[That man was called Tang Chen, an heir to a sect called the Clear Sky Sect. He had also made quite a name for himself on the continent.]
[As time went on, people began comparing me with him.]
[My competitive streak got the better of me, so I sought him out and challenged him to a contest.]
[But in the end, I lost.]
[It was the first defeat I had suffered in my life, and it had come at the hands of someone my own age.]
[At the time, I found that outcome hard to accept.]
[After all, the quality of my Six-Winged Martial Soul and the twenty levels of Soul Power I was born with should have made me invincible among my contemporaries.]
[Yet I had lost to someone whose Martial Soul quality and Innate Soul Power were both inferior to mine.]
[What did that mean? Was I supposed to admit that my talent and aptitude were inferior to his?]
"Whoa, who was this Tang Chen? He actually managed to get the better of Qian Daoliu. That's terrifying."
"Exactly! His Martial Soul wasn't as good, and his Innate Soul Power wasn't as high. Just how monstrous must his talent have been?!"
"Bumpkin, you don't even know Tang Chen? He was the Clear Sky Douluo of his time. Under his leadership, the Clear Sky Sect became the number one sect under heaven."
"So even a Peerless Douluo ran into setbacks when he was young."
"..."
Like Qian Daoliu, Tang Chen was a figure from two generations ago.
Fortunately, the major factions and great clans still knew of him.
As the Heavenly Screen revealed more, he too would become known to the public, just like Qian Daoliu.
At the same time, learning just how outrageous Qian Daoliu had been in his youth left everyone even more astonished by Tang Chen's strength.
"Grandfather was the true number one under heaven!!"
Looking at his grandfather Tang Chen on the Heavenly Screen, standing a head above Qian Daoliu, the current Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao, had eyes full of pride.
If his grandfather had not disappeared, how would Spirit Hall have dared to be so arrogant back then?
"Roar!"
Just then, a ten-thousand-year Serpent Tiger pounced out from nearby, targeting the distracted Tang Hao.
"You beast, you think you can push me around?!" Furious at being disturbed, Tang Hao smashed the ten-thousand-year Serpent Tiger dead with a single blow of his hammer.
To make it easier to help Su Ming find a suitable Soul Beast for his fourth ring, Tang Hao had deliberately concealed his presence while moving through the Star Dou Great Forest.
But he had not expected that, in the time it took to watch the Heavenly Screen, a Soul Beast that knew nothing of life and death would take him for prey.
Seeing the black Soul Ring rise from the Serpent Tiger's corpse, Tang Hao instinctively thought of Su Ming's goal and could not help muttering to himself, A ten-thousand-year fourth ring, can it really be done?
Some time ago, when Su Ming had told him that he needed a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, Tang Hao had been given quite a fright.
But given Su Ming's special identity, monstrous talent, performance over the years, and the fact that he had actually obtained a thousand-year second ring,
Tang Hao had trusted Su Ming as he always did and come to the Star Dou Great Forest to scout out a suitable Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in advance.
Meanwhile, in the Worship Hall of Spirit Hall.
A look of remembrance flashed across Great Enshrined Qian Daoliu's face, the first in a long time.
It was all thanks to that fellow Tang Chen, Qian Daoliu could not help reflecting.
If he had never met Tang Chen back then, what tempering would sweeping aside everyone of his generation on the continent have given him, with the talent he possessed?
That was why Qian Daoliu felt it had all been thanks to Tang Chen's existence.
Both foe and friend.
Tang Chen had helped him guard against arrogance and impatience, while also giving him a rival on the path of cultivation.
Where there was pressure, there was motivation.
As for the frustration of being less skilled and losing a fight in his youth, that had only been temporary.
Qian Daoliu could still clearly remember that he had soon come to terms with it and turned it into motivation.
The one thing Qian Daoliu regretted was that he had fought Tang Chen all his life, yet before he could get the better of him, Tang Chen had already vanished completely from this world.
Of course, if there was anything about Tang Chen that truly displeased Qian Daoliu, it was probably that Bo Saixi had given her heart to him.
Heaven Dou Imperial City, the crown prince's residence.
"How is that possible? Grandfather actually lost to someone when he was young?!" Qian Renxue's eyes widened.
She had not expected her grandfather to have lost to someone in his youth.
And from the looks of it, that person had come from the Clear Sky Sect, which their Spirit Hall had suppressed until it dared not show itself to the world.
At that moment, Ci Xue Douluo said respectfully, "Young Master, Tang Chen and the Great Enshrined were acknowledged by the world as the twin peaks of the Soul Master World on the mainland. But after Tang Chen vanished completely many years ago, his whereabouts unknown, he was rarely mentioned."
So that's how it was. Qian Renxue's beautiful eyes narrowed. Clearly, she had not expected his talent to be so great.
Qian Renxue could hardly be blamed for knowing so little about matters from her grandfather's generation.
Those matters were secret to begin with, and few people outside the older generation knew of them.
And naturally, no one but those involved knew the details.
Most importantly, when Qian Renxue was young, she had acted on a hot-headed impulse. To prove herself to Bibi Dong, she had come to the Heaven Dou Empire, disguised herself as Crown Prince Xue Qinghe, and carried out the so-called Nation-Stealing Plan.
As a result, she knew less about her own side's affairs than she did about those within the Heaven Dou Empire.
After all, over the years, Qian Renxue had studied subjects befitting the "crown prince."
It could only be said that Qian Renxue's move had been utterly foolish, a complete waste of time.
"Ci Xue, tell me more." Qian Renxue motioned for Ci Xue Douluo to speak of the past.
"Yes, Young Master."
[During that time, I truly was at a loss, and the blow had hit me hard.]
[Fortunately, I found my own way out of that confusion. I took an honest look at myself again, let go of the knot in my heart, and fought Tang Chen once more.]
[And so, Tang Chen and I could be said to have become acquainted through fighting. Our relationship was a little like that of friends and a little like that of enemies; we were both foe and friend.]
[Later, we continued on our separate journeys of tempering.]
[But whether it was me or Tang Chen, few young people of our generation could last more than a few exchanges against us. Most were instantly defeated by us.]
[I gradually grew bored and realized there was no point in continuing to temper myself, so I returned to Spirit Hall for lack of anything better to do; Tang Chen, it seemed, returned to his sect as well.]
[After that, I rarely went out or left Spirit Hall, because I had begun to gain access to its core, including the Worship Hall, which stood at an even higher level.]
[Of course, most importantly, by then I had already become qualified to learn the greatest secret behind Spirit Hall's very foundation!]