Long Yue's One-Word Battle Armor was only Yellow Rank, forged entirely from thousand refinement sunken silver, with an emphasis on basic defense and an initial enhancement of his Mountain Dragon King martial soul.
Its overall design was heavy and unadorned, predominantly ocher. The armor's components had sharply defined edges, a rough mountain-rock texture, and dragon-scale patterns.
With the armor's enhancement, Long Yue darted behind Niu Ben. This Soul Emperor was Niu Gao's son and the young chief of the Defense Clan.
After the Defense Clan's women and children scattered and fled, Niu Ben returned to the estate, intending to stand with his father, Niu Gao, through retreat or advance, life or death.
"You shouldn't have come back." Without releasing his soul rings, Long Yue simply reached out and pressed his hand against Niu Ben's head. "The Spirit Hall bishop's men are outside. There are Soul Emperors among them, too."
Without Niu Ben escorting them, the Defense Clan's women and children would most likely be unable to withstand Spirit Hall's deadly ambush.
Long Yue had not really broken his word to Tong Yu.
He had indeed spared the women and children. It was Spirit Hall's people who were wiping them out to the last.
Long Yue's right hand transformed into a heavy dragon claw covered in scales. Tremendous force pressed down on Niu Ben's head, and the sharp claws pierced his skull despite his Plate-Armored Giant Rhinoceros possession.
Mountain Dragon Terrorclaw!
Crack-
It burst like a watermelon. The added tearing effect made Niu Ben's entire head explode, and Niu Gao, who was locked in combat with Chrysanthemum Douluo, immediately cried out in anguish.
"No!"
"A soul bone..." Chrysanthemum Douluo's gaze burned with desire as he stared fixedly at the right palm of Long Yue, who wore thick ocher armor.
External soul bone: the Thousand-Year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Right Palm Bone!
Long Yue was quite fond of soul bones like this. Besides, both Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin, protagonists from two successive generations, had possessed this kind of Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear palm bone.
It was a soul bone that had stood the test of history and Soul Masters alike.
Thus, after Long Yue pleaded with En Ci, Holy Dragon Douluo went to the Spirit Pagoda to make a trade and successfully obtained this Thousand-Year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Right Palm Bone for him.
Given how precious the soul bone was, En Ci had warned Long Yue again and again never to reveal it.
Clearly, Long Yue had not listened.
Killing a purely defensive Soul Emperor was no easy feat.
His rank-forty-five Mountain Dragon King martial soul, his eighty-percent-complete One-Word Battle Armor, and the Thousand-Year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Right Palm Bone-all three combined, along with a sneak attack, had given Long Yue the chance to kill in a single blow.
Niu Ben, young chief of the Defense Clan, was dead.
"Heh heh heh-" Long Yue let out a villain's brazen laugh and roared, "We of Spirit Hall will eliminate every last one of you Clear Sky Remnants!"
He shouted loudly enough for even Sima Lanxiao to hear, as though afraid someone might not know Spirit Hall was responsible.
Is Spirit Hall really this brazen? Sima Lanxiao began reassessing the importance of Spirit Hall in his mind.
The agony of losing his son stripped Niu Gao of all reason. He charged at Long Yue like a bulldozer, every footfall leaving an imprint in the stone paving.
"Sorry."
Tong Yu stood in front of Long Yue. His right arm swelled, scales boring out from beneath his skin and growing as a low rumble sounded within his bones.
Nine soul rings flashed past.
Qilin Arm!
Light blazed at the end of Tong Yu's Qilin Arm. Five-colored radiance gathered into the shape of a qilin and collided with Niu Gao.
The Plate-Armored Giant Rhinoceros true form Niu Gao took such pride in did not last even half a second beneath that punch before shattering.
Then the purely defensive Soul Douluo was blasted into minced flesh by the power of the five elements, which clung to him like a festering sore on the bone.
Qilin Douluo Tong Yu's martial soul was the Five-Element Qilin.
Most people remembered only that his cultivation was high, approaching Limit Douluo, and that he was a murderer.
Yet no one had ever considered that Tong Yu was so powerful because all his attacks carried the power of the five elements.
Within, they nourished one another; without, they overcame one another.
Unsurprisingly, the power of the five elements struck Niu Gao's body into utter collapse.
Niu Gao, chief of the Defense Clan, was dead.
"Nine... nine... Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings." Chrysanthemum Douluo had clearly seen the nine blood-red soul rings that flashed around Tong Yu, and his teeth chattered.
How could a human have nine Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings? Could he be a Titled Douluo with twin martial souls?
But where could he have found so many hundred-thousand-year soul beasts to absorb? Even His Holiness the Pope...
These thoughts flashed through his mind like lightning.
Just as Chrysanthemum Douluo began considering how to play along with these two for now and find a chance to leave Longxing City to inform the Pope, he saw Tong Yu reach a hand toward him.
The nine red soul rings around him flashed again.
Five-Element Grip.
An enormous hand of five-colored light suddenly appeared around Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and seized him.
"You're insane!"
Chrysanthemum Douluo roared, then immediately realized what was happening. These damned Divine Realm Empire bastards intended to cut down the grass and tear out the roots.
How black-hearted!
Again, it was the second soul ring. Another enormous hand appeared, clenched into a fist, and slammed ferociously into Chrysanthemum Douluo.
Five-Element Collision.
Chrysanthemum Douluo fared little better than Niu Gao. After holding out for a few seconds, he was blasted to death on the spot.
Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan had fallen.
"Sorry for the trouble, senior brother."
Long Yue walked in from outside, still carrying the severed head of Spirit Hall's Longxing City Bishop.
After killing Niu Ben, Long Yue had gone outside without taking off his One-Word Battle Armor and tricked the Longxing City Bishop into his death.
With one strike from the dark gold terrorclaw bear right palm bone, a Soul Emperor had died so easily at Long Yue's hands.
"Did the Defense Clan's women and children escape?" Tong Yu truly was kindhearted.
Long Yue did not lie to his eldest senior brother. "Spirit Hall's people intercepted some of them. Some should have escaped."
"Alas..." Tong Yu sighed softly. "Junior brother, don't do this sort of thing again."
"I'm thinking of the empire." Long Yue insisted on draping his actions in a mantle of greatness, glory, and righteousness. "If the Tang Sect grows powerful again in the future, won't the empire be shackled by others once more?"
"If you truly had the empire in mind, you shouldn't have let them go."
Sima Lanxiao and Joander emerged from the shadows, both reeking heavily of blood.
Surely not? Tong Yu's eyes widened as a possibility instantly occurred to him.
"The Defense Clan is on good terms with the other single-attribute clans. If they saw you and discovered your identity, they would certainly set their sights on the empire in the future."
Joander spoke. He was actually a One-Word Battle Armor Master.
"Long Yue. And Your Excellency Qilin Douluo." Sima Lanxiao stood there. "I will report this matter to His Majesty without leaving out a single word. You must take responsibility yourselves for the trouble you've caused."
"But you killed people too. A group of women and children, no less," Long Yue said.
"That was cleaning up your mess," Sima Lanxiao said.
Long Yue smiled. "Are you that afraid of Tang San? A child who hasn't even come of age yet, Lord Sima?"
Joander's claim that the single-attribute clans might become hostile toward the Divine Realm Empire in the future was complete bullshit.
Would the Divine Realm Empire fear four Soul Douluos? It might not even fear four Titled Douluos.
As for the Four Great Single-Attribute Clans... their value could not even compare with Long Yue, a future Titled Douluo.
The one Sima Lanxiao truly feared was Tang San.
The single-attribute clans would become part of the Tang Sect's strength in the future.
"You're like the man of Qi fretting that the sky will fall," Long Yue remarked. "We've already changed history just by coming to the Douluo Continent. There's no telling whether Tang San can still become the Sea God."
"How disrespectful."
Before you continue