"Then I'll just say a few things. I hope you won't fall apart when you hear them." Feng Piaoling's expression was calm.
"I can take it." Though she said so, Tang Ya's hands had already clenched into fists.
Bei Bei noticed something was wrong with Tang Ya and immediately stepped forward to comfort her, taking her hand.
Two Spirit Rings, one yellow and one purple, rose from beneath Feng Piaoling's feet. His Second Soul Ring lit up, and a khaki talisman appeared in his hand. "Come stand next to me. Line up, put your hands on each other's shoulders, and I'll take you away from the chaos. I'll explain as we go."
Tang Ya, Bei Bei, and Huo Yuhao did as he said.
Tang Ya placed her right hand on Feng Piaoling's shoulder, Bei Bei placed his on Tang Ya's, and Huo Yuhao placed his on Bei Bei's.
"Make sure you don't let go. If you get trapped underground and suffocate to death, don't blame me." As Feng Piaoling spoke, he activated the Earth Escape Talisman. It glowed khaki, enveloped the four of them, then shot into the ground and sped toward the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. The earth offered no resistance as they passed through it, like a sailfish racing through the sea.
Protected by the khaki glow, Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and Huo Yuhao felt everything around them rush by. They were all stunned. Was this Feng Piaoling's thousand-year Second Soul Ring skill?
It really was miraculous. It had hardly any offensive power, but it was a genuine life-saving skill.
Feng Piaoling hadn't used his Earth Escape Talisman just to give them a thrill. He was only trying to keep a certain God King Tang from spying on them.
"Now, let's get to the point," Feng Piaoling said gravely.
At that, Tang Ya, Bei Bei, and Huo Yuhao put aside their amazement at Feng Piaoling's Soul Skill and grew serious.
As he led them underground, Feng Piaoling said, "First of all, the Tang Sect has shut itself away from the world. In every generation, only a Blue Silver Grass Soul Master can become sect master, yet they've never considered that not everyone can awaken their Blue Silver Grass a second time into the Blue Silver Emperor."
"In this world, where Martial Souls reign supreme, without a powerful Martial Soul to pass down, there's no way to produce strong people consistently. Even without the war more than four thousand years ago, the sect's decline would have been only a matter of time."
"Besides that, the Tang Sect's decline is inseparable from its attachment to old ways. It clings to outdated things. Tell me, how could a sect that lives by selling weapons and profiting from war survive the changing times when its sect master can't keep up and its weapons are obsolete?"
At this, Tang Ya's eyes were already red. Her shoulders trembled slightly as she retorted in a stubborn voice tinged with tears:
"I admit I'm not strong enough, and that Blue Silver Grass really doesn't have much of an advantage compared with other Martial Souls."
"But the Tang Sect never profited from war. Every sect master set aside most of the sect's income to help commoners, keeping only a small portion for themselves. And our Hidden Weapons aren't outdated. The Tang Sect has many powerful Hidden Weapons, some of which have even threatened gods."
"Don't rush. I haven't finished." Feng Piaoling raised a hand to stop Tang Ya. "Do you know where Evil Soul Masters came from?"
Neither Tang Ya nor Bei Bei was unfamiliar with Evil Soul Masters. Even Huo Yuhao, once an illegitimate son of the White Tiger Duke, had heard of them.
But if asked to explain where Evil Soul Masters came from, none of them could give a proper answer.
In the end, Bei Bei was the one who spoke. "Evil Soul Masters rose to prominence ten thousand years ago, but their exact origins are unknown. The earliest record says that the Tang Sect's first sect master, Sea God Tang San, once killed an Evil Soul Master of the Titled Douluo rank."
Feng Piaoling spoke up. "That's not wrong. Strictly speaking, that Evil Soul Master did die at the hands of your Tang Sect's master. But do you know where your first sect master, Sea God Tang San, first encountered him? Slaughter City, a place the Spirit Hall specifically used to punish and imprison Fallen Soul Masters. Anyone who went in could never come back out. That was also why, ten thousand years ago, there were no Evil Soul Masters roaming the Douluo Continent."
"At the same time, that place was the inheritance ground of a god. Anyone who broke out of there could obtain an Innate Domain and draw the attention of that god."
"But your sect master, for reasons I don't know—whether he didn't want those who came after him to obtain the same Innate Domain, or whether he thought that place was evil and shouldn't exist in the world, out of some so-called sense of justice—destroyed it as soon as he escaped."
"And so the Fallen Soul Masters poured out, forming the enormous Evil Soul Master population we have today."
"That wasn't all. Afterward, he destroyed the Spirit Hall, the Soul Master organization that awakened Martial Souls for commoners, gave subsidies to low-rank Soul Masters, and dedicated itself to wiping out Fallen Soul Masters."
"Of course, I'm not defending the Spirit Hall. After all, the Douluo Continent has always been ruled by the law of the jungle. The Spirit Hall tried to unite the continent and lost to Tang San and the allied armies of Heaven Dou and the Star Luo Empire. The victors write history. There's nothing more to say."
"But after your sect master destroyed the Spirit Hall, he didn't take on the responsibilities it had carried. He neither founded an organization to awaken Martial Souls for commoners and provide subsidies to Soul Masters, nor did he do anything about the Evil Soul Masters. He only wanted to show the world how righteous he was, so he had you descendants of descendants hand out some money every year to help those so-called commoners and show off his virtue."
"From then on, the commoners of the Douluo Continent had no one to awaken their Martial Souls. To get one awakened, they either had to pay the nobles a fortune in Gold Soul Coins or, for a cheaper option, go to the black market. But even that was a huge burden for commoners. They already lived hard lives, and only a tiny fraction could awaken Soul Power. Generation after generation, the nobles stayed nobles and the commoners stayed commoners."
"Once in a while, a very small number of commoners awakened Soul Power. But without the subsidies the Spirit Hall had provided, if they wanted to grow stronger, they had to either sell themselves into slavery or risk their lives. I even once saw a commoner woman with high Innate Soul Power, a true genius, forced to sell herself for medicine because she had no money to treat her mother."
"Without the Spirit Hall to keep them in check, Fallen Soul Masters quickly grew in strength and numbers. The nobles wouldn't lift a finger unless Evil Soul Masters threatened their rule. They wouldn't even spare a glance for however many commoners were killed."
"Have you ever seen a village slaughtered by Evil Soul Masters? I have. My hometown was destroyed by them. Almost everyone died, except me."
"That is where Evil Soul Masters came from, and my parents died at their hands. Tang Ya, I know you've always been devoted to reviving the Tang Sect, but do you think I'd join a sect founded by that bastard hypocrite, the one who turned the Douluo Continent upside down and caused countless deaths?"
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