"Who's there?"
Li Hanqiu sprang to his feet, his chair sliding backward with a creak.
Luo Sanpao's fine fur bristled in an instant. The moment Li Hanqiu rose, Luo Sanpao crouched low, his body taut.
A low growl rumbled deep in his throat, golden sparks crackling between his teeth.
With a click, the door was pushed open.
A night breeze carrying the scent of earth swept inside, and Li Hanqiu narrowed his eyes slightly. When he made out the visitor's face, his pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.
A burly, middle-aged man with a gray robe and an ashen face stood in the doorway.
The man was exceptionally tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back. Standing in the doorway, his black robe rustled in the wind, blocking out most of the night beyond.
He said nothing, merely casting a dispassionate glance at Li Hanqiu.
Though the man had done nothing at all, Li Hanqiu suddenly felt a weight settle on his shoulders.
The burly man simply stood there without moving. A moment later, an invisible pressure washed over like a rising tide.
Li Hanqiu's breath caught, and his feet instinctively braced farther back.
No wonder this was the man who had single-handedly clashed with three Titled Douluos from Spirit Hall, setting the entire continent abuzz!
Keeping his expression calm and suppressing his wildly pounding heart, Li Hanqiu asked in a low voice, "What brings you here so late at night?"
The burly man stepped across the threshold, the hem of his robe stirring a gust of night air.
"Li Hanqiu, isn't it? Tang San's master."
He raised a hand and pulled down his hood, revealing a weather-beaten face.
With his unkempt beard, sunken eyes, and gaunt cheeks, the burly man looked every inch a slovenly, middle-aged vagabond.
Yet when Li Hanqiu truly recognized that face, his heart lurched.
It really was him!
Clear Sky Douluo-Tang Hao.
Although he had recognized the visitor as the renowned Clear Sky Douluo, Li Hanqiu kept his tone restrained, even adding just the right touch of unfamiliarity:
"Who exactly are you? I am Li Hanqiu, Tang San's master.
If my disciple has offended you in any way, allow me to apologize first."
As he spoke, Li Hanqiu cupped his hands slightly, though his wary gaze remained fixed on Tang Hao.
"Apologize? You really do treasure him, don't you?" Tang Hao ignored him and shifted his gaze to Luo Sanpao.
"This is your martial soul?" His voice was hoarse, tinged with faint disdain. "A shaggy beast. How unusual."
"Then again, who but a piece of trash like you would take that money-losing daughter of mine as a disciple?"
At those words, the fur along Luo Sanpao's back stood on end. His four claws dug into the floor, and the golden light in his throat intensified.
"Daughter? You're Tang San's father?" Li Hanqiu feigned surprise, then swept out his hand, his blue robe swaying in the wind.
"Whether my martial soul is good or bad is not for you to pass judgment on. And please take back your words calling San a 'money-loser'..."
Before Li Hanqiu could finish, Tang Hao's eyes turned cold.
In the next instant, a mountain-like aura crashed down on him.
Li Hanqiu felt as though a giant hand had clenched around his chest. His legs shook like grain in a sieve. He gritted his teeth and held on, the veins on his forehead throbbing, but his back still bent little by little.
There was a bang.
The force slammed him back into his chair.
Luo Sanpao lunged forward with a howl, but before he could get close, the residual force from a single finger of Tang Hao's sent him flying. He tumbled into the foot of the wall.
"Behave yourself," Tang Hao said.
He looked down at Li Hanqiu, his eyes carrying a measure of scrutiny and a measure of contempt.
"Your martial soul is somewhat interesting." He paused. "Unfortunately, compared with the world's No. 1 tool martial soul, it's nothing but trash."
Li Hanqiu clenched his teeth, trying to struggle out of the chair.
But that pressure weighed on him like a mountain, making the bones in his shoulders creak.
"The world's No. 1 tool martial soul... could you be...?"
Li Hanqiu instinctively started to blurt out "His Excellency Haotian," only to swallow it back at the last moment. Panting, he changed his words. "San, he... whatever else he is, he's still your..."
The word "daughter" lodged in his throat.
Tang Hao's gaze abruptly turned icy. "I have no daughter."
His voice was hard as iron, and his aura grew even stronger.
"It's bad enough that he's a useless piece of trash without a cock. He couldn't even awaken the Clear Sky Hammer."
He leaned forward, staring at Li Hanqiu, and enunciated every word:
"His surname is not Tang."
"Nor does he deserve that surname."
The blood in Li Hanqiu's body seemed to turn half cold in an instant. It was impossible to tell whether his eyes held sorrow or helplessness.
Yet he still clenched his teeth until they ached, his fists tightly balled beneath his sleeves.
Tang Hao straightened, his tone returning to that detached calm.
"Since you've become that money-loser's master, just teach him enough to protect himself. You couldn't teach him anything advanced anyway.
You may be weak, but you can find some remote place, take that money-loser with you, and live out your useless lives."
"And don't mention me to him. If you let slip so much as half a word..."
Tang Hao's eyes chilled as he glanced at Luo Sanpao. "If I remember correctly, an external martial soul's life is linked to its main body, isn't it?"
The threat in his words could not have been clearer.
Li Hanqiu exhaled deeply and lowered his head as he sat in the chair. "Fine. I won't tell San anything about you. But..."
"But what?" Tang Hao straightened, looking down disdainfully at Li Hanqiu as he slowly raised his head.
Still seated, Li Hanqiu lifted his head slowly, a bone-piercing chill gathering in his eyes. His voice was calm, yet utterly resolute:
"Then I ask that His Excellency Haotian never harass Tang San again. You don't deserve to be the father of such a good child!"
After Li Hanqiu spoke, Tang Hao gave a soft sound of surprise. He folded his arms, his aura growing fiercer by degrees.
For Li Hanqiu as he was now, enduring the soul power pressure of a Titled Douluo was undoubtedly a challenge.
Li Hanqiu gritted his teeth and held on, the soul mark beneath his collarbone glowing faintly.
He was like a piece of driftwood on the sea, overwhelmed beneath the crashing waves.
After roughly half an incense stick's worth of time, Tang Hao withdrew his soul power pressure, looking somewhat surprised. "Li Hanqiu, it seems I underestimated your willpower. You've got some ability, boy."
Looking at Li Hanqiu, who was drenched in sweat and slumped helplessly in his chair yet still wore a resolute expression, Tang Hao offered his indifferent assessment.
"But a trash martial soul is still a trash martial soul, every bit as useless as his Blue Silver Grass. As for harassing him? Heh, I don't have that much time to spare. Since you treasure your precious disciple, you can have him."
"A master with a trash martial soul and a disciple with a trash martial soul. A perfect match! Hahahaha!" With that, Tang Hao turned away, laughing loudly.
His gray robe billowed in the wind as he strode out of the room and vanished into the night without looking back.
Inside, it took a long while for the oil lamp's flame to stand straight again.
Li Hanqiu lay slumped in the chair, both hands braced against his knees, his chest heaving.
A Titled Douluo's strength truly was formidable, all the more so when it was Tang Hao, the Clear Sky Douluo, who ranked among the strongest of them.
Even simple soul power pressure was as dangerous to Li Hanqiu as walking along the edge between life and death.
Li Hanqiu slowly raised his head. Sweat had soaked his hair, and the breeze chilled his entire body. He gritted his teeth and stared toward the doorway.
"Tang Hao, you really are heartless!"
In this world, Tang San had not awakened the Clear Sky Hammer as his second martial soul.
He was not the peerless genius from the original story who filled Tang Hao with both guilt and joy.
He was merely a little child whom his father called "trash," who had to sneak away just to leave home.
Even their bond as father and daughter was to be stripped away.
There had not been so much as a single concerned question like, "Is he all right? How is he doing now?"
Li Hanqiu's nails nearly sank into his palms.
In the original story, Tang Hao had spoken kindly to Yu Xiaogang, who had only just taken Tang San as his disciple. When entrusting Tang San to him, he had given him a Spirit Hall token along with earnest instructions.
With Li Hanqiu, however, there had been nothing but threats and contempt.
All because San was "a daughter," because San had not awakened the "Clear Sky Hammer," because of the simple fact that "San was not the child Tang Hao wanted"!
Li Hanqiu slowly stood and walked to the window.
The night breeze blew in, lifting the loose hair from his forehead and revealing a pair of utterly cold eyes.
"Today, you belittled my disciple..."
He gazed in the direction Tang Hao had disappeared, his voice low and heavy.
"One day, I will win justice for him!"
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