The hidden sect emerged, smashing all retreat with one hammer!
Rewind to a quarter of an hour earlier, in the inner court of the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, at the Tai Chi Hall.
Qian Renxue, disguised as Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, happened to meet Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin, who were also rushing there on imperial orders, at the palace gate.
There was no time for pleasantries. The two quickly crossed the towering vermilion threshold of the Tai Chi Hall and headed straight for the imperial bedroom behind it.
"Your Majesty! Your son, Qinghe, has come to attend to your ailing state!"
With an anxious expression, Qian Renxue quickly passed through the nine Coiling Dragon Golden Pillar that would take four people to encircle.
However, she had barely finished speaking!
Snap--Boom!!
The two main doors of the Tai Chi Hall behind the five people, each weighing several thousand kilograms and inlaid with Black Iron rivets, were suddenly pulled by a winch mechanism hidden in the shadows, and slammed shut and locked!
At the same time, thick steel panels, about a foot thick, were lowered from all the carved windows around the main hall, instantly sealing the entire Tai Chi Hall into an airtight iron cage!
"Oh no! This is a trap!"
The level 96 Sword Douluo Chen Xin's eyes suddenly sharpened, and a Seven Kill Sword, four feet and three inches long and as clear as autumn water, instantly appeared in his palm. He took a step forward and firmly protected Ning Fengzhi behind him.
Qian Renxue's heart sank suddenly. She no longer cared about maintaining the prince's elegant demeanor. She flashed to the Nine-Dragon Golden Couch at the end of the hall and ripped off the hanging bright yellow dragon and phoenix curtain!
The moment the curtain was lifted, Qian Renxue's pupils contracted sharply.
On the dragon bed, Xue Ye, dressed in a bright yellow dragon robe, lay supine on the brocade quilt with his eyes wide open.
A deep purple suffocation mark was left on his neck, and dried Black-Purple scabs had long since formed in his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth!
"My father died long ago?!"
Qian Renxue gasped in shock, a chill running through her. "Keeping the death a secret, forging Golden Token... what a vicious scheme!"
"Hahaha! Good nephew, you're only realizing this now? It's far too late!!"
A burst of maniacal, venomous laughter erupted from behind the Nine-Dragon Glazed Wall behind the dragon bed.
As the mechanism flipped, Prince Xue Xing, dressed in a purple-gold imperial robe, strode out, holding aloft a roll of blood-stained bright yellow silk, his face contorted with the rage of someone who had finally avenged their grievances.
"Xue Qinghe! Not content with colluding with outsiders to poison my elder brother and plotting against Xue Beng, today you dared to join forces with Ning Fengzhi of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to storm the palace with swords and assassinate His Majesty on the spot! Fortunately, His Majesty saw through your wolfish ambitions before his death and left behind Blood Edict of Succession, ordering me to immediately inherit the Heaven Dou throne and exterminate you traitors who murdered the emperor!!"
Ning Fengzhi stared at the still-wet ink on the so-called blood edict in Xue Xing's hand, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda in his palm suddenly shone brightly. "Xue Xing! His Majesty's body is cold, it is clearly you who murdered the emperor, usurped the throne, and turned black into white! How dare you touch the Crown Prince and my Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?!"
"With my Clear Sky Sect and Blue Lightning Tyrant!!"
A deafening, ancient roar that shook the entire hall erupted from the side doors on either side of the main hall!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Three incredibly powerful figures strode into the hall!
Walking on the far left was a burly old man with white hair and beard, carrying an enormous black hammer. Nine Soul Ring —two yellow, two purple, and five black—swirled around him, and the terrifying pressure of a level 94 Power Attack System Titled Douluo swept across the entire area. He was none other than the Second Elder of the Clear Sky Sect for many years!
The person in the center also wielded a jet-black Clear Sky Hammer, with fierce eyes like a hawk; he was none other than the Seventh Elder of the Clear Sky Sect, a level 92 Soul Douluo. On the right, an old man dressed in a blue-purple outfit had fine blue-purple dragon scales covering his right arm, and lightning snakes danced wildly as his eight Soul Ring pulsed. He was none other than Yu Luomian, the second-in-command of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and a level 88 Yu Luomian!
At the same time, the secret passage of the corridor on the second floor of the main hall suddenly opened, and five hundred Clear Sky Sect and Imperial Family assassins clad in heavy black Black Iron armor appeared. Five hundred heavy [Armor-Piercing God-Slaying Crossbow] coated with deadly poison were simultaneously pushed onto the winches, and the dark crossbow bolts locked Qian Renxue and her four companions in the center of the hall!
"The Second Elder of the Clear Sky Sect?! And Yu Luomian?!"
Sword Douluo Chen Xin recognized the newcomers' lineup, his expression instantly turning extremely solemn. "Hasn't the Clear Sky Sect long ago closed its doors to the world? How dare you interfere in the succession of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family and assist Xue Xing in assassinating the emperor?!"
"The victor is king, the loser is villain; stop pretending to be a gentleman!"
The Second Elder of the Clear Sky Sect's eyes were icy cold, his Clear Sky Hammer pointing at Chen Xin and Qian Renxue. "His Majesty Xue Xing has promised that after this is accomplished, he will honor our Clear Sky Sect as the sole Divine Sect Protector of the Nation of the Heaven Dou Empire, and mobilize the entire nation to help our sect cleanse the Spirit Hall! Chen Xin, today this Tai Chi Hall will be your burial ground! Seventh Elder, go and kill those two old dogs beside Xue Qinghe; Yu Luomian, follow me to stop Chen Xin, fire arrows, leave no one alive!!"
"Kill--!!"
At the Second Elder's command, the five hundred Armor-Piercing God-Slaying Crossbow on the second-floor corridor simultaneously pulled their triggers, and a dense rain of poisoned steel crossbow bolts tore through the air and rained down from the sky!
"The Seven Treasures Have Names: First: Strength; Second: Speed; Third: Soul; Fourth: Defense!"
Ning Fengzhi reacted extremely quickly, and four dazzling beams of light instantly entered Chen Xin's body. Chen Xin's hair and beard stood on end, and his level 96 peak sword energy erupted. The Seven Kill Sword transformed into a sky-covering silver-white sword curtain, clanging and clattering as it shredded the hundreds of heavy crossbows Ning Fengzhi into pieces of iron!
However, before Chen Xin could free up his hands to support the three in the Eastern Palace, the Second Elder of the Clear Sky Sect had already activated his Seventh Soul Skill, Clear Sky True Body. The hundred-meter-long black giant hammer, carrying the Yu Luomian, unleashed the eighth Soul Skill, Thunderous Might, crashing down from the left and right!
Boom!! The violent hammer shadows and lightning forcefully pushed Chen Xin's sword curtain towards the eastern corner of the hall. Two thick Coiling Dragon Golden Pillar collapsed on the spot in the aftershocks of the clash between the Titled Douluo. Chen Xin and Ning Fengzhi were tightly entangled by a level 94 Titled Douluo and a level 88 Soul Douluo, and could hardly protect themselves, so they had no chance to spare any attention!
In the very center of the main hall, the truly deadly trap was already crashing down on Qian Renxue!
"Xue Qinghe, leave your crown prince's head behind! Seventh Soul Skill, Clear Sky True Body! Sixth Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar!!"
The Seventh Elder of the Clear Sky Sect, at level ninety-two, grinned maliciously, and the sixth and seventh ten-thousand-year black rings beneath his feet simultaneously erupted with dazzling dark light!
Buzz!!
The Clear Sky Hammer in his hand swelled in the wind, transforming in the blink of an eye into a massive, black hammer tens of meters long and weighing over ten thousand kilograms. Even more terrifying, with the enhancement of his sixth Soul Skill, it split in two in the void, conjuring two identical hundred-meter-long Clear Sky True Body Hammers out of thin air! The two hammers shattered the air within the Tai Chi Hall, sealing off all of Qian Renxue's escape routes, and crashed down with a terrifying destructive force like Mount Tai pressing down on her!
"Young Master, retreat immediately!!"
Snake Lance Douluo She Long and Porcupinefish Douluo had eyes wide with Ci Xue. Inside this sealed hall, facing the full power of the Twin Hammers, the strongest offensive Tool Martial Soul in the world, if they retreated even half a step, Qian Renxue behind them would have her heart meridian shattered on the spot by the hammer's wind!
"Seventh Soul Skill, Tool Soul True Body, Beast Soul Transformation — Twin-Headed Blue-Purple Giant Snake!!"
"Seventh Soul Skill, Pufferfish True Body!!"
Without the slightest hesitation, the two loyal Titled Douluo burned their own vital energy and stepped forward to block Qian Renxue's path!
The Eighteen-Foot Snake Lance in She Long's hand surged with lightning, instantly transforming into a giant, two-headed, bluish-purple serpent over thirty meters long. It raised its ferocious head to meet the hundred-meter-long Clear Sky Hammer crashing down from the left. Ci Xue's short, stout body rapidly expanded into a giant, dark green fleshy ball over ten meters in diameter, with thousands of highly venomous bone spurs, each three feet long, standing upright on its surface, forcefully resisting the second Haotian Hammer crashing down from the right!
At the same time, the five hundred heavily armored assassins on the second-floor corridor had completed their second round of firing. The Armor-Piercing God-Slaying Crossbow, specifically designed to target the protective aura of Titled Douluo, were like leeches, frantically shooting at the bodies of the two-headed giant snake and the giant Pufferfish, tearing open deep, bone-revealing gashes and forcibly weakening their true defenses!
Clang!!!!
Boom!!!!
Two terrifyingly loud bangs, loud enough to deafen one's eardrums, exploded simultaneously in the center of the Tai Chi Hall!
The Clear Sky Hammer truly lives up to its reputation as the most domineering and unparalleled Power Attack System Tool Martial Soul in the Douluo Continent! Under the full force of the Seventh Elder's double hammer strike, She Long's true form as a blue-purple two-headed giant snake was only held for less than a moment before the left snake head emitted a loud cracking sound!
The Eighteen-Foot Snake Lance, which was as strong as refined steel, was actually bent and deformed by the absolute force of the hundred-meter-long giant hammer, and the surface of the spear was instantly covered with spider web-like cracks!
The violent and unparalleled hammer force surged forward along the shattered Snake Lance, piercing deep into She Long's chest!