Tang Hao: Buddha Mode, activate!

Months later, at a cabin in the woods on the southern frontier of the Heaven Dou Empire.

Sunlight filtered through the canopy in dappled patches, but a dense killing aura silently enveloped the entire cabin.

Dozens of Clear Sky Sect disciples carrying Clear Sky Hammers spread out without a sound, forming a tight encirclement around the cabin and sealing off every escape route.

With a creak, the wooden door slowly swung open.

Tang Xiao and Tang Hao stepped out, their faces weary, with Ah Rou and Xiao Wu close behind.

A Clear Sky Sect Soul Saint leading the group stepped forward and shouted sternly:

"Tang Xiao, Tang Hao, the sect's kindness to you is as heavy as a mountain. It regarded you as its hope, yet you dared to murder two of its elders?"

Ever since Tang Lie had returned to the sect, word that the two had betrayed their masters and ancestors had spread through the sect like wildfire.

On top of that, the two had hidden for months and turned a deaf ear to messages from the sect. In the eyes of the ordinary disciples, they had fled to escape punishment.

Tang Xiao looked around and replied in a deep voice:

"Everyone, please don't misunderstand. There is more to the deaths of the second and third elders. We brothers have clear consciences. We have not been running away. When the time is right, we will certainly return and present the truth in person."

The Soul Saint leading the group sneered repeatedly:

"You killed the second and third elders and hid here and there for months. Now that we've cornered you and you can't escape, you're pretending you want to go back? Do you take us for three-year-old children? Enough talk. Capture them all and take them back for the sect to deal with."

Seeing this, Tang Xiao let out a long sigh as a dark light flickered in his palm.

"In that case, forgive us for refusing. We're leaving, and you can't stop us."

"How arrogant!"

"Soul King disciples, attack head-on. Those below Soul King, form the Clear Sky Formation and capture them."

At the leading Soul Saint's command, dozens of figures sprang into action, and great black hammers came whistling down.

Of the dozens of disciples surrounding them, the vast majority were only Three-Ring Soul Elders or Four-Ring Soul Ancestors. More than ten were Five-Ring Soul Kings, and only the three leaders had reached Seven-Ring Soul Sage.

Tang Xiao, Tang Hao, and Ah Rou, on the other hand, were all Soul Douluo. As for Xiao Wu, she was nothing but a burden. Her meager Soul Grandmaster cultivation could be all but ignored in a melee like this.

By rights, with the fighting strength of Tang Xiao and the other two, a full-force sweep should have left a large portion of the group on the ground.

But when they actually came to blows, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao felt stifled beyond measure.

The people before them were not mortal enemies. They were all disciples of the same clan, branches of the same tree.

How could Tang Xiao and Tang Hao bring themselves to strike hard?

The two held back at every turn, their hands and feet tied. They did not dare put even thirty percent of their strength into their Clear Sky Hammers, afraid they might accidentally smash a disciple to death.

The Clear Sky Sect disciples opposite them had no such scruples. Seeing the group resist, they took it as proof that the two had truly betrayed their masters and ancestors, and blindly smashed their hammers at them.

"Break through!"

Tang Xiao intended to tear open the encirclement and escape.

But the three Soul Saints leading the group were extremely shrewd. Knowing they were no match for them in a head-on clash, they refused to confront them directly. Instead, they coordinated with the disciples in the Clear Sky Formation, waiting for chances to force them back.

Whenever Tang Xiao and Tang Hao made the slightest move to break out, the three led the others in joining forces to drive them back, focusing on delaying them until reinforcements arrived.

Their strength clearly outclassed everyone on the field, yet fear of smashing the vase kept them from striking at the rat. Forced to a standstill by a group of disciples, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao felt a wave of frustration in their chests.

Just as Tang Xiao and the others were being dragged into a desperate struggle, a disciple, seeing that they still could not capture them, launched a signal arrow into the sky. The image of a great hammer bloomed in midair.

He shouted at the top of his lungs, "Hold them here! The fourth elder is in these mountains and will be here any moment. Once he arrives, let's see where these traitors can run!"

Ah Rou's pupils contracted. If a Titled Douluo came in person, Xiao Wu's identity as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would be laid bare once more. Then mother and daughter would once again be reduced to meat on the chopping block, at the mercy of others.

In her urgency, Ah Rou unleashed the full speed of a Soul Douluo and drove a rabbit kick straight into a young disciple's face.

The disciple, who was only a Soul King, spun several times through the air before crashing to the ground. His eyes rolled back and foam spilled from his mouth. With his neck crooked, he convulsed on the ground, babbling, "Abba, abba!"

"Tang Kun!"

Another disciple, Tang Cai, saw this and his eyes turned red.

The two had grown up as close as brothers. Seeing what had happened to Tang Kun, Tang Cai was overcome with grief and fury, his mind swallowed by rage.

"You traitors really did strike to kill! I'll fight you to the death!"

In his fury, Tang Cai threw all caution aside and smashed his hammer madly at the figure nearest him.

In that very spot, in the opening left when Ah Rou charged out, was Xiao Wu, whose cultivation was only at the Soul Grandmaster level and who did not even have the Teleportation Soul Skill.

"Xiao Wu, watch out!" Ah Rou cried.

But it was too close. Xiao Wu had no time to react.

"Aah-"

With a scream, Xiao Wu was sent flying. Blood traced an arc through the air, and she fell to the ground unconscious.

Time seemed to freeze across the entire battlefield.

Tang Hao, who had still been doing his utmost to hold back and trying to persuade his fellow disciples to stop, froze in place when he heard the cry of pain.

When his gaze fell on Xiao Wu lying on the ground in a pool of blood, his eyes instantly turned scarlet and he panted like a bull:

"Huff... huff, huff... huff, huff, huff..."

At that moment, Tang Hao took over Tang San's role from the original story: whenever Xiao Wu was hurt, Buddha Mode would activate.

"How dare you... hurt my little sister Xiao Wu..."

"You... already... have a way to die!"

"Brother Hao, don't!" Tang Xiao cried in alarm, trying to stop him.

But how could Tang Hao, caught in Buddha Mode, possibly listen? His eyes were fixed solely on his target, Tang Cai.

"Seventh Soul Skill, Clear Sky True Body."

A vast mass of black light gathered into a gigantic Clear Sky Hammer and smashed down at Tang Cai's head.

Boom.

Tang Cai, along with the hammer in his hands, evaporated beneath the hammer in that instant.

All that remained on the ground was a large crater billowing scorched smoke.

At the sight of such power, the other disciples were so frightened that their once-tight encirclement fell into chaos.

The surrounding Clear Sky Sect disciples stared at the crater, their hair standing on end.

"He really killed a fellow disciple?"

"Tang Hao's really gone mad! He's going to kill us all to silence us!"

One of the leading Soul Saints saw through Tang Hao's weakness and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"He cares most about that little girl! She's badly hurt and can't move. Capture her first and force Tang Hao to surrender!"

Several disciples, their savagery roused by fear, changed direction as one and lunged at Xiao Wu, who lay unable to rise.

It was no different from throwing a torch into a powder keg.

"Huff, huff, huff... You still... dare lay a hand on her?"

Tang Hao flew into a frenzy, the giant hammer in his hand sweeping across the ranks:

"Damn you... You still dare hurt my little sister Xiao Wu."

"Die!"

"Sky-Piercing Strike!"

The enormous Clear Sky Hammer smashed down again. Like Tang Cai, the disciples who had rushed at Xiao Wu became fertilizer for the earth beneath the hammer.

Seeing the disciples fall dead and wounded one after another, the three leading Soul Saints turned livid and roared:

"Tang Hao, you dare slaughter your fellow disciples? You truly have a way to die!"

"Clear Sky True Body!" x3

Three enormous Clear Sky Hammers appeared. No longer concerned with controlling the battlefield, the three surrounded Tang Hao in a triangle and brought their hammers down.

Tang Xiao and Ah Rou, now free to act, hurriedly darted back to defend. After a clash, surging shock waves tore the surrounding trees out by their roots.

Amid the chaos and swirling dust, one of the leading Soul Saints saw that he could not win in a direct fight. A vicious glint flashed in his eyes, and he used the shock waves to cover his retreat, darting straight toward the unconscious Xiao Wu.

He knew that as long as he captured the girl, Tang Hao would surely lose his composure.

Unfortunately, he had completely underestimated how sharp Tang Hao was in Buddha Mode. Xiao Wu was the very root of that mode.

Seeing that someone still dared target Xiao Wu, veins bulged on Tang Hao's forehead, and he repeated himself:

"You still dare hurt my little sister Xiao Wu?"

"Sky-Piercing Strike!"

The same line, the same Soul Skill.

Tang Hao swung his arm back and hurled the hammer. Like a meteor, the giant hammer pierced the dust and smashed straight at the Soul Saint leading the group.

The Soul Saint went pale with shock and hastily raised his hammer to defend, but he was still too weak.

The tremendous force traveled through the hammer and slammed into his chest, caving it in on the spot. He crashed through several large trees before collapsing to the ground, breathing more out than in.

Just then, every hair on Ah Rou's body stood on end:

"This is bad, a Titled Douluo will be here soon!"

PS: The Clear Sky Formation is a setting derived from the animated adaptation. This book only draws on the manhua and animation when required by special plot developments; all other settings follow the original novel.