Just after Tang Hao finished fighting Qian Xunji, An Yi came to reap the battlefield

After leaving Heaven Dou City, An Yi relied on his spatial perception as he raced toward Qian Xunji.

Back when he had slapped Qian Xunji in the Saintess Hall, he had already left a concealed spatial mark on him.

As long as the distance was not too great, he could lock onto the other man's approximate location at any time.

At that moment, Qian Xunji was not in Spirit City. Instead, he had appeared in a remote area less than a thousand li from Heaven Dou City.

Why had the illustrious Pope of Spirit Hall suddenly brought his men to such a desolate wilderness?

There was only one answer: he had discovered Tang Hao's whereabouts.

As luck would have it, just yesterday, An Yi had clearly sensed the violent energy fluctuations of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast dying in sacrifice, in a direction that coincided exactly with Qian Xunji's location.

The Blue Silver Emperor had already sacrificed herself.

Before long, Qian Xunji and the Spirit Hall elites he had brought would be crippled one after another by the rampaging Tang Hao.

If he headed over now, he would arrive just in time to reap the battlefield.

Before long, An Yi reached the outskirts of a barren valley.

The entire valley was now shrouded in a dark red Divine Slaughter's Domain. Inside it lay another, even more overbearing blood-colored barrier, presumably the domain-type Soul Skill Tang Hao had just acquired after absorbing the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

At the edge of the valley, more than a dozen Spirit Hall Soul Saints and Soul Douluos who had retreated from the central battlefield sat cross-legged on the ground, panting and tending to their injuries, all bloodied and weakened.

An Yi did not rush into the heart of the battlefield. He could conveniently dispose of these wounded men on the outskirts first.

He looked up at the blazing sun hanging high in the sky. Soul Power surged thunderously within him, and a pure presence of destruction flooded through his meridians and throughout his body.

The next instant, An Yi grew somewhat taller, his muscles rapidly swelling. His arms transformed into savage purple-gold dragon claws, and thick purple-gold dragon scales appeared on both sides of his face.

Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon, Martial Soul Possession!

This was his first time using Purple Brilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon possession in actual combat since his Martial Soul Evolution.

This power was entirely different from the eerie cold of the Great Yin Heaven-Devouring Dragon. Savage and pure, it carried an impulse to tear all things to shreds with every movement.

The destruction attribute was indeed overbearing.

An Yi blurred into a purple-gold afterimage and swept into the outer battlefield.

Those gravely wounded Spirit Hall Soul Masters did not even have time to scream before the purple-gold dragon claws easily twisted their necks apart.

Immediately afterward, dark purple destructive energy surged out, instantly engulfing the bodies through their wounds and reducing every trace, bloodstains included, to nothingness.

At dusk the following day, the thunderous crashes at the center of the valley finally began to subside.

The special magnetic field produced when a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast willingly sacrificed itself possessed a heaven-defying effect-as long as the recipient of the sacrifice still had a breath left, the magnetic field could continuously restore them to their peak condition.

Put plainly, this was trading one life for another.

Anywhere else, Qian Xunji, fighting alongside the two Titled Douluos Chrysanthemum and Ghost, could have escaped unscathed even if they could not win.

But in this valley where the sacrifice had just taken place, their defeat had been sealed from the very beginning.

The special magnetic field continuously restored Tang Hao. The Divine Slaughter's Domain, layered with the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Skill Slaughter Barrier, directly interrupted and sealed off Yue Guan and Gui Mei's Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Two Extremes Stillness Domain. Even Qian Xunji's prized Angel Domain had been rendered completely ineffective beneath the onslaught of that double layer of killing aura.

There had been little suspense in this battle from beginning to end.

By then, the valley was a scene of devastation, its ground covered in unfathomably deep ravines.

Qian Xunji, Yue Guan, and Gui Mei sat collapsed among the rubble, drenched in blood and barely breathing.

Not far away, Tang Hao was likewise a spent arrow at the end of its flight.

The Clear Sky Sect's Great Sumeru Hammer did not come without a price. Without a sufficiently powerful physique to support it, the moment Ring Detonation was unleashed, the violent energy would blow its user to pieces first.

Without the continuous recovery provided by the Blue Silver Emperor's sacrifice, Tang Hao could never have endured the backlash from detonating his rings in succession.

By now, both sides had fought until their oil had run dry and their lamps had burned out.

Of course, Tang Hao actually still had a little strength in reserve, but he did not dare truly strike to kill.

He knew perfectly well that if he hammered Qian Xunji to death here today, the rank ninety-nine Peerless Douluo in the Worship Hall atop the mountain would surely go mad. When that happened, the entire Clear Sky Sect would be buried alongside him.

Just as Tang Hao put away his Clear Sky Hammer and prepared to turn around, pick up his child, and leave, space trembled slightly, and An Yi appeared out of thin air in the middle of the battlefield.

Everyone, having just relaxed, instantly tensed again.

When he saw who had arrived, Qian Xunji's pupils contracted sharply, and a powerful sense of unease rose within him. "An Yi?! What are you doing here?!"

An Yi turned and gave him a faint smile. "What else? I've come to send His Holiness the Pope on his way, of course."

Before his words had faded, An Yi flashed forward, instantly closing in on Qian Xunji and driving his right fist straight at his face, wreathed in purple-gold light!

Qian Xunji's face drained in horror, and he instinctively tried to order Yue Guan and Gui Mei beside him to block the strike.

But Chrysanthemum and Ghost did not even have the strength to stand at that moment. Their Soul Power had long since been drained to the last drop. How could they dare step forward to their deaths?

Mid-strike, An Yi opened his fist into a palm and delivered a vicious slap across Qian Xunji's face!

Crack!

A teeth-grating crunch of bone rang out. Qian Xunji flew sideways, half the bones in his face shattered by that single slap, blood mixed with broken teeth spraying from his mouth.

Had his foundation as a Titled Douluo not sustained him, that blow alone would have been enough to kill him.

Beside him, Yue Guan and Gui Mei were frightened out of their wits. Forcing out one last breath of strength, they turned to flee.

But in their current state, never mind An Yi-even an ordinary Soul Saint could have easily reaped their lives.

In just a few breaths, An Yi caught up with them. His purple-gold dragon claws lashed out in succession, swiftly and cleanly finishing off the two Titled Douluos.

Savage destructive power swept over them, instantly turning both bodies to drifting ash. Only a black Soul Bone that had separated from Gui Mei's body remained.

An Yi bent down, picked up the Soul Bone, and casually tossed it into his Storage Soul Tool.

Not far away, Qian Xunji, half his face a mangled mess of flesh and blood, watched in terror. His voice was slurred and shrill. "An Yi! If you dare kill me, my father will never let you off!"

An Yi found that somewhat amusing. "Never let me off? Do you think he'll have time to trouble me afterward?"

"The only reason you've dared strut around flaunting your power all these years is that Tang Chen of the Clear Sky Sect has vanished without a trace."

"Tell me, if Tang Chen suddenly returned and discovered that your Spirit Hall had bullied his sect into a turtle hiding in its shell, and even his most cherished grandson had been driven to flee everywhere like a homeless dog, what would he do?"

Qian Xunji's expression froze. "Impossible!" he rasped. "Tang Chen died long ago!"

An Yi raised an eyebrow. "Dead? Did you see his corpse with your own eyes?"

"Forget it. There's nothing worth explaining to a dead man like you. Once I've killed you, I'll go to Slaughter City and release Tang Chen. I'd very much like to see whether, in his current state, he can drag Qian Daoliu down to death with him."

"Even with the Angel God's protection behind Qian Daoliu, surely he couldn't stop an heir of the Asura God who had gone completely mad?"

At that point, An Yi paused and turned toward Tang Hao, who stood on guard nearby.

"Of course, to drive Tang Chen even further into madness, I think we need to add another handful of fuel to the fire."

"Tang Hao, you have to die too."

The instant his words fell, An Yi pushed off the ground, turning into a streak of purple-gold lightning as he charged straight at Tang Hao!

Tang Hao's expression changed drastically. With an angry shout, he forcibly summoned his Clear Sky Hammer and held it across his chest to block.

However, the amplification from Ring Detonation had long since faded, and the terrifying physical backlash was now erupting in full.

The two forces collided. After a deadlock lasting less than a breath, Tang Hao let out a muffled groan. The Clear Sky Hammer in his hands crumbled inch by inch, and An Yi's claw sent him flying, slamming heavily into a rock several dozen meters away.

"Pfft-"

Tang Hao spewed a mouthful of blood and struggled to rise, only to find every bone in his body groaning. He could only stare fixedly at the approaching An Yi. "Who exactly are you?! What do you want?!"