Joining forces

Ever since Ren Tao had turned the tables on the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and then thwarted Tang San, events on the Douluo Continent had begun developing in an unpredictable direction.

By now, those changes had reached their climax.

An expert at stirring up trouble and marketing, Ren Tao had first used the lure of a "million-year soul beast's soul bone" to whip up a storm that swept across three emperors. Then he had successfully reeled in Tang Chen, too.

Only the Asura God's schemes had proved somewhat unexpected.

Even now, Ren Tao still could not work out what the Asura King was really planning.

But opportunities vanished in a blink. Not everything in this world had to be thought through before taking action. When it was time to charge, he could not flinch; when it was time to win, he could not lose.

Just get it done!

With a fierce howl, Ren Tao hurled himself bodily onto the King of Slaughter. His Bone Wings folded shut, their golden tips driving deep into the King of Slaughter's body. Behind him, golden threads swept out like a raging tide, binding their bodies tightly into one. Until both his body and the Devouring Golden Threads were completely shattered, no one could separate them.

Yes. Full contact on every level.

"Enter the realm of endless torment!"

Ren Tao whispered into Tang Chen's ear and activated Devour at full power. The Asura God's power came roaring in.

Soul-eroding killing intent, cold enough to pierce bone, flooded every corner of Ren Tao's perception and froze his entire body stiff.

Two figures appeared within the Sea of Inheritance.

One was the Nine-Headed Bat King wheeling through the sky, his enormous silhouette shrouded in scarlet light. Thick globs of black liquid kept dripping from his body, polluting the glittering golden sea like crude oil.

The other was Tang Chen, standing opposite Ren Tao. He no longer held the Asura Sword, but a Clear Sky Hammer whose head measured more than two meters across. His graying hair streamed in the wind, and his aura climbed without end, surpassing Super Douluo and approaching Limit Douluo. Then it exceeded even Limit Douluo, reaching an unimaginable height.

At least, Ren Tao had never encountered an opponent like this before. Tang Chen seemed to approach some ultimate threshold, provoking a violent response from the Sea of Inheritance. Towering waves surged up, and distant whirlwinds came howling over, launching an endless assault against him.

"So it was you..."

The first to speak was neither Tang Chen nor Ren Tao, but the hideous Nine-Headed Bat King in the sky. "You feel so familiar, but I still can't remember who you are. Let's join forces and kill this old man!"

With a shriek, the nine-headed bat's dark silhouette came hurtling down, launching a savage, almost suicidal attack on Tang Chen.

"Don't be so reckless!"

Ren Tao had hardly expected to find an ally here. Unsure whether the other party was sincere or merely pretending, he hesitated for a moment. Then he hardened his resolve, summoned the power of the Sea of Inheritance, and struck Tang Chen hard:

"Soul Breaking Spear!"

After all, Tang Chen was the greatest threat. Unless Tang Chen fell, Ren Tao would remain beneath the Asura God's shadow. There was nothing to debate.

Bang!

Before the nine-headed bat could even reach Tang Chen, the enormous slaughter hammer smashed him away. One of his heads burst into bloody pulp that scattered on the wind.

Ren Tao felt the pain just watching him!

Tang Chen's Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer was clearly leagues beyond Tang San's. After blasting the nine-headed bat away, he carried the momentum into an upward diagonal thrust, turning his body and smoothly meeting Ren Tao's Soul Breaking Spear.

Sparks flew. Ren Tao's mind reeled. The recoil from that blow had actually struck his soul, but instead, it roused his fighting spirit.

"Come on! If I can't kill you, then kill me! Come on! Soul Breaking Spear! Soul Breaking Spear!"

With the Nine-Headed Bat King tying Tang Chen down at close range, Ren Tao kept attacking from afar with the Soul Breaking Spear. At the same time, he controlled the waves, whirlwinds, and blood-colored power within the red-thread crystal, steadily and relentlessly eroding Tang Chen. Everyone fighting here was a soul. Even if soul skills could amplify spiritual power, the Sea of Inheritance was Ren Tao's home ground. As long as he survived and kept holding on, no matter how badly he was beaten, Tang Chen would be the one to lose in the end.

Boom!

Boom, boom, boom!

The muffled explosions of air and waves rose one after another. After just a few collisions, the nine-headed bat had lost three heads.

Only then did Ren Tao realize that his ally's strategy was the same as his own: using his blood to pollute and corrode Tang Chen's soul, along with the Asura Domain on the hammerhead... Of course, it might also have been the Slaughter Domain. Ren Tao was a little hazy on that right now.

"Take it easy! Keep fighting like that and you'll lose all nine heads!"

Ren Tao used Teleportation across the sea's surface, combining the waves and whirlwinds into an enormous waterspout that enveloped Tang Chen. He continually drove the seawater's power forward, intending to use this entire sea to shatter the force field of the "Chaotic Cloak Hammer."

This also provided cover for him and the nine-headed bat, finally giving them a moment to catch their breath.

"What grudge do you have against him? Why are you fighting so desperately?"

Ren Tao wanted more inside information to use as leverage against the Asura God later.

"The Asura God-that bastard is a complete pervert! He beats my mistress whenever he feels like it. He even imprisoned her, put a dog chain on her, and forbade her from seeing anyone!"

Ren Tao had never imagined he would stumble across juicy gossip here!

"Your mistress is the Rakshasa God?"

"Yes! The Asura God is a pervert. What did my mistress do wrong? All she did was put a cuckold's green hat on him a few times!"

Even in the thick of battle, Ren Tao could not help exchanging a glance with the nine-headed bat.

The nine-headed bat shrugged, then shot forward again with a whoosh. Just then, Tang Chen's Chaotic Cloak tore an opening through the waves filling the sky.

He, too, knew he could not contend against the entire ocean. But his Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer obeyed his every whim, concentrating its force on the weakest point in the waves, and he actually broke through.

The nine-headed bat's blood sprayed across the sea.

Ren Tao seized the chance to unleash another Soul Breaking Spear. This time, it finally breached Tang Chen's defenses and pierced straight through his right shoulder.

However powerful Tang Chen's soul power was, he was ultimately a soul within the Sea of Inheritance. Now he, too, experienced the agony of the Soul Breaking Spear tearing through his soul. His body shook violently, and he lost his grip on the Clear Sky Hammer, sending it flying.

"Come back!"

Ren Tao's brows lifted. A Devouring Golden Thread wrapped around the nine-headed bat's body, forcibly swinging him away.

Tang Chen clearly still had a follow-up move. After the giant hammer left his hand, he leaped straight up and flicked his toe against it, kicking the Clear Sky Hammer away at an even greater speed.

Had Ren Tao not reacted in time, the nine-headed bat would have lost far more than a single head. His entire body might have been reduced to a puddle of pulp.

Trailing a streak of red light like an enormous meteor, the Clear Sky Hammer tore across sky and sea, hurtling toward Ren Tao.

The air shuddered violently. The might of this hammer strike compounded all the power accumulated before it, trapping layers of sonic blasts and compressing them into ripple upon ripple around the hammerhead. It locked directly onto Ren Tao, leaving him nowhere to dodge.

The decisive move!

Ren Tao's pupils contracted. Tang Chen's strike had almost drained his spiritual power dry, while the waves of the Sea of Inheritance were too far away to come to Ren Tao's aid. Coupled with the terrifying domain attached to the hammerhead, this blow had almost become the sole existence between heaven and earth.

Vast as the Sea of Inheritance was, Ren Tao seemed utterly alone.

Some unknown power had stripped him away from the Sea of Inheritance, leaving him to face this sky-rending, sea-splitting hammer strike with his own strength alone.

Whoosh!

The waves instantly scattered, surging backward into the heavens, as though the sea had been drained dry.

Whirlwinds were dragged skyward, and Red Crystals shot in every direction. Even the trees and boulders on the cliffs began to crumble, shaking violently as though they would fall apart in the next instant or sink beneath the ground.

Like Ren Tao, the Sea of Inheritance faced an unprecedented crisis.

Ren Tao spread his arms, his expression calm, and charged toward the blood-colored Clear Sky Giant Hammer.

He moved faster and faster, gradually forming a whirlwind of his own. Only the purple mist overhead remained unaffected, still standing firmly on Ren Tao's side.

As Ren Tao charged, his indomitable momentum ignited. Answering its call, the purple mist in the sky suddenly trembled, descending like an enormous funnel and pouring into his body.

It looked like a tornado with Ren Tao as its point of origin.

Human strength was slight, while heaven and earth were boundless!

Yet at this moment, human strength drew upon the vast power between heaven and earth, becoming the sole point of detonation that awakened the world.

Ren Tao's murmurs echoed through the boundless wind.

"Why exactly did I come here, and for whom am I fighting?"

"Even gods must tremble. There is a power that can lever heaven and earth apart-the unyielding spirit!"

"Having lost your original purpose and convictions, you are nothing but walking corpses, another name for impotence!"

With an indomitable resolve and unprecedented clarity, Ren Tao met the Clear Sky Hammer.

For one second, heaven and earth abruptly fell silent.

The Sea of Inheritance stopped churning. Tang Chen narrowed his eyes. The nine-headed bat halted his suicidal charge.

The clouds and mist formed an enormous human silhouette and let out a howl.

The Clear Sky Hammer spun violently, radiating densely packed ripples. Once those ripples traveled a hundred meters outward, they became peal after peal of thunder.

Before Ren Tao stood a transparent barrier. It seemed impossibly thin and faint, yet it withstood the grinding force of the Clear Sky Hammer.

Ren Tao's entire body turned golden. His robe shattered completely, and his body dispersed inch by inch, like a gust of wind fading into the air.

Countless golden chains appeared out of nowhere around Tang Chen. Like merciless claws, they sank into his bones and muscles, clamping onto every inch of his skin. As they frantically extracted his power, pulses of red light flashed along them.

"Welcome to the Asura God's world!"

The Divine Sense the Asura God had left within Tang Chen was also being extracted and devoured. But just before it was completely torn to pieces, it transmitted a thought like a delirious murmur.

Outside, E Laosi let out a heart-wrenching cry:

"Big brother, what's happening to you? Your body... it's shattered!"

The nine-headed bat should be the Nine-Headed Bat King in the original work. This character was also added by the author later on, to keep the plot from becoming too dry. A little humanity and humor should make it better!