Conversation

Old Jack cooked a pot of meat to celebrate. He served two big bowls of meat and broth, with a few pieces of wild greens floating on top.

Wang Xingyu and Tang San squatted in the doorway, each holding a bowl, and ate with relish. Wang Xingyu had expected it to be greasy, but it was surprisingly good.

Old Jack squatted beside them, smoking his pipe and watching the two children, the smile never leaving his face. "Slow down. There's more."

After they finished eating, Old Jack filled another bowl for Tang San and gestured for him to take it to his father.

Carrying the bowl, Tang San followed Wang Xingyu back to his ramshackle house. Over the past year, Wang Xingyu had used his share of the soap profits to tidy the place up. He had replaced the bed board, mended the clay pot, and even put a small oil lamp on the table.

It was still shabby, but it felt more like a home than it had a year ago. Wang Xingyu lit the oil lamp and sat down beside the bed. Tang San sat on the three-legged stool and waited for him to speak.

Wang Xingyu was in no hurry to talk. He was wondering how to begin. Should he tell Tang Hao and Ah Yin's story?

There was nothing wrong with Spirit Hall; hunting Soul Beasts was only natural. Nor was there anything wrong with Tang Hao. He had fallen in love with a Soul Beast, so naturally the Soul Beast was family.

It all depended on whose side one stood on. But since he had already become friends with Tang San, he would stand on Tang San's side.

The biggest problem was that Spirit Hall wasn't all that evil. On the contrary, it helped commoners awaken their Martial Souls. By the second part, when Spirit Hall was gone, Martial Soul Awakening had even been monopolized by the nobles.

"Let's pick up where we left off." Wang Xingyu lowered his voice. "Your second Martial Soul, and your father-I saw some records in a book from Spirit Hall and pieced together a rough picture."

Tang San leaned forward slightly.

"Your father, Tang Hao, was a member of the Clear Sky Sect. The Clear Sky Sect was the number one tool Martial Soul sect under heaven. Its inherited Martial Soul was called the Clear Sky Hammer, known as the strongest power attack system tool Martial Soul."

Wang Xingyu looked at Tang San's right hand. "That flash of light in your hand was the color of iron and shaped like a hammer. That was the Clear Sky Hammer."

Tang San looked down at his right hand. The back of it was bare, but the way he clenched his fist had changed, as though he were actually holding something.

"Your father's standing in the Soul Master World across the continent was definitely not low. But something happened to him later, and it had to do with your mother."

Tang San raised his head, and the light in his eyes flickered. He had never seen his mother. Tang Hao never mentioned her, and he hadn't dared to ask.

"Your mother wasn't human." Wang Xingyu watched the oil lamp's flame. "She was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Blue Silver Emperor who took human form to cultivate anew. When Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts cultivate to a certain realm, they can choose to take human form, cultivate again from the beginning, and enter human society. Your mother chose that path, met your father, and gave birth to you."

Tang San sat motionless. The oil lamp's light flickered across his face.

"Later, Spirit Hall discovered her. The previous Pope led a group of Titled Douluo to attack your father and mother. To save your father, your mother sacrificed her life and became his Soul Ring." Wang Xingyu paused. "Your father survived. Spirit Hall's previous Pope died in that battle."

The room was quiet for a long time. The oil lamp's flame crackled.

Tang San's face was expressionless, but the hands resting on his knees were clenched, his knuckles white.

"So Spirit Hall is my mother's murderer." His voice was flat.

"Yes," Wang Xingyu said. "The previous Pope was directly responsible, and so were the Titled Douluo who took part in that battle. This is a blood feud between your father and Spirit Hall, and it's yours too."

Wang Xingyu did not deny that.

Tang San said nothing.

"But, Tang San." Wang Xingyu put a little more weight behind his words. "The previous Pope is already dead, killed by your father. Some of the people who took part in that battle are dead, and some are still alive. The enemies you need to find are those people, not everyone in Spirit Hall."

Tang San raised his head and looked at him.

"You have to look at Spirit Hall as an organization separately." Wang Xingyu held up a finger. "First, it has maintained order on the continent. Without Spirit Hall, the major sects would have descended into chaos long ago. Second, it awakens Martial Souls for commoners. Su Yuntao is a Spirit Hall deacon. His job is to go from village to village and awaken Martial Souls for six-year-olds. Without Spirit Hall, kids from poor villages like ours would never know in their entire lives whether they had Soul Power."

He looked at Tang San. "Do you think Su Yuntao is a bad person?"

Tang San was silent for a moment. "No."

"He isn't. He's just an ordinary deacon who travels to several villages every month to awaken people's Martial Souls. What he said today about Blue Silver Grass being a trash Martial Soul didn't sound nice, but he was doing his job."

"What about the bad side?"

"The bad is at the top," Wang Xingyu said. "The previous Pope didn't act alone when he hunted your mother down. Spirit Hall's entire upper echelon was pushing for it at the time. Hunting high-age Soul Beasts and suppressing other sects-those were all things the higher-ups did. Spirit Hall's problem isn't at the bottom; it's at the top."

Tang San looked at him. "So I should only take revenge on those people and preserve Spirit Hall?"

Wang Xingyu shook his head. "No, there's no need to preserve it. Or rather, you can preserve it or not, whichever you want. But my main point is, leave the ordinary people in Spirit Hall alone. Don't kill people like Su Yuntao. They have no feud with you. They don't even know what the higher-ups did."

Tang San nodded to show he understood. Without Spirit Hall, many things would fall into chaos. "But if we don't preserve it, what should we do?"

"Simple. Why don't the two of us create one?" Wang Xingyu said confidently.

Tang San hadn't done much wrong in the novel. They had killed his mother first, and it was understandable that he took revenge and destroyed them. But having destroyed them, he should have dealt with the consequences by establishing an organization to help awaken Martial Souls!

At that moment, however, Tang San thought that perhaps he could establish a Tang Sect in this world.

Tang San looked at him. "Did you read all this in Spirit Hall's books?"

"Some of it I read in books. The rest I worked out myself." Wang Xingyu's expression didn't change.

He couldn't very well say that he had read Douluo Continent and knew what the continent became after Spirit Hall was gone.

Tang San didn't press him. He lowered his head and looked at his open hands. One was the left hand that had sprouted Blue Silver Grass earlier; the other was the right hand where the light of the Clear Sky Hammer had flashed.

"My father never talks about any of this. He doesn't talk about Mother, or himself. He doesn't talk about anything."

"It's not that he doesn't want to." Wang Xingyu looked at the oil lamp, thinking of Tang Hao's perpetually drunken face. A Titled Douluo had hidden away in a little mountain village and worked as a blacksmith for six years, not because he was weak, but because, when he was sober, the Soul Ring on his hand reminded him of his wife's face. "He can't bring himself to say it. Your mother died in front of him and became his Soul Ring. Every day he's lived since, he's carried that with him."

Tang San's hands slowly clenched into fists.

"I understand." He stood up. "I'll avenge my father. But I won't go after everyone!"

"Good! But tell your father about it too. I don't know whether this is right. Let's see what your father chooses."

In the original story, Tang San really didn't seem to have done much to the lower-ranking members of Spirit Hall. It was mostly Tang Hao.

Tang San picked up the bowl, nodded, and took two steps toward the door before stopping. "That new organization you mentioned-what should we call it?"

"That's up to you. I haven't decided. If you have a good name, you can suggest it."

Tang San nodded and pushed open the door.

"Tomorrow morning, at the village entrance."

"To cultivate?"

"To cultivate."

Tang San left. Wang Xingyu listened to his footsteps recede until they finally disappeared into the chirping of insects.

He had said so much today, but he didn't know whether Tang San had taken it in. Having transmigrated to this world, he had to make some changes.