Tang Hao had arrived.
Gu Chen was a tiny bit surprised.
After all, he had been whipping Tang San into a grandson for who knew how long before the man finally showed up. Wasn't that... a little too late?
Or could it be...
Had Tang Hao known all along that Tang San wasn't his 'biological son,' but found it hard to continue mistreating him because of his talent for twin martial souls, and so borrowed Gu Chen's hand to give him a thorough lesson?
That was possible.
But Gu Chen paid the hurtling hammer blow no mind and activated the Soul Skill in the Void Ring.
"Space Jump--!!!"
Before the attack could land on him, he jumped through space and dodged the blow.
He had only jumped to Tang San's side.
With Tang San there, Tang Hao didn't dare go all out. Tang San's talent for twin martial souls was his hope of taking revenge on Spirit Hall and returning to the Clear Sky Sect. It was also why he had accepted the fact that a 'freak' was his son.
No matter how furious Tang Hao was, he wouldn't disregard Tang San's safety.
As for Yu Xiaogang?
Sorry about that.
The wind from the Clear Sky Hammer's descent had not only pulverized the Blue Silver Grass Gu Chen had grown with Soul Power, but also sent Yu Xiaogang flying, leaving him battered and dazed.
If Yu Xiaogang hadn't still been useful, that last blow might have caught him in its range.
"Looks like I'm still too weak as a mere Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster. Perhaps only when I reach the level of a Soul Saint or Soul Douluo will the Blue Silver Grass I grow no longer be so easily crushed by Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer."
Looking at the shattered Blue Silver Grass leaves scattered across the ground, Gu Chen showed no surprise.
He had expected this all along.
After all, Tang Hao was a Titled Douluo, while he was only a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster.
Wasn't it perfectly normal for the Blue Silver Grass he grew to be easily destroyed?
When all was said and done,
his low level was putting him at a disadvantage.
If Tang San had been the one wielding the Clear Sky Hammer, Gu Chen could still have hung him up and whipped him.
"Brat, put my son down."
Tang Hao appeared.
His sloppy appearance made Gu Chen seriously question Ah Yin's taste. He even wanted to ask her, 'Do you have some kind of beggar fetish?' She could actually fancy the likes of him? She really was desperate!
"Tang Hao, I've been waiting for you for ages. I didn't expect you to show up only now. Oh, I see. I was wondering why you still hadn't come back after I'd whipped Tang San into a grandson. Turns out you were off sneaking a bite to eat!"
As he spoke, Gu Chen noticed the chicken leg with a bite taken out of it in Tang Hao's hand, as well as the faint smell of alcohol coming from him. It dawned on him.
A chicken leg and alcohol.
What was this?
Was Tang Hao cosplaying as Xuan Zi, the Holy Spirit Cult's supreme elder?
When Gu Chen finished speaking,
Tang Hao's old face reddened. He had been secretly protecting Tang San these past few days, but people had to eat. He had only found a moment to have a little drink and eat a chicken leg. Who could have guessed that in that short time, Gu Chen would come after them and whip his son into a grandson?
How could he stand for that?
Of course he had attacked the moment he saw it.
But Gu Chen had used that shameless spatial ability again, easily dodging his attack.
Now
he was a little afraid to act rashly.
Last time, Gu Chen had taken Xiao Wu away right in front of him, and all he could do was watch helplessly. He had even spent time searching, but she hadn't left a single trace.
So...
He really was worried Gu Chen would pull the same trick again.
"Put my son down, and I won't stop you from leaving!"
Tang Hao released the oppressive pressure of a Titled Douluo.
Gu Chen understood.
This was Tang Hao's warning, and a threat.
To Tang Hao,
Tang San really was his lifeblood. If anything happened to Tang San, Tang Hao would definitely go mad. When that happened, more than one or two people would suffer; even the villagers of Holy Soul Village might face his revenge.
Knowing this, Gu Chen naturally wouldn't provoke him.
When all was said and done,
his target this time was Tang Hao.
Tang San?
He and that good-for-nothing Yu Xiaogang were merely punching bags for Gu Chen to vent his pent-up resentment on.
"Although Tang San and I have some grudges, a good-for-nothing like him isn't worth going out of my way to target."
Gu Chen made no attempt to hide his contempt for Tang San.
Honestly, with Tang San and Yu Xiaogang, those two Wolong and Fengchu, together, he really didn't need to go out of his way to target them. On the contrary, deliberately targeting Tang San might just make him develop faster.
Conversely, if he didn't target them, Yu Xiaogang's way of training Tang San, having Blue Silver Grass absorb poison-attribute Soul Rings, would surely hold him back.
He couldn't have wished for anything better.
Meanwhile,
Tang San's eyes were bloodshot, and he was panting like a bull. His Tang syndrome had flared up again.
Though he had been whipped into a grandson and covered in wounds, he saw himself as a genius with Innate Full Soul Power and the peerless talent of twin martial souls. Gu Chen was merely trash with level-one Innate Soul Power, so what right did he have to look down on him?
But when he saw the two Thousand-Year Soul Rings on Gu Chen, he couldn't bring himself to argue.
He was unbearably aggrieved.
How could trash with level-one Innate Soul Power have surpassed him in such a short time? How was he inferior to Gu Chen at all?!!!
"In that case, why did you target Little San?!"
Tang Hao demanded.
"Why? You should ask your dear son and that famous good-for-nothing over there whether I targeted them or they targeted me."
"I only wanted to go to school and cultivate in peace, but that good-for-nothing and your son insisted on targeting me at every turn. And weren't you the same? You can't deny that you tried to kill me!"
"You brought all of this on yourselves! I was only acting in self-defense!"
Gu Chen's gaze swept over Yu Xiaogang, who lay like a dead dog nearby, then Tang San at his side and Tang Hao before him. His voice rang out with force, leaving them unable to argue back.
"Fine, even if you're in the right, if anything happens to my son while he's in your hands, don't blame me for showing you no mercy!"
Tang Hao said coldly.
A mere Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster was nothing but an ant in his eyes. As for right and wrong, in the Soul Master World, the strong were right and correct, while the weak were wrong and mistaken.
"Is this the arrogance of the Upper Three Sects? How ridiculous!"
Gu Chen gave a laugh. Even now, Tang Hao was still arrogant; he didn't care at all about right and wrong.
But Gu Chen didn't take it to heart.
He had already come to understand the cruelty of this world.
So,
he took two things out of the Void Ring and addressed Tang Hao.
"Tang Hao, you should know what these two things are, shouldn't you?"