Old Tales of the Angels

"As a descendant of the Angel God, of course I know what happened back then." Qian Xunji raised his eyes, his gaze filled with absolute devotion and reverence. His voice was solemn and proud. "Legend has it that more than twenty thousand years ago, Demonic Qi surged across Douluo Continent and devoured all things. Countless Soul Masters and Soul Beasts fell to its corruption, lost their minds, and became walking corpses that knew only slaughter. The entire continent was plunged into misery, its living creatures hanging by a thread."

"At that most perilous moment, my ancestor Qian Yuhan burst onto the scene! She defied the heavens, broke through the level ninety-nine limit, ascended to level one hundred, and became the Angel God! She destroyed the Soul Masters and Soul Beasts corrupted by Demonic Qi, sealed the Demonic Qi away, and restored peace to Douluo Continent..."

"Hahaha... Hahahaha! Ridiculous! What a colossal joke!" Zhong Hunmie threw back his head and laughed wildly, mockery and sorrow mingling in his voice. He looked at the devout Qian Xunji, scorn filling his eyes, then snapped the fingers of his right hand.

Hum—

Six ghastly white bone wings of the Angel of Hatred spread from his back, separated, and overlapped. At last, they gathered beneath him into a bone throne cold enough to pierce the marrow. Zhong Hunmie settled onto it, lounging with a bone-deep chill as he looked down at Qian Xunji.

"I never imagined that the mighty Spirit Hall, a sect that has worshipped the Angel God for generations, would gloss over her great deeds so lightly!"

Zhong Hunmie's voice turned cold, brimming with towering hatred. "You're right. Qian Yuhan did break through the shackles of level ninety-nine and become a god at level one hundred. She did seal the Demonic Qi and save Douluo Continent. But what you know is only a prettified version of the truth! She didn't defy the heavens and become a god through her own strength. Her divine throne was built on the piled bones of the Qian Family. She bought it by sacrificing the lives of her own flesh and blood!"

"When the calamity of Demonic Qi first struck twenty thousand years ago, she did glimpse a chance to become a god. But her cultivation and foundations were nowhere near enough to break through! For her selfish desire to become a god, to ascend to that supreme divine throne, she made the cruelest, most deranged choice!"

"As clan leader, she invoked the righteous cause of protecting Douluo Continent and forcibly sacrificed every member of the Qian Family who had reached Soul Emperor rank or above! From century-old elders and pillars of the sect to warriors in their prime and gifted younger disciples, not one was spared!"

"She imprisoned and sacrificed countless members of her own flesh and blood with her own hands. She wrung dry the Soul Power they had spent their lives cultivating and stripped the purest, most fundamental sacred attributes from their Martial Souls! She alone devoured the cultivation, bloodlines, and Martial Soul foundations of thousands of her clansmen, turning them into fuel for her breakthrough and ascent to godhood!"

Endless grief and resentment filled Zhong Hunmie's voice. "In the end, she did seal away the Demonic Qi and save Douluo Continent. She became a savior worshipped by the world! But the world knows only her peerless achievements. It remembers only her glorious name as the one who saved all living beings, worshipping her in their thousands and believing in her for generations!"

"But who remembers? Who remembers that Qian Yuhan attained godhood by treading on her clansmen's bones and drinking the blood of her own flesh and blood? Who remembers that thousands of the Qian Family's finest were sacrificed to her selfish ambition?"

"Why?! Why does she alone enjoy generations of offerings and the faith of all living beings, basking in endless glory? Why did the Qian Family give everything for generations, only to be forgotten after the whole clan was sacrificed? Why have you dressed a sin soaked in our clansmen's blood as an eternal divine miracle?"

Each forceful question struck Qian Xunji's heart like the blow of a great maul.

Qian Xunji was deeply bewildered, but his face remained calm. "Who knows whether any of that is true? Don't think that because your Martial Soul is a skeleton resembling my Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, you can claim to be a descendant of the Qian Family. Don't act as though your willing descent into corruption makes you the victim."

"Qian Xunji, I know you don't dare believe me. If you did, the faith in your heart would collapse." Hearing Qian Xunji's words, Zhong Hunmie smiled disdainfully. "I, Zhong Hunmie, have no desire to be one of the Qian Family."

As Zhong Hunmie finished speaking, sinister black mist rose beneath the bone chair and enveloped every Evil Soul Master present. When the mist vanished, they had all disappeared.

"Don't let your guard down. Watch your surroundings in case they launch a surprise attack," Golden Crocodile Douluo said.

"Let's go. Now that we have the Ninth Soul Ring, we should head back," Qian Xunji said flatly.

Heaven Dou Town, Spirit Hall Branch.

"Big brother, do you think what Zhong Hunmie said was true?" Lei Zhenyun asked curiously, looking at Huang Batian, who was drinking his wine with an expression of bliss.

"What does it matter if it's true? I don't believe in the Angel God. I'm just a Soul Master of Spirit Hall. We joined Spirit Hall to grow stronger and avoid getting tangled in the pointless social obligations of the two empires' royal families and court officials." Huang Batian looked utterly unconcerned.

"All I know is that the Land of Chaos is still there, and I know what Spirit Hall's true duty is. If the Great Enshrined or His Holiness needs me, I'll guard the Land of Chaos and keep the monsters inside from escaping to wreak havoc across Douluo Continent."

"You really can take it in stride, big brother!" Lei Zhenyun said sourly. "If I'd gotten Soul Bones for both arms, I could take it in stride too."

"Hahaha, little brother, it was all luck." Huang Batian laughed smugly. "My luck was so good there was no stopping it."

"A Yi, do you think what Zhong Hunmie said was true?" Lei Zhenyun snorted at Huang Batian, turned to Huang Tieyi, and asked the same question again.

"Grandpa Yun, does it matter whether it's true? Even if the Angel God became a god by sacrificing her entire clan, would anyone outside the Angel Clan's Qian Family consider that a stain on her name? It isn't that Douluo Continent spent twenty thousand years deliberately forgetting her cruelty. There was simply no reason to remember it. They weren't the ones sacrificed, so naturally they wouldn't pass down tales of what she did."

Huang Tieyi remained calm, his voice steady and almost cruel. "When the blade doesn't fall on you, watching someone else bleed doesn't hurt. Who would remember?"

"Grandpa Yun, let me put it bluntly: one general's glory is built on ten thousand bones. If a common soldier climbed out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood to become a general with a glorious record, would he remember the names of the comrades he once fought beside? Would he burn incense and paper offerings for them every day?"

"A Yi, that makes so much sense I don't even know how to argue." Lei Zhenyun stared at Huang Tieyi in shock. He had only wanted a bit of gossip, yet somehow he had ended up being lectured.