Tang San remained silent, his gaze fixed sternly on his sister, awaiting her choice.
Though he loathed the idea of serving others or recruiting them into the family business, he...
...equally did not want his sister to be in danger.
"Sui Sui... surrender... your body can't withstand any more injuries!"
Xiao Wu bit her lip, speaking with difficulty.
For a moment, everyone urged Tang Sui not to ruin her promising future with her current stubbornness.
Titan also awaited Tang Sui's answer.
Amidst all the dissuading voices, Tang Sui's eyes remained unwavering, a resolute light blooming in her blue irises.
"Never. I will decide my own future."
Upon hearing this, Titan's expression stiffened, tinged with regret. His gaze darkened, the surrounding air surged and distorted, and a pressure several times greater than before descended upon Tang Sui.
"If that's the case, then don't blame me for not holding back."
Titan's voice was regretful, yet equally firm.
For such a talent, if he could not obtain her, he would not let other sects poach her.
"Kong Kong—"
The moment the pressure descended, a black and red light flashed in Tang Sui's eyes. The ape mask, which had been within the barrier, trembled slightly and vanished from its spot. In the next instant, it appeared on Titan's face!
"What?!"
Titan was startled, having no time to react.
"Grandfather!"
"Dad!"
Tai Long and Tai Nuo's exclamations lasted for a second before silence fell.
His vision stripped away, Titan felt his spiritual perception pulled into a silent, dark space. All his senses amplified, time stretched infinitely, and his mind, though thinking clearly, seemed to be stuck in place, as if caught in a deep vortex, unable to escape or withdraw.
Outside, Titan remained frozen with his hand raised as if to tear off the mask. All the pressure directed at Tang Sui dissipated due to his rigid state.
The ape mask, upon appearing on Titan's face, instantly entered its attack form, doubling Tang Sui's spiritual power, blood, and other attributes. With her superior spiritual power to Titan's, Tang Sui pulled Titan into a terrifying nightmare, paralyzing him.
This was her confidence when she proposed to Grandmaster to participate in solo soul duels.
Even then, she could manipulate the ape mask, ignoring space and pressure, to appear instantly where she desired.
The attack form was activated because the terrifying nightmare was only effective against soul masters or soul beasts with spiritual power lower than hers.
Titan's soul power level was far higher than hers, so she had no choice but to resort to this tactic.
"Good heavens, it actually managed to appear on the mask without anyone noticing and be worn directly on the face?! Who could possibly defend against that?!"
Zhao Wuji, watching from the sidelines, felt a chill run down his spine, goosebumps rising on his arms, as he saw Titan, whose willpower was several times stronger than his own, being instantly incapacitated by the ape mask.
If even Titan, with his higher soul power and spiritual power, could be held captive by Sui girl, then he would be even more...
Thinking that he had just joined in urging Tang Sui to surrender, Zhao Wuji's expression became incredibly colorful.
Tang Sui, whose aura had suddenly changed, looked at the entrapped Titan with her dark, deep eyes, squinting. She suppressed the urge to use her fourth soul skill to simply knock Titan out, thinking it would be awkward if she failed to knock him out and only managed to wake him up.
"Xiao San, what is this?!" Xiao Wu, who had never witnessed such an attack method, looked at Tang San with utter bewilderment. Tang San also appeared astonished, seeing Tang Sui use such an unusual combat method for the first time.
"This... I'm seeing this for the first time too."
Tang San had never imagined that Tang Sui's mask possessed such an ability!
While feeling happy for his sister, Tang San also felt a pang of unease in his heart.
He knew that the gap between him and Tang Sui had widened again, and he was further from his goal of being strong enough to protect his sister and other loved ones.
The last bit of scarlet light from the incense candle burned out amidst the stunned stares of Tai Long and Tai Nuo. The final wisps of ash drifted into the air, signaling the end of the duel.
Oscar, watching the burnt-out incense, cheered and raised his voice, "The time for one incense stick is up! Sui Sui and her group have won!!"
The moment Oscar announced it, Tang Sui raised her hand and flicked it through the air. The ape mask on Titan's face instantly flew off his rugged features, shaking a few times in mid-air as if it had been burned by fire.
A faint gleam flashed in the vacant fox eyes of the fox mask, and a hint of human-like pity could be seen.
Alas, the ape mask had been on someone else's face before, how unfortunate.
It suddenly felt like being stepped on by anyone other than Tang Sui was nothing.
Feeling impure, the ape mask rushed towards Tang Sui, who had just disengaged her attack, and bobbed up and down, its bell-sized red pupils flashing, as if pleading for something, with a rather pitiful demeanor.
'Hurry and get me water to wash my face! I've been defiled by a two-legged beast! I need dew to wash it!'
The ape mask's angry and aggrieved voice echoed in Tang Sui's mind. Tang Sui's eye twitched. She took out the flower dew she had collected and bottled from leaves early in the morning when she was with Tang Hao from her Purple Crystal Jade Bangle and sprinkled it onto the impatient ape mask in front of the newly conscious Titan.
Titan, who had just regained his senses: "..."
The little girl had the leisure to wash her mask?
Was he, the Great Strength God, dead?!
His face darkened, his mustache bristled, and he was about to unleash pressure on Tang Sui again when Tang Sui, sensing something, looked up and directly met his gaze, preempting him:
"Senior Titan, the duel has already ended."
Ended?!
Titan's face showed a look of astonishment. Disbelieving, he turned his head to look in the direction where the incense had been thrown.
Oscar, blocking his view, smartly stepped back, revealing the naturally burnt-out incense stick. Only then did Titan truly believe that in the blink of an eye, the duel had ended!
So... he had lost?!
Titan, usually composed, displayed a rare hint of confusion on his face.