"Wang Sheng, are you work-study students itching for another beating?"
Xiao Chenyu kicked the doorframe of Dorm Seven, swaggering arrogantly. Behind him, his lackeys cracked their knuckles.
Wang Sheng and the other work-study students wore angry expressions, but they didn't dare fight back. They could only clench their fists tightly.
Just as Wang Sheng could no longer bear it and was about to fight Xiao Chenyu, a voice suddenly rang out, one that put him completely at ease.
"Looks like the lesson Grandmaster gave you last time wasn't enough, huh?"
A calm voice tinged with coldness came from behind Xiao Chenyu.
Xiao Chenyu stiffened all over and spun around. Gu Han, Tang San, and Xiao Wu had appeared behind him without him noticing.
A bloodstained handkerchief was still wrapped around Gu Han's arm, but his eyes were sharp as he looked at them.
"G-Gu Han, you're back just in time. Teach them all a lesson!"
Though Xiao Chenyu instinctively took half a step back, he still shouted at them.
"Get lost." Gu Han couldn't be bothered to waste words on him. The profound purple Soul Ring rose beneath his feet once more, and a powerful wave of Soul Power spread out in an instant.
"What...? That's a Thousand-Year Soul Ring!" Xiao Chenyu and his lackeys went weak in the knees when they saw it.
They had never seen a monster who had absorbed a thousand-year beast for his First Soul Ring. Before Gu Han could even make a move, they scrambled away, rolling and crawling, without daring to leave behind a single threat.
After they fled, the work-study students erupted in cheers, gazing at Gu Han with admiration.
However, news that Gu Han had a thousand-year First Soul Ring spread through Nuoding Academy like the wind, even alarming the academy's senior staff.
The Dean of Nuoding was deeply shaken and called a meeting in the middle of the night.
A Mutated Martial Soul paired with Innate Full Soul Power was already extraordinarily rare. But for his First Soul Ring to be a thousand-year one? It was utterly unheard of.
Nuoding Academy had produced the only Soul Master in history whose First Soul Ring was a thousand-year one.
They had to report it to Spirit Hall immediately. They absolutely couldn't let those Evil Soul Masters take notice of Gu Han.
The news spread at a speed beyond imagination.
At Spirit Hall, inside Pope Hall,
Bibi Dong, dressed in a luxurious black papal robe trimmed with gold and wearing a purple-gold crown, lounged on the papal throne as she listened to the Spirit Hall attendant's report below.
"Oh? A child from a little place like Nuoding City has a thousand-year First Soul Ring? And his Martial Soul is a strange pair of scissors?" A flicker of interest passed through Bibi Dong's beautiful eyes.
"A Mutated Martial Soul, Innate Full Soul Power, and a thousand-year First Soul Ring. How interesting. Yue Guan, Gui Mei."
"Your subordinates are here." Two figures, one gold and one black, appeared silently in the hall. They were Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei.
"Go to Nuoding City and take a look at this child. If he has potential, you may bring him to Spirit Hall." Bibi Dong's voice carried unquestionable authority.
"Understood." The two bowed in acknowledgment, then slowly vanished from Pope Hall.
Night fell, and the work-study students in Dorm Seven had all gone to sleep.
Only Gu Han sat cross-legged on his bed, but he wasn't in Deep Meditation. The Karma Scissors had been trembling all evening, as though warning him that danger would come that night.
Xiao Wu slept soundly on the bed beside him, seemingly all the more at ease with Gu Han nearby.
Suddenly, a terrifying pressure descended. The air in Dorm Seven seemed to freeze. All sound vanished in an instant; even the insects fell silent.
"Boy, come outside. I have something to say to you."
Hearing the voice, Gu Han's heart sank, but he still went outside.
A figure shrouded in a black robe appeared soundlessly outside the door of Dorm Seven, his icy gaze fixed directly on Gu Han.
A Titled Douluo, Tang Hao.
"Tang Hao... He really has been following us all along. Looks like I'm in for a rough time." Gu Han thought to himself, ready to summon the Karma Scissors at any moment.
"Boy, what exactly is your background?" Tang Hao's voice was hoarse, but it carried an oppressive force.
He deliberately kept his presence under control so he wouldn't wake the others, but the Soul Power he directed at Gu Han was almost tangible. "Your First Soul Ring is a thousand-year one?"
"Hmph. If you'd kept your head down, I wouldn't have come looking for you. But you schemed against Tang San. You're staying here tonight."
As Tang Hao spoke, nine Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, and red.
He had two purposes for coming here: first, to crush the boy who had schemed against his son; second, to take away the rabbit who was a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast transformed into human form. She was crucial to his son's future.
Gu Han's breath caught. Every bone in his body creaked, but he gritted his teeth and straightened his back. The Karma Scissors flickered in his palm as he struggled to withstand the pressure.
"Senior, do you really need to summon your Soul Rings to deal with a junior?" Gu Han gritted out, one word at a time.
"Sharp-tongued brat." Tang Hao gave a cold snort, and the pressure grew even heavier.
"Your Martial Soul and Soul Ring are both far from the righteous path. Come with me. And that rabbit—I'm taking her too." His gaze shifted to Xiao Wu, sleeping inside.
Gu Han's heart jolted. Tang Hao had indeed recognized Xiao Wu. He absolutely couldn't let him take her away.
"She's not going anywhere."
Gu Han suddenly stepped forward, ignoring the blood spilling from the corner of his mouth. Golden light blazed from the Karma Scissors as he tried to find the threads of karma around Tang Hao, hoping to interfere with his thoughts.
"An ant dares to fight back?" A flash of anger crossed Tang Hao's eyes, along with a hint of wariness he hadn't even noticed himself. This scissors Martial Soul was far too strange.
He casually waved a hand, and a tremendous surge of Soul Power slammed toward Gu Han like a sledgehammer.
At this life-or-death moment,
[ Ding! The host is facing a life-or-death crisis and has successfully provoked intense emotions and killing intent in the key character Tang Hao, significantly altering the plot. Special rewards granted: Soul Power increased to level 20! Second Soul Ring awarded: nine-thousand-year Soul Ring! Magic Modification Points +300! ]
A surge of pure Soul Power instantly flooded into Gu Han's body, forcibly breaking through the bottleneck at level 20.
At the same time, the phantom of a Soul Ring, its edge tinged with the faintest trace of black, slowly took shape beside him.
"What?!" Tang Hao's pupils contracted sharply, and for the first time, an expression of disbelief appeared on his face.
A breakthrough in an instant?
And a Second Soul Ring nearing ten thousand years, gained without hunting a Soul Beast?! This was entirely beyond his understanding.
He could almost understand how Grandmaster had felt upon seeing Gu Han's thousand-year First Soul Ring.
While Tang Hao's thoughts were shaken and his pressure faltered for an instant, a ruthless glint flashed in Gu Han's eyes.
"Fiber Severing!"
The Karma Scissors snapped down on the thickest thread of karma between Tang Hao and his attack.
Crack.
The thread of karma twisted violently. It didn't snap, but Tang Hao's movement was clearly delayed by a tiny fraction of a second.
"Pfft..." The backlash struck Gu Han, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His whole body flew backward and slammed into the wall, his presence weakened to the extreme.
The gap between him and a Titled Douluo was simply too vast. Even with the system's protection and the interference from his karma manipulation, he could barely save his life. Severe injuries were inevitable.
Tang Hao looked at the badly injured Gu Han, then at the hovering phantom of the nine-thousand-year Soul Ring, his expression shifting uncertainly.
"This boy can't be allowed to live."
He was about to step forward and finish him off when a voice suddenly interrupted him.
"Heh, what an impressive display of power, Tang Hao."
A feminine voice rang out, tinged with mockery.
"Picking on a child? Aren't you afraid of disgracing yourself as the Clear Sky Douluo?"
Another cold voice chimed in.
Outside the dormitory, two figures were standing there, though no one knew when they had arrived.
Yue Guan twirled his fingers delicately, his gaze playful. Black mist swirled around Gui Mei, his presence grim and foreboding.
People from Spirit Hall had arrived.
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