Yama's Invitation, a Grand Gift for the Pope

The large Han White Jade square in front of the Papal Hall is incredibly hot today.

Just past 9 AM, the sun was already scorching the ground tiles, making them unbearably hot. The cardinals and Holy Emperor Warriors who were watching the battle surrounded the area like an iron barrel, leaving no gap for anyone to breathe.

In the very center of the high platform, Bibi Dong's dark gold and jewel-encrusted robe shone dazzlingly in the sunlight. Her hands rested on the armrests of the Pope throne, her nails digging deeply into the gold paint. Her phoenix eyes were fixed on the Blue Tyrant Team below the platform, and the chill emanating from her could freeze the sweltering Heat Wave of midsummer.

Yesterday, Ling Yun publicly called him a "golden dog" in front of the entire city, and then casually distributed those three ten- Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone like offal at a pork stall. This grudge has been hanging over the Spirit Hall all night, and has long since turned the murderous intent of everyone in the Spirit Hall red-hot.

"Grand Finals, begin!"

Without uttering a single polite word, the Platinum Bishop on duty swung his large red command flag downwards!

On both sides of the Arena.

The eyes of all three members of the Spirit Hall Golden Generation were Red.

Like a mad bear whose backside had been scalded, Yan kicked off the ground, his body billowing pungent black sulfurous smoke, shattering a large section of the granite floor tiles, and lunged forward.

"Step back! Proceed according to the original plan!"

Xie Yue grabbed Yan by the back of the neck and yanked him back. The two dark red Moon Blade in her hands clashed violently in mid-air, producing a teeth-grinding metallic clang.

"Ling Yun, today is your death day!"

Hu Liena's once alluring eyes were now filled with nothing but resentment and venom. She stumbled backward and crashed straight into Xie Yue's arms!

Buzz--!

The ten Soul Rings on their bodies shattered and reformed instantly upon Tackle! A thick, dark red blood mist, like blood just drawn from a dead person's veins, erupted from beneath their feet like a firecracker exploding!

Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Demon Charm!

The red mist spread extremely quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was like an overturned red bowl, swallowing the entire hundred-zhang-wide Arena whole!

"The red mist has been activated!"

In the shadows of the passageway beneath the stands.

Tang San pressed himself tightly against the cold stone pillar, his eyes, driven by the Purple Demon Eye, fixed intently on the red miasma that instantly enveloped the entire area.

The red mist obscured the five senses, and even the Platinum Bishop in the Papal Hall frowned, unable to penetrate it with their Divine Sense.

But Tang San's hand suddenly shivered, a tremor of extreme excitement.

Now!

He suddenly raised his right arm, the wide, dark sleeve aimed directly at the faint, deep blue figure within the red mist. Inside his arm, the mechanism of the deep-sea Sinking Silver Mechanism, which he had risked half his life to create, was stretched to its limit!

Click.

A faint, almost imperceptible click, barely audible even to his own heartbeat, came as a reed snapped open.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh--!!

Twenty-four long Sinking Silver Long Needles, soaked in the Toxic of the Yama's Invitation, transformed into twenty-four dark death lines that were absolutely invisible to the naked eye. They tore through the air, disappeared into the red mist, and went straight for Ling Yun's back and major vital points!

There was no sound, and no reflection.

This is the most insidious and unsolvable killing trap that the Tang Sect Outer Sect in hundreds of years!

"Die! Die in the red mist, so that even Bibi Dong won't be able to figure out how you took your last breath!" Tang San let out a strange, inhuman gasp as he stared intently at the thick fog.

However.

Deep within the red mist.

Ling Yun kept his hands firmly in his shorts pockets, not even taking a single finger out.

In his Divine Sense, which had been thoroughly cleansed by the supreme Head Soul Bone, this so-called "Demon Charm deprivation of the five senses" was like covering an eagle's eyes with a tattered sack—leaky, full of holes.

Just as those twenty-four Poison Sting pierced the edge of the red mist...

"Haozi is still Haozi; it can't stand even the slightest bit of light."

Ling Yun's lips curled into an extremely cold and indifferent smile.

He didn't even turn around.

Just as the Poison Sting approached within three feet of his back, the ancient black ring beneath his feet, along with the Spiritual Glimmer between his brows, suddenly bulged outward by an inch!

Buzz--!

The red mist was already hot and humid, and when Ling Yun's boundless and unreasonable Divine Sense pulled it apart, the invisible water molecules in the air instantly condensed behind Ling Yun into an extremely thin, extremely tough, High-Pressure Rotating Water Mirror that rotated tens of thousands of times per second!

Puff! Puff! Puff!

The moment the silver Poison Sting pierced the water mirror, it was like piercing into a violent meat grinder.

If it were a direct confrontation, the armor -Infiltrator power of the Silver Blade might penetrate half an inch into the flesh. But Ling Yun deliberately used a "Going with the Flow" micro-management technique!

The moment the needles touched the water's surface, the terrifying centrifugal force caused the twenty-four Poison Sting to make an unbelievable sharp turn in mid-air, changing direction and using the violent initial velocity propelled by the Water Flow to be 30% faster than when they came, crashing head-on into the "Demon Charm" combined figure in the center of the red mist, who was wielding Moon Blade, ready to slash at them!

"What is that?!"

Xie Yue and Hu Liena, who were enveloped in the red mist, only felt a flash of cold light before their eyes, and didn't even have time to think of dodging.

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

A few very faint, muffled thuds as flesh broke.

"Aaaaaaahh..."

A piercing, inhuman scream, so loud it was impossible to tell if it was male or female, exploded like a thunderclap, violently shaking the entire red mist and causing it to churn violently!

"What happened?!"

Bibi Dong's expression changed drastically on the high platform. She suddenly stood up from her throne and slammed her scepter against the Plate with a clang!

The Growl below were definitely not Ling Yun's; they were Xie Yue and Hu Liena's voices!

On the Arena.

Hearing the heart-wrenching screams, Ling Yun slowly took half a step outward with his right foot.

"That's enough, let's clean the floor."

He parted his lips slightly.

Rumble rumble rumble ----!!

It wasn't the opening move of a Water-type Soul Skill at all, but a long-planned violent attack!

Four deep blue water tornadoes, each as thick as an ancient tree that could be embraced, tore the ground apart from beneath the granite paving stones, roaring as they rose from the earth! The commotion was as if Waterfall from the Star Dou Great Forest had been forcibly dragged to the entrance of the Papal Hall!

The waterspout violently closed in mid-air, transforming into a High-Pressure Torrential Rain!

Splash!

The "unsolvable red mist" that Yu Xiaogang had blown into the sky was washed away by this unreasonable high-pressure Water Flow, just like the dirty mud in a bathhouse drain. It couldn't even last half a breath before being washed clean on the spot!

The fog dissipated, and the sky brightened.

All 80,000 people in the arena, including the Pope, cardinals, and Titled Douluo on the high platform, could clearly see the scene in the center of the Arena.

Hiss----!

A collective gasp of astonishment filled the square.

On the floor tiles in the very center of the Arena, the fusion state of the Demon Charm had long since crumbled.

Xie Yue and Hu Liena lay sprawled in the puddles like two puddles of mud, their bodies convulsing.

More than a dozen thin Black Needle gleaming with a cold, dark light were stuck in their shoulders, thighs, and even their vital areas!

The Toxic on the Yama's Invitation tip was extremely potent. In just a breath or two, the spots where the two men were pierced by the needles had festered into large patches of blackish-purple, foul-smelling pus and blood, which gushed down with the rain. They no longer had the strength to scream, and only black foam was gurgling out of their mouths!

"Nana!! Xie Yue!!"

Bibi Dong's eyes instantly turned bloodshot, and the pressure of a level 99 Peerless Douluo crashed down like the sky collapsing. Her whole body transformed into a black and gold afterimage and rushed straight to the Arena!

Several Platinum Bishop were waiting below the stage rushed up like madmen, frantically trying to pull out the needles. But as soon as their hands touched the black blood, a wisp of yellow smoke hissed from their fingertips, burning them so badly that they screamed and let go!

"Toxic! It's a deadly poison that kills instantly upon contact with blood!!" A Platinum Bishop was terrified, his face turning ashen.

"Ling Yun!! How dare you use such a despicable poison weapon to ambush me on the Grand Finals Arena!! Today I will tear you to pieces!!"

Bibi Dong's beloved child was destroyed, and her haughty Pope demeanor was completely shattered. Her eyes Red as she stared intently at the boy standing a dozen feet away, the scepter in her hand about to smash Ling Yun's forehead!

"Wait!"

A cold sword cry rang out in mid-air. Chen Xin, stepping on the Seven Kill Sword, stood in front of Ling Yun. Ning Fengzhi also rushed onto the stage, frowning and saying, "Your His Holiness the Pope! Stop making false accusations! Of the 80,000 people in the audience, did anyone see Ling Yun make a move? He didn't even take his hand out of his pocket, so where did the Poison Sting come from?"

"This needle..."

At this moment, Dugu Bo, who had been standing to the side, slowly walked forward, picked up a broken needle that hadn't pierced the ground from the puddle, and sniffed it under his nose.

The Old Poison's expression instantly became extremely strange, even revealing a sense of uncontrollable absurdity.

"Bibi Dong, are you blind? My nose isn't."

Dugu Bo held the Sinking Silver Long Needles and flicked it with his finger. "The poison on the tip, and the craftsmanship... Go ask around the streets, this is a Tang Sect unique Tang Clan Hidden Weapon technique, and the poison on it is made from the Ghost-Sees-Sorrow of Sunset Forest!"

"Ask that kid on stage, he's just a Water Sport, what does he know about blacksmithing and poisoning?!"

The room fell silent upon hearing this.

Bibi Dong's gaze suddenly froze.

Ling Yun, who was standing still, slowly pulled his hands out of his pockets.

He didn't even glance at the dying members of the Golden Generation lying on the ground. Instead, he turned around, his deep blue eyes piercing through most of the water-washed square, fixing on a dark corner at the entrance of the passageway.

There, Tang San was like a frozen ice sculpture, pressed tightly against the wall.

His right sleeve was still stiffly raised in mid-air, the empty, Sinking Silver Mechanism resting on his wrist, reflecting a blinding metallic gleam under the midday sun.

They didn't kill Ling Yun.

Instead, in front of the whole world, Pope Bibi Dong's closed-door disciple, the future Saintess and successor of the Spirit Hall, was stabbed into rotten flesh with a needle!

Ling Yun looked at Tang San's deathly pale face, which seemed about to crack open, and slowly a smile spread across his face, revealing a set of gleaming white teeth.

He raised his hand and gave Tang San a thumbs-up.

In the quiet square, the voice was as clear as the King of Hell turning the pages of the Book of Life and Death: "Little San, your aim was a bit off, but I'll take care of this grand gift for His Holiness the Pope."