I Also Want to Spar with You

The man stepped through the air, slowly approaching Flender and Zhao Wuji as they watched in terror. Soul Rings appeared around him, one after another.

At the sight of the final, scarlet Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring in particular, Flender felt his heart stop beating. He stood rooted to the spot, his face pale and cold sweat pouring down his forehead, and swallowed involuntarily. Zhao Wuji was faring no better beside him.

Even though he had once been Zhao Wuji, the Immovable Wisdom King whose name had shaken the Douluo Continent, he was still no more than an ant before a Titled Douluo with a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring.

The nine Soul Rings flashed with brilliant light. Flender finally recovered his senses and hurriedly bowed in greeting.

"May I ask which senior of the Clear Sky Sect you are, sir?"

The man was shrouded from head to toe in a black cloak, making it impossible to see his features clearly. The enormous Clear Sky Hammer in his hand was much larger than Han Yu's.

Hearing Flender's question, he slowly raised his head. His stubbled face looked extremely unkempt, and his deep-set eyes merely rested on Flender, yet Flender already felt as though he were suffocating.

"His... Excellency Haotian."

Flender's pupils contracted sharply as he struggled to utter the title that had once shaken the continent.

Zhao Wuji was just as shocked. His heart clenched, and large beads of sweat dripped from his forehead onto the ground. His face was filled with despair.

Tang Hao glanced at Flender without a word, then slowly walked toward Zhao Wuji behind him.

"Your Excellency Haotian."

Flender tried to stop him, but a single glance from Tang Hao made him shut his mouth. He did not dare make another sound, merely standing rigid and watching Tang Hao's every move.

"Your Excellency Haotian."

Tang Hao stopped two meters in front of Zhao Wuji. Zhao Wuji respectfully bowed, his face pale.

This was the Douluo Continent. This was a Titled Douluo. Before absolute strength, even someone who knew he was trapped in a desperate situation could not muster the slightest thought of resistance. That was precisely the situation Zhao Wuji found himself in.

"Don't worry, I won't kill you. I just saw you had a good spar with that child earlier. My hands are itching a little, and I'd like to spar with you too."

Tang Hao spoke calmly, giving off no presence whatsoever. With the Clear Sky Hammer still in his hand, he looked like an ordinary blacksmith.

Hearing Tang Hao's words, Flender was the first to breathe a sigh of relief, his taut nerves relaxing. He knew Zhao Wuji had gotten through this ordeal. Though he would probably be beaten so badly he could not get out of bed for days, that was still better than losing his life.

Zhao Wuji likewise breathed a sigh of relief, but he secretly glared at Flender, who was standing to one side watching the show.

Flender acted as though nothing had happened and stood silently to one side, watching the spectacle unfold. Little did he expect Tang Hao to point at him and speak.

"You come too."

"Ah, me?"

Flender pointed at himself bitterly, then glanced at Zhao Wuji, who was secretly laughing. Reluctantly, he went to stand beside him.

Tang Hao moved quickly, even a little faster than Flender with his agility-type Cat Owl. Before either of them could prepare, Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer was already upon them.

Bang, bang! Boom, boom, boom! Aah, aah, aah-

The sounds of collisions, surging force, muffled grunts and screams rang out one after another through the forest.

Unlike the earlier battle, Tang Hao took only a dozen or so breaths to deal with the two Soul Saints. He stood quietly in the air, looking down at the two men lying on the ground with bruised and battered faces. He had withdrawn his Clear Sky Hammer and Soul Rings the moment it ended.

Flender and Zhao Wuji lay on the ground, gasping for breath, but neither dared show the slightest resentment in his eyes.

"Don't tell anyone I was here."

Tang Hao stood with his hands behind his back. After calmly leaving those words, he vanished.

It was quite a while before Flender sat up, wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and helped Zhao Wuji up from the ground beside him. They trudged toward Shrek Academy.

"B-Boss Fu, that wasn't decent of you."

Zhao Wuji's face was black and blue, and he could barely speak clearly as he recounted Flender's crimes in fits and starts.

"Clearly... clearly you were the one who wanted... wanted that belt, but you sent me to get it... and got both of us beaten up for nothing."

The two had long been as close as brothers. Listening to Zhao Wuji, Flender sighed and spoke his mind.

"That child's belt belonged to the Horn of Wisdom, one of our Golden Iron Triangle. I'm worried about him."

Zhao Wuji laboriously moved his neck and spoke in a muffled voice.

"You mean that Grandmaster?"

"Yes."

Flender nodded. His eagle-like eyes were somewhat lost as he wondered how his old friend was doing.

"He's a genius of the Clear Sky Sect. Do you think he'd covet a mere Soul Tool?"

Zhao Wuji thought back over what had happened. His head was still a little muddled from the hammering, and he continued in annoyance.

"When His Excellency Haotian was hammering you just now, why did you hide behind me? I took several extra hits because of you."

His old friend was still grumbling about it. Flender chuckled like a crafty merchant and spoke with righteous indignation.

"I'm an agility-type Soul Master, while you're a strength-type Soul Master. Naturally, your defense is far higher than mine. Besides, His Excellency Haotian wasn't trying to kill us, or I'd have taken you and run long ago."

Zhao Wuji reached up and felt his head. He had a nagging feeling something was wrong, but his mind was too muddled to figure it out. In the end, he decided to make Flender pay dearly for a meal.

"Whatever the case, I took that beating for you. You have to buy me a drink."

"Drinks it is!"

Flender was overjoyed to have survived that desperate situation just now intact, and he waved his hand in generous agreement.

"This time I'm going to seize the chance to pluck you, you iron rooster, clean."

"Sure, but you're badly hurt. You'll probably have to wait a few days before you can drink, won't you?"

"Hm? What difference does it make whether I drink in a few days or now?"

"Old Zhao, don't forget. I just gave that child three hundred Gold Soul Coins. I'm penniless now."

"Flender, you! I knew you couldn't possibly be so generous."

"Hahahahaha!"

In the sunlight, their shadows gradually stretched longer as they supported each other, step by step, back to the retirement academy they had founded: Shrek Academy.

As for why Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo who had been missing for years, had appeared here to protect a child, neither of them dared ask or discuss it.

On the Douluo Continent, showing respect and caution toward the powerful was common sense, and an essential part of every Soul Master's path of growth.