Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer, Setting Off for Heaven Dou Royal Academy

Hundreds upon thousands of petals turned into hundreds upon thousands of solid azure sword energies, bursting out in every direction with Li Qinglian at the center.

Each petal carried a fierce cutting force, tracing dense arcs of light through the air.

Some shot straight toward Tang San, some pursued the hidden weapons that changed direction halfway, and some skimmed along the ground, slicing through the Blue Silver Grass that broke up from the soil.

Boom!

Sword energy, hidden weapons, shredded grass, and dust.

Everything was twisted into a chaotic storm.

Tang San's pupils contracted violently. He pushed his Purple Demon Eye to its limit, his body bending backward with almost impossible flexibility as both arms shielded the vital points of his head and chest.

But there was too much sword energy.

And it was far too dense.

At least five streaks of sword energy pierced through his defense, cutting deep, bloody gashes across his shoulder, beneath his ribs, and along his thigh. Blood instantly soaked through his clothes.

A sword mark had even been carved across his face.

Blood streamed down, hurting Tang San so badly he could hardly bear it.

"I..."

Tang San's entire body was dyed red with blood.

He staggered backward—seven steps in all—and every step left a bloody footprint on the ground.

Li Qinglian, meanwhile, had planted the Green Lotus Sword against the ground and dropped to one knee.

His face was already as pale as paper, his breathing rapid and broken, and the clothes over his chest were soaked through with sweat and blood.

The first form of the Green Lotus Sword Technique, Lotus Heart One Thought, was a sword move meant for single combat, and Li Qinglian could control every detail of it.

But the second sword move he had comprehended a few days ago, Thousand Flowers Burying the Moon, was a wide-area attack.

When the sword energy madly poured out in all directions, some of it blocked Tang San's hidden weapons, and some even cut those hidden weapons apart. But there were still some that pierced into Li Qinglian's own body.

Li Qinglian was utterly speechless.

This trip to Hunting Soul Forest really could not be called either lucky or unlucky.

But everything was afraid of comparison.

Compared to Tang San, Li Qinglian was already the winner.

At the very least, he had protected the external soul bone.

Tang San's Tang Sect secret techniques, in the end, still could not surpass his Green Lotus Sword Technique.

Of course, Tang San was limited by his lack of materials for hidden weapons, and many top-tier hidden weapons had yet to be made.

But his Green Lotus Sword Technique would not remain where it was, either.

"Tang San, it seems I won."

Li Qinglian looked at Tang San and barely forced out a smile.

"Just now... when you fought Kahn, why did you still hold so much back?"

"Weren't you afraid that I wouldn't make a move?"

"And then you'd die at Kahn's hands before you even had the chance to use your trump cards?"

Tang San spat out great mouthfuls of blood.

He had wanted to ask Li Qinglian this question for a long time.

He prided himself on matchless schemes, believing he had calculated everything perfectly.

The one thing he had not expected was that Li Qinglian had actually hidden so many trump cards.

Even more unexpectedly, Li Qinglian had already been wary of him when he was fighting Kahn!

That simply did not make sense!

Tang San was beyond depressed!

How could any normal monster-level genius be wary of a child like him?

He had even saved such a powerful trump card for him.

A trump card like this had not even been used against Kahn.

Li Qinglian only smiled without speaking.

He did not make up some random excuse to fob Tang San off.

Maintaining a sense of mystery in front of Tang San would make Tang San forever hesitate whenever he faced him.

"Little brother Qinglian... stop talking. You're bleeding all over."

Huo Wu supported Li Qinglian.

Her hand touched Li Qinglian's chest.

Warm, sticky blood instantly soaked her clothes.

Li Qinglian had been badly injured.

There were still several hidden weapons on his body, buried deep in his flesh.

Huo Wu's body trembled as her hands frantically pressed over Li Qinglian's wounds.

Her vision blurred, and tears spilled from her eyes.

"I'm fine. I'll bandage myself up first, then we'll leave right away."

"How can you be fine? You're covered in blood."

Huo Wu's voice was choked with sobs.

She knew how desperately Li Qinglian had fought just now.

Li Qinglian was wounded all over, but he had done almost the best he possibly could.

This outcome was already a blessing amid misfortune.

Kahn was dead, and Tang San had been severely wounded too.

At the very least, they were still alive.

"Sister Huo Wu. Stop crying. Hurry and help me bandage this."

"I'm a little weak. If I pass out later, don't take us back to Blazing Fire Academy first."

"Go to Heaven Dou Royal Advanced Soul Master Academy. I've been poisoned. I need to be detoxified quickly."

Li Qinglian knelt on the ground and quickly treated his wounds.

He knew Tang San's nature. He had definitely been poisoned.

However, Tang San's strongest poison had surely been used on his Silent Sleeve Arrow.

The poison he had been struck with should not cause trouble in the short term.

But if it could not be treated quickly, that would be another matter.

He could not afford to be careless with Tang San's poison.

As Huo Wu helped Li Qinglian, she kept staring at Tang San.

Once Li Qinglian's wounds were more or less bandaged, Huo Wu walked toward Tang San.

"Go to hell. Tang San..."

While Li Qinglian and Tang San had been fighting, Huo Wu had already recovered some Soul Power.

She activated her Martial Soul and charged at Tang San to kill him.

She wanted to kill Tang San and avenge Li Qinglian.

Li Qinglian was badly wounded, but Tang San was not much better off.

Strike while he was weak. Take his life.

"Sister Huo Wu, come back."

Seeing Huo Wu make a move against Tang San, Li Qinglian hurriedly shouted.

Bang!

Tang San gritted his teeth and activated his Martial Soul.

A small black hammer smashed heavily toward Huo Wu.

Caught off guard, Huo Wu was knocked straight to the ground. Tang San seized that opening, clinging to his last breath as he used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and fled into the depths of the forest.

"Li Qinglian. This isn't over between us."

"Twin Martial Souls. He's actually a Twin Martial Soul user too."

"Tang San is a disciple of the Clear Sky Sect!"

Huo Wu had clearly recognized what that Martial Soul was.

The Clear Sky Hammer, the number one tool Martial Soul under heaven!

"Sister Huo Wu, I told you to come back."

"He isn't that easy to deal with."

Li Qinglian looked in the direction Tang San had fled and smiled bitterly.

"Sister Huo Wu, let's go."

"Burn Kahn's corpse. As for what happened today, we'll pretend nothing ever happened."

Hearing this, Huo Wu sent a flame to incinerate Kahn's corpse.

Only after leaving the Hunting Soul Forest safely did Li Qinglian dare to close his eyes.

He also wasn't sure whether Tang San would strike again.

But clearly, Tang San had been badly injured, and that had completely snuffed out his thoughts of going after the external spirit bone.

After leaving the Hunting Soul Forest, Li Qinglian spent almost every day in a daze.

Li Qinglian's prediction had been right. He had indeed been poisoned.

And on the current continent, aside from Tang San, the ones most skilled at poisoning and detoxification were the Dugu Family.

Dugu Bo's poison arts had reached a transcendent level, and in order to detoxify himself, he had planted a large number of medicinal herbs near the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to prepare antidotes for himself.

Li Qinglian didn't know how to find Dugu Bo.

But going to Heaven Dou Royal Academy to look for Dugu Yan would be no problem.

Ye Lingling, the inheritor of the Nine Heart Begonia, was also at Heaven Dou Royal Academy. His injuries should be able to receive the most proper treatment there.

In addition, he should also be able to find answers there regarding the issue with his and Sister Bing'er's Martial Soul fusion skill.