With a clang, the wine jar slipped from Tang Hao's hand and smashed to pieces on the ground, splashing wine everywhere.
He sprang to his feet so abruptly that his wooden prosthetic arm nearly slipped off his shoulder. He didn't even notice. His cloudy eyes were fixed on the phantom hammer in Tang San's palm, and in an instant, they blazed with disbelieving joy and overwhelming excitement. His whole body trembled uncontrollably.
"Twin Martial Souls... It really is Twin Martial Souls! Innate Full Soul Power! Good! Wonderful!"
"My son, my son."
He staggered over to Tang San, his nose running and tears streaming, his heart brimming with a father's love. He pulled Tang San into his arms, squeezing so tightly that the boy could barely breathe.
The smell of paternal love coming from his armpit nearly made Tang San faint from disgust.
In all his six years, this was the first time he had felt anything resembling "fatherly love" from the man who was his father in name only.
But Tang San knew the truth: this sudden tenderness had nothing to do with him. It was all because of the hammer.
Perhaps because he finally had hope of revenge.
"Sanmei, do you see this? Our son has Twin Martial Souls! Innate Full Soul Power! Our son has a bright future!"
Tang Hao kept repeating the words, his voice trembling. His eyes even grew bloodshot, and his left hand clenched tight.
Held in his arms, Tang San's body was rigid.
At last, all his suspicions had become undeniable fact.
He really was Tang Hao's son, the child of the Human Traitor hunted across the continent and a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor Soul Beast.
He was the "half-breed of human and beast," the "abomination" everyone said deserved to die.
Terror and bewilderment swept over him, but the mind he had forged through two lifetimes forced him to suppress his emotions.
He couldn't panic, much less show any resistance or unease.
If Tang Hao realized that he had figured out who he was, or even that he rejected his heritage, who knew what this obsessive, crazed man might do?
He was far too weak right now, with no way to fight back.
It's fine, he thought coldly. I'll pretend I know nothing, pretend I understand nothing. So what if everyone wants me dead? So what if the whole continent is hunting me? As long as I can cultivate, grow stronger step by step, reach the highest realm in this world, and build a power base of my own, I'll have enough influence to ensure no one can toy with my life again. No one will be able to point at me and call me an abomination. For now, the most important thing is to survive and keep myself hidden.
Tang Hao finally let go of him, gripping his shoulders and staring hard into his eyes. His voice carried a gravity Tang San had never heard before. "Xiao San, remember this. From today on, you must never bring out the hammer in your left hand in front of anyone. No one can know you have a Second Martial Soul!"
Tang San put on a bewildered expression and blinked. "Why, Dad? Isn't this hammer Martial Soul really powerful? It feels much stronger than Blue Silver Grass."
"Powerful? It is powerful, but it can also get you killed!" Tang Hao's voice turned stern. "Remember, the Blue Silver Grass in your right hand is the path you must follow. Focus on cultivating it and making it stronger. The hammer in your left hand is there to protect the grass in your right."
Tang San lowered his head, hiding the derision in his eyes.
The hammer in his left hand, protecting the grass in his right?
Back then, when you wielded that hammer Martial Soul, how did you protect my mother? In the end, you still wound up neither man nor beast, and had me hiding with you in this little village.
But he obediently answered, "I understand, Dad."
Seeing how compliant he was, Tang Hao nodded with satisfaction and continued gravely, "I'm telling you to hide this hammer Martial Soul for more than what happened six years ago. Think about it: what's the most famous hammer Martial Soul on the continent? It's the Clear Sky Hammer of the Clear Sky Sect, the foremost of the Upper Three Sects! You have Innate Full Soul Power, and you awakened a top-tier hammer Martial Soul. If you reveal it in front of anyone, who won't think of the Clear Sky Hammer? Who won't suspect that you're connected to the Clear Sky Sect and to Tang Hao, the man the whole continent hunted six years ago?"
His voice grew heavier, carrying a sharp warning. "When that happens, it won't matter whether you really have any connection to them. The people who envy the Clear Sky Sect and the Spirit Hall, who hate Tang Hao to the bone, will all see you as a thorn in their side and a splinter in their flesh. They'll hunt you to the ends of the earth, and you'll never know peace!"
Tang San's heart tightened. He shrank his neck as if frightened, then looked up and asked, confused, "Then, Dad, why can't I hide my Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul and cultivate this hammer Martial Soul first? It looks much stronger than Blue Silver Grass."
"No! Absolutely not!"
Tang Hao refused flatly, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Didn't you hear what I just told you? Besides, every sect values its inherited Martial Soul more than its own life. Across the entire continent, only the direct bloodline of a sect can rightfully use its inherited Martial Soul. A sect's inherited Martial Soul is its foundation. It can never be allowed to pass outside its control."
He paused, a dark look flashing through his eyes. "When sect disciples can't keep their pants on and leave children outside by accident, if one of those children awakens a hammer Martial Soul resembling the Clear Sky Hammer, they either return to the sect willingly and let it control their lives for the rest of their days, or the sect quietly kills them. It won't let even the slightest chance of its inheritance spreading slip through its fingers. You haven't even set foot inside the Clear Sky Sect. If anyone learns you have a hammer Martial Soul like this, the sect will come for your life before any other power gets the chance!"
Tang San finally understood.
This world valued bloodline inheritance far more than he had imagined.
A sect wasn't so much a sect as a sprawling family.
Even if he swore up and down that this wasn't the Clear Sky Hammer, the moment he revealed it, he would invite endless danger.
He nodded firmly, dismissed the phantom hammer in his hand, and said with complete seriousness, "Dad, I'll remember! I'll never bring this hammer out in front of anyone. I'll focus on cultivating my Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, and I won't tell a soul about this secret!"
Seeing how sensible he was, Tang Hao finally smiled, however faintly, and ruffled his hair. Then he pulled a crumpled money pouch from his clothes and pressed it into Tang San's hand.
In six years, this was the first time he had ever given Tang San anything.
"Good lad. You've got a bright future. Take this money and buy whatever you like. When you go to Nuoding Academy, I'll see you off."
Tang San took the pouch. The coins inside felt cold against his fingertips, but he felt nothing.
He knew perfectly well that all of Tang Hao's kindness and tenderness toward him now came from the fact that he was Tang Hao's only hope of revenge.
And he was simply using this "fatherly love" and Tang Hao's demands as a convenient excuse to hide himself and build up his strength, one step at a time.
The smell of liquor still hung heavy in the Blacksmith Shop. The setting sun shone through the broken door, stretching the shadows of father and son long.
One was consumed by thoughts of revenge; the other concealed the cunning and judgment of two lifetimes.
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