Night fell.
In a hidden cave on the edge of Star Dou Forest.
The bonfire crackled, illuminating two pale, haggard faces.
Tang San woke up.
He shot upright, pulling at his wounds and sucking in a sharp breath from the pain. But he couldn't spare them a thought; he looked around in a panic.
There was only the cold rock wall and Tang Hao, sitting off to the side, silently wiping the corner of his mouth.
Xiao Wu was nowhere to be seen.
"Xiao Wu... Where is Xiao Wu?!"
Tang San's voice trembled with a trace of pleading, as if refusing to accept it could make it untrue.
"She didn't come back."
Tang Hao's voice was hoarse and aged, as though all the life had suddenly drained out of him.
He lowered the hand pressed to his chest. There was a handprint there, deep enough to expose the bone—it was Yu Tianyu's doing. Even Ring Detonation hadn't fully offset the force of that blow.
"I... couldn't save her."
Those words passed a death sentence on Tang San.
He sat there, dazed, the final scene replaying again and again in his mind.
Yu Tianyu's mocking smile, the despair in Xiao Wu's eyes, and the hand she had waved at him.
"AAAAAAH!!"
Tang San suddenly went mad, smashing his head against the rock wall. Blood streamed down his face.
"Why! Why didn't you save her! Why did you take me away!!"
"Let me die! Let me die with her!!"
Smack!
A sharp slap cracked across Tang San's face.
Tang Hao drew back his trembling hand and glared at his son.
"Die? Do you think dying will solve anything?"
"If you die, who will avenge the Clear Sky Sect? Who will avenge your mother? And Xiao Wu... who will save her?"
At the word "save," Tang San stopped thrashing.
He looked up, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Tang Hao.
"Can... she still be saved?"
"As long as we're alive, there's hope."
Tang Hao drew a deep breath, forcing down his injuries. "Xiao Wu is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Since Yu Tianyu didn't kill her on the spot to take her ring, he must have some other plan for her. As long as she's still alive, we still have a chance."
It was a lie.
Or perhaps a way to comfort himself.
Tang Hao knew that falling into the hands of a boy even more terrifying than Spirit Hall might make being alive more painful than dying.
But right now, he had to use that lie to keep his son's last spark of life burning.
"I have to become stronger..."
Tang San murmured, his nails digging deep into his palm. Blood dripped into the fire with a sizzling sound.
"I'm going to kill Yu Tianyu... I'm going to tear him to pieces..."
Hatred.
It was the only fuel Tang San had left.
At the same time.
A secret residence of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan in the Heaven Dou Empire.
Inside an extremely luxurious room.
The furnishings were exquisite, every item priceless. The soft bed was covered in costly Soul Beast pelts, and a faint incense scent hung in the air.
But it was still a cage.
Powerful Spirit Guidance Restrictions covered every side of the room.
Xiao Wu curled up in a corner of the bed, arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes vacant. Her pink outfit had been replaced with a revealing, sheer golden dress.
It was Yu Tianyu's perverse idea.
There was even an elegant collar around her neck. It wasn't just an ornament; it was a Sealing Spirit Guidance Device that had completely sealed the Soul Power inside her.
Now she couldn't even kill herself.
Click.
The door opened.
Yu Tianyu walked in, carrying a glass of blood-red wine. He looked relaxed, as if he were inspecting his own territory.
At the sight of him, Xiao Wu's body trembled instinctively, and she shrank farther into the corner.
"What are you hiding from?"
Yu Tianyu walked over and sat on the edge of the bed. He took Xiao Wu by the chin and forced her to look up.
"Nice place, isn't it? Much better than that lousy Shrek Academy of yours."
Xiao Wu pressed her lips together and glared at Yu Tianyu, her eyes full of hatred.
"If you have the guts, just kill me."
"Kill you? That would be no fun."
Yu Tianyu chuckled. His fingers slid down her cheek and came to rest on the collar.
"Do you know where Tang San is now?"
At the mention of his name, Xiao Wu's eyes flickered.
"He's in some dark corner, licking his wounds like a rat."
"He abandoned you and kept himself alive."
"Shut up! Brother San had no choice! He'll definitely come save me!" Xiao Wu screamed hysterically.
"Save you?"
Yu Tianyu looked as though he'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"With what? His Blue Silver Grass? Or that Clear Sky Hammer I already crushed once?"
"Xiao Wu, face reality."
Yu Tianyu took a mirror from his robes and held it up in front of her.
"Look at yourself."
"You're wearing my collar, dressed in the clothes I gave you, and living in my cage."
"You're tainted now."
"Even if he really came, and saw you like this... do you think Tang San, with all his pride, would still want you?"
His words were the cruelest of curses.
Xiao Wu stared at herself in the mirror: the suggestive sheer dress, the humiliating collar.
She wanted to argue, but no sound came out.
Because she knew Tang San placed great importance on purity and dignity.
"No... Brother San wouldn't..." Xiao Wu's voice grew softer, uncertainty creeping in.
"Then let's wait and see."
Yu Tianyu stood up and set the wine on the bedside table.
"Drink it. It'll help with your cultivation... No, it'll keep your skin soft and smooth."
"After all, I don't like it when my pet looks haggard."
With that, Yu Tianyu turned and left.
Xiao Wu was left staring at the glass of crimson wine and the stranger in the mirror, sinking into endless self-loathing and fear.
The scene returned to the waterfall in Star Dou Forest.
The thunderous roar of the water was deafening.
Tang San stood bare-chested beneath the rushing waterfall, letting thousands of pounds of water crash against his body.
His skin was covered in scars, marks left behind by forcing his potential to its limits.
"Chaotic Cloak! Eighty-one swings!"
Tang San roared as he swung the Clear Sky Hammer in his hands—though it was only an ordinary hammer condensed from Soul Power, since his true Clear Sky Hammer had been shattered.
With every swing, the image of Yu Tianyu's loathsome smile rose in his mind.
Kill him!
Kill him!
Hatred turned his eyes bloodred and made his Soul Power volatile and icy.
On the bank, Tang Hao watched in silence.
He could sense his son's character changing. The gentle, composed Tang San of the past was gone. In his place was an avenger twisted by hatred.
It was dangerous.
He could easily lose control and suffer a cultivation deviation.
But Tang Hao didn't stop him.
Faced with a monster like Yu Tianyu, they had no chance of winning unless they went mad.
"Xiao San, that's not enough!"
Tang Hao called out coldly. "That little strength wouldn't even stop one of Yu Tianyu's fingers! If you want to save Xiao Wu, then stake your life on it!"
"AAAAAAH!!"
Tang San let out a pained roar.
He swung his hammer, and against the current, managed to cut off the waterfall for a brief moment.
But he didn't stop.
He kept swinging, tireless, until the skin between his thumbs and forefingers split, until blood stained the pool red.
Every time he collapsed from exhaustion, he told himself:
This pain was nothing compared to even one ten-thousandth of Xiao Wu's.
If training didn't kill him, he'd train himself to death!
While Tang San was undergoing his hellish training.
At Spirit Hall, inside Saintess Hall.
Yu Tianyu wasn't in a hurry to return to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He still had unfinished business in Spirit City.
At that moment, he was sitting in Hu Liena's bedroom.
The once-proud core member of the Golden Generation was kneeling on the floor, carefully peeling grapes for Yu Tianyu.
Ever since Yu Tianyu had cowed her with a single remark at the arena, then performed the miracle of catching the Clear Sky Avatar with one hand, Hu Liena's composure had completely crumbled.
Admiring the strong was a Spirit Master's instinct.
For someone like Hu Liena, a favored daughter of heaven who had always had things go her way, Yu Tianyu's domineering, overwhelming aura of conquest held a fatal allure.
"You've done well."
Yu Tianyu opened his mouth and ate the grape Hu Liena offered, then casually stroked her smooth red hair.
As if petting an animal.
Hu Liena's cheeks instantly flushed red. Instead of showing any displeasure, she even seemed to enjoy it.
"Why did you let Tang San go that day?" Hu Liena asked softly. "With your strength, killing him would be easy."
"If I killed him, who would entertain me?"
Yu Tianyu replied carelessly. "Besides, only if he stays alive and struggles in agony will that rabbit named Xiao Wu truly give up on him."
"In this world, death isn't the most terrifying thing."
"The most terrifying thing is watching hope shatter again and again."
Hearing this, Hu Liena couldn't help shivering.
This man was a devil.
But... so charming.
"Oh, His Holiness the Pope asked me to pass on a message," Hu Liena said with her head lowered. "There seems to be some unrest in Slaughter City. She hopes you can go take a look."
"Slaughter City?"
Yu Tianyu's eyes narrowed slightly.
In the original story, Tang San had gained Divine Slaughter's Domain there and greatly increased his strength.
Since Tang San was training now, Slaughter City would surely be his next destination.
"Perfect."
A cruel smile curled Yu Tianyu's lips.
"I've been wanting to visit that den of vice."
"If I happen to run into Brother Tang San while he's training hard, it'll surely make for a moving reunion."
"I wonder what expression he'll have when he sees me in that place where people devour one another."
That night, the fate of Douluo Continent veered completely off course.
Beneath a shadowed waterfall, Tang San was exhausting his life in pursuit of revenge, turning himself into a killing machine.
In a luxurious cage, Xiao Wu hugged her knees, withering day by day amid fear and longing.
And at the pinnacle of power, Yu Tianyu toyed with his wineglass, plotting an even grander game of cat and mouse.
Tang San thought that if he worked hard enough, he could turn the tables.
But he didn't know that no matter how hard he struggled, the thread called fate remained firmly in Yu Tianyu's hands.
Slaughter City, Hell Road.
That would be Tang San's final trial—and the other despairing grave Yu Tianyu had prepared for him.
Before you continue