So Tang San's Mother Was the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor!
The moment Tang San's question, "Who exactly is my mother?" appeared in the group, Qin Zhaoye brought his fingertip down hard on the moderator's column of the scroll.
[Group Hub: The archaeological confrontation special has officially begun. The topic has been locked as "The old case of Tang Hao and Ah Yin." Group rule three: one topic per session. Straying from the topic will result in a thirty-breath mute.]
Qin Zhaoye sat at the desk in private room A and opened the moderator permissions panel himself. Let the whole group flood the screen at will? Not tonight. He flicked the setting over to "pass the microphone in order."
[Group Owner: This is our first confrontation special, so let's lay down the rules upfront. Hard evidence only, no empty talk. The first microphone goes to our lead researcher. @Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor, bring out the solid material.]
The instant the microphone icon landed beside Lan Xuanyu's avatar, a blockbuster post burst open with a boom. Its glittering golden title took up half the light screen: "Legend of the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor."
[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Didn't the grandmaster just ask? Then for the first half tonight, let's pay our respects to the most legendary sovereign of the First Era: Ah Yin!] [Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: First-floor hard evidence, straight from the opening of "Official History of the First Era: Annals of Tang San"! What was Ah Yin's true form? A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who ruled the countless Blue Silver Grass plants under heaven: the Blue Silver Emperor!]
In a Nuoding Academy dormitory, Tang San's right hand clenched suddenly on his knee, and a strand of Blue Silver Grass pushed out of his palm.
He looked down at the Blue Silver Grass in his hand. "Trash Martial Soul"-that was what everyone had always called it. When he looked up again, the words on the light screen were perfectly clear: Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor. He stared fixedly at them, even breathing more softly.
The replies kept piling up in the group, floor after floor of hard evidence. The floor counter shot upward, reaching more than thirty in the blink of an eye.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Second-floor hard evidence! On the day Ah Yin completed a hundred thousand years of cultivation, she made the great vow to take human form. She cast aside the cultivation of her beast body without hesitation, cultivated anew in human form, and then entered the wide world. Wherever she went, spring came to the wastelands, and all the grasses bowed their heads!] [Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Third-floor hard evidence! The Blue Silver Grass Clan has revered her as its emperor for generations. What did the official history have to say about her? Just one line: The Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor, the hope of her entire clan!] [Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: Blue Silver Emperor! It's great-grandma! I'm on my knees for you, great-grandma! Long live great-grandma!]
Tang Wulin had barely let out that howl when Qin Zhaoye's index finger was already hovering over the "mute for thirty breaths" button. A red light flashed on beside the moderator's seat.
[Group Owner: @Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion, claiming relatives at random during the special? Want a taste of thirty breaths in solitary confinement?] [Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: No, no, no! Have mercy, group owner! I'll shut up, I'll shut up. I'm reading, I'm reading!]
Tang Wulin chickened out in a second and slammed on the brakes. Only then did Qin Zhaoye move his finger away. He passed the microphone to Huo Yuhao and, while he was at it, pinned the confrontation seat's cursor directly to Bibi Dong's name.
[Group Owner: We've seen the legend. Time to settle the old score from that hunt. @The Bystander Sees Clearly, @Bibi Dong, the floor is yours.] [The Bystander Sees Clearly: As for this old case, I don't care about anything else. I'm only looking at the tactical records. Back then, Spirit Hall dispatched three Titled Douluo to hunt down the Blue Silver Emperor and Tang Hao. The result? It could be called the First Era's most disastrous encirclement.] [The Bystander Sees Clearly: The vanguard lost contact with the main force, while the two wings pulled against each other in their scramble for the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, leaving one opening after another. So Tang Hao, who broke through in the middle of battle, smashed through them all, one hammer strike apiece. If their coordination had been even halfway passable, would they have ended up with a casualty ratio like that?]
In the Pope's Hall in Spirit City, Bibi Dong looked coldly at the red mark beside her name. The confrontation and the summons for the special were displayed right in the middle of the public screen, where everyone could see them. Refuse? If she didn't take up the challenge, how was that any different from backing down in public? She gave a cold snort and sent her first reply.
[Bibi Dong: A Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast that has taken human form is prey for all in the Soul Master World to claim. In those days, the former Pope acted according to convention under his authority. How can this be called an old case?]
Lan Xuanyu replied almost instantly.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Acting according to convention? Tsk, some convention! Then I'll just have to open the "Official History of the First Era." The former Pope didn't even file the paperwork with the Elder Hall before privately ordering two Titled Douluo out of the city. What was he after? What else could it be? He wanted the hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring and Soul Bone all to himself! What kind of convention is that?]
Bibi Dong's fingertip paused. Now she was taking her time? After quite a while, a second message slowly appeared.
[Bibi Dong: The Pope's orders are the rules. Besides, victory and defeat are commonplace in war when hunting Soul Beasts.] [The Bystander Sees Clearly: Victory and defeat are commonplace. That much is true. But what happened after the fight? Spirit Hall turned around and pinned all the blame for the failed command on the outer-ring deacons. The Titled Douluo were seriously injured, and the former Pope was gravely wounded. All of that was concealed in the reports. Is that commonplace in war too?]
The public screen went quiet for a breath or two before Lan Xuanyu popped up again.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Let me twist the knife! Among the people who fought back then, there are still some listed among Spirit Hall's upper ranks today. Want me to post the original text from that page of the official history? Just tell me, should I post it or not?]
Bibi Dong stared at the words "concealed in the reports" on the light screen, her fingers resting on the armrest. The cursor in the input box blinked on, went dark, then blinked again.
Reply? With what? But she didn't send another word.
In the Nuoding Academy dormitory, Tang San read the entire confrontation without missing a single word and didn't make a sound.
The cup of tea on the table had long since gone cold. He dipped his right index finger in it and wrote "Blue Silver Emperor" stroke by stroke on the back of his left hand.
The writing vanished as soon as the water dried. He dipped his finger again and traced it over.
The special was still climbing in popularity when the Group Hub's golden frame snapped open in midair.
[Group Hub: Escalation detected in a core mystery of the First Era timeline. The historical betting pool is open. Topic: "Will Tang Hao return to the fray?"] [Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Bets are open, bets are open! Is there even anything to think about? That's the Clear Sky Douluo, the ruthless man who smashed through Spirit Hall's main force with his hammer! I'm betting 1,200 conversation points that he'll definitely return to the fray!]
Tang Wulin followed as soon as the post appeared.
[Ancestral Precepts Recitation Champion: I'm in! I'll bet 1,000! That's the grandmaster's own father, after all. Would he be content to hammer iron all his life?] [The Bystander Sees Clearly: You two, don't get carried away. I'll bet 800 that he won't come out of seclusion lightly. He has a hidden injury, and he has a burden holding him back. Unless he's driven to the brink, I don't think he'll show himself.]
In the space of a few messages, the prize pool soared to 3,000 conversation points.
Tang San watched the bets jumping across the screen. Who won and who lost? He had no mind to care about that. His eyes were fixed on the betting topic, and only after a long while did he type a sentence on the public screen.
[Tang San: He's still alive?]
Qin Zhaoye glanced at the upper-right corner of the scroll, where a notice had just appeared: "Moderator's sixty percent share of the special awaits settlement at closing." Sixty percent was a fair amount.
He was just about to tap it when he heard footsteps from the long street outside Perching Swan Academy. They were scattered and dense, mixed with a few barks.
He got up, went to the window, and opened it a crack to look out. Good grief, the torches at the end of the street formed a sea of light.
Li Chuan, the enforcement captain, was clutching a stack of portrait scrolls and leading his enforcement team from block to block, pounding on doors:
"Go through every block and check people against the portraits!"
The branch hall's search order had only just been withdrawn, yet this man was still leading his team on a forcible search. What was he after? Qin Zhaoye had a feeling that, eight or nine times out of ten, the blame had landed on Li Chuan's own head and driven him frantic. What else could he spare a thought for?
Qin Zhaoye shut the window tight and returned to the desk. "Well now," he said quietly, "I'd just pinned down one fox, and a mad dog came knocking on its own."
Li Chuan was a level 35 Soul Tyrant, and he had an elite squad under him. Would the first-ring Historical Brush Errata and the second-ring Folded Page alone be enough? They might really not be a safe bet.
Qin Zhaoye swiped a finger across the exchange column and selected the protective armament directly, limited to two purchases per scroll.
[Golden notice: Spent 1,500 conversation points to purchase the single-use combat item "Historical Evidence Afterimage: One."]
Golden light flashed across the scroll, and a dark-gold fragment of a page fell into his palm. Sealed within it was the afterimage of "a strike from the Pope's youth." Its power was calculated according to her strength at that age, and it would dissipate once used.
Qin Zhaoye put the fragment into his sleeve case for later. When he looked at the scroll again, the first half of the special had nearly reached its end.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: Grandmaster, about what you just asked, I've only posted half of my new thread, "Tang Hao Goes into Seclusion with His Son after Gravely Injuring Spirit Hall's Upper Ranks"! Here's one spoiler first: in that battle, Tang Hao got away unharmed with his son!]
Just as he reached the important part, he started keeping everyone in suspense.
[Ten-Thousand-Year Melon Field Contractor: All right, we'll stop the first half here! Is he still around or not? And who was the "son" he took away? We'll find out in the second half. Meeting adjourned, meeting adjourned!]
At that same moment, in the torchlight at a street corner outside the academy, Li Chuan turned to the last portrait, picked up a vermilion brush, and drew a heavy circle around the young man's face.