Tang Hao: Damn It, I Still Can't Do It?
Da Ming's words made Tang Hao doubt his own ears.
Make a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo his Eighth Soul Ring?
He was the Clear Sky Sect's greatest genius, a Quasi-Soul Douluo who had reached Level 80 in his early thirties, and one of the Clear Sky Twin Stars whose names shook the Soul Master World.
Now, not only had two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts ruined his plans, they had even brought out a piece of junk to humiliate him.
"Heh heh... hahaha. Fine, very fine!"
Tang Hao was so furious that he laughed instead:
"It was bad enough that you ambushed me, but you even humiliated me like this. You already have a way to death."
"So what if you're Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts? Die!"
Tang Hao immediately swung his great hammer and charged.
Before his hammer could stir up the slightest wave, Er Ming merely curled his lip in disdain and casually swung his enormous palm.
The slap sent Tang Hao and his hammer flying.
Xiao Wu watched Tang Hao spit blood from the side, her eyes red with heartache as she panted like a bull.
Clearly, after spending so much time with Tang Hao day and night, she had already mastered the essence of the Tang Family's Tang Syndrome, even though she had yet to formally step through the Tang Family's doors.
"Damn it! A mere beast!"
Tang Hao struggled to his feet, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and roared as he charged again.
"Slap."
Another slap sent Tang Hao flying back once more.
Unwilling to give up, he climbed to his feet and charged again, only for Er Ming to slap him away again.
Again and again, crisp, dull slaps echoed through the forest. Tang Hao was like a solid leather ball the giant ape used for bouncing practice, slapped back and forth across the woodland until blood stained his clothes red.
Xiao Wu was frantic enough to go mad. She wanted to shout, "Stop hitting him! Brother Hao, you can't beat him!"
She also wanted to berate those two simping beasts for defying the heavens, but she was only a Soul Grandmaster. Under the Sky Azure Bull Python's oppressive pressure, she couldn't make a sound.
Da Ming watched Xiao Wu's Tang Syndrome flare up for Tang Hao, and his heart ached so badly he could hardly breathe. His Sister Xiao Wu had never been like that for him.
Da Ming turned his gaze to Tang Hao as he struggled to rise and urged him:
"Human, I'll give you one more chance. If you don't absorb it..."
At that, Da Ming slammed his tail against the ground and continued coldly:
"I'll slap this girl to death."
Hearing that, Xiao Wu, immobilized where she stood, widened her eyes, her face full of disbelief.
What had she just heard?
To force her beloved Brother Hao to absorb a piece of rotten ten-year bamboo, those two simping beasts were actually threatening to slap her to death in public?
And to think she had once allowed those two simping beasts to be her simps, even letting them serve as her punching bags.
Other Soul Beasts couldn't have begged for such an honor, yet she, Sister Xiao Wu, had given it all to them.
They had been apart for so little time, and already they were turning the heavens upside down?
Tang Hao's fury exploded in his chest when he heard that.
"Damn you! How dare you threaten me with Sister Xiao Wu? A way to death! You all have a way to death, aaah!"
"Divine Slaughter's Domain!"
Tang Hao's eyes nearly split with rage. Spurred on by his killing intent, he struggled to his feet and smashed the Clear Sky Hammer into the ground, using the force to leap upward.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Clear Sky True Body!"
The Clear Sky Hammer swelled enormously under the effect of his Martial Soul Avatar.
Tang Hao poured all his strength into the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, smashing madly at the Titan Giant Ape.
But to the Hundred-Thousand-Year Titan Giant Ape, whose physique was so formidable, the hammer of a mere Level 80 Quasi-Soul Douluo landing on him was no different from scratching an itch.
Level 80 Tang Hao was ultimately far too weak before the Titan Giant Ape, so weak that the ape couldn't even be bothered to interrupt him as he built up strength.
Then came the instant he swung the ninth set's ninth strike, the eighty-first hammer blow.
"Great Sumeru Hammer, Ring Detonation!"
Seven Soul Rings exploded in the air, pouring violent Soul Power into the giant hammer as Tang Hao smashed it down at Er Ming's face.
Immobilized where she stood, Xiao Wu watched Tang Hao unleash his might, risking his life to save her, and nearly climaxed from watching.
This was her Brother Hao.
He stood tall between heaven and earth, willing to brave death for his beloved. How powerful he was, how magnificent.
Before Xiao Wu could finish marveling to herself, an even louder, heavier slap rang out.
Titan Giant Ape Er Ming tilted his head, seemingly a little impatient, then raised his enormous hand and swept it backhanded across him.
Tang Hao shot backward, smashing through several giant trees and sending dust billowing into the sky...
As though all his vigor had been slapped out of him, he collapsed to the ground, unable to rise. His face twisted with pain and unwillingness, he pounded the earth with his fist and let out a defeated wail:
"Damn it! I still can't do it?"
At this moment, he truly had already burned himself out.
The Sky Azure Bull Python slowly slithered over, enveloping him in an immense sense of oppression:
"This is your last chance."
The icy voice was like a final ultimatum.
Faced with death and strength, Tang Hao's head, which knew only how to swing a hammer, began a battle between its cerebrum and cerebellum.
His cerebrum screamed: You're the Clear Sky Sect's greatest genius of this generation, the one most likely to reach Grandpa Tang Chen's heights! If you absorb a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo as your Eighth Soul Ring, you'll be finished for life!
But his cerebellum shrieked hysterically: If you don't agree, Sister Xiao Wu will be slapped to death on the spot, and your own corpse will lie here too. Besides, Sister Xiao Wu is the person you love most, most, most of all!
In the end, on this continent where the God of Love had fallen... oh, no, that wasn't right. The God of Love had fallen on the Sun Moon Continent.
So, on this Douluo Star where the God of Love had fallen, the authority of the love-struck brain was beyond question.
Tang Hao closed his eyes, two streams of humiliated tears sliding from their corners, and forced a faint voice through his lips:
"Don't hurt her... I... I..."
But the words "I'll absorb it" stuck in his throat, and he couldn't get them out no matter how hard he tried.
Not far away, Xiao Wu, still immobilized by the oppressive pressure, heard those words and nearly climaxed from watching again.
Even though Tang Hao hadn't said the final words, to her ears, he had already agreed.
Her Brother Hao, the continent's foremost young Quasi-Soul Douluo, was actually willing to sacrifice his future and absorb a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo as his Eighth Soul Ring to protect her.
Xiao Wu's heart swelled with emotion, but as she looked at Da Ming and Er Ming ahead of her, uncontrollable malice surfaced deep in her eyes.
Damn Da Ming and Er Ming! To think I was once willing to let you be my simps and wait on Sister Xiao Wu hand and foot. Now you actually dare to hurt my Brother Hao like this. You already have a way to death.
Just you wait. I'll destroy you at any cost!
To keep Tang Hao from suffering any more, Xiao Wu desperately signaled Da Ming with her eyes, begging him to release her.
Seeing Xiao Wu's eyes flicker, Da Ming hesitated.
Just then, a transmitted message reached Da Ming's ears.
Da Ming's eyes flickered, and only then did he withdraw the pressure bearing down on Xiao Wu.
Able to move again, Xiao Wu stumbled over and threw herself down beside Tang Hao. Her voice thick with tears, she gently urged:
"Brother Hao, just absorb it. As long as the green hills remain, there'll be no shortage of firewood. Otherwise, they really will beat you to death..."
Tang Hao's heart ached as he shakily looked toward the spot where Da Ming had dropped the Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.
The shockwaves from the battle had long since overturned the whole area, soil and all. As for the Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo, it had died on the spot.
Even the Ten-Year Soul Ring it had dropped was nowhere to be seen.
Tang Hao was wild with joy.
With that rotten bamboo dead and no evidence left, didn't that mean he wouldn't have to absorb a ten-year white ring?
This left the Sky Azure Bull Python completely at a loss.
A trace of bewilderment appeared on Da Ming's face. The script Di Tian had given him hadn't included this scene.
Did he have to improvise and go break off a piece of Lone Bamboo?
Just as Da Ming was at a loss, a fissure suddenly tore open in the space ahead.