Tang Hao had never believed that being with Ah Yin was a mistake.
Ah Yin was so good, so gentle, so beautiful...
What right did anyone have to say he couldn't be with her?
So what if she was a Soul Beast? He didn't care. What business was it of anyone else's if the two of them were together?
He just liked Soul Beasts. So what!
And all that high-minded talk about righteousness and the greater good—Qian Xunji, that bastard, had clearly only wanted Ah Yin's Soul Ring and Soul Bone. If Ah Yin hadn't been a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, but merely a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo, would he have come?
He wouldn't have taken a single step outside Spirit City!
Spirit Hall... you were utterly shameless. You dressed up your pursuit of my whole family, all because you wanted to seize a 100,000-Year Soul Ring and Soul Bone, as some noble and righteous act, and kept putting a golden face on that villain Qian Xunji. You even called yourselves followers of the Angel God. If I were the Angel God, I'd be disgusted to have followers like you!
Tang Hao clutched his chest, so furious his liver hurt.
If Qian Daoliu weren't somewhere else right now, he would have swung his Clear Sky Hammer and gone at him.
That old dog had made his son sound like a heavenly marvel while dragging Ah Yin and him through the dirt. He was utterly shameless and utterly deranged!
Not far from Tang Hao, the other members of Shrek stood together.
They were whispering among themselves.
"We knew the Spirit Hall had persecuted Third Brother's family, and that his mother was killed by the previous Pope. But I never thought Third Brother's mother was actually..." Ma Hongjun's expression was a little awkward.
He frequented brothels, and though he was still young, he'd already had more experiences with men and women than he could count. He knew all about romance between men and women. But when it came to humans and Soul Beasts, he lifted his chin and imagined the two species doing that sort of thing. A shiver instantly ran through him.
He couldn't imagine it. He couldn't accept it. He even felt a little nauseated.
Not knowing Xiao Wu's true identity, he'd only ever thought of Soul Beasts as the creatures he'd seen in the wild. Even though both the Clear Sky Sect and Spirit Hall had said that Tang San's mother was a Soul Beast who had taken human form, Ma Hongjun still couldn't picture what she might have looked like. All he could imagine was the Soul Beast's true form, and that...
Well, he wasn't into that kind of thing!
"Xiao San's... background is actually like this. He was born from a human and a Soul Beast. Doesn't that make him just like the Wolf Bandits?" Dai Mubai murmured, frowning.
A little over a month ago, when he learned Tang Hao wasn't the one who had killed Qian Xunji, he'd thought Spirit Hall would stop suppressing the Clear Sky Sect. The sect could make a comeback, and he could invite Tang Hao and his son to Star Luo City to form an alliance with the Dai Family. Then he could use Tang Hao's power to wage war against Dai Weisi and seize the position of crown prince.
But...
Dai Mubai glanced out of the corner of his eye at Ning Rongrong beside him.
Because of that annoying girl, he'd never managed to convince Tang Hao and his son.
Right, Ning Rongrong wanted to win Tang Hao over too. She wanted to take him to Heaven Dou City and have him work with the Heaven Dou Imperial Family.
She knew a little about the balance of power in the Soul Master World, but not much. She understood some of the tricks of forming alliances, but she wasn't an expert.
She figured that since her father's Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had allied with the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, if Dai Mubai managed to win over the Clear Sky Sect and have them ally with the Star Luo Empire, wouldn't that make the sect an enemy of hers one day?
So she kept interfering with Dai Mubai's efforts to win them over. She even urged Tang Hao and Tang San to go with her to Heaven Dou City, promising to ask her father to introduce them to Emperor Xue Ye. Working with the Heaven Dou Imperial Family was far safer than working with the cold, loveless Star Luo Imperial Family.
One side was trying to win them over, and so was the other. Perhaps Tang Hao and Tang San were genuinely torn, or perhaps they wanted to play both sides to drive up their value. Either way, the father and son had agreed to neither side over the past month, and had simply stayed at Shrek Academy.
Since they'd received no answer, Dai Mubai and Ning Rongrong had no choice but to wait there with them. They'd been waiting for a reply, but instead of one, they got an unprecedented war of words between the Clear Sky Sect and Spirit Hall!
And now, they knew the truth about Tang San's parentage.
They also understood what sort of person Tang Hao's wife was, and why Spirit Hall had hunted her down.
It had to be said: a mixed-blood born of a human and a Soul Beast...
Perhaps because they hadn't yet gone through life-and-death trials together as they had in the original novel, Dai Mubai, Ning Rongrong, and the others felt a little knot form in their hearts when it came to Tang San.
Of course, they could still maintain a friendly front. After all... they were partners, right?
Yes, still partners.
"Back when Tang Hao saw Yuan Qi on the Sky Screen, Yuan Qi said he'd lain with a Soul Beast. I didn't think much of it then. I thought I might've misheard," Oscar said quietly.
"Now you know you didn't," Zhu Zhuqing said coldly.
"Ugh..." Oscar sighed.
His good brother had suddenly turned out not to be human, but half man and half beast. What kind of thing was that?
"Dad!" a voice called out.
Everyone turned toward it. Tang San had returned from outside the academy, leading Xiao Wu by the hand.
Tang Hao, still furious, froze at the sound of his son's voice. He turned around, his gaze falling on Tang San's exceedingly ordinary face. Opening his mouth, he asked in a hoarse voice, "Xiao San, you're back?"
"Mm." Tang San led Xiao Wu over to Tang Hao and nodded.
Then, with a thump, he dropped to his knees. Pressing his forehead to the ground, he gritted his teeth and said, "I'm sorry, Dad. I watched you and Mom being insulted, but I don't have the strength to get justice for you yet. But please don't worry. I'll work twice as hard at cultivating. I'll become a Titled Douluo, maybe even a Super Douluo like Xue Hen. Then I'll take the Clear Sky Hammer you passed down to me and the Blue Silver Grass Mom passed down to me to Spirit Hall, and make everyone who hurt you and Mom pay with their lives."
As he spoke, Tang San's eyes turned cold. He stressed, "Anyone who dares insult my parents... deserves to die!"
Hearing Tang San's words, Tang Hao stood frozen in place.
He was so moved. So very moved.
What a good son Ah Yin and he had!
"Hahaha!" Tang Hao laughed toward the heavens, overcome with joy, tears streaming from his eyes.
"Ah Yin, do you see? Our Xiao San has grown up. He's really grown up! Hahaha!"
"His Excellency Haotian." As Tang Hao laughed with joy, another unpleasant voice rang out.
It was Yu Xiaogang.
He held a piece of paper in his hand and strode over.
He didn't care whether his disciple was pure-blooded human or half man and half beast. Well, it wasn't that he didn't care; he simply couldn't afford to care, because he couldn't find anyone more outstanding than Tang San who was willing to become his disciple.
So he could only keep placing his hopes of proving his theories on Tang San.
He walked up to Tang Hao and first patted Tang San on the shoulder, as if to encourage him. Then he handed the paper to Tang Hao and said, "This is a letter from a friend of mine in Heaven Dou City. It says Spirit Hall sent a large number of Soul Masters into the city, led by two Titled Douluo. They attacked the Clear Sky Sect's branch there. The Clear Sky Sect disciples who had returned to the world... were all killed."
"..." Tang Hao had just taken the paper, and the expression on his face instantly froze.
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