The Clear Sky Sect in Peril

Inside the Clear Sky Sect's secret chamber, Tang Zhen flashed in, drenched in blood, and swung the heavy stone door tightly shut behind him.

He had traveled day and night to return to the sect. His face was now as pale as paper, and one arm hung limply at his side, jagged ends of broken bone jutting through his robes.

First, Tang Hao had battered him with blows imbued with Asura Divine Power. Then he had taken the two brothers' heaven-defying fusion skill. Finally, despite his grievous injuries, he had forcibly taken the flying hammer unleashed by Tang Hao's Nine Rings Explode Together. His insides had long since been reduced to a complete mess.

If he had not taken that last hammer blow head-on, he might still have been saved. But to safeguard the sect's future, he had had no choice but to save a child as its hope.

Trembling and gasping, Tang Zhen placed the two spoils of battle from within his torn robes on the stone bed.

One was an unconscious rabbit, Xiao Wu. The other was a baby boy wrapped in swaddling clothes, a child of Tang Xiao and Ah Rou's blood.

Looking at the weak baby boy sleeping soundly, Tang Zhen coughed up a mouthful of dark, congealed blood, a trace of relief flashing in his eyes.

The next moment, Tang Zhen's vision repeatedly darkened, and the life was rapidly draining from his body.

He dared not delay any longer. Forcing himself to draw on his Soul Power, he cleaned the blood and grime from his body. With just that slight use of Soul Power, he felt he had shortened his remaining life by a little more.

Tang Zhen could not spare a thought for that now. Before he drew his last breath, he had to steady the sect, which was being battered by wind and rain.

The Clear Sky Sect's council hall.

The atmosphere in the hall was cold and grave. Members from every side had long since assembled, yet not one dared whisper to another.

The elders' seats that had once lined both sides now stood empty, without a single figure among them.

The fighting strength of what had once been the world's foremost sect had been almost entirely wiped out. Below the dais stood a number of sect managers and persons in charge, their expressions varied, and the patriarchs of the four affiliated single-attribute clans-

Tai Tan of the Strength Clan, Bai He of the Speed Clan, Niu Gao of the Defense Clan, and Yang Wudi of the Breaking Clan.

Tang Yuehua stood quietly among the crowd, her face full of unease.

The hall doors suddenly swung open.

Having changed into a brand-new robe, Tang Zhen forced himself to walk to the head seat of the hall.

Sensing Tang Zhen's weak and disordered condition, any Soul Douluo present could see through to his frailty, even if he had made himself look presentable on the surface.

Even so, no one in the hall dared make a sound.

Tang Zhen dropped into the head seat. Without a single word of idle talk, he produced an Image Recording Stone with a turn of his hand and infused a wisp of Soul Power into it.

An image slowly unfolded in the air above the hall, revealing the horrific scene of the bloody battle in the valley to everyone.

Clear Sky Sect disciples died one after another, three elders met violent deaths in succession, and even the sect master, Tang Zhen, was beaten into fleeing for his life.

The image faded, and a pin could have been heard dropping in the hall.

"Were those the two young masters?"

"They even struck down their own father?"

Several sect managers went deathly pale, their lips trembling in disbelief.

Tang Zhen said in a hoarse voice:

"As you have all seen."

"All the sect's elders have now fallen. As for me... never mind. Other matters first."

"The Clear Sky Sect now has no Titled Douluo left, no one to hold the fort. And those two unfilial sons, Tang Xiao and Tang Hao, have entered the Titled Douluo realm. Not only is their fighting strength extraordinary, but they also bear an irreconcilable hatred for the sect."

Tang Zhen steadied his roiling blood and Qi and used all his strength to announce his decision:

"From today onward, the entire sect will contract its forces."

"The businesses and branch sects throughout the continent must all withdraw to the sect within a set time. From now on, the sect may conduct business only in major cities such as Heaven Dou City and Star Luo City. All other locations are to be abandoned. Weaker disciples must never go out on their own; they must be accompanied by an expert of at least the Soul Saint level."

At this time, unlike in the original work, the Clear Sky Sect had not yet been forced by Spirit Hall to retreat into the mountains three hundred li east of Heaven Dou City, and it was not too far from the bustling city.

But Tang Zhen understood very well that the Clear Sky Sect could now only huddle together for warmth. Otherwise, encountering those two unfilial sons, whose eyes were red with slaughter, would bring nothing but a calamity that would wipe them out.

Yet as soon as the order was given, the managers below the dais looked troubled, and whispers began to rise.

"Sect master, if we withdraw from all our outlying businesses, where will the money for the sect's future expenses come from?"

"Must we, the world's foremost sect, be driven by two traitors to hide at home and not dare show our faces? If word gets out, won't the whole continent laugh at us?"

Listening to these fools who had no idea disaster was upon them, Tang Zhen felt his throat tighten and could not help coughing violently.

Amid the confusion, Tai Tan, patriarch of the Strength Clan, strode out of the crowd.

He stared fixedly at the Image Recording Stone. His eyes held not the slightest grief for the fallen members of the Clear Sky Sect, but excitement and admiration instead.

Tai Tan let out a rough laugh:

"He overpowered every opponent and hammered the Titled Douluo elders to death one after another. Even the sect master could only flee in defeat."

"That's a real man. That's the master I, Tai Tan, have chosen."

The hall fell silent at once, and everyone stared at Tai Tan in astonishment.

Tai Tan thumped his chest and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"My Strength Clan has recognized only Master Tang Hao from beginning to end. The Clear Sky Sect has now lost its Titled Douluo and become a bunch of cowards. The Strength Clan wants no part of it. Sect Master Tang Zhen, from today onward, the Strength Clan is formally leaving the Clear Sky Sect. I'll take my people to await Master's return and serve him like dogs and horses."

Hearing these words of betrayal, the managers in the hall stared open-mouthed.

Yang Wudi, patriarch of the Breaking Clan, scowled, pointed at Tai Tan, and demanded:

"Old gorilla, have you lost your mind? Tang Hao betrayed his master and destroyed his forebears, yet you're publicly acknowledging a thief as your father?"

"You don't know shit, old goat!" Tai Tan glanced at him and replied in his rough voice, "Tang Hao is my only master. Spare me your talk of sect rules and righteousness."

Tang Zhen gripped the armrests, trembling all over with rage.

The Strength Clan had relied on the Clear Sky Sect to enrich itself handsomely. Now that disaster was upon them, this old dog, far from thinking of enduring the hard times together, was publicly groveling before that unfilial son.

"You treacherous beast, I'll personally..."

Tang Zhen's chest heaved rapidly. He wanted nothing more than to seize a great hammer and smash Tai Tan to death on the spot.

But his body had long since run out of oil, its lamp nearly extinguished. The moment he drew on his Soul Power, blood surged straight to the crown of his head.

Pfft-

A mouthful of black blood sprayed out. Tang Zhen fell backward, tumbled from his seat, and lost consciousness.

"Sect master!"

"Quick, call the healing-type Soul Masters!"

The hall descended into chaos, cries ringing out in a jumble.

Tai Tan merely curled his lip and sneered at the sight. He turned, strode out of the hall, and left.

Inside Tang Zhen's bedchamber.

Several healing-type Soul Masters withdrew, wiping away cold sweat. They shook their heads helplessly at Bai He and the others before the bed.

Tang Zhen's body was a complete tangle of chaos. Only the formidable cultivation of a Super Douluo was barely keeping his last breath in him.

Beside the bed, Tang Yuehua knelt quietly with reddened eyes, carefully wiping the traces of blood from the corner of her father's mouth.

Tang Zhen slowly regained consciousness and opened his eyes with difficulty. His clouded gaze swept over the clansmen standing before the bed, the patriarchs of the three affiliated clans, and his own daughter.

Looking at this lot, who normally knew only how to swing hammers and forge iron and had no firm judgment when trouble arose, Tang Zhen felt a deep desolation in his heart.

The Clear Sky Sect revered strength, and over hundreds and thousands of years, it had raised a bunch of brutes who grew muscles but no brains.

Now that all six elders had gone to see their great-grandmothers and Tang Xiao and Tang Hao had defected, the entire sect could not produce a single member of the younger generation capable of shouldering the burden.

If he handed power to these shortsighted fellows, the sect would be devoured bit by bit by the major outside powers without those two unfilial sons needing to return to kill them.

Tang Zhen's gaze slowly shifted to his daughter, who was silently shedding tears beside him.

Aside from the two unfilial sons he had cast out, she was his only direct flesh and blood in this world.

Because of a malignant mutation of her Martial Soul, Tang Yuehua's Soul Power would remain at rank nine for her entire life, and she had suffered nothing but disdain and cold treatment in the Clear Sky Sect, where martial prowess was prized. But Tang Zhen knew very well that his daughter was exceptionally clever and well versed in rites, music, eloquence, and the art of weighing interests.

More importantly, she was a direct blood descendant of Ancestor Tang Chen.

Tang Zhen would never allow the Tang Family's foundation to fall into the hands of fools from another family or a collateral branch.