Gangzi Was Crippled, and He Ran Away Again!

The Blue Silver King's grief-stricken accusation stabbed into Tang Hao and Tang San's hearts like the sharpest ice pick.

The truth was so cruel—after the Spirit Rings absorbed the power of poisonous Soul Beasts, the toxicity had long since eroded the Martial Soul's origin, tainting the purity and nobility of the Blue Silver Emperor bloodline and completely severing any possibility of awakening!

And the root of this tragedy pointed directly at the man who had planned this "optimal" Spirit Ring route for Tang San—Yu Xiaogang!

Tang San, watching from the sidelines, was likewise struck as if by lightning, his mind ringing with a deafening roar.

At the start of the simulation, he himself had harbored doubts about Yu Xiaogang's so-called Mimicry Theory.

Now, witnessing firsthand the irreversible consequences that the wrong theory had brought about in the "future," intense lingering fear and relief surged through him!

[Fortunately... fortunately, I haven't taken Yu Xiaogang as my master yet!]

Tang San in the simulation also finally came to his senses under the immense shock.

Did he resent Yu Xiaogang? Without a doubt, that resentment ran exceedingly deep.

Destroying someone's future was no different from murdering their parents, let alone robbing them of the chance to awaken a top-tier Martial Soul like the Blue Silver Emperor!

Yet when he saw his father Tang Hao's face twisted by extreme rage and regret, and felt the terrifying killing intent that was nearly taking physical form, Tang San hesitated.

By nature, he was a person of complicated and conflicted emotions. His experiences in the Tang Sect in his previous life had given him an extraordinary yearning for and reverence toward familial affection and a teacher's grace!

At the same time, they had shaped his extreme personality—ruthless toward enemies, yet fiercely protective of those he acknowledged as his own.

He simply could not stand by and watch Yu Xiaogang, whom he had once called "Teacher," be killed by his father in a fit of fury.

"Father..."

Tang San's voice was somewhat hoarse. He grabbed Tang Hao's arm, its veins bulging from his clenched fist, and said softly,

"Things have already come to this. Even if you... if you kill him, what would it change?

My Blue Silver Emperor bloodline... can never awaken in the end."

Tang San, watching from the sidelines, fell silent. He could understand the hesitation of his simulated self.

The values of his previous life, the belief that a teacher for one day was a father for life—even though they had suffered a tremendous blow at this moment—still invisibly influenced his judgment.

"Let it go? How could I possibly let it go!"

Tang Hao violently shook off Tang San's hand. Tears welled in his fierce eyes as he stared fixedly at his son, his voice hoarse and trembling, filled with endless self-blame and pain.

"Xiao San! Your father failed to see the man for who he was! Your father harmed you! If not for me back then...

If I hadn't silently allowed you to take him as your master, if I hadn't let him hunt Spirit Rings for you according to that bullshit theory, how could you... how could you have lost such a heaven-sent opportunity?!"

By the end, the once-mighty Clear Sky Douluo collapsed into a crouch like a child who had committed an unforgivable mistake. Clutching his head with both hands, he let out suppressed sobs like a wounded beast.

He had ruined his own son's peerless future and personally destroyed the hope of revenge. This guilt and regret nearly crushed him.

On Douluo Continent, cutting off someone's future was an irreconcilable blood feud!

Tang Hao's collapse tore Tang San's heart apart. He stepped forward again and held his father's trembling shoulders, yet he had no idea how to comfort him.

However, Tang Hao's sorrow and guilt were soon replaced by even deeper fury.

He abruptly raised his head. Blood filled his eyes, and killing intent gathered once more.

"How can such hatred be left unsettled!

Even if I don't take his life, I will make him pay the price!

I will make him understand the consequences of leading a student astray!"

That night, the moon was dark and the wind howled.

A black figure like a ghost silently infiltrated the already quiet Shrek Academy.

With the strength of a Title Douluo, he moved as though no one was there, alerting no one—not even Flender and Liu Erlong, both Soul Saints.

Yu Xiaogang was in his room, frowning as he studied a pile of Soul Beast materials and theoretical manuscripts. Suddenly, his neck tightened. An irresistible force struck him, his vision went dark, and he lost consciousness.

When he regained consciousness, he found that he had been brought to a desolate forest outside the academy.

Under the moonlight, Tang Hao's towering figure stood before him. Icy killing intent, almost tangible, pressed down on him so hard he could barely breathe. His Soul Power was completely sealed, and he could not even move a finger.

"T-Tang Hao?!" Yu Xiaogang stared in terror at the man before him, whose murderous aura soared to the heavens.

Tang Hao did not waste words. In the coldest, cruelest tone, he laid bare the reason for the Blue Silver Emperor's failed awakening, as well as the fatal mistake in Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul Core Competitiveness Theory regarding Blue Silver Grass Spirit Ring choices.

"...It was precisely your foolish and arrogant theory that led Xiao San to absorb those poisonous Spirit Rings, polluting the purest Blue Silver Emperor bloodline within him!

You completely cut off his chance to awaken a top-tier Martial Soul! Yu Xiaogang, what do you have to say for yourself?!"

Yu Xiaogang was struck as if by five bolts of lightning. His entire body froze, and his face instantly turned as pale as paper.

"No... impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

He screamed instinctively, his body shaking violently from fear and disbelief.

"My theory has been verified by countless materials!

It is the most reasonable one!

How could... how could this happen?!"

He tried to use his roar to conceal the panic in his heart and his crumbling convictions, refusing to accept this cruel reality that was enough to completely negate his life's work.

"Humph!"

Tang Hao snorted coldly, and the Soul Power pressure of a Title Douluo crushed down on Yu Xiaogang like a mountain.

"Thud!"

Yu Xiaogang could not resist at all. His knees gave way, and he crashed heavily to the ground. It felt as if his internal organs had all shifted out of place. He wheezed like a broken bellows, unable to utter a single word.

Looking at the wretched man at his feet, whose mind was on the verge of collapse, Tang Hao's regret gnawed at his heart like a venomous snake.

Both were teachers—how could the difference between them be as vast as heaven and earth?

He thought of Fu Shiyan—the true mentor who was only twenty-six years old yet already a level ninety-three Title Douluo, possessed three Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Rings, shared the same Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul as Tang San, taught Tang San everything without reservation, and had repeatedly risked his life to protect him.

And this Yu Xiaogang before him had remained stuck at level twenty-nine his entire life. The theory he prided himself on had been proven to be poison that destroyed futures. Other than parroting others' ideas and spouting empty boasts, what real ability did he possess?

The sharp contrast made Tang Hao recall how, a year ago, when Fu Shiyan had first proposed taking Tang San as his disciple, Yu Xiaogang had flatly refused on the grounds that Tang San already had a master, while he himself...

Had actually silently acquiesced as well, worried that Fu Shiyan's own talent might bring trouble!

"Trash!"

Tang Hao forced out the two words through clenched teeth, filled with endless contempt and fury.

In the end, he forcibly suppressed the urge to kill Yu Xiaogang outright and merely crippled his Martial Soul.

On one hand, he considered Tang San's feelings. On the other, he felt that killing such trash would dirty his hands.

He grabbed Yu Xiaogang, who was limp as mud, and warned him darkly,

"If you dare reveal even a single word of what happened today to Xiao San, I will make you beg for death but deny it to you!"

With that, he tossed Yu Xiaogang to the ground like discarded garbage. Tang Hao's figure melted into the night and vanished in an instant.

Yu Xiaogang, having narrowly escaped death, lay sprawled on the ground for a long time before he could catch his breath.

The immense terror, the collapse of having his theory completely denied, and Tang Hao's threat of death dealt a devastating blow to his already sensitive and fragile heart.

He was afraid. He wanted to run away.

But he also knew that with Tang Hao's strength and temperament, if Tang Hao truly wanted to kill him, fleeing to the ends of the earth would be useless.

He needed an absolutely safe refuge.

Thus, dragging his injured body and maintaining a deliberately composed expression that mixed desolation, grievance, and feigned aloofness, he sought out the woman he both felt guilty toward and could never forget—the Pope, Bibi Dong.

Sure enough, the moment Bibi Dong saw Yu Xiaogang in such a state, especially after hearing that Tang Hao had injured him, she flew into a towering rage!

Yu Xiaogang carefully concealed the truth behind the Blue Silver Emperor's failed awakening. He only emphasized that Tang Hao had vented old grudges on him for no reason, and "inadvertently" revealed the approximate area where Tang Hao, Tang San, and that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in human form might be hiding.

With Bibi Dong as his patron, Yu Xiaogang's original intention of merely protecting himself and using her influence to suppress Tang Hao's arrogance began to quietly change.

He recalled how, ever since Tang San had become Fu Shiyan's disciple, Tang San had gradually grown distant from him. All the glory and praise had gathered around Fu Shiyan, while he, Tang San's first teacher, seemed to have become a dispensable ornament...

Intense jealousy and resentment sprouted in his heart like poisonous weeds.

"I devoted so much effort to him, yet he turns a blind eye to it!

And Tang Hao humiliates me like this! They're all ungrateful wretches!!"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, and the resentment in his heart continued to accumulate.

In the end, he hardened his heart and told Bibi Dong everything—the more precise information about Tang Hao and his son's hiding place, as well as the news that the Soul Beast might be with them.

And by doing so, he undoubtedly pushed Tang Hao to the brink of death!