Snowflakes drift down~ The north wind howls~
If Lin Yue had been here right now, he definitely would've given Tang Hao this song as his background music!
The one-in-ten-thousand hope in Tang Hao's heart finally crumbled when he saw the empty clearing.
There was nothing left.
Only cold rocks, silent earth, and... a despairing stillness.
After his wail, Tang Hao's face turned deathly pale.
Like a soulless walking corpse, he staggered over to the place where Ah Yin had been planted and dropped heavily to his knees with a thud.
"Ah... Ah Yin?" A dry, hoarse voice scraped from his throat, its trembling tail end like the whimper of a dying beast.
"Ah Yin, you're just hiding, aren't you?"
"You're still here, aren't you? Ah Yin, answer me!"
"Ah Yin..."
Kneeling before the pit, Tang Hao clawed frantically at the cold earth with his calloused hands, again and again.
"Ah Yin—!!!" A heart-rending roar finally burst from his throat, the furious cry of a Titled Douluo echoing wildly.
It was no longer the voice of a human, but the ultimate wail of a soul that had lost all hope and everything it had ever relied on.
He sprang to his feet, his eyes bloodshot, and his terrifying Soul Power burst out uncontrollably. The pressure of a Titled Douluo made the whole waterfall tremble.
"Who was it?! Who did this?!!" he roared madly, his voice warped and twisted, filled with boundless hatred and endless pain.
He couldn't accept it. Even if all the Soul Beasts had disappeared, he wouldn't have cared. But Ah Yin had been taken too. That was unacceptable.
Whoosh!
Just then, Tang Hao's gaze was abruptly drawn to an inconspicuous object in the corner.
It was a wooden box.
A wooden box he knew all too well, crafted from the hardest ironwood!
He had made it himself to preserve the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone from Ah Yin's right leg, left behind before her transformation into human form.
Boom—
Terrifying Soul Power erupted from him once more.
"Who was it? Who did this?"
Tang Hao instantly roared, opening his Soul Power perception to its full extent.
He had thought Ah Yin, like the other Soul Beasts, had been taken away directly by that unknown force.
But when he saw the wooden box, he realized that someone might have dug Ah Yin up.
Even if they hadn't, someone had certainly dug up the Soul Bone she had left behind.
That was why he was using his perception to its fullest now, hoping he could track down the target.
Even if a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone had been fused, some of its aura would still linger for a short time.
"Found it!"
"That's Ah Yin's aura. Over there!"
With his perception fully extended, Tang Hao quickly sensed the traces of the Soul Bone's aura. His figure flashed as he immediately chased after Lin Yue in the direction he had gone.
Tang Hao was surprised that he could sense them. It proved they had only just left.
"Damn it!"
"I should've come back sooner."
Once he understood this, Tang Hao was so overcome with regret that he nearly beat himself to death.
Boom—
Consumed by intense regret and fury, Tang Hao burst into his fastest speed and chased after Lin Yue and Ah Yin.
At that moment, Lin Yue had no idea Tang Hao was coming after them.
As he flew with Ah Yin in his arms, he still couldn't resist running his hands over her. "Ah Yin, what do you think Tang Hao will do when he finds out you're gone and the Soul Bone's missing?"
"Probably... fall apart!"
At the mention of Tang Hao, Ah Yin's tone was still somewhat complicated. "If he really loved me that much!"
"Haha, he probably did love you. But there's no doubt he didn't love your son."
Lin Yue laughed at her words.
Hearing Lin Yue, Ah Yin's softening heart immediately turned cold.
That was right. Tang Hao didn't love the child they had together at all.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have accepted the current Tang San.
And from the moment Tang Hao acknowledged Tang San, he probably intended never to tell her the truth. He even planned to have her accept this so-called son without knowing the truth.
At the thought of that scene, Ah Yin's heart ached terribly. She felt grief and outrage for the son of hers who had died.
"Ah Yin—!"
Just then, a shout filled with disbelief and delight rang out from behind them.
With Ah Yin in his arms, Lin Yue turned around and immediately saw Tang Hao flying toward them at high speed.
"He actually caught up."
Lin Yue was a little surprised, but not worried.
So what if they'd been caught in the act?
He couldn't defeat Tang Hao, but what could Tang Hao do to him?
Boom—
As Lin Yue turned to look at Tang Hao, Tang Hao quickly rushed right up to him and Ah Yin.
"Ah Yin... is it really you?"
"You're my Ah Yin, aren't you?"
At that moment, Tang Hao's eyes held nothing but the delight of seeing Ah Yin brought back to life. He completely ignored Lin Yue.
In his eyes, there was no room for anyone but Ah Yin.
Tang Hao felt as if his heart were about to burst with excitement. He truly hadn't expected Ah Yin to come back to life.
Ah Yin was still as beautiful and captivating as ever, still just as alluring to him!
"Master, watch out!"
When Ah Yin saw Tang Hao charging toward them, she immediately broke free from Lin Yue's embrace and stepped in front of Tang Hao, shielding Lin Yue behind her.
Crack~
Boom—!
Tang Hao had been overjoyed just moments before. But when he saw Ah Yin's actions and heard what she called Lin Yue, he felt as though he'd been struck by lightning. His face turned pale, and his mind went blank.
Had he not noticed Lin Yue just now?
No. Deep down, he simply refused to believe Ah Yin would be so close to another man, so he'd been deceiving himself by pretending not to see.
Now that he'd heard Ah Yin call Lin Yue her master, he could no longer fool himself.
"Ah Yin... you actually called him Master?"
Tang Hao clenched both fists, his nails digging into his flesh until blood ran, yet he felt not the slightest pain.
Because the pain inside him was limitless.
"Tang Hao!"
Looking at Tang Hao's pained expression, Ah Yin still couldn't stop complicated emotions from surfacing in her eyes.
This man before her had once been her lover. She had even been willing to sacrifice herself for him.
Before she knew Tang Hao had acknowledged the murderer as his own son, even after she had given herself to Lin Yue, she had still wanted to beg Lin Yue not to hurt Tang Hao.
But now, she would no longer plead on Tang Hao's behalf.
And she wouldn't let Tang Hao hurt Lin Yue, either.
"You heard right. He's my master!"
Ah Yin forced down her complicated feelings, then calmly spoke to Tang Hao.
"No... I don't believe it..."
"Ah Yin, how could you accept a human as your master? I'm your husband!"
Tang Hao cried out in despair.
"He forced you to do it, didn't he?"
"I'll kill him right now and save you."
Then Tang Hao seemed to have figured something out. He pointed the Clear Sky Hammer at Lin Yue and spoke with a commanding air.