Douluo Continent III Haotian Wulin

"start."

As soon as Wu Changkong finished speaking, Han Lan moved first.

She neither rushed forward nor retreated, but simply raised both hands simultaneously, palms facing upward, her movements remarkably steady. The white spirit ring beneath her feet glowed softly, and the earth-yellow spirit on her shoulder trembled slightly.

The next moment, a circle of earthy yellow light patterns suddenly lit up on the ground beneath Tang Wulin's feet.

His heart tightened, and almost instinctively he wanted to pull back with the hammer, but he was still half a step too slow.

Several stone pillars shot up from the ground without warning, moving with astonishing speed, and in the blink of an eye, they surrounded him. The pillars then closed in again, forming a sealed stone prison in a few breaths.

The sidelines immediately fell silent.

Han Lan won the first two matches using this tactic.

Her martial soul is earth element, and her first soul skill is also a control-based skill. It's not about suppression or injuring the enemy, but about trapping them first. If the opponent can't break free within ten seconds, the match is basically over.

Tang Wulin stood in the stone cell, neither bumping around nor immediately pushing the stone pillars.

He simply glanced around and then looked down at his feet.

Wu Changkong has already started counting down.

"ten."

Off the field, Han Lan's expression remained amiable, but her eyes were extremely serious.

She knew very well that her strength lay not in direct combat. She had already witnessed Tang Wulin's power, and if she allowed him to get close, she would have no chance whatsoever. Therefore, from the very beginning, she had no intention of giving him any chance to get near her.

Inside the stone cell, Tang Wulin slowly exhaled.

He didn't panic.

It wasn't that the stone prison in front of him wasn't strong enough, but rather that after the previous battles, he had learned that panicking was the most useless thing in actual combat. Now that Wu Changkong only gave him ten seconds, he couldn't think too much and could only use the most direct method.

With a flash of silver light, the Sinking Star Hammer fell into his palm.

As soon as he got his hands on the hammer, Tang Wulin immediately regained his composure.

"Nine."

Without waiting any longer, he gripped the hammer with both hands, took a step forward, and simultaneously exerted force from his waist and back, smashing the hammer directly into the narrowest point where the two stone pillars met in front of him.

There are no fancy designs.

Only the purest, most powerful strike.

"boom--"

With a muffled thud, the stone chips exploded violently.

Outside the stone cell, Han Lan's expression immediately changed.

Because the two stone pillars didn't hold firmly like they had when they trapped others, they were instead smashed open by the hammer blow, cracking into them. The cracks first burst open in the middle, then quickly spread upwards, covering the entire section of the stone pillar in just one breath.

Tang Wulin did not stop.

The first hammer fell, and the second hammer followed immediately.

Still in the same position, still exerting the same force.

"boom!"

This time, the stone pillar collapsed completely.

With the two stone pillars shattered, the entire structure of the stone prison was immediately destroyed, and the closed top also lost its support, causing rubble and dust to fall in a flurry. Tang Wulin swung his hammer forward and burst out through the gap.

The "eight" in Wu Changkong's name hadn't even been pronounced yet.

A commotion immediately broke out on the sidelines.

No one expected that Han Lan's almost unsolvable stone prison in the first two rounds would be broken in such a way by Tang Wulin.

It's not about escaping.

It's not a detour.

It's not about stubbornly holding on until the ten seconds are up.

Instead, they smashed it open.

Han Lan herself was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting it to happen so quickly.

But having already won two matches in a row, her reaction time wasn't slow. As soon as the stone prison broke, she immediately raised her hand, and two more stone spikes shot forward from the ground, trying to temporarily block Tang Wulin and create distance for herself.

But since Tang Wulin has already come out, he won't give her a second chance to make a complete arrangement.

He completely ignored the two stone spikes, sweeping the hammer horizontally, the force of the blows sending dust flying. The first stone spike was knocked askew on the spot, while the second was grazed by the hammer and shattered in half.

Tang Wulin took a step forward and was already in front of Han Lan.

The smile on Han Lan's face finally disappeared.

She subconsciously raised her hand, wanting to reinforce the concrete wall again.

But Tang Wulin didn't give her any time to form the hammer. The hammer head sank and stopped half a foot in front of her shoulder.

If we went any further, this hammer blow would have sent her flying.

"stop."

Wu Changkong opened his mouth.

Tang Wulin immediately put away his hammer.

Han Lan paused for a moment, then let out a soft breath. Her face was slightly pale, but she still nodded to Tang Wulin.

"I lost."

Tang Wulin nodded in response.

Wu Changkong looked at him, his eyes flickering slightly.

"good."

That's already considered a very high compliment.

But he followed up with another sentence:

"But your pause after the first strike was too short. Not all opponents will stand still and wait for you to strike the second strike like Han Lan did. In a real fight, your opponent could easily use the opening when you strike the second strike to retreat from the side."

Tang Wulin's heart stirred, and he carefully wrote it down.

Wu Changkong looked at Hanlan again.

"You lost because you were too confident in your soul skills. The stone prison is about control, not the result. After trapping the person, you stood too close. If the stone prison breaks, you won't have a second layer of preparation."

Hanlan lowered her head and responded.

After this round, only two players remained on the field.

Tang Wulin.

Thank you for the invitation.

Almost simultaneously, all eyes in Class 5 fell on these two.

This battle actually started yesterday.

From the dormitory battle to the East Sea Park battle, and now to today's actual combat, they fought all the way to the end. One was an 18th-level agility-type battle spirit master, and the other was an 11th-level hammer spirit master who had been dominating the fight all the way.

Everyone knows that this is the real decisive battle.

Xie Xie has already come out.

He stood in the center of the field, his eyes cold. Although the swelling on his face had mostly subsided, a trace of it remained. This made him look even more somber than usual.

Tang Wulin, carrying the Heavy Star Hammer, also walked into the arena.

He didn't look at the sidelines or think about anything else; he just calmed his breathing and gripped the hammer tighter.

At that moment, Wu Changkong did not immediately announce the start.

He glanced at Xie Xie and said calmly:

"There's one more match before you fight Tang Wulin."

Xie Xie was taken aback.

"What?"

Wu Changkong strode up to him, his tone completely flat.

"You and me."

A deathly silence fell over the sidelines.

Xie Xie even doubted that he had misheard.

"Teacher Wu, are you... joking?"

"Do I look like one?" Wu Changkong asked casually.

Xie Xie opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Wu Changkong continued:

"You currently have the highest soul power in Class 5. But your flaws are also the most obvious. You're too confident in your speed. You think that as long as you're faster than others, you can defeat them first."

As he said this, his eyes grew even colder.

Xie Xie's expression gradually froze.

Wu Changkong raised his hand and casually untied the thin belt from his waist.

No martial spirit, no spirit rings.

With a flick of his wrist, the soft belt instantly straightened, becoming slender and straight, like an unsharpened sword.

"I won't use my martial spirit." Wu Changkong looked at Xie Xie. "You just need to withstand one of my attacks."

No one on the sidelines dared to utter a sound.

Tang Wulin stood not far away, his gaze involuntarily sharpening.

He knew Wu Changkong was very strong, but no one had ever truly witnessed just how strong he was.

Xie Xie had already cursed in his heart.

A follow-up attack?

That's easy for you to say.

The person in front of them was a six-ring Soul Emperor. Even without using their Martial Soul, relying solely on their Soul Power and eyesight, they were someone that first-year students like them couldn't possibly mess with.

Ke Wu Chang Kong clearly didn't give him much time to think.

"Are you ready?"

Xie Xie gritted his teeth, and the Light Dragon Dagger appeared in his palm, while the yellow soul ring lit up at the same time.

"Come!"

Wu Changkong took a step forward.

The movements are slow.

At least in the eyes of others, his sword strike wasn't even that fast; it was just a very straight and steady thrust forward.

But Xie Xie's expression changed immediately.

Because at the very moment Wu Changkong made his move, he suddenly felt that he couldn't avoid it at all.

It wasn't that the opponent was actually that fast, but rather that the angle, timing, and distance of that sword strike were all incredibly precise. You could clearly see it coming, but no matter which way you dodged, it was as if you were deliberately sending yourself right in front of that sword.

Xie Xie retreated instantly.

He tapped his feet repeatedly, sliding backward while holding the Light Dragon Dagger horizontally in front of him, attempting to forcefully deflect the attack.

But it's no use.

The sword that the belt had transformed into was always in front of him.

It's unpleasant, yet it's always there.

The more they retreat, the closer they get; the more they retreat, the more oppressive they become.

In the final instant, Xie Xie even felt his breath being suppressed by the sword, and his back was covered in cold sweat.

He gritted his teeth and thrust the Light Dragon Dagger upwards with all his might.

"Snapped!"

It wasn't the clang of metal against metal.

Instead, it was an excessively crisp slap.

Just as they were about to collide, Wu Changkong's "sword" suddenly softened, and with a flick of his wrist, it struck Xie Xie's shoulder, sending him flying and rolling twice on the ground before he could barely stand.

Everyone on the sidelines was stunned.

Xie Xie himself turned deathly pale.

His shoulder ached, but what truly sent chills down his spine wasn't the blow itself, but the feeling he had when the sword was right in front of him—a feeling that he was about to die.

That was not an illusion.

It's a gap.

A gap large enough to send chills down one's spine.

Wu Changkong flicked his wrist, and the belt wrapped around his waist again, as if nothing had happened.

"Take a one-minute break."

After he finished speaking, he looked at Xie Xie.

"Then, the final."

Xie Xie stood there, his shoulders still slightly numb, but his expression was no longer as arrogant as before.

Tang Wulin watched from the side, his grip on the Sinking Star Hammer slowly tightening.

He suddenly understood why Wu Changkong wanted to fight Xie Xie first.

It's not meant to intimidate people.

It was not so that Xie Xie would know that speed is not everything; nor was it so that they would know that their current abilities were not even enough to put up a fight against a true powerhouse.

The wind blew across the playground; a minute is very short.

But for that entire minute, not a single person on the sidelines spoke.