š If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! I'm offering advanced chapters there as a thank-you to readers.
--------------------
Check out advanced chapters on : patreon.com/Veni_V
---------------
In the next second, a scene appeared that made the very souls of everyone watching tremble with fear. It was a sight that defied logic and showcased a power rarely seen in the mortal world. The Snow Empress turned her body slightly, her movements graceful and ethereal.
Seeing this, the Ice Empress did not hesitate. She took the initiative to move forward and meet her companion. The phantoms of these two legendary Sovereigns of the Far North gently embraced each other in mid-air.
The moment their two shadows touched and embraced, a vast aura erupted. This energy was far more powerful than the single Snow Empress who had stood there moments before. It felt much closer to the very Origin of the Law of Ice and Snow. It was a primal, unstoppable force that seemed to command the elements themselves.
The pure white light of the snow and the vibrant emerald light of the ice intertwined. They began to fuse together in a crazy, swirling dance of power. This was a Fusion of the highest order, a combination of two peak existences of the frozen north.
"Pride of the Two Ice and Snow Empresses!"
A cold voice drifted softly from Tang Chen's mouth. His tone was calm, yet it carried an undeniable weight. Immediately after he spoke, a massive ice and snow storm formed behind him. It was over fifty meters wide and stretched up to connect the heaven and the earth. Inside this towering storm, it was no longer just simple wind and snow. Instead, there were countless ice blades. These blades were composed of Ultimate Ice, a material so sharp and hard that it was capable of cutting through space itself.
The storm began to rotate slowly. Then, it swept forward with an irresistible force toward Tang Hao. Tang Hao was currently standing in the ruins, and his expression changed drastically as he watched the storm approach.
The storm carried a will that seemed to crush everything in its path. The power of this single strike had already surpassed the combined strength of the previous Emperor's Palm and Emperor's Sword. It had reached a level of power that would make any powerhouse below the rank of a Limit Douluo feel absolute despair.
Looking at the Pride of the Two Ice and Snow Empresses, Tang Hao felt a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature. The attack fused the Origin power of both the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress into one destructive force.
Tang Hao's face turned pale as he realized the true scale of the danger. He wasn't just shocked by the beauty or the size of the attack. He could clearly feel that the energy inside that storm was equal to a full-strength blow from a rank ninety-nine Titled Douluo.
Suddenly, a shadow of death that he had never felt before appeared. It felt like a cold, venomous snake wrapping itself tightly around his heart. He knew that if he didn't do something drastic, he wouldn't survive this encounter.
"Cough..."
Tang Hao coughed, a bit of blood staining his lips. He spoke to himself in a low, strained voice. "It seems I can only use that move. I have no other choice."
He forcibly suppressed the blood churning in his chest and abdomen. He felt a bone-deep sense of weakness spreading through his limbs, but he ignored it. A flash of madness crossed Tang Hao's eyes. His skin even began to turn a deep, blood-red color as he pushed his body past its breaking point. In his mind, he knew the truth. At this point, any hesitation or reservation would mean certain death. He had to give it everything he had left.
"Hah!"
He let out a roar to the sky that sounded like it drained his very soul. Tang Hao's aura surged wildly once again. Although his energy still felt a bit hollow because of his serious injuries, it became even more violent and cold than before. He was reaching for a power that came at a terrible price.
"Buzz... buzz... buzz..."
The air vibrated with a sharp, mechanical sound. In the next second, the nine spirit rings beneath his feet began to glow. There were two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red spirit ring. They all burst into a blinding light at the exact same time. Then, with a deafening bang, they all exploded.
"Nine-Ring Explosion!"
This was the ultimate Profound Truth of the Clear Sky Sect's supreme secret technique, the Great Sumeru Hammer. It allowed a user to exchange the heavy price of shattering all their spirit rings for a world-destroying power. For a brief moment, it allowed a person to instantly surpass their natural limits.
However, every ring that exploded caused a huge burden and a painful backlash to the user. A Nine-Ring Explosion was more than just a technique; it was a complete gamble with one's own life. But in return, the power it produced was terrifying beyond imagination.
In the next second, power as vast as a sea of stars poured into Tang Hao's body. It was like a backflow of pure energy rushing into his veins. His body expanded in size, and fine droplets of blood began to seep from his skin.
His eyes were no longer clear; they were completely filled with a terrifying blood-red color. The Clear Sky Hammer in his hand seemed to come alive. It instantly turned into a dark-gold torrent of destruction that spanned the space between heaven and earth, stirring the very clouds in the sky.
"Great Sumeru Hammer!"
With a violent shout, Tang Hao threw the Clear Sky Hammer into the air. With the boost from the Nine-Ring Explosion, he condensed every bit of his remaining power into this one single strike. At the same time, his lips moved slightly. He sent out a subtle but extremely clear spirit power transmission. He directed this message accurately to the ears of Tai Tan and Bai He, who were watching the battle from a safe distance.
"You two take Little San and leave immediately! This beast's current strength is far beyond anything I imagined! If we keep fighting here, I might not be able to protect you! Go now!"
His voice was urgent and solemn. It even carried a trace of powerlessness that a proud man like Tang Hao was usually unwilling to admit. Hearing his words, the bodies of Tai Tan and Bai He shook violently. They were stunned. They never thought that someone as legendary and strong as Tang Hao would actually admit he might not be a match for his opponent.
"Rumble!"
In the blink of an eye, the dark-gold torrent of energy formed by Tang Hao's Nine-Ring Explosion collided head-on with the Pride of the Two Ice and Snow Empresses. There were no fancy tricks or complicated maneuvers. It was a direct clash of raw, overwhelming power. At that moment, it felt as if the world had lost all its color.
An indescribable and terrifying energy exploded on the spot. A huge sphere of energy over a hundred meters wide appeared. It was a swirling mix of dark-gold, ice-blue, emerald-green, and pale-white colors.
First, the sphere expanded rapidly. It completely swallowed and destroyed the few remaining ruins of the Defense Clan manor. Immediately after that, the light sphere violently contracted inward.
Then, an even more destructive shockwave spread out in every direction. The ground was lifted up layer by layer. It was melted by the heat of the friction, frozen by the ultimate ice, and then pulverized into dust. Buildings within several miles collapsed like sandcastles being washed away by a tide.
The clouds in the sky were completely torn apart, revealing a distorted and changing sky behind them. The blinding light and the deafening roar became the only things that existed in the world at that moment. This scene looked exactly like the arrival of doomsday.
Tai Tan and Bai He had been hesitant after hearing Tang Hao's message, but witnessing this disaster changed their minds instantly. Any last trace of hope they had vanished. Only boundless fear remained in their eyes as they looked at the destruction.
"Go!"
Tai Tan shouted in a low voice. He couldn't care about anything else anymore. He reached out and grabbed Tang San, who was still dazed by the shock of the explosion. Together with Bai He, they pushed their speed to the absolute limit. They fled desperately toward the outside of Longxing City. They didn't even dare to look back at the center of the collision.
However, inside that terrifying explosion, things were not going well for Tang Hao. Even though the collision seemed evenly matched, or even looked like the dark-gold torrent had a slight advantage, Tang Hao's heart suddenly sank.
He felt the terrifying power he had gained from the Nine-Ring Explosion, which had briefly touched the threshold of the Divine Rank, was struggling. It was only barely holding off the invasion of the ice and snow storm. He could feel his power fading. He realized he didn't have enough follow-up energy to maintain the clash.
"How can this be? He seems to be able to perform a Ring Explosion too... Could it be..."
Before Tang Hao could finish that terrifying thought, Tang Chen's cold voice pierced through the loud roar of the energy. His words reached Tang Hao's ears with perfect clarity.
"Nine-Ring Explosion? The Profound Truth of the Great Sumeru Hammer? That is not bad at all. Unfortunately, if you know how to do it, I know how to do it too."
The moment those words were spoken, the six blood-red spirit rings at the front of Tang Chen's body reacted. These were hundred-thousand-year spirit rings, and they exploded together almost simultaneously, like a string of ignited firecrackers.
How terrifying is the energy released by six hundred-thousand-year spirit rings exploding at once? The energy that erupted in that instant was like six volcanoes exploding at the same time.
It poured into Tang Chen's body like a massive tsunami. Through a mysterious connection, he channeled all of that power without reservation into the Pride of the Two Ice and Snow Empresses.
With the massive boost from this new energy, the power of the ice and snow storm surged. It was no longer at a stalemate with the dark-gold torrent. The storm expanded rapidly. The ice blades inside grew denser and sharper. The chill of the Ultimate Ice became even deeper, as if it wanted to freeze and shred both space and time.
"What?!"
Tang Hao's pupils shrank to tiny pinpoints. He was horrified. His full-power Nine-Ring Explosion was being suppressed in an instant. The sound of cracking rang out. The dark-gold torrent he had worked so hard to create began to show cracks. Then, it was quickly eaten away and destroyed by the more violent ice storm.
"Pfft!"
In the next second, Tang Hao felt like he had been hit by a weight of ten thousand tons. Blood sprayed from his nose, mouth, and ears all at once. He was sent flying through the air like a broken sack. His spirit power defense completely collapsed. Immediately after, the cold of the Ultimate Ice swallowed him up.
"Ugh... ah..."
A short, painful groan escaped his lips. Ice crystals began to cover Tang Hao's body, his arms, his legs, and his head. It happened so fast that it was visible to the eye. In just a single moment, the famous and powerful Clear Sky Douluo had been defeated. Tang Hao had been turned into a frozen crystal ice sculpture, his eyes still wide open in shock.