Punishment and Announcement

"Bang!"

A dull thud echoed through the Douluo Hall in Wuhun City. Any experienced spirit master would immediately recognize the sound of a human body being struck.

Qian Daoliu knelt halfway on the ground, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. His once refined and immortal-like demeanor had completely vanished.

Immediately after, Qian Daoliu stood up again, only for Qian Chongling to kick him squarely in the chest once more.

The elders standing on both sides kept their eyes fixed on their own noses, not daring to intervene and persuade Qian Chongling to stop. If they did, they would end up getting beaten too; Tian'e, who had tried to intervene just moments ago, was still standing to the side with a head full of bumps.

This cycle repeated several times until Qian Chongling had finally vented his anger.

"You will be responsible for delivering the female corpses recovered this time, Xiao Liuer!"

"Find the origin and background of each one, then personally deliver them to their respective hometowns for burial!"

"Yes, Ancestor!"

Qian Daoliu, who had already stood back up, showed no signs of defiance or resentment on his face; instead, he was filled with guilt.

If the Haotian Sect had truly been an ordinary sect, he might have just been scolded for being the one to lead the retreat.

But the Haotian Sect was an Evil Soul Master sect. Qian Chongling could have beaten him to death or crippled him, and he wouldn't have had a single word to say in his own defense.

The Angel God Ancestor had led the living beings of the continent to overthrow the oppression of Evil Soul Masters and became a god through their gratitude. Generations of Wuhun Hall spirit masters had considered the eradication of Evil Soul Masters their sacred duty. Yet, under his leadership, not only had Evil Soul Masters—who had been extinct for thousands of years—re-emerged, but he had also led Wuhun Hall to repeatedly retreat in the face of these monsters!

Qian Daoliu felt ashamed even to look at himself. Gazing at the memorial tablets of past Wuhun Hall titled douluos and the statue of the Angel God within the Douluo Hall, he felt he had no face to meet anyone.

Being tasked with burying the victims who had died at the hands of Evil Soul Masters was a light punishment; at the very least, that was how Qian Daoliu felt.

Seeing this scene, Qian Ningshuang said nothing, nor did she attempt to persuade her great-grandfather, Qian Chongling, to grant her grandfather a shred of dignity—though she felt that if she had asked, Qian Chongling likely would have listened.

But one must pay the price for their mistakes. This is a universal truth, regardless of whether the error was intentional or not; the price must be paid.

Yes, Qian Ningshuang was also in the Douluo Hall, and had been from the very beginning. She had watched the entire beating of Qian Daoliu from start to finish.

The reason Qian Ningshuang was in the Douluo Hall was because Qian Chongling had ordered her to come today.

Of course, she could come to the Douluo Hall whenever she pleased; there was no need to be surprised by that. For her and Qian Renxue, the Douluo Hall was a place they could enter or leave at will, and the elders like Qian Daoliu would have no objections.

It was just that she didn't usually come here, as climbing the mountain was a waste of time, and she wasn't allowed to fly directly, which made it even more of a waste.

"Grandfather, are you alright?"

Watching Qian Daoliu retreat to her side after accepting his punishment, Qian Ningshuang asked in a low voice.

Although she felt Qian Daoliu deserved this beating and the subsequent 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 during the beating, leaving him with only superficial injuries.

Seeing that Qian Daoliu's tone didn't suggest any internal damage, Qian Ningshuang set her mind at ease and resumed her attentive posture, though her mind drifted back to everything that had happened later within the Haotian Sect.

The trip to the Haotian Sect had ended, but Qian Ningshuang had not managed to slaughter those seven pieces of trash as she had wished.

Because Tang Hao was still alive and kicking across the continent, and he was difficult to track down, she needed those seven pieces of trash to keep Tang Hao wary.

Compared to her own momentary satisfaction, Qian Ningshuang was clear-headed enough to weigh the importance of the countless Wuhun Hall branches.

When comparing the thousands of corpses in the cave—including the souls destroyed by the Haotian Sect—to the people still alive, this revenge was no longer an absolute necessity.

Cold-blooded? Perhaps. But this was reality. As someone who had been nurtured with the full resources of Wuhun Hall since she transmigrated, she couldn't help but care about the spirit masters who belonged to Wuhun Hall. Besides, she was always lecturing Qian Renxue to be cold and rational; she couldn't very well act on impulse and seek personal gratification herself.

In any case, it wasn't a bad thing that those pieces of trash were still alive. Wuhun Hall had plenty of methods at its disposal. Despite its progress, Wuhun Hall remained an organization rooted in a feudal society, and it lacked none of the necessary means. The lives of those pieces of trash would be worse than death from here on out.

As for the handling of the entire Haotian Sect, they took everything of value. These would be sold to provide compensation to the families of the women who had died at the hands of the Haotian Sect, serving as burial expenses—provided, of course, that their families or relatives could be found.

As for the so-called incomplete inheritance of the Xuantian Sect, it had also been unearthed from the secret chamber of the Haotian Sect.

Qian Chongling had tossed the "harvesting yin to replenish yang" techniques into a fire, reducing them to ash, but those self-created spirit skills were kept. He didn't need them himself, but with the large family that was Wuhun Hall, someone would eventually find a use for them.

Qian Chongling knew plenty of Evil Soul Master techniques; one or two more didn't make a difference. His attitude toward such things was that power itself was neither good nor evil; it entirely depended on the individual. If a person truly wanted to commit evil, they would do so even if you gave them an Angel Spirit.

Moreover, those self-created spirit skills were merely techniques and lacked the malevolent aura of the Evil Soul Masters. It was truly a mystery how the Xuantian Sect, an Evil Soul Master sect, had managed to create them.

Qian Ningshuang had also looked at those famous Haotian Sect ultimate techniques from the original story. Well, she had looked at the originals, not the versions modified by Tang Chen.

After a quick glance to memorize them, she tossed them to Gu Yuena, who was standing nearby. She had more than enough skills of her own to use, and memorizing these was purely to see the logic behind these self-created spirit skills and how they achieved the top-tier destructive power seen in the original Douluo story.

Qian Ningshuang had always had the idea of creating her own spirit skills. She couldn't just spend her days mocking the Tang God King for his Blue Silver Entanglement, still relying on the same set of Xuantian techniques after tens of thousands of years. She didn't want to end up relying on the same few skills for ten thousand years herself.

The trouble was that Qian Ningshuang's "cheat" was too powerful; the small skills she tried to cobble together were not as damaging as simply smashing someone with the Abyss Flower.

Therefore, it would likely take a long time to tinker with powerful self-created spirit skills, and it would certainly require drawing inspiration from others.

Gu Yuena didn't even look at them and tossed them to Di Tian. Like Qian Chongling, as a former First-Class God, she was not lacking in methods.

After Di Tian finished reading them, they ended up in Qian Chongling's hands. These skills were quite useful for spirit beasts that had transformed into human form.

Then, after returning to Wuhun City, at Qian Ningshuang's suggestion, all the elders went to learn these skills.

It wasn't that the elders were actually lacking in self-created spirit skills, but rather that Qian Ningshuang's mischievous side had kicked in.

Just imagine, in the future, when Tang San and Tang Hao came to Wuhun Hall to act arrogant, and Wuhun Hall responded with "Ring Detonation" and "Great Sumeru Strike"—the expressions on the faces of the Tang family would surely be spectacular.

Because although Tang Chen had modified these self-created spirit skills, he had only adapted them to be more suitable for the Haotian Hammer spirit. Their essence remained unchanged, and one could still see the shadows of the so-called Haotian Sect ultimate arts.

While Qian Ningshuang was lost in her thoughts, Qian Chongling spoke up once again.

"Next, issue a notice to the entire continent!

"State that because Tang Hao destroyed our branch of Wuhun Hall, we went to the Haotian Sect to demand an explanation, and by sheer coincidence, discovered the fact that the Haotian Sect are all Evil Soul Masters.

"Upholding the founding purpose of Wuhun Hall—to suppress Evil Soul Masters—we have eradicated this group of Evil Soul Masters from the Haotian Sect. May all soul masters in the world take this as a warning!

"Finally, because the Haotian Sect, a sect of Evil Soul Masters, still has a remnant named Tang Hao at large, Wuhun Hall has detained the chief culprits of the Haotian Sect, such as Tang Xiao, to keep the Evil Soul Master Tang Hao in check. Once Tang Hao is brought to justice, Wuhun Hall will execute this entire 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, it was a fact that the Haotian Sect was a sect of Evil Soul Masters; as for the minor detail of whether Wuhun Hall went there to demand an explanation or to wipe them out, one naturally chooses the narrative most favorable to oneself. After all, since the intention from the very beginning was to exterminate their entire sect, it wouldn't sound very good if that were made public.

As for the fact that Tang Hao had never used the methods of Evil Soul Masters to increase his soul power, and therefore wasn't an Evil Soul Master?

Who cares? The entire Haotian Sect are now Evil Soul Masters, so you, Tang Hao, certainly cannot be an exception.