He stopped paying attention to the four Titled Douluo trying to wear him down and poured all his soul power into the Clear Sky Hammer.
Just as he was about to swing it in a desperate gamble, a ferocious force struck from behind.
Demon Bear Douluo had waited a long time. At last, he had his chance.
His Seventh Soul Ring lit up, and he transformed into a giant bear hundreds of meters tall. His enormous paw tore through space and slammed into Tang Hao's back.
The protective soul power around Tang Hao shook violently. The paw smashed through it in an instant.
Tang Hao spat blood. The tremendous force threw him off balance, sending him plummeting diagonally from the sky.
Demon Bear Douluo gave him no chance to recover. His other paw came crashing down after him, drawing startled cries from all around.
Clear Sky Douluo had once defeated Spirit Hall's previous Pope and fought four Titled Douluo to a standstill. Now Spirit Hall had beaten him to this state. Would he really die here today?
Demon Bear Douluo stood in midair, looking down at his handiwork, his chest heaving.
Those two strikes had seemed to give him the upper hand, but the force rebounding from Tang Hao had left both his arms numb.
"Tang Hao, you ambushed the previous Pope and wounded him so badly that he died. Did you really think that made you invincible?"
"This is Spirit Hall, not a place for you to run wild."
Demon Bear Douluo's rough voice rang across the sky, every word dripping with contempt for Tang Hao's arrogance.
Amid the rubble, Tang Hao planted one hand on the ground and slowly rose as the dust settled.
Blood covered his body, and multiple bones had been shattered.
Still gripping the Clear Sky Hammer, he forced himself to stand and looked around.
Ghost Douluo and Chrysanthemum Douluo had cut off his path from the front and rear again. Ghost Leopard waited for an opening on one side, while Demon Bear hovered above, keeping him firmly in his sights.
The four worked together seamlessly. They had learned their lesson and refused to underestimate him. Instead, they had chosen the safest approach: wear Tang Hao down until he could fight no longer.
Tang Hao knew it too. If he kept fighting them without a plan, he would lose and make a complete fool of himself before the continent's assembled powers.
His gaze shifted to the distant Papal Palace, and his expression hardened.
If I can't leave, then I won't!
As long as this hammer blow lands, I won't have come here for nothing!
"You want to keep me here? Then let's see if you have what it takes!"
Tang Hao gripped the Clear Sky Hammer, and the soul power within him began to surge almost out of control.
His Sixth Soul Ring suddenly shook violently.
Yue Guan recognized the sight, and his expression changed at once.
"Ring Detonation!"
The words had barely left his mouth when Tang Hao's Sixth Soul Ring shattered of its own accord.
All the power stored within the Soul Ring flooded into Tang Hao. His waning aura surged, but one ring was not enough. He did not stop.
His eyes remained fixed on the Papal Palace as his ninth Soul Ring, the outermost one, rose.
It was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring—one so rare that, in this era, finding one was a matter of sheer luck.
As the crimson Soul Ring began to tremble, everyone present felt a suffocating pressure.
In the guests' gallery, Sword Douluo Chen Xin shot to his feet. Staring at Tang Hao, he cried, "He's going to detonate that Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!"
Ning Fengzhi's expression turned grave. He watched the Clear Sky Hammer swell in Tang Hao's hands, and his Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul appeared.
If he was right, Tang Hao meant to bring that hammer down on the Papal Palace—and they were sitting in its guests' gallery. If Spirit Hall did nothing, they would have to find some way to withstand the blow or evade it.
Qian Renxue sat with the Heaven Dou Empire's delegation, watching Tang Hao with an icy expression.
Everyone knew Spirit Hall's Papal Palace had only recently been completed, and today was the day Qian Juechen inherited the Pope's Position.
If Tang Hao brought it down before the assembled powers, her elder brother's reputation—and Spirit Hall's—would suffer a devastating blow.
She instinctively looked toward the raised platform ahead. Qian Juechen's expression had not changed, and she could not tell what she was thinking.
Despite Demon Bear and Ghost Leopard's efforts to stop him, Tang Hao's ninth, Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring burst apart.
He seized the hammer's handle with both hands and raised the massive Clear Sky Hammer high overhead.
His body could no longer bear the power of detonating two rings in succession. His skin split open, and bright blood poured from the wounds.
He ignored his injuries and drew on even more soul power, pouring all of it into this single blow.
"Destroy it!"
Tang Hao drove his arms forward. The Clear Sky Hammer was about to fall upon the Papal Palace.
Panic showed on the faces of many sect disciples and powerful figures present. The blow was so terrifying that they could not trust Spirit Hall's protective barrier to stop it.
They looked desperately toward the new Pope, hoping he would do something—hoping Spirit Hall would do something.
In midair, the four Titled Douluo of Spirit Hall saw that they could no longer stop the blow. Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo exchanged a glance, remembering Qian Juechen's instructions from the night before.
The Pope had told them that once Tang Hao showed signs of defeat, he would inevitably detonate his rings to escape. When that happened, they had to use their Martial Soul Fusion Skill immediately.
Whatever the cost, they had to restrain Tang Hao. They could not let his hammer so much as touch the Papal Palace.
Yue Guan and Gui Mei spread their arms at the same time. The Sky-reaching Chrysanthemum appeared behind Yue Guan, while Gui Mei's body became a vast black shadow.
Their martial souls overlapped, turning into yin and yang. At that moment, their two utterly different streams of soul power merged.
Gold and silver currents shot high into the sky, then spread outward.
"Martial Soul Fusion Skill—Two Forms Stillness Domain!"
Their voices overlapped, one shrill and the other deep, producing a strange sound.
The domain descended. The falling Clear Sky Hammer stopped dead in midair.
Flying rubble, billowing dust, and blood that had yet to hit the ground all froze in place.
Tang Hao remained locked in the motion of bringing his arms down, veins bulging across his bloodied face.
He kept straining, but the Clear Sky Hammer would not move another inch.
I was too careless this time. Detonating two Soul Rings and gathering their power took too long. I gave that chrysanthemum and that ghost an opening.
If I'd acted decisively from the start and detonated my ninth Soul Ring, my Clear Sky Hammer would have brought down the Papal Palace by now. That newly appointed Pope might even have died on the spot.
To kill both father and son, two Popes, with my own hands—if I'd managed that, I could have died here today without regret.
But it looked as though this was where I'd fall.
Before you continue