The Clear Sky Sect Takes Action

Several days later, inside the Clear Sky Sect's main hall.

"Why are you in such a sorry state?"

The Fifth Elder looked at the disciples lying prostrate on the floor, his heart sinking sharply as he demanded:

"Didn't you go with Fourth Brother to capture the two young masters? Where is he? And where is your leader?"

The disciple at the front knocked his head against the floor, his lips trembling uncontrollably as he wept:

"Sect Master, Elders... the Fourth Elder... won't be coming back."

"In the battle to capture them, the three Soul Saint martial uncles leading us and more than seventy of our fellow disciples were all killed. The Fourth Elder... also died on the spot."

"What did you say?"

The Sixth Elder's beard and hair bristled as he shouted in shock, "Fourth Brother was a Titled Douluo, one of the strongest on the entire continent. No matter how gifted those two are, they're only Eight-Ring Soul Douluo. How could they possibly harm a hair on Fourth Brother's head?"

Another disciple wept bitterly and said in a grief-stricken voice:

"I wouldn't dare lie. The Fourth Elder was evaporated by a hammer before everyone's eyes. If the other disciples hadn't covered us with their lives, we would probably have died there long ago too."

"Absurd. Who in the world would believe such nonsense?"

The Fifth Elder's face turned ashen. He swept his sleeve and shouted angrily:

"Seventh Brother, you returned to the mountain alone before, saying Second Brother and Third Brother had met with disaster in the Star Dou Great Forest. Now Fourth Brother has gone out, and more such nonsense has come back. Could it be that you've conspired to fabricate lies, covering for them and shirking responsibility?"

"Fifth Brother, put aside your prejudice first."

Tang Lie was utterly speechless. Was this Fifth Elder out of his mind? He wouldn't believe anything.

Tang Lie had brought back the news alone before, and because he lacked hard evidence, he had been questioned repeatedly. For some time afterward, he had even been mocked, openly and behind his back, for fleeing the battle.

Now, learning that the Fourth Elder had likewise died at the hands of Tang Hao and the others, Tang Lie was shocked, but also felt the satisfaction of clearing his name.

"When I returned to the sect before, every one of you demanded hard evidence from me. Now Fourth Brother took dozens of disciples with him. Would these juniors also conspire with me to deceive the sect?"

A disciple took out an Image Recording Stone:

"Sect Master, please see for yourself. This is the Image Recording Stone we used on the mission. Everything that happened that day is in it."

Tang Lie snatched the Image Recording Stone from the disciple's hand and turned to stare straight at the Fifth Elder, his eyes full of scorn:

"Fifth Brother, weren't you demanding hard evidence over and over? Open your eyes wide and take a good look. See whether I wronged them or not."

The Fifth Elder's expression froze, and Tang Lie left him at a loss for words.

"Activate it and let's see," Tang Zhen said, his face like a rough-hewn boulder, revealing neither joy nor anger.

A faint light shimmered, and the images from the Image Recording Stone slowly unfolded. Everyone in the hall fixed their eyes on the screen of light.

The first part was fairly normal. For the most part, it showed the sect disciples finding traces of their quarry and beginning to surround them.

Before long, the battle began. Tang Hao and the others fought back, until Xiao Wu was injured and Tang Hao entered Buddha mode, killing Tang Cai with a single blow of his hammer.

The battle was far from over.

Then Tang Hao roared out things like Sky-Piercing Strike, Sky-Piercing Second Strike, infinite combo, and super big dick, hammering everyone who wanted to hurt Xiao Wu down to their molecular structure.

Everyone present watched with rigid bodies. Tang Yuehua's heart tightened, and she could not help clutching the hem of her skirt.

After Tang Hao and the others broke through the encirclement, this disciple found their direction and quickly gave chase. By the time he arrived, he saw Tang Hao and Tang Xiao join forces to evaporate the Fourth Elder.

Crack.

A crisp sound of something breaking came from the main seat.

Tang Zhen's five fingers had crushed the armrest beneath his hand to pieces. His face was extremely grim.

But that was not the end. The real killing blow came last.

Tang Xiao and Tang Hao joined forces to hunt down the remaining Clear Sky Sect disciples, killing one whenever they met one, and a pair whenever they met two.

The disciple with the Image Recording Stone was practically a war correspondent. While fleeing, he actually doubled back several times, recording in full how the disciples recklessly self-destructed to provide cover and how the others fled in panic.

When the images ended, the hall fell utterly silent, with only heavy breathing remaining.

"Hehe... hahahaha."

Tang Lie slapped the armrest and burst out laughing, his eyes full of mockery.

"Did you all see clearly? Fifth Brother, didn't you just demand hard evidence? Open your eyes wide and look. These are the fine juniors you were so intent on protecting."

The Fifth Elder slumped dejectedly in his chair, his lips quivering. For a long while, he could not utter a word.

Beside him, tears streamed down Tang Yuehua's face. Looking at the cold, unfamiliar faces of her eldest and second brothers, she could only cover her face and weep silently.

Tang Zhen knew that the hopes he had clung to as a father and his dignity as a sect master had vanished before the mountain of ironclad evidence. Violent fury surged through him.

Pfft.

A mouthful of blood burst from Tang Zhen's mouth.

"Sect Master!"

Everyone turned pale with shock and hurried forward.

"Back away."

Tang Zhen swept his sleeve, forcing two people back. He raised a hand to wipe the blood from his lips and said in a low voice:

"Tang Xiao and Tang Hao colluded with Soul Beasts, betrayed the teachings of our ancestors, murdered their elders, and slaughtered their fellow disciples. Death is too light a punishment for their crimes."

"From this day forth, strip them both of their positions as young masters of the Clear Sky Sect, expel them from the sect, and strike their names from its genealogical records. They shall never be permitted to return to the Clear Sky Sect!"

A troubled look appeared on the Fifth Elder's face. After hesitating for a moment, he stepped forward and asked quietly:

"Sect Master, should we make this public and announce to the sect's disciples that those two wretches are wanted?"

The veins at Tang Zhen's temples throbbed wildly as he said in anger:

"Hasn't the Clear Sky Sect lost enough face already? What if the disciples spread the news and other sects' spies find out..."

"The two young masters of the number one sect under heaven consorted with transformed Soul Beasts outside the sect. Not only did they use our sect's supreme techniques to hammer their own elders to death, they even tried to silence all their fellow disciples. We've lost three Titled Elders in succession. If such an extraordinary disgrace were to spread, how would the world mock the Clear Sky Sect?"

Tang Lie had spread the news of the two elders' earlier deaths on his own. Tang Zhen had only managed with great difficulty to keep the matter under control, allowing the news to circulate only within the sect.

Now they had lost another Titled Douluo and dozens of disciples. This matter absolutely could not spread any further, or it would be a devastating blow to the Clear Sky Sect.

Tang Zhen's chest heaved violently with anger as he continued:

"Family shame must not be aired in public, and what's more... are you blind? There are two hundred-thousand-year transformed Soul Beasts following those two wretches everywhere!"

"Two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Rings, two Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones! Those treasures are enough to let any sect ascend to heaven in a single step. If the news leaks, Spirit Hall, and even the other sects, will turn out in full force. When that happens, will the Clear Sky Sect get any share of those two Soul Beasts?"

His words left everyone drenched in cold sweat. They lowered their heads repeatedly, none daring to say another word.

"Pass down my secret orders."

Tang Zhen strode back to the center of the hall, his cold gaze sweeping over the people below the steps:

"First, everything seen and heard in the hall today is to be classified as the sect's highest secret. The disciples who returned alive are to be kept under strict guard until Tang Xiao and the others are captured and brought back, and they are to swear a Martial Soul Oath. If anyone in the sect dares leak even a hint of this, their Martial Soul will be crippled, they will be punished for treason against the sect, and three generations of their family will be implicated."

"Second, issue the sect's highest-level secret order."

Tang Zhen fixed his gaze on the three remaining elders before him, a cold light flashing in his eyes:

"Fifth Elder, Sixth Elder, Seventh Elder, hear my order. The three of you will personally lead a party out of the sect."

"At all costs, secretly search for those two wretches. Once you intercept them..."

In the end, Tang Zhen still could not bring himself to kill them, and ordered:

"Capture them alive if possible, and seal all their Soul Power. If they dare resist to the bitter end... use your judgment."

"As for those two hundred-thousand-year transformed Soul Beasts, you must capture them alive and bring them back to me. The sect has lost three Titled Elders in succession. Only by stripping those two beasts of their Soul Rings and Soul Bones can we settle this blood debt with interest."

The Fifth Elder, Sixth Elder, and Seventh Elder accepted the order in unison:

"We shall obey the Sect Master's secret orders."

Outside the hall, leaden clouds hung low in the sky. A howling, wild wind swept sand and gravel across the threshold, making a strange, whimpering sound.

Tang Zhen went before his ancestors' spirit tablets and watched the wind make the eternal lamp flicker, casting a desolate light across the floor.

His back looked aged and forlorn beneath the wavering lamplight.

Tang Chen had been out of contact for years, three Titled Elders had died in succession within a few short months, and the two heirs the sect had spared no effort in raising had broken with the sect and rebelled.

The Clear Sky Sect was acclaimed as the number one sect on the continent, yet in the raging wind, it was as precarious as that eternal lamp.