Inside the Blue Silver Temple.
Ah Yin stared at the scene on the Sky Screen, her whole body trembling violently with rage.
The deep affection she had once held was gone from her eyes, leaving only regret and disgust.
"Back then... I thought he truly loved me, and was truly willing to die for me and our child."
Ah Yin's voice rang through the temple, laced with cold self-mockery.
"But now, looking at it as an outsider, I finally realize how foolish I was back then!"
She lifted a trembling hand and pointed at the details of Tang Hao's expression on the Sky Screen at the moment she sacrificed herself.
"Xiao'er, did you see?"
"The moment I decided to sacrifice myself, there was grief in his eyes, but even more than that, there was the triumphant joy of getting what he wanted—and a hunger for power!"
"He never intended to take me away. He was waiting for me to sacrifice myself!"
"He used my life to trade for that peerless Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, to make his name as Clear Sky Douluo resound throughout the world!"
Ah Yin closed her eyes. Two trails of clear tears slid down her cheeks, yet her voice grew ever more resolute.
"I must have been blind back then, to fall for such a hypocritical, cruel, selfish beast!"
"For the sake of his ambition, he forced me to sacrifice myself, then heartlessly abandoned you in the wilderness."
"For this grudge, I'll make him pay for his blood debt in blood!"
Seeing the hatred and dawning realization on his mother's face, Tang Xiao remained calm. He simply reached out and gently patted Ah Yin's back.
"Mother, it's a good thing you've seen his true face."
Tang Xiao's voice was even, yet carried an unshakable force.
"The truth of what happened back then has now been revealed to the world by the Heavenly Dao. The devotion and righteousness Tang Hao once took pride in are nothing but a joke in the eyes of the world now."
"As for his life, there's no need to rush."
Tang Xiao raised his head and looked at the frozen scene on the Sky Screen, a chill flashing through his eyes.
"I'll make him watch with his own eyes as everything he's pursued slips away, one step at a time."
Zhong Lingyue stepped forward and comforted her gently as well. "Mother, His Majesty is right. You're back with us now, and there's still a long road ahead. This hypocritical wretch will get what's coming to him."
Ah Yin took a deep breath, tamped down her anger, and nodded.
"All right. I'll listen to you both."
Inside the Papal Palace of the Spirit Hall Empire.
The atmosphere was oppressive to the extreme.
Qian Renxue stood silently in the middle of the great hall, watching the enormous image on the Sky Screen overhead.
In the image, her father, Qian Xunji, was sent flying again and again by Tang Hao's enormous black iron hammer, spitting blood and looking utterly wretched, until he was finally left gravely injured.
Qian Renxue had little affection for her father. Because of her mother, Bibi Dong, she had always harbored complicated feelings toward him.
But he was still her biological father—the man who had given her life, raised her, and passed on the Angel Martial Soul to her.
Watching her father humiliated like this before countless people and beaten until he was gravely injured, Qian Renxue felt as though her heart were being gripped tight. The pain left her chest heavy.
"Tang Hao..."
Qian Renxue clenched her teeth as golden, holy flames began to rise around her body.
The scorching heat charred the hard obsidian floor of the hall.
"The murder of my father is a debt that can only be repaid with blood!"
Golden fury blazed in Qian Renxue's eyes.
"You grievously wounded my father, leaving him to die of his injuries. I, Qian Renxue, will make you repay this debt in blood!"
"Whether you're ranked fourteenth or anywhere else, I'll cut off your head with the Angel Holy Sword myself and offer it in tribute to my father's spirit!"
Violent Soul Power swept through the Papal Palace, proclaiming the boiling killing intent of this heir to the Angel God.
With the entire world watching, the golden Sky Screen in the heavens changed once more.
The frozen image slowly faded, turning back into a sky full of golden runes.
Then, line after line of enormous golden characters slowly appeared in the center of the Sky Screen.
[Fourteenth Place: Tang Hao. Rewards Issued!]
At the sight of those words, the people who had been enraged and shocked by the truth of what happened back then drew quick, ragged breaths.
The reclusive powerhouses and leaders of the various factions, in particular, all stared at the Sky Screen with wide eyes.
Golden Crocodile Douluo had ranked fifteenth, and the reward had already raised his strength to Level 99, making him a Peerless Douluo.
So what astonishing reward would Tang Hao, ranked fourteenth, receive?
Under the tense gaze of countless people, golden characters appeared one by one on the Sky Screen.
[Reward One: Soul Power increased by one level (Tang Hao's current cultivation is Level 97; after the increase, he will be a Level 98 Super Douluo)!] [Reward Two: The age of every Soul Ring on Tang Hao's body will be increased by ten thousand years!] [Reward Three: His Martial Soul, "Clear Sky Hammer," will receive the Heavenly Dao's blessing and evolve into the "Supreme Clear Sky Hammer"!] [Reward Four: One Hundred Thousand Year "Primordial Giant Spirit God's Left Arm Bone"!]
Boom!
With the announcement of these four rewards, the entire Douluo Continent erupted.
"My heavens! Raising his Soul Power by one level would be enough, but they're even increasing the age of every Soul Ring by ten thousand years?"
"Doesn't that mean his Soul Ring Configuration will become terrifying? Could he even end up with all black or all red rings?"
"And Martial Soul Evolution! The Clear Sky Hammer is already the strongest Power Attack System tool Martial Soul on the continent. How powerful will it be after evolving into the 'Supreme Clear Sky Hammer'?"
"And on top of that, he gets a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone! These rewards are outrageous!"
Exclamations rang out in every corner of the continent.
In a secluded mountain valley.
Tang Hao, who had been furious and resentful moments ago, froze in place when he saw the rewards on the Sky Screen.
The next moment, wild joy spread across his face.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Excellent! The Heavenly Dao Gold List is truly something!"
Tang Hao threw his head back and laughed, his laughter full of the arrogance and smugness he had held back for so long.
"Level 98! The Supreme Clear Sky Hammer! And a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone!"
"With these rewards, who in the world could I possibly fear?"
Before his laughter had even faded, a massive golden pillar of light suddenly pierced through the clouds and fell straight into the valley where Tang Hao stood.
Whoom!
The golden beam completely enveloped Tang Hao.
At that moment, Tang Hao felt an energy so vast it defied description pour into his body like a flood bursting through a dam.
The bottleneck that had kept his cultivation stalled at the peak of Level 97 was as fragile as paper before this energy.
Level 98!
Powerful Soul Power surged outward in rings of golden ripples, crushing the trees and boulders in the valley to dust.
Immediately afterward, nine Soul Rings appeared beneath Tang Hao's feet of their own accord.
His original nine Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, and red—began to undergo an astonishing transformation beneath the golden rain of light.
The first and second Soul Rings, whose yellow represented a hundred years, rapidly deepened in color under the golden light, finally turning black.
His original third and fourth Soul Rings turned a pure black.
The Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings that followed grew darker and darker, faint red light rippling within them.
The ninth red ring, which represented a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring, grew more vivid than dripping blood. It swelled to several times its size and radiated a fearsome pressure.
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