"Brat…"
Tang Lie's voice was low, his eyes gleaming with a frigid light.
"To annihilate an entire sect and exterminate a clan—such deeds are rare across the whole continent."
"The Strength Clan—over a thousand lives—all perished because of you."
"You're not even of age, yet your killing intent surpasses even that of the fallen."
"The greater the talent, the greater the disaster it brings."
Li Zhexian's expression remained calm. The Qinglian Sword tilted slightly, its tip grazing the ground as he said evenly:
"Tang Lie, I've no interest in quibbling with you about right and wrong."
"If the Strength Clan hadn't once been under the Clear Sky Clan, would you even bother to utter a word?"
"Now that the continent is on the brink of war and the people of Heaven Dou wander displaced—where is your Clear Sky Clan? Where are you?"
"'Number One Sect under Heaven,' is it?"
"Heh…"
Zheng—!
The Qinglian Sword in his hand quivered lightly. Twelve lotus blossoms unfurled in succession.
An extreme, razor-sharp qi surged forth, making even the air around them wail under the pressure.
"Back then, when the Worship Hall pointed its staff at your gates, the Clear Sky Clan sealed itself away for a century."
"Now that the Worship Hall's elders have retired for a few short years, you dare proclaim your grand return?"
"Heh—when you hid from the world, you boasted that you 'refused to touch worldly dust.' Now you come out and crown yourselves 'the progenitors of all Tool Martial Souls.'"
"So it turns out Clear Sky's so-called 'Number One under Heaven' depends entirely on picking the right timing."
"Silence!"
Tang Lie's furious roar cracked like thunder.
The muscles on his arm bulged violently as he gripped his hammer.
"Sharp-tongued brat! You dare mock the Clear Sky name? Then die!"
Boom—!
The ground beneath Tang Lie's feet shattered.
His massive figure flashed forward, appearing before Li Zhexian in an instant. The scorching, suffocating force of his aura came crashing down as the Clear Sky Hammer fell with a might that could crush mountains.
Li Zhexian's eyes glimmered with a shifting sword-seal pattern. His white robes fluttered as he drifted back several meters, gracefully avoiding the blow.
A faint sneer tugged at his lips.
"Elder Tang Lie… losing your temper already?"
"Truth always sounds unpleasant, doesn't it?"
...
Outside the secret realm—
The entire plaza of Spirit City was dead silent.
Someone instinctively raised a hand to applaud, but catching sight of the Clear Sky elders present, hastily dropped it again.
A long silence followed.
Then, someone whispered:
"Li Zhexian's tongue is as deadly as his sword… even Lord Lie Yang looks stunned!"
"If you meet Li Zhexian, don't talk—just fight. You'll never win an argument anyway!"
"As if you could win a fight either."
"Heh, the youth sure talks sharp!"
Nearby, a Spirit Master scribbled furiously, recording Li Zhexian's words.
Several Spirit Masters hurriedly recorded Li Zhexian's every line.
"I'm just a writer. History will judge who's right or wrong."
"Though honestly… I'd better polish my writing, or I'll never match Lord Sword Wine's way with words!"
...
At the Clear Sky Clan's seats—
Elder Tang Cang and Elder Tang Yuan sat expressionless, appearing unmoved by Li Zhexian's scathing words.
Yet beneath the surface…
The atmosphere was suffocatingly tense.
Terrifying Spirit Power storms howled above Tang Cang and Tang Yuan's heads.
Tang San's body went rigid, even his breathing deliberately shallow.
As the saying goes—"The tongue hides a sword sharper than steel; it kills without drawing blood."
Every word from Li Zhexian was a blade to the heart of the Clear Sky Clan.
It was clear—
These words would soon spread across the entire continent.
What was meant to be the grand reemergence of the Clear Sky Clan through the Seven Sects Re-Selection—
Had now turned into farce and ridicule.
...
"Hahahahaha—!"
Atop the Divine Mountain, several Worship Elders laughed heartily.
Even the Mighty Lion Douluo, who'd earlier criticized Li Zhexian, now clapped with satisfaction.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!"
"Li Zhexian's words strike right to this old man's heart!"
"The Clear Sky Clan thought a decade of hiding and a few newly ascended Titled Douluo made them untouchable?"
"Heh! If not for the Grand Worship's orders, I'd have gone down there myself to deal with those cowards!"
"What's stopping you?"
Glowing Feather Douluo, lounging on a swing,
lifted one leg lazily.
A massive ice bow condensed beneath his feet.
One leg drew the string—
the other braced the bow.
Vast ice-type Spirit Power gathered into a brilliant, razor-sharp crystal arrow—
gleaming with lethal intent.
And that arrow tip pointed straight toward the mountain below — where the Clear Sky Clan resided.
The moment it did, Azure Luan Douluo, Mighty Lion Douluo, Fifteen Ton Douluo, and Falling Devil Douluo all jolted upright in alarm, shouting in unison:
"Glowing Feather, stop fooling around!"
"Now is not the time for us to reveal ourselves!"
Hearing this, Glowing Feather pouted and, with a flick of his wrist, the massive ice-crystal bow and arrow shattered into glittering frost that scattered through the air.
"Tch. Boring."
...
Back within the secret realm—
Tang Lie's failed strike left a flicker of confusion in his eyes.
He looked at Li Zhexian and spoke slowly:
"An ability that borders on foresight?"
"Brat…"
"You're quite something."
A Titled Douluo's perception was razor-sharp—
just one exchange was enough for Tang Lie to discern the technique's nature.
BOOM——!
"Seventh Spirit Ability—Clear Sky True Body!"
The Clear Sky Hammer swelled with the wind.
In an instant, it transformed into a colossal hammer dozens of meters tall.
Tang Lie's Spirit Power—fiery and molten—flowed over its surface like magma.
The once-heavy and deep hammer now blazed with violent energy, fragments of molten rock dripping and hissing across its frame.
Within several kilometers, the ground turned into a blistering, oppressive domain.
Tang Lie's muscles knotted as he raised the Clear Sky Hammer high above his head.
Even the air itself cracked under the strain.
His eyes reddened as he roared:
"You dare insult the Clear Sky Clan—!"
"Then pay with your life!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
With each explosive impact, Tang Lie's arms bulged, veins popping, raw force so immense it bent the hammer's shaft!
The molten mountain-sized hammer descended with apocalyptic might, like a falling meteor meant to shatter the world itself!
Before it even struck—
A scorching storm howled outward, peeling layers of earth into a blazing tide!
Li Zhexian stood in white robes, his figure steady amid the chaos, like a lone crane soaring in the storm.
The sword-seal gleamed once more within his eyes—his form flickered and vanished, leaving behind a streak of sword light retreating hundreds of meters.
Yet the hammer's True Body pursued relentlessly, clinging to him like a shadow.
No matter how many times he shifted, he couldn't shake its deadly lock.
"So I can see through his moves… but I can't outrun his speed."
"As expected of a Titled Douluo—terrifying indeed."
Zheng—!
A sharp sword cry rang from deep within his Spirit Bone;
savage sword-qi speared toward the heavens.
Seven Qinglian sword intents spiraled around him like living spirits,
as six Spirit Rings rose beneath his feet.
In that instant—
his multicolored Sword Feather Ring and his Crimson ring both flared to life.
"Third Spirit Ability—Qinglian Twelve Tribulations!"
"Fifth Spirit Ability—Vengeful Retribution!"
Twelve lotus swords descended from the sky, trapping Tang Lie within.
Within the sword formation, seven distinct sword intents intertwined—murderous and unrestrained.
Li Zhexian gripped the Qinglian Sword, guiding all seven sword intents as he charged in.
"Second Spirit Ability—Vengeful Retribution!"
"Qinglian Sword Song, Sixth Form—Blood Pagoda!!"
The Clear Sky Hammer, now brimming with earth-shattering might—
Was instantly ensnared by countless dazzling sword lights, ringing with the clash of metal on metal.
A crimson sword qi over a hundred meters long pierced the heavens, stirring a sea of blood-red clouds, merging with the countless sword lights as it crashed head-on into the Clear Sky Hammer!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Spirit Power poured like molten fire.
Sword qi burst like a storm of blades.
Their battle drowned the world in chaos.
The ground split open into abyssal chasms.
The raging energy tore apart the purple clouds,
revealing a cold, dying crescent moon.
Bang!
The blood-forged sword light finally shattered.
The colossal hammer froze in midair.
The raging energies slowly stilled.
When the dust at last settled—
The burly elder and the white-robed youth stood a hundred paces apart, facing one another across the broken battlefield.
Their gazes locked, cold as death—
The air between them seethed with killing intent.