Summoning a God

Golden Crocodile Douluo, still in his Martial Soul Avatar form, sprang up like a carp and leaped from the encirclement straight into the middle of the five Evil Soul Master Titled Douluo. His golden crocodile tail swept sideways without hesitation. At such close range, the surprise attack left them no better off than if they had surrendered.

Smack! The enormous tail slammed into all five. The worst hurt was the effeminate-faced man whose Martial Soul was the White Bone Scepter. Bones shattered throughout his body, and he crashed heavily to the ground. The Bone Snake and Undead Horse Martial Souls were smashed apart on the spot, leaving their owners with extensive fractures. Demon Subduing Douluo and Thousand Jun Douluo reacted just as quickly. They followed up with swings of their staffs and killed those two Titled Douluo on the spot.

The Skeleton Dagger and Kneeling Monkey were the quickest to dodge. They chose Ghost Escape at once and fled.

"Golden Crocodile Douluo, that's hardly honorable! Weren't we supposed to surround them without attacking and wait for His Holiness's orders?" Lei Zhenyun shouted. "Now you've made me look useless! You let the other two escape. I'm a Titled Douluo, for crying out loud..."

Fighting Qian Xunji, Zhong Hunmie heard Lei Zhenyun's deliberately projected words and seethed. So you're the one who broke the rules, yet we're the dishonorable ones? Two of your men escaped. Some Leader you are—you can't even protect your own people.

"All along the road, I've slain demons and waded rivers of blood, upheld justice as a Douluo. I've killed eight thousand, if not ten thousand, so why are there still so many..." Huang Tieyi's cheerful singing drifted up from below. Zhong Hunmie felt as though his soul were taking one devastating blow after another.

"You... all of you..." Zhong Hunmie's Skeleton Sword collided with Qian Xunji's Sword of Judgment. He glared at Qian Xunji with blood-red eyes. "Spirit Hall has done well. Very well. Since that's how it is, you can all die..."

Zhong Hunmie's strength surged. One sword strike forced Qian Xunji back, and black energy billowed around him. "Rakshasa God, I abandon this Divine Trial. I offer you my body. Kill them all..."

As his words fell, an aura of savage, bloody slaughter erupted from his body and shot into the sky.

Hearing Zhong Hunmie, Huang Tieyi stopped attacking and flew to Huang Batian's side. "Grandpa, there's something seriously wrong with that Evil Soul Master Leader's state of mind. What does he mean? He's giving up on becoming a god and letting one possess him?"

"Looks that way. But what's so special about this brat that a god chose him and gave him a trial? That god's judgment can't be much good," Huang Batian said.

"Hahaha..." Zhong Hunmie's hair flew wildly as he roared, half-mad. "Qian Xunji, the Rakshasa God Trial demands a sacrifice of a hundred thousand lives. Why couldn't you follow the script I laid out? All you had to do was kill the hundred thousand-plus people of New York City! But no, you had to draw such a clear line. You had to kill my people. Now wait and face the Rakshasa God's wrath!"

"Zhong Hunmie, are you being reasonable at all?" Huang Tieyi said, sounding deeply aggrieved. "My Tathagata Palm was killing them just fine. You were the one who felt sorry for those good-for-nothing Evil Soul Masters. So I stopped sweeping through them and started picking them off precisely, but you're still unhappy. What exactly do you want from me?"

"Since you showed up, no one but His Holiness the Pope has had any work to do. I'm the one doing the work, and I haven't broken down. What the hell are you falling apart over?"

"I..." Hearing Huang Tieyi speak so casually, Zhong Hunmie felt his blood pressure soar. The bone wings behind him turned into nail after nail, all aimed at Huang Tieyi. "Ten Thousand Bone-Piercing Nails!"

Qian Xunji appeared beside Huang Tieyi in an instant. "Third Soul Skill: Angel Shield!" A huge shield of light blocked the Ten Thousand Bone-Piercing Nails. The two forces canceled each other out; the shield vanished, and the bone wings returned to Zhong Hunmie's back.

"Everyone, gather together. Prepare for battle," Qian Xunji told Golden Crocodile Douluo and the others. Spirit Hall's people returned to the street and stood beside the carriage, watching gravely to see what the pitch-black pillar of light surging from Zhong Hunmie would bring.

"Your Holiness, should we send Dugu Bo and the others away?" Ling Yuan Douluo asked, glancing at Bibi Dong.

"We should conserve our strength." Qian Xunji looked at the black-purple barrier enclosing New York City, his expression grave. "The Rakshasa God's power can get out. That doesn't mean the barrier won't block ours.

"Zhong Hunmie can't possibly be the Rakshasa God, but if the Rakshasa God truly projects power into him, he'll still be a demigod. We'll have a hard time defeating him. We must work together."

"A demigod? Wouldn't that make him as strong as the Great Enshrined?" Lei Zhenyun asked, his voice trembling.

"They're not the same," Qian Xunji said, shaking his head. "My father passed the first eight trials of the Angel God Trial. Zhong Hunmie is offering himself to the Rakshasa God. My father is better suited to wielding his power within the system of the Douluo Continent."

"Your Holiness, do you need to activate your Angel Set?" Golden Crocodile Douluo asked.

"Second Uncle, I've already started," Qian Xunji said calmly. "And watch out for Evil Soul Masters hiding in the crowd."

"Brat, how many Evil Soul Masters have you cleared out?" Huang Batian asked.

"Everyone below Soul Saint is dead. They've paid for the crimes they committed," Huang Tieyi said with a smile. "Those at Soul Saint and above can hide that aura. Who knows where they're lurking right now, absorbing the blood energy of New York City?"

"And you can still smile?" Huang Batian said sternly. "Everyone except the Titled Douluo needs to be dead."

"Grandpa, you're asking the impossible. I've already done more than my share," Huang Tieyi protested. "Could anyone else have cleared them out as thoroughly as I did? After taking down three to five hundred Evil Soul Masters, they'd be running short of Soul Power. I swept the whole city, north, south, east, and west."

"Let me see how much Soul Power you have." Golden Crocodile Douluo placed his fingers on Huang Tieyi's wrist and slowly sent Soul Power into him. Shock filled his face. "A Yi, tell me yourself—roughly how much Soul Power do you have?"

"Well, my Soul Power has turned liquid. I've checked how much Soul Power Grandpa has accumulated, and mine is only about thirteen times that," Huang Tieyi said after a moment's thought. "It isn't all that solid yet, though. I haven't formed a Soul Power core."

"Batian, when we get back to Spirit Hall, you must let me hang this brat up and give him a beating." Golden Crocodile Douluo looked at Huang Tieyi with a cold smile.

"Why?" Huang Tieyi asked, aggrieved.

"No reason. That smug grin of yours is simply begging for it!" Golden Crocodile Douluo said with a laugh.