The Invincible Pole Vault
The next morning, Tang Hao went out on his usual patrol.
According to his plan, he only needed to leave the slightest trace and lure in one or two of the sect's search parties.
Then he would put on a magnificent display of power, take on ten enemies by himself, and drive off their pursuers with a few respectable minor injuries. He could play the domineering CEO and move Xiao Wu to a flood of tears at the same time.
So Tang Hao quietly carved several Clear Sky Sect tracking marks into different trees a few miles from their hiding place.
Once he was done, Tang Hao returned with an ordinary expression, continuing to play the part of a thoroughly attentive husband and future father.
Unfortunately, Tang Hao had severely underestimated the Clear Sky Sect's determination to capture them, as well as its greed for Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.
A few days later, a Clear Sky Sect disciple on a search stumbled across the tracking marks and quickly notified the nearby teams.
Because the Clear Sky Sect had completely suppressed the fact that Tang Hao and the others had the strength to kill a Titled Douluo, the leaders of these teams did not wait for the sect elders to arrive. They immediately assembled all their men and rushed in to kill them overnight.
With a tremendous, earth-shaking crash, more than a hundred waves of Soul Power bore down on them from above.
Birds and beasts scattered through the mountain forest. Clear Sky Sect disciples stood packed together, their great hammers in hand, surrounding the valley where Tang Hao and the others were as tightly as an iron barrel.
What gave Tang Hao a headache was that all four leaders, each with a grave and imposing presence, had eight Soul Rings circling beneath their feet.
Four Eight-Ring Soul Douluo, plus over a hundred disciples.
"Tang Xiao, Tang Hao, you two traitors to the sect, prepare to die!"
Tang Hao was completely dumbfounded.
Wait, he had only wanted to attract a few disciples and boost Xiao Wu's favorability. How had he called in all the main forces in the area?
He had really gone too far this time.
"Damn it, how did the sect find this place?" Tang Xiao's expression changed abruptly.
A flicker of panic flashed in Tang Hao's eyes. At this point, he could only bite the bullet and step forward, forcing himself to look resolute as he shouted:
"Third Sister, you and Xiao Wu are both pregnant and can't easily fight. Just keep yourselves safe."
"Big Brother, face them with me. Prepare to break through."
Neither side said much. A chaotic battle erupted in an instant, and a sky-covering deluge of great black hammers came crashing down.
"Clear Sky Nine Absolutes, Piercing Character Technique."
Against the lower-ranked disciples, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao could send them flying with a single swing of their hammers.
"Form the Clear Sky Formation and suppress the traitors!"
Seeing this, the four eight-ring leaders gave them no opportunity at all. They immediately led more than a hundred disciples into a battle formation.
The ground trembled and loose rocks tumbled as the valley rang with the clash of great hammers.
Tang Xiao and Tang Hao were both top-notch geniuses, one a Level 90 prospective Titled Douluo, the other a Level 88 Soul Douluo. But facing over a hundred fellow sect members while also having to protect two pregnant rabbits behind them, they did not dare fight without restraint.
With the four Soul Douluo working together, it took only a few dozen rounds of head-on clashes for the impenetrable barrage of hammer shadows to send their blood and Qi churning.
Bang.
Tang Hao took a heavy hammer blow squarely to the chest and spat out a mouthful of blood on the spot.
"Second Brother!"
Tang Xiao, unable to unleash his full strength, also had the webbing between his thumb and forefinger numbed by the impact. He retreated swiftly to Ah Rou's side.
"Damn it! We can't hold them off!"
The graceful stand Tang Hao had originally planned had turned into a one-sided beating.
What was more, his opponents were on the same level as him and showed no mercy in their attacks. Yet he and Tang Xiao still thought of their bonds as fellow sect members and held back at every turn, afraid they might accidentally hammer a disciple to death.
The four Soul Douluo sneered and pressed closer step by step. Working with the hundred-plus disciples, they surrounded the four of them and sealed off their escape.
Tang Xiao wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and gripped the Clear Sky Hammer tightly with both hands, standing in front of Ah Rou. Both frustrated and baffled, he cursed:
"Damn it! We've hidden in this valley for months. Even birds and beasts rarely come here. How did these guys suddenly find us so precisely?"
Hearing that, Tang Hao felt so guilty that cold sweat streamed down his back.
How could he have imagined that the few marks he had secretly carved would bring down such a crushing calamity?
His ploy of suffering to win sympathy had backfired, turning into a grand performance in which everyone would die.
If they really were captured alive and taken back to the sect, not only would he be unable to protect Xiao Wu, but his father would also skin several layers off him.
Heaven knew whether they had more reinforcements coming. If they delayed any longer, he feared they would not have even half a chance of survival.
Driven into a desperate situation, Tang Hao's eye twitched wildly. Looking around, he saw every direction was blocked. Even if he broke through using Ring Detonation, the other side had four Soul Douluo. He and Tang Xiao would have to disregard their bonds with the sect and use their full strength to hammer all four of them down, but that was clearly impossible.
If they continued to hold back, then once he had used Ring Detonation and had no strength left to follow up, Tang Xiao would be the only one able to fight. Facing over a hundred people, they really would have no way out then.
If only we could fly, Tang Hao thought.
Suddenly, his gaze fell of its own accord on the Soul Ring he had always regarded as the greatest humiliation of his life.
Fly?
I've got it!
"Everyone, come here and hold on to me!" Tang Hao roared.
At that critical moment between life and death, Tang Hao's eighth white ring lit up.
The sect disciples closing in to kill them froze.
Wait, what was that thing?
Before anyone could react, Tang Hao clamped Xiao Wu under one arm, while Tang Xiao gripped the belt at the back of Tang Hao's waist and held Ah Rou tightly.
"Eighth Soul Skill, Clear Sky Pole Vault!"
Tang Hao roared, gripped his great hammer in one hand, and planted its head forcefully on the ground.
As he poured his Soul Power into it, the hammer shaft stretched longer and longer. Under his control, the Clear Sky Hammer's shaft bent like a bow drawn to a full moon, and Tang Hao backed away with the other three, building up force.
Whoosh-
Using the spring of the bent hammer shaft, Tang Hao launched himself and the other three high into the air.
The foul-smelling black water that the Blackwater Lone Bamboo Soul Ring caused the Clear Sky Hammer to produce splashed in all directions from the extra-long hammer shaft.
"Bleurgh... What is that stuff?"
The Soul Douluo in the lead was splashed all over with black water, and the stench made him retch on the spot.
"Holy crap... He flew?" A disciple's mouth hung wide open.
"Oh, my God, how could the Clear Sky Hammer have such a heaven-defying Soul Skill?" Another disciple rubbed his eyes vigorously, his face full of doubt about life itself.
"Coach, I want to learn that too."
The other disciples could not help blurting out exclamations of astonishment.
Something even more outrageous was still to come.
After the four cleared the encirclement, they began falling from the air.
Tang Hao landed and twisted at the waist, planting his giant hammer against the ground ahead of him once more as he shouted:
"Clear Sky Pole Vault!"
As he poured in his Soul Power, the hammer shaft bent again, building up force.
Whoosh!
Another launch.
In one seamless motion, the four figures flew out of the valley and landed on a mountaintop.
"Pole Vault!"
Whoosh!
"I'll jump again!"
Whoosh...
"I jump! I keep jumping!"
Tang Hao gripped the giant hammer, foul water streaming off it, in one hand. Shouting all the while, he bounced from one mountain to another.
He landed and sprang again, sprang up and shot forward. As he went on, Tang Hao grew more and more proficient, until he no longer even needed to land, extending the hammer shaft in midair to continue in one seamless motion.
In the span of a few breaths, he disappeared from everyone's sight.
The Clear Sky Sect members stood in the valley wind, letting the sparse drops of foul water falling from the sky drench their heads and faces. Every one of them had turned to stone.
"Leader... are we still going after them?" a disciple asked haltingly, wiping the foul water from his face.
Smelling the stench, the leader's mouth twitched. "Go after them? You're going to chase that thing on two legs? Fall back!"
Meanwhile, in midair.
Tang Xiao was bounced about until his head swam and his stomach churned. The wind drove foul water into his mouth, leaving him barely able to speak:
"Second Brother, bleurgh... jump more slowly... Big Brother gets hammer-sick... bleurgh."
The sour, foul-smelling black water also made tears stream down Ah Rou's face. Only Xiao Wu, sheltered at Tang Hao's side, looked at him as he gritted his teeth and carried her out of the encirclement, her eyes full of emotion.
Tang Hao held his breath against the stench coming from the great hammer as he bounced from one towering mountain to the next.
Looking back at the pursuers, of whom not a single trace could be seen, Tang Hao felt an irrepressible surge of pleasure.
The Soul Skill of this Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo... was actually this useful?