Leader of the Holy Spirit Cult, Hades

The waterfall exploded. Huang Tieyi flew out with a maul on his shoulder and stood in the sky, looking calmly at Chen Jue. "What's with that look? Didn't you know I fight with a maul?"

"Draw your sword! I'm going to settle this with you!" Chen Jue roared, his eyes blazing as he stared at the maul on Huang Tieyi's shoulder.

"Draw my sword? Are you joking? I can't beat you in a sword fight, so why would I fight you with a sword?" Huang Tieyi sneered. "I'm not sick in the head. I'm not going to pick up a sword just to get myself killed. I'm good with a maul, so of course I'll use what can kill you."

"No! You have to use a sword! Use a sword..." Chen Jue's face twisted at Huang Tieyi's words, and black vapour rose around him. He swung his sword, sending Sword Qi laced with black vapour at Huang Tieyi. Huang Tieyi dodged swiftly. The Sword Qi severed the nearby trees, and in an instant, they were corroded and drained of life.

Huang Tieyi's gaze grew grave as he looked at the lifeless, grey trees. That was no ordinary Sword Qi. It carried an aura of annihilation that could erase life itself.

"Chen Jue, the Annihilation Douluo. Looks like swinging a maul won't work against you. I'll have to bring out my best moves..." Huang Tieyi flew down and landed on the surface of the pool. "First Soul Skill, Super Saiyan! Fifth Soul Skill, Big Ball Rasengan!"

Chen Jue stared in confusion as Huang Tieyi's hair turned yellow, stood on end, and swayed in the wind. What did that Soul Skill do? Why didn't Huang Tieyi go straight to his Seventh Soul Skill, Martial Soul Avatar?

"Prince's Battle Tactic!" Big Ball Rasengans formed rapidly in Huang Tieyi's hands and those of his Martial Soul, the Golden Sacred Body. They hurled them at Chen Jue as though they cost nothing.

Chen Jue had never imagined Huang Tieyi would use such a shameless tactic. He kept swinging the sword in his hand, cutting apart the Big Ball Rasengans. As the saying went, two fists could hardly fend off four hands—especially four hands acting as one. Faced with Huang Tieyi's Prince's Battle Tactic, Chen Jue could only keep swinging his sword in passive defence.

Chen Jue had tried abandoning his defence to attack Huang Tieyi, but the Big Ball Rasengan's violent spinning force broke through his defences when it struck him. The pain of his skin being torn forced him to defend himself.

Huang Tieyi thrust out Big Ball Rasengan after Big Ball Rasengan without pause. The relentless barrage lasted a full thirty minutes, and its sheer intensity left Chen Jue miserable. It wasn't that he couldn't beat Huang Tieyi. His Soul Skills simply needed time to build up, and the Prince's Battle Tactic gave him none. One Big Ball Rasengan followed hard on the heels of another.

Black vapour swirled around Chen Jue. Whenever his Sword Qi split a Big Ball Rasengan and sent it falling, the water droplets struck the ground and the grass swiftly withered. By now, all the grass and trees around the pool had died. The area had become a place where all life was extinguished.

Huang Tieyi and the Golden Sacred Body joined forces to launch an enormous, blindingly fast Big Ball Rasengan. Then he ended his Prince's Battle Tactic, flew up, and stood in midair. "My arms are tired from all that thrusting..."

The enormous Big Ball Rasengan was too fast to give Chen Jue time to react. It swallowed him whole. The water inside it did more than spin: infused with lightning through the Six Meridian Divine Sword and metal through Ten Thousand Swords Return to the Sect, it became a colossal meat grinder that attacked Chen Jue without pause.

Soon, black vapour seeped through the enormous Big Ball Rasengan, and blood dyed it red. With a boom, it burst apart. Chen Jue stood there stark naked, every stitch of clothing shredded. Countless tiny wounds covered his body, each one slowly bleeding.

Chen Jue looked wretched, but his eyes were unusually bright. "Kid, thank you. Thank you for making me face reality. This sword in my hand is my Martial Soul, the Demon-Crazed Sword. I devoted my life to the way of the sword. In my pursuit of it, I forcibly separated the Demonic Qi from the Demon-Crazed Sword and kept it in my body.

"With the Demonic Qi gone from my Martial Soul, I had to build up power before releasing any of my Soul Skills. That last attack of yours helped me make peace with myself. I've returned the Demonic Qi to the Demon-Crazed Sword. From now on, it's whole again, and I'll never have to deliberately build up power to release my Soul Skills..."

Chen Jue twirled his sword. The once clear, gleaming blade in his hand had turned pitch-black. "To thank you, I'll let you die to my strongest attack. Ninth Soul Skill, Demon-Crazed Heaven-Slaying Slash!"

Chen Jue raised the Demon-Crazed Sword. Black flames rose from it like a pillar, and Sword Qi surged into the clouds.

Huang Tieyi felt its world-destroying pressure. Terror gripped him: he wanted to flee, yet did not dare move.

"Die!" Chen Jue brought his sword down. A vast arc of black Sword Qi swept toward Huang Tieyi, extinguishing all life in its path.

Just as Huang Tieyi was ready to accept his fate, an immense burst of Sword Qi brimming with sacred power collided with the black Sword Qi. It cleaved the black arc in two, and its sacred power dissolved it.

Qian Daoliu flew up and stood before Huang Tieyi. "Holy Spirit Cult, you think far too highly of him. You sent a Titled Douluo to kill one of Spirit Hall's little friends..."

Huang Tieyi stood behind Qian Daoliu, relieved to have been saved. But the moment he heard Qian Daoliu call him a "little friend," his good mood at surviving vanished.

"I didn't want to send a Titled Douluo after a little friend either..." A commanding voice came from behind a white cloud in the sky. The cloud dispersed, and a middle-aged man in a dark brocade robe descended as though walking down a flight of steps. He stopped beside Chen Jue.

"Qian Daoliu, allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Hades, the new Leader of the Holy Spirit Cult." The middle-aged man's voice was deep and commanding.

"What brings the leader of the Evil Soul Masters to Spirit City?" Qian Daoliu asked, looking calmly at Hades.

"Nothing profound. I came only to inform Spirit Hall that I now lead the Holy Spirit Cult. From this day forward, what I say goes." Hades spoke evenly, but his quiet tone carried absolute authority.

"Oh? When will you hold your inauguration ceremony? Let me know, and I'll personally bring you a generous gift," Qian Daoliu said, his expression calm.

"Qian Daoliu, there's no need for a gift," Hades said coldly. "I don't care for things of the light. I bring darkness to devour the light..." Before he finished speaking, he vanished with Chen Jue.

Qian Daoliu looked toward the direction the voice had come from, his expression grave. "The Holy Spirit Cult hasn't merely gained a new leader. It's gained order..."