Mother Is Dead; I No Longer Care to Judge Right from Wrong!

"What?"

Clenching his fists, Tang San's expression grew visibly agitated.

"The Clear Sky Sect, one of the Upper Three Sects!"

"Although it has kept its gates closed for six years, its headquarters are indeed within the borders of the Heaven Dou Empire.

The Martial Soul they pass down is the Clear Sky Hammer, known as the greatest tool-type Martial Soul on the continent!

And..."

"And what?"

Qin Yun looked deeply at Tang San, his words carrying a pointed implication.

"Well, you and the Clear Sky Sect are connected, little San. All the direct descendants of the sect are surnamed Tang!"

The surname Tang!

The Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul!

The sect had kept its gates closed for six years!

One coincidence could be a coincidence, but what about three?

Perhaps it was his sixth sense, or perhaps it was Qin Yun's deliberate prompting, but Tang San was now seventy percent certain that his mysterious father was probably from the Clear Sky Sect!

"Brother Yun, does the Clear Sky Sect have the person I mentioned earlier?"

"You know what? It really does!

That isn't a guess on my part. The incident back then caused such a stir that almost every Soul Master on the continent knew about it."

Qin Yun recounted the whole story in vivid detail.

As he listened to Qin Yun's colorful account, Tang San heard a story that left him stunned.

Tang Xiao and Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Twin Stars... the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Blue Silver Emperor... Qian Xunji, the former pope of Spirit Hall... To avoid being held to account, the Clear Sky Sect struck Tang Hao from its rolls and closed its gates, while its affiliated sects came under severe pressure...

It all fits!

No wonder my Martial Souls are Blue Silver Grass and the Clear Sky Hammer. If that's the case, everything makes sense.

And this also explains why Father... no, why Tang Hao used me as a tool!

"Return to my ancestral home and bring glory to the Clear Sky Sect? Heh. How cold-blooded. How laughable!"

Before Tang San could keep muttering about Tang Hao, Qin Yun decided the time was right. He struck while the iron was hot, ready to pour more oil on the fire in Tang San's heart!

"People say that Ah Yin, the Blue Silver Emperor who had cultivated for a hundred thousand years before taking human form, willingly sacrificed herself under Spirit Hall's pursuit to protect Tang Hao and their child. That sacrifice gave Tang Hao a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and became a moving tale of a husband and wife's devotion."

"But in my view, that's nothing but a deliberate embellishment by people with ulterior motives.

Ah Yin's sacrifice was never a willing act of selflessness. It was a carefully plotted scheme by Tang Hao, with one trap leading to the next."

"Boom—"

Tang San's mind exploded. His vision went white, his entire body trembling violently as he nearly toppled out of the carriage.

Although he had little regard for Tang Hao, this concerned his own mother. There were some things Tang San did not want to believe—or, rather, simply didn't dare believe.

He wanted to shake his head, to argue, to say that it wasn't true.

But when the words reached his lips, Tang San managed only one sentence.

"Br... Brother Yun, why do you say that? Is there some hidden truth behind all this?"

Qin Yun said, "There's nothing hidden about it, really. It was all out in the open. You just have to steer clear of the traps laid by those with ulterior motives and look at it from an outsider's perspective. A little analysis is enough to see what's going on!"

"Your Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass. You have a certain talent—I don't need to spell that out. Once your cultivation rises, you'll be able to feel it for yourself.

Ah Yin was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor. Her roots were in the forest, among the plants and trees, surrounded by Blue Silver Grass.

In the forest, she could unleash the Blue Silver Domain and see everything around her.

She could hide herself, wield the power of plants to fight her enemies, and turn the entire forest into her cage."

"In those conditions, no matter how many experts Spirit Hall sent, as long as they entered the woods, they wouldn't find a trace of her—much less force her to her death."

"Her husband, Tang Hao, who lived with her day and night, knew that better than anyone."

"But what happened back then? The route Tang Hao took while fleeing with Ah Yin, as revealed by the accounts that came to light and the traces of battle that remained—what kind of place did he lead her through?"

"Cliffs, precipices, barren slopes—desolate places without a single tree!"

"He deliberately led Ah Yin away from every forest, away from every plant and tree, step by step driving her into a dead end where she had no support and nowhere to run.

He stripped away every advantage she had with his own hands, turning the Blue Silver Emperor who commanded the world into an ordinary woman at the mercy of others!"

Tang San's pupils contracted violently. His fingertips dug into his palm, drawing blood, but he didn't even notice.

The escape route... away from the forest...

How could that be fleeing for their lives? It was sending her to her death!

"Ah Yin hadn't been without doubts along the way."

Qin Yun's voice grew colder, his words even more beguiling.

"She watched the road grow more desolate, the forests fall farther behind, and her husband's back retreat farther ahead. She must have been confused. She must have been uneasy."

"But she trusted him too much. She trusted the man she'd given everything to love, trusted that he would keep her safe. From beginning to end, she never doubted him—not once, never letting down her guard."

"She didn't know that the husband to whom she'd entrusted her whole heart had wanted her dead from the very beginning."

Tang San's whole body turned cold, as if he'd fallen into an ice cellar.

That cold, indifferent man—the man who had given him an icy command just last night—had been plotting against his own wife from the very beginning?

That sort of behavior deserved death... No, he deserved worse than death!

Wait, something didn't seem right.

Tang Hao's Martial Soul was the Clear Sky Hammer, while his mother's was the Blue Silver Emperor. Were those two really compatible?

"Are you wondering how the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Ring could suit the Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul, and what Tang Hao went to all that trouble for?"

Qin Yun saw through his thoughts and smiled faintly, his smile dripping with scorn.

"Unlike the other sects, the Clear Sky Sect, leader of the Upper Three Sects, possessed Self-Created Soul Skills.

For example, the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique, the Clear Sky Nine Decisions, and the Great Sumeru Hammer!

As the Clear Sky Sect's heir, the future Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao learned these secret techniques early.

The Great Sumeru Hammer in particular had Ring Detonation as its core technique!

For him, whether a Soul Ring's attributes were compatible didn't matter at all. What he truly wanted was the vast, pure, and ultimate energy contained within a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring."

"Whether it was a Blue Silver Emperor Soul Ring or some other Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, to him, it was nothing but a vessel of energy to be detonated for overwhelming power."

"What he wanted was never the Blue Silver Emperor's Soul Skills, but the world-shattering power this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring could bring him."

The truth lay bare, with nothing concealed.

It was a perfect case of killing with a borrowed knife!

Tang Hao wanted the Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Ring. He wanted supreme power, but he didn't want to bear the shame of being called his wife's murderer. He wanted to preserve his image as a devoted lover who had lost the woman he loved.

So he laid a deadly trap.

He used Spirit Hall's blade to cut off every avenue of escape for Ah Yin, driving her into a hopeless dead end where she had no choice but to "willingly" sacrifice herself.

He got the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring he'd dreamed of, and won the sympathy and pity of the entire continent, becoming the Clear Sky Douluo whom the world saw as a grieving widower—powerful, yet tragic.

From beginning to end.

From choosing the escape route, to driving her into a dead end, to making her sacrifice herself.

Every step had been part of his plan.

His so-called devotion and protection, his so-called sacrifice for love, his self-destructive decline and drunken stupor over half a lifetime—

It was all a performance for the entire continent!

Tang San stood frozen, his body ice-cold, his blood seeming to have congealed.

His mouth hung open, but no sound came out. The light in his eyes slowly went out, leaving only endless emptiness, collapse, and bone-deep revulsion.

So this was his father!

All along, the love between his parents and their devotion to one another that he had imagined countless times since childhood had been nothing but lies.

It had all been a carefully plotted scheme.

"Heh. My mother is dead. I no longer care to judge right from wrong!"