The Grudge Between the Tang Sect and the Dugu Family
Seeing the flying needles coming straight at him, Xu Sanshi immediately summoned his Martial Soul to block them. A rapid series of clangs rang out.
Most of the golden needles that had looked so threatening were stopped by Xu Sanshi's Black Tortoise Shield and fell to the ground.
Judging by Xu Sanshi's swollen forearm, though, one or two had managed to hit him.
Xu Sanshi felt a pain that bored into his heart. The technique used in the attack had clearly been the Tang Sect's Dragon Whisker Needle; otherwise, how could ordinary flying needles have pierced his Soul Power?
Sure enough, a girl in pink appeared before Xu Sanshi. She was Tang Ya, the current master of the Tang Sect!
At the sight of her, Xu Sanshi roared, his eyes red, "Tang Ya, you lunatic! What did I ever do to you?!"
No wonder Xu Sanshi was so furious. Anyone attacked for no reason would be enraged, let alone when the attack came from a vicious weapon like the Dragon Whisker Needle.
"You wrecked my Tang Sect disciple's stall and burned his clothes, and you say you didn't provoke me?!" Tang Ya looked at the charred grilled fish and continued shouting, "And on top of that, you ruined all the grilled fish I asked Yuhao to prepare for me! I'll settle this score with you!"
How could Xu Sanshi fail to understand when he heard that? Huo Yuhao had said earlier that he was saving some grilled fish for the friend who had supplied his equipment. So he had meant Tang Ya!
If that was true, then he really was in the wrong. But that didn't mean he, Xu Sanshi, would meekly put up with Tang Ya's insults and attacks.
"Didn't I already compensate that junior?" Xu Sanshi said, looking at the money pouch in Huo Yuhao's hand. "Ask him if you don't believe me!"
Following Xu Sanshi's gaze, Tang Ya noticed the money pouch in Huo Yuhao's hand. After asking him for it, she found ten Gold Soul Coins inside.
But who would have thought that Tang Ya still wouldn't let Xu Sanshi off? Instead, she pressed her advantage. "You think you can fob off our Tang Sect with a measly ten Gold Soul Coins? You're taking far too much for granted!"
"Hey! Ten Gold Soul Coins are no small sum!" Xu Sanshi retorted. "The way I see it, that kid's grill and clothes together aren't even worth one Gold Soul Coin! Giving him ten was already sincere enough!"
"Sincere enough? Then have you paid for Yuhao's emotional distress? And have you paid for ruining my grilled fish?"
Tang Ya was like one of those middle-aged women on the street who staged accidents for compensation, rattling off all sorts of payments she had made up.
Xu Sanshi couldn't swallow this any longer! Although he was indeed in the wrong, Tang Ya was clearly making things difficult for him!
Just as Xu Sanshi was about to give her a sound thrashing despite her being a girl, a cool voice said, "Your Tang Sect really has gone from bad to worse. You've fallen so low that you're like a middle-aged woman staging accidents for compensation. If Ancestor Tang San from ten thousand years ago saw you like this, he'd surely weep bitter tears, wouldn't he?"
Dugu Yanran, who had remained quiet all this time, stepped forward. After all, she wasn't willing to watch an unscrupulous young woman demand excessive compensation from her boyfriend.
A flicker of anger appeared in Tang Ya's eyes as she looked at Dugu Yanran, and she roared inwardly, What do you mean, I'm like a middle-aged woman staging accidents for compensation?! I'm protecting my own!
But Tang Ya didn't dare say what she was thinking aloud, because Dugu Yanran was different. Her family had once been on friendly terms with the Tang Sect long ago, but certain conflicts had left them unwilling ever to see each other again.
If this woman spread word of what had happened back then, the chances of Tang Ya reviving the Tang Sect would surely fall infinitely close to zero.
As for the grudge between the Tang Sect and the Dugu Family, it could be traced back ten thousand years to Poison Douluo Dugu Bo, who had called Tang San, the founder of the Tang Sect, his friend, and Tang San had called him the same.
Dugu Bo had once owned a medicinal garden, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, which was hailed as one of the three great treasure basins. Later, because Tang San helped Dugu Bo deal with the poison passed down through the Dugu Family, Dugu Bo was willing to share his medicinal garden with him.
But that very garden became the main reason the Dugu Family and the Tang Sect fell out.
At first, the two of them shared all the herbs in the garden. Although Tang San once picked every herb there, Dugu Bo said nothing, painful as it was for him, because Tang San was a benefactor and friend of the Dugu Family.
Later, Tang San asked Dugu Bo whether his Tang Sect disciples could come to the garden every so often to pick some medicinal herbs. Dugu Bo didn't refuse. After all, it was property they shared, and Dugu Bo himself had no interest in herbs apart from those that could treat his family's poison.
Yet after Tang San became a god, the garden became a secret realm exclusively for the Tang Sect, and anyone who wasn't a member was forbidden to enter.
Thus, after Dugu Bo died, other members of the Dugu Family who wanted to take the herbs they needed from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well were instead driven away by the Tang Sect.
Dugu Bo's granddaughter, Dugu Yan, went to Tang San to ask why they couldn't visit her grandfather's medicinal garden. Tang San's answer was that Dugu Yan wasn't a member of the Tang Sect and had no right to enter the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Dugu Yan was furious and began arguing with Tang San over the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. It had always been the Dugu Family's property, so what right did Tang San have to occupy it?!
Tang San countered that the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well was a symbol of his friendship with Dugu Bo and that Dugu Bo had given him the medicinal garden. Therefore, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well now belonged entirely to him.
Dugu Yan wanted to tell him that he was lying through his teeth, but Tang San was a god, after all. Who would the people of the world listen to: a mighty god or an insignificant Dugu Family?
In the end, for her family's sake, Dugu Yan had no choice but to make the Dugu Family part of the Tang Sect.
At first, things were fine. Since the family members had all become Tang Sect disciples, it was convenient for them to go to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to gather herbs.
But then Tang San raised the requirements for entering the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, so that only those who had made major contributions to the Tang Sect could go there.
The Dugu Family began devoting all their efforts to the Tang Sect, solely to secure a place to visit the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Yet every time, the people chosen were Tang San's direct subordinates. Not once was a place given to the Dugu Family.
There was even one occasion when the credit clearly belonged to the Dugu Family, but the people of the Clear Sky Sect insisted it was theirs.
And because the Clear Sky Sect itself had close ties to Tang San, he gave that place to its members.
That act left the Dugu Family utterly disillusioned with the Tang Sect. After collectively crippling their own Tang Sect Secret Arts, they left that place of strife.
They would rather deal with their family's poison on their own than work for an utterly unjust sect like the Tang Sect.
From then on, whenever the Tang Sect and the Dugu Family met again, swords were drawn and crossbows cocked, as though they were mortal enemies.
Now, ten thousand years later, the grudge between the Tang Sect and the Dugu Family was no longer so deep. At most, they disliked the sight of each other and kept out of each other's affairs.
That didn't mean the hatred between the two was gone, however. Tang Ya and Dugu Yanran were examples.
Tang Ya had always thought the Dugu Family were ungrateful wolves that could never be fed enough. Ancestor Tang San had clearly dealt with their family's poison, yet the Dugu Family had dared to defect from the Tang Sect. That was a heinous crime!
Dugu Yanran, on the other hand, thought the Tang Sect's people were a pack of hypocrites and vampires. After squeezing every benefit out of the Dugu Family, they had kicked them aside, leaving them to lose their own ancestor's medicinal garden forever.
Thus, whenever Tang Ya and Dugu Yanran met, they inevitably exchanged words and began quarreling over trifles, leaving the two as incompatible as fire and water.
And now, because Tang Ya was trying to take advantage of her boyfriend with logic fit for a bandit, Dugu Yanran's contempt for her had reached unprecedented heights.