Tang San moved with blinding speed. The instant he struck, his entire body seemed to glide forward just above the ground. Combined with Hu Liena charging toward him of her own accord, Bibi Dong — obscured behind Hu Liena's body — didn't even register the sudden shift. Her spiritual senses had been severely wounded and were nowhere near recovered; she couldn't probe and command the battlefield the way she once had. By the time Tang San closed the distance to Hu Liena, Bibi Dong only then detected his attack, but it was already too late to intervene.
For all that Hu Liena remained a standout among the younger generation of Soul Masters, she was still worlds apart from Tang San — let alone when she made no attempt to resist at all. Just as she seemed about to perish in Tang San's strike, his left hand — which had been moving with dazzling swiftness — suddenly shot upward, shifting from a palm strike to a grab. Hu Liena felt a numb jolt in her shoulder, and her entire right arm was seized by Tang San's scorching grip. A wave of tingling numbness flooded through her body, and before she could react she was hurtling through the air as though riding clouds and mist, flung a full thirty-odd meters to one side under the power of his Crane Control Dragon Catch.
Tang San's movements were perfectly fluid. At the very instant his left hand cast Hu Liena aside, the Sea God's Trident in his right hand was already sweeping up in a broad arc of golden light, slashing straight toward Bibi Dong. The enormous trident blade gleamed like sculpted golden crystal, and in the span of a single flash it was already above Bibi Dong's head.
Bibi Dong would not simply stand and await death. No matter what else, she was still a peak-level Titled Douluo. The spider-web mark on her forehead blazed to life. She blasted backward even as she unleashed her Death Domain, spreading it not only over Tang San but over every Tian Dou Empire powerhouse atop Jialing Pass's walls.
Tang San naturally had no intention of letting her succeed. Under normal circumstances, contending with Bibi Dong would have been immensely difficult for him, but with her mind still unhealed and every facet of her abilities diminished, he had nothing to worry about. His Blue Silver Domain activated at once, and he crashed its power directly into Bibi Dong's domain.
The collision of two domains could only be truly felt by the combatants themselves. Though it was not a clash of spiritual energy, it was a collision of Martial Souls, and it inevitably drew upon a measure of spiritual power as well.
As Tang San thrust the Sea God's Trident forward in pursuit of Bibi Dong's retreating form, the domain collision was already complete. Tang San's body hitched for a fraction of a second, but Bibi Dong let out a muffled groan, her brow furrowing in pain. Her torso tilted back slightly as she shook into motion, releasing the eighth Soul Skill of her Death Spider Emperor form — the Martial Soul Avatar Clone. Her true body and her clone flashed to opposite sides in the same instant, neatly evading the trident's strike, and rather than retreating they advanced. Alongside the eighth Soul Skill, her Martial Soul True Body surged forth, driving her razor-sharp spider lances straight at Tang San.
Tang San understood. Bibi Dong had burned through Soul Power and spiritual energy to release her Martial Soul Avatar the moment the battle began for one reason: to deny him any opportunity to launch a spiritual attack. Her clone was identical to her true body — even at his level of spiritual perception, distinguishing between them was nearly impossible. If he rashly attacked with his Purple Extreme Demon Eye and struck only the clone, a powerhouse of Bibi Dong's caliber would seize the opening instantly.
Tang San never underestimated anyone, not even a wounded enemy. Until the opponent truly fell, the battle was not over.
Countless Blue Silver Emperors burst from beneath his feet like blooming flowers, spreading in a flash to Bibi Dong's front. Over a hundred vines wove into a great net descending upon her — his Blue Silver Emperor's first Soul Skill, now reborn after the replacement of his Soul Rings. Though it was still technically the first Soul Skill, with a fifty-thousand-year Soul Ring it had reached a terrifying level of power, no weaker than an ordinary Soul Master's eighth Soul Skill. The sheer volume of Blue Silver Emperor covered an enormous area and possessed toughness so great that even Sword Douluo's Seven Kill Sword could not easily destroy it — especially in this state, fused with his domain.
Tang San's Blue Silver Domain and Bibi Dong's Death Domain collided and neutralized each other; neither could use their domain to overpower the opponent. This alone revealed how weakened Bibi Dong truly was. Under normal conditions, Tang San would have been no match for her in a domain clash.
A flash of light and shadow, and the purple hue on Bibi Dong's body switched to green — her signature technique of switching Martial Soul True Bodies between her second Martial Soul while still in her primary form. Not only did her shape transform, but her coloring shifted from dark purple to a sickly emerald. The topmost pair of spider lances curved into scythe-like blades. True body and clone snapped together, a jade-green luminescence washing over both, and a curtain of green light materialized before the two Bibi Dongs.
This was no shield-like defensive Soul Skill. It was the afterimage created by the sheer speed of Bibi Dong's second Martial Soul, the Soul-Eating Spider Emperor, as it swung its Emerald Scythe.
The Soul-Eating Spider Emperor was worthy of being Bibi Dong's second Martial Soul. The Emerald Scythe had nearly taken Tang San's life before, and wherever its jade light swept, the Blue Silver Emperors — though they could not be severed in a single blow — were all swept aside, leaving deep gouges. With just two crossings of the massive emerald scythes, a Blue Silver Emperor would snap cleanly.
In this moment, Bibi Dong was forcing herself to fight at full capacity through sheer willpower. Seeing the dire situation at Jialing Pass, compounded by the sight of the Great Master, her fighting spirit blazed to its peak. Disregarding her mental condition entirely, she poured out every ounce of combat ability she possessed.
Tang San was fast — undeniably so — but in the time it took him to unleash a single Entangling Vine, Bibi Dong had not only blocked his attack with the Emerald Scythe but launched a counterstrike. Eight crescent-shaped blades of emerald light shot from the green curtain, all aimed at Tang San. Their trajectories were cunningly placed: three flew head-on while the other five sliced through empty air, sealing off every escape route. In a direct clash of spiritual power she was no longer Tang San's match, but by fighting cautiously she could still protect herself — after all, as a level ninety-nine Titled Douluo, her reserves were immensely deep. As long as Tang San could not deploy his Purple Extreme Demon Eye, no other spiritual attack could truly threaten her. As for Soul Power, Bibi Dong had long since recovered. Her strategy was to force Tang San into a direct contest of Soul Power while she temporarily overextended her spiritual energy — attacking strength against weakness. Those eight crescent blades even paused mid-flight, suddenly shifting direction to converge on Tang San from eight different angles. The change made blocking them immeasurably harder.
Do not underestimate these crescent blades. Each was Bibi Dong's Soul-Eating Spider Emperor's first Soul Skill, Half-Moon, equivalent to a fifty-thousand-year Soul Skill in its own right. Firing eight of them at once showed just how vast her Soul Power reserves truly were.
Faced with Bibi Dong's assault, Tang San remained unperturbed. He tapped the Sea God's Trident against the ground and vaulted into the air, his left leg sweeping out like a whirlwind. A dense explosion of red light erupted from his left leg.
You want to contest Soul Power? Very well, I'll oblige. You use your dark Soul Rings, and I'll use my red Soul Bones to answer.
An instant before the kick, Tang San's eyes flashed. The Heart of the Sea God on his trident blazed in tandem, and a pale golden aura rippled outward across a range of over a thousand meters in the blink of an eye. On the battlefield atop Jialing Pass, every combatant — Tian Dou, Xing Luo, all of them except Tang San himself — froze for a heartbeat, their minds lapsing into a momentary daze.
This was the Soul-Breaking effect Tang San channeled through the Sea God's Trident — an instantaneous wave of spiritual intimidation. Anyone whose spiritual power fell below his would be affected. The duration was short, which was why the technique was also called Intimidation.
All eight of Bibi Dong's Half-Moon projectiles were under her direct control. Under the golden light's suppressive force, her connection to them wavered for a single instant, and the emerald glow dimmed. In that exact moment of dimming, Tang San's left foot struck.
Countless dark-red light blades — each no wider than a foot — exploded from his foot with a shrill, whistling howl, spreading outward in every direction. Individually, each blade was small. Compared to a single Half-Moon — even a dimmed one — each was far weaker. But their numbers were overwhelming, and every red blade radiated piercing killing intent. From the moment of their eruption, they devoured the eight crescent blades entirely, unleashing a rapid cascade of violent collisions.
Bibi Dong's control was exquisite — she was directing nearly every crescent blade individually — but Tang San's counterattack was even fiercer. First, he used the Sea God's Trident for wide-area spiritual intimidation, then unleashed the area-of-effect assault from his Evil Spirit Whale left leg bone: the Whale-tooth Shatter Slash. No matter how fine your control, I'll overwhelm everything with a full-scale counter. What can your control do then? As a Control Type Soul Master himself, Tang San understood better than anyone how to deal with an opponent's control skills.
Of course, this was a choice Tang San could only make because Bibi Dong's condition was poor. Had her soul been unimpaired, such a broad spiritual suppression would not have affected her in the least.
Thunderous booms erupted from the ramparts like rolling detonations. Tang San and Bibi Dong both staggered backward with muffled groans. Bibi Dong's Soul Power was still vastly superior to his. Although Tang San held absolute advantage in technique and spiritual suppression, a head-on collision still could not tip the balance in his favor. But this, too, was within his calculations. This was precisely the effect he wanted. Every Soul Skill required spiritual control to execute. Bibi Dong was doing everything she could to avoid drawing on her damaged spiritual power, but when their skills collided, she had no choice but to feed spiritual energy into the clash — otherwise the backlash from losing control of her Soul Skills could cripple her. Tang San chose this brute-force collision specifically to force Bibi Dong's fractured spiritual power toward complete collapse. Once she could no longer sustain her clone, he would strike with a pure spiritual attack and deliver a devastating blow.
The Great Master stood nearby, watching in silence. His eyes were still bloodshot, but he did not rush forward to fight. Partly because the gap in their individual strength was too vast, but more importantly because of the heart that was bleeding inside his chest. In his entire life, he had loved only two women — and the first was Bibi Dong. Only he and Liu Erlong knew that deep in his heart, the woman he had once loved most was the one standing before him now, venomous as a serpent.
They had both been so young then. The Great Master could still remember how innocent and endearing Bibi Dong had been — like a single drop of purest, cleanest spring water, seeping into his heart. When everyone else had looked down on him because his Martial Soul had mutated into something unusable, she alone had warmed him with her heart. The purely research-oriented path the Great Master later pursued — it was she who had first suggested it. She gave him the will to stand again.
And yet it was she who, at the height of their love, had turned cold and returned to Spirit Hall, severing every tie between them. She told him with icy finality that she was the Holy Lady of Spirit Hall and could never be with him.
Back then, the Great Master had even offered to join Spirit Hall to be by her side. But she had replied with contempt that Spirit Hall had no use for a cripple. His heart shattered, and he left — until he eventually found Liu Erlong and Flandre.
The Great Master's life could be called a life of tragedy. His Martial Soul's malignant mutation from birth, the devastating blow to his heart in love, and then the bitter discovery that the true love he had finally found in Liu Erlong was his own sister. Only after taking Tang San as his disciple did the tragedy at last draw to a close. That was precisely why the Great Master had poured all of his heart and soul into Tang San. In his disciple, he had placed more hope than he could ever express.
Now, watching Bibi Dong's crazed demeanor, the image of that pure young woman surfaced once more in his mind. But try as he might, he could not equate the Bibi Dong of then with the Bibi Dong of now. Decades had passed, and he still could not understand why she had been so ruthless. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon family had been destroyed at her hands — when he received that news, the agony had nearly annihilated everything left in his heart. And just moments ago, when he asked her why, the answer she gave had made him feel that same soul-rending pain all over again.
It was then that a dense, dark mass of figures rose silently into the air from beyond Jialing Pass — like a bank of storm clouds lifting from the earth. In an instant they cleared the ramparts, accompanied by the deafening percussion of rapid-fire mechanical bolts and the piercing shriek of projectiles cutting through the air like a hurricane funneling into the city. The Tang Army had finally been unleashed.
The battle below had long since reached a white-hot intensity. Tang San had shattered the four main gates, and the fall of the moat had turned the entire engagement into a one-sided rout. There were far too few ranged defenders on the walls to mount any real resistance, and the fighting had devolved into close-quarters carnage. At the gates, the slaughter continued to claim lives by the score.
Though Spirit Hall's empire was riven by internal discord, at this moment every soul among them understood that if the Tian Dou army breached Jialing Pass, they would all be annihilated. The generals of the various kingdoms and duchies knew even more clearly — the Tian Dou Empire would never forgive nations that had betrayed it. All they could do was fight to the death and hold the enemy outside the pass.
The four gate openings were large, but the sheer number of troops was overwhelming. The congestion made the entryways impossibly narrow, particularly with the heavy-armored divisions pressing in. The walls served their purpose as a choke point. Spirit Hall's Angel Legion and Sacred Dragon Legion had already committed directly to the fighting. Over ten thousand Soul Masters, shielded by the empire's regular forces, poured every manner of Soul Skill into the gate area — sometimes with no regard for friend or foe. Although the Tian Dou side's Soul Masters were likewise providing support, the battle at Jialing Pass's gates had ground into a brutal stalemate.
It was under these conditions that the Tang Army appeared. Their first volley of crossbow bolts flew straight into the inner side of Jialing Pass's gates, targeting not only Spirit Hall's Soul Masters but also the soldiers doggedly defending the gateways.
The destructive force of one hundred and sixty thousand bolts striking simultaneously could only be described as catastrophic. When the Zhuge Divine Crossbows unleashed their barrage of death, a cloud of congeled blood mist rose over the interior of Jialing Pass. The Spirit Hall soldiers guarding inside the gates and a cluster of Soul Masters stationed nearby collapsed like wheat scythed down, clearing a vast open space in an instant. The Tian Dou army was not about to let such an opportunity slip. Like a surging tide, troops poured through all four gates.
"Flying Soul Saints — move up and destroy those bastards in the air!" A powerful, resonant voice rang out. Roughly seventy to eighty figures instantly soared skyward from the Angel Legion's ranks. Consider that nearly a hundred Soul Saints and Soul Douluo were already battling Tang San's group atop the ramparts, and now another seventy or eighty flying Soul Saints had taken to the air — a testament to just how deep Spirit Hall's reserves truly ran.