Tang Wulin had been keeping an eye on Zhang Geyang this entire time, and a disdainful smile appeared on his face at the sight of Zhang Geyang's infuriated attack.

His golden spear was thrust forward like lightning, and he was displaying no fear in the face of this rank 98 Hyper Douluo. He stepped forward with his left foot, and bright greenish-golden light suddenly erupted from his body. His golden spear also took on a greenish-golden color, and countless vines surged forward around the spear.

The vines resembled powerful giant dragons, and as they clashed with the blue flames around Zhang Geyang's body, a thunderous boom instantly rang out.

Not only was the rank 98 Zhang Geyang stopped cold in his tracks, the greenish-golden spear instantly reached his chest, and his brows furrowed tightly as he lashed out in retaliation.

He swung his right fist through the air, and the fist took on an azure jade-like appearance as it struck the tip of the spear.

"Clang!" A loud metallic clang rang out as Tang Wulin's momentum was completely halted, while Zhang Geyang shot back several dozens of meters in the blink of an eye as if he had just been shocked by electricity.

He looked down at his own fist to find that a small puncture wound had been inflicted on it, and the edge of the hole had turned grey in color. If he hadn't reacted as quickly as he did, it was very possible that he would've lost this hand altogether.

How could this be? Was he really only a Soul Douluo?

"Zhang Geyang, do you really think there's no one in our Tang Sect to keep you in check?" the Smiling Douluo bellowed in an enraged manner before leaping off the rostrum and onto the competition platform.

"Stop!" En Ci also quickly descended from the rostrum before raising a hand toward the Smiling Douluo, then turned toward Zhang Geyang with a dark expression. "Branch Chairman Zhang, you owe our empire an explanation and apology after this. You are currently representing the empire, not the Spirit Pagoda."

Zhang Geyang had unleashed that attack against Tang Wulin as his rage had made him lose his sense of reason, but after calming down now, he immediately realized that this wasn't the right place to be targeting Tang Wulin.

He cast his gaze toward the young man who had just forced him back into retreat, and a chill ran down his spine. This young man was far more powerful than he had imagined. He hadn't held back at all in that attack, yet not only was Tang Wulin able to withstand the attack, he had even managed to harm Zhang Geyang in retaliation. There was no way that he was only a Soul Douluo!

This piece of information was extremely important; he had to go back and report this to the higher-ups of the Spirit Pagoda. Since when did such a powerful young man appear in the federation? Why didn't the Spirit Pagoda headquarters have any detailed information on him? If this young man were allowed to develop for another 10 years or 20 years, who would be able to oppose him?

Zhang Geyang didn't say anything further, and he turned to leave as he waved a hand toward the Infernal Lightning Vine. He didn't know why his soul spirit had suddenly betrayed him, but it presumably had something to do with Tang Wulin's Great Beast soul spirit. He would be able to figure out the exact reason behind this once he went back and carefully assessed the Infernal Lightning Vine's emotional fluctuations.

However, much to his surprise, the Infernal Lightning Vine didn't heed his call at all.

Immediately thereafter, its segmented vines stood up on end, and a string of rumbling booms rang out as both the Infernal Lightning Vine and Zhang Geyang shuddered violently.

Zhang Geyang threw up a mouthful of blood, while large cracks appeared all over the Infernal Lightning Vine's body.

The Beautiful Silk Tulip waved a hand through the air, and a burst of greenish-golden light shone down upon the Infernal Lightning Vine, upon which it quickly shrank down before vanishing into the Beautiful Silk Tulip's body.

"How dare you!" Zhang Geyang's fury returned in full force, and he pounced toward Tang Wulin again.

The Infernal Lightning Vine had just renounced the contractual relationship between them!

A normal soul spirit wouldn't have been able to do this, and once they signed a contract with a Soul Master, its effects were permanent. This was because a soul spirit was a subsidiary entity to their Soul Master host, and if they were to forcibly renounce the contract, then they would suffer irreversible damage that would lead to their death.

However, the Infernal Lightning Vine's situation was different. Its energy was far too violent, so when the contract was first signed, it wasn't as binding as a normal soul spirit contract was supposed to be. From Zhang Geyang's perspective, the Infernal Lightning Vine couldn't live without him anyway, so he had thought that he had nothing to worry about, and that had proven to be true for several decades.

However, never did he think that the Infernal Lightning Vine would choose to leave him and renounce their contract without any hesitation at a time like this.

As a result, not only would Zhang Geyang be losing a soul spirit, the soul skills bestowed upon him by the Infernal Lightning Vine would also be weakened by at least 50%! He possessed as many as three soul skills that stemmed from the Infernal Lightning Vine, so this was going to deal him a heavy blow; it was not something that could be remedied by simply fusing with another soul spirit. This was an irreversible loss as his current soul spirits and soul skills were already set in stone, so there was no way to change them.

En Ci's brows furrowed tightly as he swept a hand through the air to force back Zhang Geyang. "That's enough! Do you really want me to step in?"

"Principal, he took my soul spirit! Do you not see this?" Zhang Geyang no longer cared about the situation he was currently in. The loss of the Infernal Lightning Vine was a permanent blow to his foundation, and it meant that he would never be able to become a Limit Douluo. Only after becoming a Limit Douluo did one have a shot at immortality, so Tang Wulin had essentially completely deprived him of that opportunity.

"I said THAT'S ENOUGH!" En Ci seemed to have truly been enraged, and an astonishingly powerful aura erupted from his body, forcing Zhang Geyang back a few steps further.

Right at this moment, he caught sight of Tang Wulin's gloating expression, and he almost passed out from his fury as he threw up another mouthful of blood.

Tang Wulin said in a nonchalant voice, "A wise beast chooses the best owner. I didn't steal your soul spirit; it came to me of its own volition. If I recall correctly, the mantra that the Spirit Pagoda abides by is that the union between Soul Masters should be one that's fair, just, and equal. In that case, what right do you have to force the Infernal Lightning Vine to submit to you when it no longer wants to?"

"You took it from me!" Zhang Geyang bellowed in a furious manner.

"So what if I did? Why don't you take it back from me?" Tang Wulin countered with an indifferent smile.

"You..." Zhang Geyang couldn't allow himself to engage in this war of words any further. He was a vice-chairman of the Spirit Pagoda and the supervisor of the Spirit Pagoda's Star Luo Empire branches, so he had to curb his own fury and uphold the reputation of the Spirit Pagoda.

After taking one final resentful glance at Tang Wulin, he promptly departed.

En Ci's eyelids twitched at the sight of Zhang Geyang's departing figure. Zhang Geyang had lost an extremely important soul spirit, but he had also lost something of great significance.

En Ci felt as if his heart were leaking blood as he thought of the bet he had made with Tang Wulin. He had been filled with elation when Zhang Geyang was about to secure victory.

There was an immortal plant that he desperately required as he had found an ancient medicinal recipe that could extend his life. For a man like him, who was about to come to the end of his life, nothing was more important than this. However, one of the ingredients stipulated in the medicinal recipe was an extremely rare and precious immortal plant, and the only place he could think of where such a plant could exist was in that restricted area owned by the Tang Sect.

This was why he had been willing to offer a Holy Radiant Dragon Crystal to goad the Tang Sect into accepting this bet. Of course, it would've been a lot safer to bet on himself during the battle armor master battle, but that battle was skewed far too severely against the Tang Sect's favor, and there was no way they would accept such a bet!

Hence, he decided to propose the bet during this battle.