When on Earth Was Elder Tang Coming!

In the Heaven Dou Empire, in that hidden cave in the hills behind Holy Soul Village.

The morning sunlight slanted through the entrance, illuminating the cave's sparse furnishings.

A stone table, two stone stools, and a bed made from a pile of dry grass.

Tang Hao sat cross-legged beside the stone table, a bowl of wild vegetable porridge that had gone completely cold in front of him.

Tang San sat opposite him, holding a bowl of porridge, but he had barely touched it.

"Dad, this is the tenth day."

Tang San's voice was muffled, with a hint of asking and answering his own question. "Tell me, Elder Tang said he'd give us an answer within ten days. It's already the last day, so why hasn't he come?"

Tang Hao did not answer immediately.

For the past ten days, father and son had taken turns keeping watch at the cave entrance, from morning to night, rain or shine.

On the first day, Tang San had volunteered. "Dad, I'm young and have good eyesight. I'll keep watch!"

But he was actually being calculating, simply hoping to leave Elder Tang Laoya with a good impression of his loyalty and patience when he returned.

On the second day, Tang Hao had personally stood guard at the entrance, his Spiritual Power as a Titled Douluo covering a ten-li radius, yet no powerful Soul Power fluctuations had approached.

On the third day, Tang San had said, "Elder Tang might fly here through the sky! We need to look up!"

So father and son had craned their necks for half the day, until even Tang Hao's neck had started cracking.

On the fourth day, Tang San had asked doubtfully, "Could he have taken the wrong road? The Tang Sect is in the Far North. Maybe Elder Tang got lost and ended up in the Star Luo Empire."

The corner of Tang Hao's mouth had twitched. "A Titled Douluo of his standing wouldn't fail to tell north, south, east, and west apart."

"Then could the sect master have suddenly needed something and called him back?"

Tang Hao had fallen silent for a moment. This explanation, at least, he had not disputed.

After all, the man had said that the Tang Sect had two Level 99 Limit Douluos and seven Titled Douluos. It certainly made sense for the sect master to summon the enforcement elder back at short notice to discuss matters.

He had even made excuses for the man in his mind at the time: Senior Tang Laoya said before leaving that he had to report to the sect master. The sect master has countless matters to attend to every day. A delay of a few days is normal.

The fifth day.

Tang San had sat at the cave entrance, propping his chin in his hands, and lowered his voice. "Dad, do you think Elder Tang doesn't trust us and is watching us in secret?"

Tang Hao had warily scanned their surroundings. "...It's possible. The Tang Sect's people are cautious. He might be testing whether we're sincere."

So father and son had spent an entire day performing their "sincerity" for empty air.

Deliberately and casually, subtly and openly, they had praised Elder Tang Laoya several times for his handsome looks, dashing bearing, and extraordinary presence. They had even bowed to the empty air. "Elder Tang, if you're watching in secret, please show yourself!"

But no one had answered.

Only the mountain wind had blown past, sweeping up a few fallen leaves.

The sixth day.

Tang San had already begun carving marks at the entrance, six crooked strokes. "Dad, it's been six days."

Tang Hao had said, "Xiao San, wait a little longer. Be patient. When we were young, your mother took two hours to get ready before going out. That's how my patience was honed, little by little."

The seventh day.

Their roles had reversed, and Tang Hao had instead begun to lose confidence. "Xiao San, do you think we've been tricked? This Far North Tang Sect could just be something he made up."

Tang San had fallen silent, but eventually shook his head. "Dad, that's impossible. Elder Tang's cultivation and his knowledge of the Tang Sect's Cultivation Techniques aren't fake. There must be some reason we don't know about."

Tang Hao might not have been sure whether it was real, but how could Tang San not know that the Tang Sect truly existed?

"Let's be patient and wait a little longer, Dad."

"But your mother is still in his hands!"

Tang San had risen and walked to the entrance. The mountain wind stirred his coarse robe, and his back carried an indescribable stubbornness.

The eighth day.

Tang San had lain on the pile of dry grass in a daze, muttering, "An answer within ten days, and it's already the eighth day. I've waited so long the flowers have withered..."

Hearing his son talking to himself, Tang Hao had also felt a surge of irritation.

The ninth day.

Tang San had startled awake in the middle of the night and run to the entrance to look around. There was no one under the moonlight. "Dad! I just dreamed that Elder Tang came!"

Tang Hao had abruptly sat up. "Where is he?"

"...Then I woke up."

Tang Hao had silently lain back down. He had not slept for the rest of the night either.

The tenth day.

That was today.

The sun rose in the east, creeping inch by inch across the ground at the cave entrance and casting long shadows.

Tang San sat on the stone table, his legs dangling and swinging back and forth. He had already been staring toward the entrance for four hours.

"Dad, today is the last day."

"Mm."

Father and son said nothing more. Everything lay in their silence.

They waited like that until evening.

"Dad, I've thought of a possibility."

"What possibility?"

"Could Elder Tang have... forgotten to count the days?"

Tang Hao said, "..."

"Look, he said within ten days, but he never said whether he was counting by the continent's days or the Tang Sect's calendar." Tang San analyzed it with complete seriousness. "What if the Tang Sect uses the Far North's calendar? A day in the Far North might have fifty hours, so ten days would be five hundred hours. Converting that to our time..."

"Tang San."

"Hm?"

"Stop calculating. Let me think carefully..."

"Oh."

Father and son stood silently at the cave entrance, one tall and one short, like two stone statues.

The night gradually deepened.

The mountain wind swept past, lifting a few withered leaves. A few birdcalls drifted from the distant forest, mixed with the roars of unidentified Soul Beasts.

"Dad, I need to take a shit."

"..."

Tang Hao closed his eyes briefly and drew a deep breath. "Go."

Tang San jogged into the shadows deep within the cave.

Tang Hao stood at the entrance, gazing at the distant, rolling mountains, his fists clenching and unclenching.

Counting from the day Senior Tang Laoya had left, it had been ten full days.

Every word the man had spoken that day, every expression, every tiny movement replayed over and over in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more he felt there were flaws everywhere.

He began to seriously consider a possibility he had been avoiding all these days: perhaps that Senior Tang Laoya had never intended to return in the first place.

But he was unwilling to admit that he had been deceived. Admitting it would mean Ah Yin truly could not come back.

"Dad!"

Tang San's voice came from inside the cave, accompanied by a rustling sound.

"Has Elder Tang come yet?"

"No."

"Oh." Tang San's voice was muffled. "Then I'll squat here a little longer."

Inside the cave, Tang San squatted where the stone pot in which Ah Yin had previously been planted had stood, his chin propped in both hands.

He recalled his meeting with Elder Tang Laoya that day over and over, but no matter how he went over it, he could find no obvious flaws.

The man's level, his familiarity with the Tang Sect's Cultivation Techniques, that doggerel verse still left on the wall, and his knowledge of the Tang Sect's inner workings.

None of it seemed like something fabricated on the spot, yet the man simply had not come.

More than half an hour later, Tang San finally emerged from the cave.

Tang Hao still stood motionless at the entrance in the same position, gazing at the brilliant starry sky. Then he suddenly spoke.

"Xiao San, if Elder Tang is a fraud, your mother and the Soul Bone she left you won't be coming back..."

Tang San said nothing.

The evening wind passed through the valley, stirring his tattered robe.

Only after a long while did he speak quietly, his words carrying a trace of confidence and stubbornness. "Dad, he'll come."