Tang San took a deep breath. Facing Xue Qinghe's Sacred Sword blazing with golden light, he forcibly suppressed the pain welling in his heart. As a Control Type Soul Master, he had always been the one suppressing others, dictating the pace of battle and keeping his opponents moving on his terms. But now, with the roles completely reversed, he couldn't help but feel a surge of frustration. Still, he understood that if negative emotions took hold, this life-or-death battle would truly have no hope of victory.
In the thick Angel Domain, Tang San had absolutely no room to dodge. Just as that sword of light, saturated with intense sacred energy, was about to cleave into his body, he made a choice that caught Xue Qinghe completely off guard.
Tang San dismissed the Nihility ability from his body, even retracting his Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul entirely. At the same time, a layer of golden light emerged from his skin — the second use of his Invincible Golden Body for the day.
Xue Qinghe's Sacred Sword passed clean through Tang San's body, but thanks to the Invincible Golden Body, it dealt absolutely no damage. In truth, Tang San could have used Flash Step to evade this attack as well. However, this was Xue Qinghe's domain, and Tang San had no way of knowing what effect Flash Step might produce within it. His subconscious told him that Flash Step would be of little use inside the Angel Domain. This was a battle of life and death — to be safe, he relied on the absolute defense of his Invincible Golden Body instead.
The moment the golden light enveloped him, Tang San acted as though Xue Qinghe didn't even exist. Regardless of whether his opponent passed through him or not, the Clear Sky Hammer was already in his grasp. His body spun in an instant midair, and the Clear Sky Hammer swept out through this golden world. A streak of dark light trailed behind it, erupting with powerful Soul Power fluctuations. It was the opening stance of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique.
Though the golden light within the Angel Domain was extremely dense, for Tang San — who had once trained relentlessly beneath a waterfall — the domain before him was not enough to interfere with his execution of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique. Moreover, his Killing God Domain was etched into the Clear Sky Hammer itself. Only when wielding the Clear Sky Hammer could the Killing God Domain's full power be unleashed, much like how the Blue Silver Domain could best support the Blue Silver Emperor.
Surrounding the dense black light of the Clear Sky Hammer was a contrasting ring of brilliant white. Though it was merely a single hammer swing, it violently churned the golden domain. Tang San immediately felt the pressure on his body lighten by several degrees. Since mastering the hammer technique, although he had executed this peerless art of the Clear Sky School on occasion, he had never once used it in actual combat.
Without the slightest pause, leveraging the tremendous force of the first swing, he twisted his body and raised his arm again, unleashing the second hammer strike. It came at the precise moment when the first strike's momentum had not yet fully dissipated. The power of the two swings merged, and the Killing God Domain's intense killing intent expanded as well, violently churning the condensed golden light even more.
Although the Clear Sky Hammer bore no Soul Rings, the innate quality of the Martial Soul, combined with Tang San's sixty-sixth-level Soul Power and the Killing God Domain etched upon it, still produced formidable results. The Killing God Domain's savage killing intent and the Clear Sky Hammer's domineering aura complemented each other perfectly. Without the support of a Martial Soul True Body, the Clear Sky Hammer alone was sufficient to hold his ground within the Angel Domain.
Having passed through Tang San's body, Xue Qinghe sensed something amiss, followed by the violent upheaval within his Angel Domain. Only then did he realize that Tang San's Killing God Domain had become an innate domain attached to the Clear Sky Hammer. With Martial Soul and domain working in concert, merely two hammer strikes had already destabilized his own domain.
Spirit Hall had naturally conducted thorough research on the Clear Sky Hammer's various abilities, and the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique was no exception. In Spirit Hall's analysis, the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique was undeniably a formidable skill, yet simultaneously a rather impractical one. It required continuous charging to unleash its true power. But opponents were living beings — why would they ever grant such an opportunity? Unless circumstances aligned perfectly.
Therefore, Xue Qinghe hadn't given Tang San's use of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique much thought, dismissing it as a desperate choice Tang San had been forced into by his domain. But without a Martial Soul bearing a hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring to protect yourself, can you still withstand my attacks? That absolute defense of yours must have a limited number of uses. Let's see how many more times you can block.
These thoughts flashed through Xue Qinghe's mind in an instant. His body moved through the domain with the freedom of a fish in the open sea, accelerating once more. The Sacred Sword in his hand pointed forward as he flew straight toward Tang San. This Sacred Sword was his fifth Soul Skill, condensed from sacred fire. Not only was its offensive power overwhelming, but it could also amplify the purification effect of his own Soul Power by three hundred percent. Any ordinary Soul Master struck by a single slash would first suffer a massive erosion of their Soul Power, followed by the physical wound itself — if they didn't die, they'd still lose a layer of skin.
Tang San's experience, by contrast, was quite the opposite. The Clear Sky Hammer in his hands grew faster with every additional swing. In the span of a single breath, five strikes had already been unleashed. As the Soul Power accumulated on the Clear Sky Hammer grew ever more massive, the Killing God Domain's effects intensified in turn. The white light shielding his body began to expand outward, causing the pressure the Angel Domain exerted on Tang San to diminish progressively.
With the balance shifting, Tang San's spiritual sense naturally became sharper. When Xue Qinghe turned and the Sacred Sword descended upon him once more, Tang San detected it immediately. Yet the Clear Sky Hammer in his hands showed no sign of stopping.
Blazing golden light arrived at his body in an instant. At that very moment, what Tang San swung was his sixth hammer strike. Xue Qinghe's timing was undoubtedly perfect — when his Sacred Sword reached its mark, the Clear Sky Hammer had just swung behind Tang San's back and had not yet come around to the front. Though it was only a single instant, for someone of Xue Qinghe's caliber, it was more than enough to drive the Sacred Sword through Tang San's body and retreat unscathed.
Was Tang San truly that easy to defeat? No, of course not. If he were, he would have died countless times already.
The instant the Sacred Sword was about to pierce his body, Tang San's form suddenly retreated one meter in an uncanny display.
Never underestimate that single meter. Xue Qinghe's attack was concentrated entirely on Tang San's previous position. With that one-meter retreat, the peak force of the Sacred Sword strike naturally dissipated somewhat. And that one meter was just enough for Tang San's Clear Sky Hammer to swing from behind his back to the front, slamming head-on into the Sacred Sword wreathed in brilliant golden flames.
With a thunderous boom, a powerful shockwave erupted. Despite having accumulated six hammer strikes, despite positioning himself as favorably as possible, the blow — carrying the combined force of the Killing God Domain and the Clear Sky Hammer's overwhelming power — still sent Tang San himself hurtling backward.
This was the power of a domain. The Angel Domain, activated in Martial Soul True Body state, granted Xue Qinghe a thirty-percent overall enhancement. Moreover, the Sacred Sword he wielded was his fifth Soul Skill, and Tang San's Soul Power was inferior to his. Therefore, even with six hammer strikes merged into one, it was still Tang San who came out at a disadvantage.
However, Xue Qinghe did not know that Tang San's strike had been a probe.
Though Tang San's body was knocked flying, the intense golden light attached to the Sacred Sword failed to penetrate his defenses. As his body hurtled backward, he was still able to maintain control of his form in midair, spinning continuously as the Clear Sky Hammer struck out repeatedly. Each swing trailed black-and-white light that progressively eroded the golden flames adorning the Sacred Sword. So despite retreating and with a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth, he had not suffered any real damage.
Xue Qinghe was momentarily stunned by Tang San's sudden one-meter retreat. He couldn't figure out how Tang San had accomplished it. This was his domain — here, he was the absolute ruler. Once Tang San had been caught within the domain, Xue Qinghe had used his control over it to lock Tang San at its very center. This meant that no matter how Tang San moved, even with Flash Step, he would simply be treading in place. This was one of the domain's wondrous abilities. Yet just moments ago, Tang San had phantasmally stepped back one meter right before his eyes. With the current effects of the Killing God Domain, that should have been utterly impossible.
What Xue Qinghe could not know was how much effort that single step of retreat had cost Tang San. That seemingly simple step simultaneously harnessed the Killing God Domain on the Clear Sky Hammer, the inherent energy of the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone, and the Flash Step ability from Xiao Wu's soul bone. The convergence of these three powers had, for one fleeting instant, surpassed the domain's constraints, allowing him to successfully retreat that single meter.
Though the domain's power was formidable, it had its limits. Tang San had relied on three tremendous abilities merged together to break through that limit in a single instant, enabling that one-meter retreat. And that was all he could manage — movement within a mere one-meter range. The combined force of those three abilities was only sufficient to achieve that much.
The accumulated power of the six hammer strikes had been expended in the collision with Xue Qinghe, but as he flew backward, the Clear Sky Hammer in Tang San's hands did not stop. The charging cycle of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique began anew.
The reason he had been knocked flying was Xue Qinghe's own power. Although Tang San's body was confined to the center of the domain, the Sacred Sword was Xue Qinghe's own ability as the domain's ruler. When that ability manifested — that is, when Tang San's body was enveloped by the golden flames — he was temporarily released from the domain's constraint that locked him at the center, which was why he could be sent hurtling within the domain. Of course, using this to escape the domain entirely was still impossible. The moment the golden flames around him faded, he was pulled right back to the center of the domain. And Xue Qinghe was already waiting for him there.
Even now, Xue Qinghe refused to believe that Tang San had any power to contend with him within his own domain. The outcome would absolutely not change. He refused to believe that in such a short time Tang San could adapt to the domain's various effects — and even if he could, reversing the domain's influence was out of the question.
The instant the golden flames vanished from around Tang San, the domain forcibly dragged him back to the center. Xue Qinghe's Sacred Sword slashed diagonally outward. He was in no rush to destroy Tang San immediately — what he pursued was a flawless victory. He would use the Angel Domain to rapidly drain Tang San, leaving no room for a comeback.
At that moment, Tang San's Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique had already progressed to the fourth strike. Just as the Clear Sky Hammer was about to collide with the Sacred Sword once more, Tang San made a strange choice. He did not let the Clear Sky Hammer meet the Sacred Sword in a clash. Instead, his body retreated one meter again in that same uncanny fashion, and as he swung the Clear Sky Hammer, his body twisted in an odd manner, dodging the Sacred Sword's attack entirely.
Meanwhile, his Clear Sky Hammer quickly delivered two more strikes, accumulating power to the level of the sixth hammer. But oddly, instead of using the Clear Sky Hammer to strike at the now-open Xue Qinghe, Tang San swung it into empty air.
Tang San stunned Xue Qinghe once again. He had never imagined that an opponent within his own domain could dodge his attacks. But his reaction was swift — just as Tang San completed the seventh hammer's charge, the Sacred Sword in his hand blazed with light, its blade extending two feet. Simultaneously, two arcs of golden light slashed outward, nearly sealing off every possible path of evasion for Tang San.
You don't want to trade blows with me head-on? Then I'll force you to. I'll use my Soul Power advantage to crush you.
Xue Qinghe's strategy was certainly effective. But he still hadn't truly seen through the ability Tang San was now deploying. Beneath Tang San's feet, his movement suddenly became ghostly and ethereal. Though Xue Qinghe had launched two attacks in extremely rapid succession, they were still two separate strikes.
In the flicker of his phantom-like form, Tang San slipped through the gap between those two attacks, even drawing his power-laden Clear Sky Hammer out of harm's way. What he presented now, to Xue Qinghe's perception, was a figure gracefully dancing within the Angel Domain. And yet the Clear Sky Hammer never wavered due to his body's movement — it maintained a strange, steady rhythm, continuing its swings without interruption.
When Tang San emerged from Xue Qinghe's attack, his Clear Sky Hammer had reached its eleventh swing. The black-and-white light accumulated upon it had grown increasingly dense. What shocked Xue Qinghe most was that the one-meter range in which Tang San could move had expanded to roughly one and a half meters. This was precisely why he had been able to evade Xue Qinghe's attacks so composedly through that strange dance.
What Tang San was now executing could be called his trump card — a technique he was using against an actual enemy for the very first time. He had named it the Dance of the Chaotic Wind.
The shortcomings of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique were obvious. Tang San had devoted considerable time to this hammer technique, training painstakingly under his father's guidance. He naturally recognized that the technique's inherent limitations capped the devastating potential of this self-created Soul Skill. During his monotonous training beneath the waterfall, he had begun experimenting with ways to change this — how to accumulate power as much as possible during actual combat and complete the full eighty-one strikes of the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique.
After countless trials, he finally discovered a possibility: merging his Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail with the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique to form a Soul Skill unique to himself.
With the mystifying movement of the Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail combined with the overwhelming power of the Clear Sky Hammer, a successful fusion would undoubtedly produce a formidable self-created Soul Skill.
But merging two entirely different types of abilities was far easier said than done. From the very start of his experiments, Tang San encountered countless failures. And the crux of those failures lay in the issue of rhythm.
The Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail and the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique operated on completely different rhythms. The Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique possessed its own inherent rhythm — it required the momentum from each successive swing to build power continuously. The rhythm was a progressively accelerating process that could not be altered, or the technique's true power could not be unleashed.
The Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail, on the other hand, depended on reading the opponent's attacks to evade, carrying a strong element of uncertainty. Moreover, with vast quantities of Soul Power channeled into the Clear Sky Hammer, footwork movement and calf engagement driving the hammer — these became an insurmountable chasm for the fusion of this self-created technique.
Tang San had at one point abandoned research on this Soul Skill entirely — until Xiao Wu had sacrificed herself to save him. Through that sacrifice, he had obtained her Soul Ring and Soul Bone. It was only then, during an incidental training session, that Tang San suddenly found that elusive rhythm.
First and foremost, the Dance of the Chaotic Wind could only be performed in midair. Only in this way could leg power drive the hammer swings without interfering with movement. This had seemed nearly impossible. But the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone's tremendous enhancement of Tang San's leg strength, combined with its flight ability, made it achievable.
The even more critical issue of rhythm was resolved by Xiao Wu's soul bone skill — Flash Step. Whenever the rhythm faltered, Tang San merely needed to invoke Flash Step to readjust his body's positioning, allowing the Chaotic Wind Hammer Technique to continue. Simultaneously incorporating Flash Step alongside the Ghost Shadow Phantom Trail was naturally more than sufficient to evade an opponent's attacks.