Punishment and Public Notice

Bang!

A dull sound came from within Douluo Hall in Spirit City. Any experienced Spirit Master would immediately recognize it as the sound of flesh being struck.

Qian Daoliu knelt halfway on the ground, a trickle of blood running from the corner of his mouth. Nothing remained of his former immortal poise.

Then Qian Daoliu rose again, only for Qian Chongling to kick him squarely in the chest.

The High Priests standing on either side merely watched their noses and minded their own business. None of them dared advise Qian Chongling otherwise; anyone who tried would get beaten too. Tian'e, who had just tried to intervene, was still standing to one side with bumps all over his head.

After several rounds of this, Qian Chongling had finally vented his anger.

"The female corpses brought back this time will be handled by you, Xiao Liuer!

"Find out each and every one of their origins and families, then personally send each of them back to her hometown for burial!"

"Yes, Ancestor!"

Qian Daoliu, now back on his feet, showed neither defiance nor resentment. Instead, his face was full of guilt.

If the Clear Sky Sect had merely been an ordinary sect, then as the one chiefly responsible for yielding, he would at most have endured a few curses.

But the Clear Sky Sect was an Evil Soul Master sect. Forget a beating—if Qian Chongling crippled him, he would have nothing to say.

The Angel God Ancestor had led the people of the continent in overthrowing the oppression of Evil Soul Masters, earning the gratitude of the masses and ascending to godhood. The Spirit Masters of every generation of Spirit Hall had likewise regarded exterminating Evil Soul Masters as their sacred duty. Yet under his, Qian Daoliu's, leadership, Evil Soul Masters—who had vanished for thousands of years—not only reappeared, but he had led Spirit Hall in yielding before them time and time again!

Even Qian Daoliu himself felt thoroughly ashamed. Looking at the Title Douluo memorial tablets and Angel statue within Douluo Hall, he felt too ashamed to face anyone.

Merely sending to burial the bodies of those who had died at the hands of Evil Soul Masters was already an extremely light punishment. At least, Qian Daoliu considered it light.

Seeing this, Qian Ningshuang said nothing. Nor did she plead with her ancestor, Qian Chongling, to give Qian Daoliu—her nominal grandfather—a shred of dignity, though she felt that Qian Chongling would probably listen if she did.

A mistake had to be paid for. That was a principle that applied everywhere. It did not matter whether the mistake had been intentional; the price still had to be paid.

Yes, Qian Ningshuang was also in Douluo Hall, and she had been there from the very beginning. She had watched Qian Daoliu get beaten from start to finish.

The reason Qian Ningshuang was in Douluo Hall was that Qian Chongling had told her to come there today.

Of course, she could come to Douluo Hall whenever she wanted. There was no need to find that strange. For her and Qian Renxue, Douluo Hall was a place they could enter or leave at any time, and Qian Daoliu and the other High Priests had no objections.

She simply did not usually come, because climbing the mountain wasted too much time, and flying directly was not allowed, which wasted even more time.

"Grandfather, are you all right?"

Looking at Qian Daoliu, who had accepted his punishment and retreated to her side, Qian Ningshuang asked quietly.

Although she felt Qian Daoliu deserved the beating and the punishment, as his granddaughter, she still had to show some concern.

"Shuang'er, I'm fine."

Qian Daoliu replied softly. Qian Chongling had held back when beating him; he had only left superficial wounds.

Hearing no sign of internal injury in Qian Daoliu's voice, Qian Ningshuang relaxed. She resumed the appearance of someone listening attentively, while her thoughts drifted back to everything that had happened afterward at the Clear Sky Sect.

The trip to the Clear Sky Sect was over, but Qian Ningshuang had not gotten her wish to slaughter those seven scum.

Because Tang Hao was still alive and still running around freely across the continent. He was difficult to capture, and those seven scum were needed to make Tang Hao wary.

Between her momentary satisfaction and the countless Martial Soul Branch Halls of Spirit Hall, Qian Ningshuang could still tell which mattered more.

Compared to the thousands of corpses in that cave—including the wronged souls whose bodies had already been destroyed by the Clear Sky Sect—and the people who were still alive, revenge was no longer an absolute necessity.

Was that cold-blooded? Perhaps. But that was reality. As someone Spirit Hall had devoted every effort to nurturing since she had transmigrated here, Qian Ningshuang could not possibly disregard Spirit Hall's Spirit Masters. Besides, she spent every day urging Qian Renxue to be cold and rational; she could not become driven by emotion and seek momentary satisfaction when it came to herself.

Besides, there was nothing wrong with letting those scum live. Spirit Hall had plenty of methods. Though Spirit Hall was relatively progressive, it was still an organization in a feudal society, and it lacked none of the methods such a society should have. The lives of those scum would soon be worse than death.

As for the Clear Sky Sect as a whole, anything that could be taken was taken. It would be sold off for money to compensate the relatives of the women who had died at the Clear Sky Sect's hands, while also covering burial expenses—provided their families or relatives could be found.

As for the supposedly incomplete inheritance of Xuantian Sect, it was also found in the Clear Sky Sect's secret chamber.

The Yin-Yang Supplementation method within was burned to ashes by Qian Chongling, but those Self-Created Soul Skills were kept. He had no use for them himself, but Spirit Hall was a large family, and someone was bound to need them.

Qian Chongling knew plenty of Evil Soul Master methods; he did not lack one or two more. His attitude toward such things was that power itself had no good or evil—it depended entirely on the user. If someone truly wished to commit evil, then even if they were given an Angel Martial Soul, they would still commit every kind of atrocity.

Moreover, those Self-Created Soul Skills were merely skills in themselves and contained none of the sinister aura of Evil Soul Masters. It was truly unclear how Xuantian Sect, an Evil Soul Master sect, had created them.

Qian Ningshuang had also looked over those famous Clear Sky Sect secret techniques from the original story. Well, what she had seen were the originals, not the versions Tang Chen had improved.

After glancing through them and memorizing them, she tossed them to Gu Yuena beside her. She already had more skills than she could possibly use; she had memorized them purely to study the ideas behind those Self-Created Soul Skills and how they achieved the unmatched destructive power they possessed in the original Douluo story.

Qian Ningshuang had always wanted to create her own Soul Skills. She could not spend all day mocking the God King Tang for using Blue Silver Entanglement and the same Mysterious Heaven Skill after tens of thousands of years, only to rely on the same few skills unchanged for ten thousand years herself.

But that was where the trouble lay: Qian Ningshuang's cheat was too powerful. The little skills she had painstakingly devised before did less damage than simply smashing someone with Abyss Flower.

Thus, creating powerful Self-Created Soul Skills would likely take a long time, and borrowing ideas would be unavoidable.

Gu Yuena did not even look at them before tossing them to Di Tian. Like Qian Chongling, as a former First-Class God, she did not lack methods.

After Di Tian finished reading them, they returned to Qian Chongling's hands. These skills would still be quite useful once Spirit Beasts transformed into human form.

Then, after they returned to Spirit City, every High Priest went to learn these skills at Qian Ningshuang's suggestion.

It was not that the High Priests truly lacked these Self-Created Soul Skills; Qian Ningshuang's wicked sense of humor had simply acted up.

Just imagine it: one day, when Tang San and Tang Hao came to show off before Spirit Hall, Spirit Hall would use Ring Detonation while another used Great Sumeru Strike. Tang Family's expressions would surely be magnificent.

Although Tang Chen had improved those Self-Created Soul Skills, he had only made them more suitable for use with the Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul. Their essence had not changed, and the traces of the so-called Clear Sky Sect's ultimate arts could still be seen.

As Qian Ningshuang let her mind wander, Qian Chongling spoke again.

"Next, post a public notice across the entire continent!

"Say that because Tang Hao destroyed one of our Martial Soul Branch Halls, Spirit Hall went to the Clear Sky Sect to demand an explanation. By a fortunate coincidence, we discovered that the Clear Sky Sect was entirely composed of Evil Soul Masters.

"Upholding Spirit Hall's founding purpose—suppressing Evil Soul Masters—Spirit Hall exterminated this group of Evil Soul Masters from the Clear Sky Sect. Let Spirit Masters across the world take this as a warning!

"Finally, because Tang Hao, a remnant of the Evil Soul Master sect Clear Sky Sect, remains at large, Spirit Hall has spared the Clear Sky Sect's chief culprits, Tang Xiao and the others, to make the Evil Soul Master Tang Hao wary. Once Tang Hao is brought to justice, Spirit Hall will execute this group of Evil Soul Masters together.

"At the same time, issue a continent-wide wanted notice for the Evil Soul Master Tang Hao!"

In any case, the Clear Sky Sect being an Evil Soul Master sect was the truth. As for the minor issue of whether Spirit Hall had gone to demand an explanation or to wipe them out, naturally they would choose the version favorable to themselves. After all, saying they had intended from the start to exterminate the entire sect did not sound very nice.

As for Tang Hao never having used Evil Soul Master methods to raise his Soul Power, meaning he was not an Evil Soul Master?

Who cared? The Clear Sky Sect was entirely made up of Evil Soul Masters, so Tang Hao naturally could not be an exception.