Inside the shelter, a disheveled, filthy young man with blue hair was explaining himself to the disciple guarding him. It was none other than Tang San, who had escaped earlier.
As it turned out, Tang San had not gotten far before the Primordial Sect disciples tracking him found him. After discovering the demonic cultivation technique in his robes, they immediately took him prisoner.
"Martial Uncle Su." The guard bowed, and Su Mingyue nodded before looking at Tang San.
As a true disciple of Law Enforcement Peak, she had a technique that could reveal how many lives a person had taken. Tang San had quite a few lives on his hands; no matter how she looked at him, he was a demonic scoundrel.
And yet his cultivation was so low, and Soul-Devouring Zhenren had not drained him to death. Even Su Mingyue began to wonder whether she had seen it wrong.
The people of Douluo Continent also saw Tang San's wretched appearance on the heavenly screen.
"Third Brother! What gives them the right to torment you like this?! I'm coming to save you!"
In the Star Dou Great Forest, Xiao Wu's eyes instantly reddened. She rose on her toes and tried to embrace Tang San, but a whole world lay between them, and she could only grasp at empty air.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes were bloodshot as well. Pointing at the heavenly screen, he burst out cursing, "A bunch of maniacs who can't tell right from wrong!"
"Our Little San went deep undercover in the demon camp! He deliberately stayed among those demonic cultivators to steal intelligence on the demonic path. Instead of rewarding someone who rendered a service, they've made a hero their prisoner!"
"The Primordial Sect is full of bastards who can't tell good from evil, from top to bottom!"
In the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, Xue Ye frowned slightly.
Although Tang San did not look like a good person, he was still a genius of the Heaven Dou Empire and had once been its pride. To see him reduced to such a state was truly troubling.
"Ministers, what are your thoughts on Tang San's capture?"
The ministers each spoke in turn. Some thought Tang San acted ruthlessly and had gotten what he deserved.
Others thought the Primordial Sect was too overbearing. Treating him this way merely for possessing a demonic cultivation technique was truly wrong.
In the Worship Hall, Qian Daoliu watched the scene with disgust written all over his face. "A man with the ambitions of a wolf deserves exactly this. He should be dealt with sooner rather than later, before he becomes a great threat."
Ning Fengzhi and Sword Douluo Chen Xin exchanged a glance and sighed in unison.
Ning Fengzhi shook his head. "It's plain as day that he killed to seize a treasure. Tang San truly went too far this time. The Primordial Sect hasn't wronged him by capturing him."
Many disciples from sects affiliated with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect nodded. What little awe they had once held for Tang San had long since vanished without a trace.
Everyone knew that just a few minutes earlier, two Golden Core cultivators had joined forces to slay Soul-Devouring Zhenren, who had brought calamity for a hundred years.
As for Su Mingyue's arrival, none of them knew who she was, but she appeared to be the leader of these disciples.
"I wonder how this woman intends to deal with Tang San. Will she kill him or spare him?" Qian Daoliu pondered.
He had no idea that a technique existed in this world that could reveal how many lives a person had taken, nor did he know that Tang San had just come out of Slaughter City.
If they knew Tang San possessed Divine Slaughter's Domain and the Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul, they would probably have killed him long ago.
Tang San was no fool. Seeing how respectfully the disciples treated Su Mingyue, he knew his life hung on a single word from her.
"My lady, this... my lady, I've truly been wronged! I'm a good person. I got that technique from a cultivator. I really didn't know he was a demonic cultivator."
Tang San deliberately avoided mentioning that he had followed Soul-Devouring Zhenren. Otherwise, he would truly have had no way to explain himself. He said only that he had found it.
"Really?" Su Mingyue glanced at the disciple beside her.
The disciple hesitated, but still replied, "Martial Uncle, this man's technique is extremely... trashy. It seems to be a mortal martial art. It is indeed not a demonic cultivation technique."
Trash? He actually called my Mysterious Heaven Skill trash. Tang San's anger flared the moment he heard this.
He had gone to great lengths to obtain the Mysterious Heaven Skill from his sect, and on Douluo Continent, it was the foundation on which he stood. How could he not be angry when someone called it trash?
But now, they were the knife and chopping board, and he was the fish on the block. Tang San had no choice but to submit, suppressing his anger and putting on a pleading expression.
"Let me see your technique," Su Mingyue said, looking at Tang San.
Tang San froze where he stood, while the situation on Douluo Continent was more complicated.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes turned crimson, and he cursed, "Outrageous! A bunch of bandits! They demand people's cultivation techniques at the drop of a hat. How can they call themselves the righteous path?!"
Xiao Wu's eyes had long since reddened. She stared fixedly at Tang San's wretched face on the heavenly screen, tears pattering down her cheeks. "Third Brother isn't a bad person! They can't steal his things!"
Dai Mubai and the other members of the Shrek Seven Devils who had always been close to Tang San also looked indignant, muttering that the Primordial Sect was far too overbearing.
But before they had finished chiming in, the other Soul Masters in the square were already frowning and looking at one another, their faces full of incredulous confusion.
"Wait, a cultivation technique? What cultivation technique? Could Tang San actually have one?"
"That's not right. Before the heavenly screen appeared, we didn't even know what a cultivation technique was. Tang San is from our world too, so how could he have one? Could that woman have made a mistake?"
"Exactly! Forget ordinary Soul Masters-even Spirit Hall's Golden Generation and the descendants of the various Titled Douluo all have to cultivate through painstaking effort. Where would they get a cultivation technique?"
Ning Fengzhi frowned and grew suspicious as well, turning to look at Chen Xin and the others.
"I thought something was off before. No matter how you look at it, the Hidden Weapons Tang San took out when he first entered Shrek couldn't possibly have been devised by a child in his early teens."
"I've never heard of a sect that specialized in such sinister Hidden Weapons, either. He said before that he'd come up with them himself in his spare time, but now that I think about it, how could it have been that simple?"
In a corner of the continent, Tang Hao stared at the heavenly screen, his expression shifting.
Clearly, Tang San's possession of a cultivation technique had also brought certain thoughts to his mind.
Being precocious was one thing, but how could a six-year-old child possibly know about something like Hidden Weapons?
It was not as though he had never thought something was strange about Tang San.
But before the heavenly screen appeared, he had not given it much thought. He had simply taken it as Tang San's little secret. As long as he was still his son, that was enough.
But now, there were no cultivation techniques on Douluo Continent at all. So where had Tang San's technique come from?
Could it be that his son was actually someone from another world?
With the heavenly screen before him, Tang Hao believed this possibility more and more.
A chill ran down his back. If Tang San was someone from another world, then what about his son?
And yet Tang San had grown up before his eyes, and there had never been any switch. What on earth was the reason for this?
If Tang Hao later learned that the world of immortal cultivation had something called Body Possession, he would understand what had happened to Tang San.
Yu Xiaogang was still speaking up for Tang San. "Our Little San is an upright and honorable person. How could he possibly hide anything strange? Those people from the Primordial Sect are deliberately targeting him!"
No one beside him answered. Quite a few people were already looking at him with a subtle hint of disdain.