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"Your Majesty Clear Sky, Little San!"
Lying on the ground, grievously wounded due to severe damage to his Martial Soul, Yu Xiaogang struggled to open his eyes and gaze at the scene unfolding in midair. His pupils instantly widened in shock.
Ning Fengzhi let out a breath of relief, still shaken but grateful that he had kept a low profile and avoided meddling from start to finish.
"Father! Father!"
In midair, Tang San reached out desperately toward Tang Hao, whose mutilated body continued to plummet nearby. Tang San frantically activated his Xuan Tian Technique, trying to extract even a sliver of soul power to use the flight ability of his Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone. But earlier, to withstand the terrifying pressure of Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer, he had completely exhausted his remaining soul power.
Through choked sobs, Tang San cried, "Father, it's all my fault! It was my insistence on participating in the Soul Master Tournament that brought this upon you! Father, I'm so sorry!"
Tang Hao wasn't angry at Tang San's words. Instead, he looked up at his son with a loving gaze and used the last of his soul power to support Tang San's descent, ensuring he landed gently on the ground. Tang Hao himself crashed heavily onto the plaza before the Pope's Palace, coughing up another mouthful of blood. His body, like a flickering candle in the wind, seemed ready to extinguish at any moment.
At this moment, the entire battlefield fell silent. All eyes turned to the miserable figures of Tang Hao and Tang San, save for three individuals—Flender, Liu Erlong, and Jiang Zhu.
Flender held Liu Erlong in his arms as she gasped desperately for breath, her aura growing weaker by the second. Beside them, Jiang Zhu poured every ounce of effort into healing her, even burning her own life force to do so. Her youthful face, once in its prime at just over twenty years old, visibly aged before their eyes, and her long black hair turned white in patches.
Not only that, Liu Erlong's face was also aging rapidly. Her skin withered, and her hair, drained of vitality, turned dull and lifeless.
Her Martial Soul, the Healing Staff, had the ability to amplify healing effects by burning life force. Yet no matter how much Jiang Zhu sacrificed, even exhausting her entire lifespan in one breath, Liu Erlong's throat wound showed no signs of recovery.
Qian Renhan's Fallen Angel soul power possessed a healing ban effect and devoured life force. Liu Erlong's physical decay was caused by the soul power that had pierced her throat, which now consumed her remaining vitality. Not even Ye Lingling's elders could have done anything in this situation.
Having burned away so much of her life, Jiang Zhu—now a frail, silver-haired elder—whispered, "Dean Flender… I'm sorry. I can't heal Teacher Erlong's wounds. There's a mass of dark soul power at her neck that blocks my healing. It's this force that's continually draining her life."
Hearing this, a wave of despair surged through Flender's mind. His face twisted in agony as he looked up and locked eyes on Qian Renhan, who had just stood and begun walking toward Tang Hao's fallen body.
Qian Renhan stood calmly, observing Tang Hao. After over a year in secluded cultivation, he had fully merged with his Fallen Angel Martial Soul. He had completely unlocked the abilities of the Ten-Winged Fallen Angel, which were now ready to be unleashed.
"Qian Renhan! I'll die with you to avenge Erlong!"
Flender charged at Qian Renhan, disregarding everything, prepared to self-detonate and take Qian Renhan down with him.
"Pfft—"
But just as Flender took his first step, a chill touched his neck. The scene before his eyes shifted rapidly—he saw the Pope's Palace, the sky, the ground behind him, and then only darkness.
"Did you get His Majesty's permission before making a move?"
Ghost Douluo, shrouded in dark, icy soul power, appeared behind Flender's headless, blood-spraying corpse.
Ghost Douluo silently breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, this time he hadn't slacked off. He had fulfilled his duties as both Guardian of the Palace and Protector of the Pope.
Meanwhile, Xiao Wu had been recaptured and locked back into her iron cage by Snake Lance and Porcupinefish Douluo, who also gagged her to prevent the rabbit from making any more noise.
"Dean Flender!"
"Teacher!"
The remaining members of Shrek Academy cried out in anguish, with Ma Hongjun's voice rising above the rest in despair.
Tang San paid no attention to any of this. His eyes remained fixed on his fallen father behind him and the approaching Qian Renhan. Struggling to stand, he reached to his waist for the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges, intending to draw his hidden weapons and protect Tang Hao.
Just as he pulled out a Zhuge Divine Crossbow and a Sand-Shooting Shadow, preparing to fire, a terrifying pressure descended from the sky, slamming him brutally into the ground. His chin collided with the earth, a crisp cracking sound echoing as his bones fractured. The indescribable agony forced Tang San to release his Tang Sect hidden weapons from both hands.
As soon as Tang San raised his head, a size 45 shoe stomped down on it, stepping over him as if his entire body were no different from the ground—merely something to be tread upon.
In that instant, a flood of helplessness, shame, humiliation, hatred, fury, and bloodlust surged within Tang San, consuming his heart.
Yet Qian Renhan was unaware of all this. He didn't spare even a shred of thought for the "meat cushion" beneath his feet. To him, Tang San's intimate contact with the ground was incidental—he simply stepped on him because he couldn't be bothered to walk around.
"Tang Hao, thank you for the gift."
Dragging along the soul bones that had burst from Tang Hao's severed arm and leg, Qian Renhan unfurled five pairs of jet-black wings from his back. As his Fallen Angel Martial Soul rose behind him, he smiled faintly and said, "Next, I'll be taking another little gift from you. Your selfless offering will make it much easier for me to kill Tang Chen."
Upon hearing those words—upon hearing that name—the nearly unconscious Tang Hao seemed to experience a sudden revival. His eyes shot open, and he raised his head just in time to see Qian Renhan stretch out a hand, releasing a wave of dark soul power that enveloped him. The overwhelmingly sinister energy invaded his mind, wrenching control of his spirit.
"Let me uncover the secrets of your Clear Sky Nine Arts… the Great Sumeru Hammer."
A soul-piercing voice echoed in Tang Hao's mind. His eyes went dull and vacant as Qian Renhan's spiritual power completely invaded his consciousness, allowing him to witness everything Tang Hao had ever experienced.
With his spirit as a guide, Qian Renhan saw the young Tang Hao standing before a towering man over two meters tall. The man had long hair, a somewhat handsome face, bulging muscles, and a presence that was both domineering and unyielding. Holding an impossibly massive Clear Sky Hammer, the man instructed Tang Hao in the Clear Sky Clan's supreme techniques.
"So this is Tang Chen… no wonder Tang Hao didn't recognize him back in Slaughter City. Aside from some facial resemblance, the man's body now is nothing like this. Years of overindulgence have left him with severe muscle atrophy—he barely resembles Tang Chen at all."
Qian Renhan continued to observe and soon witnessed Tang Chen instructing Tang Hao in the Great Sumeru Hammer.
Wind is formless, yet leaves have form. Without wind, fallen leaves cannot rise; without leaves, the wind lacks a vessel. The Great Sumeru Hammer is the art of condensing all soul rings into one unified force, channeling that essence entirely into the Clear Sky Hammer, converting it into pure, unadulterated power. Soul rings, in the context of the Great Sumeru Hammer, are akin to violent winds that lift fallen leaves.
"So that's the principle behind the Great Sumeru Hammer. Not particularly useful for me, but perhaps it could benefit others in Spirit Hall."
After observing a few of Tang Hao's combat techniques using the Great Sumeru Hammer, Qian Renhan spoke coldly. The hammer's essence was to gather soul ring power and unleash it through brute force. But he wielded a sword—his power was sword aura, not direct impact like a hammer. He didn't need to clash weapons face-to-face like a blunt instrument; at most, if someone rushed at him foolishly, he might swing his sword to cut them down. Only then could the Great Sumeru Hammer's effect even begin to apply.
Using it to channel sword aura in regular combat would only burden him. At most, it might serve some use in suicidal "Ring Explosion" attacks.
(End of Chapter)