The Beefcake in Pink, Hammer of the Heavenly Rabbit

"Seventh Elder!"

Tang Zhen had only unleashed his full strength once, but the injuries he had sustained desperately blocking Haozi's explosive surge flared up at once. The pain made his vision go black.

When he finally recovered enough to see the two elders lying dead on the spot, he trembled all over with rage.

The sect's titled elders had died one after another, and the pursuit over nearly the past year had cost hundreds of disciples their lives. This time in particular, almost all those sent out had been the sect's elites. More than half the Clear Sky Sect's foundation had been destroyed in a single blow.

"Aaaaah-I'll grind your bones to dust!"

Even though attacking would aggravate his injuries again, Tang Zhen disregarded everything and swung his great hammer down at the two of them.

Seeing their dear old dad fall into a frenzy, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao showed no change in expression. They gazed at Tang Zhen with deep affection as they swung their great hammers to meet their own father, delivering a dad-slaying blow.

"Hao Wu Hammer/Xiao Rou Hammer, Lifetime After Lifetime!"

Two hammers collided with one in midair.

The love pent up in the brothers' hearts burst forth at the same instant. Tears streamed uncontrollably down their two rugged, rough-hewn faces, and amid the clash, they both cried out with deep affection:

"Xiao Wu, Xiao Wu, Xiao Wu!"

"Ah Rou, Ah Rou, Ah Rou!"

Even so, love could not bridge the gap in cultivation.

Tang Zhen's full-powered strike smashed through the two hammers. Both brothers were sent flying backward again, and neither had the strength to rise.

Tang Zhen swayed slightly, blood covering his body. Carrying his dripping hammer, he crushed the rubble underfoot as he advanced toward them step by step.

"It's over... You two unfilial sons, go beg your ancestors for forgiveness."

Tang Hao and Tang Xiao lay sprawled in pools of blood, watching Tang Zhen approach step by step, their hearts filled with unwillingness.

Had they lost their beloved Xiao Wu and Ah Rou, only to be killed here in return?

No. Never.

Driven by despair, hatred, and love, the brothers struggled through the pools of blood toward each other.

Then, under Tang Zhen's gaze, they embraced tightly...

Their rugged, stubbled faces pressed close, their foreheads resting against each other. Their two rough hands clasped, fingers interlocked, and their eyes met, their gazes conveying thirty percent grief and indignation, thirty percent desolation, and forty percent resolve.

Before Tang Zhen could make sense of the situation, black Soul Power and the pink halo brought by the Soft Bone Rabbits surged from the embracing brothers.

At that moment, their bloodlines and the Soft Bone Rabbit Soul Rings entered a peculiar resonance, drawing one another together and merging.

Tang Hao and Tang Xiao squeezed their eyes shut and called out with deep affection in unison:

"Martial Soul Fusion Skill-"

"The Beefcake in Pink, Hammer of the Heavenly Rabbit!"

Pink clouds of smoke swept away the dust and foul black water filling the sky. Rings of spinning pink hearts and Soft Bone Rabbit halos even appeared in the surrounding space.

The brothers' bodies fused in the tide of light, becoming a towering, magnificent giant... man over five meters tall?

He had the weather-beaten face of a burly man with a full beard, his brow filled with bitterness and deep-seated hatred.

Yet atop the rugged man's head sat a pair of pink-and-white rabbit ears, twitching playfully from time to time.

Around his mighty chest, broad as a pair of doors, was a snug, sleeveless, lightweight cropped vest that faded from pink to white, with a close-fitting pale pink tube top embroidered in silver thread underneath.

His massive pectorals stretched the dainty gauze fabric almost to bursting. Several tufts of thick, glossy black chest hair bulged from the low neckline, while two translucent pale pink gauze streamers stuck out from his back like butterfly wings.

A short, puffy skirt with layers of pink lace ruffles was cinched tightly around his waist. Layers of gauze fluttered up and down as his hips twisted, and a fluffy rabbit tail was plainly visible beneath the upturned hem.

Pink-to-white gradient stockings, thin as cicada wings, stretched tightly over his two long, thick legs, which were covered in dense black hair. The coarse leg hair showed clearly through the sheer pink-and-white fabric. On his feet was a pair of oversized, transparent crystal high heels that clicked and clacked against the ground.

Tang Zhen forgot to move altogether, staring dumbstruck at the sight.

The giant man gave a coy little wiggle and formed a bashful heart in front of his chest with his two bulging, muscular hands. Then he spoke in a coarse, smoky rasp:

"In the name of love and justice, I'll destroy you, okay? Chuu~"

With that, the giant man drew a massive pink Clear Sky Hammer from the air.

The hammerhead was carved in the shape of a round, plump rabbit, with carrot pendants dangling from either side. All sorts of Soft Bone Rabbit patterns covered the hammer, and whenever it swung, it left a trail of rainbow-colored hearts and even made a crisp "pew-pew, pew-pew" sound.

Tang Zhen could no longer think. He felt as though his brain had been struck by a lightning whirlwind elbow.

The last few surviving disciples in the distance covered their eyes with both hands and pleaded:

"My eyes! Please put away that divine power! My eyes are blind!"

"I feel like I've reached the end of my life."

"Heavenly Rabbit Heavy Strike, Cuteness Power Awakening-"

As the giant man's grating voice made scalps tingle, the pink hammer smashed down toward Tang Zhen.

After the hammer blow thundered through the valley, the tide of pink light swept out like a howling gale. Caught in the aftermath, the last few surviving disciples in the distance went to meet their great-grandmothers.

Tang Zhen, directly in its path, raised his hammer to meet it. The blow sent blood spraying from his mouth and drove him deep into the mountainside.

The pink light gradually faded.

Tang Hao and Tang Xiao separated again, collapsing to the ground, drained and unable to move.

Covered in blood, Tang Zhen staggered out of a crack in the rock. He too could scarcely fight any longer.

He knew full well that the brothers had gone mad. Several times they had seemed on the verge of defeat, only to erupt back into action every time, and he feared the two unfilial sons might unleash another explosive surge.

He was truly afraid. The Martial Soul Fusion Skill was especially bizarre, and if he continued fighting, something might go wrong. He swayed, made a feint, and lunged toward the cabin behind them.

"No, Ah Rou!" Tang Xiao cried, his expression changing.

Tang Zhen broke down the door, scooped up two rabbits and two swaddled infants, and ran back out laughing.

"Unfilial sons, I'll spare you today. Your children and these two wretched beasts will atone for the sect."

Seeing his lover's true form and his own flesh and blood taken by Tang Zhen, Tang Hao almost lost his reason entirely.

"Tang Zhen, you old dog, put them down!"

In his fury, he... stood up again.

His reason gone, Tang Hao gave no thought to whether his wife and child might be caught in the attack. His first eight Soul Rings, previously restored by Asura Divine Power, and his ninth, a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, all lit up at once, then shattered.

"Great Sumeru Hammer, Nine Rings Explode Together!"

All nine Soul Rings detonated at once. The violent Soul Power poured into the Clear Sky Hammer, and Tang Hao hurled the great hammer at Tang Zhen's back.

A shriek split the air as the hammer came at him, bearing the threat of utter destruction.

A chill ran down Tang Zhen's spine. He had expected that this unfilial son might still put up a struggle, but never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that, after going limp, he could somehow get it up again and blow up nine Soul Rings to boot. He cursed inwardly:

Is he even human?

If he insisted on holding all his spoils now, he would surely die beneath the hammer.

At the critical moment, Tang Zhen was forced to drop one rabbit and one child. He gathered the remaining rabbit and infant into the crook of one arm, then gritted his teeth and raised his hammer with the other to block the attack with his life on the line.

Boom-

The heavy hammers collided. Bones cracked throughout Tang Zhen's body, and he used the tremendous recoil to flee without looking back.

In midair, Tang Zhen flung the other rabbit and the infant out to either side to delay the two men.

Ignoring his injuries, Tang Xiao chased after them like a madman and caught the rabbit firmly in his arms before she hit the ground.

Tang Hao had intended to give chase, but when he saw the infant falling through the air with no one attending to the child, he immediately rushed forward and caught the infant safely in his outstretched hands.

Windblown sand filled the ruined valley.

The brothers were covered in blood, one holding a rabbit and the other an infant. Cries like those of their beastly ancestors rose from their throats.

"Hmph, hmph, hmph... Aaaaaaah-"

"Clear Sky Sect, Clear Sky Sect!"

"You harmed my beloved and took my child. This enmity cannot exist under the same heaven!"

"I, Tang Xiao/Tang Hao, swear to the heavens that I will destroy the Clear Sky Sect at any cost..."