Kill Tang Hao?
That was a must.
But in Lin Chuan's calculations, killing him alone was far from enough.
Death snuffed a man out like a lamp. That would let this beast off far too lightly.
He wanted to kill the man and crush his heart.
He wanted Tang Hao to spit out all those filthy deeds before he died, record them clearly with a recording stone, make millions of copies, and scatter them across every corner of the continent.
Everyone on the continent needed to open their eyes wide and take a good look at just what sort of thing lurked beneath the skin of this so-called Clear Sky Douluo.
At this point, Zhang Lexuan also began to feel puzzled.
In that world ten thousand years later, whenever the Shrek Seven Devils and most of the others were mentioned, praise came flooding in. Their reputations were so good they practically shone.
Yet none of those rotten affairs about Tang Hao scheming against Ah Yin had been mentioned. Not even a stroke of a character had been left behind.
She took a deep breath, and an absurd thought rose uncontrollably in her mind.
Could those history books treated as sacred standards ten thousand years later all have been nonsense meant to fool ghosts?
But just as the thought emerged, her eyes suddenly lit up, and she understood at once.
History had always been the victors' graffiti board.
It could not be trusted in its entirety. Anyone who did was a fool.
Now that she had come to this world ten thousand years in the past, she naturally had to open her eyes wide and take a careful look at how many truths that could never see the light lay beneath those past events the history books had raised onto a divine pedestal.
The moment those words were spoken, Tang Hao's face turned deathly pale.
His eyelids twitched wildly, and a chill kept surging up inside him.
If the whole truth of this affair leaked out, his reputation would probably be utterly ruined.
He instinctively clenched his fists, shook his head, and stubbornly denied it:
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Ah Yin was my wife. How could I possibly have schemed against her? This is all nonsense."
Watching Tang Hao remain stubborn-mouthed as a dead duck, Lin Chuan's face showed not the slightest ripple.
It was as though he had expected all of this long ago.
A mocking smile appeared on his face:
"Oh? It seems you really do intend to leave your life here."
"But it doesn't matter. I don't care whether you talk or not. I'm simply a little curious."
With that, he tipped his chin at Zhang Lexuan. "Sister Lexuan."
Zhang Lexuan nodded, her eyes shifting as a harmless smile appeared on her face:
"This domain of mine has a self-detonation effect, even stronger than your Clear Sky Sect's Ring Detonation. Congratulations. You get to be the first person to die inside this domain."
Her words fell.
Tang Hao felt as though an invisible mountain had slammed viciously into his spine.
Then.
The domain began to contract.
With every inch it shrank, the savage force crushing down multiplied.
Sensing the breath of death, Tang Hao finally caved.
Compared with his reputation, his life was still more important.
But he still clung to one last shred of hope and ventured:
"I can tell you about my plan to scheme against Ah Yin back then, but if I tell you, will you let me off? Also, you mustn't reveal this to anyone. Otherwise, I won't talk even if I die."
At those words, Lin Chuan smiled and said:
"Don't worry. I never lie to people. Naturally, I'll spare you. And I won't reveal this to anyone."
In truth, there was one more thing Lin Chuan had not said aloud.
He had said he would never lie to people, but a thing like Tang Hao was a beast at best. How could he possibly fall within the category of people?
Hearing this, Tang Hao instantly breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"I admit it. What I coveted from the very beginning was Ah Yin's hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring. The first time I met her, I had already seen through her true nature. As for how I discovered it, I have a mental-power Soul Bone. All it took was one glance, and her identity as a Soul Beast had nowhere to hide from me."
"It was precisely because she was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast who had taken human form that I pursued her."
"If I could win her over, my ninth Soul Ring would be secured."
"Later, I did win her over, and she became pregnant with my child. After that, I even calculated every juncture, constantly leaking my and Ah Yin's whereabouts to Spirit Hall and pinning down every moment of the timing, all to force her to make a perfect sacrifice to me."
At those words, a trace of profound killing intent stirred in Lin Chuan's eyes.
Tang Hao's conduct had clearly crossed the line of what he could tolerate.
He spoke directly:
"Then did you know that Ah Yin's feelings for you were genuine? And you? You actually treated her life as a bargaining chip in your scheme for a Soul Ring. That's the conduct of a beast."
Now that everything had been laid bare, Tang Hao did not care in the slightest about Lin Chuan's insults.
He gave an exceedingly soft sneer, his eyes utterly unruffled, and merely said indifferently:
"Heh, so what if her feelings were genuine? Humans and Soul Beasts cannot love each other in the first place. That's an iron law. She was too naive and staked everything on it herself. How could she blame me? If anyone is to blame, it's her for being too stupid."
Zhang Lexuan was a woman. Hearing those words, sympathy for Ah Yin instantly surged through her heart, impossible to suppress.
She turned toward Tang Hao, her gaze colder than before, without a trace of warmth, and cursed him with every word dripping blood:
"Tang Hao, you're a beast. You would even deceive a woman's feelings like this. No, you're worse than a beast."
Lin Chuan sighed. Ah Yin's fate truly was tragic.
She had thought it was a life together built on mutual love. From the very first moment she took human form and came into this world, to bearing his child, she had given everything without reservation.
But she would never know that, from the day Tang Hao first met her, he had already plotted every step of the road ahead of her.
The cruelest drama in this world was perhaps someone offering up a burning, sincere heart, only for the other person to calmly place it on a scale and weigh it.
Lin Chuan's gaze settled on Zhang Lexuan, his voice so flat that no emotion could be heard:
"Sister Lexuan, I'll leave things here to you. I'll head off first."
"Oh, and collect all the Soul Bones on Tang Hao. Find some time to take them to an auction house and dispose of them."
Lin Chuan could have kept these things for the people who would be by his side in the future, but he had no desire even to give them another glance.
Filthy.
Both Tang Hao's soul and the Soul Bones on his body disgusted him.
Besides, he had never lacked things like Soul Bones. The system shop listed Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones at clearly marked prices, and he could redeem them at a whim. There was no need whatsoever to touch these filthy things of Tang Hao's.
Having said his piece, he vanished from the domain with a thought.
In just an instant, he was already within the Heaven and Earth Great World.
Seeing Lin Chuan disappear, then recalling what he had said earlier, Tang Hao immediately sensed that something was wrong.
He stared at Zhang Lexuan in terror, retreating nonstop as he said in a trembling voice:
"You... you aren't keeping your word! You promised not to kill me! You're lying! Despicable and shameless!"