Haotian Sect (1)

"Yes, Ancestor."

Tian'e did not care about the struggle in Qian Daoliu's eyes.

He respected Qian Daoliu as his elder brother, but Wuhun Hall was far more important in his heart.

"Actually, in the beginning, our Wuhun Hall did not have any major grievances with the top three sects; in fact, our relationship was quite good.

"Setting aside the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect, which has been passed down for who knows how many years, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was a sect fostered by our Wuhun Hall. Otherwise, a group of support-type soul masters would have been swarmed and devoured by others long ago.

"This situation persisted until the rise of the Haotian Sect, which defeated the Earth Dragon Sect, one of the original top three sects.

"The Haotian Sect was originally just one of many sects on the continent, unremarkable and without anything worth noting.

"That was until a genius soul master named Tang Chen appeared in the Haotian Sect. In just a few short decades, he went from obscurity to becoming the world-renowned Haotian Douluo.

"Tang Chen's sect—the Haotian Sect—rose along with him, becoming the head of the continent's prestigious top three sects.

"Initially, our Wuhun Hall didn't care much about this Haotian Sect; in our nearly ten-thousand-year history, we have seen many sects rise and fall.

"The only thing worth noting was that the Haotian Sect Master, Tang Chen, was a close friend of my elder brother, who was serving as the Pope at the time. Because of this, we believed that our Wuhun Hall would have a good relationship with this newly risen Haotian Sect.

"But the subsequent development of the situation exceeded our Wuhun Hall's expectations. After the Haotian Sect rose to power, it abandoned its former low-key style and began to become overbearing and aggressive.

"Of course, being overbearing and aggressive is not a crime. There are plenty of overbearing forces on the continent besides the Haotian Sect, and even our Wuhun Hall acts aggressively at times.

"But how should I describe the Haotian Sect's aggression? It was like a pack of mad dogs, biting whoever they caught, and they completely disregarded worldly justice.

"Regardless of the cause or the outcome, and regardless of whether they were in the right, as long as a Haotian Sect disciple was involved, the sect would unconditionally stand on their side, often wiping out entire families at the slightest disagreement.

"After only a few years of this behavior, the Haotian Sect's reputation on the continent became foul.

"And our Wuhun Hall, as the governing body for soul masters and the force with the most soul masters on the continent, naturally and inevitably clashed with the Haotian Sect.

"Every time we clashed, our Wuhun Hall would eventually back down due to the friendship between my elder brother and Tang Chen. Yet, the Haotian Sect was completely ungrateful and became increasingly unscrupulous on the continent.

"As time passed, the resentment within our Wuhun Hall toward the Haotian Sect grew deeper and deeper. Eventually, one incident caused the resentment of everyone in Wuhun Hall to explode.

"The origin of the matter was that a Haotian Sect disciple named Tang Bing fell in love with a female soul master named Guan Yun. Due to cultivation reasons, they had to separate for a while, and they agreed to meet again in one year.

"A year later, when Tang Bing arrived at the agreed-upon meeting place, Guan Yun was laughing and chatting with another man.

"Then, for some unknown reason, Tang Bing went mad. He furiously activated his martial soul and rushed forward, smashing that man to death with a hammer before he could even react.

"The man killed by Tang Bing was Guan Yun's younger brother, Guan Feng, who was also a palace guard knight of our Wuhun Hall.

"Seeing her own brother killed, Guan Yun, in grief and anger, attacked Tang Bing.

"However, this female soul master named Guan Yun was not strong enough in combat; she was defeated on the spot by Tang Bing and taken back to the Haotian Sect.

"We don't know what happened inside the Haotian Sect afterward, but eventually, news spread that on her wedding night, Guan Yun killed Tang Bing with a blade and then committed suicide.

"It didn't end there. Because of Tang Bing's death, the Haotian Sect wiped out the entire Guan Clan, with only Guan Yun's mother, who happened to be in Wuhun City at the time, escaping the disaster.

"Upon learning everything, Guan Yun's mother eventually threw herself to her death outside the gates of the Pope Hall, using her life to beg our Wuhun Hall to uphold justice.

"Faced with such a matter, our Wuhun Hall naturally could not ignore it. Not to mention that Wuhun Hall has the duty to manage the world's soul masters, Guan Feng was one of our own. Coupled with the long-standing resentment toward the Haotian Sect, the opinion of everyone in Wuhun Hall at the time was to severely punish the Haotian Sect.

"In the end, my elder brother could not ignore the opinions of all the soul masters in Wuhun Hall and agreed to a duel with Tang Chen."

At this point, anger had already surfaced in Tian'e's eyes. The other titled douluos either lowered their heads or looked at Qian Daoliu, but the emotions in their eyes were no longer the reverence of the past—they were filled with heartache, disappointment, or the same anger as Tian'e.

"I don't know how deep your friendship with Tang Chen is, elder brother!

"You actually lost to Tang Chen! You, with an Angel martial soul, lost to a Haotian Hammer!

"Yes! Tang Chen's talent is rare in history, and he possesses self-created soul skills like the Great Sumeru Hammer that make people tremble with fear!

"But does our Wuhun Hall not have self-created soul skills? Or did you, Qian Daoliu, not practice them!

"Have you ever thought that with this loss, you almost completely threw away the prestige our Wuhun Hall has accumulated on the continent over tens of thousands of years!

"In the past, as your second brother, my strength was inferior to yours, so it was not my place to criticize your actions in this matter.

"But today, since the Ancestor is here, I will borrow his authority to speak. I hope you, elder brother, can give us an explanation."

Qian Chongling sighed and looked at Qian Daoliu.

"Speak, Little Liu. In any organization or force, disagreements and quarrels are common, but you must explain why you did what you did. Otherwise, the hearts of the people will scatter."

Qian Daoliu looked up, closed his eyes, and clenched his hands into fists.

After a long while, Qian Daoliu suddenly opened his eyes and looked straight at the titled douluos.

"Why did I lose to Tang Chen? Why did I repeatedly back down to the Haotian Sect?

"Part of the reason is indeed that I cherished my friendship with Tang Chen, but the other part is that I am the head of Wuhun Hall!

"Yes! If it were a true life-and-death battle, the one who would end up lying down would be Tang Chen!

"But I cannot do that, because the result of winning would be me being severely injured. Even if I survived, my cultivation would have regressed significantly.

"And I cannot afford the consequences of being severely injured, dying, or having my cultivation regress, because behind me are hundreds of thousands of people in Wuhun Hall, and countless civilians managed by Wuhun Hall.

"I am not like Tang Chen, a madman who only has his own strength and his own gratification in his head.

"Even if he, Tang Chen, cares about that tiny Haotian Sect, so what? Does the continent lack a Haotian Sect?

"But the continent truly cannot exist without Wuhun Hall. Yes, Evil Soul Masters are already history!"

"But you all know the reason for the formation of Evil Soul Masters; if Wuhun Hall were gone, Evil Soul Masters would immediately flourish everywhere!

"Furthermore, at that time we hadn't yet formed an alliance with Star Dou, and facing a beast tide that could be launched at any moment, who would have blocked the Black Dragon Di Tian?

"Most importantly, I didn't know back then that the Heavenly God divine position had already developed problems, and I still needed to keep this life and this cultivation base to open the inheritance of the Angel God Ancestor!

"Saying it this way might sound like I'm shirking responsibility, and Wuhun Hall wouldn't necessarily collapse without me, but the inheritance of the Angel God is truly important.

"As for the majesty and prestige of Wuhun Hall, as long as another deity emerges, all of these things can return in an instant!

"Therefore, I lost, and I conceded."