Haozi Hammers His Own People

Tang Xiao's expression changed drastically. No longer caring about the bonds between fellow disciples, he unleashed his Seventh Soul Skill, Clear Sky True Body, severely injuring the disciples closing in around them and forcing the other two Soul Saints back.

"Go!"

Tang Hao rushed over and scooped up the unconscious Xiao Wu, ready to flee into the deep forest with Tang Xiao and Ah Rou.

Though the two remaining Soul Saints leading the group had been forced back, they looked at the terrible state of their other teammate, gritted their teeth, and blocked their escape.

"Don't even think about leaving. You killed members of the clan, so leave your lives behind."

A battle raged within Tang Xiao. Soul Saints were already the backbone of the sect; he truly couldn't kill them.

Anxious and furious, he roared in frustration, "Out of the way! Don't force me!"

He was the sect's young master. Even after things had come to this, he still couldn't bring himself to slaughter them all.

Seeing Tang Xiao's indecision, Ah Rou had no patience to stand around indulging in sentiment with them.

Her second Yellow Soul Ring bloomed, and she abruptly cast a flirtatious glance at one of the Soul Saints.

Second Soul Skill, Charm.

The Soul Saint's gaze immediately turned hazy.

At that very moment, Ah Rou used Teleportation to appear right in his face, then drove a Soul Douluo-level rabbit kick into his skull.

With a crack, the Soul Saint fell stiffly backward, dead.

The other Soul Saint came to his senses and had just started to move when Ah Rou hit him with another electrifying glance, followed by Teleportation and a rabbit kick, sending him on his way.

It had to be said, the Soft Bone Rabbit's combo was almost too effective: Charm, Teleportation, then a rabbit kick, with Invincible Golden Body thrown in. As long as the opponent wasn't too large and had weaker mental power than her, the combo would send them straight to their deaths.

"This..."

The corner of Tang Xiao's eye twitched, and his heart pounded as he watched Ah Rou act with such swift decisiveness.

Now that things had come to this, they had better run first.

They hadn't gotten far when a gale swept over them.

"Where do you think you're going?"

A furious shout rang out from the sky, and an elderly man in a grayish-white robe descended, his hair and beard both white.

A Level 92 Titled Douluo, the Clear Sky Sect's Fourth Elder.

On his arrival, the Fourth Elder had swept his gaze over the dead and wounded sect disciples strewn across the ground, and his hair instantly bristled with rage.

When his sharp gaze fell on Xiao Wu and Ah Rou, the Titled Douluo's keen senses picked up on something, and his expression abruptly changed.

"You're the Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Soul Beasts Seventh Brother spoke of? I never thought it was actually true."

The Fourth Elder pointed a trembling finger at Tang Xiao and Tang Hao, his face filled with grief and anguish.

"No wonder Seventh Brother said you two sheltered Soul Beasts, lost your senses, betrayed the sect, and murdered your elders. All for these two female rabbits, you harmed Second Brother and Third Brother, and now you won't even spare the sect's disciples. You two rising suns of the east!"

Tang Xiao hurriedly protested, "No, that's not how it is. Fourth Elder, listen to me..."

But the Fourth Elder believed only the facts before his eyes.

"Today, I shall clean house on behalf of our forefathers."

All nine of the Fourth Elder's Soul Rings rose at once. His Seventh Soul Ring shone brightly, and the enormous Clear Sky Hammer in his hand swelled as he charged at them to hammer them to death.

Tang Hao's expression changed, and he quickly handed the unconscious Xiao Wu in his arms to Ah Rou beside him:

"Take care of Xiao Wu. You go first."

The brothers Tang Hao and Tang Xiao joined forces and met the Fourth Elder's hammer head-on.

The Fourth Elder was, after all, a Level 92 Titled Douluo. After just one clash, Tang Xiao and Tang Hao both felt their hands go numb between thumb and forefinger, their blood and Qi churning as they were knocked back a short distance.

Seeing that the two remained stubbornly unrepentant and dared to come at him again, the Fourth Elder's eyes grew colder still. His gaze fell on Ah Rou as she fled.

"Since these two wretched beasts bewitched you, I shall take them down first."

The Fourth Elder sent Tang Xiao and Tang Hao flying with another swing of his hammer, then seized the chance to charge straight at Ah Rou and Xiao Wu.

A Titled Douluo was far faster than a Soul Douluo.

Ah Rou sensed the fierce wind rushing at her from behind. She looked back, her pupils shrinking, and instinctively wanted to use Teleportation to open up the distance. But Teleportation only worked on herself; she had no way to take the unconscious Xiao Wu with her.

She could only use Invincible Golden Body three times a day, and she had already used them all during the earlier, constrained struggle.

As for her Sixth Soul Skill, Nothingness, it could negate physical damage, but if she turned into nothingness to evade the attack, what would happen to Xiao Wu?

Faced with a Titled Douluo's hammer, Xiao Wu would surely explode into equipment on the spot.

Ah Rou gritted her teeth and stopped running. Instead, she halted and poured out her Soul Power, crossing her arms to take the blow head-on.

The force of a Level 92 Clear Sky Hammer was terrifying, far beyond what a Beast Martial Soul like the Soft Bone Rabbit could withstand.

Ah Rou's protective Soul Power shattered in an instant, and she was sent flying backward along with Xiao Wu on her back.

Both crashed into the ground, bleeding profusely.

Tang Xiao, who had recovered behind them and wanted to stop the Second Elder, saw the whole thing.

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

Tang Xiao and Tang Hao were exactly alike: eyes blood-red and panting like bulls, they had passively triggered Buddha mode.

"How dare you hurt my little sister Ah Rou! You have... found a way to die!"

Beside him, Tang Hao's eyes were likewise nearly splitting with rage.

Watching Ah Rou and Xiao Wu both fall, and Xiao Wu cough up blood again while unconscious, Tang Hao snorted out puffs of white vapor.

"Huff, huff... huff, huff, huff, huff... aaaaaah-"

"Again. Little sister Xiao Wu, once again I failed to protect you. You actually... dared to hurt my little sister Xiao Wu?"

"Great Sumeru Hammer, detonate all eight rings."

With his furious roar, Tang Hao's eight Soul Rings-two yellow, two purple, three black, and one white-shattered together.

The brothers' minds were as one. They leaped high into the air together, both hammers bearing down on the Fourth Elder as they roared in unison:

"Sky-Piercing Strike!"

The Fourth Elder merely sneered in contempt. He was a Titled Douluo. So what if Tang Hao detonated eight Soul Rings? Tang Hao was still only a Level 80 Soul Douluo, and Tang Xiao was no more than a high-level Soul Douluo.

"Hmph. You don't know your own limits."

Black light surged from the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand as he met the strike head-on.

Just then, Ah Rou raised her eyes. Her Second Soul Ring flashed again, and she shot an electrifying glance at him.

In terms of mental power, Ah Rou, a Soul Douluo, naturally couldn't match the Fourth Elder. The backlash from his mental power made tears of blood run from her eyes and sent agonizing pain through her head.

But in the original story, Xiao Wu, a Soul Grandmaster, had actually managed to make Zhao Wuji, a Soul Saint, dizzy for a moment with Charm.

Now, caught off guard by Ah Rou's electrifying glance, the Fourth Elder's gaze immediately turned hazy.

To his horror, he discovered that a pair of long, furry ears had grown on his head, and rabbits had gathered all around him, covering the mountains and plains as they busily advanced the great cause of the rabbit clan's revival.

"What the hell is this?"

The Fourth Elder was a Titled Douluo powerhouse, after all, and he quickly broke free of the illusion and came to his senses.

But in battle, even a moment's distraction, no longer than a blink, was enough.

The two giant hammers fell unimpeded, striking the Fourth Elder squarely in the face.

A violent blast flattened the surrounding area, and the ground collapsed into a deep crater.

Under the brothers' combined attack in their dual Buddha mode, the Fourth Elder was vaporized between the hammers, leaving only a mosaic scattered across the ground as a trace of his existence.

The Clear Sky Sect disciples who had rushed over stared at the scene in horror.

Tang Xiao's hands trembled slightly as he looked at the mosaic covering the ground, his head buzzing.

"Fourth Elder... why were you so fragile?"

Tang Hao also emerged from Buddha mode and said in a breakdown, "I really didn't mean to kill you, Fourth Elder."

Immediately afterward, dozens of Clear Sky Sect disciples let out terrified screams:

"The Fourth Elder was killed?!"

"The Fourth Elder was hammered to death by two traitors!"

A direct disciple of the Fourth Elder's branch, his eyes blood-red, shouted:

"Tang Xiao and Tang Hao openly betrayed the sect and murdered an elder! Their crimes are unforgivable! Even if it costs me my life today, I'll avenge the Fourth Elder!"

Another disciple of the Fourth Elder's branch likewise looked ready to die as he roared:

"Everyone else, run! Get back to the sect and report this to the sect master and the elders!"

Seeing that the others were still standing there in a daze, another disciple shouted:

"Run!"

The remaining disciples woke as if from a dream and fled in all directions, crying for their parents as they used the vegetation for cover.

Hearing that they intended to report to the sect, Tang Xiao went cold all over.

The Fourth Elder had been hammered to death on the spot by the two of them together, right in front of so many sect disciples.

Whatever the truth behind it, the irrefutable evidence that they had murdered a sect elder had been nailed to them.

Once word reached the Clear Sky Sect, there would be no place left for them in the sect, or even on the entire continent.

His last shred of hope turned to ashes. A flash of resolve crossed Tang Xiao's eyes, and he said sharply:

"Hao, stop them! We can't let a single one get away!"

The positions of attacker and defender abruptly reversed.

Now, the Clear Sky Sect disciples had become the prey instead.

Tang Hao also knew full well that they couldn't let anyone escape.

Earlier, only the Seventh Elder had escaped, and they could still have found an excuse to defend themselves. After all, without any evidence, one person's word could not serve as conclusive proof.

During the encirclement just now, they could also have claimed that the situation was too chaotic for them to hold back, and that they had only been forced to defend themselves because those disciples pressed them too hard.

But now, dozens of pairs of eyes had witnessed them blast the Fourth Elder into a mosaic across the ground. Even a hundred mouths couldn't explain that away.

Tang Hao and Tang Xiao, who had just been forced to show mercy at every turn, immediately went after the fleeing disciples at full speed.

The hunter and the prey began to trade places.

The disciple who had first shouted that he would stake his life charged at them head-on, raising his hammer to block their way. Tang Hao casually hammered him apart.

Another disciple saw this, his eyes turning blood-red. He began compressing the Soul Power inside him and cried out in grief and fury:

"Damn you, Tang Xiao and Tang Hao! After killing an elder, you still want to silence the witnesses? For the Clear Sky Sect!"

He resolutely detonated himself. With a tremendous bang, only a mosaic remained, drifting through the air.

"Mad? They've all gone mad!"

Delayed by the explosion, Tang Hao gritted his teeth and leaped forward in pursuit again.

But before he had taken more than a few steps, another disciple of the Fourth Elder's branch put on a look of resolve and shouted:

"Everyone, go! You must report to the sect-Tang Hao and Tang Xiao have betrayed the sect, killed the Fourth Elder, and now want to silence us..."

Boom.

A raging shock wave, mixed with mosaic, once again delayed the pursuit for a moment.

Seeing this, the disciples with low cultivation, who knew they would have trouble escaping, seemed caught up in the mood. Resolve flashed in their eyes as well.

"For the glory of the Clear Sky Sect!"

"Brother, run!"

"Don't underestimate our bonds!"

"Live on for my sake too..."

More than ten disciples cried out tragic, stirring words as they charged back one after another, detonating themselves in succession in front of the two brothers.

Booms rolled continuously through the dense forest, and mosaics went flying in all directions from time to time.

Even though these disciples' cultivation was generally low, most being no more than Soul Elders or Soul Ancestors, and their self-detonations couldn't hurt Soul Douluo at all, the succession of obstructions left Tang Xiao and Tang Hao completely numb.

On top of that, there were simply too many Clear Sky Sect disciples. The sea of forest was vast and boundless, and the remaining disciples fled outward in every direction.

Even though the brothers ultimately used every means at their disposal to kill more than half of them, several disciples still used the trees for cover and vanished without a trace.

Tang Xiao's arms fell limply to his sides, and the Clear Sky Hammer slipped from his hand onto the ground.

The great disaster they had brought about by murdering an elder and slaughtering disciples slid into an irretrievable abyss.