Life Flame, Tang Potian: A True Man Should Be Like This!

Above the sky, golden light flowed as lines of ancient text slowly emerged.

[Featured figure: Tang Potian, founding sect master of the Clear Sky Sect.]

[Founded: Twenty thousand years ago.]

[Soul ring configuration: Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red.]

The moment this text appeared, the Clear Sky Sect's main hall fell so silent that a pin drop could be heard.

Several elders exchanged glances, even softening their breathing.

Tang Xiao stared fixedly at the word "yellow," his fist smashing into a stone pillar.

Two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red.

That configuration would indeed be considered top-tier on the current continent. But this was an assessment of their ancestor!

Not long ago, Ning Wuqian of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had possessed a purple first soul ring! Yet when it came to their own ancestor, whom the Slaughter King had praised to the heavens, why had it become the most ordinary yellow?

The disparity was far too great.

The ancestor of the world's number one sect had actually started out so mediocre?

The Seventh Elder could not help muttering.

"The first soul ring was only a hundred years old... That's a little low."

[A disdainful snort from Slaughter King Tang Chen appeared in the chat group.]

[Slaughter King Tang Chen: What are you looking down on? The Clear Sky Hammer is the number one tool-type martial soul in the world! How can the tyranny of such a top-tier martial soul compare to those support types? Even if the first few soul rings were somewhat lacking, with the foundation of the Great Sumeru Hammer, he could still smash opponents of the same rank into pulp! What the hell do you juniors know!]

Tang Xiao shrank his neck and did not dare respond.

The golden words on the sky screen gradually faded, and the scene unfolded.

The savage aura of ancient times rushed toward them.

There were no towering city walls, no bustling streets.

What came into view was a ruined village. Its thatched roofs were broken and drafty, while the muddy dirt roads were riddled with potholes.

A child covered in mud was struggling to till the soil in a field, swinging a hoe taller than himself.

The child was skin and bones, his skin darkened by the sun.

Narration appeared beside the scene.

[Twenty thousand years ago, Douluo Continent had yet to develop a systematic martial soul awakening ceremony.]

[The vast majority of ordinary people remained ordinary for their entire lives. Only a very small number could accidentally awaken the martial souls within them after experiencing intense external stimuli, such as life-and-death crises.]

[Tang Potian was an ordinary farm child from Tang Family Village. Until the age of ten, his daily task had been nothing more than working in the fields.]

The chat group erupted completely.

[Ning Fengzhi: He was still farming at ten? He hadn't even awakened his martial soul?]

[Qian Daoliu: This era was far more ancient than Ning Wuqian's. Humans at that time were practically surviving in the cracks between soul beasts. There was no Spirit Hall, no empire. Ordinary people were merely food for soul beasts.]

[Yu Xiaogang: No systematic awakening ceremony? Then how did they cultivate? This completely overturns the fundamental theories of the martial soul world!]

In the scene, ten-year-old Tang Potian wiped the sweat from his forehead and prepared to continue tilling the ground.

A breeze drifted past.

A strange medicinal fragrance rode the wind into the village.

At the village entrance, a tall figure slowly approached.

The man wore a green robe and held an ancient pill furnace in one hand.

A cluster of emerald-green flames coiled around the furnace. As the flames flickered, they radiated an incomparably dense aura of life. The withered yellow weeds nearby miraculously sprouted tender green shoots beneath the flames' heat.

Inside a shabby tavern.

Tang Hao abruptly straightened up, knocking over a wine bottle on the table.

Tang San even stopped breathing.

Within Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong suddenly gripped the throne's armrest, tearing a rip in her luxurious robe.

[Qian Daoliu: It's him!]

[Ning Fengzhi: The mysterious man who burned half of the Star Dou Great Forest!]

Tang San stared fixedly at the sky screen, his mind racing.

The mysterious man.

Ancestor Tang Potian.

Ten years old.

Could it be that his ancestor's earth-shattering cultivation, even that peerlessly domineering Great Sumeru Hammer, had all come from this mysterious man? Had his ancestor taken him as his master?!

If that were true, then just how long had this mysterious man lived?

A god?!

Tang San swallowed. He had always regarded the Mysterious Heaven Skill as an unparalleled supreme art, but before a monster who had lived for twenty thousand years, the trump card he had been so proud of was simply not worth mentioning.

On the sky screen.

The mysterious man entered the village. The villagers stopped their work one after another and watched this well-dressed stranger with reverence.

In that era of raw flesh and blood, anyone who could wear such fabric was certainly no ordinary person.

The mysterious man ignored the villagers' stares. He stopped beneath a large tree at the village entrance and waved one hand.

Boom!

Emerald-green flames shot into the sky, transforming into the phantom of an enormous furnace.

Immediately afterward, rings of soul rings rose from beneath his feet.

Purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red!

Seven soul rings!

The seventh soul ring shone with a blood-red light that made their hearts tremble!

[Bibi Dong: The seventh soul ring... a hundred thousand years?!]

[Qian Daoliu: That completely violates the iron laws of soul master cultivation! How could a seventh soul ring possibly withstand the resentment and energy of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast? Is his body forged from refined gold?!]

[Tang Chen: A monster... He is absolutely a monster! What kind of martial soul is that flame of his? It is clearly full of life, yet it makes people tremble from the depths of their hearts!]

In a secluded tavern in Heaven Dou City.

Lin Xuan raised his wine cup, took a sip, and chuckled at the flood of messages in the chat group.

Was a hundred-thousand-year seventh ring really so outrageous?

The Life Flame was originally a Strange Fire born of heaven and earth, containing the most extreme life force. Back then, he had used that Strange Fire to refine a hundred-thousand-year soul beast alive. Its immense life force had nourished him in return, so absorbing a soul ring was naturally effortless.

What a fuss over nothing.

The scene on the sky screen continued.

After the mysterious man displayed his soul rings, every villager in Tang Family Village fell to their knees, treating him as a god descended into the world.

The mysterious man seemed to be searching for something. His gaze swept over the crowd before finally landing on Tang Potian, who was covered in mud.

He beckoned.

Tang Potian timidly walked forward.

A wisp of emerald-green flame overflowed from the mysterious man's fingertip and lightly touched Tang Potian's brow.

Boom!

Tang Potian's entire body shook violently, and a faint black light burst from his palm.

A black iron hammer the size of a palm appeared in his hand.

[Martial soul awakened: Black Iron Hammer.]

[Innate soul power: Level four.]

The moment those large words appeared.

The entire Clear Sky Sect exploded.

Tang Xiao smashed the stone table beside him with a single slap, sending fragments flying everywhere.

Level four?!

Innate soul power at level four?!

What kind of joke was this!

Among the Clear Sky Sect's direct descendants, anyone who awakened the Clear Sky Hammer began with at least level seven innate soul power!

Yet their founding ancestor, the peerless Titled Douluo who had established the Clear Sky Sect's legacy for countless generations, had possessed a mere level four of innate soul power?!

With talent like that, in the current Clear Sky Sect, he would not even be as good as an outer disciple! He could only be sent off to sweep the floors!

In the chat group, Spirit Hall's elders began mocking him wildly.

[Ghost Tiger: Hahahaha! Level four innate soul power! This is the ancestor of the world's number one sect? What a joke!]

[Yue Guan: Oh my, a level-four piece of trash could cultivate to become a Titled Douluo? Looks like the Clear Sky Hammer is nothing special after all.]

On the sky screen.

The mysterious man was not surprised by the result. He settled down in Tang Family Village.

Days passed one after another.

Until one day.

The peace was completely shattered.

A deafening beast roar rang out from the mountain forest beyond the village.

A violent wind suddenly rose, carrying a foul stench.

A massive beast over five meters long burst from the forest and charged into the village.

It was a ferocious tiger covered in black bone spikes, its scarlet eyes filled with crazed killing intent.

[Thousand-year soul beast: Ghost Tiger.]

The village descended into chaos.

The only person stationed in this remote village was a low-ranking officer of the Heaven Dou Empire, a Great Soul Master in his twenties.

With a roar, he summoned his spear martial soul and charged at the Ghost Tiger.

"Beast! Die!"

Splat!

There was not the slightest suspense.

With a single swipe of its paw, the Ghost Tiger smashed both man and spear into a shower of flesh!

A rain of blood poured down.

The villagers screamed in despair as they scattered and fled.

The Ghost Tiger opened its bloody maw, bit down on a fleeing farmwoman, and violently flung her aside, tearing her in half.

Severed limbs littered the ground.

Organs mixed with blood, turning the yellow earth into a muddy mess.

Ten-year-old Tang Potian stood not far away, trembling all over.

That was Auntie Liu, who usually made flatbread for him.

That was Uncle Zhang, who had taught him to weave straw sandals.

One familiar life after another was more fragile than grass before this beast.

"Ah—!"

Tang Potian let out an inhuman roar. The ten-year-old boy raised that insignificant black iron hammer and charged toward the thousand-year Ghost Tiger!

Level four soul power, without even a single soul ring.

It was no different from smashing an egg against a rock.

The chat group fell silent to the extreme.

Everyone watched this ten-year-old boy.

Was this the fighting spirit of the first Clear Sky Douluo?

Even knowing he would die, he still raised his hammer!

The Ghost Tiger noticed the tiny thing charging toward it.

Its barbed tongue licked the scraps of flesh at the corner of its mouth, and its thick tail suddenly swept out.

Bang!

Tang Potian was sent flying together with his hammer.

While he was still in midair, the Ghost Tiger had already pounced. It opened its fang-filled maw and bit down on Tang Potian's right arm.

Riiip—

A teeth-grinding tearing sound rang out.

Tang Potian's right arm was torn off at the shoulder!

Blood gushed out like a fountain, dyeing the earth crimson.

Tang Hao took a huge gulp of wine, the liquor running down through his beard.

His ancestor... had lost an arm?!

Then was the later Great Sumeru Hammer performed one-handed?

Tang San's stomach churned violently. Despite having lived two lives, he had never seen such a brutal and bloody scene.

Tang Potian crashed heavily onto the ground. The agony nearly made him faint, but he clenched his lips tightly, his left hand still gripping that mud-stained Clear Sky Hammer.

The Ghost Tiger prepared to step forward and devour this prey completely.

A wisp of emerald-green fire drifted down soundlessly.

The flame appeared weak, yet the instant it touched the Ghost Tiger's fur, it surged explosively!

"Roar—!"

The Ghost Tiger released an incomparably miserable scream.

It rolled wildly across the ground, trying to extinguish the flames on its body.

Yet the flames only burned fiercer. They not only ignited its fur, but directly incinerated its flesh, bones, and even soul!

In just three breaths.

That once-arrogant thousand-year Ghost Tiger did not even leave behind an intact corpse, completely turning into a pile of ashes.

With a gust of wind, everything was gone.

Inside and outside the celestial screen, everyone watching this scene lost the ability to speak.

[Qian Daoliu: That was a thousand-year soul beast... and it just... vanished?]

[Bibi Dong: What exactly is that flame?! It can not only nurture all things, but also burn everything to ash? How can such an overbearing power exist in this world?!]

Tang Potian lay in a pool of blood, blood still flowing from where his arm had been severed.

Enduring the searing pain, he struggled to raise his head.

Not far away, the man in green stood quietly with an alchemy furnace held in one hand. Not even the hem of his robe was disturbed.

Emerald-green flames danced at his fingertips, as docile as a child.

Tang Potian stared at those flames, at the figure who had casually wiped out a thousand-year soul beast.

The ten-year-old boy's heart pounded wildly in his chest.

His fear receded.

An unprecedented fervor and ambition flooded his body.

Power.

This was power!

Without this power, one could only be slaughtered like a pig or dog!

Using his remaining left hand to brace himself against the ground, he slowly climbed to his feet.

Blood dripped into the earth.

He stared fixedly at the mysterious man, his hoarse voice echoing through the empty village.

"A true man..."

"Should be like this!"