None of the people on the Douluo Continent were fools. Naturally, they could also see that something seemed wrong with Yu Xiaogang's condition. They all felt contempt for the other contestants, but did not know who had dealt the underhanded blow.
The Dragon-Tiger Ranking paid no attention to any of this, however, and continued the competition as usual.
[Third match: Zhu Zhuqing versus Tang Hao.]
The two entered the battle space.
Tang Hao frowned at the girl before him. "Are you human or a ghost?"
Zhu Zhuqing sneered. "What, you only just killed me, and now you don't recognize me?"
Tang Hao snorted coldly. "How could anyone come back from the dead? What kind of ghostly trickery is this?"
Although he had long since heard Tang San mention encountering a resurrected Zhu Zhuqing in the battle space, he had never taken it seriously, merely assuming she had some twin sister.
Without waiting for Zhu Zhuqing to respond, he flung out several hidden weapons.
The hidden weapons passed straight through Zhu Zhuqing's body.
Tang Hao raised his eyebrows. "So it really is you. Little San told me he encountered a trick like yours. What is your Martial Soul? This seems to be some kind of illusion. How interesting."
With that, Tang Hao ignored the Zhu Zhuqing before him and casually unleashed countless Soul Skills, attacking the shadow on the ground.
But when Tang Hao's hidden weapons landed, the shadow on the ground was truly nothing more than a shadow. How could his hidden weapons possibly hurt it?
Zhu Zhuqing snorted coldly. "You think someone like you deserves to figure it out? Stop wasting your effort. I'll torment you thoroughly in this consciousness space. Prepare to repent, you scum."
Tang Hao was beginning to panic. He kept reaching into Twenty-Four Bridges on a Moonlit Night for hidden weapons, then launching them with practiced techniques.
The dense barrage of hidden weapons scattered like raindrops. This was not the Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers technique, however; he was simply flinging hidden weapons out like rain.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! How could this happen? The one above isn't a clone, and neither is the one below, so where is her real body? Could it be in..."
At that thought, Tang Hao abruptly leaped backward and hurled the hidden weapons in his hands at his own shadow on the ground.
Sure enough, a dark shape stirred within his shadow, as though something had darted out.
"Caught you, you little beast!"
Clang, clang, clang! Tang Hao kept firing hidden weapons at the shapeless shadow on the ground, but it moved so swiftly that his weapons could not hit it at all.
Zhu Zhuqing chuckled. "Tang Hao, haven't you forgotten something?"
"I've already seen through your moves, yet you still dare talk tough."
Even as he spoke, Tang Hao continued attacking with hidden weapons.
Zhu Zhuqing laughed and laughed. "Honestly, Tang Hao, you're stupidity itself. Since you already know I can hide in shadows, why are you giving me so many of them?"
Tang Hao started violently, suddenly realizing that the hidden weapons he had fired were densely embedded in the ground, each with a tiny patch of shadow beneath it.
Those shadows seemed to mock Tang Hao's stupidity.
"I really must thank you."
With that, Zhu Zhuqing's shadow rippled, separated completely from her body, and moved swiftly among the shadows of the hidden weapons.
Just as Tang Hao was about to attack one shadow, Zhu Zhuqing's shadow darted into another.
"Damn it, damn it! Come out and fight me if you have the guts! Stop using such despicable tricks."
Zhu Zhuqing sneered. "Even despicable tricks are better than throwing your weight around against the young. A grand Titled Douluo, bullying a teenage child."
Suddenly, a dark shape sprang from the shadow beneath Tang Hao's feet. Its hand became a blade and slashed fiercely at his foot.
Tang Hao dodged to one side, but there were shadows cast by hidden weapons there too, and Zhu Zhuqing's movement through the shadows was almost instantaneous.
Before Tang Hao had even completed his dodge, Zhu Zhuqing had already leaped out of a shadow on the other side, one hand becoming a sharp blade that slashed straight at his arm.
There was nothing to push off against in midair, yet Tang Hao forcibly shifted a short distance, just enough to evade Zhu Zhuqing's attack.
Unfortunately, a willow-leaf throwing knife stood quietly embedded in the ground behind Tang Hao, and there was clearly a shadow beneath it as well.
Zhu Zhuqing's shadow shot out behind Tang Hao and delivered another chopping hand strike.
Tang Hao could no longer shift his momentum and took the blow head-on. Fortunately, Zhu Zhuqing's hand blade struck only his back and did not wound him very deeply.
He now bitterly regretted throwing out so many hidden weapons earlier.
He crouched on the ground, watching his surroundings warily.
Zhu Zhuqing doesn't actually teleport when she enters and leaves shadows. There's a certain delay. As long as I seize that opening, I can attack her.
But the most important thing now is to reduce the number of shadows as much as possible.
Keeping himself on high alert, Tang Hao desperately pulled hidden weapons from the ground with both hands.
Zhu Zhuqing did not stop him at all. After all, Tang Hao had fired more than enough hidden weapons earlier-at least three or four hundred.
Even if she left him alone to pull them out, it would take at least several minutes.
He was now in a state of extreme nervous tension, and besides...
Zhu Zhuqing's main body smiled, then abruptly formed her hand into a blade and chopped at the shadow beneath a hidden weapon by her feet.
Tang Hao was just reaching for a willow-leaf throwing knife when he suddenly sensed something wrong. He hurriedly drew his hand back, but it was already too late.
Zhu Zhuqing's hand blade suddenly emerged from the shadow beneath that willow-leaf throwing knife and slashed across Tang Hao's palm.
Had Tang Hao not withdrawn in time, his entire left hand would have been severed. Even so, Zhu Zhuqing's hand blade sheared off his left middle finger and cut his index and ring fingers in half.
"Damn it! She can even attack like this. What kind of Martial Soul is this?"
Tang Hao knew that basic Martial Soul powers could be used in this space. Just as he could summon his Clear Sky Hammer to attack, other people could possess their bodies with their Beast Martial Souls.
But the techniques Zhu Zhuqing was using before him were clearly Soul Skills, and not ordinary low-level ones at that.
Yet there was no Soul Power in this space. How could she possibly use Soul Skills?
"Damn it, what have you done, you beast? How dare you cheat in the mental space!"
"Hahahahaha!" Zhu Zhuqing laughed with unrestrained delight. "This isn't a Soul Skill. It's a cultivation method. But you wouldn't understand even if I told you. Die!"
Zhu Zhuqing was overjoyed. Her enemy was right before her, and she could use her own strength to repay the harm she had suffered. This feeling...
"It's like drinking fine wine. What a rush!"
At that instant, Zhu Zhuqing's shadow and main body split into two forces.
The shadow darted back and forth among the shadows of the hidden weapons, occasionally turning into a blade to attack Tang Hao, while her main body closed in and attacked him head-on.
She was extremely fast. Although her strength was slightly inferior to Tang Hao's, the speed of her punches and kicks was even about twice his.
With that twofold difference in attack speed, Tang Hao could no longer retaliate at all. He could only cover his head with both hands and passively endure the beating.
Meanwhile, dark shapes kept darting from various shadows behind Tang Hao, turning into blades of shadow that sliced at his body.
"You stole my Soul Bone and killed my fleshly body. Tang Hao, your crimes are monstrous. Today, I'll avenge myself and wash away this hatred!"
Zhu Zhuqing unleashed her full might, moving so fast that she even left three afterimages.
Her shadow used the shadows of the hidden weapons on the ground, transforming into blades, guns, spikes, or spears to attack Tang Hao from every unexpected corner. Even Tang Hao's own shadow could become a springboard for Zhu Zhuqing's teleportation.
Tang Hao lasted less than two minutes before he lost all ability to defend himself.
But Zhu Zhuqing was in no hurry to kill him. Instead, she continuously piled wounds onto his body, making him experience the utmost pain.
Tang Hao was completely unable to withstand Zhu Zhuqing's assault. The first cut appeared on his cheek, the second on his back, the third on his thigh, and the fourth sliced off half his ear.
Every one of Zhu Zhuqing's attacks precisely wounded only skin and flesh, leaving his tendons and bones completely untouched. But from the twentieth slash onward, the small wounds on Tang Hao's body gradually deepened. By the hundredth, Zhu Zhuqing had sliced away nearly all his skin and flesh.
"The hundredth slash!"
Only Tang Hao's skeleton, eyeballs, and brain remained. His two eyeballs could even still react. Zhu Zhuqing had moved too quickly-so quickly that Tang Hao had not even fully registered his own death.
"Just wait. Sooner or later, I'll face you with the strength of a Titled Douluo. You'll know even greater despair than you do now."
Tang Hao's eyes were filled with pain-driven madness. Then his consciousness dissipated outright.
[Winner: Zhu Zhuqing.]
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