"You talk big!"
At those words, Gu Rong gave a cold snort. Nine Soul Rings rose around him as pale bone armor spread from his shoulders and back, shielding Gu Ling behind him.
Dugu Bo did not join in the insults. Jade Light spread beneath his feet, and poisonous mist crept along the ground into the cracks between the stones, sealing off both sides of the mountain path. He said evenly, "Kid, stand back."
Gu Ling immediately retreated toward the cliff face behind him. He could see clearly that Dugu Bo's poisonous mist was not spreading toward the academy. It was winding around the slope to get behind Tang Hao.
His teacher was blocking Tang Hao from the front, while Old Poison was cutting off his retreat. They had no intention of letting Tang Hao come and go as he pleased!
Tang Hao's gaze darkened. His Soul Rings flashed one after another, and he swung the Clear Sky Hammer with a roar that seemed to press against the ground.
The hammer's wind tore through the poisonous mist. Trees snapped in half on either side, and the churned-up earth and stone ripped out their roots!
Gu Rong did not retreat. A thick bone shield closed before him, meeting the black hammer head-on.
Boom!
The bone shield caved inward, cracks racing across its surface.
Gu Rong's arm sank under the force, and the mountain path shattered beneath his feet, but he held his ground.
The next instant, the cracked shield split down the middle. Two bone spikes shot out past the hammerhead, straight for Tang Hao's chest!
Tang Hao twisted his wrist and brought the hammer's shaft across to knock the spikes aside. But the moment his foot touched the ground, a sickly sweet scent drifted up beside him.
Poisonous mist!
Dugu