Clear Sky Hammer

They watched every one of Shrek's matches.

In their second match against the Elephant Armor Sect, when the seven fat men who looked like mountains of flesh stepped onto the stage, Qian Ren Jun even whistled and said this match would be interesting. The Elephant Armor Sect's seven members were all defense-type Soul Masters, with Diamond Mammoth Martial Souls. Their defense was said to be invincible among those of the same rank.

To avoid them, Shrek's team ate Oscar's flying sausages and took to the air, only to be shot down by the mammoth cannon turrets.

When Tang San used his fourth soul skill, Blue Silver Prison, to restrain everyone except Huyan Li and focused all their attacks on Huyan Li, Huyan Li revealed his head soul bone and held on until the others broke free.

Just when everyone thought Shrek was about to lose, Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing suddenly joined forces.

One white and one black figure crossed paths, and a tiger's roar shook the heavens. A massive White Tiger phantom condensed above the stage and swiped down with one claw, sending all seven members of the Elephant Armor Sect flying.

Even Huyan Li, who possessed a head soul bone, could not withstand a single slap from the Netherworld White Tiger.

Qian Ren Duo fell silent.

That was the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Netherworld White Tiger. It looked incredibly powerful; at the very least, Qian Ren Duo himself probably would not have been able to withstand it.

The second match was against Blazing Fire Academy.

The moment Blazing Fire Academy's members stepped onto the stage, the temperature throughout the Great Soul Arena rose by several degrees. Their captain, Huo Wushuang, and vice-captain, Huo Wu, were both four-ringed Soul Ancestors, while the other team members were all above level thirty-five.

After the match began, Blazing Fire Academy's fire attacks were indeed ferocious. Flames burned across the entire stage.

Especially when Huo Wu, aided by two support-type Soul Masters, gathered the soul power of all three of them and unleashed her fourth soul skill, Blazing Sun Dance, even Huo Yuhao's group could feel the surging heatwave from where they sat.

Yet Tang San stood in the middle of the sea of flames, facing the enormous fireball flying toward him without dodging. Blue Silver Grass rose beneath his feet and wrapped around him.

His Blue Silver Grass swayed amid the flames. It should have been highly flammable, yet it simply refused to burn.

When the flames dispersed, he was still standing there.

"What a pity. My Blue Silver Grass is immune to fire!"

The corner of his mouth curled upward, as though he were mocking Blazing Fire Academy's incompetence.

"Immune to fire?" Qian Ren Jun's eyes widened.

"Not immune to fire. He's just showing off." Huo Yuhao shook his head. "It's heat-resistant. His Blue Silver Grass has been altered, giving it an extremely high resistance to fire attributes."

But if its fire resistance was this high, could it still be called Blue Silver Grass?

Their third match was against Tianshui Academy.

Tianshui Academy was made up entirely of female students, and all of their Martial Souls were water-attributed. Their captain, Shui Bing'er, and Xue Wu possessed a Martial Soul Fusion Skill—Ice Phoenix.

The Ice Phoenix condensed over the stage, and the temperature in the entire Great Soul Arena plummeted. Even the spectators began to shiver, their breaths turning into white mist.

Tang San did not confront them head-on.

He moved around the stage with his Eight Spider Lances, dodging the Ice Phoenix's attacks. Once, twice, three times... He was incredibly fast. Each time the Eight Spider Lances touched the ground, they changed his direction, causing the Ice Phoenix's attacks to miss again and again.

He kept dodging like that for a full half hour.

After half an hour, Shui Bing'er and Xue Wu had exhausted their soul power. The Ice Phoenix automatically dispersed, turning into countless ice crystals that scattered through the air.

Tang San stood on the stage, his Eight Spider Lances retracted, his expression unchanged.

Shui Bing'er looked at him, her eyes filled with unwillingness. But she no longer had the strength to continue fighting.

"This..." Qian Ren Jun did not know what to say.

"Very clever," Huo Yuhao said. "He knew he couldn't overpower them, so he used his superior mobility and lower consumption to wear down their soul power."

"But how did he know he could outlast them?"

Huo Yuhao did not answer.

He merely watched the young man on the stage retract his Eight Spider Lances, his brows faintly furrowed.

The advancement match was against Thunder Academy.

This battle was the fiercest of all. Dai Mubai faced Yu Tiansin, two top-tier assault-type beast Martial Soul Masters—one wielding the White Tiger, the other the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. They fought from the stage to the ground below, then from below back onto the stage, every blow landing solidly as soul skills blasted straight at one another.

For the final strike, Dai Mubai's White Tiger Meteor Shower collided with Yu Tiansin's Thundering Fury.

Boom!

The entire Great Soul Arena shook. When the dust settled, Yu Tiansin said, "I lost," then immediately fainted.

Dai Mubai held on until he walked off the stage before collapsing.

A narrow victory.

"Every match has been a narrow victory," Qian Ren Duo said. "Yet somehow, they won every single one."

Qian Ren Jun nodded beside him, unable to say anything.

Eight Spider Lances, hidden weapons, Netherworld White Tiger, Evil Fire Phoenix, Blue Silver Grass with extremely high resistance to water and fire... This team's hidden cards seemed endless. Whenever it looked like they were about to lose, they would pull out something new and turn defeat into victory.

"They still haven't properly shown what that Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda can do," Qian Ren Duo said. "And that fat boy's phoenix flames still feel like they haven't been used at full strength."

Huo Yuhao said nothing.

He only watched the blue-clothed youth on the stage, watched those eyes that were terrifyingly calm during battle.

As he watched him, Huo Yuhao recalled the intense, inescapable resentment and hatred he had seen in those eyes when they had looked at each other that day.

And for some inexplicable reason, Huo Yuhao kept thinking of four words he had clearly never heard anyone say before: the path to death.

He knew that person was not simple.

Far less simple than he appeared on the surface.

At some unknown point in the advancement matches, they faced Kamikaze Academy.

Tang San was the first to take the stage.

His opponent was Kamikaze Academy's captain, Feng Xiaotian.

Feng Xiaotian, a level forty-four Soul Ancestor, possessed the Gale Demon Wolf Martial Soul and had created his own soul skill, Gale Demon Wolf's Thirty-Six Slashes. It was said that he had once used this move to defeat a level fifty Soul King.

After the two stepped onto the stage, there was no unnecessary banter.

Feng Xiaotian moved.

He was as fast as the wind, making his movements impossible to see clearly.

Even though his soul power was three levels below Tang San's, he fought Tang San evenly.

As the match neared its end, the thirty-six slashes came one after another. Each strike was faster, fiercer, and deadlier than the last. The entire stage was filled with his blade light, like a dense net that enveloped Tang San.

Tang San dodged amid the blade light.

All eight Spider Lances unfolded. His speed had reached its limit, yet the blade light still grazed him several times, tearing his clothes and revealing the wounds beneath.

He was bleeding.

Yet he continued to hold on.

One slash, two slashes, three slashes... ten slashes, twenty slashes, thirty slashes...

Feng Xiaotian's strikes became faster and faster, while Tang San's evasions grew more and more difficult.

Finally, the thirty-sixth slash descended.

This was the strongest strike of Gale Demon Wolf's Thirty-Six Slashes. Feng Xiaotian condensed all his power into this one blow and slashed toward Tang San.

Everyone in the stands held their breath.

With this strike, victory and defeat would be decided.

Then they saw it.

A hammer appeared in Tang San's hand.

The hammer was black as ink and radiated an oppressive, weighty aura. Strange patterns were carved across its body, resembling some ancient totem. The instant it appeared, the air throughout the Great Soul Arena seemed to freeze.

Everyone recognized it.

It was the Clear Sky Hammer.

More terrifying still, beneath his feet floated a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring flickering with profound black light.

"Twin Martial Souls?! Another ten-thousand-year Soul Ring?!"

Cries of shock erupted from every direction in the stands. Xue Ye the Great abruptly rose to his feet.

Twin Martial Souls. The Clear Sky Hammer.

That was the Clear Sky Hammer. The number one tool Martial Soul in the world, the treasured inheritance of the Clear Sky Sect, an existence that had once made the entire continent tremble.

And it even had a black ten-thousand-year Soul Ring attached to it. His first Soul Ring was ten thousand years old.

Tang San swung the Clear Sky Hammer and smashed it into the blade light.

Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique.

Boom!

The blade light shattered, and Feng Xiaotian was sent flying, crashing heavily beneath the stage.

He struggled to get up, but after struggling several times, he finally collapsed.

On the stage, Tang San put away the Clear Sky Hammer and stood there. He was still bleeding, and his breathing was somewhat hurried, but his eyes were bright.

Deafening cheers erupted from the stands.

Qian Ren Duo fell silent.

Qian Ren Jun opened his mouth, but could not utter a single word.

They watched the youth on the stage, watched the Clear Sky Hammer black as ink, watched the black Soul Ring flickering beneath his feet, and suddenly felt an indescribable sensation rising within them.

What was that feeling called?

Wariness.

So there were geniuses like this outside Spirit Hall as well.

Huo Yuhao said nothing.

His gaze fell upon the Clear Sky Hammer, upon that pitch-black hammer, upon the strange patterns carved across its body.

Then he remembered something.

When he was six years old.

Spirit Hall.

Ruins.

Beneath the broken walls and rubble lay a corpse whose face could no longer be made out.

That name.

Tang Hao.

His fist clenched abruptly.

His nails dug into his flesh, sending a sharp pain through him. But he did not feel it. He only stared at the Clear Sky Hammer, at the Martial Soul that looked almost exactly like Tang Hao's.

Clear Sky Hammer.

Clear Sky Hammer.

Clear Sky Hammer.

All of a sudden, he realized that Tang San seemed to resemble Tang Hao a little.

Tang San on the stage seemed to sense something.

He turned his head, and his gaze passed through the cheering crowd and the boiling stands before landing on Huo Yuhao.

There was a faint, almost imperceptible smile in his eyes.

That smile was very faint, so faint it was nearly impossible to notice.

But Huo Yuhao saw it.

Hidden within that smile was resentment and hatred.

Huo Yuhao stared at the person on the stage, his clenched fist trembling slightly.

Qian Ren Duo, beside him, noticed something strange and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"

Huo Yuhao did not answer.

After a long while, he finally spoke. His voice was quiet and calm, yet it sent a chill down Qian Ren Duo's back.

"That person," he said, "should be Tang Hao's son, right?"

Qian Ren Duo froze.

"What?"

"The Clear Sky Hammer," Huo Yuhao said. "The Clear Sky Sect has long since sealed itself away and become a bunch of cowardly turtles. The only ones who would still dare to jump around under Spirit Hall's nose are Tang Hao's family, after he declared his departure from the sect."

Tang Hao.

Of course Qian Ren Duo knew that name. In the past few years, that madman had single-handedly slaughtered several Spirit Hall branch halls, killing hundreds of people. Spirit Hall had hunted him for seven years, yet still had not found any trace of him.

And now his son was here.

On the stage, Tang San withdrew his gaze.

He turned and walked toward the edge of the stage, his steps steady, as though the previous battle had merely been a warm-up.

Behind him, the cheers remained deafening.

He walked slowly, every step firm.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly.

Huo Yuhao.

Did you see it?

This is my Clear Sky Hammer.

Just wait.

Soon, we will meet again.

When that time comes, I will let you know the consequences of betraying me.

You dared scheme against me and defy me, Tang San. You have chosen the path to death!

He descended the steps and disappeared into the shadows of the passageway.

In the stands, Huo Yuhao stood up.

"Their matches are all over for today. Let's go," he said.

Qian Ren Duo and Qian Ren Jun exchanged a glance, then rose to follow him.

Wang Qiu'er walked at the back. She recalled a scene she had once seen.

It was the figure of a pink-and-blue-haired beauty wielding a Clear Sky Hammer.

But she did not know who she was.