Di Tian, Ah Yin Awakens

"Is it wrong to fall in love with a human?" Di Tian asked calmly.

"No. Soul beasts took human form precisely to experience human emotions and seek a chance at transcendence."

After several years of dealings with Spirit Hall, Di Tian had gradually let go of some of his prejudices against humans.

Ah Yin froze, raising her head as confusion flashed through her eyes.

"Then tell me, where did you go wrong?"

Ah Yin opened her mouth, but no words came out.

Di Tian snorted coldly. "You were wrong because you loved the wrong person."

Ah Yin was stunned.

"Did the person you loved truly love you?"

Di Tian's voice was icy. "Or had he wanted your Soul Ring and Soul Bone from the very beginning?"

"No!" Ah Yin abruptly raised her head. "Brother Hao truly loved me! More than once, he said that even if I weren't a soul beast, he would still love me! For my sake, he could stand against the entire Spirit Hall! He—"

"He stood against Spirit Hall for you?"

Di Tian cut her off, a mocking curve forming at the corner of his lips. "Then tell me, why is he still alive?"

Ah Yin's words caught in her throat.

"Spirit Hall had four Titled Douluo—two at level ninety-five and two above level ninety-three. What about your Brother Hao? He was level ninety, without even a Ninth Spirit Ring."

Di Tian's voice pierced her heart like a blade. "If he wanted to save you, what could he use? His life?"

Ah Yin's face began to turn pale.

"But he... he risked his life... He was badly wounded and nearly died..."

"Risked his life?" Di Tian sneered. "Of course he had to. Once you died, he would have nothing left."

"Your Soul Ring, your Soul Bone—he would lose all of them. Naturally, he had to risk his life."

Ah Yin's body began to tremble.

"What do you think that power within him was?"

Di Tian's golden dragon eyes flickered with a cold, sinister light. "A god was helping him."

"Why would a human who had just broken through to Titled Douluo receive a god's favor? Think carefully about it."

Countless scenes suddenly surfaced in Ah Yin's mind.

The look in Tang Hao's eyes when he first saw her.

It had not been amazement, but... delight? As though he had found something precious.

Tang Hao's persistence when he pursued her.

She had thought it was love, but thinking back now, there seemed to have been a trace of urgency within that persistence.

Every time Tang Hao asked her about soul beast cultivation, about Soul Rings and Soul Bones.

She had thought it was concern, but now...

And that baby.

The child she and Tang Hao had had.

When Tang Hao held that baby, was the look that flashed through his eyes truly fatherly love?

Or was it... pride?

Ah Yin's face turned white as paper.

"No... That can't be..."

She muttered, her trembling voice nearly inaudible.

"Brother Hao isn't that kind of person... He loves me... He truly loves me..."

Di Tian looked at her, pity flashing through his eyes.

"You've been locked in here for a day and a night."

He suddenly said, "Do you know what happened outside?"

Ah Yin raised her head.

"Your Brother Hao escaped."

Di Tian said, "But do you know the first thing he did after escaping?"

Ah Yin's heart suddenly clenched.

Di Tian enunciated each word. "He went back to the cave where you were hiding and took the baby away."

Boom!

Ah Yin's mind went blank.

Tang Hao... took the child away?

Wasn't he seriously injured? Wasn't he supposed to be fleeing for his life?

How could he... go back for the child?

Unless...

Unless that child was extremely important to him.

Important to what extent?

Important enough that he would risk being caught by Spirit Hall just to go back and take him away.

That was his son. Of course he was important.

But if he was only his son, then why had Tang Hao not fought desperately to keep her when she was taken away?

Hadn't he fought desperately? Hadn't he been severely wounded?

Yet he still had the strength to go back for the child.

He had the strength to carry the child away, but not the strength to look at her one more time?

Ah Yin knelt there, trembling all over.

Tears silently rolled down her cheeks.

She remembered now.

The things Tang Hao had said while holding the child.

"Ah Yin, this is our child. When he grows up, he'll definitely be outstanding."

"Ah Yin, what do you think his martial soul will be when it awakens? The Clear Sky Hammer, or your Blue Silver Grass?"

"Ah Yin, once his martial soul awakens, I'll take him back to the Clear Sky Sect. The Clear Sky Sect will accept him. They definitely will."

The Clear Sky Sect.

Go back to the Clear Sky Sect.

Ah Yin suddenly understood.

Tang Hao had never intended to stay with her from the beginning.

He was one of the Clear Sky Sect's Twin Stars, the future Clear Sky Douluo. How could he possibly spend his life with a soul beast?

What he had wanted was never anything but her Soul Ring, her Soul Bone, and...

That child.

A child who inherited his Clear Sky Hammer bloodline and her Blue Silver Emperor bloodline.

A genius with Twin Martial Souls.

Ah Yin gave a bleak smile.

She suddenly remembered Tang Hao once asking her, "Ah Yin, do you think a child between a soul beast and a human could inherit both parents' martial souls at the same time?"

She had smiled and replied, "Probably. After all, it would be the fruit of our love."

The fruit of love.

Thinking about it now, that smile was truly ironic.

"I..."

Ah Yin spoke, her voice so hoarse it hardly sounded like her own.

"I was wrong."

Di Tian looked at her without speaking.

Ah Yin knelt on the ground, her forehead pressed against the cold floor.

"I really... was wrong."

Her voice was soft, so soft it was almost impossible to hear.

But Di Tian heard it.

He turned and walked toward the door.

At the doorway, he paused.

"You still have a chance." Without turning back, he said, "Being alive is better than anything."

Ah Yin raised her head and watched his figure disappear through the doorway.

Alive?

Did she still have any reason to keep living?

Outside the window, a ray of sunlight shone through the iron bars and fell across her face.

Looking at that ray of sunlight, she suddenly remembered what Ling Feng had said.

"Live well. As long as you're alive, there's hope."

Hope...

Did she still have hope?

She did not know.

But she knew that she would not die.

Because she wanted to see with her own eyes what kind of person the baby Tang Hao had taken away would become.

Would he be like his father as well, deceiving an innocent soul beast for Soul Rings and Soul Bones?

If that was the case...

She closed her eyes, a cold curve appearing on her lips.

If that was the case, she would end him with her own hands.

Naturally, Lin Feng knew nothing of the conversation between Di Tian and Ah Yin.

He had matters of his own to attend to, such as going to Suotuo City.

He had spent too long cultivating and needed a real battle, so he accepted an order from the Spirit Hall Main Hall to hunt down Immovable Bright King Zhao Wuji.

Several years ago, Zhao Wuji had violated the law through force and injured many Spirit Hall bishops. This matter could not be left unaddressed.

From the start, Zhao Wuji had been entirely in the wrong, so Ling Feng naturally would not hold back.

With his current strength, Ling Feng did not fear Zhao Wuji, even as a High-Rank Soul Emperor. Even if Zhao Wuji had broken through to the Soul Sage realm, he would still be no match for him.

Of course, the most important thing was going to Suotuo City and forcibly shutting down Shrek Academy, which had established an academy without legal authorization.

He even wanted to personally kill Flender. That old man had violated plenty of Spirit Hall's laws as well.