"Father, I'm back!"
A boy's clear, young voice rang out.
A thin, small child with dark skin walked in through the doorway.
It was Tang San.
He had just completed his martial soul awakening today and wanted to share his joy with his father.
But the moment he entered, Tang San saw his drunkard father sitting on the floor.
His father held his head in both hands, traces of tears still on his face, while a lavishly dressed youth stood before him.
For an instant, Tang San's mind went blank.
The joy of awakening his martial soul vanished, replaced by towering fury!
Tang fell from the sky, his fury twisting his face!
A short blade suddenly shot out from his sleeve. His azure eyes turned icy as he uttered that "immortal" declaration.
"Who are you? You dare humiliate my father? You have already given me cause to kill you!"
But the instant he finished speaking, Tang Hao sprang up from the floor and, without another word, raised his hand and smacked Tang San across the face.
Smack!
The crisp sound echoed through the room.
Tang San was instantly dumbfounded, his eyes full of confusion as he looked at Tang Hao.
"Idiot! Is that any way to speak to your big brother?!"
Tang Hao ignored Tang San's gaze, his voice cold.
Tang San held his scarlet right cheek, looking bewildered.
Big brother?
Could this person be a child Father had with another woman?
Then hadn't what I just said been utterly unfilial?
"Uncle Hao, hitting children is wrong."
Seeing that Tang Hao was about to slap Tang San's left cheek too, Tang Tianlin hurried forward to stop him.
At this stage, Tang San had yet to be influenced by "analization theory" and was still a feudal warrior in his purest form.
Not that pure-as-ice, immaculate-as-jade Lord Buddha Tang.
As Tang San's good big brother, he had a duty to guide him onto the right path and bring him back to the sect.
"Uncle Hao told me your name is Tang San, right?"
Tang Tianlin walked up to Tang San and asked with a faint smile.
Uncle Hao?
Hearing how this person addressed his father, Tang San breathed an inward sigh of relief.
As long as he wasn't my actual brother.
But then again, when had Father ever had relatives?
How come I didn't know?
Tang Hao, standing nearby, could no longer bear to watch and kicked Tang San in the backside.
"Idiot, what are you standing there for? Apologize to your big brother!"
Tang San abruptly came to his senses. Clutching his backside, he hastily apologized, "Big brother, I'm sorry."
"It's all right. After all, as your big brother, I bear some responsibility for letting you suffer away from home all these years."
Tang Tianlin gently patted Tang San's shoulder, took a meat pie from the Storage Soul Tool at his waist, and handed it over.
Looking at the steaming meat pie before him, its meaty aroma filling his nose, Tang San instinctively swallowed.
He had almost forgotten what meat tasted like.
The last time he had eaten meat had been the last time.
Even so, Tang San shook his head. "Big brother, I'm not hungry. Give it to Father instead."
"He hasn't eaten meat in a long time either."
See? Now that was a feudal warrior.
Tang Tianlin silently snarked, while a perfectly measured hint of confusion crossed his face as he turned to look at Tang Hao.
His look seemed to say, "You're a mighty Titled Douluo, yet your child can't even afford meat?"
Tang Hao gave a dry cough, looking somewhat awkward. "You eat it, Little San."
In the end, Tang San got to eat the meat pie he had longed for.
Watching Tang San treasure the pie, chewing it in tiny bites, Tang Hao suddenly felt something.
During this period of despondency, he really had made things rather hard for this child.
Forget it. I would make it up to him later.
Tang Hao shook his head and looked back at Tang Tianlin. "Tianlin, what were you about to say?"
Tang Tianlin sighed softly. "What I was about to say was that my father has always supported your return to the sect, Uncle Hao, but the five elders have remained opposed."
"They're right to oppose it. Returning now would only bring disaster upon the sect."
Tang Hao shook his head with a bitter smile, the light in his eyes dimming.
Tang San, the pie-munching bystander, listened to their conversation in utter bewilderment.
But having lived two lives, he still caught a hint of something unusual.
His father's identity seemed to be anything but ordinary.
"However."
Tang Tianlin shifted the conversation. "Just because you can't return to the sect, Uncle Hao, doesn't mean Tang San can't. As the young master, I do have that much authority."
After all, Tang Hao was the guilty one. Tang San was innocent.
At those words, Tang Hao grew visibly excited.
Nothing could be better than Tang San returning to the Clear Sky Sect.
Not only would he receive the sect's help, but he would no longer have to skulk about with his father like a homeless dog.
If Little San could make some contribution to the sect, he might even help his father return ahead of time!
"Oh, right!"
Tang Hao slapped his forehead and turned to Tang San. "Little San, didn't you go to awaken your martial soul today? What is your martial soul? Hurry and show me!"
At this, Tang San quickly wiped the grease from his hands and raised his right hand.
Azure light shone, and a small blade of blue-and-silver grass took shape in his palm, swaying in the breeze.
"Father, I awakened the Blue Silver Grass martial soul, with innate full soul power."
The sight of that blade of Blue Silver Grass struck Tang Hao like a bolt of lightning, leaving him frozen in place.
"Blue Silver Grass... To think it's Blue Silver Grass."
"The same martial soul as hers..."
At that moment, Tang Hao seemed to age ten years in an instant, his face steeped in sorrow, his back hunched and his waist bent.
Gone. All gone.
His hope of returning to the Clear Sky Sect was utterly gone.
Why? Why did it have to be Blue Silver Grass...
Tang San noticed that something was wrong with his father's expression, and his own face dimmed.
Why did everyone look disappointed when they saw that his martial soul was Blue Silver Grass?
Was Blue Silver Grass really a trash martial soul?
"Uncle Hao, don't rush to conclusions."
Tang Tianlin's voice drifted out softly. "As everyone knows, Blue Silver Grass is a trash martial soul, and those who awaken it are very likely to have no soul power."
"Yet Little San has innate full soul power. That clearly defies common sense."
"So I deduce that Little San has another martial soul within him, which supports his innate full soul power!"
At these words, Tang San's eyes instantly widened.
To think this big brother he had never met before could deduce all his secrets from a single sentence!
He was nothing short of a god!
Hearing Tang Tianlin's analysis, Tang Hao also felt it made some sense and instinctively looked at Tang San.
"Father, big brother is right. I have a second martial soul."
Seeing this, Tang San no longer intended to hide it. He raised his left hand, gathering soul power.
Black light flashed, and a pitch-black hammer appeared in his palm.
Its handle was half a foot long, its head oval, and a ring of patterns was engraved on its surface. It looked like a miniature forging hammer.
It was none other than the Clear Sky Sect's inherited martial soul, the Clear Sky Hammer!
The instant he saw the Clear Sky Hammer, light returned to Tang Hao's eyes. He appeared before Tang San almost in a flash and pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Hahaha! Twin martial souls! My son, Tang Hao's son, actually has twin martial souls!"
"Son, my wonderful son!"
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