Xue Qinghe's Pecs

Above the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Gao Yang's face was deathly pale after using his Eighth Soul Skill. He looked utterly drained.

The sight made Ning Rongrong's heart ache.

"Brother Yang, are you all right...?"

"I'm fine..." Gao Yang smiled and patted her shoulder reassuringly. "Looking at it now, my Eighth Soul Skill is nothing but flaws."

Bitterness welled up inside him. Two hundred thousand years sounded impressive.

But the giant sword was painfully slow. Forget agility-type Soul Masters; even a quick-footed support-type could easily dodge it.

And it consumed a huge amount of Soul Power!

After using it just once, Gao Yang had nearly run dry...

"But if it hits, those flaws become strengths."

Ning Rongrong smiled and pointed at the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, now a field of ruins.

The royal palace had stood for over a thousand years, yet in a single breath, it had turned to ash and vanished.

That feat alone proved Gao Yang's Eighth Soul Skill was several times stronger than an ordinary Titled Douluo's Ninth Soul Skill!

Red and white fluids wound their way out from beneath the rubble, and the stench of blood rose to the sky. Even Ning Rongrong, who carried a blood feud, was shaken.

A palace held the emperor's three thousand consorts, along with servants, eunuchs, and imperial guards. There had been far more than ten thousand people inside.

Yet apart from a handful of extraordinarily lucky people, only a few flying-type Soul Masters had survived.

Ning Rongrong knew that Gao Yang reserved his gentleness for those close to him.

Enemies—and even innocent strangers—would struggle to stir his pity.

While Ning Rongrong was distracted, Gao Yang's gaze locked onto a familiar figure.

The current Heaven Dou Emperor, Xue Qinghe!

The moment Gao Yang spotted him, he flew straight at him on his sword!

The blood feud of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had to be repaid with this man's head!

Xue Qinghe had been handling state affairs when a fierce sense of danger struck. He took flight with his Martial Soul, and had only just begun to feel grateful for surviving when his pupils abruptly contracted.

Gao Yang was descending from the sky, drawing closer by the instant!

"Hah!"

Xue Qinghe cried out, and his Martial Soul immediately changed from a Swan into an Angel.

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

Facing Gao Yang, he lit up three of his six Soul Rings at once.

At the same time, light faintly rippled across his arms and head.

The next instant, he gripped a longsword and crossed paths with Gao Yang.

Squelch!!

In a single exchange, Xue Qinghe spat blood. A sword wound had opened across his chest, deep enough to expose bone.

But Gao Yang noticed that the skin revealed beneath his clothes was pale and delicate. And his pectoral muscles were...

Far too developed!

Rounder and fuller than even Ning Rongrong's...

"A woman disguised as a man, with an Angel Martial Soul..." Gao Yang frowned and instantly guessed who she was. "Qian Renxue, pay for what you did to my sect with your life!"

He wasted no more words and slashed at Qian Renxue again.

He had thought Xue Qinghe was nothing but a worthless crown prince, so he had not used his full strength.

This time, he held nothing back!

I'm finished!

Even after unleashing three skills and two Soul Bones at full power, Qian Renxue had still been badly wounded!

As Gao Yang came at her again, she saw that his final two Soul Rings were both red.

Despair filled her heart.

But just then, a figure shot over and placed himself between Qian Renxue and Gao Yang.

"You insolent brat! You shall not harm my lady!!"

"Fifth Soul Skill: Flame Barrier!!"

"Ninth Soul Skill: Soul-Shattering Heaven-Slaying Roar!!!"

Boom!

This time, Gao Yang was the one sent flying backward.

"My lady, are you hurt?" Mighty Lion Douluo hovered beside Qian Renxue. Rather than pursue Gao Yang, he looked at her with deep concern.

"I'm fine!" Qian Renxue pulled a cloak from her Soul Tool and wrapped it around her body before moving past Mighty Lion Douluo. "Gao Yang, stop! We can talk!!"

She had keenly sensed that her fourth grandfather had also been badly wounded while blocking the Giant Sword Technique.

Gao Yang was formidable, and he still held that little Black Tiger in his arms. It looked harmless, but its cultivation had already reached the hundred-thousand-year level.

She could not be sure her fourth grandfather could keep protecting her.

So Qian Renxue decided to buy time. Her sixth or seventh grandfather was surely already on his way from Yellow Dragon Mountain!

"Go down there and say whatever you have to say to the wronged souls of my sect!"

Holding Ning Rongrong close, Gao Yang flew his sword above Qian Renxue and Mighty Lion Douluo. He looked down at them, his voice chilling.

Taking a Super Douluo's Ninth Soul Skill head-on had cost him dearly too.

That was why he did not attack. He was buying time as well.

For one thing, Ning Rongrong could restore more of his Soul Power and heal his wounds. For another, if the Enshrined Elders at Yellow Dragon Mountain were slow to send reinforcements, he would have to turn back for them.

"Wronged souls? Ning Fengzhi plotted rebellion and murdered the Heaven Dou Emperor. How was anyone in the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect wronged?" Qian Renxue demanded. "But you—your giant sword killed over ten thousand living beings! Who should their wronged souls seek out?"

As she spoke, she pointed at the ruins below.

The smoke had cleared, revealing the palace maids and eunuchs who had died there. Their bodies were a gruesome sight.

"Qian Renxue, my sect has been destroyed. I have no desire to argue over right and wrong anymore." Gao Yang gave a cold snort. "But remember this: they may have died by my hand, but they died because of you!"

"Gao Yang, with cultivation like ours, let's not keep bringing up those ants." Seeing that she could not pin the blame on him, Qian Renxue changed tack. "Put down the Seven Kill Sword and join Spirit Hall. I, Qian Renxue, swear on my Martial Soul—"

"Save your breath, Qian Renxue," Gao Yang cut in coldly. "I'm waiting for my Soul Power to recover. What are you waiting for?"

"I..." Qian Renxue was momentarily speechless. "My fourth grandfather is a level-ninety-six Super Douluo. No matter how gifted you are, you can't cross that gulf in Soul Power!"

"Qian Renxue, you underestimate the Soul Skill granted by a Two-Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring." Gao Yang raised his head proudly. "It ignores defenses. It cannot be dodged. Eighth Soul Skill: Giant Sword Technique!"

The instant Gao Yang's Eighth Soul Ring lit up, Qian Renxue felt as though she had fallen into an icy abyss.

She could clearly feel his mental power locking firmly onto her.

Was a two-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring really this unreasonable?

At the thought of facing the strike that had just destroyed the palace, Qian Renxue lost even the instinct to flee.

"Forgive me, my lady!"

Mighty Lion Douluo grabbed Qian Renxue around the waist and raced toward the outskirts of Heaven Dou City.

His wealth of battle experience would never let him sit still and wait for death.

As long as even a sliver of hope remained, he would not give up!

Seeing Qian Renxue and Mighty Lion Douluo flee, Ning Rongrong's little face fell.

"What a shame... Oh!"

"What's a shame?" Gao Yang tapped her on the head. "I don't have enough Soul Power to use my Eighth Soul Skill right now. Even if I did, I couldn't hit them."

"Huh? Brother Yang, didn't you say it ignored defenses and couldn't be dodged?"

"You silly girl. Did last night rattle your brains? What Soul Skill could be that outrageous? I was lying to them."

At that, the girl's eyes curved with a smile.

"Brother Yang, you're so bad~ But we've done what we came for. Let's go to Yellow Dragon Mountain."

"Wait."

"Hmm? What is it, Brother Yang?"

Gao Yang did not answer. Instead, he slowly descended until the people in the streets of Heaven Dou could see him and Ning Rongrong.

Then he poured Soul Power into his voice.

Each word rang like a sword cry across the nine heavens, like the peal of a mighty bell, rolling out over the palace ruins.

"The current emperor, Xue Qinghe, is Qian Renxue of Spirit Hall in disguise."

"People of Heaven Dou, hear me!"

His immense Soul Power silenced the entire Imperial City.

The people had still been discussing the "earthquake" when they looked up and saw Gao Yang standing on his flying sword like a sword immortal.

"I am Gao Yang of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!"

"A thousand-year-old sect, the legacy of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda—wiped from this world in a single night!"

"The disciples and families of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect were slaughtered to the last in a single night."

"And today, I will tell you who slaughtered the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, who slaughtered the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, who killed Emperor Xue Ye..."

He thrust a finger toward the direction Qian Renxue had fled.

"It was the current emperor, Xue Qinghe!"

"Her true identity is Qian Renxue of Spirit Hall! The inheritor of the Angel Martial Soul!"

"She impersonated the crown prince for over a decade, killed Xue Ye, usurped the throne, slaughtered one great sect, destroyed the Tang Sect... Bamboo strips would run out before her crimes could all be recorded!"

"And those who helped her were Spirit Hall's Enshrined Elders! Those lofty Super Douluo!"

"Today, I, Gao Yang, will go to Yellow Dragon Mountain on behalf of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the late emperor, the Tang Sect, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect to demand justice from those Super Douluo!"

"People of Heaven Dou, never forget Xue Qinghe's crimes or Spirit Hall's evil!"

"Never forget!!"

With that, he turned and wrapped an arm around Ning Rongrong, whose face was already streaming with tears. With Sword Control, he rose into the air, becoming a streak of light that tore through the sky toward Yellow Dragon Mountain.