When he reached the stone, Tang Hao clearly saw the three words carved upon it: "Clear Sky Tomb."
Tang Hao's pupils constricted. A reality he could not believe lay before him.
The Clear Sky Sect had been annihilated, and this stone bearing the words "Clear Sky Tomb" had been deliberately placed here as an insult.
Tang San caught up and saw the three words as well, but he did not understand them.
He thought they had come to the wrong place and arrived at the Clear Sky Sect's burial ground for its clansmen, yet there were no graves here.
"Ah!"
Suddenly, Tang Hao let out a roar. Soul Power surged from his body, and the resulting Spirit Power Pressure instantly forced Tang San to the ground.
His face was pressed into the snow, making it extremely difficult even to breathe, much less speak.
"What happened? Why did Father suddenly go mad?
Someone save me! I don't want to die so miserably!"
If he suffocated to death in the snow, he would truly be setting a precedent.
Pfft! Tang Hao's Soul Power suddenly stalled, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. Clearly, his rage had aggravated his old injuries.
Tang San felt the pressure on him suddenly vanish and hurriedly climbed to his feet, gulping down air.
"Whew! Whew! Thank goodness, thank goodness. I survived."
After steadying his breathing, he looked at Tang Hao again. Seeing him vomit blood, he hurried over to support him.
"Father, what's wrong? What happened?"
"Cough, cough... cough, cough. Go! Take out the Clear Sky Hammer and smash that stone for me."
Though he did not understand why, Tang San still obeyed Tang Hao's command.
"Yes, Father."
Summoning his Clear Sky Hammer martial soul, Tang San swung it down with all his strength.
Boom! A small piece of the stone shattered. Though it was not made of any special material, with Tang San's current strength, dreaming of smashing it apart with a single blow was pure fantasy.
After hammering away with clangs and bangs for half an hour, he had only smashed half of it.
Tang Hao, having recovered a little strength, walked over and shoved Tang San aside.
"Move!"
Tang Hao summoned the Clear Sky Hammer and, in a rage, smashed the remaining half to pieces with one blow.
At that moment, a scroll sprang from the shattered stone and landed right in front of Tang San. He casually caught it.
He looked up at Tang Hao, who snatched the scroll away.
The scroll had naturally been left behind by Xiao Chenlong. It contained a message for Tang Hao and his son.
"The Clear Sky Sect has already been annihilated. You father and son are now truly homeless stray dogs. How does that feel?"
"I can also tell you that the Clear Sky Sect was destroyed because of you, Tang Hao. Without you, the Clear Sky Sect would surely have continued on just fine. When you die, I wonder whether you will have the face to meet your ancestors."
"Oh, right. Your Elder Brother Tang Xiao and the five Elders' corpses were left uncollected and scattered around that stone. I hope you did not accidentally reduce your Elder Brother to nothing but dust and bones."
"If you want to come find me, you can come anytime. I'll be at Spirit Hall in Heaven Dou City. —Holy Lord."
"Ah!"
Burning with fury, Tang Hao tore the scroll to shreds with a rip. The instant it was torn apart, Poison Gas spread through the air.
Blinded by rage, Tang Hao had never expected such a trick. Without any surprise, he inhaled the Poison Gas.
The poison took effect incredibly quickly. Tang Hao immediately felt dizzy and disoriented. Tang San realized that the poison-hiding technique in the letter was clearly one of the Tang Sect Methods.
But there was no time for further thought. Tang San hurriedly dragged Tang Hao out of the Poison Gas and tried to detoxify him.
Tang San undid Tang Hao's clothes and saw that his skin had already turned bluish-black. What a vicious poison! And I've never seen it before. We can only leave it to Heaven's Will.
Tang San took out a small knife and bled Tang Hao along his veins, draining the poisoned blood. This was the most direct and effective method.
Besides the Tang Sect Methods, the poison had also been mixed with a trace of Holy Lord's Magic.
Ordinary methods of treating poison were useless. However, Tang San's bloodletting did have some effect, though it only treated the symptoms rather than the root cause.
After Tang San drained Tang Hao's poisoned blood and gave him the Detox Pill he had prepared himself, all he could do was wait for Tang Hao to wake up on his own.
Even now, Tang San still did not know what had happened, but he could infer some of it from Tang Hao's reaction. The Clear Sky Sect might already be gone.
Tang San was now nearly despairing over his own future.
Meanwhile, in the Star Luo Empire, the Star Luo Emperor received a letter from Xue Ye. Its contents requested that the Star Luo Empire send someone to discuss the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament.
The Star Luo Emperor found it rather strange. What was there to discuss? They only needed to follow the established procedures.
"Could it be that old Xue Ye thinks the Heaven Dou Empire cannot produce any decent contestants this year, so he wants to change the rules?"
The thought was not unreasonable. Every host added some harmless rules that benefited itself.
Normally, however, such minor rule changes did not require a special discussion.
Since Xue Ye had personally sent the letter, the Star Luo Empire had to show him some respect.
Thus, the Star Luo Empire summoned Duke Youming.
"Your Majesty!"
"Mm. Take a look at this letter."
After reading it, Duke Youming looked toward the Star Luo Emperor.
"Your Majesty means for me to make the trip."
"Mm, that's right. Not just you. Have Dai Weisi and your eldest daughter go with you as well."
"Yes, I understand."
"Good. Under no circumstances can we disgrace the Star Luo Empire."
Xue Ye's letter had naturally been arranged by Xiao Chenlong. For this Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, he intended to include the sect forces, just as they had during the era of the Peerless Tang Sect.
Through this tournament, he would gather the sects of all sizes across Douluo Continent, along with the Soul Master Academies, and establish proper rules in the name of Spirit Hall.
As for whom the Star Luo Empire would send to discuss the matter, Xiao Chenlong did not care in the slightest. Whoever came would be unable to change the plan he had set.
At the same time, Xiao Chenlong published news in the newspapers that the Clear Sky Sect had been annihilated through the joint efforts of Spirit Hall, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Once this news spread, it caused an enormous shock throughout the Spirit Master World.
The Clear Sky Sect had held tremendous prestige across the entire Spirit Master World, yet it had been silently wiped out just like that. Some people did not quite believe it, but most did.
After all, Spirit Hall joining forces with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan truly had the strength to annihilate the Clear Sky Sect.
The original Lower Four Sects also developed different thoughts after seeing the news.
Spirit Hall, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect must have paid a considerable price to annihilate the Clear Sky Sect.
Perhaps the Lower Four Sects could seize this opportunity to compete for a place among the Upper Three Sects.
However, the Lower Four Sects could never have imagined that in annihilating the Clear Sky Sect, neither Spirit Hall nor the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had suffered even the slightest loss.
Before you continue