The phantom of the Chaos Bell hung in midair, black-and-yellow patterns flowing ceaselessly across its surface. Like an ancient divine mountain, it weighed heavily on everyone's hearts, its crushing pressure seeming to still even their breathing.
At the center of the light formation, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao stood pressed tightly back to back, their bloodstained Clear Sky Hammers braced at an angle against the ground. The hammerheads trembled slightly, reflecting their paper-white faces.
Qian Daoliu slowly landed, his white robes snapping amid the interwoven black-and-yellow radiance and golden light. Behind him, the phantom of his Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul spread its wings to their fullest extent. Sacred golden feathers drifted down as though solid, only to dissolve into tiny motes of light the instant they touched the Chaos Bell's pressure.
Two utterly different energies formed a sharply defined boundary three feet from his body: on one side, the sacred majesty of the Angel God; on the other, the Chaos Bell's crushing suppression. Even the air warped beneath their tension.
His gaze swept over Tang Hao's bloodstained robes before settling on the Soul Ring beneath Tang Xiao's feet, which gleamed with golden divine markings. A cold smile curved his lips:
"The Asura God certainly is generous, granting you a God-given Soul Ring. A pity that borrowed power will never truly be yours."
"Bullshit!"
Tang Hao jerked his head up, his eyes bloodshot. His grip on the Clear Sky Hammer abruptly tightened, and he paid no heed as the split webbing between his thumb and forefinger began bleeding again:
"Your Spirit Hall forced Ah Yin to sacrifice herself, drove the Clear Sky Sect into sealing its gates, and destroyed my sect's foundations! Now you've laid a trap to cut off my escape. We cannot live beneath the same sky! Qian Daoliu,