"Damn you! You bastard! May you die a horrible death!"
Tang Hao's eyes were bloodshot, and he panted like an ox, roaring like a madman.
After his last arm was torn off, he lost another Soul Bone, and his aura plummeted once again. He had fallen from a rank 65 Soul Emperor to a rank 55 Soul King.
An unprecedented sense of weakness engulfed him like a tide.
A rank 55 Soul King-how many years ago had that been?
Damn it, that damned brat! How was this possible? How could he have grown so quickly?
He still remembered how, not long ago, that brat had fled in disarray under his pursuit, barely escaping him by flying high into the sky.
Yet now, his opponent stood before him like a towering mountain, his strength terrifying beyond measure. A casual strike was enough to crush him into the ground.
For a moment, terror surged through Tang Hao's heart. He realized that the enemy he faced had long since surpassed his imagination.
"I won't let you die so easily."
"Prepare to enter the Mystic Ice Illusion Realm."
"Enjoy the agonizing torment!"
Ye Guixu raised his hand, and the Void Profound Ice emerged around them as light flowed over it.
Tang Hao felt his vision blur, and his entire body was dragged into a dark, freezing world.
He slammed into the icy ground. The bone-piercing cold instantly seared the wounds on his severed limbs, making him suck in a sharp breath.
He opened his eyes and looked around. Countless ice crystals floated in the dim space, like an ice prison forgotten for millions of years.
"Where is this...?"
Tang Hao's limbless body writhed frantically. Only after great effort did he manage to prop up his upper body on the two stumps that ended at his hips, barely sitting upright.
"You bastard! May you die a horrible death!"
"Heh, what a sorry sight you are, original."
A familiar voice came from nearby, cold and mocking.
Tang Hao's pupils contracted sharply. He looked up in disbelief, only to see a figure slowly taking shape out of thin air.
Dressed in coarse hemp clothing, with disheveled hair and a haggard face, he held a heavy hammer. His eyes glowed scarlet as he looked down at Tang Hao, undisguised mockery curling his lips.
It was himself.
Puppet Tang Hao.
Nine Soul Rings emerged around him.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red.
They radiated a terrifying, intimidating aura.
"How is this possible?!"
Tang Hao's eyes widened in disbelief as he stared fixedly at the "self" before him, identical to him in every way.
And he sensed that the other's aura was no different from his own.
Tang Hao's expression changed drastically.
"What kind of sorcery did that brat use?!"
But in the next instant, something even more shocking happened.
The space rippled again, and another deeply familiar figure slowly took shape.
It was his wife, Ah Yin, whom he yearned for day and night.
But the Ah Yin before him had changed completely. Her once sky-blue hair had turned dark blue, her gentle eyes had turned scarlet, and her pale blue dress had become dark red, its hem adorned with dark gold patterns. Her entire being radiated a cold, dark aura.
The Dark Blue Silver Emperor.
"Ah Yin?!"
Wild joy suddenly blazed in Tang Hao's eyes. He even forgot his current predicament and the excruciating pain of his severed limbs, frantically writhing his mutilated body as he tried to crawl toward her.
"You... you've come back to life?! Ah Yin! Is it really you?!"
But all that answered him was a gaze cold to the bone.
Ah Yin, the Dark Blue Silver Emperor, looked at him coldly, undisguised hatred and murderous intent churning in her scarlet eyes.
"Tang Hao."
"You deceived me. You tricked me into sacrificing myself. You harmed my child."
Tang Hao went rigid, as though someone had thrown a basin of ice water into his face.
"You don't deserve to be a father or a husband."
"A vile man like you deserves nothing but a thousand cuts and the punishment of being boiled over a raging fire here."
"No... that's not true!"
Tang Hao shook his head frantically, tears spilling uncontrollably from his eyes.
"Ah Yin, listen to me! You said you forgave me! You said you forgave me before! Have you forgotten?!"
He remembered [Ah Yin] comforting him in the village, remembered that [figure] patting his back and softly saying, "It's all right. I forgive you. You did nothing wrong. You did nothing wrong."
"Ah Yin, wake up! It's me! Tang Hao! Wake up!"
Dark Ah Yin sneered, not a trace of warmth in her scarlet eyes.
"Forgive you? Are you still dreaming? Is your head not clear? A useless wretch like you harmed me, then harmed my child. Someone like you deserves to die and fall into hell forever."
"Impossible... impossible..."
As though all his strength had been drained away, Tang Hao collapsed onto the ice, muttering to himself.
"How could Ah Yin... how could she treat me like this...?"
He raised his bloodshot eyes, his gaze gradually shifting from bewilderment to madness. He thought of the one who had started all this, of the name his son Tang San had spoken.
"Ye Guixu!! It was you! So you were the one who dug up Ah Yin and took her Soul Bone!"
"Damn you! You damned bastard!"
Crack!
With a crisp crack, a dark red vine covered in thorns formed in Dark Ah Yin's hand. It lashed viciously across Tang Hao's back, sending up a spray of flesh and blood.
Tang Hao screamed as the blow sent him rolling away. The clothing on his back instantly tore apart, exposing a wound deep enough to reveal bone.
"This lash is for tricking me into sacrificing myself."
Crack!
"This lash is for harming my child."
Crack!
"This lash is for never once coming into the cave to see me all these years."
With every lash, Tang Hao let out a piercing wail. His back was already a bloody ruin, and dark red blood spread over the ice like a slowly blooming flower of death.
He curled up on the ice, trembling all over, tears mingling with blood, utterly wretched.
Meanwhile, Puppet Tang Hao stood to one side, watching coldly. The mocking smile never left his lips.
"Heh, original, look at you now. Are you still that imposing Clear Sky Douluo?"
"Where is the Tang Hao who once drove back three Titled Douluos with a single hammer strike?"
"Where is the Tang Hao who once furiously struck the Spirit Hall's Supreme Pontiff for Ah Yin?"
He slowly approached and crouched down, meeting Tang Hao's eyes.
"Oh, I forgot. Now you're just a useless wretch without any limbs, unable even to stand."
"You couldn't protect Ah Yin. You couldn't protect Xiao San. You can't even protect yourself."
"You even angered your father to death!"
"You forced the Clear Sky Sect into seclusion!"
"You even violated your Tang San!"
"What exactly have you accomplished in your life?"
"Shut up!"
Tang Hao roared, wanting to lunge at him and tear apart that face identical to his own, only to discover that he could no longer even crawl.
"Shut up? Why should I shut up?"
Puppet Tang Hao slowly rose to his feet and looked down at him.
"Every word I say is a fact you know better than anyone."
"You've thought about it before, haven't you? You've regretted it before, haven't you? You've long known that your so-called devotion was nothing but a joke that moved only yourself."
Dark Ah Yin raised her hand again. The vine traced a sharp arc through the air, then lashed viciously across Tang Hao's waist, flipping him over.
Tang Hao's screams mingled with his coughing, like a wild beast struggling on the brink of death.
"Cause and effect turn in a circle, and retribution never misses. Tang Hao, this is the retribution you deserve!"
"You deserve it. You deserve to lose everything. You deserve your own son's hatred. You deserve to be whipped by the very person you love most. Tang Hao, in your entire life, you've never truly possessed anything."
"You're useless. You're utterly useless."
"You caused your father's death, your wife's death, your child's death!"
"You'll be useless forever!"
Dark Ah Yin's voice was icy, her gaze chilling.
"No... no..."
Tang Hao's voice grew weaker and more powerless, like embers burning themselves out. "I'm not... I'm not useless... I love Ah Yin... I..."
The words caught in his throat, as though even he could no longer go on.
Puppet Tang Hao chuckled, his voice seeming to press in from every direction at once.
"You love Ah Yin? You loved her, yet paraded her around within the Spirit Hall's sphere of influence?"
"You loved her, yet let her sacrifice herself for you?"
"You loved her, yet buried her true body in a mountain cave, keeping her there without sunlight for years?"
"You loved her, yet never truly protected her for even a single day?"
"Useless original, you say you love her. Do you believe that yourself?"
Tang Hao opened his mouth, wanting to say, "I do," but he could not force those words out.
In the darkness, Dark Ah Yin's vine rose again, then fell once more with a shrill whistle through the air.
Crack!
Every lash struck his exposed flesh, each one tearing away a strip of skin and flesh.
"It's all my sin. It's all my sin."
"Ahahaha..."
"I'm useless! I'm useless!!"
"Hahaha..."
Tang Hao laughed madly.
Before you continue