Tang Hao, Like a Dead Dog!

This is bad. I have to run!

Tang Hao's face instantly turned deathly pale in the firelight, and cold sweat poured down his skin.

He could unmistakably smell death on the breathtakingly beautiful woman before him!

And the one who had once made him feel the same way...

Was Qian Daoliu, Spirit Hall's Great Enshrined, one of the world's three Peerless Douluos, who had pursued him for thousands of miles!

Qian Daoliu was a Level 99 Limit Douluo who stood at the very pinnacle of the continent!

Could this red-haired woman who had appeared out of nowhere also be a Level 99 Limit Douluo?

Tang Hao's heart hammered like a drum.

Aside from Tang Chen of his Clear Sky Sect, Bo Saixi of Sea God Island, and Qian Daoliu of Spirit Hall...

How could there possibly be a fourth Level 99 Limit Douluo in this world?

Though shocked, Tang Hao was far better than most at accepting the unknown.

After all, he had been to Sea God Island.

Before Tang Chen, who had known that such a terrifying power as Sea God Island lay hidden in the ocean?

With Sea God Island as a precedent, the appearance of another Level 99 Limit Douluo...

Was not entirely impossible to accept.

But the desperate situation before him left Tang Hao with only two choices.

Use Ring Detonation and the Great Sumeru Hammer, risk his life to drive Leng Yaozhu back, and flee immediately.

But Tang Hao's grievous injuries had yet to heal. His battered body could not withstand the backlash of even a single Ring Detonation.

Moreover, he knew nothing about Leng Yaozhu's martial soul, its abilities, or her soul ring configuration...

He only knew she had a fire attribute.

That made things difficult.

As for the other choice...

Tang Hao fixed his gaze on Lu Xuan, who was hiding behind Leng Yaozhu with Old Jack in his arms.

This mysterious Limit Douluo seemed to obey the boy's every word.

And he had heard it perfectly clearly earlier: that brat Lu Xuan had specifically told her, "Don't beat him to death."

If I give up resisting, perhaps I really can escape with my life?

Meanwhile, as Lu Xuan watched cold sweat stream down Tang Hao's face, an almost imperceptible cold glint flashed through his eyes.

Why would Lu Xuan spare Tang Hao...

After Tang Hao had threatened him like that?

It certainly was not out of mercy.

In this fantasy world, the strong devouring the weak was the true law.

Mercy toward others was cruelty toward oneself.

There was another crucial point: old Asura had watched over Tang San and brought him into this world.

Unless something unexpected had happened, Tang Hao was the protector the Asura God had appointed for Tang San.

That meant he had to take the Asura God into account.

He had absolutely no way of knowing whether that old bastard, the Asura God, was watching this place.

What if old Asura threw fair play to the winds and intervened?

He would test the waters first. Once he was completely certain the Asura God would not interfere, he would kill Tang Hao outright, then kill Tang San.

While Tang Hao wrestled with his decision over those few brief seconds...

Leng Yaozhu had no interest in what he was thinking. Letting one's mind wander in battle was a fatal mistake!

Frost covered her exquisite face as she swept her delicate hand through the air.

In an instant, crimson flames filling the sky roared toward Tang Hao like an enraged dragon awakening from its slumber.

The terrifying heat scorched the surrounding space until it warped slightly.

"I am the mighty Clear Sky Douluo, the Clear Sky Sect's greatest genius! Even death cannot frighten me!"

Facing that sea of flames capable of destroying heaven and earth, the ferocity and pride in Tang Hao's bones erupted in full.

His eyes turned bloodshot, and he let out a beastlike roar.

His right hand abruptly clenched around empty air, and a deep black light flashed.

An immensely heavy, enormous black iron hammer appeared, gripped tightly in his hand.

"The Clear Sky Hammer?"

Looking at the enormous black hammer, Leng Yaozhu raised her slender brows, her expression turning somewhat peculiar.

Naturally, she recognized Tang Hao's martial soul. Twenty thousand years later, although the Clear Sky Sect had withdrawn from the world, it still wielded considerable influence in the Douluo world.

Buzzz!

With a deep rumble came two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red.

Nine soul rings flew from the Clear Sky Hammer one after another, surrounding Tang Hao's burly body and pulsing up and down.

The final, dazzling Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring in particular dyed everything around him blood red.

Immediately afterward, the seventh black soul ring behind Tang Hao blazed with light!

"Martial Soul Avatar!"

The Clear Sky Hammer swelled explosively within the black light.

In the blink of an eye, it became a colossal hammer a hundred meters long!

The enormous hammer blotted out the sun and sky like a small black mountain suspended in midair.

With the terrifying force of Mount Tai crashing down upon his head, it smashed toward Leng Yaozhu!

Lu Xuan's expression changed drastically. He had not expected that madman Tang Hao to unleash his Martial Soul Avatar outright.

He did not need to worry about Leng Yaozhu.

What worried him was Holy Soul Village.

If that hammer landed, the entire village would turn to dust in an instant.

"Big sister, don't let him destroy the village!"

"Of course! What can a mere ordinary Titled Douluo whose grievous injuries have yet to heal, with less than thirty percent of his strength left, possibly do to me?"

Leng Yaozhu snorted coldly, her exquisite face filled with the arrogance of one who looked down upon the world.

Rather than retreating, she advanced, facing the falling black mountain head-on.

Screee!

With a clear phoenix cry that pierced the clouds...

A pair of dazzling crimson wings unfurled from Leng Yaozhu's back!

The enormous phantom of a Heavenly Phoenix proudly appeared behind her, sacred and noble, radiating an aura that could burn the heavens and boil the seas.

Then came a sight that nearly made Tang Hao's eyes split with fury.

Six black, three red!

[Note: Leng Yaozhu comes from the era of Douluo III. Soul Masters in that era absorbed Soul Spirits, which could be upgraded. As the Spirit Pagoda's deputy pagoda master, Leng Yaozhu naturally enjoyed priority access to those upgrades, so this soul ring configuration is normal, and might even be a little low.]

Nine terrifying soul rings, a configuration beyond all common understanding, circled Leng Yaozhu!

Those three dazzling Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings lit the entire sky as though it had plunged into a sea of blood!

Faced with Tang Hao's attack, she could have relied on her agility to dodge while carrying Lu Xuan.

Then she could have turned around and subdued him.

But because of Lu Xuan's request, she chose the most forceful, most domineering approach!

The fifth soul ring behind Leng Yaozhu suddenly flashed.

The Heavenly Phoenix phantom threw back its head with a long cry, transforming into a crimson pillar of fire that pierced heaven and earth and slammed into the Clear Sky Hammer with the unstoppable force of rotten wood being crushed.

BOOOOM!!!

A deafening explosion echoed through the heavens.

Violent ripples of energy rampaged through the air.

Yet when that seemingly invincible Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul Avatar collided with the Heavenly Phoenix phantom...

It shattered inch by inch like fragile ice and snow!

"Pfft!"

His Martial Soul Avatar was forcibly shattered.

Tang Hao felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

He violently spat out a great mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs.

His burly body flew backward like a kite with its string severed and slammed heavily into the muddy ground in the distance.

He lay limp and twitching like a dead dog, new wounds piled atop the grievous injuries that had yet to heal.

He had completely lost the ability to resist.

The firelight faded, and Leng Yaozhu slowly folded away her wings, her breathing not disturbed in the slightest.

"Big sister, let's go."

Lu Xuan spoke softly, not sparing Tang Hao on the ground even a glance.

"All right." The coldness in Leng Yaozhu's eyes instantly melted into a tenderness like a spring breeze.

She stepped forward and gently gathered Lu Xuan into her arms with her right hand.

With her left, she casually lifted the unconscious Old Jack by his collar.

After safely delivering Old Jack to the bed in the village chief's house...

Leng Yaozhu lingered no longer. Holding Lu Xuan, she became a streak of crimson light.