Tang Chen! The Reviver of the Clear Sky Sect, His Rise from Obscurity?

A shrill bat screech tore through the sky.

Immediately after, nine enormous phantasmal blood-colored bat heads flashed across the Ranking Screen before vanishing. A terrifying aura of slaughter instantly enveloped the entire Douluo Continent.

A majestic voice slowly rang out amid the blood-red light:

[Ranking of the Ten Peak Soul Masters, fourth place.]

[Tang Chen.]

[Identity: Ancestor of the Clear Sky Sect, first-generation Haotian Douluo.]

[Soul power: Rank 99 Limit Douluo (Demigod).]

[Status: Extremely poor (parasitized and possessed by the Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, the Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King; mentally unstable, strength severely impaired).]

On the screen, a tall, burly figure flickered in and out of view.

He held an incomparably massive Clear Sky Hammer that radiated a dark-red aura of slaughter.

Yet his eyes were blood-red, enormous scarlet wings sprouted from his back, and his expression was savage and crazed.

Clear Sky Sect, main hall.

"Boom!"

Tang Xiao abruptly rose to his feet, staring fixedly at the Ranking Screen. His tiger-like eyes were wide open, and his voice trembled beyond recognition:

"Grandfather... Grandfather is still alive?!

How... how is that possible?!"

The Second Elder was equally shaken. He said in a trembling voice:

"Sect Master, the Ranking Screen said... the old Sect Master was parasitized and possessed by the Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King?

What kind of thing is that?

The old Sect Master was a Demigod!

How could anything in this world possibly possess him?!"

"Slaughter City... that place in the image is Slaughter City!"

Tang Xiao clenched his fists so tightly that his nails dug deep into his palms:

"No wonder Grandfather never returned after leaving all those years ago!

So he had been trapped in that kind of place all along... No, I have to save Grandfather!"

"Sect Master, calm down!"

The First Elder hurriedly stopped him, his expression incomparably grave:

"Even the Rank 99 ancestor fell victim to a scheme. You are only Rank 96 now; going there would be nothing but suicide!

Watch the Ranking Screen first. It will surely reveal a solution!"

Sea God Island.

The usually noble and elegant Bo Saixi had completely lost her composure.

Bo Saixi hurried to the front of the Sea God Temple, tightly wringing her hands together as her voice choked:

"Tang Chen... it really is you... You didn't lie to me. You truly went in search of the path to godhood..."

"But why did you become like this?

Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King... how could you allow such a vile beast to occupy your body?!"

She had waited bitterly for decades. She had thought Tang Chen had long since fallen, never imagining that he had been enduring such inhuman torment in Slaughter City.

Inside the Consecration Hall.

Qian Daoliu watched the image on the Ranking Screen, an exceedingly complex emotion flashing through his eyes. He let out a long sigh:

"Tang Chen, Tang Chen. Back when you and I fought, how high-spirited you were.

Who would have thought that you would end up losing all reason and being parasitized by a vile beast?"

Golden Crocodile Douluo also furrowed his brow and said deeply:

"Big Brother, is this truly the Tang Chen who had bested you back then?

A Rank 99 Limit Douluo only ranks fourth... It seems this parasite has greatly affected his strength."

"Of course."

Qian Daoliu nodded slightly and sighed:

"The current him is nothing more than a walking corpse. It would already be good if he could wield seventy percent of his Rank 99 strength."

Slaughter City, upon the throne in the deepest part of the inner city.

"Roar—!"

A shrill roar unlike anything human resounded throughout the underground.

The Killing King abruptly rose from his throne. He stared fixedly at the Ranking Screen, his entire body shaking violently, his eyes filled with terror and rage.

"Damn Ranking Screen!

How dare it... How dare it expose this king's greatest secret?!"

The Killing King, the Blood-Red Nine-Headed Bat King, shrieked in a piercing voice:

"Tang Chen... Tang Chen died long ago!

This king is the master of this body!

This king is the Killing King!"

However, as the Ranking Screen continued playing,

the faint sliver of consciousness belonging to Tang Chen's true self within his body

seemed to show signs of awakening, beginning to frantically assault his suppression.

"No!

Suppress it!

You damned mortal, behave yourself for this king!"

The Killing King clutched his head in agony, struggling and roaring madly before the throne.

The image on the Ranking Screen changed once more.

The blood-red mist on the Ranking Screen slowly receded, replaced by an ancient yellowed scroll.

As the scroll unfolded, the majestic voice once again echoed throughout the continent:

[Every legend begins in obscurity.]

[The Clear Sky Sect, now renowned across the continent as the "number one sect under heaven," was merely an ordinary sect at the mercy of others several decades ago.]

[At that time, the Clear Sky Sect had no Clear Sky Manual, no "Ringing Wind Hammer Technique," and certainly no "Grand Sumeru Hammer" or "Ring Detonation."]

[The sect did not even possess a single Title Douluo. Its foundation was far inferior to those of the long-established Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.]

Clear Sky Sect, main hall.

"This... was this what our sect used to be like?"

Tang Xiao looked at the somewhat shabby and ruined ancient sect on the Ranking Screen, his eyes full of disbelief.

The First Elder sighed, speaking with a complicated expression:

"Sect Master, the Ranking Screen speaks the truth.

Before our ancestor emerged out of nowhere, our Clear Sky Sect truly could not hold our heads up before those ancient forces.

Back then, the Clear Sky Hammer was even mocked as a 'blacksmith's hammer.'"

The Second Elder also clenched his fists, his voice hoarse:

"No Ringing Wind Hammer Technique, no Grand Sumeru Hammer...

So all the sect's ultimate arts that we take pride in today were explored and created by the ancestor alone!"

Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Fengzhi sucked in a sharp breath and looked at Chen Xin and Gu Rong beside him in shock:

"Uncle Sword, Uncle Bone, did you hear that?

Those incomparably domineering secret arts of the Clear Sky Sect were not ancient inheritances, but Tang Chen's own creations?"

Chen Xin stared intently at the Ranking Screen, battle intent and admiration intertwined in his eyes:

"To create the Grand Sumeru Hammer... to create Ring Detonation...

What kind of earth-shattering comprehension and courage would that require?

No wonder he became the invincible Limit Douluo on land."

Gu Rong also shook his head, smiling bitterly:

"One man supported an entire sect, forcibly raising a second-rate power into the number one sect under heaven.

Tang Chen was simply a monster."

Inside the Consecration Hall.

Qian Daoliu looked at the Ranking Screen, a trace of relief and self-mockery flashing through his eyes:

"Second Brother, do you understand now why I lost to him back then?"

Back then, Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen had been evenly matched in strength.

Yet in Qian Daoliu's heart, he had already lost to Tang Chen.

Tang Chen had relied on himself to rise step by step and attain Demigodhood.

But he had relied on his family's inheritance and divine power to possess the strength of a Demigod.

Golden Crocodile Douluo remained silent for a moment before slowly saying:

"Big Brother, you mean..."

"I relied on the inheritance of the Angel God and on resources bestowed by the gods to reach Rank 99."

Qian Daoliu sighed:

"While Tang Chen relied on nothing but his own pair of iron fists,

with no predecessor to guide him and no god to shelter him, to forcibly carve out a path to godhood.

In terms of talent, I truly was inferior to him."