"Tang Hao, are you not going to use the Clear Sky Absolutes?"
The voice was a calm, melodic chime, a sound of almost beautiful indifference that was utterly at odds with the grey, oppressive silence of the Deathgod Domain. The Azure Luan Douluo stood amidst the swirling, ghostly mists, his handsome face holding only a flicker of academic curiosity.
"The six ultimate techniques invented by your grandfather, Tang Chen," he continued, his tone a lazy, conversational drawl. "He was a true legend. A man whose presence alone was enough to place your Clear Sky Sect at the head of the three great sects. I had the misfortune of facing him once, many decades ago. I was a mere Level 96 Super Douluo at the time, and he… he was already at the peak. He defeated me without even drawing on his ultimate skills."
A faint, almost sad, smile touched his perfect lips. "I have always wondered what it would be like to face those legendary techniques and how powerful those techniques really are. So, show them to me, Tang Hao. Show me if the grandson possesses even a fraction of the grandfather's glory."
Tang Hao just snorted, a harsh, guttural sound of pure, unadulterated contempt. He spat a wad of bloody saliva onto the ground.
"You," he snarled, his eyes blazing with a familiar, hateful fire, "are not worthy of facing the techniques of the Clear Sky Sect."
The Azure Luan Douluo's smile did not falter. It simply widened, a beautiful, cold, and incredibly dangerous expression.
"I see," he said, his voice a low, smooth sound that seemed to make the very air grow colder. "Then that means… I will have to get serious."
The time for testing, for probing, was over.
In a single, synchronized, and explosive instant, they both unleashed their true power.
"Seventh Spirit Ability: Clear Sky Hammer Spirit Avatar!" Tang Hao roared, his voice a clap of thunder.
His seventh spirit ring, a deep, menacing black, flared to life. The colossal, black hammer in his hands did not just grow; it exploded in size. It became a monstrous, one-hundred-meter-long titan of a weapon, its massive head the size of a small mountain. Intricate, golden patterns, and a strange, swirling white motif, became visible on its dark, metallic surface, ancient runes that pulsed with a raw, untamed power.
At the same time, the grey, misty energy of his Deathgod Domain seemed to surge, to solidify, drawn into the avatar, enhancing its oppressive, soul-crushing aura.
Across the clearing, the Azure Luan Douluo responded in kind.
"Seventh Spirit Ability: Azure Luan Avatar!"
His own seventh spirit ring, also a deep, menacing black, pulsed with a brilliant, azure light. His handsome, human form dissolved, replaced by a magnificent, beautiful, and deadly creature of the sky.
He was now a five-meter-long Azure Luan, a mythical bird of prey whose every feather seemed to be carved from a flawless, translucent blue crystal. His wings, when they unfurled, were a breathtaking, ten-meter span of pure, razor-sharp wind energy.
The battle of men was over. The battle of monsters had begun.
Tang Hao, now a small, insignificant figure beneath the shadow of his own colossal, mountain-sized hammer, moved first. 'He's too fast in the air,' his mind, a cold, hard landscape of brutal combat logic, concluded instantly. 'I have to ground him. I have to control the battlefield.'
His fifth spirit ring, another deep black one, flared to life.
"Fifth Spirit Ability: Gravity Crush!" he bellowed.
The immense, gravitational field that was a natural byproduct of his hammer now intensified a hundredfold. The very air in the clearing seemed to turn to lead. The trees, the rocks, the very ground itself, groaned under the sudden, immense, and inescapable pressure.
The Azure Luan, which had been hovering effortlessly in the air, suddenly faltered. It felt as if a mountain had been dropped on its back, a heavy, dragging weight that sought to pull it from the sky, to crush it against the earth.
'A gravity control ability,' the Azure Luan Douluo thought, his mind a calm, analytical machine even in the heat of battle. 'Clever. He is using his own spirit's natural properties to create a domain of suppression. He seeks to nullify my greatest advantage: my speed.' A flicker of mild, academic interest crossed his mind. 'A sound strategy. For a lesser opponent.'
A simple increase in gravity was not enough to ground a creature of the wind.
The Azure Luan's own fifth spirit ring flared to life. "Fifth Spirit Ability: Tailwind Phantom!"
A brilliant, swirling torrent of pure wind energy erupted from its body. It did not fight the gravity. It simply… ignored it. The wind created an updraft, a pocket of altered physics around its body that negated the crushing pressure.
And then, it moved.
It was not just fast. It was impossibly, unnaturally fast. It left a series of beautiful, ethereal, and confusing afterimages in its wake. One moment it was there, the next it was gone, replaced by a half-dozen shimmering, translucent phantoms of itself, each one a perfect, flawless copy.
It was a perfect counter. Tang Hao's gravity field, which was designed to suppress a single target, was now useless against a half-dozen, flickering, and impossibly fast ones.
The Azure Luan's first spirit ring flared to life once more on all six phantoms simultaneously. "Wind Blade Array!"
The attack was a thousand times more powerful now, fueled by the immense spirit power of its avatar form. Six separate storms of razor-sharp, azure-blue wind blades, each one the size of a man's arm, shrieked through the air from six different directions, a beautiful, deadly blizzard that sought to tear Tang Hao to shreds.
Tang Hao roared in defiance. He did not dodge. He could not. He simply swung his colossal, mountain-sized hammer, not as an attack, but as a shield. The massive, black head of the weapon became an impenetrable wall, a bulwark of pure, unadulterated mass.
The storm of wind blades smashed against the hammer, and the air was filled with a high-pitched, screeching symphony of shattering energy. But the power gap was too great. Even with the immense, defensive power of his avatar, Tang Hao was being pushed back, his feet skidding across the ground, the strain of blocking such a relentless, overwhelming assault causing the old wounds in his body to scream in protest.
He knew he could not maintain this defensive posture for long. He needed to strike back. He needed more power.
He roared, a sound of pure, desperate fury, and a new, brilliant light erupted from his body. It was not the light of a spirit ring. It was the light of a Spirit Bone.
His entire right arm, from his shoulder to his fingertips, was suddenly encased in a thick, powerful-looking gauntlet of pure, golden bone. It was the seventy-thousand-year-old legacy spirit bone of the Clear Sky Sect, a treasure passed down through generations.
"Spirit Bone Ability: Shattering Sky Strike!" he bellowed.
He let go of his hammer with his right hand. He pulled his arm back and then, with a surge of pure, explosive power, he punched.
It was not a simple punch. It was a physical manifestation of his hammer's power. A phantom of a Golden Ape King, wreathed in a golden light, shot from his fist, a concentrated, armor-piercing shell of pure, destructive force that tore through the storm of wind blades and shot directly towards the true body of the Azure Luan.
The Azure Luan Douluo saw the attack coming, and for the first time, a flicker of genuine, serious interest entered his calm, blue eyes.
'A Spirit Bone ability,' he mused, his mind a calm, analytical machine. 'A powerful one. And a legacy bone, by the feel of it. He is finally showing some of his true strength. This is becoming slightly more entertaining.'
He did not try to evade. He did not prepare a counter-attack. He simply hovered in the air, a magnificent, beautiful, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly confident creature of the sky.
A new, brilliant light erupted from his own body. It was not the light of a spirit ring. A swirling, translucent armor of pure, condensed wind energy materialized around his crystalline form. It was his Torso Spirit Bone ability.
"Spirit Bone Ability: Cyclone Armor," he stated, his voice a calm, even sound that held not a hint of concern.
The golden, ape-shaped phantom of the Shattering Sky Strike smashed into the swirling, cyclone-like armor. The impact was a deafening, high-pitched screech of grinding energy. The golden light of the ape phantom and the azure-blue light of the wind armor warred with each other for a single, brilliant, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly beautiful instant.
And then, the ape phantom shattered.
The Cyclone Armor had not broken. It had simply… deflected. The raw, brute force of Tang Hao's attack had been redirected, its power scattered harmlessly into the surrounding air.
Tang Hao roared in frustration. His most powerful, single-target Spirit Bone ability had been neutralized with an ease that was both insulting and deeply, profoundly terrifying.
'I cannot let him dictate the pace,' he thought, his mind racing, the old wounds in his body a raging inferno. 'I have to disrupt him. I have to bring him down to my level.'
He stamped his foot, and another, different light erupted from his body. This time, it was his Left Leg Bone, the second of the Clear Sky Sect's seventy-thousand-year-old legacy treasures.
"Spirit Bone Ability: Mountain Stomp!" he bellowed.
He brought his foot down, and the entire clearing seemed to explode. A massive, visible shockwave of pure, kinetic energy erupted from the point of impact, shattering the very ground beneath his feet and many thousands of Earth Spears shot at the Azure Luan Douluo who was flying high in the sky.
But the Azure Luan was a creature of the sky.
It easily dodged those spears and then showed a faint, almost pitying, smile. That technique was almost irrelevant against it.
"He is a spirit master who can show his true power on the land," the Azure Luan Douluo thought, a flicker of disdain in his calm, analytical mind. "All his power, all his techniques… they are grounded. Predictable."
He decided to show Tang Hao the true meaning of superiority.
His own Left Leg Bone flared with a brilliant, azure light. "Spirit Bone Ability: Gale Step."
His body dissolved into a blur of motion, a flicker of pure, untraceable speed. He was not just fast; he was instantaneous. He appeared directly above Tang Hao, a beautiful, terrifying angel of death.
He then unleashed a new attack. His Right Arm Bone flared to life. "Spirit Bone Ability: Razor Wing Slash."
His crystalline arm transformed, elongating, sharpening, becoming a single, five-meter-long blade of pure, condensed wind energy. He swung it downwards, a silent, beautiful, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly lethal scythe that sought to cleave Tang Hao in two.
Tang Hao looked up, his eyes wide with a mixture of shock and a dawning, horrified understanding. He had been completely, utterly outmaneuvered.
He had no time to dodge. He had no time to counter. He could only defend.
His own Torso Spirit Bone, the thirty-thousand-year-old treasure he had taken from the Titan Giant Ape, flared to life.
"Spirit Bone Ability: Titan's Resilience!" he roared.
A thick, powerful, and almost physically tangible aura of pure, unadulterated resilience erupted from his body. A ghostly, shimmering phantom of a massive, black-furred ape materialized around him, its arms crossed over its head in a desperate, defensive posture.
The Razor Wing Slash slammed into the phantom shield. The clash was a silent, beautiful, and utterly, completely, and terrifyingly brutal thing. The wind blade, a thing of pure, cutting power, sliced deep into the phantom ape's defenses. But the Titan's Resilience was a thing of pure, unadulterated durability.
The phantom ape groaned, a silent, agonized sound, as deep, long gashes were torn into its form. But it held. Barely.
The Azure Luan Douluo pulled back, a flicker of genuine, surprised interest in his calm, blue eyes.
'He blocked it,' he thought. 'His defensive spirit bone is a powerful one. He is more durable than I thought. Impressive.'
He looked down at the panting, struggling form of Tang Hao, at the fierce, unyielding defiance in his eyes, and a slow, almost sad, smile touched his perfect lips.
"This game has grown tiresome, Tang Hao," he said, his voice a calm, final sound. "Let us end this."
His own eighth spirit ring, a deep, majestic black one that pulsed with an ancient, profound power, flared to life.
"Eighth Spirit Ability," he said, his voice a calm, almost musical, sound. "Sound and Dust engulfed by the Blue Sky."
A vast, swirling, and disorienting storm of pure, azure-blue wind erupted from his body. It was not a storm of cutting blades. It was a storm of pure, chaotic energy. The very air in the clearing was torn asunder, the light was distorted, the sound was muted. It was as if he had created his own, personal pocket dimension of pure, elemental chaos.
The storm washed over Tang Hao, a disorienting, suffocating tide of pure, elemental power. He felt his senses being torn apart, his vision blurring, his hearing filled with a high-pitched, screeching sound.
Tang Hao moved his massive Clear Sky Hammer with his Spirit Power to resist this storm.
Meanwhile, the Azure Luan, from within the heart of its own, self-created storm, began to prepare its next attack. It raised a clawed foot, and a small, swirling ball of pure, compressed wind energy began to form.
"World Ending Wind Ball," its voice echoed, distorted and alien, from within the storm.
Tang Hao was in a desperate situation. He was blind, deaf, and being torn apart by a storm of pure, elemental chaos. And a new, even more powerful attack was coming.
He had no choice.
He had to use his trump card.
He let out a final, guttural, and defiant roar. The last of his spirit rings, the one that had been a silent, beautiful, and terrifying presence throughout the entire battle, flared to life.
His hundred-thousand-year-old, blood-red ninth spirit ring.
"Ninth Spirit Ability: Clear Sky Fury!" he screamed, his voice a raw, ragged sound of pure, unadulterated power.
The colossal, black, mountain-sized hammer of his avatar began to change. Red line after red line of pure, brilliant, and almost living energy appeared on its dark, metallic surface. In an instant, the entire, one-hundred-meter-long weapon was a thing of pure, blood-red light, pulsing with a power so immense, so profound, that it seemed to make the very heavens tremble.
The Azure Luan Douluo, from within his storm, felt the shift. He felt the sudden, explosive, and almost unimaginable surge of power from his opponent.
'A hundred-thousand-year-old ring,' he thought, his calm, analytical mind registering the fact with a flicker of genuine, profound surprise. 'So, he truly has a hundred thousand year old spirit ring and this one seems to be a very powerful ability.'
He knew his own, compressed wind ball would not be enough to counter an attack of this magnitude. He had to respond in kind.
His own ninth spirit ring, a deep, majestic black one that pulsed with the power of a ten-thousand-year-old beast, flared to life.
"Ninth Spirit Ability," he said, his voice now a low, serious sound, "Gale of Heavenly Judgment."
He unleashed his own, ultimate attack. The disorienting storm that had filled the clearing suddenly coalesced, condensed, forming a single, massive, and destructive tornado of pure, azure-blue wind energy.
The blood-red hammer, a meteor of pure, destructive fury, smashed into the azure-blue tornado, a vortex of irresistible, cutting power.
The clash was a beautiful, terrifying, and world-shatteringly silent thing.
For a single, heart-stopping moment, there was no sound. Only light. A blinding, searing fusion of blood-red and azure-blue that consumed the entire clearing, that consumed the entire world.
And then, the sound came.
A deep, resonant, and soul-shattering BOOOOOOM that was not a sound, but a physical, tangible wave of pure, destructive force that tore through the forest for miles in every direction.
The two combatants were thrown backwards, their avatar forms flickering violently. The clearing, which had been a beautiful, sun-dappled space, was now a smoking, barren, and empty crater.
Tang Hao crashed to the ground, his avatar dissipating, his own, human form appearing, his face pale, his body trembling, a thin trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth.
He was more exhausted, more wounded. But he was alive.
The Azure Luan Douluo reappeared in the sky above him, its own avatar form also gone, replaced by the calm, handsome, and slightly surprised-looking man.
The clash had been… a stalemate. Tang Hao's hundred-thousand-year-old ring, combined with the suppressive power of his Deathgod Domain, had been just enough to counter the Azure Luan Douluo's superior spirit power.
They stared at each other across the smoking, ruined landscape, a moment of tense, silent respect passing between the two powerful, monstrous beings.
And then, a new sound, a sound that was a death knell to Tang Hao's last, fragile hopes, echoed through the ruined forest.
It was a loud, boisterous, and triumphantly triumphant roar.
"Hahaha! I see you left some entertainment for me, Old Luan! Excellent! Now, it is my turn to play!"
The Mighty Lion Douluo had arrived.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon