Tang Sect Disciplinary Elder Tang Laoya

Qian Renxue raised her head, her eyes slightly red. "Grandpa, Father died under murky circumstances. You chose to endure what Bibi Dong did, and I understand. But you've endured what Tang Hao did for over a decade. Don't you want to collect a little interest?"

Whatever Qian Xunji was like, he had been sincere toward Qian Renxue and fulfilled his responsibilities as a father. Her bond with him had been real.

Qian Daoliu's breathing briefly caught.

Qian Renxue waited a long time, but Qian Daoliu never spoke.

Her gaze gradually cooled. "You don't dare go, Grandpa? Don't tell me you're afraid?"

Qian Daoliu's expression shifted slightly.

"Father was first gravely wounded by Tang Hao, then Bibi Dong took advantage of his weakened state. You've endured this debt for over a decade, Grandpa. Are you going to keep enduring it?" Qian Renxue spoke softly, but every word stabbed like a knife. "He's an outcast from the Clear Sky Sect. Are you afraid even of him?"

"Xue'er..." Qian Daoliu's voice grew heavy.

"You're afraid, Grandpa, but I'm not." Qian Renxue stood and looked him straight in the eye. "If you won't go, I'll go myself. Sooner or later, I'll avenge Father with my own hands. Even dying beneath Tang Hao's hammer would be better than enduring this for a lifetime."

Qian Daoliu looked at the stubborn resolve in his granddaughter's eyes. "Xue'er, you're becoming more and more like your father."

He rose, his level-99 aura as steady as a mountain. "Let's go."

Qian Renxue froze. "You're agreeing, Grandpa?"

"It's been over a decade. It's time to settle accounts with Tang Hao," Qian Daoliu said calmly. "You're right. It's time to collect some interest for your father."

Cheng Ran: There's one more thing to tell your grandfather: have him hide his identity. Wear a mask, change his clothes, and suppress his Angel Martial Soul's aura.

Qian Renxue: Then what identity should he use as cover?

Cheng Ran: Heh heh heh... I, the Evil God, have already thought it through. We'll also use this trip to make plans for getting you the Tang Sect's cultivation techniques. Anyway, tell your grandfather that if Tang Hao asks who he is after the fight, he should recite a few lines for me, then turn around and leave. No explanations.

Qian Renxue: The Tang Sect's cultivation techniques? What are those?

Cheng Ran: Just do as I say. When have I, the Evil God, ever needed to explain my actions to you?

Qian Renxue: ...Lord Evil God, are you up to something shady again?

Cheng Ran: Hey, Xiao Xue, you can eat carelessly, but you can't speak carelessly. I've always been open and aboveboard.

Qian Renxue relayed the lines he wanted recited to Qian Daoliu.

After a round of wheedling from Qian Renxue, Qian Daoliu finally agreed. "I'll prepare a mask."

Truthfully, Qian Daoliu had not particularly wanted to appear under his real identity anyway. He had once made an agreement with Tang Chen: no one from Spirit Hall could set foot in the Clear Sky Sect until he defeated Tang Chen.

If his identity was exposed and sparked an all-out war between Spirit Hall and the Clear Sky Sect, he would effectively be a scoundrel who broke his word.

The next day, twenty-five kilometers outside Holy Soul Village.

Qian Daoliu stood with his hands behind his back, wearing a fitted gray-black outfit and a bronze mask that revealed only his eyes, calm as a deep abyss.

He deliberately suppressed his level-99 aura, holding it at around level 95.

Even so, his pressure remained as heavy as a mountain.

Qian Renxue stood behind him, her Eight Wings folded and hidden beneath her cloak.

Cheng Ran spoke quietly in Qian Renxue's mind: Tang Hao will definitely come out when he senses a powerful expert's pressure. As soon as he does, your grandfather should lure him north, as far away as possible. Wait until they're more than a kilometer and a half from Holy Soul Village, then enter the valley.

Qian Renxue: Understood.

Cheng Ran: Oh, and don't rush off after taking the things from the cave. I still need to leave a few words on the wall. Heh heh heh.

Qian Daoliu glanced back at Qian Renxue. "Ready, Xue'er?"

"I'm ready, Grandpa."

Qian Daoliu nodded, then vanished in a flash.

The next instant, vast pressure crashed down over Holy Soul Village.

At the village smithy.

Tang Hao was drinking.

His hair was disheveled, his face filthy, and his clothes ragged. He looked like a down-and-out drunk.

But the instant that pressure descended, he snapped his head up, his clouded eyes suddenly turning sharp as blades.

His wine bowl shattered.

"Where did this Super Douluo come from?" Tang Hao vanished from the smithy.

A moment later, the two faced each other in the wilderness outside Holy Soul Village.

Dressed in gray and wearing a bronze mask, Qian Daoliu carried himself with composure.

Tang Hao stood disheveled and filthy, holding an ink-black Clear Sky Hammer.

"Who are you?" Tang Hao asked heavily, his gaze fixed on the other man. "State your name."

Qian Daoliu did not answer.

He merely raised his hand slightly and struck with his palm.

Level-95 soul power became a fierce gust aimed straight at Tang Hao's face.

Tang Hao's pupils contracted, and he raised the Clear Sky Hammer across himself to block.

Boom!

Shock waves spread in every direction like a tsunami, cracking every inch of the ground within dozens of meters.

The clash between the two mighty experts seemed to change the very heavens and earth.

Tang Hao's heart tightened.

This man's soul power was immensely robust. Although he was only releasing a level-95 aura, every strike carried terrifying strength far beyond level 95.

"Who exactly are you?" Tang Hao swept aside the palm force with his hammer and demanded coldly.

Qian Daoliu still did not answer. Another palm strike came.

The two exchanged blows, fighting until heaven and earth darkened.

Although Tang Hao was at a disadvantage, the Clear Sky Hammer's fierce, domineering power kept him from collapsing.

"Who the hell are you? What do you want with me?" Tang Hao knocked aside another attack with his hammer and shouted angrily.

Qian Daoliu withdrew his palm and stepped back, a trace of coldness appearing beneath his mask.

He slowly recited the lines Qian Renxue had given him. "It's your son I'm looking for. Tell him that no matter where he flees, the Tang Sect will never let him go."

With that, Qian Daoliu turned and left, disappearing into the horizon like a streak of light.

Tang Hao stood where he was, his brows tightly knitted. "Looking for Xiao San? The Tang Sect?"

Xiao San was only six years old. How could he possibly have offended an expert at the Super Douluo level?

Tang Hao's heart was full of questions. Suddenly, an ominous premonition arose-a man's sixth sense.

In the valley behind Holy Soul Village.

Cheng Ran: Begin the operation.

Qian Renxue spread her wings and took flight.

Three minutes later, she landed at the entrance to a secluded valley behind Holy Soul Village.

Withered vines covered the entrance. Without Cheng Ran's guidance, she would not have noticed it even standing right in front of it.

Cheng Ran: This is it. Once you're inside the valley, keep heading deeper until you see a waterfall. There's a hidden-door mechanism in the rock wall behind it. The Blue Silver Emperor's true body is planted in the cave behind the waterfall.

Qian Renxue nodded, pushed aside the withered vines, and headed deeper into the valley.

Jagged rocks filled the valley, and vegetation was sparse-a stark contrast to the lush, thriving habitat she had imagined for a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.

Following the Evil God's directions, she continued deeper and indeed saw a waterfall cascading down the cliff.

Behind the curtain of water was a barely visible seam in the rock wall.

Qian Renxue circulated her soul power and carefully searched. A moment later, she found the mechanism and pressed hard.

A perfectly fitted rock sank inward, revealing a doorway.

Qian Renxue slipped inside.

The cave was damp, roughly three meters high and two meters wide, and extended farther inward.

It was dark inside. Qian Renxue released a trace of soul power, its light illuminating the path ahead.

The deeper she went, the more oppressive it felt.

The stone walls on either side of the passage were bare, with nothing on them.

There were no plants, only tiny beads of condensed moisture slowly sliding down the walls.

When she reached the deepest part, her surroundings suddenly brightened.

Qian Renxue looked up and saw a hole overhead, with sunlight streaming straight down through it.

This was a stone chamber measuring only about ten square meters.

There were no decorations inside. It was empty.

Only a shaft of light fell through the hole overhead, shining on the very center of the chamber.

Beneath that light sat a small stone pot.

The pot held only a shallow handful of soil, and a slender stalk of Blue Silver Grass swayed gently in the breeze.

Its blades were somewhat longer than ordinary grass, but its most unusual feature was the faint, fine golden lines running along them.

One lonely stalk of grass, a handful of soil, a shaft of light.

There was nothing else.

Qian Renxue was rather at a loss.

She had thought the habitat of a hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor would be a hidden sanctuary rich in spiritual energy and lush with vegetation.

Yet the scene before her was bleak enough to wrench the heart.

Cheng Ran also fell silent for a moment. In Douluo OL, quite a few veteran players had suspected that Tang Hao was deliberately keeping Ah Yin under his control and had tried to uncover a hidden story quest here. But up until the moment Cheng Ran became trapped, no one had made any progress.

However one looked at it, this cave was dark and damp, with no daylight all year round.

The Blue Silver Emperor was a plant, and plants needed photosynthesis. Planting her somewhere like this was not helping her recover.

There was no point claiming it was to hide and protect her. Tang Hao could clearly have planted Ah Yin in any sunny spot in the hills behind Holy Soul Village.

Before growing into a true Blue Silver Emperor, she was no different from ordinary Blue Silver Grass and would not attract attention. Yet he had specifically chosen a sunless cave.

Cheng Ran shook off those stray thoughts: All right, enough dwelling on it. Dig her up with the roots and soil. Be careful not to damage the roots. We'll transplant her when we get back.

Qian Renxue carefully placed the Blue Silver Emperor, along with the soil in the stone pot, into her Storage Soul Tool.

Cheng Ran: There's something else over there. At the wall on the left, count the protruding rocks from the entrance. Knock on the third one.

Qian Renxue obediently did exactly as instructed.

She walked to the left wall, counted to the third protruding rock, circulated her soul power, and struck the wall with her palm.

Crack.

The wall split open, exposing a hidden compartment containing a pitch-black lead box. It was long and narrow, and heavy in her hands.

Qian Renxue opened the lead box, and blue-gold light poured out.

Inside lay a Right Leg Bone, crystalline blue-gold throughout, with what looked like specks of starlight twinkling within it. It radiated a warm, comforting aura of life.

Qian Renxue: This is the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor's Right Leg Bone!

Cheng Ran: That's right. All right, get ready to leave. Before we go, I still need to leave a few words.

Without explaining, Cheng Ran logged in directly, controlling Qian Renxue's fingers to gather soul power and carve a piece of doggerel, stroke by stroke, onto the most conspicuous wall in the cave.

Once he finished, Cheng Ran checked it over. Apart from forgetting how to write one character midway through, he was fairly satisfied.

Cheng Ran: Perfect. Job done.

Before Qian Renxue could make out what had been carved, Cheng Ran, in Qian Renxue's body, had already spread her wings and flown out of the cave, passing through the curtain of water and disappearing into the horizon.

On the stone wall, several lines of bold, forceful writing were clearly legible in the Blue Silver Grass's faint glow.

"You stole our Tang Sect Secret Arts; you've already earned your death.

I've borrowed your mother as a small-fuck (bó)-punishment. Return the techniques within three days; don't play deaf.

Leave every cultivation technique here. I'll take them and compare them carefully.

Dare hide anything or leave a fake, and I'll refine your mother into medicinal dregs.

-Tang Sect Disciplinary Elder Tang Laoya."