I Must Be Seeing Things!

Cao Kun did not withdraw the right hand that had blocked the punch. Instead, he curled his fingers slightly around that point of contact.

It was as though he were not making a fist,

but gripping an invisible, intangible handle that somehow truly existed.

Then Cao Kun lowered his waist slightly and gave his foot a casual-looking twist.

Yet the movement flowed so naturally it seemed he had practiced it countless times—or had been born knowing it.

His strength took root beneath his feet, passed through his knees, turned through his hips, traveled up his back and across his shoulders, gathered in his arm, and finally converged at the fist gripping that invisible handle.

There was no flash of a Soul Skill, no burst of power, not even an extra sound.

He simply sent his fist forward.

A push.

No, it was not a push.

It was... a tremor.

A tremor so subtle, yet seemingly capable of shaking the foundations of mountains and rivers and overturning the order of heaven and earth!

It did not act upon the physical body.

Rather, it seemed to strike directly at the single weakest point deep within Tang Hao's punching intent, his Soul Power, and even the structure behind the force of his body.

Hum...

A strange hum sounded, so low it was almost inaudible, yet it made the souls of everyone present shudder.

Tang Hao felt an irresistible, unfathomable force

slip through the gaps in his punch, the nodes of his circulating Soul Power, and even the chain of muscles driving his strike.

It seeped in without a sound...

Then... gave the slightest lift.

Crack!

Tang Hao's flawless punch, imbued with the terrifying power of a Titled Douluo, collapsed!

The Soul Power concentrated in his fist instantly ran wild and surged back through his meridians!

"Pfft...!"

Tang Hao's face went pale. With a muffled grunt, he staggered backward, his body dragged along by that bizarre tremor!

One step, two steps, three steps...

Each step left a deep footprint in the ground, with cracks spreading around it like a spiderweb!

He retreated seven full steps

before he barely managed to steady himself.

His blood churned, and his Soul Power fell into disorder.

Blood rose in his throat, but he forced it back down.

Even so, a thin streak of crimson seeped from the corner of his mouth.

He looked up and stared at the young man still standing where he had been, as though he had merely waved away a fly. All the cold indifference had vanished from Tang Hao's eyes, replaced by stunned disbelief

and the instinctive wariness and gravity of someone facing an unknown, powerful being!

Silence.

Deathly silence.

The moonlight was cold. Even the night wind seemed to have stopped.

Zhao Wuji stood frozen in his lunge, mouth hanging open, his mind utterly blank.

What had he just seen?

His own disciple, Cao Kun... had blocked Tang Hao's punch?

No, he had done more than block it...

With a single punch, he had driven back Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo?!

And injured him?!

What the hell? Am I dreaming?!

Flender had turned to stone. His glasses slipped to the tip of his nose, but he did not notice. His mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg.

His entire understanding of the world had taken one blow after another tonight!

Old Zhao was a level eighty-eight Soul Douluo!

The attacker was Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo!

And then... Cao Kun, that seemingly ordinary "senior student" at his academy, had driven back the Clear Sky Douluo with one punch?!

And injured him?!

I must be hallucinating from staying up too late, Flender thought numbly.

In the clearing,

Cao Kun slowly drew back his fist, still moving without haste.

His expression was unchanged. Only his clothes were slightly disheveled.

Clearly, the punch that had driven Tang Hao back had cost him next to nothing.

Cao Kun glanced at his unscathed right hand, then calmly looked at Tang Hao seven steps away, whose aura was in disarray and whose eyes flickered with doubt.

"Clear Sky Douluo! Is that all?"

Cao Kun spoke quietly, yet every word reached everyone's ears. His detached tone seemed at odds with his youthful appearance.

"Teacher Zhao was testing a student. Even if he went too far, that was an internal matter for the academy. You tried to deal him a vicious blow without asking what happened. Isn't that... rather overbearing?"

His words were not heated. They barely sounded accusatory, as though he were simply stating a fact.

But to Tang Hao, those calm words were more humiliating than the foulest curse.

Overbearing?

Tang Hao had lived his life as he pleased. When had he ever needed to explain himself?

When had he ever cared what anyone thought?

Yet today,

here at this shabby Shrek Academy,

before a young man nobody had ever heard of,

his strike had failed. Worse, he had been driven back and injured, and now this boy was calmly questioning him...

Uncontainable rage

mingled with the humiliation of being challenged

and the fear of that strange force he had just felt. Together, they roiled and erupted in Tang Hao's chest like volcanic magma!

"Boy..."

Tang Hao's voice was hoarse.

He forced each word through clenched teeth,

his tone cold enough to raise the hairs on anyone's neck.

"You... have done well."

Before the words had faded,

Tang Hao slowly raised a hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

The movement was slow, but an oppressive sense of impending violence filled the air.

"You took one of my punches and even injured me..."

A killing intent so cold it seemed tangible spread through Tang Hao's eyes. The trace of curiosity and caution there had been swallowed by brutality.

"You have every right to be proud."

"But..."

He paused. His aura surged wildly, more terrifying and savage than before!

The nine Soul Rings beneath his feet blazed once more.

The red hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring in particular shone so crimson it seemed about to drip blood!

The phantom of his Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul appeared behind him.

The crushing pressure cracked the surrounding ground and made it sink!

"This... is as far as you go."

The instant he finished speaking, Tang Hao vanished.

No, he had not vanished.

He was simply so fast that he left only a blurred afterimage in the moonlight!

This time,

he held nothing back!

He would not underestimate Cao Kun again!

The terrifying speed of a Titled Douluo erupted at full force!

The domineering essence of the Clear Sky Hammer flowed into his movements!

His target... Cao Kun!

He would tear apart the young man who had brought him such humiliation and shock!

He would see what other cards the boy had hidden beneath that bizarre power!

"Cao Kun, watch out!!!"

Zhao Wuji finally snapped out of his shock and roared in despair.

He tried to rush over, but Tang Hao was too fast. There was no time!

Flender jolted awake as well and unleashed his Soul Power with reckless abandon, trying to intercept him, but it was just as futile!

Against the full-speed assault of a Titled Douluo, a Soul Douluo and a Soul Saint might as well have been crawling!

Only Cao Kun remained unmoved.

Tang Hao appeared beside him as if by teleportation, bearing down with enough force to tear everything apart. Yet Cao Kun showed no panic.

A faint, knowing smile even seemed to touch his lips.

As if to say: Finally... taking this a little seriously?

Then he moved.

He did not dodge or retreat.

He merely raised his head slightly, looked at Tang Hao with a faint, mocking smile, and said,

"Now take one of mine!"