No grudge?
If there was no grudge, then why had you, Qian Xunji, the Pope, brought such a massive force and so many experts to surround our gates? What did it mean?
Were you here to show off and amuse yourself?
That made no sense at all!
Just as Tang Zhen furrowed his brow and opened his mouth to press further, trying to figure out what exactly Qian Xunji was up to, Qian Xunji gave him no chance to ask.
The smile on Qian Xunji's face faded slightly, and his tone grew calm and clear.
His gaze swept over Tang Zhen, then slowly moved to the Clear Sky Sect disciples behind him.
At last, it settled on the two middle-aged men at the front of the crowd. They had looked downcast at the mention of Tang Chen's name.
Now, with the situation unclear, they looked especially tense.
The corner of Qian Xunji's mouth curved into a cold smile.
He spoke softly. His voice wasn't loud, yet it carried clearly across the silent square:
"Your sect and my Spirit Hall truly have no direct grudge against each other."
He paused, then abruptly changed tack, like a drawn sword:
"But..."
"That doesn't mean you haven't offended... someone you should never have offended."
He spoke the last few words slowly and heavily, as if making a declaration.
As soon as he finished, Qian Xunji turned slightly and gestured behind him with his eyes.
Sea Dragon Douluo had stood silently at his side, steady as a reef amid a raging sea. At Qian Xunji's look, his massive frame shifted slightly, and he stepped forward.
Just one step.
BOOM—!!
A vast, boundless, terrifying pressure erupted from Sea Dragon Douluo, like a slumbering deep-sea leviathan suddenly awakening.
It wasn't a simple Soul Power pressure. Within it lay a trace of pure, supreme divine power—the essence of the sea!
It was the majesty of a place where a god's legacy was passed down!
The weaker Clear Sky Sect disciples on the square groaned, their faces drained of color as they staggered backward.
Even the Soul Saint and Soul Douluo elders felt their breathing catch, as if they had been plunged into the depths of the sea, surrounded by crushing pressure and suffocating darkness.
A Titled Douluo!
And an exceptionally powerful one, with an ancient, profound aura!
Tang Zhen's pupils contracted. His muscles tensed, and the Soul Power within him surged instinctively to resist the sudden, terrifying pressure.
He stared hard at Sea Dragon Douluo, rapidly searching through everything he knew about the continent's powerful figures, but he had no idea who this man was.
Who was he?
He had never heard of a Titled Douluo on the continent with an aura so distinctive!
And judging by the way he stood shoulder to shoulder with Qian Xunji, even seeming to stand as his equal, he was clearly no ordinary guest or subordinate of Spirit Hall!
The instant Sea Dragon Douluo stepped forward and revealed his aura—
Tang Hao and Tang Xiao, standing at the front of the crowd and still struggling to figure out whom the Clear Sky Sect had offended, jolted as if struck by lightning!
They snapped their heads up, their eyes fixed on Sea Dragon Douluo.
The color drained from their faces. Their eyes filled with disbelief and shock, along with a trace of dawning realization.
It was him!
That distinctive Martial Soul fluctuation, as though it could stir the tides, instantly merged with the image of someone from their memories!
The Titled Douluo who had first discovered Ah Yin's true identity.
It was him!
It had to be him!
"So... it was him..."
Tang Hao's throat went dry. His voice was hoarse, barely audible.
He finally understood why Qian Xunji had said they hadn't offended Spirit Hall, but had offended someone they should never have offended!
The person they had offended wasn't Spirit Hall at all!
It was the Titled Douluo standing before them.
But why?
Why was this unfamiliar Titled Douluo mixed up with Spirit Hall's Pope?
Why had he even gotten Qian Xunji to personally stand up for him?!
If the man belonged to Spirit Hall, Qian Xunji could have simply admitted it from the start. There would have been no need to take such a long detour.
But if he didn't belong to Spirit Hall...
What gave him the power to summon Pope Qian Xunji, along with such an imposing force, to back him in a personal vendetta?
An even more terrifying thought slithered into Tang Hao and Tang Xiao's minds like a venomous snake:
Could it be...
Qian Xunji was pretending to stand up for the man, when in truth he had his eyes on the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast they had stolen from him?
That was it!
It had to be!
Only the Soul Ring and Soul Bone of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could offer such an irresistible temptation.
They were worth the Pope of Spirit Hall personally getting involved—and even helping an outsider offend the Clear Sky Sect.
So Qian Xunji hadn't come to uphold justice at all.
He'd come to take advantage of the chaos. He wanted to use mediation or an investigation as an excuse to forcibly seize the Hundred-Thousand-Year Transformed Soul Beast from the Clear Sky Sect.
What a perfect case of killing with a borrowed knife!
Like a mantis stalking a cicada, unaware of the oriole waiting behind it!
Once they understood everything, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao felt a chill shoot from the depths of their hearts to the tops of their heads. Their hands and feet turned icy cold.
They looked at Qian Xunji with fury, resentment, and a trace of despair.
If they only had to face that mysterious Titled Douluo, the Clear Sky Sect could afford to dismiss him entirely.
But if Spirit Hall was involved as well...
Then they were all but doomed!
Qian Xunji took in every change in the brothers' expressions and sneered inwardly.
It seemed the two boys had recognized Sea Dragon Douluo and had more or less guessed the reason.
That was for the best. It saved him the trouble of explaining.
He stood there at his leisure, waiting to see how Tang Zhen would respond.
Sea Dragon Douluo, meanwhile, fixed his icy gaze on Tang Hao and Tang Xiao.
His eyes were like those of a deep-sea predator that had spotted its prey, filled with undisguised killing intent.
After all, if it weren't for those two bastards, they would never have gone to Spirit Hall.
Nor would any of the events that followed have taken place.
Tang Hao and Tang Xiao were, in a word, the ones responsible for all of this.
The atmosphere on the square plunged to freezing in an instant, so oppressive that it was hard to breathe.
"You're the one who first discovered that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?"
At that moment, Tang Zhen spoke, seeming to understand.
Sea Dragon Douluo gave a cold snort and didn't deny it.
The killing intent in his eyes, cold as ice that had endured for ten thousand years, only grew stronger.
Tang Zhen saw that his guess was right, and the last trace of hope in his heart vanished.
He knew there was no way today's matter could end peacefully.
The man had managed to summon Qian Xunji and had dared to come straight to the Clear Sky Sect's gates. He must have had something to rely on, and he had come determined to get what he wanted.
"In that case..."
Tang Zhen's voice carried restrained anger and gravity as he asked, "What is it you want, exactly? Name your terms!"
He stopped beating around the bush and asked the most important question directly.
Was it war or peace? Compensation or restitution? They had to reach some sort of agreement.
At this, Sea Dragon Douluo's lips stretched into a cold, humorless smile.
His gaze cut like a blade. First, it swept over Tang Hao and Tang Xiao, whose faces were pale and jaws clenched. Then it settled on Tang Zhen once more, and he spoke, each word clear and deliberate: "First, return my young master's property—intact, exactly as it was!"
He paused. Then the cold light in his eyes flared, and his tone turned utterly chilling:
"Second..."
He pointed without a trace of courtesy at Tang Hao and Tang Xiao in the crowd:
"I want one arm from each of them!"
"To atone for their ambush, theft, and assault that day!"