Douluo Continent: Simulating Douluo Dalu III to Screw Over Tang San

"You knew I was nearby?" Tang Hao looked at Gong Yu, surprise lingering on his face.

Gong Yu sneered. "Heh... would you really feel comfortable letting someone as dim-witted as Zhao Wuji bring Tang San to the Star Dou Great Forest, especially when he also has to look after six other youngsters?"

Tang Hao nodded, acknowledging Gong Yu's words. Then he sighed. "You're clever. What a pity. But... if you agree to one condition, I can spare you all and take only the Man Faced Demon Spider's External Soul Bone."

Gong Yu gave him a strange look. "Oh... let's hear it. I'd like to know what condition the mighty Clear Sky Douluo wants me to agree to."

Tang Hao said, "As long as you agree to assist my son Tang San from now on..."

"Stop right there. What the hell is your son Tang San? Is he even worthy of my assistance? Does everyone in your Tang family dream of eating shit?" Gong Yu interrupted before Tang Hao could finish.

At Gong Yu's words, Tang Hao's brows suddenly drew together, and killing intent burst from his eyes. He looked at Gong Yu and the others and said coldly, "In that case, I can't let you live."

"Heh..." Gong Yu gave a cold laugh. "You don't want to spare us? I don't want to spare you either! Tang Hao, twelve years ago, your battle at the entrance to Blue Silver Village engulfed the entire village and caused countless deaths and injuries. I'll make you pay for that, and I'll take good care of your son in the future too."

Tang Hao's body trembled at Gong Yu's words. Then he asked in a shaking voice, "You're a survivor of Blue Silver Village?"

That battle had caught far too many innocent people in its wake. Tang Hao had felt guilty for a while, but only for a while!

Chapter 56: Tang Hao's Misfortune

"Back then, I was still a baby in swaddling clothes. The shockwaves from your battle brought down all the houses around us. To keep me from being crushed to death by our collapsing house, my parents bent their bodies over me and shielded me beneath them."

Gong Yu stared at Tang Hao with icy eyes and said bitterly, "Later, Village Chief Tom told me that when my parents were dug out, their bodies had been bent for so long that no one could even force them straight."

At this point, Gong Yu grew even more agitated. Madness shone in his eyes as he gritted his teeth. "Do you know? Grandpa Village Chief said that when I was dug out, my mother's finger was actually in my mouth.

"My mother was terrified that after she died, I'd starve to death before anyone dug me out. So before she died, she bit open her finger and put it in my mouth for me to suck on. In other words, I survived because I spent those days sucking the flesh and blood of my mother's corpse!"

These were Gong Yu's real memories. He was a transmigrator who had been conscious from birth, so he remembered everything from those days buried beneath the rubble vividly. When his mother put her bitten finger in his mouth, he couldn't spit it out. Even though he didn't want to suck on it, he had eventually been forced to.

But in these circumstances, he could only use "the village chief said" as a pretext to say what he wanted to say.

This was the first time Gong Yu had opened his heart. Gong Lan and the others couldn't help feeling a pang of pain as they listened. They had thought their own experiences were tragic enough, but Gong Yu had such a tragic side to his past too. How terrible it must have been to survive by sucking the flesh and blood of a loved one's corpse.

After speaking of what he had buried in his heart for so many years, Gong Yu gave vent to his emotions and immediately felt much better.

He was no longer agitated. Instead, he looked calmly at Tang Hao and said coolly, "Although Qian Xunji is dead, you're still alive, Tang Hao. Gui Mei and Yue Guan are still alive too.

"And your son Tang San was there as well. Although he was a baby too, who made him your son? So I won't spare a single one of you. I'll slowly make you all pay. I'll destroy everything you have, including the Clear... Sky... Sect behind you..."

Not far away, Tang Hao had initially considered sparing Gong Yu after learning that he was a survivor of Blue Silver Village. But when he saw how deep Gong Yu's hatred ran, he changed his mind.

Tang Hao exhaled heavily, as though he had made some momentous decision. Then he looked at Gong Yu and said, "Since the seed of hatred has already been planted, I have even less reason to let you live. Today, I'll send you to see your parents."

As he spoke, the Clear Sky Hammer materialized in his hand. With each step he took toward Gong Yu and the others, another Soul Ring appeared around him.

Gong Yu sneered. "You want to kill us? I'm afraid you don't have what it takes."

The moment Gong Yu finished speaking, Bi Ji and Zi JI appeared.

Gong Yu then said, "Sister Bi Ji, Sister Zi JI, sorry for the trouble, but please don't kill him. Just take an arm and a leg. As for his life, I'll take it myself later."

Bi Ji and Zi JI exchanged a glance at Gong Yu's words, then nodded to each other. Their presences erupted as they advanced on Tang Hao.

Feeling the powerful presences radiating from Zi JI and Bi Ji, Tang Hao's pupils contracted. He immediately stopped and murmured, "The one in purple has the strength of a rank 97... no, she should be even stronger. The one in green is no weaker than Grandfather was back then. I've really bitten off more than I can chew this time."

With a single glance, Tang Hao had roughly judged the strength of Zi JI and Bi Ji's cultivation. His expression changed in alarm, and thoughts of escape rose in his mind.

But if he wanted to escape, he clearly had to create an opening first. He immediately roared, "Great Sumeru Hammer: Ring Detonation!"

Tang Hao wasn't one to drag things out. He already had an old injury, and the longer this went on, the worse it would be for him. So he immediately used the Great Sumeru Hammer, intending to unleash one strike and then find a chance to leave.

His First Soul Ring began to flash, then suddenly exploded. It turned into power that fused into his enormous Clear Sky Hammer. After absorbing the Soul Ring's power, the hammer's head swelled to nearly twice its size.

By then, Zi JI and Bi Ji were charging toward Tang Hao in succession, one behind the other. Tang Hao raised his hammer, but instead of attacking them, he smashed it directly toward Gong Yu and the others.

The hammer was too far away to actually hit Gong Yu and the others, but if that blow landed, the shockwaves would be more than they could withstand in their current state.

Bi Ji, however, seemed to have anticipated that Tang Hao would resort to such a dirty trick. As he swung the hammer, she changed direction and flashed in front of Gong Yu and the others.

"Emerald Guardian." Bi Ji immediately used the group defensive Soul Skill, which could convert an enemy's attack into vitality for her allies or herself.

But she seemed to think one Soul Skill wasn't enough. Her pearly teeth parted again, and she spoke four more words: "Jade Light Defense."

Light blazed from Bi Ji's body. A shimmering green glow formed a huge screen around them, dyeing everything nearby green.

Only then did Tang Hao's hammer strike the ground, setting off a violent explosion. The wave of force spread outward, blasting shattered stones into the air and toppling trees, leaving the ground in disarray.

But when the wave reached them, it struck the green screen Bi Ji had conjured. No one was hit; instead, Tang Hao spat out a mouthful of blood.

Bi Ji's Jade Light Defense didn't just defend; it could also reflect attacks. Tang Hao's blow had failed to hurt anyone and had instead rebounded and injured him.

By then, Zi JI had also closed in on Tang Hao. Taking advantage of his injury, Bi Ji unleashed darkness, engulfing the area around her, including Tang Hao.

A cry of pain rang out from the darkness. Then the darkness covering the area dispersed, revealing Zi JI with an extra arm in her hand, but Tang Hao was nowhere to be seen.

"That guy was too crafty. He knew he couldn't win, so he pretended he was going to self-destruct. I've never seen anyone threaten to self-destruct at the drop of a hat in a fight, so I stopped right there."

Zi JI returned to the group and tossed Tang Hao's arm onto the ground. "But that guy seized the opening and ran," she said irritably. "Still, I tore off one of his arms as he escaped."

Gong Yu didn't mind. "You were already amazing, Sister Zi JI. You should know that Tang Hao fought three Titled Douluo on his own when he was still a Soul Douluo, and he even escaped a rank 99 Limit Douluo who was hunting him down."

Gong Yu glanced at Tang Hao's arm on the ground and merely said it was a pity.

It was a pity that Tang Hao's left arm had been torn off. If it had been his right, they could have kept the Clear Sky Sect's inherited Soul Bone.

Chapter 57: Fighting the Shitrek Team, Part One

Plop...

Just as Gong Yu picked up Tang Hao's left arm, a Soul Bone fell out of it.

Gong Yu picked up the Soul Bone and examined it before saying slowly, "This should be a strength-amplifying Soul Bone at least forty thousand years old. Tang Hao must have collected a full set of Soul Bones long ago. Too bad for him-his left arm bone belongs to us now."

He looked around, finally resting his gaze on Gong Xiao. "Xiaoxiao, you're the only one among us suited to absorbing this Soul Bone. But I've decided not to give it to you, because it's too young. It's not worthy of you at all."

"Then what do you plan to do with it, young master?" Gong Xiao asked softly. She didn't really care much about Soul Bones. Over the past few years, she had heard Gong Yu sing the praises of Battle Armor to the skies, so she was more eager to have Battle Armor of her own someday.

Then again, there was no conflict between having both Battle Armor and Soul Bones!

Gong Yu glanced at Tang Hao's left arm again, and an idea occurred to him. He smiled playfully. "Of course, I'll take it to the Tiandou Auction House for auction later, with Tang Hao's arm thrown in as a bonus. When the time comes, I'll spread the news across the entire continent."

With that, he used the power of ice to freeze Tang Hao's arm. He had obtained that power by absorbing his Second Soul Ring.

His Second Soul Ring had come from an ice-attribute Ice Jade Borer Spider. Absorbing it had given him the ice attribute as well, though it wasn't Ultimate Ice.

Even if it wasn't Ultimate Ice, freezing inanimate objects was no problem.

The girls exchanged glances as they listened to Gong Yu. Their young master had a bit of darkness in his heart to have come up with something like throwing in an arm.

Gong Lan, meanwhile, thought, Young master's hatred for Tang Hao must have reached its limit. Otherwise... sigh, never mind. In any case, young master's enemies are my enemies. Hmph, just you wait, Tang Hao.

Gong Yu didn't know what the girls were thinking, or he would certainly have cried out that he'd been wronged. He was doing this purely out of a warped sense of fun, just to disgust Tang Hao!

By then, Tang Hao had already escaped the Star Dou Great Forest. Because he had lost an arm, his Soul Power had dropped ten ranks straight to rank 85.

If Gong Yu had seen Tang Hao now, he would surely have been puzzled. Why did Tang Hao lose strength when he lost an arm or a leg, while Sword Douluo rose from rank 96 to rank 97 after losing an arm?

Whether it was luck or something else, about half a day after leaving the Star Dou Great Forest, Tang Hao collapsed from excessive blood loss caused by his severed arm and happened to run into Yu Xiaogang. It was anyone's guess what a rank 29 piece of trash like Yu Xiaogang was doing near the Star Dou Great Forest for no reason.

But Yu Xiaogang saved Tang Hao, and the two of them soon hooked up.

Meanwhile, after searching for half a day, Gong Yu and the others finally found a Phoenix-Crowned Flamingo, and Gong Xue obtained her Third Soul Ring as she had wished.

Even so, she still regretted not getting a ten-thousand-year Third Soul Ring. She dreamed of having a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast sacrifice itself to her.

After Gong Xue obtained her Soul Ring, the group began their journey back.

After a day on the road, the party of ten finally returned to Suotuo City.

Gong Yu and the others owned no property in Suotuo City. Their main reason for returning was to let Gong Lan and the others fight a match against the Shitrek Seven Devils.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. During that time, Gong Yu's Soul Power rose by only one rank, but he spent most of his time beginning work on One-Word Battle Armor.

Normally, one needed to reach five rings before making Battle Armor, because most Soul Masters could only forge Thousand Refinement metal after reaching five rings. One-Word Battle Armor had to be made entirely from Thousand Refinement metal.

But Gong Yu possessed the Golden Dragon King Bloodline, and his strength was already many times greater than that of an ordinary Soul Master. He had been able to forge Thousand Refinement metal as far back as when he was a Soul Elder, so making One-Word Battle Armor wasn't beyond him.

Gong Yu was busy making One-Word Battle Armor, but the others didn't need to do the same. So over those three months, Gong Lan and the others devoted themselves to Soul Fighting.

During that time, they also fought the relatively famous Mad Battle Team. But without a doubt, Gong Lan's team emerged victorious.

On this day, Gong Lan and the others finally encountered the Shitrek Team.

The Shitrek Seven Devils had just finished Yu Xiaogang's three months of devilish training and had now entered the second phase.

As for Tang San and Yu Xiaogang, no one knew how Yu Xiaogang had brainwashed Tang San, but Tang San had actually gone trotting back, thinking Yu Xiaogang was capable again. So he began following Yu Xiaogang's training arrangements.

That evening, at platform seven in Suotuo City's Great Soul Arena, Gong Lan led Gong Xue, Gong Xiao, Gong Xi'er, Gong Qianqian, Gong Niuniu, and Gong Miaomiao onto the stage.

They had named the whole team the Rose Squad after Gong Xi'er's Martial Soul, Pink Rose. Because Gong Yue's Third Soul Ring was black, Gong Yu had told her not to reveal it for the time being, so she would rarely appear in future matches.

On the other side, the Shrek Seven Devils entered the arena under Dai Mubai's lead. Like the Rose Squad, they all wore masks.

Before long, the host asked each side whether they were ready. The captains, Gong Lan and Dai Mubai, both said they were.

"The five-second countdown begins. Five, four, three, two, one. Team Soul Fighting, platform seven, sixth match, begin!"

"Brothers, release your Martial Souls!" On Shitrek's side, Dai Mubai roared. His presence surged, his muscles swelled instantly, and his arms stretched out to either side as he released his Martial Soul, White Tiger Possession.

At the sight, Gong Lan and the others' eyes lit up. If they still couldn't guess who was on the opposing team, they really would be fools.

Before they went onstage, Gong Yu hadn't told them who the Shitrek members were. He had only said they would know once they entered the arena. He had also insisted that only four of them could fight in this match: Gong Xiao, Gong Xi'er, Gong Qianqian, and Gong Miaomiao.

Gong Lan couldn't fight because Dai Mubai, Tang San, and Xiao Wu knew her. Her Martial Soul also suppressed Tang San's, so if she fought, Tang San would have no chance to contribute for the entire match, unless he dared use his Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul.

Gong Xue couldn't fight either, because Ma Hongjun knew her. She had sulked backstage for quite a while over being forbidden to fight, and only agreed after Gong Yu had coaxed her at length.

As for sixth sister Gong Niuniu, she naturally couldn't fight either. Her Ultimate Fire was simply too fierce; one careless move and Shitrek might be wiped out in an instant.

Thus, only Gong Xiao, Gong Xi'er, Gong Qianqian, and Gong Miaomiao revealed their Martial Souls on the Rose Squad's side: the Golden Bamboo Staff, Pink Rose, cold Qi, and chrysanthemum, respectively.

On the Shrek Seven Devils' side, the four Soul Elders had identical Soul Ring colors. Dai Mubai, Oscar, Tang San, and Xiao Wu each had three rings, two yellow and one purple. The other three, Ma Hongjun, Ning Rongrong, and Zhu Zhuqing, each had two Hundred-Year Soul Rings.

Chapter 58: Fighting the Shitrek Team, Part Two

On the Rose Squad's side, when Gong Xiao, Gong Xi'er, Gong Qianqian, and Gong Miaomiao revealed their Soul Rings, everyone in the arena turned to look, and a great many were shocked.

Beneath Gong Xiao, Gong Xi'er, and Gong Miaomiao's feet, three Soul Rings appeared around each of them: one yellow and two purple.

As for Gong Qianqian, three purple Soul Rings pulsed into view. Her Third Soul Ring was a deep purple, clearly close to ten thousand years old.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible! How could my theory be wrong? No one could absorb Soul Rings so far beyond the age limit for their first three rings!" In Shitrek's private box, Yu Xiaogang was in complete disarray, then collapsed onto the floor.

Zhao Wuji was thoroughly fed up. He had never liked the clown Yu Xiaogang to begin with, and if not for Flender, he couldn't have been bothered to pay him the slightest attention.

"I'm going out for a bit," Zhao Wuji said, his face dark with displeasure. If Flender hadn't been there, he probably wouldn't have been able to resist beating Yu Xiaogang up.

After Zhao Wuji went out and closed the door behind him, Flender came over to the distraught Yu Xiaogang and comforted him. "Xiaogang, although the facts are right in front of us, they only prove that your theory about Soul Ring age limits was wrong. It doesn't matter if one is wrong. Don't you still have nine other theories? You're still the Grandmaster!"

There was something Yu Xiaogang didn't dare say. In his heart, he had long believed that he only had eight theories left. He was already convinced that Gong Yu had been right about the one he had refuted several years ago, and so he had also been wondering whether he was really Yu Yuanzhen's biological son.

To prove it, Yu Xiaogang had even secretly investigated his mother's past, but he had found nothing at all. It was as though someone had deliberately covered up many things, which made him even more suspicious that there was something wrong with his parentage.

But Yu Xiaogang was merely making trouble for himself. As for his mother, there really was nothing to investigate, which was why he found nothing. Only after he had imagined a whole conspiracy did it become a problem.

Flender's comfort couldn't make Yu Xiaogang feel better, but he at least accepted the kindness. He stood up again, straightened his disheveled clothes, and continued watching the match.

As he watched, Yu Xiaogang reminded Flender, "Flender, afterward, we must recruit that team. Even if we can't get the whole team, getting even one of them would be good. They're all geniuses, and since they can absorb Soul Rings like that, they must all have secrets. If we can get our hands on the secret to absorbing Soul Rings beyond the age limit..."

Before Yu Xiaogang could finish, Flender interrupted him.

"Xiaogang, stop," Flender said. "Geniuses like that aren't people you and I can control. And do you really think those geniuses have no backing at all?

"Do you think just any faction could nurture people like that? Xiaogang, with your background, can't you even see that much? So don't go courting death."

Flender had no backing of his own, so he had immediately objected when Yu Xiaogang made that request. He still wanted to live a good few more years!

"Sigh... I was impulsive," Yu Xiaogang said with a sigh. "You're right, Flender. An ordinary faction definitely couldn't have nurtured those people. We really can't take those risks. But surely there's no harm in sending them an invitation afterward and asking them to visit our Shitrek?"

"All right, I'll try inviting them later." Flender knew Yu Xiaogang hadn't given up, but merely inviting them over as guests was something he could do. Whether it succeeded or not was no longer up to him.

On the stage, after the Shrek Seven Devils recovered from their shock at the Rose Squad's Soul Rings, they were the first to act.

A dazzling light flashed in Ning Rongrong's hand, and a seven-colored pagoda more than a foot tall appeared in her right palm.

Jeweled light flickered, radiating an imposing nobility. Ning Rongrong smiled as the Soul Master incantation of the support system rang clearly from her lips.

"Seven Treasures Have Names, First: Strength."

"Seven Treasures Have Names, Second: Speed."