"A peerless rose."
A rough voice filled with amazement suddenly rang out in the tavern, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
The drinkers looked up in astonishment and turned toward the stairs, only to see several tall, burly figures slowly descending from the second floor.
They were broad-shouldered, thick-waisted men, each nearly two meters tall, with knotted muscles and brutish faces.
The moment their gazes landed on Yu Xiaogang in the corner, their eyes blazed with scorching light, as though they had discovered a priceless treasure. One man's outstretched hand even trembled slightly with excitement.
The tavern fell silent for a moment.
"Wh-who are these people? Do they know that washed-up Grandmaster?"
Someone asked quietly, his voice tinged with confusion.
"Them... I think I've seen them before."
Another drinker narrowed his eyes and studied them for a while, then suddenly lowered his voice.
"That's right, the Rose Boy Band! They all have scars on their faces, and they're big, hulking brutes... Rumor has it certain nobles are very fond of them."
"Nobles are fond of them?"
The person beside him leaned closer and asked in a hushed voice, "What do you mean? Noblewomen?"
"You wish."
The man rolled his eyes at him. "Some nobles have... rather unusual interests."
"???"
"Male nobles. Male nobles."
"Holy shit!"
The man went pale with shock and nearly cried out, but his companion swiftly clapped a hand over his mouth.
"Don't get yourself killed! Every one of them is a Soul Saint. Have you lived long enough already?"
Soul Saints?
The man's eyes immediately widened, his face turning white. He obediently shut his mouth and only dared watch from afar with his neck tucked in.
"Rose? What rose?"
Yu Xiaogang had already downed three cups of cheap liquor, leaving his head heavy and muddled. He blearily raised his eyes and saw several blurry, burly figures surrounding him, their faces wearing spine-chilling smiles.
"Who are you? Why are you getting in the way of my drinking?"
After his castration, his skin had become much fairer than an ordinary man's, and his face was beardless. His voice carried a high, thin, ducklike rasp, and even his impatient flick of the hand had an indescribably delicate air.
The moment he spoke, the eyes of several Rose Boy Band members lit up together, as though they had heard heavenly music, and the blood throughout their bodies boiled.
"An utterly peerless rose!!!"
Their leader suddenly let out a howl, his voice so impassioned it nearly lifted the tavern's roof.
The surrounding drinkers were too frightened even to breathe loudly, each shrinking into his seat.
In this world where strength reigned supreme, Soul Masters stood high above everyone else. How many ordinary people would dare offend them?
Especially when this was an entire group of Soul Saints.
"All this shouting. Aren't you annoying?"
Yu Xiaogang waved impatiently, his speech slurred.
"A truly peerless beauty! That voice, that charm-perfection!"
The scar-faced leader excitedly wiped his face, then took a large bouquet of vivid, dewy roses from the Storage Soul Tool he had obtained from a male noble after serving him well. He solemnly placed it before Yu Xiaogang. "Beauty, come with us."
"Beauty?"
Yu Xiaogang frowned, disgust mingling with his confusion. Having already lost his male characteristics, he was extremely sensitive to such words.
He was no longer a man. He was no longer a man!
He raised his hand to slap the scar-faced leader.
"Tsk, a wild mare, too."
The scar-faced leader caught his wrist and grinned even more broadly.
"Spirited! I like it!"
The other burly men crowded around as well, their smiles brimming with ill-intentioned excitement.
"Boss, this is a peerless treasure. Can the rest of us also..."
"What's the rush?"
The scar-faced leader studied Yu Xiaogang with burning eyes, then bent down and swept him into a bridal carry. "Let's go. We'll take our time enjoying him back home."
"Huh?! Who are you?! Let me go! Let me go!"
Yu Xiaogang abruptly snapped awake and struggled frantically, kicking both legs wildly in the air. "Help! Help!!!"
But everyone in the tavern had long since huddled into themselves, and not one dared make a sound.
Only after those burly figures disappeared through the tavern door did the drinkers finally breathe a sigh of relief.
"That guy... is in for it."
"Yeah. He probably won't be getting out of bed tomorrow."
"Tsk, tsk... serves him right."
In a dark corner, Tang Hao had been monitoring everything with his Spiritual Power. Now, he remained silent.
The Rose Boy Band? Every member a Soul Saint?
He frowned in thought for a moment, but ultimately decided not to act.
Besides, Yu Xiaogang had brought this on himself. A little lesson would do him good.
He turned and left the tavern, heading toward Nuoding City Junior Academy.
Just as he turned into a deserted alley, a pitch-black rift abruptly split open in the space before him.
Tang Hao's pupils contracted, and he stopped short and retreated.
But before he could react, another rift opened in the space behind him, and an irresistible force swallowed him whole.
Above the outskirts of Nuoding City, a hundred meters in the air, a rift appeared out of nowhere.
Tang Hao fell from the rift and slammed into the ground, sending dust flying.
He reacted extremely quickly. His Soul Power erupted in an instant, a heavy hammer appeared in his palm, and nine Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet at once.
"Who is it?! Stop skulking around and get out here!"
"Heh... skulking around? Who hides deeper than a damned rat like you?"
An icy voice came from behind him, thick with mockery.
Tang Hao spun around and saw a suit of metal armor as black as night standing silently behind him. Two scarlet lights shone at its eyes as it coldly surveyed him, like a demon god that had walked out of the abyss.
"...You! That brat!"
Tang Hao's pupils sharply contracted.
Although the voice had changed somewhat, he would never forget this armor.
"Die!" he roared, raising the Clear Sky Hammer to smash it at Ye Guixu.
But in the next instant, a cold gleam flashed past.
Squelch.
Tang Hao's right arm was severed at the elbow. The severed limb spun twice through the air before a black-and-gold claw caught it securely.
Blood splashed onto the ground, seeping into the dust in dark red stains.
Tang Hao lowered his head in disbelief, staring at the empty stump of his right arm.
Dark red Dark Energy coiled around the wound, frantically eating away at his flesh like a living thing.
Only then did excruciating pain surge over him like a tide, forcing a scream from his throat.
But Ye Guixu gave him no time to recover. A dark green glow abruptly wreathed his right foot.
He spun into a roundhouse kick that swept precisely across Tang Hao's legs.
Crack! A crisp sound of shattering bone rang out, and Tang Hao flew backward like a snapped stalk of straw, crashing into a pile of broken stones.
Both his lower legs had been kicked clean off at the knees. They rolled to a stop several paces away in a bloody mess, gleaming bones exposed at the severed ends.
Two faintly glowing Soul Bones were embedded in those severed limbs, wrapped in Tang Hao's flesh and still giving off faint traces of power.
Amid the drifting dust, Ye Guixu walked toward him, step by step.
Clang-clang-clang-
Heavy metallic footsteps echoed through the empty countryside like the pendulum of death.
Tang Hao lay sprawled on the ground, missing one arm and both legs, with three Soul Bones stripped away at once.
His aura plummeted wildly like a punctured balloon.
From a level 95 Titled Douluo, he fell all the way to a level 65 Soul Emperor.
Ye Guixu raised a hand, and emerald light shone from his black-and-gold gauntlet. Tang Hao's body lit up with the same emerald glow, then floated uncontrollably into the air like a dead dog suspended above the ground.
"You really are useless."
"You've been quite comfortable dreaming your sewer-rat dreams, haven't you?"
Tang Hao's eyes were bloodshot as he stared fixedly at that pitch-black armor, the blood throughout his body boiling.
"Back then... I should never have let you go!"
But no matter how he struggled, he could not break free of Ye Guixu's Void Manipulation.
"Wrong answer."
Ye Guixu's other hand lit up with green light as well, and he casually waved it.
Tang Hao's only remaining arm was forcibly torn off. Blood gushed out, and the sound of snapping bone was especially piercing in the empty countryside.
"Aaaaah!!"
His screams tore through the night sky, echoing across the deserted wilderness.
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