Chapter 162: Keeping Tang Hao as Bait to Hook Bigger Fish, Is This Kind of Battle Record Reasonable?
"No, if I return to the sect looking like this, not only will I fail to protect Xiao San, but I might not even be able to enter the mountain gate."
Tang Hao took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
He quickly began thinking of countermeasures.
And if he remembered correctly, his younger sister, Tang Yuehua, was currently in Heaven Dou City, at Moon Pavilion, serving as its head.
"Perhaps I should find some time to go see her."
"Through Yuehua's connections, I can first probe the sect's attitude before making any plans."
Fortunately, Heaven Dou Imperial Academy was built on a mountain outside the city, not within Heaven Dou City itself.
Meanwhile, Moon Pavilion was located in the bustling district inside the city, with dozens of kilometers separating the two.
Presumably, as long as Lin Yuan's master wasn't deliberately conducting a large-scale search, he shouldn't be able to sense what was happening within the city.
On the other side, inside Lin Yuan's dormitory at Heaven Dou Imperial Academy.
A flash of silver light appeared, and Zhao Yun's figure silently manifested in the center of the room.
"My lord, I have repelled Tang Hao and given him a small lesson."
Zhao Yun knelt on one knee, respectfully reporting to Lin Yuan.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, Zhao Yun took Tang Hao's severed arm out of his soul tool.
Residual soul power still faintly fluctuated on the severed limb, and the blood had already coagulated.
Zhao Yun did not directly hand over the bloody object to Lin Yuan. Instead, he circulated the soul power within his body.
Using soul power as guidance, he carefully stripped away the flesh from the arm.
A moment later, an eighty-thousand-year right arm soul bone, radiating a deep black light, was completely extracted by him using soul power.
Looking at the severed arm and the soul bone, Lin Yuan's expression remained calm.
He was not surprised at all.
With Zhao Yun's terrifying strength as a rank ninety-nine dual-core Ultimate Douluo, even if Tang Hao wanted to escape, it was absolutely impossible for him to do so without paying a painful price.
This eighty-thousand-year soul bone was that price.
Zhao Yun disposed of the severed arm and respectfully handed the eighty-thousand-year soul bone to Lin Yuan.
After completing all this, Zhao Yun stood in place, his brows slightly furrowed, as if hesitating about something.
In the end, he could not hold back and voiced his confusion: "My lord, there is something I do not understand."
"Why did you only instruct me to teach Tang Hao a lesson and sever one of his arms, instead of taking his life directly?"
In Zhao Yun's view, tonight's battle had been completely one-sided.
With his current terrifying strength, even if Tang Hao went all out and exploded all nine soul rings to unleash the Great Sumeru Hammer—
He still would not be able to break Zhao Yun's "Immovable as a Mountain" absolute defense.
Because even if Tang Hao used every ounce of his strength and all his techniques, that single hammer strike would at most reach the full power of a rank ninety-seven Super Douluo.
But Zhao Yun was a genuine rank ninety-nine Ultimate Douluo!
Moreover, he possessed dual soul cores of lightning and spiritual attributes. The depth of his foundation was far beyond that of ordinary Ultimate Douluo.
No matter how one looked at it, he held absolute dominance over Tang Hao in every aspect.
While fighting Tang Hao just now, Zhao Yun had even felt a certain ease, like a cat playing with a mouse.
The only unexpected variable was that Tang Hao, in order to escape, had stooped so low as to harm innocent female students.
For this, Zhao Yun, who had lived his life upright and honorable, felt deep contempt.
If his lord had given a kill order, he could have blocked Tang Hao's attack on the dormitory while simultaneously piercing his head with a single spear strike!
Lin Yuan looked at the eighty-thousand-year soul bone in his hand, a faint smile forming at the corner of his lips.
He had long anticipated Zhao Yun's question and replied calmly, "Zilong, do you think killing Tang Hao now would bring us the greatest benefit?"
Lin Yuan shook his head and continued, "If we let him die now, it would be too early."
"I intend to use him as bait to draw out the Clear Sky Sect that has been hiding in the shadows."
"Moreover, Tang Hao is connected to many forces."
"Through him, we can lure out all those who harbor hostility toward us, all potential enemies, one by one."
"When they have all gathered together, we will sweep them away in a single net and eliminate them in one stroke."
This strategy is also known as "letting out a long line to catch a big fish."
It is also called "a cat playing with a mouse."
With Zhao Yun present, any scheme Tang Hao attempted would be nothing more than a clown's act.
Any conspiracy or trickery is insignificant in the face of absolute power!
Hearing his lord's far-sighted plan, Zhao Yun suddenly understood.
"My lord is wise."
However, Lin Yuan's intentions went far beyond this.
There was one extremely crucial point he did not mention to Zhao Yun.
That was, Tang Hao possessed the Death God Domain!
And the Death God Domain was, in essence, formed from a trace of the Asura God's divine power.
Lin Yuan had long harbored a bold hypothesis he wanted to test.
He wanted to know whether Zhao Yun's overwhelming, one-sided suppression of Tang Hao tonight, pushing him into a life-and-death crisis—
Would such an extreme situation be sensed by the lofty Asura God?
Would the Asura God, seeing the father of his chosen successor being suppressed, secretly offer Tang Hao some form of assistance?
Although the Asura God could not descend to the mortal realm, using the Death God Domain to provide some subtle support should still be possible.
Lin Yuan had always held great doubts about Tang Hao's battle back then in the original story.
At that time, when Tang Hao faced the elite forces of Spirit Hall in pursuit, he had only just broken through to become a Titled Douluo level.
Yet he managed to escape successfully from Spirit Hall's inescapable net of pursuit?
That was simply unbelievable!
One had to know just how luxurious the lineup of that hunting operation was.
Aside from Qian Xunji, the rank ninety-five Super Douluo Pope who personally led the team—
There were also Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo, two super experts possessing the Martial Soul fusion skill, Polar Static Domain.
And even two additional unnamed Titled Douluo elders from Spirit Hall accompanied them!
A total of five Titled Douluo!
And what was the result?
Those two unnamed Titled Douluo actually died on the spot because of Tang Hao's ring explosion and the Great Sumeru Hammer!
Qian Xunji was severely injured, and even Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo were wounded.
If one were to say that there was no divine interference from the God Realm behind Tang Hao, no hidden intervention of divine power—
Lin Yuan simply would not believe it, even if beaten to death!
Tang Hao, a newly advanced Titled Douluo, fought one against five and forcibly killed two unnamed Titled Douluo!
If Qian Xunji, who was severely injured, were also counted, then it could barely be considered that he took down three!
Not to mention that the Spirit Hall team at the time also had a group of Soul Douluo and Soul Saint assisting from the side.
Was such a battle record reasonable?
Now compare this with the later events in the original story.
Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Yu Yuanzhen of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan—how did they perform when facing Spirit Hall's hunting operation?
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{T/N: I completely agree with this. Previously, I felt that these fanfic authors were exaggerating things, but after reading the original work, I found many plot holes and unreasonable elements that didn't make sense. Without including conspiracy theories, I believe the Douluo Dalu story is incomplete, and I am referring to its first three parts.}
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