The soldiers moved with practiced efficiency.
They took control of the scene in an instant.
Hundreds of powerful bows and crossbows were drawn taut, their cold arrowheads aimed at the two men in the clearing.
Yu Xiaogang's face turned deathly pale.
He trembled uncontrollably.
An army?
The Heaven Dou Empire's regular army?
Why were they here?
Tang San climbed back to his feet.
He surveyed his surroundings warily.
His hand crept toward the Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges Night at his waist.
He did not know what was happening.
But he could tell.
These people had not come with good intentions.
Just then.
The sky overhead suddenly darkened.
An immense pressure descended from above.
The soldiers around them dropped to one knee in perfect unison.
The clang of metal armor striking the ground rang through the forest.
"We welcome our king!"
Their deafening roar startled birds from the trees.
Tang San and Yu Xiaogang instinctively looked up.
There, in midair.
Countless thick Blue Silver Emperor vines sprang into being.
They twisted around one another.
In an instant, they wove themselves into a magnificent, imposing throne.
The throne gleamed blue and gold.
A faint imperial aura radiated from it.
A figure sat upon it.
He was a remarkably young-looking man.
His finely tailored, close-fitting robe.
Outlined his tall, straight frame.
His face was almost unreal in its beauty.
His eyes, above all.
Were deep as the sea.
At that moment.
His gaze shot downward like lightning.
It passed over the kneeling soldiers.
And fixed directly on Tang San and Yu Xiaogang beside him.
The Blue Silver King Throne descended slowly.
It hovered three meters above the ground.
Tang Yuan looked down upon the scene.
His expression was calm.
But beneath that calm lurked a storm that made hearts quail.
Tang San looked at the man on the throne.
A strange stirring rose within him.
It was as though the blood in his veins resonated with the man.
Who was he?
Why did he seem so familiar?
Tang Yuan's gaze swept over Tang San.
At last, it settled on the crooked Lone Bamboo.
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
A cold, mocking smile appeared on his face.
Tang Yuan raised a hand.
And gave a casual wave.
A flash of blue-gold light swept past.
There was no earth-shaking explosion.
The Ten-Year Lone Bamboo Yu Xiaogang had praised to the heavens.
Instantly crumbled to dust.
Not a scrap remained.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened.
He watched the Soul Beast he had so carefully chosen vanish into ash.
Yet he did not dare utter a peep.
Tang Yuan slowly lowered his hand.
His gaze was like two sharp swords.
They drove straight into Yu Xiaogang's heart.
His voice was cold, without a trace of warmth.
"A Ten-Year Lone Bamboo?"
"A trash Soul Ring like that."
"And you dared let him absorb it?"
"Were you trying to ruin him, or turn him into the same kind of good-for-nothing as you?"
Tang Yuan did not mince words.
Every word was a slap.
It struck Yu Xiaogang hard across the face.
Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth.
He wanted to argue.
He wanted to cite his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul.
But under that terrifying pressure.
He found he lacked even the courage to speak.
Tang Yuan rose from the throne.
He took a step.
And landed lightly on the ground.
He did not stir a speck of dust.
He ignored the formidable troops around him.
And walked straight toward Tang San.
With every step.
His presence grew more powerful.
That commanding bearing of a man long accustomed to power.
That imperious air of one who looked down on the world.
Left Tang San struggling to breathe.
But he did not retreat.
Instead, he stubbornly raised his head.
And met Tang Yuan's eyes.
Tang Yuan stopped two paces from Tang San.
He looked at his younger brother's still-childish face.
Tang Yuan gave a cold snort inwardly.
So much for honoring your teacher.
If I had arrived a moment later today.
This boy's foundation would have been ruined for good.
Twin Martial Souls.
Innate Full Soul Power.
And a Ten-Year Lone Bamboo for his First Soul Ring?
What a joke that would make the whole world laugh.
Tang San looked at the dust that was all that remained of the Ten-Year Lone Bamboo, and his heart gave a sudden wrench.
Though he had lived two lives and had the Mysterious Heaven Skill to rely on, he still shuddered before this young man on the throne, surrounded by hundreds of the empire's elite soldiers.
Too strong.
Just a wave of his hand.
Without even a flicker of Soul Skill light, that tough Lone Bamboo had turned to ash.
If he did that to a person...
Tang San dared not pursue the thought. He clenched his fists until his knuckles whitened.
He glanced at Yu Xiaogang, who sat sprawled in the mud, his face full of fear and resentment.
This was his teacher.
For an instant, Tang San had also doubted that Ten-Year Soul Ring. But the Tang Sect's rules were strict.
Once a teacher, a father for life.
He had kowtowed and taken Yu Xiaogang as his teacher. Now that disaster loomed, he could not back down.
Tang San drew a deep breath and forced himself a step forward against the overwhelming pressure, placing himself between Yu Xiaogang and Tang Yuan.
He raised his head. Though his body trembled slightly with fear, his eyes stayed fixed on Tang Yuan atop the throne.
"Who exactly are you?"
Tang San's voice was a little dry, but he tried to keep it steady.
"Even if that Soul Beast was not to your liking, there was no need to destroy it."
"And why insult and humiliate my teacher?"
At that, Tang San straightened his back, as if trying to bolster his own courage.
"My teacher, Yu Xiaogang, is a renowned Theory Master in the Soul Master World."
"His theory of the Ten Great Martial Soul Core Competencies has shaken the past and illuminated the present."
"However great your power, you cannot trample a scholar's dignity so casually."
Ying Qi, the Chief Guard who had remained at Tang Yuan's side, laid a hand on his sword hilt. He looked at the older man and the boy as if they were already dead.
One look from the Prince, and he would hack them both into mincemeat.
But Tang Yuan merely lounged against the throne, toying with a gleaming gold soul coin that rolled and leapt between his fingers.
He did not grow angry at Tang San's righteous speech.
He merely gave a disdainful snort.
It was a quiet sound, yet it struck Tang San and Yu Xiaogang's hearts like a heavy hammer.
"Grandmaster?"
"Shaken the past and illuminated the present?"
Tang Yuan's mouth curved in mockery, as though he had heard the funniest joke in the world.
"You copied a pile of basic records from Spirit Hall, cobbled them into a heap of rubbish riddled with logical holes, and dared call it theory?"
"It's nothing but wastepaper that leads students astray."
At those words, Yu Xiaogang, who had been cowering on the ground, sprang up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
Yu Xiaogang could admit he lacked strength.
He could admit he lacked looks, too.
But his Martial Soul Theory was the one pillar supporting him through life. It was what he lived by, the foundation on which he dreamed of winning fame.
It was his one untouchable nerve.
Anyone who touched it would face his fury.
Yu Xiaogang no longer cared who the other man was. Red-faced, with veins bulging in his neck, he shouted:
"Who are you? What gives you the right to dismiss my work?"
"Do you know how many ancient texts I studied, how many places I traveled to develop these theories?"
Before you continue