Tang Hao married Ah Yin on a mountain peak within sight of the Clear Sky Sect. The sect elders tried to stop him, but they failed. Some Clear Sky Sect disciples died, some were injured, and some were crippled. Some were turned into two-dimensional drawings, while plenty of others were smashed into meat paste.
Fifth Elder Tang Kun had been smashed into meat paste by Tang Hao.
It was a horrifying sight. There wasn't even enough left to scatter his ashes.
Once again, the incident sent shock waves through the entire Soul Master World.
For a time, calls condemning Tang Hao rang throughout the Soul Master World. Wanted posters for Tang Hao and Ah Yin appeared everywhere.
For the Clear Sky Sect, this meant some security. No one would keep using Tang Hao's affair with a Soul Beast to pressure the sect and extort benefits from it.
After all, even his own people had been brutally killed by Tang Hao. There was no reason to keep targeting the sect; doing so would be going too far.
The sects among the Upper Three Sects that stood shoulder to shoulder breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, the incident added fuel to the already irreconcilable hatred between humans and Soul Beasts.
It caused an uproar not only in the human world, but in the Soul Beast Realm as well.
Lake of Life, Star Dou Forest.
Two Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbits—Xiao Wu and her mother Rou Wu—a Titan Giant Ape named Er Ming, and a Sky Azure Bull Python named Da Ming had all learned of the incident. The four, who lived like recluses, were hardly ordinary animals.
In fact, the Soul Beast Clan had its own intelligence network. It had channels for gathering news from the human world, and it certainly wasn't completely in the dark about human affairs.
Rou Wu, who looked like a mature beauty, gazed toward the human world and said, "I never expected Ah Yin to stir up such a commotion in the human world. I wonder whether this is good or bad for our Soul Beast Clan."
"Aunt Rou Wu, our relationship with humans has always been irreconcilable. Even if Ah Yin stirred up trouble in the human world, it wouldn't change much between us and them." Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python, emerged from the lake.
"On the contrary, Ah Yin managed to win over a powerful human. That man was even willing to slaughter his own people for her. You could say she's brought a powerful fighter to our Soul Beast Clan!"
Er Ming, the Titan Giant Ape, wasn't convinced. "Big Brother, who knows if this is a human scheme? Humans are best at plotting. They'll turn against even their own family for a Soul Bone from one of us, even if it's only a hundred years old."
Da Ming said, "No matter what, the man is from the greatest sect under heaven, and he's a descendant of Clear Sky Douluo. I doubt he'd do something like that. I'd say he's already fallen into Ah Yin's tender embrace."
Nearby, Xiao Wu, who had yet to transform, asked innocently, "But Aunt Ah Yin is good at healing, isn't she? Does she have the power of Charm, too?"
Xiao Wu just couldn't understand.
Rou Wu stroked Xiao Wu over and over. "Perhaps this is what humans call love. It's the kind of feeling that makes someone willing to stand against the whole world for the person they love."
The Titan Giant Ape couldn't wrap his head around it. "Isn't that just madness? If it were me, I'd be willing to die for my beloved. That would be enough."
Rou Wu smiled. "Perhaps that's the power of love. You'll understand when the day comes."
Xiao Wu nodded. "I wish I had someone like that, too. A good man should be just like him."
Da Ming's voice rang out. "Sister Xiao Wu, don't let a man like that fool you. Men like him are the most frightening. It may sound moving, but the idea behind it is terrifying."
Xiao Wu didn't agree. "Not at all. I think it's wonderful. Don't you, Mom?"
Rou Wu smiled and nodded again. "Perhaps both sides have a point. I won't deny that either. As long as it keeps your beloved safe and spares them from suffering, you can accept anything else."
"Ah Yin certainly found a good man, but he does seem far too extreme and impulsive."
"Whatever the case, I don't think there's anything good about that man. Ah Yin is bound to run into trouble with him." The Titan Giant Ape still disapproved of Tang Hao's actions. In the eyes of the Soul Beast Clan, nothing mattered more than their own kind.
Tang Hao's actions amounted to betraying his own kind. If someone in the Soul Beast Clan did that, they would never be spared.
Even transforming into a human was seen by other Soul Beasts as an act of betrayal, unless there was some special reason for it.
A Soul Beast that transformed into a human either couldn't get past the hundred-thousand-year limit and had no choice but to take a gamble in human form,
or, like Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's god-making plan in Douluo II, it would transform into a human and wait until it reached level seventy, when it would need to hunt Soul Beasts. Then three other Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts would Sacrifice themselves, lending it overwhelming power so it could break through level one hundred and become a god. Afterward, it would revive the Soul Beasts that had sacrificed themselves for it.
Xiao Wu's mother, Rou Wu, clearly fit both possibilities.
More importantly, there were three Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts by her side—exactly enough for three Soul Rings. Once she reached level seventy, they could Sacrifice themselves, giving her three Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Rings and Soul Bones.
Ah Yin sighed. "I hope Ah Yin stays safe. She won't be easy to kill."
It wasn't that she couldn't be killed. As long as she didn't encounter overwhelming power, she would be safe.
"But the question is, will our Soul Beast Realm allow Ah Yin to come back? We aren't the only Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Forest. There are plenty more, and they've probably heard about this, too. Even if what happened feels satisfying, will they believe it?" The Sky Azure Bull Python had put his finger on the crux of the matter. Soul Beasts hated humans. Just because someone stood against all of humanity for a Soul Beast didn't mean they weren't doing it for a more suitable Soul Ring or Soul Bone.
Would Ah Yin keep hunting more suitable Soul Beasts for her man?
That was absolutely unacceptable to the Soul Beasts. It would also amount to betrayal, and not a single Soul Beast would ever let them get away with it.
"Let's wish them luck," Rou Wu said. There was nothing they could do.
In truth, Soul Beasts felt little kinship with any other Soul Beast outside their own kind, and they had no sense of pride in being part of the Soul Beast species.
They were Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, and in human terms, they were sworn enemies of Blue Silver Grass. Their rabbit clan had eaten countless Blue Silver Grass plants, sometimes even leaving not a root behind.
If they ran into each other, Blue Silver Emperor Ah Yin might help her man hunt them down.
Besides, the Soul Skills of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft Bone Rabbit were impressive. Teleportation and Void, for example, could practically be called divine skills.
And that was without even mentioning the two powerful emperor-class Soul Beasts beside her.
Quite a few Soul Beasts with a degree of intelligence understood this. They could admire Ah Yin for making a genius betray his sect, but they would never believe she wouldn't betray them for that man.
As the saying went, ninety-nine percent of Soul Beasts who transformed into humans were traitors. And they felt little kinship with other Soul Beasts, just as humans and Soul Beasts belonged to two different species.
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