Different Fates

Bei Bei and Tang Ya, standing nearby, saw Huo Yuhao acting like a madman and couldn't help taking half a step back, as though they were seeing him for the first time.

Was this really the same timid, meek Huo Yuhao from before?

How could he be so full of malice? Could Feng Piaoling have been telling the truth?

Was Huo Yuhao really an ungrateful wretch?

For a moment, they couldn't help wondering whether accepting Huo Yuhao into the Tang Sect had really been the right choice.

Feng Piaoling said, "Then do what a man should do. I've seen it all along the way: you're insecure, introverted, and solitary. You like to wallow in self-pity, yet you forget your roots. Now you've joined the Tang Sect because you think you're better off with them than with me. When you find someone better, you'll abandon the Tang Sect too. Even if you don't, you'll grow distant from it."

"Didn't you say you knew who your enemies were? You said that sooner or later, you'd take revenge with your own hands. Fine. I'll be watching. Bei Bei and Tang Ya, you can bear witness too. Take a good look at this bastard and see whether he actually gets revenge, or whether the White Tiger Duke Mansion tosses him a bone and offers a few meaningless words of apology or some excuse about a misunderstanding. Then he'll come running to forgive them, like a dog, and go back to claim his birthright. He won't even be Huo Yuhao anymore. He'll just change his name to Dai Yuhao."

With that, Feng Piaoling turned and walked away.

Feng Piaoling's words utterly shattered Huo Yuhao. His eyes bloodshot and his breath coming in gasps, he shouted tearfully at Feng Piaoling's retreating back:

"Feng Piaoling, just you watch! I'll prove it to you! I'm not a dog or an ingrate. I'm a man who stands tall between heaven and earth! I'll kill my enemies with my own hands. I'll kill Dai Hao, the White Tiger Duchess, and every last person who ever bullied me or caused my mother's death. I'll never change my surname. I'll always be Huo Yuhao. Just you wait!"

"Fine. I'll be waiting." Feng Piaoling's lips curled slightly as he activated the Earth Escape Talisman, sank into the ground, and disappeared.

Before vanishing, he added, "Besides, there are plenty of people in this world who've suffered more than you, the White Tiger Duke's illegitimate son. The way you put on a show of suffering to win people's sympathy is downright disgusting."

He had already wasted quite a bit of time. Now he needed to find a secluded place and absorb the Spirit Ring from the five-thousand-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.

Staring at the spot where Feng Piaoling had disappeared, Tang Ya and Bei Bei looked at each other, at a loss for words.

Because they realized that, all along the way, Huo Yuhao really did seem to have been putting on a show of suffering to win sympathy.

Just then, Tian Meng's voice rang out in Huo Yuhao's mind. "Little Yuhao, you really don't need to take it so hard. Your big brother just remembered: that sly brat is about to meet his end."

"What do you mean?" Huo Yuhao asked, stunned.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm gloated, "Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears are different from other Soul Beasts. The energy in their Spirit Rings is unbelievably savage."

"Even an ordinary thousand-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear can rival a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. The one that sly brat got lucky enough to scavenge was at least five thousand years old. Even if its strength can't quite match that of a fifty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast, it should still be equivalent to one that's thirty or forty thousand years old."

"It only has the strength, not as much energy as a thirty- or forty-thousand-year Spirit Ring. But it's still as strong as one of those, just without the Soul Shock. Do you think that brat can absorb it? He's as good as dead."

Only then did Huo Yuhao wipe away his tears. Good. Let him die. Anyone who had ever humiliated him deserved to die.

And the Dai Family—every one of them deserved to die too.

Though Huo Yuhao didn't want to admit it, if someone from the White Tiger Duke Mansion really came to him with their head bowed, if Dai Hao repented at his mother's grave and spoke gently to persuade him to claim his birthright, he might actually forgive them.

His mother had wanted him to claim his birthright before she died.

But Feng Piaoling had said those things to him in front of his two friends, Tang Ya and Bei Bei.

Unless he never saw them again, he really couldn't bring himself to claim his birthright now.

Huo Yuhao turned to Bei Bei and Tang Ya. "Brother Bei, Sister Xiao Ya, I'm sorry you had to see that."

Bei Bei shook his head. He didn't say anything, but he already regretted inviting Huo Yuhao to join the Tang Sect.

He didn't know whether inviting Huo Yuhao into the Tang Sect had been right or wrong.

Tang Ya felt the same, but still said, "Since you've joined the Tang Sect, you must remain loyal to it forever. If you dare betray the Tang Sect, neither Bei Bei nor I will let you off."

Huo Yuhao nodded. "Brother Bei, don't worry. I'll never betray the Tang Sect. I swear it."

Tang Ya didn't say anything like, "I believe you." She simply had Huo Yuhao acknowledge her as his master, then gave him the Slyke Academy exemption spot she'd mentioned earlier while boasting about the Tang Sect's greatness.

As for the Tang Sect Secret Arts they'd previously praised as wondrous and powerful, neither Bei Bei nor Tang Ya had any intention of teaching them to Huo Yuhao.

At least, not yet.

They decided to watch him for a while first.

They didn't want to believe that the Tang Sect's founding master, Sea God Tang San, was as wicked as Feng Piaoling had claimed. But they had to admit that Feng Piaoling had indeed looked after Huo Yuhao along the way. He had even drawn a powerful Soul Beast away by himself for Huo Yuhao's sake, leaving himself battered and bedraggled.

Yet in the end, all he got in return was Huo Yuhao cutting ties with him.

Even if Huo Yuhao had done it for the Tang Sect's sake, it was still unacceptable.

Today, he could swear that he was cutting ties with Feng Piaoling for the Tang Sect.

But in the future, if he met someone or some faction that treated him better, would he leave the Tang Sect for them too?

With Feng Piaoling's example before them, they couldn't help but be cautious.

Meanwhile, while Tang Ya and Bei Bei were leading Huo Yuhao toward Shrek Academy, Feng Piaoling had already reached a concealed underground cave.

He had blasted the entrance shut with a Fire Bomb Talisman, so he didn't have to worry about human Soul Masters or Soul Beasts coming to disturb him.

Only after finishing all that did Feng Piaoling take out the five-thousand-year-old Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear.

Just then, Electrolux's aged voice sounded in his mind, offering a warning. "With your constitution, absorbing this Spirit Ring could make you explode and die. If you can't hold on, I'll help you."

"Then I'm grateful for your help, senior." Feng Piaoling didn't refuse Electrolux's offer.

Still, he had his own reasons for trying to absorb this five-thousand-year Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear Spirit Ring.

Ever since absorbing the Earth Armored Dragon Spirit Ring, which had been two thousand five hundred years old,

he had discovered

that when he was experimenting with creating cultivation techniques, he could use the energy surging through him from a Spirit Ring to speed up the process.

This time, he planned to use the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's Spirit Ring to break through to the fourth stage of the Green Lotus Sword Art.

If this had been a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast with the same strength as the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear, he naturally wouldn't have dared to take the risk.

After all, the vast energy and Soul Shock of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast were no joke.