Tang Hao Awakens

Gu En looked down at Xiao Wu and said coldly:

"Yu Xiaogang was worth ten thousand times more alive than dead. As long as he lived, he would be the best bargaining chip to restrain Bibi Dong."

"Enough. Put away your whip."

Gu En loosened the bone chain, his tone returning to calm.

"There will be plenty of time for you to torture him slowly in the future. We'll stop here for today."

With that, Gu En turned toward the door and called out:

"Guards!"

Two covert guards from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect swiftly pushed the door open and entered.

"Go fetch a healing-type soul master. Patch him up however you like, just keep him barely alive. Don't let him die."

"Yes, Young Master!" The guards accepted the order and dragged Yu Xiaogang away like a dead dog.

Meanwhile, in Spirit City's Pope's Hall, thousands of miles away.

Bang!

A massive desk carved from premium rosewood was instantly blasted into dust by terrifying purple-black divine power.

Bibi Dong stood atop the high steps, her breathtakingly beautiful face now twisted beyond recognition.

The Nine-Curved Purple-Gold Crown atop her head trembled slightly as her scarlet eyes fixed viciously upon the scout before her.

"Trash! You're all trash!"

Bibi Dong's voice had become shrill and piercing with extreme fury, reverberating through the hall:

"Ten whole days! I deployed half of Spirit Hall's enforcement corps and sealed every exit from Fasino Province, yet you still haven't found so much as a hair of Tang Hao's?!"

Her chest heaved violently as Yu Xiaogang's ordinary yet unforgettable face replayed over and over in her mind, making her heart ache as though it were being torn apart.

"Pass down the order! Send more men! Go to Heaven Dou City! Go to Star Luo City! Go to the mountain gate where the Clear Sky Sect secluded itself! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, drag Tang Hao and that little bastard Tang San out for me!"

Bibi Dong gritted her teeth, every word dripping with an indelible stench of blood:

"I'll slice the flesh from that father and son piece by piece and use it to honor Xiaogang's spirit in heaven!"

Heaven Dou City, top floor of Moon Pavilion.

Heavy velvet curtains shut out the sunlight and clamor of the outside world, while an inescapable bitter medicinal smell permeated the luxurious bedroom.

Tang San sat blankly beside Tang Hao's bed like a puppet that had lost its soul.

Over the past few days, he had endured the darkest period of his life, darker even than anything he had experienced in his previous life.

At first, when he learned that his father, always reeking of alcohol and capable only of blacksmithing, was actually the Clear Sky Douluo who had shaken the continent, Tang San had felt a brief surge of wild joy and pride.

He had thought that he finally had a powerful backer and would no longer have to fight alone as he had in his previous life.

But reality had delivered him the loudest slap imaginable.

Clear Sky Douluo?

Could that useless man, driven into a corner like a drowned dog by three Titled Douluo of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, forced to sever one of his own arms and detonate all his soul rings just to barely escape with his life, really be the legendary youngest Titled Douluo?

What suffocated him even more were the successive blows that followed.

Xiao Wu, the little sister he had sworn to protect with his life, was actually a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soft-Boned Rabbit in human form.

And the heart-piercing words spoken by that violet-gold-eyed youth and Poison Douluo in the small forest outside Nuoding City had lodged themselves deep in Tang San's heart like poisonous thorns.

"Raising Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts in captivity..."

"For soul rings and Soul Bones..."

At first, Tang San absolutely refused to believe that his father could have done such a thing.

But after fleeing to Moon Pavilion and regaining a little of his composure under Tang Yuehua's attentive care, he could not help asking this aunt he had only just acknowledged the question that had been haunting his heart.

"Aunt... who exactly was my mother?"

When Tang Yuehua, her eyes red, helplessly told him that his mother, A Yin, had also been a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor in human form and had ultimately sacrificed herself to save Tang Hao...

Tang San's worldview completely collapsed.

His mother was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, and Xiao Wu was also a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.

His father had become the youngest Titled Douluo because of his mother's sacrifice, and now he had allowed Tang San to grow close to Xiao Wu...

Could all of this really have been mere coincidence?!

Tang San did not dare think any further. He feared that the answer on the verge of emerging would utterly destroy the last shred of familial affection in his heart.

"Little San..."

A soft call interrupted Tang San's thoughts.

Tang Yuehua approached the bed carrying a bowl of freshly brewed calming soup.

Seeing Tang San's sunken eye sockets, bloodshot eyes, and the way he seemed to have aged ten years overnight, her heart ached so badly that tears streamed down her face.

"Good child, don't stay up any longer." Tang Yuehua set down the bowl and gently stroked Tang San's dry hair.

"You haven't slept for three days and three nights. Your father has Aunt to look after him. Go rest in the room next door for a while. If you collapse too, how am I supposed to explain it to him when your father wakes up?"

Tang Yuehua's voice was full of pleading.

Over the past few days, news from the outside had arrived like snowflakes. Spirit Hall's kill-on-sight warrant had already been plastered across every street and alley in Heaven Dou City.

In particular, there was that utterly absurd report—that Tang Hao had flown into a rage and killed Yu Xiaogang because his son's martial soul had been crippled!

Yet Spirit Hall's madness was an undeniable fact. The entirety of Heaven Dou City was now on edge, and Moon Pavilion's situation had become perilous as well.

Tang San shook his head, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping together:

"Aunt, I'm not tired. I can't sleep. I want to wait for Dad to wake up."

Tang San raised his head. His once-clear eyes were now filled with gloom and confusion.

"I want to ask him myself... about Mother, about Xiao Wu, and... about Teacher."

At the mention of Yu Xiaogang, Tang San's hands clenched the bedsheets tightly.

No matter how hard he thought about it, he could not understand why Spirit Hall had spread word that his father had killed his teacher.

Who was pulling strings behind the scenes? Was it Spirit Hall's scheme, or the poisonous plot of that violet-gold-eyed youth?

And most importantly, wasn't his teacher merely a genius who had broken through to level 29 at the age of fifty?

Even if his father really had killed him, why would Spirit Hall target both Tang San and his father so fiercely?

"You child, why are you so stubborn..."

Tang Yuehua sighed, just about to continue persuading him.

Just then.

"Urgh... cough, cough..."

Tang Hao, who had been lying on the bed like a corpse, suddenly let out an extremely weak groan from his throat.

Tang Yuehua and Tang San both shuddered violently.

"Second Brother?!"

"Dad!"

The two of them immediately rushed to the bedside.

Tang Hao's facial muscles twitched slightly beneath his deathly pale complexion.

The fingers of his only remaining right hand struggled to clutch the bedsheet beneath him.

Then, after a fierce struggle, his eyelids, which had remained shut for three days and three nights, finally slowly opened a narrow slit.