The Truth of That Year

"Child, tell your great-grandfather."

"But what terrible injustice has the Clear Sky Sect done to your family?"

"Or did they... do something utterly despicable?"

He grabbed Tang San's wrist, his grip light but firm, unyielding.

Explain yourself clearly and in detail.

"If... if it really is a problem with the Clear Sky Sect..."

Tang Chen's voice trembled slightly with excitement:

"Even if it costs my life, my great-grandfather will fight to the death to seek justice for you, your father, and your mother!"

"The rules of the Clear Sky Sect do not tolerate fratricide or the harming of fellow disciples!!"

Seeing Tang Chen's incredibly serious gaze and words, a crack finally appeared in Tang San's Ice Seal eyes during the Simulation.

Tang San, who was watching from the sidelines, was also somewhat moved by Tang Chen's attitude, and he thought to himself.

[The fifth Simulation clearly showed that my great-grandfather's behavior was completely different from that of the people in the Clear Sky Sect!]

[Perhaps this is the true demeanor that the owner of the Clear Sky Hammer, the number one Martial Soul in the world, should possess!]

Complex emotions swirled in his eyes.

He remained silent for a long time, so long that the flame in Tang Chen's eyes flickered slightly with anxiety.

Finally, Tang San slowly spoke:

"... Does my great-grandfather know how my mother died?"

Tang Chen's heart sank. "Your mother? Hao'er's wife? What happened to her?...?"

On the surface, she was forced to her death by the Spirit Hall.

"The Spirit Hall!?"

Tang Chen's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

Tang San continued speaking, but his voice grew colder:

"Yes! On the surface, Mother's cause of death was being ambushed and killed by a team led by the Pope of the Spirit Hall."

"But does Great-Grandfather know why the Spirit Hall was able to find them so accurately?"

"Why did the sect offer no help when my father was already Eight-Ring Soul Douluo?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Chen's pupils contracted slightly.

Tang San raised his head and looked directly into Tang Chen's eyes. His gaze was so cold that Tang Chen felt a chill run down his spine.

"Because, before my mother— the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor in human form, Ah Yin, sacrificed herself, this pursuit was actually a conspiracy tacitly approved, or even secretly promoted, by certain people within the Clear Sky Sect!"

"What?!" Tang Chen was struck dumb, trying to stand up but collapsing back down weakly. He could only stare at Tang San, "You... explain yourself!"

"My father, Tang Hao, was a prodigy in his youth. At a young age, he had all his Spirit Bone complete, and his talent rivaled that of my grandfather. He was regarded as the hope for the revival of the sect."

Tang San's tone was eerily calm, as if he were recounting someone else's story.

"But precisely because of this, when he was with his mother, who was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form, some people in the sect... saw a greater 'profit'."

"Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast will inevitably produce Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone."

"And my mother's identity as the Blue Silver Emperor, the quality of her Spirit Bone is even more rare in the world."

A cold, mocking smile curled at the corners of Tang San's lips.

"In their view, as long as they 'appropriately' revealed their father and mother's whereabouts to the Spirit Hall, which had been eyeing the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, they would naturally attract pursuit and killing."

"With my father's Soul Power at level eighty-something at the time, he had absolutely no chance of winning against the Pope leading the team. In the end, there were only two possible outcomes—"

He paused, then spoke, each word like an icicle piercing Tang Chen's heart:

"The first possibility is that my mother and father have a deep enough bond that she would choose to sacrifice herself, thus granting my father Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring, causing his strength to skyrocket, and making the sect's future promising."

"As for my mother's Spirit Bone... a 100,000-year-old Soul Beast will definitely produce Spirit Bone, and my father already had a complete set of Spirit Bone at that time."

"The only outcome will be that Father obtains Spirit Ring, increasing his strength, and the sect obtains Spirit Bone. And that will be the Clear Sky Sect's greatest gain."

"The second possibility," Tang San's voice was even colder, "Is that my mother escaped alone, while my father stayed behind to cover our retreat."

"At this point, the sect forces that have been 'lurking in the shadows,' 'waiting for an opportunity,' can then... 'be the first to act.'"

He slowly uttered the last four words, carrying an endless chill:

"--Hunting, bone-stealing."

"Therefore, whether my mother chooses to sacrifice herself or chooses to escape alone, what awaits her is a deadly trap targeting her 100,000 years of cultivation and life."

"As for the sect, it can not only use the Spirit Hall to remove the 'stain' of having a ' Soul Beast wife,' but also potentially obtain a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, and even allow my father to break through in a desperate situation."

"Killing three birds with one stone, isn't that right, great-grandfather?"

The words had barely left his mouth.

A deathly silence.

Only the occasional crackling of embers from the ruins of the Slaughter City and the lingering, bloody wind in the distance could be heard.

Tang Chen sat blankly on the stone stool, like a stone sculpture that had instantly lost all life.

His eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief, utter horror, and... a gradually spreading, bone-chilling coldness and rage!

"No... it's impossible... how could they... how could they dare to scheme against their fellow disciples like this... scheme against Hao'er... scheme against..." His voice was hoarse beyond recognition, and his body began to tremble uncontrollably.

"My father still believes that it was his negligence that implicated my mother, and he has lived a life of guilt and pain."

Tang San's voice rang out again, completely shattering Tang Chen's last shred of hope:

"And I, after learning part of the truth, tried to return to the sect to verify it... and what I received was the label of 'bastard'!"

"It is a declaration that my mother died a worthy death!"

He looked at Tang Chen, his eyes filled with utter coldness and resolve:

"What does such a sect have to do with me? What does it have to do with the blood feud between my parents?"

"Great-grandfather, tell me, in what capacity, with what appearance, should I step into the Clear Sky Sect again?"

"Puff--!"

Tang Chen suddenly spat out a mouthful of dark red blood!

This mouthful of blood seemed to have taken away his last bit of strength and spirit.

His aura visibly faded, his face ashen and lifeless, churning with Destruction rage, the pain of betrayal, and overwhelming regret and self-reproach!

"Beasts... a bunch of... beasts!!!"

He growled in a low, hoarse voice, like the mournful cry of a dying beast, yet it contained a murderous intent capable of burning everything to ashes!

With a "plop," he finally couldn't hold on any longer and slid off the stone block, half-kneeling on the ground, his hands digging into the rubble, blood seeping from between his fingers.

"I, Tang Chen... have traversed a lifetime of glory... believing I have secured an impregnable empire for my sect..."

"But unexpectedly... trouble broke out in our own backyard... fratricide..."

"To scheme to such an extent... to drive your daughter-in-law to her death... to bring such suffering to Hao'er... to tear your family apart... and make this blood feud impossible to avenge..."

Tang San, who was watching from the sidelines, was no longer shocked; all that remained was boundless rage and chilling killing intent!

[Clear Sky Sect!!!]

[What a prestigious and righteous sect! What a world-class weapon Martial Soul sect!!!]

[For Spirit Bone? For the so-called interests of the sect? Is it acceptable to scheme against fellow disciples like this?]

[So you can treat my mother... as Soul Beast resource that can be hunted and seized at will?!]

[My father's lifelong pain and guilt, my loss of my mother at a young age, and the hardships our family endured...]

[You consider these all to be sacrifices you can casually make in your game?!]

[The despair of the mother's sacrifice... the father's decline over the years...]

[The loneliness and suffering I've endured... it turns out you were all behind it all!!!]

[Good... very good...]

[The truth behind the fifth Simulation... it turns out to be like this!]

[The path to death...]

[Clear Sky Sect, you... have already chosen your own path to death!!!]

[If I don't avenge this, I, Tang San, swear I'm no longer human!]

[Whether this 'fork in the road' is real or not... whatever reality may be... Clear Sky Sect, I have remembered everything you have done to my family!]

[The day I become powerful enough... will be the day you... pay the price!!!]

The chilling killing intent, like the deepest, coldest night, completely permeated the consciousness of Tang San, who was watching from the sidelines.