Yue Guan gritted his teeth and held Tang Hao off for a dozen breaths, buying the three young people enough time to escape.
Yue Guan was knocked to the ground.
Seeing this, Tang Hao recalled his Martial Soul Avatar, crouched low, then shot after them like a cannonball leaving its barrel.
"Tang Hao!" Yue Guan roared, but he was powerless to stop him!
Chrysanthemum Petals chased after Tang Hao's retreating figure. Most were knocked aside by a swing of his hammer; the rest skimmed past his shoulder, cutting a few slits into his gray robe.
Tang Hao kept charging forward, heading straight for the three young people fleeing ahead.
Xie Yue was the first to sense something wrong behind them. A crushing pressure made his scalp prickle, as if a mountain were bearing down on him.
Tang Hao was coming. He was less than a hundred meters away, and closing fast.
"Run!" Xie Yue shoved Yan forward, then turned around and gripped his Moon Blades in both hands, holding them crosswise before him.
He knew he couldn't stop him.
A fifty-fourth-level Soul King couldn't withstand even a single blow from a ninety-fifth-level Titled Douluo.
But he had to hold him off.
Yan hadn't fully recovered. Hu Liena's Martial Soul was mental-type, leaving her practically defenseless at close range. If Xie Yue didn't stand in their way, one swing from Tang Hao could wipe out all three of them.
"Brother!" Hu Liena cried out. No one knew when.
Xie Yue's Moon Blades shone silver as he drove his Fourth Spirit Ability to its limit, pushing his attack speed and strength to the extreme.
But it was useless. Tang Hao simply swung his hammer, unleashing the most primitive, most brutal physical force.
"Bang!"
Xie Yue was blasted away. He spun through the air several times before crashing hard into a large tree. The trunk snapped in the middle, and its upper half crashed down, kicking up a vast cloud of dust.
A mouthful of blood surged from Xie Yue's lips. His body was wedged into the broken trunk, one arm hanging limp, the flesh on the back of his hand torn open. His eyes were still open, but he could no longer move.
"Brother!" Hu Liena's eyes reddened.
She stopped and tried to run back.
But Tang Hao had already set his sights on her.
Hu Liena felt the killing intent behind her—a merciless, overwhelming bloodlust from an absolute powerhouse, crushing everything in its path. Her body began to tremble on instinct.
There was no escaping.
Tang Hao was less than thirty meters behind her. The Clear Sky Hammer whistled through the air as he raised it high.
Hu Liena looked back.
She saw the enormous black hammer blotting out the sky, and Tang Hao's bloodshot, crazed eyes.
"No!" Yue Guan's voice came from far away, strained with desperate urgency.
He wouldn't make it. At a hundred meters, he couldn't reach them before Tang Hao struck.
The Clear Sky Hammer came crashing down.
Hu Liena's mind went blank. She hadn't even had time to release her Martial Soul and make a last stand. Her body was far too slow to react to a ninety-fifth-level Titled Douluo's attack.
Death!
As the thought surfaced in her mind, someone suddenly appeared in front of her.
A boy in a black robe, appearing from nowhere.
In his right hand, he held a long sword. Its blade was slender, thin enough to let the light show through. A black gem was set into its guard.
The Zhu Xian Sword.
He raised the sword above his head and met Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer head-on.
"Boom!!"
It was as if someone had struck the world itself. Every sound vanished in that instant. Then came the thunderous crash, followed by a shock wave that swept dust and rubble in every direction.
Qin Chuan's feet sank into the ground. His legs buckled, and he nearly fell to his knees. His arms shook, the skin between his thumb and forefinger split from the impact, and blood trickled down the sword hilt. A bitter sweetness rose in his throat, and he forced it back down.
He'd blocked it! His head was buzzing, his scalp tingling, his ears ringing in a deafening chorus.
Qin Chuan had already given it everything he had. He poured all his level-fifty-six Soul Power into the Zhu Xian Sword, and the twenty-five-thousand-year black Soul Ring on the blade blazed brightly for an instant. Combined with the sword's quality and razor-sharp edge, it had just barely withstood Tang Hao's blow.
At first, Qin Chuan had planned to use Shinra Tensei to repel him. But the gap in strength was too great; if he used the move, he'd be the one sent flying.
Tang Hao hadn't used his full strength.
Qin Chuan saw it clearly. His target had been Hu Liena, a Soul King in her fifties. In Tang Hao's estimation, that blow hadn't needed much Soul Power behind it.
Qin Chuan had taken a blow carrying thirty percent of a ninety-fifth-level Titled Douluo's strength, and he'd nearly lost his grip on the sword.
Tang Hao was stunned as well.
He hadn't expected someone to suddenly appear, let alone for that person to take his blow. It had only been thirty percent of his strength, but for a young man who looked barely fifteen or sixteen to manage even that was extraordinary.
Tang Hao's gaze settled on Qin Chuan's face.
Then he saw Qin Chuan's eyes.
Six purple rings revolved slowly within each pupil, one encircling another. Even a battle-hardened powerhouse like Tang Hao had never seen a gaze so deep it seemed capable of seeing through everything.
Tang Hao frowned. There was something wrong with those eyes.
The aura they gave off was unlike that of any known Martial Soul or Spirit Skill. It was a subtle sensation, like looking at a door leading to another world.
Behind Qin Chuan, Hu Liena stood dazed, still lost in the shock of having survived.
All she could see was the boy's back.
His black robe fluttered in the lingering shock wave. His shoulders were narrow, his figure slender. His waist-length black hair billowed in the wind, with faint glimmers of purple between the strands.
His right hand gripped a long sword radiating the aura of death. His left hung loosely at his side.
By then, Yue Guan had arrived too.
Seeing Qin Chuan standing in front of Hu Liena, Yue Guan was shocked—and even more confused.
Who was this young man? Where had he come from? Why was he helping them?
The valley fell silent for about three seconds.
Then Qin Chuan did something no one could have expected. He put away the Zhu Xian Sword in his right hand and flipped his left hand over, revealing a purple bell in his palm.
It was a translucent, deep purple, its surface rippling with the same Samsara Patterns as the ones in his eyes.
Illusion Bell!
Five Soul Rings appeared one after another around the Illusion Bell.
[White White White White White]! Five white Soul Rings.
Everyone fell silent.
Yue Guan's mouth opened slightly, then closed.
He had lived for many years and seen all kinds of Soul Masters, with every strange and unusual Martial Soul imaginable. But this was the first time he'd ever seen a Soul King with five white Soul Rings.
Leaning against the broken tree trunk, Xie Yue hadn't even wiped the blood from his mouth. When he saw those five white rings of light, his eyelid twitched.
Yan stood there with his mouth open, his expression shifting from tense to confused.
Behind Qin Chuan, Hu Liena's gaze moved from his back to the bell in his hand, then to the five white Soul Rings.
As a mental-control Soul Master, she sensed Martial Souls more keenly than anyone else present.
The mental fluctuations emanating from the Illusion Bell were faint, but exceptionally pure. That purity didn't match the age of its Soul Rings at all.
Her instincts told her that the bell wasn't as simple as it looked.
Tang Hao stared at the five white Soul Rings, his brow furrowing even deeper.
Five white rings, all at the ten-year level.
"Ridiculous." Tang Hao snorted.
He assumed this was yet another helper brought in by Spirit Hall. A Soul King with nothing but white Soul Rings, no matter where he came from, was no match for him.
"You little bastard, you're asking for death!"
Tang Hao raised the Clear Sky Hammer again, this time aiming it at Qin Chuan.
Qin Chuan didn't dodge.
His Fourth Soul Ring lit up, the white ring from the Lovesickness Heartbreak Butterfly shining with a gentle glow.
"Fourth Spirit Ability, Memory Kill."
His voice was quiet, nearly drowned out in the valley by the rumble and the wind.