"You're a bastard just like Yu Xiaogang! You dared insult my master—I'll kill you!!!"
Tang San's eyes blazed with fury, blood energy spilling out around him.
He drove the Eight Gates at full power, his strength and Soul Power surging six times over.
Unlike Li Sen, Tang San had no Luo Sanpao to help absorb the medicinal potency and strengthen his constitution. He had only mastered six gates, leaving his body weaker than Li Sen's had been six years ago.
Even so, his physical strength still soared to the level of a newly advanced Soul Saint.
"Come on, then!"
Liu Erlong roared. Sensing Tang San's skyrocketing Soul Power, she dared not hold back.
Her first, second, and sixth Soul Rings lit up together: two enhancements and one attack.
Boom!
With a tremendous crash, Tang San flew backward, his flesh splitting open and his blood staining a large stretch of ground.
Yet his aura did not weaken in the slightest. As he stood, his wounds healed under the effects of the Converging Source Blue Silver King's first four Soul Skills and his hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone.
The bystanders who had been evacuated but still insisted on watching were dumbfounded. "A Soul King fighting a Soul Saint? Am I dreaming?" one murmured.
"I heard the Thousand-Hand Asura's master can fight a Titled Douluo, but he's so young. Could he actually just be a Soul Douluo?!"
Liu Erlong, one of the two combatants, was secretly astonished.
Her fire dragon Martial Soul was a mutation of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Although it lacked Dragon Transformation, it provided an enormous boost to her strength.
Sensing Tang San's surging Soul Power, she had used her full strength in that last blow. She had only refrained from using her Martial Soul Avatar for fear of killing him.
Never had she expected Tang San to stand up as though nothing had happened, or even launch another attack.
His injuries disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Was he a Battle Soul Master or a healing Soul Master?
Before she could think further, countless Blue Silver vines broke through the ground, growing and entwining to obstruct her attacks.
Outside Heaven Dou City, Jian Chenxin furiously swung the Seven Kill Sword amid the Blue Silver Tree Branches surrounding him.
His Martial Soul Avatar was already active. Soul Skills erupted in a frenzy, sword energy crisscrossing the air.
Li Sen felt no pressure whatsoever. As though caught up in the thrill of battle, he hid among the dense branches and occasionally sprang out to throw a punch.
Flash Step compensated for his lack of speed in midair. Blood energy coated his fists, and every blow cracked with a sonic boom as though he were using a Soul Skill.
The Purple Sky Thunder Dragon circled overhead, spewing Dragon Breath and occasionally striking down with lightning to numb Jian Chenxin's movements.
Over an hour later, Jian Chenxin knelt on one knee, wounds covering his body.
He had lost, yet his eyes were unexpectedly bright, and the sword intent around him grew ever more intense.
"Hahaha! That was exhilarating!"
"Li Sen, I imagine you were also the one who injured that old bag of bones Gu Rong a while ago!"
Li Sen sneered. "Still laughing, you old bastard?"
"I'm no saint. You slashed me with your sword just now—did you think losing would settle everything?"
Jian Chenxin kept smiling unconcernedly, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
He asked softly, "Did I lose?"
Boom!
As Jian Chenxin spoke, his sword intent surged, and his Soul Power broke through to level 96.
Titled Douluos were divided into three tiers.
First were ordinary Titled Douluos, from level 90 to level 95.
At this stage, each breakthrough increased their strength and Soul Power by roughly ten to thirty percent.
Second were Super Douluos, from levels 96 to 98.
A breakthrough at this stage doubled and compressed their total Soul Power, deepened their understanding of their Martial Soul, and increased their strength at least twofold.
Watching Jian Chenxin's aura surge to nearly three times its former intensity, Li Sen fell silent.
Li Sen: "..."
For fuck's sake, were sword cultivators crafty old bastards in every world?
Ask him whether he won or lost.
He'd tell you he attained enlightenment!
Li Sen was truly speechless. In the original story, Jian Chenxin had only broken through when Spirit Hall attacked the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Yet now, he had broken through while fighting Li Sen. It was simply...
"You've gone too far!!!"
In Heaven Dou City, Liu Erlong stared at Tang San, trembling with rage.
Her attacks had little effect on him. She could easily break and burn his vines, but she could not block every hidden weapon.
After fighting for a while, she was covered in hard Blue Silver leaves, her clothes torn to shreds and large patches of snowy-white skin exposed.
Liu Erlong stepped forward and shouted angrily, "Tang San, hand over the martial soul evolution theory, or I'll kill you today!!!"
A cold glint flashed through Dugu Bo's eyes.
This woman's Martial Soul burns so fiercely—has it burned her brain to a crisp?
She actually ignored me, Dugu Bo, and threatened that brat Tang San.
Wasn't the side I took just now obvious enough?
Facing Liu Erlong's threat, Tang San chuckled, wearing the smile of someone certain of victory.
"Crazy woman, you still want the martial soul evolution theory? Go look for it underground!"
Without another word, Liu Erlong unleashed her full power.
"Martial Soul Avatar!!!"
An enormous fire dragon appeared overhead, doubling her Soul Skills' power, her defense, and her strength.
With the enhancement secured, Liu Erlong tried to use a Soul Skill, only to suddenly feel her body stiffen.
"This feeling... I've been poisoned?!"
Tang San burst into laughter. He had finally succeeded.
Without another word, he charged suicidally at Liu Erlong, bringing a mass of Blue Silver vines crashing around her.
With her Soul Power obstructed and unable to unleash a Soul Skill, Liu Erlong swiped her claws directly at him.
But Tang San neither dodged nor evaded. He took the blow with his body, his waist and both hands sliced halfway through, his bones cracking.
In exchange, the Blue Silver vines wrapped Liu Erlong up like a meat-filled rice dumpling.
"Tang San, have you gone mad?!"
Dugu Bo's eyes widened, and he abruptly sprang to his feet.
He had promised Li Sen that he would protect Tang San and Xiao Wu.
Yet Tang San roared, "Stay back! I've won!"
Boom!!!
As his words fell, an enormous explosion thundered out.
Third Soul Skill: Sigh of Life.
The Blue Silver leaf blades and the Blue Silver vines covering Liu Erlong all exploded.
The terrifying blast swept through five streets and demolished hundreds of houses.
The smoke and dust dispersed.
A bloodied, mangled Tang San grinned, pulling out hidden weapons and firing them relentlessly at the unconscious, dying Liu Erlong nearby.
Amid a series of sounds of weapons piercing flesh, Liu Erlong soon showed no signs of life.
Utterly shocked, Dugu Bo could not help approaching Tang San. "Your master is a monster, and so are you, brat!"
"A Soul Emperor fighting a Titled Douluo, and a Soul King fighting a Soul Saint."
For a moment, Dugu Bo thought of Dugu Yan, who could have become Li Sen's disciple, and lamented that iron had failed to become steel.
"Yanyan, you've missed an opportunity as vast as the heavens!"
All around them, countless ordinary people and Soul Masters who had been fortunate enough to survive watched the scene, their entire understanding of the world overturned.
"Heavens! If battles can overturn the hierarchy of levels like this, what are we even cultivating Soul Power for?"
Leaving Liu Erlong's corpse where it lay, Tang San and Dugu Bo departed.
Elsewhere, seeing Jian Chenxin break through, Li Sen abandoned all martial etiquette and roared.
"Purple Sky Thunder Dragon!"
Having begun charging its attack at some unknown point, the Purple Sky Thunder Dragon emerged from the Blue Silver Tree Branches behind Jian Chenxin. Its draconic might spread in every direction as a blast of lightning-laced breath over three meters in diameter thundered down.
Having transformed to reach Titled Douluo-level strength, the Purple Sky Thunder Dragon was no longer small fry. Its attacks no longer merely tickled, especially with its ultimate lightning attribute.
Jian Chenxin did not dare disregard it. He hurriedly braced the Seven Kill Sword against the attack.
Boom, boom, boom!
The tremendous impact drove him underground.
Before he could recover, Li Sen followed him in, kicked the Seven Kill Sword away, and locked both of Jian Chenxin's hands in his grip, giving him no chance to summon his Martial Soul again.
Then...
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Li Sen immediately resorted to street-thug tactics, unleashing the Invincible Iron Head Technique, battering faces beyond recognition while kicking wildly.
The two tangled together. The damage was low, but within just a few blows, their faces were swollen and bruised. The humiliation was immense.
Thanks to his Soul Power far exceeding Li Sen's, Jian Chenxin suffered no real injuries, but he could not budge him at all.
He finally lost his composure and shouted, "I'm done! Is this any way for a Soul Master to fight?!"
Li Sen stood up and said as though nothing had happened, "If it wins, it's a Soul Master's way of fighting."
On the surface, he had won. In truth, waves of emptiness washed through his body, and his Soul Power was almost exhausted.
The Blue Silver Life Tree's restorative effects were powerful, but they mostly worked on injuries.
This battle had lasted a full three or four hours, all of it intensely draining.
If Jian Chenxin had not conceded, Li Sen would have been the first to drop to his knees.
Jian Chenxin climbed to his feet without even looking at Li Sen, inwardly cursing his rotten luck.
He had thought that with his surging Soul Power and improved swordsmanship, beating a brute would be easy.
Instead, his carelessness had let his opponent's twin Martial Souls catch him at point-blank range. Pinned down by immense strength, he had no free hand to summon his Martial Soul.
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