Chapter 1623: Clash

This was an attack that struck on both the physical and mental level, and it was not to be faced head-on. If he were to be struck by another Nether Slash, his exposed soul could be damaged, and that could result in catastrophic consequences.

Qiangu Qingfeng was also quite surprised by Tang Wulin's strength.

Even though his Nether Slash was only his second soul skill, it was his core soul skill, just like Lan Muzi's Spring Sun and White Snow. Once he forced his opponent's soul out of their body, all of his subsequent attacks would be far more damaging to his opponent. At the same time, his Nether Slash was a ferocious attack that condensed all of his strength and soul power. Countless opponents had been unable to withstand even a single Nether Slash in his past battles, yet not only had Tang Wulin managed to withstand it, he had managed to use his Golden Dragon Spear to send the Purgatory Halberd flying when the former was far thinner than the latter. 

Even with his Limit Douluo level powers, he hadn't been able to gain even the slightest upper hand in that clash. Even though Qiangu Qingfeng wasn't a quasigod yet, he was still a veteran demigod, and with the special nature of his Purgatory Halberd that targeted the opponent's soul, even Qiangu Dongfeng couldn't match him in battle.

However, his demigod level soul power had been unable to crush Tang Wulin, and that was sufficient testament to just how immense Tang Wulin's pure strength was.

Qiangu Qingfeng couldn't help but be struck by a sense of intrigue. 

As expected, this outrageously young Tang Sect Master and Sea God's Pavilion Master really was quite special.

Right at this moment, the Golden Dragon Spear was thrust forward again, and it was still Fury of the Masses that was unleashed, but the attack was also accompanied by a thunderous dragon's roar.

A massive golden dragon head erupted out of Tang Wulin's body, and the deafening dragon's roar surged throughout heaven and earth, forcibly drowning out the sound of the Frost Symphony Guzheng.

Even with his Purgatory Halberd held horizontally before him, Qiangu Qingfeng was still struck by a burst of enormous force, and he was stunned by how drastically Tang Wulin's strength had increased.

Unbeknownst to him, he was facing Tang Wulin's Golden Dragon Tyrant Body, which meant that he was essentially having to withstand both Tang Wulin's attack and his own attack.

Most of the journalists and spectators down below weren't aware of who Qiangu Qingfeng was, but the media had all the answers!

Some television stations had already begun an exhaustive search, and Qiangu Qingfeng and his origins were quickly being introduced.

He was the blood brother of the current Spirit Pagoda Chairman, and was very likely to be a Limit Douluo as well.

In addition to Qiangu Dieting, who had already reached the quasigod level, the Qiangu Family had already displayed three Limit Douluos, and it was no wonder that the family was the dominant force in the Spirit Pagoda. On top of that, there was Heavenly Phoenix Douluo Leng Yaozhu, which amounted to four Limit Douluos in total in the Spirit Pagoda. This was already an astonishing lineup, and no one knew whether the Spirit Pagoda had even more Limit Douluos among its ranks. At the very least, it was almost a foregone conclusion that Silver Dragon Princess Gu Yuena was going to become a Limit Douluo in the future.

Just as Tang Wulin had been very confident in A'Ruheng and Sima Jinchi, Qiangu Dongfeng was extremely confident in this pair.

Provoking Shrek Academy had been part of his plan from the very beginning, and he was going to take advantage of this opportunity to display the true power of the Spirit Pagoda to everyone.

Shrek Academy had officially re-emerged during the joust for a spouse event, and some of the powers in the military, including the Battle God Hall, had begun to switch their allegiance. This was partially due to the sway of Shrek Academy, but also because the Spirit Pagoda was simply too powerful.

An almighty organization was something that none of the major powers in the federation wanted to see.

With its artificial black soul spirits and Myriad Beast Plane, the Spirit Pagoda had been able to earn astronomical profits in a very short time, and they possessed an extremely high level of influence in the federal parliament.

It was exactly because of this that all of the other major powers had become very wary of the Spirit Pagoda, and they were beginning to become more reserved in their support toward the Spirit Pagoda.

After an internal meeting in the Spirit Pagoda, a decision was made.

There would be no way to win back the favor of these major powers through appeasement or bribery as none of that changed the fact that the Spirit Pagoda was constantly becoming more and more powerful. As such, they decided to go with the flow and make all other powers even warier of the Spirit Pagoda.

Wariness to a certain degree would turn into fear, and fear was something that the Spirit Pagoda could use to further exert its control.

Currently, the Spirit Pagoda was expanding at a rapid rate.

The Myriad Beast Plane and artificial black soul spirits had allowed them to recruit a massive number of powerful Soul Masters, and the Spirit Pagoda was more powerful than it had ever been. As this trend continued, a fundamental change was inevitable.

As such, not only were they trying to ruin Shrek Academy's enrollment here, they were also flexing their muscles to intimidate all those who had begun to deviate away from the Spirit Pagoda.

Qiangu Dieting had invited Qiangu Qingfeng to participate in this clash in person as he was the only one in the entire Spirit Pagoda that had any sway over this eldest son of his.

Qiangu Qingfeng was currently one of the 36 core members of the Spirit Pagoda. The chairman and vice-chairmen were both core members, but even spirit envoys weren't considered to be core members of the Spirit Pagoda, with the exception of Gu Yuena, who was being heavily endorsed to become a new core member.

Gu Yuena had proven herself through her display of power, while Qiangu Zhangting hadn't even made it into the final 10 of the joust for a spouse event. He would only have a chance at becoming a core member of the Spirit Pagoda if Spirit Academy could flourish with him at the helm.

It was exactly due to Qiangu Dongfeng's confidence in his brother that he was paying extra attention to Qiangu Qingfeng's clash against Tang Wulin.

Just as he had feared, Tang Wulin was developing far too quickly.

To his astonishment, Tang Wulin was able to directly withstand Qiangu Qingfeng's Purgatory Halberd with his strength alone.

He had once been defeated by Qiangu Qingfeng, so he was well aware of just how heavy the Purgatory Halberd was. He was absolutely certain that Tang Wulin had made a major breakthrough to the Hyper Douluo level. He was already a Hyper Douluo in his twenties; was this the true power of Shrek Academy?

Tang Wulin's rapid rate of progression was truly inexplicable to him. Furthermore, he had proven to everyone that he was a Divine Blacksmith through the new pieces of four-word battle armor that had appeared in the Shrek Academy camp. There was no way that Zhen Hua would've been able to create so many pieces of four-word battle armor in his current condition!

This young man was truly blessed by the heavens, and it was imperative for him to be cut down before he could fully develop. In Tang Wulin, Qiangu Dongfeng could clearly see the shadow of the past Yun Ming.

He could clearly recall the first time that he had seen Yun Ming; that was during the battle between Yun Ming and his father.

At the time, their cultivation ranks were quite comparable, but Qiangu Dieting was dominated from start to finish. That had been a very traumatic experience for Qiangu Dieting, and it took him 30 years longer than anticipated to reach the quasigod level.