Insight

Twelve years ago, Wilderness outside Nuoding City, Fasino Province, Heaven Dou Empire.

"Big Brother, my stomach hurts so badly I can't take it anymore. You and Sister-in-law wait here for me. I'll catch up with you soon." Su Yuntao hunched over, clutching his stomach. Dense cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and his face was so pale it looked dusted with frost.

"Yuntao, go and come back quickly!" said a stern-looking man with long black hair.

"Tianyang, Yuntao probably ate the roasted meat too hastily at noon. That piece of soul beast meat was likely not even cooked through! That fool just picked it up and ate it!" said a sweet-looking woman with dark blue hair.

"Qingqing, Yuntao is probably mildly poisoned. Let's buy him some antidote when we get back to Nuoding City." Ye Tianyang was concerned for Su Yuntao.

"I'll listen to you, Tianyang. I can't wait to get back and see Lan. I wonder if he's been eating properly." Liu Qingqing suddenly missed Ye Lan.

"Yuntao, hurry up! The mission assigned by Spirit Hall is a serious one this time. The Martial Soul awakenings of all the children in this stretch of countryside depend on the three of us."

"Soul beasts often appear around here. If anything unexpected happens, shout immediately!" Ye Tianyang reminded Su Yuntao.

Ye Tianyang cared deeply for Su Yuntao, his junior.

After the three had spent so much time together, Ye Tianyang had come to regard Su Yuntao as a younger brother despite their lack of blood relation. From time to time, he would bring Su Yuntao along to complete missions assigned by Spirit Hall.

Su Yuntao clutched his stomach as he ran, softly acknowledging Ye Tianyang's words. Before long, he vanished into the forest.

Once Ye Tianyang saw Su Yuntao disappear, he and Liu Qingqing rested where they were. As he chatted with his wife, he remained vigilant of their surroundings, guarding against soul beasts with unpredictable movements that might suddenly appear.

After some time, just as Liu Qingqing was worrying about Su Yuntao, a disturbance came from behind them.

Thinking it was some soul beast, Ye Tianyang turned to look.

He saw a man draped in a black robe, his head half-hidden beneath a hood that exposed only half his face.

The Black Robe Man was exceptionally powerfully built. Strangely, he held an infant in the crook of his left arm, yet there was no sign of the baby's mother.

The infant was remarkably quiet, not making a sound or crying as children that age normally would.

The man raised his head and looked at Ye Tianyang and his wife.

Only then did Ye Tianyang clearly see the Black Robe Man's face. His sharp eyes carried a trace of exhaustion, and there were faint bloodstains at the corners of his mouth.

It's him?! Ye Tianyang was stunned. The target wanted by Spirit Hall, the murderer who had killed the Pope—the Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao.

After the Pope's death, Tang Hao's wanted notice had been distributed throughout the continent, including to the Martial Soul Branch Hall of Nuoding City.

Ye Tianyang had recently finished reading the notice, so Tang Hao's face remained fresh in his memory.

After all, this was the man who had killed Qian Xunji, the Pope of Spirit Hall. Ye Tianyang had thought he would never cross paths with someone like this in his lifetime.

"Is this your child? Where is his mother?" Ye Tianyang's palms were drenched in sweat, but he pretended not to recognize Tang Hao.

"Ah Yin..." Ye Tianyang's words stirred Tang Hao's heart, making him think of Ah Yin.

Tang Hao did not answer Ye Tianyang's question. He remained silent, his mind elsewhere.

"This area is frequented by soul beasts. Why don't you come with us when we leave?" Liu Qingqing had never seen Tang Hao's wanted notice and instead worried about his safety on her own.

Instinctively, Ye Tianyang tightened his arm around Liu Qingqing's waist.

Tang Hao remained silent. He merely glanced at the infant in his arms, then continued forward, passing Ye Tianyang by.

"What a strange man. He doesn't even acknowledge people!" Liu Qingqing complained to Ye Tianyang.

Ye Tianyang did not respond to his wife. He merely breathed a sigh of relief inwardly.

Just when Ye Tianyang thought the danger had passed, Tang Hao stopped.

He turned to look at Ye Tianyang, certainty in his eyes. "You know who I am, don't you?"

"We've never met. How would I know who you are? So, who are you?" Ye Tianyang's expression did not reveal the slightest flaw.

"Your expression may be flawless now, but when you first saw me, your shoulders trembled slightly."

"When I passed by you, your shoulders relaxed just a little." Tang Hao had absolute faith in his eyes. They had witnessed countless battles and had long become keen as fire.

If he could not even spot the flaw in this Soul Grandmaster before him, then he would not be called the Clear Sky Douluo.

Ye Tianyang was shocked that Tang Hao had noticed an instinctive reaction he himself had failed to detect. Dense cold sweat seeped from every pore of his body.

"Tianyang, who is he?" Liu Qingqing could not understand the meaning behind their conversation. Was his identity that important?

"Qingqing, you don't need to know who he is. Run!" Ye Tianyang shoved Liu Qingqing behind him. Light flashed across his body—Martial Soul Possession!

In the final second before charging Tang Hao, Ye Tianyang looked back at Liu Qingqing, as though he wanted to etch her face into his soul forever.

From Ye Tianyang's gaze, Liu Qingqing saw an emotion carved into the bone.

"Tianyang!" Liu Qingqing had no idea what was happening, but she knew the situation was extremely dangerous. She did not want Tianyang to risk himself.

"Qingqing, don't look back! Run!"

Two yellow soul rings lit up around Ye Tianyang. He immediately unleashed his strongest power and charged Tang Hao with all his might.

Tang Hao said nothing. He stood motionless as he watched Ye Tianyang, whose Martial Soul had transformed him into a tiger-man, as though the man before him posed no threat whatsoever.

Although Tang Hao had endured Spirit Hall's pursuit for many days, leaving him with little Soul Power and many internal injuries, he was still a Titled Douluo who possessed a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Ring and the foremost Tool Martial Soul, the Clear Sky Hammer. No matter how severe his injuries, a Soul Grandmaster challenging him was no different from throwing an egg against a stone.

"Everyone from Spirit Hall deserves to die!" Tang Hao's voice was filled with hatred.

A flash of black light appeared in his hand, and Tang Hao gripped a black hammer. The black hammer was three meters long, its head as large as a water vat.

Facing the yellow afterimage before him, Tang Hao swung his right hand. The ten-thousand-jin Clear Sky Hammer smashed heavily into Ye Tianyang's chest.

Like a kite with its string cut, Ye Tianyang was instantly sent crashing into the nearby hillside by Tang Hao.

Ye Tianyang tumbled continuously down the slope, smashing through clumps of grass as broken green blades flew through the air.

The tremendous commotion caught Liu Qingqing's attention.

When she turned around, Liu Qingqing's pupils instantly contracted to pinpoints.

Ye Tianyang's fate was unknown as he lay halfway up the slope.

Though the Black Robe Man's strength was unfathomable, Liu Qingqing could see only Ye Tianyang at that moment, completely ignoring the Black Robe Man not far away.

Liu Qingqing forgot Ye Tianyang's final warning. Having always listened only to Ye Tianyang, she charged toward him without regard for her own safety.

Liu Qingqing gathered the broken Ye Tianyang into her arms. The shattered figure in her hands was no longer recognizable as human, and her eyes seemed like floodwaters bursting through a dam.

Tears surged endlessly, each one as large as a bean as they continuously fell onto the dirt.

"TIANYANG!!!!"