The night wind was biting, swirling and whipping up the fallen leaves scattered on the ground.
Tang San stood quietly in the forest, his figure solitary and imposing.
The Clear Sky Hammer had been retrieved, but the scarlet aura remaining on its body and the lingering warmth of the holy light from the previous clash still Entanglement and lingered for Jiujiu.
He neither continued forward nor turned back.
Qian Renxue's unusual behavior just now surfaced from the depths of his mind. She should have killed him, but her sword missed.
Her divine power was in disarray, the angelic mark flickered, and her eyes held a struggle and inner conflict.
He noticed her unusual behavior.
But he quickly put the issue aside.
Because she's not the person he should be thinking about right now.
He should be thinking of Xiao Wu, of Spirit City, and of the pink figure imprisoned behind that city gate.
He clenched his fists, trying to shake off these distracting thoughts, but he couldn't.
Then he suddenly remembered something: how he got to where he is today.
He remembered that he didn't belong to this world.
He came from another world, carrying the memories of the Tang Sect, along with Hidden Weapon, movement techniques, the Mysterious Heaven Skill, and a whole set of things that did not belong to the Douluo Continent.
He never told this secret to anyone, not even Xiao Wu.
He thought that was his trump card, his greatest advantage.
Now he stood in the dense forest Spirit City, entangled by an unseen divine will, and suddenly began to ask himself:
Did he bring those things, or were they pre-arranged?
He thought of Tang Hao.
That lazy, alcoholic blacksmith abandoned him in Holy Soul Village for six years, not only ignoring him completely, but also expecting him to take care of him himself.
Only after his Martial Soul Awakening did Tang Hao begin to appear in his life, telling him, "You are the son of Clear Sky Douluo."
Tell him "You need to become stronger," and tell him "Your mother is Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast."
He used to think that his father was waiting for him to grow up.
Now he suddenly wondered: Why did it have to be after he awakened? During his six years in Holy Soul Village, did Tang Hao even visit him?
Or was Tang Hao waiting, waiting for a signal, waiting for an "opportunity"?
He thought of the Grandmaster.
At the Nuoding Academy, after he awakened his powers in the village and went to school, everyone treated him as a good-for-nothing, but the Grandmaster saw through his secret of Twin Martial Souls at a glance.
Moreover, he was told, "There are no useless Martial Soul, only useless Soul Master." That sentence sustained him for many years.
He cultivated Blue Silver Grass according to the Grandmaster's theories, and gradually rose to the level of Soul Grandmaster and Soul Elder.
But now, standing here looking back, he suddenly realized that something was wrong with the path he had taken.
The Grandmaster's theory has some merit, but not much.
He did help Tang San establish a cultivation system, but the limit of that system was the upper limit of Blue Silver Grass.
Chen Jieqi asked him in Suotuo City, "Don't you know that Blue Silver Grass has a limit?"
He didn't believe it at the time, but later he did.
If you started training Blue Silver Grass according to its characteristics, focusing on a support or sustain build, would it be more stable and stronger?
Or is it that the Grandmaster's appearance was precisely to make him waste his time and talent on that weed that was destined to be extinguished?
He had never thought of it this way before, and he didn't dare to.
But tonight, as he stood here, he suddenly couldn't help but think about it.
He remembered the Blue Silver Grass; Tang Hao had told him when he went to the Blue Silver Ancestral Land, "Your mother is the Blue Silver Emperor."
Only then did he realize that the grass he had plucked was no ordinary grass, but the last thing his mother had left him.
He didn't hesitate at the time, because the Clear Sky Hammer was the reason he survived.
Now, standing in the dense forest Spirit City, he suddenly thought: Blue Silver Emperor was "attacked" by Chen Jieqi, "arranged" by the Asura God, and destroyed step by step.
Was it a coincidence, or part of a plan?
If even the moment he extinguished the Blue Silver Grass was orchestrated, then when he extinguished it, was it his own decision, or was God making the decision for him?
He thought of his mother.
He realized he couldn't remember her face anymore.
That face, described by Tang Hao as gentle, resilient, and willing to sacrifice everything to save him, was now just a blurry outline in his mind.
The Blue Silver Grass was his last connection with his mother, and he severed it with his own hands.
If he chose it himself, he can accept it.
If even this was arranged, then even the act of "personally strangling his mother" wasn't his own decision.
He thought of Suotuo City.
That was the first real turning point for him, a peer who was more handsome, stronger, and more knowledgeable than him, and who even Xiao Wu was close to.
Chen Jieqi stood at the entrance of the Great Soul Arena, in the courtyard of the Shrek Academy, and on the arena of the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
He told Tang San, "There's a limit to how much Blue Silver Grass can produce." At the time, Tang San didn't believe him.
Now he believes it.
The Blue Silver Grass did indeed have its limits, and he personally severed it.
But the timing of Chen Jieqi's appearance was too coincidental.
It just so happened that Tang San was on his way to the top, when he was having a smooth journey and was about to reach the summit, when he had never lost before, and when he was at his proudest.
He fell so hard that he never got up again.
He recalled how, when he broke through to the Soul Elder, he absorbed Soul Ring beyond his level and obtained the Eight Spider Lances he had always dreamed of.
He recalled the Slaughter City; the iron plaque was given to him by Tang Hao, and the direction was pointed out by Tang Hao.
When he went in and drank the Bloody Mary, was it a step he took on his own, or a step he was pushed into?
The moment he held that iron plaque with the word "Kill" in his hand, the will of the Asura God had already begun to permeate his soul.
He wasn't the one who chose him. Was he chosen before he even walked through that door, or perhaps even earlier?
He thought of Xiao Wu.
In Nuoding City, at the Dorm Seven, she felt close to him at first sight, trusted him at first sight, and followed him away at first sight.
He used to think it was fate, but now, standing in the dense forest Spirit City, the Asura God Thought still echoed in his mind.
He suddenly began to wonder: what's the difference between fate and arrangement?
The whispers of the Asura God rose again from the depths of the soul, cold and domineering:
"Distracted thoughts arise, leading to complacency."
Tang San gritted his teeth and ignored him.
He continued to think that Qian Renxue was being controlled by the divine oracle and had no control over her own destiny.
Bibi Dong was bound by fate and trapped by hatred.
Bound by the tradition, Qian Daoliu willingly sacrificed himself.
Xiao Wu was trapped in the gentle illusion for several years, and only now has she finally awakened from her dream.
He used to think he was the exception, the one who could step outside the game, but now he's suddenly unsure.
He recalled the ups and downs of his life: time travel, awakening, success, downfall, the Slaughter City, and the Asura God Trial.
Every step was precise, every turn was perfectly timed, like a line drawn by someone.
He suddenly wondered: along his journey, which paths were his own choices, and which were chosen for him by God?
"All people are merely pawns, but you alone transcend the game, holding the reins of victory and defeat in your own hands." The voice of the Asura God rang out again, even more powerful than before.
Tang San's eyes welled up with dark red, and the nascent clarity of mind was forcibly suppressed.
The Clear Sky Hammer appeared on its own in his hand, and he looked up into the depths of Spirit City.
The pink aura was quiet and still, without any ripples.
Xiao Wu felt no anxiety, no dependence, and no response to him based on any lingering attachment. She woke up.
The night wind was still blowing. He stood in the woods, motionless, while the people in the city had already woken up.
Those outside the city are deeply entangled in the game, unable to distinguish truth from falsehood.
Everyone else is awake, but he alone is trapped. The game is not yet broken, but the player is already drowning in it.
The night wind was still blowing. He stood in the woods, finally slowly releasing the Clear Sky Hammer from his hand, and sank into the deeper and quieter night.