Bashu had always been praised as a land of abundance, and among its sects, none was more renowned than the Tang Sect.
The Tang Sect was located in a mysterious place. Most people only knew it sat halfway up a mountain, and the peak of that mountain bore a name that made people's hearts tremble, Ghost's Despair.
If someone threw a stone off the cliff of Ghost's Despair, they had to count to nineteen before they heard the echo from the bottom. One could imagine how high it was. It was precisely because of those nineteen seconds, one more than the eighteen levels of hell, that it received its name.
A young man in gray stood at the summit of Ghost's Despair. The bitter mountain wind was unable to make his body waver in the slightest. From the large Tang character on his chest, one could recognize he came from the Tang Sect. Gray clothes represented an outer sect Disciple of the Tang Sect.
He was twenty-nine that year. Because he had entered the Tang Sect not long after his birth, he ranked third among the outer sect disciples, so the outer sect addressed him as Third Young Master. Of course, in the mouths of the inner sect disciples, this turned into Tang San.
Since its founding, the Tang Sect had been divided into inner and outer sects. The outer sect disciples were those of other surnames or those granted the Tang surname, while the inner sect consisted of the direct branch of the Tang family, the clan's bloodline.
At that moment, the expression on Tang San's face was rich, sometimes smiling, sometimes crying, but no matter what, it could not conceal the excitement welling from the depths of his heart.
Twenty-nine years, ever since twenty-nine years earlier when the outer sect elder Old Tang Lan had picked him up in swaddling clothes and brought him back to the Tang Sect, the Tang Sect had been his home, and the hidden weapon of the Tang Sect had been his everything.
Suddenly, Tang San's expression changed, but he relaxed again very quickly. With a hint of bitterness, he muttered to himself, "What was destined to come had finally come."
Seventeen figures, seventeen white figures, leaped from the mountainside toward the summit like stars, the owners of those seventeen figures all over fifty years old at the youngest. Every one of them wore a solemn expression. The white robes they wore represented the inner sect, and the golden Tang character on their chests symbolized elders of the Tang Sect.
In the Tang Sect's inner sect Elder Hall, including the sect master Old Tang Da, there were a total of seventeen elders. The ones climbing the mountain at that moment were precisely those seventeen. Not even a grand martial gathering could have alarmed all the elders of the Tang Sect into moving at the same time. One had to know that among these elders of the Tang Sect, the oldest had already lived for more than two full cycles of sixty years.
The cultivation of these elders of the Tang Sect had all reached the realm of perfection. In the blink of an eye, they had already arrived at the mountaintop.
When outer sect disciples saw inner sect elders, they were only supposed to kneel to greet them, but Tang San did not move at that moment. He merely quietly watched these solemn-faced elders walk up to him, blocking every path forward, while behind him was Ghost's Despair.
Setting down three Furious Tang Lotus, Tang San cast one last lingering glance at them. A trace of gratified smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He had succeeded after all. After striving for twenty years, he had finally completed this peak creation of the Tang family's outer sect hidden weapon. That fulfillment and sense of achievement were beyond any words.
In that moment, Tang San felt that, to him, everything had already become unimportant, whether violating sect rules or life and death. It all seemed to have reached its conclusion with those three blooming Tang lotus before him. Furious Tang Lotus, the most domineering hidden weapon in this world, had been born in his hands. What could be more exciting for Tang San, who had immersed his whole life in hidden weapon, than that?
"I knew that sneaking into the inner sect and secretly learning our sect's ultimate arts were crimes unforgivable, intolerable to the sect rules. But Tang San could swear to the heavens, I absolutely had not leaked a single shred of our sect's ultimate arts that I had secretly learned to the outside world. I said these things not because I hoped to receive the elders' leniency, I merely wanted to tell the elders that Tang San had never forgotten his roots. I had not before, and I would not in the future."
Tang San's emotions were very calm at that moment. Perhaps this was the calmest he had ever been in his life. Looking at the large cluster of ancient-style courtyards of the Tang Sect on the mountainside, feeling the air that belonged to the Tang Sect, Tang San's eyes grew moist. Ever since the day he had come to understand things, one could say he had lived for the Tang Sect, and at that moment, it was time to once again go for the Tang Sect for the sake of the pursuit of his life.
The elders did not speak. They still had not yet awakened from the shock brought by the Furious Tang Lotus. Two hundred years, a full two hundred years, and Furious Tang Lotus had actually appeared at the hands of an outer sect Disciple. What did that mean? This unparalleled hidden weapon, dominant over the world, something that even members of the Tang Sect themselves could not resist, absolutely represented the arrival of another peak for the Tang Sect.
Seeing the elders bow their heads in silence, Tang San smiled brilliantly. "Everything of Tang San's was given by the Tang Sect, whether it was my life or the abilities I possessed, it was all bestowed by the Tang Sect. No matter when, Tang San in life was a man of the Tang Sect, in death was a ghost of the Tang Sect. I knew the elders would not allow the corpse of an outer sect Disciple who violated the sect rules to remain in the Tang Sect. Since that was the case, let my bones dissolve into the nature of this Bashu."
Tang San's calm voice, even tinged with some excitement, finally awakened the elders. When the elders raised their heads to look at him, they saw a milky-white airflow instantly spread out from his body.
"Mystic Sky Records, you had actually even learned the highest inner strength of our sect within Mystic Sky Records?" Old Tang Da spoke in a lost voice.
With a booming detonation, when all the elders simultaneously retreated to guard against the unexpected, what they saw instead was Tang San's completely naked body.
Tang San laughed, his smile dazzling. "To come naked, to leave naked, the Furious Tang Lotus counted as the last gift Tang San left to our sect. Now, besides my own person, I had not taken away anything of the Tang Sect. The secret manuals were all under the first brick inside my room's door. Tang San would now return everything to the Tang Sect."
"Hahahahahahaha …" Tang San threw his head back in wild laughter and suddenly stepped backward. In that instant, the elders of the Tang Sect suddenly discovered that not one of them had managed to stop him. His body, shrouded in white light, shot like lightning toward the Ghost's Despair cliff in front of him. His tall, unyielding figure rose into the air, leaping toward the clouds and mist in the mountains.
"Wait." Old Tang Da finally reacted, but whatever he said at that moment was already too late.
The mist was thick, carrying layers of dampness. It took away the sunlight, and also took away Tang San, who had dedicated his whole life to the Tang Sect and hidden weapon.
Time seemed to have halted. Old Tang Da's hands trembled as he cupped the three Tang lotus in front of him. His eyes grew wet. "Tang San, oh Tang San, why had you gone to such lengths? You had brought us far, far too many surprises …"
"Big Brother." The Second Elder stepped forward. "Why torment yourself over this traitor?"
Old Tang Da's gaze turned cold in an instant. A chill surged from his whole body as he glared at the Second Elder. "Who did you call a traitor? Had you ever seen a traitor who did not flee after obtaining our sect's highest secret manual? Had you ever seen a traitor who proved his resolve with his death? Had you ever seen someone who possessed a peerless hidden weapon sufficient to destroy any expert of the Tang Sect yet offered it as a final gift to the Tang Sect? Tang San was no traitor. He was the most outstanding genius of our sect in two hundred years."
The Second Elder was stunned. "But he secretly learned our sect's …"
Old Tang Da abruptly cut him off. "If you could also create Furious Tang Lotus, I could ignore whatever you stole. You were wrong, and I was also wrong. Just a moment ago, we had actually watched the chance for the Tang Sect to once again reach glory slip away before our eyes."
The elders gathered around. The looks in their eyes were all complicated, some confused, some sorrowful, some sighing, and more than anything, regretful.
"You need not say anything. Pass down my decree, order all disciples of our sect to move out together and search below Ghost's Despair for Tang San. If alive, we wanted to see the man, if dead, we wanted to see the corpse. At the same time, from this moment on, Tang San was promoted to an inner sect Disciple of our sect. If he was still alive, he would be the only candidate to inherit my position as sect master."
"Yes, Sect Master." All the elders bowed simultaneously to obey.
If Tang San had still been on that cliff at that moment and could have heard Old Tang Da's words, even in death he would definitely have felt gratified. His efforts had not been in vain after all. However, all of this had come a bit too late.
Ghost's Despair, where even a stone thrown down needed nineteen seconds to reach the bottom, a place seemingly surpassing the eighteen levels of hell, how could it possibly have allowed a living person to be returned by the mist? Tang San was gone. He had left that world forever, but another thread of his fate had just begun.
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The Soul Land animated series had already been broadcast on Tencent Video, had everyone watched it? I was very satisfied, and I believed everyone would definitely like it.