Interrupting the Cast

"Did that get under your skin?"

Faced with Tang Hao's menacing aggression, Dai Mubai showed no fear whatsoever. Instead, a trace of a smile appeared on his face.

Good. Once his defenses cracked, he would grow angry, and anger would rob him of his reason.

Then there would be a chance to keep Tang Hao here for good.

Before a feud arose, he could turn a blind eye to many things.

Once someone was confirmed as an enemy, however, he had to use every possible means to keep them there and kill them.

It was only because Black Panther was not here. Had Black Panther been present, he would not have needed all this scheming. He could have Black Panther keep Tang Hao occupied while he sought an opening for a one-hit kill.

"Great Sumeru Hammer!"

With his Tool Soul Avatar active, Tang Hao unleashed the Clear Sky Sect's ultimate technique, swinging the Clear Sky Hammer down toward their position.

He held nothing back in this strike. He intended to take all their lives.

"Seventh Soul Skill, Cat Owl Avatar!"

"Mubai, take Old Zhao and go! I'll hold him off!"

With things having reached this point, Flender knew he had no choice.

He cast aside all other concerns and drove his martial soul to its fullest, trying to block and delay the attack as much as possible.

That rather surprised Dai Mubai.

Flender, usually so calculating, stingy, and tightfisted, actually had a hot-blooded side.

Thinking about it, though, that made sense. At this point, Flender had no choice but to put his life on the line.

"Dean, stand back. This blow is enough to kill you. Just protect Old Zhao."

As Dai Mubai spoke, he moved past Flender and headed straight toward Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer.

To be honest, he really did want to take the Clear Sky Hammer head-on and test whether it was as overwhelmingly powerful and invincible as people boasted.

But if he had a choice, this sort of thing could wait until he became a Soul Saint or a Soul Douluo.

Right now, he had no choice.

If he avoided the brunt of the attack, the gravely injured Zhao Wuji would certainly die.

Since he had this opportunity, he would test whether the Clear Sky Hammer was all show and no substance.

"Break!"

In this punch, Dai Mubai not only used his First Soul Skill, White Tiger Spirit, and his Third Soul Skill, Deliberate Punch, but also fused his soul power, will, and spiritual power into it. Put another way, he had infused it with fist intent.

"You're courting death!"

Tang Hao smiled when he saw Dai Mubai's actions.

This little bastard actually dared to pit nothing but his fists directly against his Great Sumeru Hammer. He truly had no idea what death meant.

Boom!

As a dull collision resounded between heaven and earth, the two immense forces erupted and rapidly spread outward, forming a shock wave that rampaged wildly, destroying everything around them.

Stubborn rocks and towering trees alike were destroyed, reduced to dust.

Between heaven and earth, only Dai Mubai and Tang Hao remained standing beneath the moonlight.

Flender had long since shielded Zhao Wuji, who was immersed in Deep Meditation, and moved far from the turmoil of the battle.

Such immense power was simply beyond the ability of a mere Soul Saint like him to intervene in.

"So this is the Clear Sky Hammer? It doesn't seem as powerful as the legends claim!"

Dai Mubai's unhurried voice drifted out from the center of the explosion.

Though blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his eyes were exceptionally bright. The Clear Sky Hammer's power was somewhat weaker than he had imagined. Even the Great Sumeru Hammer fell far short of the level of half-step ultimate strength.

That was only reasonable. No matter how much people boasted about the Clear Sky Hammer, it was ultimately a tool martial soul.

In terms of strength, it could not compare with a beast martial soul.

By Dai Mubai's estimate, the Clear Sky Hammer was similar to this era's Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul, its quality somewhere between a top-tier martial soul and a high-grade martial soul.

The Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul came with neither an innate domain nor any special element. It was simply hard and heavy, and it was a mass-produced martial soul at that. However high its quality was, how high could it really be?

In Dai Mubai's eyes, the Clear Sky Hammer was not even as good as the Seven Kill Sword in terms of martial soul quality alone.

The Seven Kill Sword's unremarkable reputation was purely due to Chen Xin's insufficient talent and the unstable inheritance of its martial soul bloodline.

On the continent, neither the Number One Beast Martial Soul Under Heaven nor the Number One Tool Martial Soul Under Heaven could be called the absolute pinnacle.

Among beast martial souls, the Golden Crocodile King was in no way inferior to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and could even surpass it. Among tool martial souls, the Seven Kill Sword and the Coiling Dragon Staff could both rival the Clear Sky Hammer.

The fundamental reason the latter were less famous than the former was the instability of their bloodline inheritance.

If they had sufficiently large numbers of descendants and stable martial soul bloodline inheritance, the title of number one under heaven would never have fallen to the Clear Sky Hammer or the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.

It was just like the Star Luo Empire's White Tiger Martial Soul. Among top-tier beast martial souls, it barely ranked at all, yet its stable bloodline inheritance and ability to reliably form a Martial Soul Fusion Skill gave it a secure and considerable standing.

"You... how exactly did you do that?"

Dai Mubai's disparagement of the Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul set Tang Hao's heart ablaze with fury, but he had to admit that the youngster before him had the right to say it.

With the cultivation of a six-ring Soul Master, he had blocked his Great Sumeru Hammer.

Even if the power he could currently display was only half of what he possessed at his peak, it was still not something an ordinary Titled Douluo could block.

Yet this brat before him had taken it head-on with nothing but his fists.

At that moment, Tang Hao looked utterly bedraggled.

The powerful force had torn the tattered clothes all over his body. The various stains left from his earlier flight from the hundred-thousand-year Darkgolden Tiger King, combined with the impact of that collision just now, made him look like a beggar fallen on hard times.

Where was any trace of the Clear Sky Douluo's bearing?

"Are you scared?"

Faced with Tang Hao's question, Dai Mubai gave no direct answer, his tone mocking and teasing.

He continued plucking at Tang Hao's heartstrings and stirring his emotions.

"Arrogant!"

"Since you're so determined to die, brat, I'll grant your wish!"

Tang Hao truly was a brute. Just a few words had gradually stripped him of his reason.

Of course, Tang Hao had his own line of reasoning.

If he did not beat Dai Mubai into submission today, it would not merely be a matter of losing his reputation. His son Tang San's life would also be in danger.

In the current circumstances, his only option was to fight with all his might.

To fight for his own dignity, for his son's safety, and to vindicate the Clear Sky Hammer's name.

"Ring Detonation, three rings in succession!"

Tang Hao roared in fury, then held nothing back as he immediately unleashed the secret art of Ring Detonation.

At this point, he was staking his life on the fight.

He simply refused to believe that this brat, with the cultivation of a Soul Emperor, could take his Great Sumeru Hammer head-on without suffering any damage.

He must already be nothing but a strong facade hiding an empty shell.

Today, no matter what, he would wipe him out.

He would leave absolutely no seeds of future trouble.

"Ring Detonation?"

"Why would I give you a chance to use it?"

"Second Soul Skill, Tiger King's Roar!"

As Tang Hao prepared to unleash Ring Detonation, Dai Mubai had already struck first.