"A Titled Douluo! He's actually a Titled Douluo! Is he from Spirit Hall?"
Feeling the vast rain of swords surging toward him from behind like a tide, Tang Hao turned deathly pale, his heart gripped by terror.
There were not many Titled Douluos on the Douluo Continent, and the strongest sword-wielding Titled Douluo was Sword Douluo Chen Xin of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
But this man clearly was not him.
And the man was so overbearing that Tang Hao assumed he must be a Titled Douluo from Spirit Hall.
"Damn it! Spirit Hall really does throw its weight around!"
Tang Hao roared, eight Soul Rings appearing around him.
"Qian Jun Barrier!"
He bellowed furiously, soul power surging around him and forming walls of bronze and iron to protect his body.
However, Yi Chen was also using his Eighth Soul Skill. Although its wide-ranging attack had extended beyond its maximum effective distance and was gradually weakening, it could still easily pierce Tang Hao's Eighth Soul Skill.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...
The razor-sharp whistling of blades tearing through the air swept past his ears, deepening Tang Hao's terror. These sword rays could pierce his Eighth Soul Skill-Qian Jun Barrier-and pass straight through his body.
Although he dodged rapidly, the sword wounds on his body kept multiplying. Before long, he was utterly exhausted and drenched in blood, looking wretched beyond measure.
"Your Excellency, I am Tang Hao, Tang Hao of the Clear Sky Sect! Would you make an enemy of our Clear Sky Sect over a woman?"
Fear rose in Tang Hao's heart, forcing him to invoke his identity outright in the hope that it would make the other man wary enough to spare him.
Soon, the rain of swords from the other side seemed to weaken slightly, filling Tang Hao with delight.
His identity really had worked.
Just then, a cold laugh rang out from that direction.
"The proud War Soul Hammer, the towering Clear Sky Sect. So this is all the heir of the world's foremost sect amounts to."
"To think you would resort to such tricks to deceive a woman."
"It seems this is all you're worth."
Tang Hao's face turned livid at those words. He could hear the coldness and mockery filling the other man's voice.
Boom...
Suddenly, he felt an aura of death sweeping toward him.
His scalp prickled as he sensed a lethal threat unlike anything he had ever experienced.
Whoosh...
In that instant, an Ice Spike shot beneath him.
There was a wet slicing sound.
Tang Hao froze, then looked down. Between his legs was a patch of deep crimson, covered in a little ice debris that kept him from feeling any pain.
But on the ground, he saw that all-too-familiar two-inch piece of flesh.
"Aah!"
Tang Hao let out another piercing scream, his deathly pale face twisted with vicious hatred.
"You bastard! You actually dared to cripple me?"
Even a severe injury would not have enraged him this much, but his opponent had made it impossible for him to ever be a man again. It was an outright humiliation, as though he had pinned him to the ground and ground his face into the dirt.
"Cripple you?"
"I'm ridding the women of the Douluo Continent of a great scourge."
Just then, Yi Chen suddenly appeared before him, holding Ah Yin-the woman he had dreamed of possessing-in his arms. He stood suspended in the air, looking down at Tang Hao from on high as though gazing upon an ant.
Boom...
In an instant, an unimaginably terrifying aura erupted from Yi Chen.
It pressed Tang Hao flat against the ground, even driving him into the earth, leaving him unable to move.
This was the difference between a Titled Douluo and a Soul Douluo.
Moreover, Yi Chen was a nearly all-round Titled Douluo. Even several Titled Douluos from Spirit Hall working together were no match for him.
"Who exactly are you? You're deliberately humiliating me!"
Tang Hao's head was pressed deep into the ground as he struggled to speak. Despite his terror, he forced himself to calm down and recover a shred of reason. He realized that his opponent did not seem to want to kill him, yet had no intention of simply letting him go.
Yi Chen said indifferently, "Isn't this exactly how you treat others?"
He possessed a Wisdom Soul Bone whose Soul Bone Skill allowed him to perceive people's hearts, discern his opponents' weaknesses, and even see their pasts.
Through this Soul Bone Skill, he had unexpectedly discovered that this Douluo Continent seemed somewhat different from the original story. Tang Hao had a wife.
But he was a philanderer by nature and refused to be bound by his sect, so he used training as an excuse to roam the world and enjoy himself.
Who knew how many women he had ruined? Almost every time, once he won a woman over, he would toy with her for a while.
Then he would abandon her and leave.
Moreover, everything had gone smoothly for him since childhood. He had stood high above others from birth, and his constant smooth sailing had made him domineering by nature.
He had even declared that anyone who did not dare stir up trouble was mediocre.
He ran amok across the Douluo Continent.
Of course, most of the time, he concealed his identity.
In truth, none of this had anything to do with Yi Chen. Tang Hao's disgusting behavior simply repulsed him, yet he could not muster any desire to kill him either.
Because Yi Chen felt that killing Tang Hao would dirty his hands and leave him feeling sick for quite some time.
Crippling him like this and trampling him into the ground felt much more satisfying.
"Sir, our Clear Sky Sect has several Titled Douluos. My grandfather, Tang Chen, my father, Tang Lan..."
Tang Hao growled, seething with humiliation.
Yi Chen raised an eyebrow. "Your father? Oh, right. Your father isn't dead."
In the original story, Tang Hao had angered his father to death.
For Ah Yin's sake, he had abandoned his sect and committed many mistakes.
But now, none of that had happened, so his old man had not been angered to death and was still alive.
Whoosh...
A gleam of purple flashed through Yi Chen's eyes. In an instant, he learned about Tang Hao's father through Tang Hao.
Tang Lan, a level 95 Titled Douluo. Title: Raging Tide.
Hearing Yi Chen's words, Tang Hao felt even more aggrieved. What did he mean, his father was not dead?
Was this fellow that eager for his father to die?
"Our Clear Sky Sect..."
Tang Hao growled, wanting to explain just how powerful the Clear Sky Sect was.
"You want to say that your Clear Sky Sect has six Titled Douluos, and that you and your older brother, Tang Xiao, are also close to becoming Titled Douluos."
However, Yi Chen already knew everything.
At this point in the timeline, the Clear Sky Sect had six Titled Douluos: Tang Hao's father, Tang Lan, and five elders, all at the Titled Douluo level.
But two or three of them were nearing the end of their lives and were already half-dead.
Of course, Yi Chen did not particularly care.
"What exactly do you want?"
Yi Chen's constant contempt left him seething with humiliation and fury. As the proud son of the mighty Clear Sky Sect, when had he ever fallen into such a predicament?
Yi Chen's expression remained indifferent as he raised his palm slightly. Wisps of lightning danced across it, making Tang Hao's scalp prickle as fear flashed through his eyes.
Was this fellow really going to attack?
Although he felt deeply humiliated and believed he could not tolerate such insults,
when it truly came to this moment, he was still afraid.
"Chen."
Just then, Ah Yin stopped Yi Chen and said softly, "Chen, you're very strong, but the Clear Sky Sect is powerful..."
She held Yi Chen's arm, her gaze filled with complicated emotions and worry.
She knew perfectly well that her identity as a soul beast had been exposed. Her concern was for Yi Chen, fearing that he would become entangled with the Clear Sky Sect.
The world's foremost sect.
"That's right! I am the Clear Sky Sect's greatest genius. If you kill me..."
Boom!
Seeing Yi Chen fall silent, Tang Hao knew Ah Yin was concerned about these consequences and began shouting arrogantly. But before he could finish, a flash like lightning struck him directly. He felt as though his muscles and bones had all shattered, and a scream rang out.
"Bipolar Prohibition Domain!"
At that instant, a shrill cry rang out.
In the blink of an eye, all of space and time was brought to a halt. Even the falling leaves were frozen in midair.
Yi Chen's gaze turned icy as he looked toward the intertwined Soul Rings that had suddenly appeared not far away.
Spirit Hall had actually made its move?
"Ninth Soul Skill-Tongtian World!"
At that moment, an indifferent voice issued from Yi Chen's lips.