Battle of the Peerless

Outside the gates of the Clear Sky Sect, nestled among towering peaks, a peerless battle erupted—one capable of shocking the world.

The surging Soul Power of two Peerless Douluo split the sky in half. One side was dyed pure gold, while the other was stained blood-red.

The combatants were the twin peaks of the Soul Master world: Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu.

They fought for three days and three nights. The Clear Sky Hammer and Angel Sword clashed again and again, while the Angel Domain and Divine Slaughter's Domain intertwined. Their battle shattered mountains and melted the snow.

Spirit Hall and Clear Sky Sect personnel watched from far away. Even Title Douluo could only observe from a distance, unable to tell who held the upper hand in this contest.

Among those from Spirit Hall, however, a handsome man with violet-gold hair saw the battle with perfect clarity.

Whenever he saw the old man's utterly unremarkable Soul Ring configuration—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black—Mu Yi, no, Qian Xunyi, could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth. The grand high priest of the Angel God, Qian Daoliu, had this kind of setup? Every time Qian Xunyi saw it, he could not help wanting to complain.

Still, Qian Daoliu could not be blamed for it. After all, he had been stabbed in the back by the Angel God Examination.

Like the Sea God's Top-tier Eight Trials, once the final trial of the Angel God's Top-tier Eight Trials was completed, every Soul Ring of the examinee would be increased by ten thousand years, and the final soul skill would become Angel Descent—Sea God Descent for the Sea God's trial.

By Qian Daoliu's generation, Spirit Hall had basically inherited the old method of acquiring Soul Rings. They did not pursue Soul Ring age, only soul beasts most suited to the Angel Martial Soul, leaving the Soul Ring age to the God Trial.

Qian Daoliu had also acquired his Soul Rings according to tradition. Yet who could have expected that after completing the Top-tier Eight Trials, the promised ten-thousand-year increase to his Soul Rings and the ninth soul skill, Angel God's Descent, had all vanished? Thus, Qian Daoliu could only advance all the way to Limit Douluo with this configuration.

As for why the final trial of the Top-tier Eight Trials had given no reward, Qian Daoliu did not know. But Qian Xunyi knew perfectly well. Perhaps the Angel God was already gone.

Compared with Qian Daoliu, Tang Chen's configuration was far more luxurious: yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red. Do not underestimate that Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring. Before those monsters from Shrek emerged in the era of Soul Land I, only five people in the story possessed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring: Tang Chen, Tang Hao, Bibi Dong, Golden Crocodile, and Bo Saixi.

Without a God-Level Martial Soul, other Martial Souls needed at least one Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring to enter the realm of level ninety-eight.

However, after reaching Title Douluo, Soul Rings no longer had such a decisive influence. There was still a gap, but it lay only in total Soul Power and the strength of soul skills. A disadvantage in Soul Rings did not mean one could not fight.

At least during these three days of battle, Qian Daoliu had not fallen into a disadvantage. He had even forced Tang Chen into a difficult battle.

While Qian Xunyi was pondering this, the battle finally reached its end.

Within a vortex of golden Soul Power, Qian Daoliu calmly gripped the Heaven Measuring Sword and mocked, "Tang Chen, your Soul Power is nearly exhausted. If this continues, you will lose."

Tang Chen's dark, rugged body stood upon the ground as he panted heavily. Holding the Clear Sky Hammer in one hand, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with the other, raised his head toward Qian Daoliu, and sneered. "My self-created Great Sumeru Hammer has an even more terrifying secret art—Ring Detonation!"

As he spoke, his Soul Rings appeared. Nine rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red—emerged. Starting with the yellow rings, they exploded one after another. The first four Soul Rings and part of the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Rings detonated in succession, and the Soul Power from the destroyed rings poured into the Clear Sky Hammer. The hammer swelled and grew in his hand—

"Qian Daoliu, if you can take this attack head-on, I will acknowledge you and admit defeat. How about it? Do you dare?"

"Great Sumeru Hammer—"

Tang Chen roared and swung the Clear Sky Hammer at Qian Daoliu.

"Why would I not dare!" Qian Daoliu immediately activated the Heaven Measuring Sword, pouring Soul Power into it as he slashed toward the Clear Sky Hammer. (Qian Xunyi, watching the battle: Seriously? You just rushed in like that?)

Sword and hammer collided. Red and golden Soul Power crushed against each other until the red Soul Power ultimately overwhelmed the golden. Qian Daoliu was sent flying, traveling dozens of meters through the air before he steadied himself.

This exchange drained both sides completely.

Tang Chen stood on the earth while Qian Daoliu remained in the sky. In the end—

Qian Daoliu sighed. "I was one move short. I lost."

Tang Chen let out a breath of relief. He raised the Clear Sky Hammer and shouted, "Clear Sky Sect reigns over the world!"

"Clear Sky Sect reigns over the world!" The Clear Sky Sect disciples watching around the sect gates shouted along with Tang Chen.

In contrast, morale on Spirit Hall's side was utterly low.

After a long while, Tang Chen said smugly, "Qian Daoliu, since you have lost, then according to our agreement—"

"I know." Before everyone from Spirit Hall and Clear Sky Sect present, Qian Daoliu swore by his Martial Soul. "I, Qian Daoliu, swear upon my Martial Soul that from this day forth, until you are defeated by me or someone from Spirit Hall, all members of Spirit Hall shall never set foot in these Clear Sky Sect Mountains!"

Having obtained what he wanted, Tang Chen withdrew and returned to the Clear Sky Sect side, while Qian Daoliu returned to Spirit Hall's side.

Qian Xunyi, who had been watching Tang Chen's condition closely, could tell that Tang Chen was already at the end of his strength—his condition was even worse than his father's. After all, the secret technique of Ring Detonation had side effects.

Golden Crocodile said with displeasure, "Big Brother, how could you accept such conditions?"

Qian Daoliu said helplessly, "This was a wager between Tang Chen and me. Since I lost, I must uphold this oath. I cannot go back on my word."

Looking at the high-spirited Clear Sky Sect across from them, Qian Xunyi asked, "Old man, what exactly was the wager you made with Tang Chen?"

"I would not use my advantage in the sky, while Tang Chen would not use the terrain to his advantage. Neither side would casually activate their Martial Soul Avatar. We would rely purely on hard strength and fight fairly to determine victory or defeat," Qian Daoliu admitted.

"You agreed to such an absurd wager?"

"Absurd?"

"Old man, let me ask you: is the Clear Sky Hammer some kind of earth Martial Soul that can continuously draw Soul Power while standing on the ground?"

"No." Qian Daoliu shook his head.

"Our Angel Martial Soul is inherently a Martial Soul of the sky. The closer we are to the sun, the more our soul skills are amplified, and we can transform solar energy into Soul Power to continuously sustain our combat strength. That is part of our own strength. Your wager with Tang Chen voluntarily restricted part of your own strength, while Tang Chen's Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul has no so-called terrain advantage at all. What kind of fair duel is that?"

"Suppose this were an ordinary soul battle. A Soul Master with an iron hammer Martial Soul fights a Sharp-tailed Swift Soul Master, and the hammer Soul Master tells the swift Soul Master to give up their aerial mobility advantage and come down to fight him head-on. Is that reasonable?"

Qian Daoliu and the high priests watching the battle fell silent at that moment. The looks on their faces, as though they had suddenly gained enlightenment, only left Qian Xunyi even more speechless.

The mobility advantage of the sky was itself part of an Angel's hard strength. Restricting it was no different from clipping an Angel's wings.

If the Angel Martial Soul and Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul were described with stat charts, then the Angel Martial Soul would be a hexagonal chart, exceptional in every aspect, while the Clear Sky Hammer would be a compass-like Martial Soul specialized in the path of strength.

This could be seen from the soul skill configurations of Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu.

Qian Daoliu was a balanced Soul Master with holy power, purification, defense, mobility, area damage, recovery... and more.

Tang Chen, meanwhile, was an extreme Soul Master focused on dominance, powerful offense, defense-breaking, and ultimate strength.

After observing the battle for three days, Qian Xunyi reached a conclusion: if he used Qian Daoliu's configuration to fight Tang Chen, he had ten ways to cripple Tang Chen and shatter the backbone of the Clear Sky Sect.

Yet this old man Qian Daoliu had gone and foolishly competed with Tang Chen in strength. The key was that before Qian Xunyi pointed it out, these people had even thought this wager was perfectly reasonable?

"That is right, Big Brother. You are an Angel—why did you give up your advantage in the sky and fight Tang Chen head-on?" Lion High Priest asked.

Qian Daoliu responded with a long silence.

"Forget it. The oath has already been made, and I have acknowledged my defeat to him. There is no use saying any of this now." Qian Daoliu sighed.

"I will reclaim the dignity Spirit Hall lost today in the future." Qian Xunyi looked at Tang Chen's retreating back and spoke calmly.

"You are certainly confident. As your father, I also believe you can do it." As he spoke, Qian Daoliu sensed Qian Xunyi's aura and said in surprise, "Yi'er, I can sense that your Soul Power Level has already reached ninety."

Qian Xunyi nodded.

The high priests were stunned.

"Then perfect. We can obtain your ninth Soul Ring while we are at it."