Silver-gray spatial turbulence surged within the crack, the only passage to the Dou Qi Continent.
But the old man was faster.
No one saw how he swung the hammer.
Time seemed to be forcibly torn apart by some force in that instant.
The old man's figure vanished from Xiao Yan's sight abruptly, only to reappear in front of him the next second.
The enormous, blood-red warhammer, carrying a devastating force, slammed down towards the spot where Xiao Yan had just stood.
Before the hammer even arrived, the hammer's wind had already dispersed all the blood mist within a radius of dozens of feet, revealing the blood-red sky above.
Countless cracks appeared on the ground, and the rubble was swept into the air by the hammer wind, tumbling several times before falling back down, like a meteor shower falling against the current.
"Boom!!!"
The earth collapsed with a deafening roar.
A deep pit, tens of meters in diameter, appeared in the center of the ruins. The rubble and bones around the pit were suspended in mid-air for a moment by the shock wave, and then poured down like a torrential rain.
The ground was trembling violently, and the cracks at the edge of the pit continued to spread outwards. The nearest crack stretched for dozens of feet, swallowing up a dead old tree by the roots.
Xiao Yan was sent flying backward, tumbling through the air more than a dozen times before finally regaining his footing.
His arms were trembling slightly, and blood was seeping from the base of his thumbs, dripping down his fingers onto the scorched earth at his feet.
With just one strike, at least 30% of the Soul Power within him was shattered.
His back shattered several stone pillars, his robes were torn in several places by the rubble, and blood was seeping from a wound on his left arm.
If he hadn't used the Eight Extremes Collapse technique at the last moment to deflect most of the hammer's impact, that blow would have killed him.
He glanced down at his still slightly trembling hands and a deep chill ran through him.
He didn't even see how his opponent made their move before he was almost instantly killed.
Zhu Zhuqing's figure vanished from the spot at the exact moment the old man swung his hammer.
" Sixth Soul Skill, Shadow Kill."
It was a powerful strike from the very first move!
Her body merged into the shadow beneath the old man's feet, like a drop of water merging into the ocean.
That was her newly acquired Sixth Soul Skill, and also her strongest assassination technique to date.
The next second, a sharp and incomparable blade of light suddenly rose from beneath the old man's feet, aiming straight for his throat.
Zhu Zhuqing's strike was flawlessly executed in terms of timing, angle, and force.
It was so fast that it cut through the air, emitting a sharp hissing sound.
But the old man reacted even faster than her. He didn't even look down, didn't look at the blade hurtling towards his throat, but just as the blade was about to touch his skin, he slightly tilted his head.
The movement was as casual as shooing away an annoying fly, yet precise to the millimeter.
Zhu Zhuqing's knife tip grazed his neck, leaving only a very faint white mark on his skin.
The white mark didn't even bleed; it was just a superficial scratch on the skin.
Zhu Zhuqing's pupils contracted slightly.
Her strongest attack was a full-force strike from a level 62 Soul Emperor.
Combined with the surprise attack effect of the Sixth Soul Skill, Shadow Kill, it left only a white mark.
This person's physical strength has surpassed the norm.
Immediately afterwards, the old man casually threw a punch with his left hand.
That punch seemed casual, and it didn't even involve using the Clear Sky Hammer; it was just a simple straight punch.
But wherever the fist passed, the air was compressed into a visible white wave of air, sweeping towards Zhu Zhuqing with overwhelming force.
Zhu Zhuqing had no time to sheathe her sword and parry, so at the last second she crossed her two swords in front of her chest and released her Soul Power to protect herself.
The moment the pale purple moonlight shone on her body, it was struck head-on by the force of the punch.
The Moon Shadow Body Protection trembled violently before shattering with a crash. Zhu Zhuqing's body tumbled twice in mid-air, and she landed with her toes tapping the rubble several times before regaining her balance.
A trickle of blood escaped from the corner of her mouth, dripping down her delicate chin onto the broken stone slab. But her eyes remained calm and undisturbed, showing no fear whatsoever.
The six Soul Ring on Xiao Yan's body lit up simultaneously.
The yellowish-purple-black light shone brightly in the blood mist, like a cluster of flames burning in the darkness.
With a flap of his wings, he pounced on the old man like a bolt of lightning, a blend of blue and white, unleashing three of his strongest attacks in quick succession.
" Cold Heart Lotus Explosion!"
The first Soul Ring lit up, and a Fire Lotus, interwoven with blue and white, instantly took shape in Xiao Yan's palm.
The Fire Lotus was only the size of a bowl, with layers upon layers of petals, each petal formed from pure, Heavenly Flames.
Xiao Yan slammed the Fire Lotus hard against the old man's chest. The Fire Lotus expanded instantly upon leaving his hand and exploded with a bang in front of the old man's chest.
The extreme cold of the Bone Spirit Cold Flame and the scorching heat of the Green Lotus Core Flame erupted simultaneously, engulfing the old man in a sea of fire interwoven with blue and white hues.
Within the sea of fire, ice crystals and Lie Yan raged alternately, emitting a piercing hissing sound.
As temperatures fluctuate, the air is repeatedly frozen and thawed, creating visible concentric ripples.
" Startling Soul Spike!"
The second attack followed immediately.
Xiao Yan's Spiritual Soul Power at the center of his brow was highly compressed, transforming into an invisible soul spike, like a red-hot steel needle piercing straight into the old man's brow.
Soul attacks ignore physical defense.
" Demon-Breaking Light!"
The third attack was Xiao Yan's last trump card.
A pure white beam of light shot out from the Left Arm Soul Bone, ignoring all defenses and striking his body directly.
This is his Left Arm Soul Bone skill, the strongest single-point penetration skill he awakened in the Douluo Continent.
No matter how strong the opponent's defense is, as long as it does not exceed the God Level, the Demon-Breaking Light can penetrate the defense and directly affect the opponent's body.
The three moves were all Xiao Yan's strongest attacks at the moment, each one enough to severely injure a Soul Douluo- level expert.
The three moves combined form a complete chain of attacks, from the outside in and from the body to the soul.
However, when the fire subsided, the old man was still standing in the same spot.
His robes were burned through in several places, revealing his scarred, bronze skin underneath.
A section of his beard was singed, and the burnt stubble emitted a foul, acrid smell that drifted through the blood mist.
There was a very faint scorch mark on his chest, only the size of a fingernail; it was the only trace left by the Demon-Breaking Light.
His brow furrowed slightly, a sign of the Soul Shock caused by the Startling Soul Spike.
But he only frowned for less than half a breath before reverting to his previous crazed and indifferent expression.
The old man's blood-red eyes still gleamed with an undiminished madness.
He stood there, like an unshakeable mountain, looking down at Xiao Yan.
Those blood-red eyes held no anger, no murderous intent, no praise, no disdain, only a pure, unadulterated madness.
He was killing instinctively, as naturally as the wind, rain, and sun. Killing had become as natural to him as breathing.
A sense of powerlessness he had never felt before welled up in Xiao Yan's heart.
His strongest attack, a three-hit combo, a complete chain of strikes from the outside in, from body to soul, only managed to scorch the robes and beard of the mad old man before him.
Looking at the mark left by the Demon-Breaking Light on the old man's chest.
A sense of despair welled up in Xiao Yan's heart.
Demon-Breaking Light couldn't break through the opponent's defenses; there's only one possibility!
God Level!
Or rather, the person before me is already close to God Level existence, which is why the Demon-Breaking Light cannot break through the opponent's physical defenses!
This is no longer a difference in strength—it's a difference in scale.
He gritted his teeth and once again channeled his Soul Power.
His Sixth Soul Ring lit up again, and this time he poured all his Soul Power into the Gate of the Mystic Realm.
The silver-gray spatial rift opened again before him, wider than before, with even more turbulent spatial currents churning within.
He didn't ask to defeat this madman; he only asked to take Zhu Zhuqing away alive from this blood-red hell.
As long as you can step through the Gate of the Mystic Realm, you can be teleported to the Dou Qi Continent, and then find a way to come back.
However, the old man seemed to have sensed the energy fluctuations contained within the spatial rift.
His gaze shifted from Xiao Yan to the slowly opening Gate of the Mystic Realm.
For the first time, a flicker of emotion appeared in those blood-red eyes.
It wasn't reason, it wasn't thought, but rather an instinctive alertness to abnormal energy.
Just as wild animals instinctively become alert when they see fire, and sharks instinctively become excited when they smell blood.
The spatial energy fluctuations emanating from the Gate of the Mystic Realm were like a lamp suddenly lit in the dead of darkness for this old man who had already lost his mind.
He didn't understand what it was, but instinct told him that there was energy surging there, something was disrupting the balance of this space, and he had to smash it.
Then he swung the hammer again.
This blow was faster, fiercer, and more violent than any before.
The Clear Sky Hammer, carrying a devastating force, slammed fiercely towards the spatial rift.
The crimson patterns on the hammerhead lit up at that moment, and the entire warhammer resembled a crimson sun that had fallen to earth, dyeing the surrounding blood mist a deep red.
Wherever the hammer wind passed, it plowed a deep trench in the ground, a trench more than ten feet wide and bottomless.
The sands stretched from the old man's feet all the way to the spatial rift. Gravel and bones were crushed into dust by the hammer's force, turning into a cloud of dust.
Xiao Yan wanted to retrieve the Gate of the Mystic Realm, but it was too late. The Clear Sky Hammer smashed into the spatial rift.
"Click--"
The sound of space shattering was like glass being smashed, or like ice collapsing inch by inch under a heavy blow.
The spatial rift that Xiao Yan forcibly opened with his Sixth Soul Skill was as fragile as a sheet of thin ice, or like a paper window that had been punched through, in the face of the terrifying power of the Clear Sky Hammer.
The crack trembled violently at first, and countless silver-gray cracks spread wildly outwards from the point where the Clear Sky Hammer had landed.
The cracks, which were initially only the thickness of a hair, quickly spread throughout the entire rift, tearing the originally stable spatial passage to shreds.
The turbulent spatial currents churning inside the crack were all dispersed at this moment, and the silver-gray light spots scattered like fireflies blown away by the wind.
Then the crack shattered like a broken mirror, sending countless fragments of space flying in all directions. Each fragment was as sharp as a knife, cutting the surrounding ruins to pieces.
A fragment of space grazed Xiao Yan's cheek, leaving a bloody mark on his face.
Xiao Yan's body jolted violently, and a mouthful of blood surged from his throat, spitting onto the scorched earth beneath his feet.
The vortex of Soul Power within his body was thrown into chaos by this backlash, and the originally orderly circulating Soul Power went out of control in an instant, rampaging through his meridians.
His face turned deathly pale in an instant, and blood dripped from the corner of his mouth down his chin, staining his clothes a glaring dark red.
He gritted his teeth and forced back the second mouthful of blood that surged up, but the surging blood and qi made his whole body tremble slightly.
His legs buckled, and he knelt on one knee, only managing to stay upright by supporting himself with his right hand.
Under the impact of the backlash, several nodes in his meridians developed minute cracks.
Each breath stretched the cracks, sending waves of excruciating pain through the body.
It's over.
Only this one thought remained in his mind.
The Gate of the Mystic Realm was his last means of escape, his last trump card for survival.
Now even this door has been smashed to pieces with a single blow; that madman doesn't even know what the door was.
He sensed the unusual energy solely through his fighting instincts, and then casually smashed it with a hammer.
It was like a bull smashing through a wooden door blocking its path; it didn't even know what it had smashed, nor did it care.
Xiao Yan and Zhu Zhuqing were completely trapped in this blood-red hell, facing a peak Titled Douluo who had lost his mind.
After the old man shattered the spatial rift, his blood-red eyes locked onto Xiao Yan once again.
He seemed satisfied with having shattered the "abnormal energy" he had just created, or perhaps he was simply driven by an instinct to continue the killing spree.
He took steps, walking towards Xiao Yan step by step, each step leaving a deep footprint on the ground, crushing the already cracked and scorched earth beneath his feet.
The Clear Sky Hammer dragged on the ground, its head scraping against the earth with a screeching sound, sparks flying everywhere at the point of contact.
His speed wasn't fast, but it carried an inescapable sense of oppression—he knew Xiao Yan couldn't escape. He didn't need to be fast; his prey was already kneeling before him.
Just as the blood-red warhammer was raised high again, about to fall on Xiao Yan, a slender figure appeared in front of him like lightning.
Zhu Zhuqing was enveloped in a layer of pale purple moonlight.