The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was gone—utterly annihilated, reduced to ashes in the annals of history.
The land lay in ruins, drenched in blood, corpses strewn endlessly across the scorched earth like a scene from the depths of hell.
Liu Erlong trembled violently, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face. Her clan, her heritage—gone without a trace.
"WHO DID THIS?!"
Her furious roar echoed through the night as blue dragon flames erupted across her body, transforming her into a terrifying vision of wrath.
Behind her, Tang San and Flender instinctively took several steps back. Both men understood one universal truth all too well:
An enraged woman was fearsome—especially one like Liu Erlong, whose temper burned as fiercely as her dragon fire.
The destruction of her clan had awakened something primal within her.
"Sigh—" Flender exhaled heavily as he surveyed the mountain of corpses.
"How could the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan fall like this? Could it really be the Spirit Hall's doing?"
The Spirit Hall was his first suspicion—no other force on the continent possessed such capability.
A pang of regret struck him.
When he had married Liu Erlong, the clan had sent representatives—including her father, the same man who had once torn her and Yu Xiaogang apart.
Flender still remembered how the old man had smiled that day, grinning like a blooming chrysanthemum.
Why had he been so pleased?
Probably because of Yu Xiaogang.
The shame of two blood relatives marrying would have brought eternal disgrace upon the clan. That was why her father had intervened.
Now, all that remained were memories.
The fires raged on, illuminating the night sky with their hellish glow.
As the trio reached the clan's main gates, the full horror unfolded before them—nothing but lifeless bodies, extinguished forever.
Tang San crouched beside a corpse, examining it closely.
"The blood hasn't dried yet. The stench is overwhelming." His brow furrowed. "The Spirit Hall is behind this. I'm certain of it."
The Spirit Hall's ambition to destroy the three great clans was no secret.
For Tang San—who stood on the threshold of joining the Clear Sky Clan—annihilating the Spirit Hall and killing Ye Hao had become his sole purpose in life.
"Erlong..."
Flender placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, but words failed him.
He understood her agony all too well—that soul-crushing pain he wished never to experience again.
Step by step, they ascended the bloodstained stairs, Flender supporting Liu Erlong as her legs threatened to give way.
She clung to one desperate hope—that someone, anyone, might have survived.
But when they finally reached the heart of what had once been a glorious clan...
The sight that greeted them stole their breath away.
Mountains of corpses, all clad in the clan's distinctive robes.
Liu Erlong collapsed as if struck by lightning, nearly fainting on the spot.
"Erlong! Stay with me!" Flender caught her, his own hands shaking violently.
"Damn the Spirit Hall!" Tang San snarled, summoning his Clear Sky Hammer and smashing it into the ground with enough force to crater the earth.
Then his eyes widened with realization.
"The letters!"
He pulled out the two identical missives.
"Vice Dean Liu, Dean Flender—we've been tricked!" His voice turned urgent. "The Spirit Hall forged Teacher's handwriting! They exploited Vice Dean Liu's feelings to lure us here—just to witness this massacre firsthand. How cruel!"
Flender nodded grimly, scanning their surroundings.
"You're right. Something feels... staged about this."
He examined the letters briefly before tossing them aside. "Perfect forgeries. The Spirit Hall's resources are terrifying if they can replicate Xiaogang's writing so precisely. This was psychological warfare."
"But why?" Flender mused. "What do they gain from showing us this?"
Before he could ponder further, Liu Erlong snatched the letters from Tang San's hands.
Her once-treasured mementos now filled her with loathing.
With a furious scream, she shredded them—these cursed papers that had heralded her clan's doom.
"WHO DESTROYED THEM? SHOW YOURSELF!"
Then—movement in the flames.
A ragged figure emerged from the inferno, stumbling toward them.
Instantly, all three summoned their martial souls.
After two and a half years of training, both Liu Erlong and Flender had reached the eight-ring Soul Douluo rank—the Fire Dragon and Owl martial souls materializing in flashes of light.
Tang San's Blue Silver Grass erupted across the ground as six soul rings appeared beneath him. His eyes glowed purple with the power of the Purple Demon Eye.
Flender charged first, golden feathers coating his body as he transformed into a deadly avian predator.
Eager to prove himself in Liu Erlong's eyes, he saw this mysterious intruder as his chance—especially now that Yu Xiaogang was surely dead.
But when Tang San's enhanced vision pierced through the smoke, his blood ran cold.
"DEAN FLENDER! STOP!"
"Huh?"
Flender turned, confused—but it was too late.
His razor-sharp talons had already pierced the stranger's chest.
Blood dripped onto the scorched earth as Flender stared at the face beneath the tattered hood—then back at Liu Erlong, who was now sprinting toward them with a scream that would haunt his dreams forever.
"Xiao... Xiaogang? You... you're really alive?" Flender stammered in shock, his voice trembling uncontrollably.
Warm blood dripped from his right hand as he slowly retracted his eagle talons from Yu Xiaogang's chest. His eyes widened in horror, his steps faltering backward.
"I... I killed him? I actually... killed Xiaogang with my own hands..." Flender collapsed to the ground, staring at the dying Yu Xiaogang with overwhelming guilt, utterly lost for words.
His best brother—dead by his own hand. The weight of this sin crushed his soul.
Hidden nearby using the Death God's Heart, Ye Hao watched this unfold with equal astonishment.
He had planned to use Yu Xiaogang to eliminate the Golden Iron Triangle in one fell swoop. Never had he imagined Flender would accidentally kill Yu Xiaogang himself.
"Were they even brothers?" Ye Hao muttered in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Liu Erlong rushed to cradle the dying Yu Xiaogang in her arms—only for him to reject her with surprising strength.
With trembling fingers, Yu Xiaogang pointed first at Liu Erlong, then at Flender. His eyelids grew heavy, his breathing shallow—death was moments away.
"Flender... and you... I loved you so much. Yet... you entangled yourself with him... I'm... so disappointed..."
With these final words, Yu Xiaogang's hand fell limp. His body stilled, blood pooling around him as life faded from his eyes.
Killed by a Soul Douluo—no one could survive such a wound.
Silence.
Absolute silence.
For Liu Erlong, Flender, and Tang San alike, the weight of this moment was unbearable.
None had anticipated this outcome—that Yu Xiaogang would die by Flender's hand.
In that instant, Tang San's view of Flender changed irrevocably.
The man who had been like a second father to him was now dead—not by the Spirit Hall's doing, but by the hands of his so-called "sworn brother."
The irony was cruel.
"XIAOGANG!"
Liu Erlong could hold back no longer. She threw herself onto Yu Xiaogang's cold corpse, wailing uncontrollably before turning venomous eyes toward Flender.
In that moment, Flender's heart shattered just as thoroughly.
He hadn't meant to do it.
With the clan destroyed, he—as their son-in-law—had been grieving too. He never imagined the ragged figure could be Yu Xiaogang, whom they'd believed dead for years.
"Flender... I hate you!"
Those three words broke Flender completely. He collapsed to his knees, his heart fracturing into pieces.
The pain rivaled even the act of killing Yu Xiaogang. He knew now—Liu Erlong would never forgive him. Her love for Yu Xiaogang had never faded.
Her earlier willingness to accept him had merely been her trying to move on. But the Spirit Hall's letters had reawakened her old feelings, leading to this tragedy.
For all three—Liu Erlong, Tang San, and Flender himself—the shock was unimaginable.
"Sigh..."
Ye Hao emerged from the Death God's Heart, approaching the devastated trio with measured steps.
"Flender, I never expected... you'd kill Yu Xiaogang yourself."
At his appearance, their grief transformed into rage. Martial souls flared anew as the three united against their true enemy.
"Ye Hao!" Liu Erlong screamed through tears. "Was it you who destroyed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?"
Even with the evidence before her, she needed to hear it from his lips.
"Yes." Ye Hao nodded without hesitation. The clan's destruction was inevitable—merely one step in the Spirit Hall's unification of the continent.
"WHY?"
Blue flames erupted around Liu Erlong as she charged like a vengeful goddess, her furious strikes wild and uncoordinated.
Ye Hao dodged effortlessly without even summoning his martial soul. In her current state, a single soul skill from him would end her instantly.
With a simple pivot, he kicked her away.
"This is destiny—the inevitable unification of Douluo Continent. I'm merely its instrument."
"Liu Erlong, the moment Yu Xiaogang conspired with Tang Hao and Tang Xiao to kill me, you should have foreseen this day."
"Hmph!" Tang San's face twisted with hatred. "Ye Hao, you deserve death a thousand times over! You killed my father, murdered Xiao Wu before my eyes—a monster like you shouldn't exist!"
Unfazed, Ye Hao pointed accusingly.
"I never claimed to be good. But you? A hypocrite who judges who lives or dies on a whim. What gives you that right? A half-human, half-soul beast hybrid like you has no place lecturing me!"
Tang San's features contorted grotesquely.
"SHUT UP!"
His Slaughter Domain exploded outward as the Clear Sky Hammer materialized in his grip. His teacher's death demanded vengeance.
Seeing his fury, Liu Erlong and Flender joined the assault, all three launching themselves at Ye Hao simultaneously...