"You'd really leave such a sustainable 'leek' for Tang Hao to harvest?"
Boom!
Yu Nan's words seemed to open the door to a whole new world in Dugu Bo's mind.
Take Tang Hao's wife back and plant her...
Then kill her again once she'd grown?
Get another Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring and Soul Bone?
This... this was simply...
Freaking genius!
Freaking immoral!
But I like it!
The awkwardness and fear in Dugu Bo's eyes vanished in an instant, replaced by an indescribable excitement and fervor.
If he really could do that, wouldn't Yan Yan's ninth Soul Ring be taken care of in the future, too?
"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!"
Dugu Bo praised him sincerely in his heart. His admiration for Yu Nan flowed on like the endless waters of the Yangtze River.
He no longer hesitated. With a flash, he appeared in front of the Blue Silver Emperor.
"Heh heh, Tang Hao, oh Tang Hao. Since you're not home, I'll just have to take care of your wife for you."
Dugu Bo let out a strange laugh. Soul Power surged in his hands as he carefully controlled his strength.
He dug out the entire Blue Silver Emperor, along with a large chunk of soil around her roots!
The Blue Silver Emperor seemed to sense the danger. Her leaves trembled violently, and waves of sadness and resistance emanated from her.
But before the power of a Titled Douluo, her resistance was so feeble and futile.
Dugu Bo pulled out a jade box specially made for storing top-grade medicinal herbs. He stuffed the Blue Silver Emperor inside, roots and soil included, then affixed a Spirit Sealing Talisman to it.
Her aura was completely cut off.
"Done!"
Dugu Bo patted the jade box and put it into his Wishful Treasure Pouch, his face beaming with the satisfaction of a bountiful haul.
This trip, he'd not only taken the man's leg, but also run off with his wife.
He'd made a killing!
"Let's go!"
Having done all this, Dugu Bo didn't dare linger any longer.
He wrapped an arm around Dugu Yan's waist and activated his Soul Power barrier to its fullest.
Like a cannonball of emerald green, he blasted through the curtain of water and shot into the sky!
Splash!
Spray flew everywhere.
In the blink of an eye, the two figures vanished into the vast night.
All that remained was the empty cave and the scattered, ruined soil.
About half an hour after Dugu Bo and his granddaughter left,
a tall, dejected figure appeared beneath the waterfall, swaying as he carried a wine jug.
Tang Hao tipped back the jug and gulped down some cheap ale. He gazed at the familiar waterfall with bleary eyes, a bitter yet tender smile curling his lips.
"Ah Yin... I've come to see you..."
"Today... is another day I miss you..."
He lightly touched his toes to the ground and rose into the air, passing through the waterfall with practiced ease before landing inside the cave.
However,
the next second,
"Clatter!"
The wine jug slipped from his hand and smashed onto the ground, spilling its contents everywhere.
The tenderness on Tang Hao's face froze. The haze vanished from his murky eyes, replaced by the terror and disbelief of a dying beast.
He stared at the empty compartment.
He stared at the mound of earth that was now just a bare hole, not a single root left behind.
A scream filled with boundless fury and despair rang out across the back mountain of Holy Soul Village!
"No—!!!!"
"Who was it?!!!"
"Who touched my Ah Yin!!!!"
It hurt!
It hurt so much!
The woman he loved was gone, and all he could see was ruin!
"The Soul Bone... my Soul Bone!"
As if suddenly remembering something, Tang Hao lunged at the cracked stone wall.
His trembling hands frantically searched the empty compartment. His nails screeched against the hard rock, leaving bloody scratches.
Nothing.
There was nothing.
The lead box containing the Hundred Thousand Year Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone—and the last memento Ah Yin had left him—had vanished without a trace!
"Arghhhhhh—!!!"
Tang Hao's eyes turned bloodshot. His Soul Power went berserk, and his terrifying Divine Slaughter's Domain erupted, blasting the rocks throughout the cave to pieces!
That was a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone!
It was a treasure Ah Yin had traded her life for!
It was the greatest trump card he'd planned to leave Xiao San for the future revival of the Clear Sky Sect and revenge against Spirit Hall!
In its hundreds of years of history, the Clear Sky Sect had never possessed a single Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone, not even at the height of its power!
And now...
Someone had actually stolen it?!
They'd taken his wife and her dowry in one fell swoop?!
"Pfft—!"
Overcome by rage, Tang Hao felt a sweetness rise in his throat. He spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the ruined ground in front of him.
But he couldn't even spare a thought to wipe the blood from his lips. Like a madman, he dashed around the cave, desperately sniffing for traces lingering in the air.
"Who was it?! Who?!"
"Come out! Get out here!!!"
Tang Hao roared, his spiritual power spreading wildly like a tide as he tried to catch even the faintest clue.
However,
what drove him to despair was that
aside from the waterfall's damp air and the earthy stench of soil, the cave was utterly clean, as if no one had ever been there!
That old poison freak, Dugu Bo, might not be a match in a head-on fight, but when it came to underhanded tricks, he was absolutely a grandmaster.
Before leaving, he hadn't just used Jade Phosphorous Serpent Emperor poison to dissolve all the footprints and fingerprints.
He'd even released a special poisonous mist to neutralize odors, completely erasing the traces the two of them had left behind.
With Yu Nan's guidance on top of that, the scene had been cleaned up more perfectly than a textbook example.
No matter how mad Tang Hao became, how hard he pushed his spiritual power, or even how thoroughly he turned over every inch of ground within a ten-li radius,
he couldn't find a single clue about the thief!
"There's nothing... Why is there nothing?!"
Tang Hao collapsed to his knees in front of the hole where Ah Yin had once grown. He clutched the dirt in both hands, knuckles turning white as his whole body trembled violently.
A profound sense of helplessness and regret was like a rusty, blunt knife, cutting into his heart again and again.
If...
If he hadn't gone out drinking...
If he'd stayed here to guard her...
"Ah Yin... I'm sorry... I'm useless... I didn't protect you..."
The Clear Sky Douluo had once dominated the world, striking terror into the entire Soul Master World.
But now, he was like a child who'd lost his favorite toy, curled up in the dark, damp cave, letting out the muffled, anguished whimpers of a beast.
Meanwhile,
thousands of miles away, high above the ground,
Dugu Bo was speeding along with Dugu Yan, feeling utterly refreshed.
Though he didn't know how miserable Tang Hao was right now, just imagining that arrogant bastard suffering was enough to make him want to hum a tune or two.
"Grandpa, where are we going now?"
Watching the landscape rush past below, Dugu Yan couldn't help asking.
Now that they'd gotten what they came for—and something as dangerous as this—they naturally had to find somewhere absolutely safe to make use of it.
(I forgot to update yesterday, but luckily I managed to make up for it in time, and I've posted today's update as well. Thanks for your support! The book goes on sale tomorrow, and I'll update earlier!)
Before you continue