The Villain Rankings' Second Place Shocks the World: The Ugly Faces of the Clear Sky Sect Elders!

The enlarged words hanging in midair on the Sky Screen sent the comment section into an uproar.

[Clear Sky Sect??]

[The number one sect in the world? They made the Villain Rankings?]

[That can't be right. The Clear Sky Sect had been in seclusion for twenty years. They sealed their mountain twenty years ago—what could they have done that was so wicked?]

[Wait, the earlier line said the top two and the unresolved entries on the Hypocrite Rankings involved the same faction. Who was left unresolved on the Hypocrite Rankings? Tang Hao?]

[I'll bet a whole jar of wine that this has something to do with Spirit Hall. Tang Hao killed Qian Xunji back then, and Spirit Hall slaughtered the Clear Sky Sect's outer branches...]

At the ten-thousand-foot snow peak, deep within the Clear Sky Sect's main hall, lay a secret chamber that had been sealed with restrictions year-round.

Tang Xiao sat in the seat of honor, holding an unfinished cup of tea. The five great elders sat on either side, and the Second Elder was reporting on the sect's annual offerings. Midway through his report, the golden light of the Sky Screen shone through the chamber's stone walls.

The restrictions could not block the Sky Screen. Ever since the Sky Screen descended, no one on the entire continent had been able to stop it.

The five old men froze at the same time. Tang Xiao's teacup struck the edge of the table, cracking along its side.

The Sky Screen's golden light gathered into words. [Douluo Villain Rankings · Second Place—The Number One Sect in the World, the Entire Secluded Elder Council of the Clear Sky Sect.]

[The entire council??]

[Not a single person, but the whole elder council??]

The footage began. A timestamp appeared in the upper left corner: twenty-four years ago.

At the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest, Tang Hao was drenched in blood as his Clear Sky Hammer smashed into Qian Xunji's back, pulverizing the Pope's golden armor. The scene shifted to Spirit Hall's gates, where Bibi Dong succeeded as Pope. Her first order was to assemble an army: twelve Titled Douluo and twenty thousand elite troops.

Then the scene shifted back to the Clear Sky Sect's main hall.

The elder council filled the room in the footage. Some slammed their hands on the table, while others remained silent. The Seventh Elder's voice came from the screen, calm and steady. "Retreat. Seal the mountain. The sect's vitality cannot be damaged."

"What about the affiliated outer clans?" someone in the footage asked. The speaker was young, but Tang Xiao recognized his own voice.

"There's no time." The Seventh Elder answered even more quickly. "The mountain-sealing order takes effect immediately. Cut off all contact channels with the four great clans. They are affiliates. We can deal with the affiliates' affairs after the storm has passed."

The aged sect master in the footage sat with his eyes closed for a long time before finally uttering one word. "Agreed."

The Sky Screen added two notes beside the footage.

[On the day the Clear Sky Sect sealed its mountain, notification orders were sent only to direct disciples. Not a single member of the Strength, Breaking, Speed, and Defense Clans received any message to retreat.]

[Three days later, Spirit Hall's advance forces arrived at the territories of the four great clans.]

[Yang Wudi's comment crashed onto the screen.][Breaking Clan · Yang Wudi: Sky Screen, thank you for giving them the truth. Before Spirit Hall's army breached the Breaking Clan's stronghold, we sent every child who could flee toward the Clear Sky Sect overnight—we only learned midway that the mountain gates had already been sealed! My eldest son led three hundred clansmen to hold the rear. Three hundred men—not one came back! My grandson was only six! Six! The Clear Sky Sect received our final plea for help, and their reply was only four words: take care of yourselves!!]

[Strength Clan · Niu Gao: Our four great clans paid tribute to the Clear Sky Sect for decades—minerals, spirit bones, spiritual herbs, one tribute every year. When disaster struck, they did not even send a single jar of healing ointment down the mountain.]

[Defense Clan · Tai Tan: My father was an honored guest and offering elder of the Clear Sky Sect back then. On the night Spirit Hall came to our door, he defended the stronghold gate alone for four hours. Until the day he died, he believed the Clear Sky Sect's reinforcements were on their way.]

The tide in the comment section completely turned. Compared to this, the outrage directed at Bai He and Feng Xiaotian had been mild.

In the snow mountain's secret chamber, the Seventh Elder rose to his feet. He did not look at Tang Xiao. Facing the golden light filling the room, he spoke in a tightly controlled voice.

"Sealing the mountain was a major decision for the sect. There was nothing wrong with preserving our strength. The four great clans were affiliates to begin with. It was an affiliate's duty—and destiny—to bear risks for its main sect. Spirit Hall wanted an outlet for its anger. If the Clear Sky Sect had not retreated, then tens of thousands of direct disciples would have died."

[Seventh Elder: Destiny?]

[What a fine destiny!]

[Affiliates? When the four great clans swore a blood oath with the Clear Sky Sect, the covenant clearly stated: "Advance and retreat together, live and die together"!]

[Yang Wudi: Advance and retreat together? Damn it, we were the ones who stood in front when it was time to advance, while they ran first when it was time to retreat!]

[This old bastard's face is even more disgusting than Shi Nian's. Shi Nian was a madman; these people were calmly calculating every last detail.]

The Sky Screen gave the Seventh Elder no dignity. The second segment began immediately.

Deep inside the snow mountain stood an underground palace whose entrance was buried beneath ice and snow. The image entered it. Gold bricks paved the floor, spirit stones lined the walls, Millennium Ice Marrow soaked in the wine pools, and any random Soul Tool on the armory shelves was enough to bankrupt a Soul Emperor. Ledger after ledger flipped past, covering a full forty years.

The Sky Screen stamped a conclusion at the end of the ledgers.

[The Clear Sky Sect elder council privately established its own accounts and withheld seventy-three percent of the four great clans' tributes over the years, equivalent to approximately two hundred and seventy million gold soul coins, excluding spiritual herbs and spirit bones. Construction of the underground palace cost ninety million and took eleven years.][The underground palace keys were held by the five elders. Sect Master Tang Xiao was unaware.]

The secret chamber was so quiet that the muffled rumble of an avalanche could be heard.

The Fifth Elder's hand gripped his sword hilt until his knuckles turned white. The Second Elder opened his mouth but made no sound, then sat back down. Tang Xiao stared at the underground palace in the footage. He had walked through the mine tunnels in the deepest part of the snow mountain hundreds of times, yet he had never imagined such a place was buried beneath his feet.

"Sect Master." The Seventh Elder spoke, his voice dropping. "The accounts can be explained—"

"Explain what?" Tang Xiao set the cracked teacup upside down on the table. His voice was so hoarse it barely sounded like his. "Explain the deaths of the four great clans, or explain these two hundred and seventy million?"

The Seventh Elder fell silent.

The Divine Punishment Blade above the Sky Screen descended. This time, it came down as a whole expanse. Nine blades of light struck the ten-thousand-foot snow peak, and the mountain trembled three times.

[Heavenly Dao Punishment: Sect Judgment—carried out upon the Clear Sky Sect. The spiritual energy of the mountain-protecting formation has permanently decreased by fifty percent. When direct disciples of the Clear Sky Sect cultivate the Clear Sky Hammer, the recoil damage they suffer will permanently increase by twenty percent.]

[Fifty percent? The mountain-protecting formation was cut in half?]

[From now on, every time a Clear Sky Sect disciple trains with a hammer, they will suffer twenty percent more recoil. This has blocked the cultivation path of the entire sect.]

Sunset Forest. Inside a hidden cavern, Tang Hao's comment burst forth.

[Tang Hao: You pack of old bastards! The foundation my father guarded his entire life was ruined by you lot, who only know how to keep accounts! Spirit Hall wanted me, Tang Hao. You sealed the mountain—why did you use the four great clans to fill the gap? Why did you use my father's sect's honor to fill the gap?!]

[Tang Hao: I was the one who struck Qian Xunji with that hammer. If Spirit Hall wanted revenge, they should have come for me alone! Yet you hid in your snow nest and counted money—for forty years!!]

The instant the comment was sent, Tang Hao's roar still hung in the air—

The Sky Screen's cursor moved.

Golden motes drifted down from the rankings, past the comment section, past every name that was shouting curses, before finally coming to a steady stop above the hidden cavern in Sunset Forest.

It stopped directly above Tang Hao's head.

[Villain Rankings, First Place. Evidence collection complete. The next broadcast will begin shortly.]

Inside the cavern, Tang Hao looked up and did not move.