Anger Born of Shame

Tang San's soul power ran wild, billowing out his clothes, and he screamed until his throat burned. "Qin Chuan... I-I'll kill you!"

He could no longer spare a thought for anything else.

A hundred thousand people had heard it. His secrets had been laid bare, and he knew it.

But only one thought remained in his mind: this man could not be allowed to live!

As long as he lived, he could keep asking. About the Tang Sect's hidden weapon manuals, about his mother's hiding place, about every secret Tang San carried that could never see the light.

Kill him. Kill him first. Everything else can wait.

Wrapped in pitch-black soul power, the Clear Sky Hammer smashed forward with all his strength, trailing a howling gale.

At the edge of the arena, Hu Liena saw it, and her voice shot up into a shriek. "Watch out!"

She tried to rush over, but her legs buckled, and she dropped to her knees again.

Qin Chuan did not look back.

His expression turned cold.

"Inside the Game Domain," Qin Chuan said, "you still think you can kill me? Dream on."

The Clear Sky Hammer came crashing down.

The heavy hammer's shadow passed straight through the spot where Qin Chuan had been standing and slammed into the arena floor, blasting out several cracks and scattering shattered tiles everywhere.

Tang San froze. The Clear Sky Hammer had missed.

Qin Chuan was no longer there.

Tang San jerked his head up and searched in every direction.

He spotted Qin Chuan at the other end of the membrane of light.

Qin Chuan stood over a hundred feet away, dusted off his sleeves, and watched him silently.

No one had seen how he had gotten there.

Hu Liena's mouth hung open, her eyes wide.

Cries of astonishment swept through the stands.

"How did he get over there?"

"Teleportation?"

"A support-type can teleport?"

On Shrek's side, Zhu Zhuqing raised her head, looked toward Qin Chuan, and froze.

She was very familiar with Xiao Wu's Teleportation.

Zhu Zhuqing knew what Teleportation looked like: soul power surged outward, the body pitched forward, and space briefly warped.

But none of that had happened with Qin Chuan.

He had simply gone from here to there.

"That wasn't Teleportation..." Zhu Zhuqing said.

Ning Rongrong turned to her. "Then what was it?"

Zhu Zhuqing shook her head.

Standing there, Qin Chuan was actually a little surprised himself.

When the Clear Sky Hammer had come crashing toward him, he had wanted to dodge. The instant that thought arose, the rules within the domain had moved.

In a flash, he had been standing here.

Qin Chuan spoke bluntly. "The domain is my turf. On my turf, I can stand wherever I want. Players don't get to flip the table in the middle of a game."

He glanced at Tang San and thought, If you want to flip the table, you'll need my permission first.

On the papal dais, Bibi Dong rose to her feet.

It was the second time she had stood up that day.

[God of Drama]!

She recognized it. That fire-scorched ancient book in the Forbidden Book Repository, the Third-Generation Pope's seal, and the annotation: "Never break the seal."

What had been drawn on that page was precisely this [Clown Martial Soul].

Bibi Dong slowly tightened her grip on her scepter.

Back then, she had thought it an absurd legend left behind by their predecessors.

Now, that creature of legend had appeared in the flesh upon the arena.

Standing behind her, Chrysanthemum Douluo asked cautiously, "Your Holiness, do you recognize this martial soul?"

Bibi Dong did not answer.

She watched Qin Chuan for a long time before speaking. "When the match ends, bring him to me."

Chrysanthemum Douluo paused. "Directly to you?"

"Yes."

On the other side of the stands, Yu Xiaogang rose to his feet as well.

He, too, had remembered.

In the ruins of an old sect, a badly worn handwritten manuscript had contained a single reference: in the Primordial Era, there had been a forbidden martial soul called the [God of Drama], sealed away by the combined efforts of the gods.

Back then, he had written an annotation beside it: "Absurd and utterly unfounded."

Yu Xiaogang dropped back into his seat, his face even paler.

Flender asked him, "Xiaogang, what did you remember?"

Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth, but it took him a long while to squeeze out the words. "Little San is finished."

Flender did not understand. "What do you mean?"

Yu Xiaogang lowered his voice. "Tang San is finished. If that martial soul really is what I think it is, Tang San has no chance of winning. It isn't a matter of strength. It's a matter of rules. It doesn't matter what cards he plays, because the table belongs to someone else."

Flender's expression changed.

He wanted to say something, but after looking at the spectators around them who were cursing Tang San, he swallowed his words.

Yu Xiaogang said nothing more.

In the arena, Tang San refused to accept it.

Gritting his teeth, he could only activate his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and charge toward Qin Chuan.

Blue silver grass burst from the ground and wound toward Qin Chuan's ankles.

Moments later, the Clear Sky Hammer formed again in his hand, its buffeting winds tearing up the floor tiles one after another.

He threw everything he had into it.

Qin Chuan stood motionless and did not turn around.

"Second Soul Skill," Qin Chuan said. "Rock-Paper-Scissors."

His second yellow soul ring lit up.

With a boom, a section of the floor heaved upward, forming a stone platform ten feet square that lifted both of them onto it.

Tang San charged up behind Qin Chuan, the tip of the Clear Sky Hammer stopping just an inch from the center of his back.

It stopped dead.

The Clear Sky Hammer hung frozen at that distance, unable to move at all. The rules had frozen it in place, and even with all his strength, Tang San could not push it forward another inch.

The blue silver grass entwined around Qin Chuan wilted as well.

The [Clown Dwarf] doll appeared before Tang San and announced the rules:

"Rock, paper, scissors. One round decides the winner. The loser must stand still and take one hit from the winner, without fighting back or defending. The damage goes straight to the body. The winner may appoint a substitute attacker, whose level must not exceed the winner's."

After speaking, the doll giggled twice.

Panting heavily, Tang San dispersed the soul power sustaining the immobilized Clear Sky Hammer.

He looked at Qin Chuan and began considering his strategy.

Rock-paper-scissors.

Purple light flashed in his eyes.

Purple Demon Eye. This was one of his trump cards, allowing him to discern the slightest movements. He could even count how many times a mosquito beat its wings.

The movements of Qin Chuan's fingers before he made his throw would not escape him.

Tang San immediately felt reassured.

He thought, This time, the rules are on my side.

At the edge of the arena, Hu Liena no longer bothered straightening her clothes and got to her feet.

Supported by Ning Rongrong, Xiao Wu stood up as well. The tear tracks on her cheeks had yet to dry, and her eyes remained fixed on Tang San without blinking.

Qin Chuan turned to face Tang San and flexed his wrist.

"Let's make this clear first," Qin Chuan said. "Don't cry when you lose."

Tang San sneered. "You'll regret this."

Qin Chuan did not reply.

In his mind, he was adjusting something.

He could alter twenty percent of the Rock-Paper-Scissors soul skill. He nudged his own chances of winning upward by twenty percent.

Tang San noticed nothing.

The [Clown Dwarf] declared, "Rock-paper-scissors, begin!"

Tang San kept his eyes fixed on Qin Chuan's right hand.

He saw Qin Chuan's five fingers slowly spread out, poised to throw paper.

Delight surged through Tang San, and the corners of his mouth curled upward.

He threw scissors.

With two fingers raised in the air, he was certain victory was his.

At the very last instant, Qin Chuan's hand tightened.

His five fingers curled inward into a fist, its shadow falling directly over those two fingers.

Below the stage, a hundred thousand people held their breath as one.