50: Ambush from All Sides (Part 3)
The very air itself seemed to be tearing apart. When Chu Tianxiu returned with Protector Wu, Ding Jiu'an, Jing Hongchen, and the elite forces of the Soul Hall, the battle between Haotian Douluo Tang Hao and the combined might of Golden Crocodile Douluo and the Four Princes of the King's Banner had reached a cataclysmic crescendo.
The clearing was a scar upon the land. Craters pocked the earth, trees were reduced to splinters, and the acrid smell of ozone and scorched soil filled the night. Though Golden Crocodile Douluo's soul power was a terrifying level 98, and he was aided by four level 91 Title Douluos—a force that could crush any ordinary level 95 opponent in moments—Tang Hao was no ordinary foe.
He was a force of nature, a man who had once dared to smash his hammer into a Pope's skull. Wielding the Clear Sky Hammer, the number one weapon spirit on the continent, and empowered by the profound energy of a 100,000-year soul ring, he fought the five of them to a standstill, a whirlwind of devastating power.
But the cost was written on his body. New wounds bled freely alongside old scars that had never truly healed. A deep gash on his side seeped crimson, and his breathing was labored. Across from him, the condition of his opponents was scarcely better. Many of the golden scales had been torn from Golden Crocodile Douluo's body, revealing raw flesh beneath, and his torso was a canvas of brutal hammer-shaped bruises. One of the Four Princes, the Bull Prince, clutched a clearly broken right arm, his face pale with pain.
It was then that Tang Hao's sharp eyes caught sight of Chu Tianxiu and the reinforcements returning. A cold dread, colder than any injury, gripped his heart. Where was Xiao San? Where was Yu Xiaogang?
Desperation ignited a fierce light in his eyes. There was no more room for hesitation. With a roar that seemed to challenge the heavens themselves, the first two spirit rings at his feet—both pale yellow centuries—shattered.
"Clear Sky Secret Technique: Great Sumeru Hammer – Ring Explosion!"
The fragmented energy of the rings surged into his martial soul. The Clear Sky Hammer in his hands, already monstrously large, swelled further, becoming a small mountain of dark iron, blotting out the moon. He gripped the handle, his muscles screaming in protest, and brought it down in a world-ending arc aimed at the five Title Douluos.
Seeing the hammer descending like a falling star, Golden Crocodile Douluo knew evasion was impossible. His seventh spirit ring, a deep black, spun out and glowed. "Martial Soul True Body!" His human form began to dissolve, replaced by the colossal, primordial form of the Golden Crocodile King. Its head alone was the size of a carriage, each of its golden scales a massive shield, its powerful tail accounting for a third of its immense length. He met the Clear Sky Hammer's descent head-on, his true form colliding with the divine weapon in a shockwave that flattened the surrounding earth.
The Four Princes of the King's Banner, though battered, did not falter. They too summoned their own Martial Soul True Forms—a towering bear, a spectral panther, a crystalline golem, and a whirlwind of blades—adding their combined might to Golden Crocodile's, throwing themselves against the hammer. The initial, crushing advantage Tang Hao held began to waver, and the two sides became locked in a grinding, desperate stalemate, a contest of pure power and will.
Chu Tianxiu, though his blood still boiled with the betrayal of Yu Xiaogang's rescue, had not lost his composure. His mind was a cold, calculating engine. He held the Soul Hall members back with a sharp gesture. 'Wait,' his eyes commanded. He was waiting for an opportunity, for Tang Hao to shatter more rings, to weaken himself and his opponents further. He was waiting for the perfect moment to reap the harvest.
His primary target had slipped away, so he would be damned if he let this secondary objective—crippling both Tang Hao and the Douluo Hall's forces—fail as well.
The opportunity came swiftly. Tang Hao, needing a decisive victory to break free and find his son, no longer held anything back. With a guttural scream, his third, fourth, fifth, and sixth spirit rings—two purples and two blacks—exploded simultaneously.
The energy that flooded into the Clear Sky Hammer was apocalyptic. The already colossal hammer blazed with a dark, devouring light, expanding yet again against the wind. "Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer Method!" Tang Hao bellowed, his voice raw. The hammer became a blur of overwhelming force, slamming down again and again.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The Four Princes of the King's Banner were smashed into the ground, their true forms flickering and failing, leaving them as broken human forms in deep craters. Only Golden Crocodile Douluo's true form remained standing, but it was battered, its golden light dimmed.
A flush of unnatural red appeared on Tang Hao's sallow face. The strain of a second Ring Explosion in such a short time was too much. The old injury from over a decade ago, the one inflicted by Qian Xunji, roared back to life. A torrent of blood gushed from his mouth, splattering the ground before him. His grip on the hammer faltered for a critical second.
"Now!" Chu Tianxiu hissed to Jing Hongchen. "Elder Jing, give the signal! Concentrate all firepower on Tang Hao and the Four Princes!"
Jing Hongchen nodded, raising a hand from which a concentrated ball of soul power shot into the sky, erupting in a silent, brilliant flash.
The response was immediate and terrifying.
From the mountaintops overlooking the clearing, more than a dozen huge, metallic barrels swiveled into position. They glowed with an eerie, gathering light. The six combatants, locked in their life-and-death struggle, paused for a fraction of a second, sensing the new, technological threat.
It was a fraction too long.
The world turned white and sound became a single, continuous roar as lasers of pure energy from the large soul-guided cannons lanced down, bombarding the clearing with surgical precision. Chu Tianxiu's timing was diabolical. He had struck at the exact moment they were most committed, most vulnerable.
The Title Douluos, with their normal speed, could have evaded. But now, drained and focused on each other, they could only watch as the beams of annihilation rained down upon them.
The earth erupted. When the light and dust cleared, both sides lay in ruins. Golden Crocodile Douluo and Tang Hao were on their knees, their clothes in tatters, bodies covered in charred wounds and gruesome, steaming injuries. They were a horrific sight.
But the Four Princes of the King's Banner were in a far worse state. Their lower soul power and the focused fire of the soul tools had left them lying helpless in pools of their own blood, their life forces flickering like candles in the wind.
Golden Crocodile Douluo turned his head, his aged face a mask of pain and fury as he stared at Chu Tianxiu. "Holy Son," he croaked, blood trickling from his lips. "Why... why did you do this?"
Chu Tianxiu offered no explanation, his face an emotionless mask. "Continue," he said, his voice cold as glacial ice.
Another signal. This time, dozens of Soul Hall members wielding smaller, portable soul-guided cannons surged from the tree line, adding their relentless, sizzling beams to the bombardment from above.
Tang Hao and Golden Crocodile Douluo were forced into a desperate, last-ditch defense, using their dwindling soul power to create shields. But compared to Tang Hao, who only had to protect himself, Golden Crocodile Douluo was in a pitiful state. He had to deflect the incoming fire while trying to shelter the four broken forms of the King's Banner Princes lying near him. The mighty elder, second only to the Grand Elder in the Spirit Hall, was reduced to a desperate, scrambling defense.
After deflecting a particularly powerful laser, Tang Hao saw his opening. With a final, defiant sweep of his Clear Sky Hammer to clear a path, he turned and fled into the depths of the forest, his figure stumbling but moving with incredible speed, disappearing into the darkness.
Chu Tianxiu let him go. His focus narrowed. "All attacks, on the remaining five!" he commanded.
The storm of energy intensified, focused entirely on Golden Crocodile Douluo and the four fallen Princes.
Golden Crocodile Douluo blocked another searing beam, his arms trembling with the effort. Then, a blood-covered hand weakly grabbed his ankle. It was the eldest of the Four Princes, the Bear Prince.
"Second Elder..." he whispered, his voice a wet rasp. "Run!"
Golden Crocodile Douluo shook his head, his eyes filled with a stubborn loyalty. "No! If I leave, what will happen to you?"
The other three Princes stirred, using the last dregs of their soul power to push themselves up. "Second Elder!" the Panther Prince cried out, "Can't you see? This little villain used Tang Hao to exhaust us! He waited until now to strike! He wants to bury us all here! We're already finished! You must survive!"
With that, the four of them, in a final, glorious act of brotherhood, unleashed the very last of their life force in a combined attack on one point in the encirclement, completely ignoring the soul tool beams that seared into their bodies.
Tears welled in Golden Crocodile Douluo's eyes. He gave one last, agonized look at his loyal comrades, then charged through the opening they had created, his body a blur of golden light as he escaped into the forest.
Chu Tianxiu waved his hand. The attacks ceased abruptly. The sudden silence was deafening.
He looked calmly at the four dying Princes. "Jiu'an, Elder Jing," he said, his voice devoid of triumph. "Follow him. Even if you can't kill him, ensure he is crippled."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ding Jiu'an and Jing Hongchen shot after the fleeing elder like twin bolts of lightning.
Chu Tianxiu then walked slowly to where the Four Princes of the King's Banner lay, his footsteps crunching on the scorched earth. He looked down at them, his expression unreadable.
The Bear Prince struggled to lift his head, his eyes burning with hatred. "You... little... thief..." he wheezed, each word a struggle. "I... I... will... curse..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Protector Wu, standing behind Chu Tianxiu, conjured four blades of condensed black soul power. With four swift, merciless motions, he ended the lives of the Four Princes of the King's Banner.
The next moment, black mist, thick and hungry, surged from Chu Tianxiu's palm and swept over the four corpses, beginning its grim work. The ambush was over. The price had been paid in blood, and the balance of power within the Spirit Hall had just shifted irrevocably.