After a long while, Shura God calculated on his fingers, utterly baffled. Nothing had changed!
He took another look at Douluo Continent through Divine Vision and finally accepted it.
The story had veered a little off course, but it was still within his plans. After all, his original goal had been to bring this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast together with one of the Haotian Twin Stars so she would bear a body his Great Treasure could seize. Whether the two loved each other was no concern of his.
This unexpected turn made him keep a closer eye on Douluo Continent.
A few days later, Tang Xiao dragged himself back through sheer willpower and asked the townspeople to contact the Clear Sky Sect.
At last, the grievously injured Tang Xiao was brought back to the Clear Sky Sect. Tang Tian sat in the Sect Leader's seat, looking at his paralyzed son with a breaking heart. Tang Xiao was one of the Haotian Twin Stars, blessed with the top-tier Tool Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer, and Innate Full Soul Power. Barring any accident, he had been destined to become a Super Douluo and win fame across the continent.
He might even have gone further, reaching the rank of Limit Douluo and preserving the Clear Sky Sect's glory.
But all of that was gone. Someone had shattered Tang Xiao's spine. Forget becoming a Super Douluo or Limit Douluo; whether he could even reach Titled Douluo was now in doubt.
Of the two pillars meant to carry the Clear Sky Sect's future, one had broken. The sect had suffered a loss too great to bear.
Tang Tian looked at Tang Xiao's lifeless expression and slammed a hand against his chair's armrest. "Who did this? Xiao'er, tell me! Was it Spirit Hall or some other force? They dared harm a genius of the Clear Sky Sect? Do they think we're easy prey now that my father is gone?"
Tang Xiao was torn. The truth was humiliating: Tang Hao had stabbed him in the back and stolen the woman he loved.
But now he was crippled, and the woman he loved was in Tang Hao's hands. Resentment burned in Tang Xiao's heart. He wanted the sect to find Tang Hao and help him take Ah Yin back.
Once he had made up his mind, Tang Xiao spoke.
"Father... an outsider didn't do this."
He then told them everything: how he and Tang Hao had met Ah Yin and how they had both fallen in love with her.
At the end, Tang Xiao pleaded, "Father, Tang Hao attacked me to steal his brother's wife! He even abducted the woman I love most. Please, let the Clear Sky Sect seek justice for me."
When Tang Tian heard the story, he spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor.
"You two...
"You let a temptress wrap you both around her finger, to the point that brothers turned on each other!" Tang Tian said in grief and fury.
Had another force been responsible, Tang Tian could have hated it, raged against it, and taken revenge. Never had he imagined this would be a tragedy of brother against brother, all over a woman.
The Clear Sky Sect had lost a genius destined for the pinnacle because of one woman. Tang Tian could hardly bear the thought.
In the hall, the sect's Elders whispered among themselves. "To think Tang Hao and his brother would fight each other over a woman."
"A beauty really can bring disaster."
"That temptress has ruined our Clear Sky Sect."
Sensing the mood in the hall turning against Ah Yin, Tang Xiao hurried to correct them. "Father, Elders, Ah Yin has nothing to do with this. Ah Yin and I love each other. Our feelings are mutual. This is all Tang Hao's fault!"
"Silence!" Tang Tian cut him off angrily. "Without that temptress, would you brothers have come to this?"
It was too late for Tang Xiao. He was crippled, leaving Tang Hao as the only one of the Haotian Twins. Whether or not Ah Yin was to blame, she would have to bear it.
Tang Tian roared, "Where is Tang Hao? Where is that unfilial son? Tell him to get back here and face me!"
One Elder said, "Sect Leader, we've lost contact with Tang Hao."
"Lost contact?" Tang Tian's face flushed with anger. "Then put out a reward for information on that unfilial son!"
And so the Clear Sky Sect issued a reward for news of Tang Hao.
The world's foremost sect was offering a reward for information on its own heir. That drew attention from every quarter. Spies began to move, and soon word spread that the Haotian Twins had come to blows over a woman.
"Congratulations, Your Holiness. Tang Xiao is no longer a threat to Spirit Hall," Golden Bell Douluo, a guardian of the hall, said.
Qian Xunji nodded in satisfaction. "A pity. If only Tang Hao had been crippled too."
Silver Hammer Douluo's eyes gleamed as an idea struck him. "Your Holiness, should we also investigate Tang Hao's whereabouts and secretly stoke the conflict between him and the Clear Sky Sect? Once they've worn each other down, we can reap the benefits."
"Good. Do as you suggest." Qian Xunji's eyes lit up.
In Spirit Hall's Worship Hall, the plight of Tang Hao and the others reminded Qian Daoliu of his own past. He and Tang Chen had once loved the same woman, but Xi Xi had loved only Tang Chen. Knowing he had no chance, Qian Daoliu had stepped aside.
He loved her. Since he knew she could not return his feelings, stepping aside to let her be happy had been the wisest choice. Qian Daoliu had never expected Tang Chen's descendants to do something like this.
Qian Renxue smiled when she received the news.
"Xue'er, what's made you so happy?" Qian Daoliu asked.
"Grandfather, do you know what I remember?" Qian Renxue said. "Tang Hao and Ah Yin loved each other deeply. Tang Xiao chose to step aside. The brothers remained close, and the couple lived happily together. There was none of this brother-against-brother, younger-brother-stealing-his-elder-brother's-wife business."
"Then why did it happen this time?"
"Feelings are a double-edged sword," Qian Renxue said. "Those who know how to use them can wield them against the human heart. Others lose themselves and fall under their sway without realizing it. In a god's hands, feelings become strings used to move pawns toward a desired end. Back then, the Sea God tampered with my Angel God Assessment and made me fall in love with Tang San. If I'd tried to eliminate that threat instead of winning Tang San over, then Spirit Hall... But on second thought, what difference would it have made? If he could come back to life once, he could do it a second time."
Hearing what Qian Renxue had endured, Qian Daoliu felt powerless. He looked up at the Angel God Statue in the Worship Hall and fell silent for a long while before asking, "With the Divine Ancestor here in this life, I won't let those sordid things happen to you. Xue'er, since you brought up the gods, does that mean a god is behind this?"
Qian Renxue nodded. "Yes. Without a god's hand in it, how else would Tang Hao and his brother turn on each other? How would the younger brother steal his elder brother's wife,
"leaving the future husband and wife to hate each other?" At that, Qian Renxue suddenly remembered her former life. A strange look crossed her face, and she said meaningfully, "Tang San is going to have quite a time of it."
"This time around, we have a god behind us too."
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