Upon hearing Tang Xiao's question, Tang San slowly raised his head, meeting Tang Xiao's burning gaze with icy calm. A faint, gentle smile curled his lips.
"A rare Western poison—Sorrowful Crisp Autumn Breeze." Tang San proudly declared, as if showing off a masterpiece.
"It took a collection of precious materials and years of effort to perfect."
"So… uncle, what do you think of the result?"
This Sorrowful Crisp Autumn Breeze was recorded in the Tang Sect's Mysterious Heavenly Treasure Record as an extremely rare Western toxin. Legend had it that in a previous lifetime as a martial artist, countless masters died in its grip, ravaged by regret.
No matter how mighty, victims of this poison found their muscles and bones weaken, their internal force scatter, leaving them defenseless.
After coming to Douluo Continent, Tang San further improved the poison, fusing the world's unique toxins and repeatedly testing it—on captured soul beasts and hapless soul masters. Its results spoke for themselves: those below Soul King instantly lost resistance' Soul Emperors or Saints could barely last' even titled Douluo, lacking special resistance or forewarning, were in danger.
Tang Xiao stared at Tang San as if he wanted to devour him alive.
"Why… Tang San! Why did you do this? They're your clan, your peers—the foundation of our sect!"
"Why?"
At this, Tang San's smile vanished, replaced by cold hate. He pointed at the Second and Third Elders beside Tang Xiao, both of whom glared, straining to resist the poison.
"Uncle, why not ask them? If those old fossils knew I killed the Fifth Elder, would they let me go?"
"What?!"
Second Elder blanched' murderous aura filled his gaze.
"It was you?! You killed our fifth brother—you beast!"
Third Elder spat bloody phlegm at Tang San.
"You wretch! How did Tang Hao sire such a monster?"
Even the fallen disciples retained consciousness—and, hearing all, broke out in angry scolding, denunciation, and grief.
"See, uncle?" Tang San took in their hate-filled faces with chilling serenity.
"They'll never let me go. In your eyes, I'm a taint—a parricide, a stain to be cleansed, a bastard."
"If I'd just have died sooner, would that have made you happier?"
"This wretched child… Oh, this wretched child!"
Tang Xiao shook with rage, poisonous energy threatening to erupt. Yet, he roared, activating his soul force and struck out for Tang San, wanting to end this demon with his own hands.
But just as his palm reached halfway, that strange weakness returned—soul force dulled, strength vanished without his realizing. Off-balance, he nearly collapsed.
He quickly recalled most of his power to desperately suppress the poison rampaging in his body. His face grew even paler.
Tang San watched, grinning wider.
"Don't waste your strength, uncle. The Sorrowful Crisp Autumn Breeze intertwines with soul force and blood. The more you resist, the faster and fiercer the toxin's backlash."
"You won't be able to hold it down."
"Don't…" Tang Yuehua sobbed, pleading hoarsely.
"Don't make another mistake. Uncle and I can find a way to protect you. We'll leave, live under new names…"
"Mistakes?!" Tang San suddenly looked up at her, his cold gaze fixed on her tear-streaked face.
"What did I do wrong? I just wanted to live! To be strong! What did I do wrong?!"
"You're the ones who did me wrong! You did this to me!"
"Enough, Yuehua!" Tang Xiao yelled, despair in his eyes.
"This beast is… completely lost."
Looking at Tang San once more, his voice rasped, "So… you mean to kill us all and escape?"
Tang San shook his head, a chilling, gentle smile spreading.
"No, uncle, you misunderstand. I don't want to kill you with my own hands."
For a fleeting moment, hope flashed in Tang Xiao's eyes—but it was instantly replaced by a colder darkness as Tang San's next words dropped like a stone.
"Regardless… you'll all die very soon."
"Since you'll waste all that training and blood if you just die, it's better—like with the useless Fifth Elder—to make use of your remaining strength."
"Uncle, don't you think so?"
"What do you mean?!" Second Elder, Third Elder, and the conscious disciples all felt dread coil in their hearts.
Then, under three pairs of sharp eyes, a twisted, blood-black light slowly emanated from Tang San's body, swirling wickedly around him. The aura was sickeningly evil.
"Devouring the soul…?!" Second and Third Elder howled, whipping their gaze to Tang Xiao.
"Tang Xiao, are you mad? Did you actually teach him that forbidden skill?!"
Tang Xiao's complexion turned ashen, lips trembling. Seeing Tang San's aura and the elders' despair, he opened his mouth but couldn't speak.
What could he say? He had once felt compassion and thought Tang San had the skill and tragic past—maybe, just maybe, he could bear the secret skill.
Had he properly warned him of its consequences?
Now, all excuses were meaningless. Facts were clear. He had made the gravest mistake—giving a demon the forbidden blade.
The next moment, before anyone could react, a blinding crimson light burst from Tang San.
Countless thick tendrils, tipped with sucking mouths, erupted from beneath and behind him, instantly wrapping around the fallen disciples nearby.
"Aaahh—no! Stop!"
"Sect master, save me!"
The disciples, young and old, men and women, felt their bodies, soul power, and very life force siphoned away like a flood into Tang San, racing through those nightmarish vines.
Tang San closed his eyes, weariness dissolving into drunken pleasure as energy flooded in—his Spirit swelling in power.
His soul power exploded steadily upward!
"This vile wretch! Stop!!"
Trying to save his companions, Tang Xiao's fury only sent the poison surging wildly, invading his lungs and power channels. Suddenly he coughed up foul black blood, his body trembling uncontrollably. All he could do was watch helplessly as his comrades were slaughtered and devoured.
The other elders, equally desperate, could do little, their bodies pinned by the toxin.
"They're… they're all your clan! Your kin!" Tang Xiao's voice choked with endless grief.
"Tang San! Aren't you afraid of divine retribution?!"
"Retribution?" Tang San opened his eyes, blood-red light swirling deep within.
"Uncle, did you forget? I'm the future Sea God, protector of Heaven itself. How could the heavens punish me?"
He paused, regarding the crowd like lambs in a slaughterhouse—his lip curling into a twisted smile.
"Besides, they're becoming a part of me. Everything they have will be united in my divine body, ascending into immortality alongside me."
"How could that be a crime? It's the greatest glory—the ascent of all humanity, the blessing of a god!"
"Everyone becomes a god? Hahaha!"
Lost in madness, his laughter filled the square.
"My love is universal. I shall lead them to eternity!"
Hearing his utterly shameless words, Tang Xiao's vision blurred in fury. Gnashing his teeth, he mustered his last strength to scream:
"You… you'll be paid back in kind! You'll die a terror-filled death!"
At this moment, Tang San's aura surged—soul rings flashing, his soul power breaking level 70, on the verge of advancing into Soul Sage.
But he had no intention of hunting soul beasts for a ring' instead, a thick blue radiance rose around him, his vampiric tendrils laced with ominous black patterns.
At last, an unnatural black spirit ring appeared at the heart of the vines—a self-created black spirit ring, which merged instantly with his Blue Silver Grass Spirit, his aura soaring as he formally attained the rank of Spirit Saint.
"A self-created soul ring?!"
Tang Xiao, the other elders, and every conscious disciple were stunned. Was Tang San really just a transformed soul beast?
Seemingly enjoying their shock, Tang San smiled oddly, approaching Tang Xiao with slow steps.
"Uncle—forgotten, have you? It was you who first guided me to devour almost all the life of the Blue Silver Forest."
"Billions of Blue Silver Grass spirits, fused into my soul and martial spirit—causing a mutation beyond imagining. At that instant, my very bloodline changed."
In essence, Tang San was less a human with Blue Silver Grass than a Blue Silver Beast with human features.
Gazing coldly at the shaken Tang Xiao—staggered by both the poison and the horror—Tang San said quietly:
"For my glorious future, for the ascension' of the entire Clear Sky Clan—please, offer everything you have, all your Titled Douluo strength and life, and that of your companions."
"You… want to kill me?!" Tang Xiao suddenly glared, bloodshot eyes rolling.
"I am your uncle, your father's own brother—Tang San, is there any shred of humanity left in you?!"
In the distance, Tang Yuehua's thin scream rose: "Xiao San! No—he's your uncle!!"
But the only reply she got was the three thickened, mutated tendrils that burst from behind Tang San and pierced straight through the chests of Tang Xiao, Second Elder, and Third Elder. The vine tips stabbed deep into their hearts, drawing forth a terrifying suction.
"Auuughh!"
The three Titled Douluo howled in pain. Decades—no, centuries—worth of soul power and blood essence, built through countless hardships, now poured from them mercilessly, devoured in a torrent by Tang San's vines.
Tang Xiao never looked at Tang San again. His gaze drifted across the massacre—the once-vibrant training ground now filled with mummified corpses, and at his sister Yuehua's desperate cries…
At last, a single clouded tear slid quietly down his cheek.
He was the one who had doomed his sect.
...
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