The Golden Canary in the Cage, the Poison Named Hatred

Night fell.

Inside a hidden cave on the edge of the Star Dou Forest.

The campfire crackled and popped, illuminating two pale, dejected faces.

Tang San woke up.

He sat up abruptly, tugging at his wounds and gasping in pain. But he ignored all of that, looking around in a panic.

There were only cold rock walls and Tang Hao, who sat to the side silently wiping the corner of his mouth.

There was no Xiao Wu.

"Xiao Wu... where is Xiao Wu?!"

Tang San's voice trembled, carrying a hint of pleading, as if the fact wouldn't exist if he simply refused to acknowledge it.

"She didn't come back."

Tang Hao's voice was hoarse and aged, as if he had suddenly lost all his spirit and vitality.

He lowered the hand that had been clutching his chest, where a palm print deep enough to reveal bone remained—it was left by Yu Tianyu. Even the Ring Detonation had not been enough to fully negate the lingering power of that strike.

"I... failed to save her."

This single sentence completely sentenced Tang San to death.

Tang San sat there blankly, his mind constantly replaying the final scene.

Yu Tianyu's mockery, Xiao Wu's desperate eyes, and that hand waving toward him.

"Ahhhhhhh!!"

Tang San suddenly began to bash his head against the rock wall like a madman, blood streaming down.

"Why! Why didn't you save her! Why did you take me away!!"

"Let me die! Let me die with her!!"

Slap!

A loud, sharp slap landed heavily on Tang San's face.

Tang Hao pulled back his trembling hand, glaring at his son.

"Die? Do you think dying solves anything?"

"If you die, who will avenge the Clear Sky Sect? Who will avenge your mother? Who will save... Xiao Wu?"

Hearing the word "save," Tang San stopped his madness.

He raised his head, his swollen, red eyes staring fixedly at Tang Hao.

"Can she... still be saved?"

"As long as you are alive, there is hope."

Tang Hao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the injuries inside his body. "Xiao Wu is a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast. Since Yu Tianyu didn't kill her on the spot to take her ring, it means he has other intentions. As long as she is still alive, we still have a chance."

This was a lie.

Or perhaps, self-consolation.

Because Tang Hao knew clearly in his heart that falling into the hands of that youth, who was even more terrifying than Spirit Hall, might be more painful than death.

But for now, he had to use this lie to keep his son's last breath of life hanging by a thread.

"I want to become stronger..."

Tang San muttered to himself, his fingernails digging deep into his palms, blood dripping into the fire and making a sizzling sound.

"I want to kill Yu Tianyu... I want to tear him into ten thousand pieces..."

Hatred.

This was the only fuel Tang San had at this moment.

Meanwhile.

In the Heaven Dou Empire, at the secret base of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

Inside an extremely luxurious room.

The decor here was exquisite and peerless, with every piece of furniture worth a fortune. The soft bed was covered in the precious fur of spirit beasts, and the air was filled with a faint, lingering incense.

But it was still a cage.

Because the perimeter of the room was covered in powerful Spirit Guidance Restrictions.

Xiao Wu curled up in the corner of the bed, her arms wrapped around her knees, her eyes hollow. Her pink combat outfit had been removed, replaced by a thin, translucent golden gauze dress.

This was Yu Tianyu's perverse taste.

Furthermore, a delicate collar was fastened around her neck. That collar was not just an ornament, but a Sealing Spirit Guidance Device that completely locked away the spirit power within her body.

As she was now, she couldn't even commit suicide.

Click.

The door opened.

Yu Tianyu walked in. He held a glass of wine as red as fresh blood, his expression leisurely, as if he were patrolling his own territory.

Seeing Yu Tianyu, Xiao Wu's body instinctively trembled, and she shrank back into the corner.

"What are you hiding from?"

Yu Tianyu walked to the bedside and sat down, reaching out to pinch Xiao Wu's chin, forcing her to look up.

"The environment here is quite nice, isn't it? Much better than that pathetic Shrek Academy of yours."

Xiao Wu pressed her lips together tightly, staring daggers at Yu Tianyu, her eyes filled with hatred.

"If you have the guts, just kill me."

"Kill you? That would be so boring."

Yu Tianyu chuckled, his fingers sliding down her cheek and coming to rest on the collar around her neck.

"Do you know where Tang San is right now?"

At the mention of that name, Xiao Wu's eyes flickered instantly.

"He is in some dark corner, licking his wounds like a rat."

"He abandoned you and chose to live on."

"Shut up! Brother San was forced into it! He will definitely come to save me!" Xiao Wu screamed hysterically.

"Save you?"

Yu Tianyu acted as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world.

"On what grounds? With his Blue Silver Grass? Or with that Clear Sky Hammer I already shattered once?"

"Xiao Wu, face reality."

Yu Tianyu pulled a mirror from his robe and held it up in front of Xiao Wu.

"Look at yourself now."

"Wearing my collar, dressed in the clothes I gave you, living in my cage."

"You are already tainted."

"Even if he really came, seeing you like this... do you think that Tang San, with his immense pride, would still want you?"

This sentence was like the most venomous curse.

Xiao Wu looked at herself in the mirror. That suggestive gauze dress, that humiliating collar.

She wanted to retort, but no sound came out.

Because she knew that Tang San was indeed a man who valued purity and dignity above all else.

"No... Brother San wouldn't..." Xiao Wu's voice grew quieter, laced with a hint of uncertainty.

"Then let us wait and see."

Yu Tianyu stood up and placed the glass of wine on the bedside table.

"Drink it. It helps with your cultivation... oh, no, it helps keep your skin smooth and supple."

"After all, I don't like my pets becoming haggard."

Having said that, Yu Tianyu turned and left.

He left Xiao Wu behind, staring at the scarlet wine and the stranger in the mirror, sinking into endless self-loathing and fear.

The scene shifts to beneath a waterfall in the Star Dou Forest.

The roaring sound of the water was deafening.

Tang San stood bare-chested under the torrential waterfall, letting the thousands of pounds of water pressure slam against his body.

His body was covered in scars, the marks left behind from pushing his potential to the limit.

"Chaotic Cloak! Eighty-one hammers!"

Tang San roared, the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand (though it was merely a common hammer condensed from soul power, as the true form had been shattered) swinging wildly.

With every swing, the hateful, smiling face of Yu Tianyu appeared in his mind.

Kill him!

Kill him!

Hatred turned his eyes blood-red and made his soul power volatile and cold.

On the bank, Tang Hao watched the scene in silence.

He could feel that his son's temperament was changing. The once gentle and calm Tang San was gone. In his place was an avenger twisted by hatred.

This was dangerous.

It was easy to fall into a demonic path.

But Tang Hao did not stop him.

Because when facing a monster like Yu Tianyu, there was simply no possibility of winning without becoming a madman.

"Tang San, it's not enough!"

Tang Hao shouted coldly, "This level of power can't even block a single finger of Yu Tianyu! If you want to save Xiao Wu, you must be willing to risk your life!"

"Ahhhhhhh!!"

Tang San let out a shrill roar.

He swung his hammer violently, actually defying the current and briefly cutting off the waterfall for a split second.

But he did not stop.

He continued to swing, tireless, until the webs between his thumbs and forefingers split open and blood stained the pool water red.

Every time he collapsed from exhaustion, he would tell himself:

This pain is not even one ten-thousandth of what Xiao Wu is suffering.

As long as it doesn't kill me, I will train until I'm half-dead!

Just as Tang San was undergoing his hellish special training.

Inside the Saintess Hall of Spirit Hall.

Yu Tianyu was in no rush to return to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Sect. He still had unfinished business in Spirit City.

At this moment, he was sitting in Hu Liena's private chambers.

This once incredibly arrogant core member of the Golden Generation was now kneeling on the floor, carefully peeling grapes for Yu Tianyu.

Ever since she was shaken by a single word from Yu Tianyu on the arena stage and witnessed his miracle of catching the Clear Sky Avatar with one hand, Hu Liena's mindset had completely collapsed.

Worshipping the strong is the instinct of a Spirit Master.

Especially for a proud daughter of heaven like Hu Liena who had always sailed through life smoothly, the overbearing and absolute sense of conquest that Yu Tianyu exuded held a fatal attraction for her.

"You've done well."

Yu Tianyu opened his mouth to eat the grape Hu Liena offered, then casually stroked her soft red hair.

It was as if he were petting a pet.

A flush of red instantly flew to Hu Liena's cheeks; not only did she not feel repulsed, but she actually revealed a look of enjoyment.

"That day, why did you let Tang San go?"

Hu Liena asked softly, "With your strength, killing him would be as easy as turning over your hand."

"If I kill him, who will provide me with entertainment?"

Yu Tianyu said nonchalantly, "Besides, only by letting him live and struggle in pain can that rabbit named Xiao Wu be made to give up completely."

"In this world, death is not the most terrifying thing."

"The most terrifying thing is watching hope be shattered again and again."

Hearing these words, Hu Liena couldn't help but shiver.

This man is a devil.

But... how charming.

"By the way, the Pope asked me to pass a message to you," Hu Liena said with her head lowered. "There seems to be some unusual activity in Slaughter City. She hopes you can go and take a look."

"Slaughter City?"

Yu Tianyu's eyes narrowed slightly.

In the original story, it was there that Tang San obtained the Killing God Domain and greatly increased his strength.

Since Tang San was currently undergoing special training, his next step would surely be to go to Slaughter City.

"Perfect."

A cruel smile curled the corners of Yu Tianyu's mouth.

"I also want to take a stroll through that paradise of sin."

"If I can run into brother Tang San, who is working so hard on his cultivation there, I believe it will be a touching reunion."

"I wonder what kind of expression he will have when he sees me in that place where people eat people?"

On this night, the gears of fate in Soul Land completely veered off track.

Under the gloomy waterfall, Tang San was overdrawing his life to turn himself into a killing machine for the sake of revenge.

In a luxurious cage, Xiao Wu hugged her knees, withering day by day in fear and longing.

And at the pinnacle of power, Yu Tianyu was toying with a wine glass in his hand, plotting the next, even grander game of cat and mouse.

Tang San thought that as long as he worked hard, he could turn the tables.

But he did not know that no matter how he struggled, the thread called fate was always firmly held in Yu Tianyu's grasp.

Slaughter City, Hell Road.

That would be Tang San's final proving ground, and also another grave of despair that Yu Tianyu had prepared for him.