"What happened?" Tang Yuehua's voice quivered slightly.
She had noticed a subtle but significant change in Tang Xiao's attitude ever since he brought Tang San back earlier.
Once, after a single Soul Master Tournament, his expectations for his nephew—along with risking his own interests to protect him—were immense. But why had that affection transformed into such a dramatic shift?
Tang Yuehua could not understand.
Tang Xiao forced a bitter, twisted smile, and spoke in a low voice.
"Yuehua… Perhaps we have been wrong about many things until now. This boy, Xiao San… he's not as innocent as he seems."
"Brother, what do you mean?" Yuehua's heart hammered in her chest, and a terrible foreboding crept over her.
Tang Xiao, hiding nothing now, recounted to Tang Yuehua everything about how Chen Yi had showed Tang San's act of devouring the Fifth Elder of the Clear Sky Sect.
"That's… That can't be possible!" Tang Yuehua staggered back, disbelief draining the color from her face.
Tang San, her most beloved nephew, had always acted with courtesy before her—bearing the heavy burden of avenging his father. How could he have committed something so heinous?
"You can know a person's face, but never their heart…" Tang Xiao shook his head, sighing as if searching for a rational explanation for Tang San's acts. Maybe, deep down, he was also trying to comfort himself.
"He was raised from childhood by Yu Xiaogang, then lost his father at a young age. Without proper guidance, he harbors deep resentment and obsession. For power, for revenge—maybe… it's understandable?"
But even as he spoke, anxiety laced his tone. Understandable?
What sort of reason could ever justify cannibalism—even more so when the victim was kin and elder!
Regaining his composure, Tang Xiao looked at the grief-stricken Tang Yuehua with a complicated expression, and spoke quietly:
"But Yuehua, after this incident, the resources and support the sect can offer Xiao San must inevitably be drastically reduced. We might only be able to keep him alive and provide the bare minimum of protection."
"As sect master, I have to be responsible for the sect's survival. Yuehua… I hope you understand your brother's plight."
Tears welled and spilled down Yuehua's cheeks, staining them red.
"I-I understand…" she nodded numbly, her voice thick with emotion.
"He did something truly monstrous. If the clan finds out the truth, they'll kill him. At the very least, brother, just reducing support and keeping it secret is already more than enough…"
Tang Xiao closed his eyes in agony and let out a long sigh, as if trying to vent all his frustration and helplessness.
"Brother Hao… Don't blame him… I had no other choice…"
Yet, lost in sorrow and confusion, neither sibling noticed the faintest thread—an almost invisible, transparent filament—quivering gently, pulsing in the darkness to the rhythm of their words.
One end of that thread stretched silently into a nearby room, where Tang San sat quietly.
In that room, Tang San's face was expressionless as he set down the contact he'd been holding. Through the sensor thread, he had heard Tang Xiao and Tang Yuehua's conversation with perfect clarity.
He stood up slowly, walked to the window. His gaze, icy and sharp, pierced the night and seemed to look right into Tang Xiao's room. A cold smile curled his lips.
"I only want to be strong, avenge my father, and build a future for the Tang Sect in this world. What have I done wrong?!"
Breathing hard, his eyes bloodshot, Tang San raged silently in his heart.
He couldn't understand. Since the Fifth Elder was destined to die anyway, why couldn't they simply grant him his wish?
Chen Yi! Spirit Hall! Body Sect…
Now even his own uncle was starting to distance himself and withdraw his support.
"Why… why is everyone making things so hard for me?!"
Tang San clenched his fist so tight that his nails dug into his palms. The sharp pain was nothing compared to the bitterness in his heart. He recalled Tang Xiao's words—"If the clan finds out, they'll kill him ."
His eyes grew colder still.
"Uncle… You're truly merciful, aren't you?" Tang San muttered eerily. "But do you really think those stubborn old men who've always hated me will value family ties as you do?"
"If you are so ruthless… then don't blame me for being ruthless in return."
The next moment, Tang San carefully took out from his soul tool a tightly sealed jade bottle.
"Tang Sect law, Iron Rule Number Seven: Any enemy, or anyone who threatens your safety or mission—even at any cost—must be killed!"
His voice was barely more than a whisper, but it was ice-cold and chilling.
…
That night, the disciples, hurrying with their luggage and important sect materials, gathered in the square of the Clear Sky Sect, ready to depart on an uncertain exodus.
Tang Xiao stood at a height, overlooking the young disciples below. His gaze brimmed with regret and self-reproach. These children, who had only recently tasted a few days of peace, were already being driven from their home, forced into a life of exile and wandering.
Wasn't that the greatest sign of his failure as sect master?
"Sect leader," the Second Elder approached, reporting in a low voice and casting a reassuring glance at Tang Xiao's frown.
"The disciples have all gathered and are stable. Are we really preparing to depart this time?"
"Mn." Tang Xiao nodded, shaken back to reality from his turmoil.
"On the continent, the powers of Spirit Hall and Body Sect are at their peak, with eyes and ears everywhere. The Clear Sky Sect stands out too much. Nowhere can escape their pursuit. Our only chance is to flee overseas."
"Should we first go to Vast Sea City?" the Third Elder asked. Vast Sea was the continent's grandest harbor, the most convenient gateway to the sea.
Tang Xiao shook his head.
"No. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's backup plan was to quietly move direct heirs and a portion of their wealth overseas via Vast Sea City. And what happened? In the end, Body Sect, meticulously prepared, snatched them away. By now, Vast Sea is surely crawling with their agents, sealed up like a fortress. To go would be to walk right into a trap."
"Then… what do you suggest?" asked the Second Elder.
An intense light flashed in Tang Xiao's eyes as he spoke in a low voice.
"We'll change course and depart from Eastsea City, the principal eastern port of the Star Luo Empire. Although Spirit Hall's influence is present, it's directly governed by Star Luo, so infiltration is more limited."
"Upon arrival, we'll quietly swap ships and head south to Westsea City, a nerve center of trade and power in the south—ideal for hiding our traces and waiting for a way out."
It was a meticulous plan—taking advantage of gaps in management and the tangled power structures of port cities in the Star Luo Empire, all to buy time and opportunity.
"Sect master is wise!" the elders nodded.
Tang Xiao glanced at Tang San, still silent at the edge of the crowd, sighed in his heart, and prepared to give the order.
Suddenly, his gaze caught a group of young, low-rank disciples at the edge—they collapsed as if their bones had vanished.
Tang Xiao's expression darkened. His voice was cold.
"Look at you all! Facing an enemy, your guard drops, you can't even stand straight! Do you have any dignity as Clear Sky Sect disciples?"
Since returning to Star Luo City, some among the young had lost discipline, frequenting taverns and brothels—rumors Tang Xiao had turned a blind eye to. Yet now, at this life-or-death juncture, they collapsed from exhaustion?
How ironic.
Feeling the chill in his master's words, Tang Long stepped forward, embarrassed.
"Master, please calm yourself. I will teach these unruly ones a lesson they'll never forget!"
As soon as he strode toward the fallen disciples, however, Tang Long's legs gave out and he suddenly crashed to the ground.
He tried to push himself up, but his limbs were weak, as if all his strength had vanished in an instant.
"What… What's happening to me?!"
He tried to circulate his soul power, but felt its flow slow to a crawl—it wouldn't condense at all.
"Why… why do I feel utterly powerless?!"
And then, things escalated.
Like dominoes, disciples and clan members started collapsing one after another. Starting with the youngest and weakest, it swiftly spread to Soul Ancestors, Soul Elders, Soul Kings…
No amount of struggle or effort to activate soul power could stop the weird, total loss of strength—rendering them all paralyzed!
In just a few breaths, fewer than a hundred people still stood—numbers dwindling with each second.
With bodies dropping left and right, panic soon swept the crowd—screams, gasps, powerless curses intermingling into chaos.
"It's bad! Poison! Someone poisoned us!"
Realizing the severity, Tang Xiao's pupils shrank. He shouted,
"Everyone, circulate your soul power at maximum, now—resist the poison!"
But the poison was bizarre—colorless, odorless, likely spread through air or some other medium. By the time symptoms appeared, it was already deep in the body—bonded to soul force, blood energy. A normal soul master's resistance did little.
Even the Soul Emperors, Soul Saints, and Soul Douluo fell like dominos, paralyzed after desperately resisting.
Soon the only people left standing—barely—were the powerhouse elders at level Title Douluo, struggling to keep the poison at bay. Hundreds of disciples now lay sprawled, helpless and gasping in fear.
In the end, only four remained: Tang Xiao (sect master, titled Douluo), the Second and Third Elders, and… Tang San.
Tang Xiao, straining to suppress the poison devouring his power channels, stared at Tang San.
Noticing that Tang San—unlike the paralyzed crowd—was completely unaffected, Tang Xiao recalled his unparalleled skill with poison.
A terrible suspicion flashed through his mind like lightning.
"It was… was it… you?!"
His words were dry, shocked, and chilling to the core.
…