Douluo sneered and shot forward!

"Let's see how much strength the famed Clear Sky Douluo has left!"

Several men charged straight at him, and the battle began anew!