In the vast, empty space, darkness surrounded him.
Tang San's mind kept sinking through the darkness.
That crushing exhaustion enveloped him, almost dragging him into oblivion.
An orphan taken in by the Tang Sect in his previous life, he had finally gained a family after his reincarnation.
Was longing for a father's love really so difficult?
Perhaps I shouldn't exist in this world.
Then let me sink into oblivion!
"Tang San! You disgrace to the Tang Sect! You thief!"
Just as those self-denying thoughts were about to swallow him completely, an imposing, icy shout pierced the darkness, carrying a familiar name that stabbed into his mind like a needle.
The Tang Sect!
He abruptly opened his eyes and found that the dark space in which he had been sinking had quietly changed.
Familiar surroundings reappeared before his eyes.
It was the sect he had belonged to in his previous life, the Tang Sect he had once taken pride in.
"Tang San, do you acknowledge your crime?"
While he stood dazed, those once-familiar faces appeared before him, one after another.
The Tang Sect's elders stood before him now, their eyes filled with icy looks.
"Tang San, as an outer disciple, you had no right to practice the inner sect's arts, yet you sneaked into the scripture repository and secretly learned our Tang Sect's supreme treasure, the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record. Your crime is unforgivable!"
"You squandered the kindness the Tang Sect showed in raising you!"
"A disloyal, unrighteous wretch!"
Each harsh shout was like a dull blade slicing flesh, gouging relentlessly at Tang San's nerves.
He lowered his head and bit his lip, wanting to offer some defense, but unable to utter a word.
Only after a long while did he slowly raise his head and salute the elders with cupped hands.
"Elders, I made the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, then jumped off the cliff... I've already repaid the Tang Sect's kindness!"
But the moment he finished speaking, another elder stepped forward, pointed at his nose, and shouted abuse.
"Repaid? You used the Tang Sect's own things to repay its kindness. What a fine way to call things even! You died and washed your hands of everything, while the Tang Sect was branded as having 'driven a genius to his death'! You left cleanly, leaving a pile of rotten debts behind!"
"Disloyal, unrighteous, heartless, and unfilial!"
"You have no right to speak of repayment!"
Those piercing words stabbed into his ears like needles.
Tang San's breathing grew heavier, his chest heaving violently.
"No... what gives you the right?"
"Rules? The Tang Sect's rules were made by the inner sect for the outer sect to obey! I couldn't learn the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record, not because I lacked talent, but simply because I was an outer disciple!"
"You call me a thief? But if the Tang Sect hadn't always refused to teach me openly and honestly, would I have needed to learn in secret?"
"You keep talking about sect rules, but whose inheritance do those rules protect? The inner sect's! For outer disciples, learning it is a crime!"
"You couldn't make the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus, but I did! I brought the Tang Sect's peerless, top-ranked hidden weapon back into the world! Doesn't that count as my achievement?"
Tang San grew more agitated as he spoke, his voice rising and his face twisting.
"Insolence! The Tang Sect's rules have been passed down for a hundred years. How dare an outer-sect traitor like you criticize them!"
"Without stealing the teachings of our supreme treasure, would an outer disciple like you have been worthy of making the Buddha's Fury Tang Lotus? Theft is theft. No amount of sophistry can hide what you've done!"
"Tang San, if you have even a shred of conscience left, kneel and confess!"
Only a buzzing roar remained in Tang San's ears.
Those words-"thief, traitor, disloyal, unrighteous, heartless, unfilial"-
Churned back and forth in his mind, like blades repeatedly gouging his heart.
On top of that, a few days earlier, he had become utterly disillusioned with Tang Hao as a father.
He remembered spending these past few days like a walking corpse.
His eyes were bloodshot, and he panted like an ox.
The elders before him became twisted shapes of light and shadow. Only their accusations continued to echo, driving into his mind like iron nails.
"Kneel and confess!"
"Kneel!"
"Kneel."
"You traitor!"
The voices rang like great bells, one after another.
Tang San's hands trembled violently, his reason being crushed bit by bit.
"Enough!"
A cold sensation suddenly came from Tang San's hand.
He did not know what it was, or when he had picked it up.
But at that moment, he had only one thought.
Make those voices stop, stop, stop!
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
"I'm not a traitor! I'm not a traitor!"
"Aaaah!!!"
His finger pressed down uncontrollably.
An extremely faint click came from a silvery-white circular case.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Silver light flashed.
Twenty-seven silver needles shot out like a torrential downpour, bursting into a silvery-white blossom in midair before instantly converging and sinking into the elders' foreheads.
The elders stared at Tang San in disbelief.
Looking at the sunflower-like silver disk in his hand, their mouths moved slightly.
"Storm... Storm Pear Blossom Needles..."
"You beast who betrays his teachers and destroys his ancestors..."
Before those elders could finish speaking, their bodies were already swaying.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Tang San's eyes were still scarlet, but his awareness felt as though a basin of ice water had been poured over his head, his pupils contracting sharply.
He saw the bodies lying on the ground, the tiny holes in their foreheads, and the red liquid slowly seeping out.
The silver case in his hand fell to the ground with a clang.
"E-Elders?"
"Storm Pear Blossom Needles? Wh-where did they come from??"
"No... it wasn't supposed to be like this... I, I didn't want to kill you..."
Tang San stumbled forward, seized the shoulders of one of the bodies that had already stopped moving, and shook it hard.
"Elder, Elder, Elder! Get up! Didn't you say you were going to purge the sect? Get up! I don't accept that rule, but I never wanted to kill you!!"
But no one answered him anymore.
The elders he had killed with his own hands could no longer speak.
Tang San sat blankly on the ground, staring at the blood on his hands. Trembling all over, he opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but no sound came out.
Only after an unknown length of time did he stand.
He glanced at the corpses on the ground, then looked around, his pupils suddenly contracting.
Only then did he notice that this Tang Sect... was far too quiet.
Eerily quiet.
He stumbled out through the door and surveyed the entire Tang Sect. There was not a soul in sight.
Many corpses lay strewn across the ground, some dressed in Tang Sect disciples' clothing, others in unfamiliar robes.
Only corpses remained.
And every corpse bore traces of the Storm Pear Blossom Needles.
Yet, of all things, he had a Storm Pear Blossom Needles case in his hand.
"How is that possible? How is that possible??!!"
Hysterical, Tang San suddenly ran outside the Tang Sect's mountain gate and saw the plaque he had once passed beneath countless times every day.
Two large characters were carved on the plaque, their strokes like soaring dragons and dancing phoenixes.
Tang Sect.
Beneath the plaque, dried bloodstains still remained. It had been a long time; they had dried long ago.
Tang San slowly turned and looked at the empty Tang Sect behind him and the elders' corpses in the courtyard.
A sudden chill ran down his spine.
Those elders... had they died long ago, or had he killed them all??
Impossible, impossible?
Like a madman, Tang San stumbled back before the elders' corpses, only then suddenly coming to his senses.
He dug a pit and carried the bodies of the elders and his fellow disciples into it, one by one.
Every time he laid a body down, his fingers trembled.
At last, the final body was properly laid to rest.
Tang San knelt before that mound of fresh earth and remained silent for a long time.
Then he bowed deeply toward the grave, pressing his forehead against the soil, his voice hoarse.
"Elders... I, Tang San, can no longer argue over right and wrong. But the Tang Sect's legacy... shouldn't end here."
He slowly stood and turned to look toward the deserted mountain gate of the Tang Sect.
"I will assume the position of Tang Sect master."
The moment he finished speaking, the ground beneath his feet abruptly split apart, and Tang San fell into an endless abyss once again.
"How... how could this happen?!"
Meanwhile, in the real world.
"Ugh..."
His face filled with guilt and streaming with tears, Tang Hao suddenly heard Tang San groan, and his face immediately lit up.
"Xiao San, Xiao San."
Tang Hao called softly, but his expression stiffened again.
He remembered the child's condition over the past few days. The child was still suffering emotional trauma.
I can't let him discover that I saved him and stayed by his side.
Otherwise, he'll definitely try to take his own life again.
Tang Hao briefly examined him and found that Tang San's condition had now recovered well.
After breathing a sigh of relief, he quickly vanished from the spot.
"Wh-where is this??!"
Tang Shan slowly opened his eyes. Sunlight spilled through the branches in the woods, seeming somewhat dazzling.
As his memories returned, he realized that he had previously collapsed here from hunger, thirst, and utter mental exhaustion.
But suddenly, he noticed that his mouth was not dry and cracked, and his stomach felt full.
He reached up to touch his lips, then held his hand before his eyes. His fingers were covered in water and grease.
Before he fainted, he had had no food or water at all, and there had been no one around.
Where had the water and grease come from?
He immediately looked around warily and discovered marks left by a few drops of water on the ground.
And a pair of footprints.
Those footprints were extremely familiar to him.
Dad...
They were none other than the footprints of his father in this life, Tang Hao.
Tang San shuddered all over, folded his arms across his chest, and looked around warily, shrinking backward.
Once again, he recalled his beast of a father's actions a few days earlier.
It was something that terrified him despite having lived two lives.
Yet the sight of him dealt a deep blow to Tang Hao, who was watching him and gritted his teeth in bitter self-reproach.
It seems what I did that day inflicted tremendous psychological trauma on this child.
I'm truly a beast. I'm truly a beast!
Before you continue