Chapter 546: Tang Chen's Wager

"Long time no see, Golden Crocodile Douluo."

A majestic, scarlet figure descended from the sky. His entire body radiated a dense, bloody aura, and he held a giant blood-red sword in his hand. The pressure it emitted was enough to make the hundreds of thousands of troops present struggle to breathe.

"Long time no see? Do you know me?" Golden Crocodile Douluo asked in confusion; he did not recognize Tang Chen at first glance.

In truth, Tang Chen's appearance had changed too much since those years.

His Slaughter King state had not been dispelled; otherwise, he would have died completely within a few days, just like in the original story.

With the help of the Asura God, he had merely allowed his own willpower to suppress the Bat King's willpower. In reality, that Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King was still inside his body, which was the only way for him to stay alive.

"Wait, that's not right. Why are you also able to enjoy the amplification of the Haotian Formation?"

Golden Crocodile Douluo immediately discovered the most wrong part; this guy's Slaughter Domain also seemed to have its range expanded under the blessing of the Haotian Formation.

That was why he had clearly been outside the range just a moment ago, yet was suddenly restricted.

"Naturally, it is because I am also a Clear Sky Douluo!" Tang Chen switched the sword to his left hand, waved his right hand, and a massive Clear Sky Hammer appeared in his grip.

"Clear Sky Hammer? Clear Sky Douluo, you cannot be Tang Hao. C-could it be that you are Tang Chen!" Golden Crocodile Douluo finally remembered something and shouted in horror.

Although Tang Chen had not appeared for decades, it had only ever been said that he was missing; no one had ever seen his corpse.

"Having not visited the continent for decades, I fear that apart from you old friends, no one else would recognize this old man," Tang Chen said calmly. "Spirit Hall, you really are something. In the decades I have been missing, you have suppressed my Clear Sky Sect to such an extent, killed my two nephews, and caused the deaths of Hao'er and his wife and child. These blood debts must truly be repaid today!"

By the end of his words, Tang Chen's tone had shifted from calm to anger, and his killing intent overflowed, chilling everyone present to the bone.

Having served as the Slaughter King for so many years, his killing intent could already be called the greatest on the entire continent.

Even if all the Slaughter Gods still alive on the continent were added together, they could not compare to him in terms of the magnitude of killing intent.

"The Slaughter King... is Tang Chen?" Hu Liena's eyes were filled with despair. As one of the Slaughter Gods, she could feel the terror of the Slaughter King's Slaughter Domain more than ordinary people.

This was likely a weakened version of the domain that covered the entire Slaughter City. Under this domain, all Spirit Rings were rendered unusable.

Coupled with the fact that Tang Chen was already a Limit Douluo in strength.

In a situation where Spirit Rings could not be used, even Golden Crocodile Douluo combined with Lion Douluo would not be a match for him in a single exchange.

"Tang Chen, if you dare to kill us, the Great Elder will certainly not let you off!" Lion Douluo roared angrily.

His heart was filled with self-reproach; it was all because of his recklessness that he had been schemed against by his opponent and trapped deep within their formation. Now, even the Second Offering had been restrained by the Haotian Formation and the Slaughter Domain in order to save him.

If Golden Crocodile Douluo died here, he would never be able to atone for it even with a hundred deaths. He immediately roared, "Tang Chen, if you have the ability, fight me fair and square one-on-one. Using schemes and tricks to restrict us with a formation—what kind of Clear Sky Douluo is that?"

"Fight me one-on-one?" Tang Chen shook his head. "You do not have that qualification yet. Qian Daoliu would be about right. However, you are right. If I were to deal with you personally and still use a formation, that would truly be overestimating you. I will give you a chance: as long as you can withstand eighty-one strikes from my Xiao'er within the Haotian Formation, this old man will spare your lives today."

"Are your words true?" Golden Crocodile Douluo knew he was no match for Tang Chen, and at this moment, he did not care about face.

If it were Tang Xiao, he believed he still had some success rate in blocking eighty-one strikes.

"Naturally true. Even for the sake of Qian Daoliu, I would not deign to lie to you!" Tang Chen turned around. "Go, Xiao'er. It is up to you to avenge our clansmen and Hao'er!" In truth, if he could, Tang Chen would of course want to take action personally and resolve them completely.

But alas, he was currently a glass cannon. If he really fought a battle, it would naturally not be difficult to resolve the two fellows opposite him, but his body would not be able to hold up.

And this point was something he could not let the Spirit Empire see, otherwise, he would lose his deterrent effect over the Spirit Empire.

As long as the Spirit Empire did not know his true situation, then after this war today, they would not dare to rashly attack Star Luo again, and Tang San would also be able to gain enough time to grow.

"Yes!" Tang Xiao naturally obeyed Tang Chen's every word.

Or rather, this was exactly what he wanted.

"Brother, pass down the order: the entire army is to retreat, withdrawing back to Gengxin City as much as possible," Hu Liena ordered.

"Sister, why? We are not at a disadvantage on the battlefield," Xie Yue said unwillingly.

In terms of the Spirit Master Legion, they clearly had the advantage, and in terms of the army, after they had confiscated all the weapons, armor, and even Hidden Weapons forged in Gengxin City, they were not inferior to the Star Luo army.

"It's useless. This superficial advantage is not worth mentioning to a Limit Douluo," Hu Liena shook her head. "Tang Chen's appearance means the direction of this battle is already completely controlled by him. We can only follow his rules of the game. What we can do now is only to preserve our strength as much as possible and defend the city; only then will there be a glimmer of hope for victory!"

"Damn it, Limit Douluo, this is a Limit Douluo!" Xie Yue and Yan clenched their fists in frustration.

To decide the direction of a war with a single word—this kind of overwhelming power was not something any scheme could counter.

They suddenly thought that Nan Feihuang already possessed such power. If he were here today, he would probably already be fighting Tang Chen.

Yet they could do nothing and could only act according to Tang Chen's orders.

Seeing the Spirit Empire's army begin to retreat while fighting, withdrawing in an orderly fashion toward Gengxin City, Golden Crocodile Douluo rarely revealed a look of satisfaction.

Although he did not like Hu Liena, who had occupied Qian Renxue's position as Saintess, this time, he recognized her excellence and decisiveness.

Whether it was yesterday's surprise attack or the current retreat, the orders were quite timely and accurate.

It could minimize the casualties of the Spirit Empire to the greatest extent.

With the army handed over to Hu Liena to command, he felt at ease. He turned his head and looked seriously at Tang Xiao. "Tang Xiao, come. Let us two brothers meet you!"

"Hmph, to show respect, since you cannot use soul skills, then I shall not use them either, so that you will lose and be convinced!" Tang Xiao said.

These words were spoken with the demeanor of a powerhouse, which could make others feel admiration for him as the Clear Sky Sect Master.

But those familiar with the Clear Sky Sect knew that their nine Spirit Rings were mostly for show. The biggest factor that made the Clear Sky Hammer renowned as a Top-level Spirit, and even the number one Tool Spirit in the world, was not the Clear Sky Hammer itself.

It was the several sets of Clear Sky Sect Self-created Soul Skills that complemented the Clear Sky Hammer, so not using soul skills was a restriction for ordinary people.

But for a Title Douluo of the Clear Sky Sect, it had no effect at all.

Golden Crocodile Douluo scoffed in disdain, thinking to himself, "What kind of skill is not using soul skills? If you really want to be fair, have the guts to not use the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes!"

(End of chapter)