Tang Hao: Spirit Hall, Tremble

When Xu Yuan arrived at the Back Mountain of Nouding Academy, Tang Hao was sitting on a boulder, clutching a roast chicken in his left hand. A huge wine gourd hung at his waist.

His coarse gray-brown robe was riddled with holes, but he could not even be bothered to patch it.

His hair was a tangled bird's nest, and a waxy yellow pallor covered his weather-beaten face. He looked utterly destitute.

If not for his sturdy, bronze-colored muscles, Xu Yuan would have taken him for a beggar who had come to Nuoding City for food.

"What, disappointed by how I look?"

The disheveled Tang Hao swallowed a mouthful of chicken and wiped the grease from his fingers on his robe.

Then he sprang up from the boulder, stretched as though nothing were amiss, and rolled his neck.

"Then... how about this!"

Before Xu Yuan could speak, Soul Power erupted beneath Tang Hao's feet. Nine Soul Rings rose slowly from the ground, one after another, circling his body.

Yellow! Yellow! Purple! Purple! Black! Black! Black! Black! Red!

As that dazzling red Soul Ring rose, the pressure of a Titled Douluo swept outward, blotting out heaven and earth.

His overwhelming presence was unrivaled. Such vast Soul Power radiated from him that even the air seemed on the verge of shattering.

"So this is a Titled Douluo above Level 90?"

Xu Yuan raised an arm against the dust. In his previous life, he had often joked that Douluo was rock bottom, but that was only compared with other worlds.

Now that he was actually in the Douluo World, Xu Yuan was still deeply shaken.

Of course, what Xu Yuan felt even more strongly was disbelief.

Because Tang Hao actually wanted to make a wish on his Martial Soul!

Even after Xu Yuan had explicitly said that the Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul could not reverse life and death, Tang Hao had come to make a wish.

That made the wish he wanted to make obvious.

But could the Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul grant it to his satisfaction?

The corner of Xu Yuan's mouth twitched. He had his doubts.

Still, he had to keep up the act.

"A... a Titled Douluo, Your Excellency!"

Xu Yuan shielded his face with his arm and cried out in shock.

"Heh..."

Tang Hao held a Clear Sky Hammer, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly. He raised the wine gourd at his waist and took another swig.

He had long since grown used to looks of shock and horror like that.

What annoyed Tang Hao was that Xu Yuan showed no surprise at his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring!

Nouding Academy was a small place after all!

He withdrew his Titled Douluo pressure and said calmly, "Your Martial Soul is very interesting!"

"I meant to come find you last month, but something came up and delayed me."

Xu Yuan slowly lowered his arm and waited patiently for him to finish.

Tang Hao nodded in satisfaction. "Enough idle talk. Summon your Martial Soul!"

"If its ability satisfies me, I'll allow you to follow my descendant in the future!"

"Once you've used that Martial Soul to win great glory for him, I'll recommend you to join the mightiest sect under heaven! Your family will become one of its subordinate clans!"

"By then, your children and grandchildren for generations to come will enjoy the protection of the mightiest sect in the world!"

Tang Hao grew visibly more excited when he spoke of the Clear Sky Sect.

At the thought of bringing this heaven-defying Martial Soul into the sect and having its owner's descendants serve the Clear Sky Sect for generations, Tang Hao wanted to burst out laughing.

"..."

Xu Yuan's face darkened, but he forced a smile.

Just what I'd expect from Haozi Douluo. He's got it all worked out.

Not only does he want me to grant his wish, he wants my descendants working for the Clear Sky Sect too. Sect slaves, confirmed.

As for counting on the Clear Sky Sect's protection...

Just look at what happened to the Four Single-Attribute Clans.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

In the middle of his impassioned speech, Tang Hao suddenly clutched his chest and started coughing. His face flushed red.

"Are you all right?"

Xu Yuan asked with a look of concern.

Tang Hao turned away as he coughed and waved a hand. "It's nothing serious. Just some old injuries, hardly worth mentioning."

"Enough of that!"

"Summon your Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul. Let me see just how much this one-in-ten-thousand exception, which Grandmaster called unprecedented in ten thousand years of Douluo history, is worth!"

Tang Hao fixed his eyes on Xu Yuan. Whether he could someday take revenge on Spirit Hall hinged on this moment!

"Please wait a moment, Your Excellency!"

Xu Yuan drew a deep breath and immediately circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill.

In an instant, Soul Power poured out of his body.

Pale golden radiance surged outward as a towering Glazed Ancient Tree, brimming with a sacred aura, sprang from the ground.

Its thick, ancient trunk was translucent and lustrous like white jade, with fine strands of golden light flowing across its surface.

Xu Yuan stood before the Wish-Granting Tree and stepped aside. "Your Excellency, you can make your wish from here!"

Tang Hao silently put away the Clear Sky Hammer. His eyes betrayed an excitement he could not hide.

Spirit Hall, tremble!

Once the hidden injuries in my body are healed, I'll make you pay in blood!

Tang Hao strode forward and stood boldly before the Wish-Granting Tree.

"Your Excellency, there's something I'm not sure I should say!"

"Hmm? Go ahead!"

"It's just that the Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul doesn't grant wishes without side effects. There might be a tiny, tiny price to pay!"

Xu Yuan's heart was in his throat. As he remembered it, Haozi was hardly a man with a good temper.

If the price was something he could never recover from and it disrupted his plans for revenge, that would be no laughing matter.

"No matter. I'm a Titled Douluo!"

"Even if your Martial Soul is a rarity unseen through the ages, it isn't capable of making me pay a heavy price!"

"Besides, I've already seen through its secrets!"

Tang Hao recalled the Martial Soul Theory on wishes that Yu Xiaogang had copied out for him, and confidence spread across his face.

Of course, he was not confident in Yu Xiaogang's theory. He was confident in his own power as a Titled Douluo!

If he sensed anything wrong, he could simply pull away.

The Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul might be unusual, but it did not have the power to stop a Titled Douluo.

"In that case, please go ahead."

Xu Yuan managed a strained smile. He hoped nothing would go wrong when the wish was granted.

"Then, Wish-Granting Tree, heal the hidden injuries in my body so I can withstand the full power unleashed by Ring Detonation!"

Tang Hao took another swig of cheap Malt Liquor, suppressed the restlessness in his heart, then called out to the Wish-Granting Tree.

Hum!

The branches and leaves shimmering with pale golden, glasslike light trembled together. A dazzling white halo spread outward from the trunk in layer after layer.

Tang Hao lifted his head slightly, then closed his eyes and spread his arms to welcome the baptism of white light.

The moment the white light passed through Tang Hao's body, Xu Yuan's consciousness was drawn into the Wish-Granting Tree.

It was a mysterious space filled with boundless white.

Standing there, Xu Yuan clearly saw the entire process by which the Wish-Granting Tree Martial Soul granted the wish and healed Tang Hao's hidden injuries.