The Clear Sky Sect, in the council hall.
Sect Master Tang Xiao stood gathered with five elders, his stern gaze sweeping coldly over them.
"Tell me, which of your branches does this Tang San belong to? Is our Clear Sky Sect so poor that we can't even afford food? Not only did you let him become malnourished and ruin his innate foundation, you even deliberately taught him incorrectly and crippled one of his martial souls!"
"Wonderful. You old fossils are truly wonderful. If you don't give me an explanation today, I think we'll have no choice but to invoke the family laws."
The elders exchanged glances, each counting up the children born into his own branch over the past ten or twenty years. After going over them again and again, they finally reported helplessly, "Sect Master, very few new children have been born into our branches in these twenty years. All those who were born have already paid their respects to you. You know them."
Tang Xiao's expression darkened. "What about illegitimate children?"
"Illegitimate children?" The elders exchanged glances. "Sect Master, our Clear Sky Sect has sealed its mountain for over a decade. We haven't had any opportunity to go out. Where would illegitimate children come from?!"
The second elder offered a timid reminder. "Those twin martial souls-the other martial soul is the Blue Silver Emperor. Do you think perhaps...?"
He did not finish, but his meaning was already clear. Wasn't this your own younger brother, Tang Hao? Why were you still playing dumb? Who didn't know that he had beaten Pope Qian Xunji to death over a soul beast back then, and that the soul beast's true form was Blue Silver Grass!
Tang Xiao's face turned completely black. "Are you saying that my brother and Ah Yin, who loved each other so deeply, would mistreat their child, leave him malnourished, and even neglect him enough to let some useless fool ruin one of his martial souls through bad teaching?"
The elders immediately fell silent, but their meaning was already obvious.
The first elder said timidly, "There isn't a second Blue Silver Emperor in this world."
Tang Xiao clenched his fists and turned his back. "Pass on my orders. Mobilize every intelligence network our Clear Sky Sect has and find that fine younger brother of mine. I'll personally invoke the family laws and ask him how he could be so heartless, treating even his own son with such cruelty!"
Meanwhile, at Spirit Hall.
"So it really is that bastard from the Clear Sky Sect."
"What bastard, Master?" Hu Liena's innocent, sweet voice instantly brought Bibi Dong back to that secret chamber that summer.
Bibi Dong's body trembled slightly, and she pressed her legs together, a flash of fear passing through her eyes. "Nothing. Just some old matters."
Hu Liena clung to Bibi Dong's arm. "That boy with twin martial souls is so pitiful! Not only was he malnourished at birth, someone even deliberately misled him after his martial souls awakened, crippling one of them."
Bibi Dong nodded. As someone who also possessed twin martial souls, she felt a trace of sympathy for the boy named Tang San. Besides, it was his father who had severely injured Qian Xunji, giving her the confidence to strike.
Had Tang San not been the son of a soul beast, Bibi Dong might even have risked the displeasure of all of Spirit Hall to take him as her disciple.
"The Clear Sky Sect really is getting worse with every generation. Who knows what sort of useless soul master taught him? If his teacher had been that man, Yu Xiaogang, the continent's foremost authority on soul master theory, his achievements would surely have been far greater than they are now, and his talent wouldn't have gone to waste."
"Yu Xiaogang? Who's that? I've never heard of him. He actually claims to be the Soul Master World's foremost theorist? What a boast."
A nostalgic look appeared in Bibi Dong's eyes. "It's only natural that you haven't heard his name. He's been living in seclusion for many years. Even I haven't seen him in a long time. Once you meet him, you'll understand his talent..."
Hearing her disciple bring this up stirred something in Bibi Dong's heart, and she even began to consider paying Yu Xiaogang a visit.
"Master, it's such a shame about those twin martial souls. Why don't we snatch him up and make him your disciple? Besides, he's so handsome!"
When the Pride of Heaven Ranking released information, it also displayed images of the prodigies, so everyone across the continent could see them.
Bibi Dong instantly grew alert. "Remember, he is your enemy. If you see this Tang San, you must kill him at any cost. You absolutely must not develop feelings for him. Understood?"
Hu Liena had never seen her teacher so stern before and could only nod in agreement.
The information for tenth place on the heavenly ranking had finished appearing, and new content began to emerge.
[Ninth on the ranking, exceptional talent: Oscar.] [Reason for inclusion: A food-type soul master with innate full soul power, a rarity seen only once in centuries on the continent. His talent stands at the absolute pinnacle of the food category. Unfortunately, he has not developed his natural gifts very far, and the soul rings he has already added have further reduced his potential.] [Assessment: Someone who made the ranking on the strength of his inborn aptitude alone. Unfortunately, he is not diligent and has fallen in with the wrong people.]
"So Little Oscar's aptitude is actually that high?" Dai Mubai murmured to himself.
Beside him, Xiao Wu was somewhat indignant. "Why does this bearded uncle have better talent than my Brother San?"
Facing everyone's gazes, Oscar gave an awkward laugh. Although his talent ranked higher than even Tang San's, he did not dare say a word, afraid he would get a beating.
When Tang Hao, standing nearby, saw that this food-type soul master had actually received a higher assessment than his son San, who possessed both innate full soul power and twin martial souls, he was so furious that he stomped apart Yu Xiaogang's other leg as well. "You useless piece of trash! You actually dared to use my son's future as an experiment and completely ruin his twin martial souls! If you weren't still of some use, I'd kill you right now!"
Yu Xiaogang immediately let out another series of piglike squeals.
Tang San, meanwhile, had completely fallen into questioning his life. He could not help wondering what his life would be like now if his father had not been Tang Hao and he had not hastily taken Yu Xiaogang as his master. Innate level 20 soul power? Twin martial souls, wielding life and destruction?
"Clear Sky Douluo, let me bandage Xiaogang's wounds first. Otherwise, he'll die any moment."
Tang Hao gave a cold snort without speaking. Taking this as tacit approval, Flender hurriedly called Zhao Wuji over to bandage Yu Xiaogang's legs.
Zhao Wuji backed away in disgust. If Yu Xiaogang had only been bleeding, he would not have minded. After all, what bloody scene had he not seen? But the puddle beneath Yu Xiaogang contained not only blood, but also a foul-smelling yellow liquid. It was truly revolting.
In the end, Flender had to suppress his nausea and bandage his legs himself.
At the residence of the Heaven Dou Empire's eldest prince, Xue Qinghe looked at the twin-martial-soul wielder in tenth place on the Pride of Heaven Ranking and sighed softly. "Twin martial souls, just like that person. What a pity that they've already been ruined. He can't even compare to a food-type soul master now. Still, judging by his appearance, he's quite handsome."
Douluo She Long, standing beside him, hurriedly cautioned, "Your Highness, mind your words. He is a surviving remnant of the Clear Sky Sect. And judging by the types of martial souls he awakened, he is very likely the bastard born to Tang Hao, who caused the former pope's death, and that soul beast."
Xue Qinghe-or rather, Qian Renxue disguised as Xue Qinghe-was immediately shocked. "A bastard born of a human and a soul beast? A human and a soul beast... how could a human and a soul beast...?"
Remembering that she had just thought him handsome, Qian Renxue retched and vomited. "The Clear Sky Sect is absolutely disgusting."
"Isn't it just? The Blue Silver Emperor is simply very powerful Blue Silver Grass. In other words, Tang Hao was with an oversized stalk of Blue Silver Grass..."
Qian Renxue looked at the grass beneath her feet. There was quite a bit of Blue Silver Grass there, swaying toward her in the breeze.
Goose bumps instantly rose all over Qian Renxue. With a sweep of her hand, she blasted all the Blue Silver Grass in that patch of ground to death. Only then did she feel slightly better. "Unclean things."
Back at Shrek Academy, Flender was looking at Tang San with guilt written all over his face. "Little San, I apologize to you on Xiaogang's behalf. I truly never imagined he would have you absorb the wrong soul rings. But his theoretical knowledge is still very strong. I can promise you that..."
Tang San snorted coldly.
Xiao Wu could not hold back and jumped straight out. "Strong in soul master theory? Strong in what way? Strong enough to teach Brother San until one of his martial souls was ruined? I think he's just a useless fool who can't even raise his own soul power to level thirty!"
The discussions grew increasingly heated, yet gradually all circled back to Tang San.
Although everyone saw that Oscar had made the ranking, no one paid him any attention. All they discussed was Tang San, going on and on about how powerful twin martial souls were and how pitiful Tang San's background was, without noticing in the slightest that Oscar's talent surpassed that of Tang San, who possessed twin martial souls.
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