The Coming of Clear Sky Your Excellency, and the Coming of Qingtian

The battle between Lin Qi and Tang San left a deep impression among the students of Nuoding Academy.

The most direct impact was that students always wanted to show off in front of Master Meng and Lin Qi.

Master Meng was a Titled Douluo, after all. If one could catch his eye, it would be tremendous luck even just to become a registered disciple or a subordinate, let alone being accepted as a formal apprentice.

To take a step back, becoming a follower of Lin Qi was also good.

Lin Qi possessed supreme talent and had such a fine teacher, meaning his future was bound to be limitless.

Yet Lin Qi lacked Tang San's flair and had no intention of becoming the boss of a bunch of kids.

Blinking away, more than five months passed.

Amid the bamboo forest, Lin Qi held the Mountain River Sword in hand, his figure shuttling between the drifting bamboo leaves.

The Mountain River Sword Dao could borrow the power of heaven, earth, and nature, yet it also required integrating insights into the natural mountains and rivers.

As bamboo leaves drifted, strands of Sword Qi danced through the bamboo forest like the leaves themselves.

"Hoo~"

As Lin Qi exhaled a long breath, all the Sword Qi submerged into the bamboo trunks, becoming a part of the bamboo forest.

"Lin Qi, dinner is ready."

Wearing an apron, Xiao Wu saw that Lin Qi had finished his practice and only then called out.

Over the past few months, Xiao Wu had actually learned six or seven tenths of Master Meng's culinary skills.

Though still incomparable to Master Meng, she already surpassed the vast majority of professional chefs.

Just as Xiao Wu wondered why Lin Qi hadn't walked over yet, she saw a strand of Sword Qi manifest outside Lin Qi's body.

A three-foot radius around Lin Qi was filled with sharp Sword Qi.

All falling leaves and accidentally flying bugs were ground to dust by the Sword Qi upon entering this range.

This was maintained for three minutes before all the Sword Qi slowly dissipated.

"Lin Qi, what's wrong with you? You couldn't have messed up your cultivation, could you?"

Xiao Wu asked with worry.

"Little Qi didn't mess up; he had a breakthrough."

Master Meng walked out from the house.

"Tomorrow, we head to the Star Dou Great Forest."

Hearing this, Xiao Wu widened her eyes.

"Could it be that your soul power has already broken through level twenty?"

Xiao Wu suffered a heavy blow, as she and Lin Qi had obtained their first soul rings around the same time.

And now, Xiao Wu was still at level fourteen, while Lin Qi was already at level twenty.

Even so, Xiao Wu had Master Meng's guidance to thank for that.

Teaching a student like Lin Qi gave Master Meng zero sense of fulfillment, so he made up for it by finding some from a clumsy rabbit like Xiao Wu.

Otherwise, Xiao Wu wouldn't even be at level fourteen right now.

"What's so surprising about that? After I obtained my first soul ring, my soul power had already broken through to level seventeen."

A two-thousand-year first soul ring allowed Lin Qi to continuously break through seven levels of soul power the moment he became a Soul Master.

In fact, had the Sword Qi not tempered his soul power, Lin Qi's speed in breaking through to level twenty would have been even faster.

Xiao Wu looked up at the sky, refusing to let her tears fall.

Just who was the Soul Beast undergoing human transformation here? Impressive as she, a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, was, her cultivation speed was actually far worse than a human's.

"Snap out of it. We are going to your old home very soon, and once you return to the Star Dou Great Forest, you can throw your weight around all you like."

"Don't, I won't. I'm very well-behaved."

Xiao Wu waved her hands repeatedly.

"I said I want you to throw your weight around, so you will throw your weight around." Lin Qi said.

If you don't show off your connections, how am I supposed to trigger rewards?

Xiao Wu was left speechless.

Aren't I just afraid you'll threaten me with a reserve soul ring? Am I not even allowed to keep a low profile?

When the time comes and both big guys Da Ming and Er Ming jump out, I'm afraid they'll scare the wits out of you.

Thinking this, Xiao Wu's eyes rolled around.

That's right, exactly this.

When the time comes, I'll let Da Ming and Er Ming scare Lin Qi to pay you back for always bullying me.

In Nuoding City, the rented house where Yu Xiaogang lived.

The room was filled with a moribund atmosphere.

Although Yu Xiaogang had dyed his hair black, it still couldn't change the wrinkles on his face and his body, which was slightly more sluggish than before.

Yu Xiaogang and Tang San were also eating, both remaining silent and rarely speaking.

Suddenly, the light inside the room dimmed slightly as a figure appeared at the doorway.

"Dad."

Upon seeing the person at the doorway, Tang San instantly reddened his eyes and ran toward Tang Hao.

"Dad, why did you come?"

Tang San hadn't expected Tang Hao to come see him.

Yu Xiaogang wore a look of utter shock as well.

It really was him; Little San's father truly was the Clear Sky Douluo Tang Hao.

That's wonderful, the Clear Sky Douluo had arrived, and Nuoding City would finally be at peace.

With the arrival of the Clear Sky Douluo, Qingtian had finally arrived.

Not to mention Tang San wanting to cry, even Yu Xiaogang couldn't help shedding tears; had it not been inappropriate, he would have wanted to throw himself into Tang Hao's embrace right alongside Tang San.

Having a weaker background than others was simply too humiliating.

Without a Titled Douluo backing him up, Yu Xiaogang didn't even dare to go outside.

If he went out and ran into Master Meng, and the other man aged him another ten years, it would all be over.

"Clear Sky Your Excellency, you..."

Yu Xiaogang stopped midway through his sentence.

He wished he could slap himself across the face. Little San obviously didn't know his father's true identity—how could he be so stupid?

Sure enough, hearing Yu Xiaogang address his father like that, Tang San immediately raised his head to look at Tang Hao.

Yu Xiaogang shrank his neck back.

Though he viewed Tang Hao as an idol, he also knew that if he offended Tang Hao, his end likely wouldn't be pretty.

As it turned out, Tang Hao showed not the slightest hint of displeasure.

When he decided to come see Tang San, he had already resolved to tell Tang San a portion of the truth.

Meeting Tang San's doubtful gaze, Tang Hao said:

"Little San, you're a smart kid; you've probably guessed that I'm not an ordinary person."

"That's right, I'm a Soul Master."

"Dad, since you're a Soul Master, why did you stay in that dump called Holy Spirit Village?"

Doubt filled Tang San's heart all the more, accompanied by a trace of resentment.

If he hadn't grown up in that wretched place called Holy Spirit Village, how could he have ever met Lin Qi?

Had he not met Lin Qi, he wouldn't have had to endure so much humiliation either.

"These things are a long story."

Seeing that Tang Hao didn't blame him for talking too much, Yu Xiaogang breathed a sigh of relief and immediately buttered him up:

"Clear Sky Your Excellency is no ordinary Soul Master, but a Titled Douluo whose might shakes the entire Douluo Continent."

"What?"

This time, Tang San was utterly shocked.

He had guessed that Tang Hao was a Soul Master, but he never expected him to be such a powerful one.

A Titled Douluo—that was the very peak of Soul Masters.

He had always envied Lin Qi for having a Titled Douluo teacher, yet he never imagined he had a Titled Douluo father himself.

"Dad, why did you keep it from me?"

Tang San was filled with grievances.

So he wasn't someone lacking a background after all; on the contrary, his background was peerlessly formidable.

He was no worse than Lin Qi either. Lin Qi's reliance was his background and his teacher, whereas he possessed a Titled Douluo father.

Between a teacher and a father, naturally a father was much closer.

"I worried that once you knew my true identity, you would rely on me too much and lose the heart to become a powerhouse."

After Tang Hao answered some of Tang San's questions, Yu Xiaogang could no longer sit still.

"Clear Sky Your Excellency, you don't know this, but Little San has suffered terrible grievances at Nuoding Academy."

Yu Xiaogang exaggeratedly recounted how Tang San lost to Lin Qi, painting Lin Qi as a peerlessly rare and heinous villain.

He also heavily brought up Master Meng, claiming he was a Soul Master fallen to the absolute extreme, entirely intolerable to heaven and earth.

Yu Xiaogang held immense confidence in Tang Hao.

As long as Clear Sky Your Excellency launched an attack, everything would get better.