A Titled Douluo Ambush!

"Rongrong, stop shaking it. There really isn't a drop left."

Inside the carriage, Gao Yang watched Ning Rongrong shake the water flask, his face full of affection.

They had left in such a rush that each had assumed the other had packed food and clean water for the journey.

Halfway there, they ran out of water...

"I don't care! I'm dying of thirst!" Ning Rongrong scrunched her little nose and tossed the flask aside. "Brother Gao Yang, how much farther to the next town?"

"Not far, not far." Gao Yang could not resist pinching her nose. "You're the one who insisted on taking a carriage. If we'd used Sword Control, we'd probably be at the Star Dou Great Forest already."

"Oh? But someone just said carriages were wonderful and we should ride them more often!" Ning Rongrong slipped her arms around Gao Yang's neck. "Who could that have been? What a mystery!"

She blew a teasing, fragrant breath against his ear, making him squirm.

"Miss Ning, please conduct yourself with decorum. My heart holds only the sword, not romance."

Even with a beauty in his arms, Gao Yang's gaze remained clear.

"Oh, get lost. If you're spent, just say so. Why pretend to be so profound?" Ning Rongrong raised a bare foot and kicked Gao Yang out of the carriage. "Drive properly. Once I've slept my fill, I'll make sure you're comfortable tonight."

"She sleeps by day and sleeps with me by night." Gao Yang settled into the driver's seat, grumbling. "Gao Yang, Gao Yang, how could you give in to temptation so easily? Have you forgotten your dream of becoming a Titled Douluo?"

Just then, Gao Yang's expression darkened.

"I opened this mountain, I planted this tree—agh!"

"Urgh!"

Several masked Soul Masters had barely revealed their Martial Souls when sword energy cut them in two.

Blood and entrails scattered across the ground, and a faint stench of blood spread through the forest.

"The fourth wave..." Gao Yang pulled the carriage to a stop and surveyed his surroundings. "Friends in the shadows, stop sending your men to die. If you don't make your move, I'll be in town!"

Ever since he and Ning Rongrong had left the Imperial City, three waves of robbers had come after them.

At first, Gao Yang had taken them for ordinary bandits. Then he saw that one of them had four Soul Rings and abandoned the thought.

"Gao Yang of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. You truly live up to your reputation."

Two elderly men stepped out of the shadows.

One was past eighty and over two meters tall, his long, lean frame as straight and sharp as a javelin.

The other was burly and broad, with a short neck, powerful arms, and a cold, resolute gaze.

"Since when did the Heaven Dou Empire have so many Titled Douluo?"

Feeling the pressure radiating from them, Gao Yang's expression turned grim.

A rustling came from inside the carriage as Ning Rongrong hurriedly dressed.

"Boy, you meet a Douluo and can't even bring yourself to address him as 'Your Excellency'?" the tall, thin Douluo said flatly.

"With a welcome like this, I take it you've come looking for trouble! Would you spare me if I were polite?" Gao Yang sneered. "Of all the powers I've crossed that could send two Titled Douluo, there are the Fallen Soul Masters in the Far West... and Spirit Hall."

"The Far West... Gao Yang, my young master heard what you did there and praised you highly!" The short, stout Douluo's voice rang out. "Today, you have only two choices."

"Let's hear them."

"First, kill Ning Rongrong, leave the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and serve my young master," the tall, thin Douluo said slowly. "Second, die here."

"Another one telling me to kill Rongrong..." Gao Yang gave a derisive laugh.

"What did you say?"

"I said I choose the first option, of course." Gao Yang smiled. "There are two Titled Douluo here. Do I have any reason to refuse?"

"Smart choice." The tall, thin Douluo nodded. "Don't waste time. Do it."

"All right!" Gao Yang revealed his Martial Soul and slowly rose into the air. "Rongrong, we've been husband and wife. I'll make it quick."

"Seventh Soul Skill: Martial Soul Avatar!"

"From Seven Treasures comes the Glazed Tile; first, strength... sixth, amplification!"

In an instant, Gao Yang wheeled around. Six streaks of sword energy carved out a huge character for "kill," which hurtled toward the two old men under Ning Rongrong's amplification.

"A trick to buy time! Do you take me for a three-year-old?"

But the short, stout Douluo had already revealed his Martial Soul.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, purple, black, black, black, black.

The moment his nine Soul Rings appeared, the air around him warped.

"Fifth Soul Skill: Thorn Bone Spikes!"

Boom!

The instant Gao Yang's "kill" struck the short, stout Douluo, dust billowed everywhere.

When it cleared, the short, stout Douluo still stood firm.

"That Soul Skill packed a punch!" the stout Douluo laughed. "No wonder you managed to kill the old ghost with a sneak attack. Unfortunately, that much power won't kill me!"

"A Bloodspike Pufferfish Martial Soul?" Gao Yang recognized it at once. "So you're Spirit Hall's Porcupinefish Douluo. Then the man beside you must be Snake Lance Douluo?"

"You've got a decent eye, boy!"

The tall, thin Douluo revealed his Martial Soul as well, gripping a blue-purple snake lance.

The lance was roughly four meters long. Its head curved, and its sharp tip forked like a snake's tongue; the whole weapon was blue-purple.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, purple, black, black, black, black.

Nine Soul Rings surrounded him too.

At the same time, more Soul Masters sprang out around Gao Yang.

Most were at level fifty or sixty.

"What a force. Spirit Hall really thinks highly of me!"

Gao Yang hovered above Ning Rongrong's carriage.

A thread of rosy light linked husband and wife.

"My young master said you're no ordinary man. An assassination worthy of a Titled Douluo is the least you deserve!" Snake Lance Douluo raised his hand and pointed his lance at the carriage. "Leave this brat to me. Kill Ning Rongrong first!"

At his order, Spirit Hall's Soul Masters surged toward the carriage like a tide.

Those fighting up close prepared to tear it apart, while those farther away locked their Soul Skills onto it.

"As long as I'm alive, no one will hurt Ning Rongrong!" Gao Yang did not move. His voice was icy. "Sword God Domain!"

"A domain? Impossible!" Disbelief filled Snake Lance Douluo's face.

A Soul Master could only possibly gain a miraculous ability like a domain through a ninth Soul Skill.

Yet the boy before him was merely a Soul Saint!

But his doubts could not change what happened next.

The instant the domain enveloped the Spirit Hall Soul Saints preparing to attack Ning Rongrong,

their vision blurred. A heartbeat later, each found himself bound to a cross by iron chains, unable to move.

Hundreds, even thousands of Gao Yangs surrounded them, each holding a Seven Kill Sword.

"If you want to kill my wife, then be ready to be killed yourselves."

Gao Yang's merciless voice echoed through the domain.

"Within this domain, I can control time!"

"Let me think. How long should I stab you before I let you out?"

"I've got it. The answer is..."

"Three years!"

Before his words had faded, one Gao Yang drove a Seven Kill Sword into a Spirit Hall Soul Saint.

With no Soul Power behind it, the thrust caused the Soul Saint only a brief stab of pain.

But before he could catch his breath, the next thrust came.

One after another, the swords struck, as though they would never stop.

He begged for mercy, cursed, begged for death, and finally broke down.

By the third year, no trace of life remained in the Soul Master's eyes.

Three years of unending torment had utterly shattered his soul!