With the matter of his son's safety settled, a fragile but necessary promise hanging in the air between the three most powerful men in the room, Yu Yuanzhen finally allowed himself to relax. The tense, almost hostile energy that had filled the throne room in the wake of Tang Hao's arrival began to recede, replaced by the quiet, dangerous hum of a new, shared purpose.
He gestured to a set of heavy, carved stone chairs near the base of his throne. "Sit," he said, his voice a low, commanding rumble. "We have much to discuss."
Tang Hao and Tang Xiao did as he commanded, the three of them forming a small, intimidating triangle of power in the vast, cavernous hall. A servant, her movements a silent, terrified dance, appeared with a flagon of strong, fiery liquor and three heavy, iron goblets.
Yu Yuanzhen poured the drinks himself, the dark, amber liquid splashing into the goblets. He then shifted the topic, his voice a low, conspiratorial murmur that was a stark, jarring contrast to the grand, open space of the throne room.
"Now that the matter of your son is settled, Tang Hao," he began, his golden eyes fixing on Tang Xiao, "there is another, more pressing threat that we must address. A threat that concerns all of us."
He took a long, slow drink from his goblet. "Have you seen them, Tang Xiao? The so-called 'spirit tools' that have been flooding the streets of Heaven Dou City?"
Tang Xiao's handsome, sorrowful face, which had been a mask of quiet, paternal concern just moments before, immediately hardened. A deep, somber look entered his eyes. He nodded slowly.
"I have," he said, his voice a low, serious sound. "In the week since we have re-emerged, I have made it a point to study them. The mechanically moving carriages, the glowing night lamps… they are… unique."
He paused, a flicker of something, a hint of a deep, professional frustration, in his eyes. "But it is the communication devices that are the most… unsettling. I witnessed a common merchant speak into a small, black box, and a moment later, receive a reply from a man who was on the other side of the city. Not even a Titled Douluo, with the full, unrestrained power of his mental force, could achieve such a thing so casually."
He took a drink of his own, the fiery liquid doing little to warm the cold knot of worry in his gut. "I purchased several of these… 'Pagers', as they are called. I gave them to the elders of our forge. To our greatest blacksmiths. Men whose skill with a hammer is second only to our own."
He looked at the two powerful men before him, his expression grim. "They took them apart. They studied them for days. The outer casing, the simple mechanical components… they could replicate them with ease. In fact," he added, a flicker of his clan's innate, prideful arrogance in his voice, "they could make them better. Stronger. More durable."
He shook his head, a look of profound, almost academic, bewilderment on his face. "But the core… the part that makes them work… it is a mystery. It is a small, intricate piece of metal, etched with patterns so fine they can barely be seen with the naked eye. It seems to draw a small, almost imperceptible amount of spirit power from the user, and from the air itself, and it… it just works. We do not understand the principle. It is a technology that is beyond our comprehension."
Yu Yuanzhen nodded, a grim, knowing look on his face. "And the one who is selling these things," he said, his voice a low, dangerous growl, "the one who holds the monopoly on this new, world-shaking technology… is the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect."
He let the name hang in the air, a silent, damning accusation. "For them to reveal such things so openly, to sell them to the common populace without a care in the world… it is a statement. A declaration of their new, unassailable power. It means they are not afraid. Not of us. Not of the Spirit Hall. It means they have something else. Something more."
He then delivered the final, pointed blow. "And it seems their ambition is not limited to mere technology," he said, his gaze fixing on Tang Xiao. "A few years ago, before their recent, explosive rise, they did something… audacious. They absorbed the Breaking Clan. Secretly. They took one of the four great clans that was once sworn to your own Clear Sky Sect, and they made it their own."
Tang Xiao's face, which had been a mask of somber, analytical thought, turned to stone. His hand, which had been resting on the arm of his chair, clenched into a fist so tight his knuckles turned white.
He knew. He had heard the rumors, of course. But to have it confirmed, so bluntly, so directly, by the leader of a rival sect… it was a profound, personal, and deeply humiliating insult.
It was a breach of the unspoken code, the delicate balance of power and respect that had existed between the three great sects for generations. It was Ning Fengzhi, that smiling, diplomatic merchant, spitting in the face of the Clear Sky Sect's legacy. It was a declaration that he no longer saw them as allies he had to respect.
"So," Tang Xiao said, his voice a low, cold sound that was devoid of its usual, sorrowful warmth, "what is your plan, Yu Yuanzhen? You are right. This… this cannot be allowed to continue. We must act. But we must be delicate."
Tang Hao, who had been a silent, imposing presence throughout the entire exchange, now leaned forward, his own burning eyes fixed on the leader of the Blue Lightning Clan. He too wanted to hear the plan. He too wanted his revenge.
Yu Yuanzhen's face, which had been a mask of grim, strategic thought, now broke into a slow, cold, and incredibly predatory smile.
"Our plan," he began, his voice a low, conspiratorial murmur, "is a simple one. It is a plan of two phases."
He held up a single, powerful finger. "Phase one," he declared, "is consolidation. In the two weeks before the Continental Tournament begins, we will focus all our efforts on one, single goal. We will turn my brothers into Titled Douluos. We will acquire the ninth rings for our new Titled Douluos. And then… then the true power of my Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan will be unleashed upon the world once more."
He then held up a second finger. "And then," he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous whisper, "phase two begins."
He looked from Tang Xiao to Tang Hao, his eyes gleaming with a cold, ruthless light. "Once our new Titled Douluos have consolidated their power, we will begin to move against them. Secretly. We will not launch a direct, open assault. That would be foolish. That would be playing into their hands."
He leaned closer, his voice a barely audible hiss. "We will target their people. Their core disciples. Their Spirit Saint elders. Even their Spirit Douluos. We will use our combined intelligence networks to find them when they are alone, when they are vulnerable. On their hunts. On their travels. We will capture them. We will interrogate them. And we will take their secrets. The pill recipes. The spirit tool blueprints. The method for spirit evolution. We will take it all."
The plan was a vile, despicable, and utterly dishonorable one. It was a strategy of assassination and abduction, a tactic of a back-alley gang, not of a great, noble sect.
Tang Xiao stared at him, a flicker of something, a hint of a deep, profound revulsion, in his sorrowful eyes. To resort to such methods… it was a stain on the honor of their clans, on the very legacy of their ancestors.
But then, he thought of the silent, gliding carriages. He thought of the Pagers. He thought of the five Titled Douluos that he had heard the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect has right now. He thought of the Breaking Clan being the subordinate sect of the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect.
He thought of the future. A future where his own, proud, and once-unrivaled Clear Sky Sect was a forgotten relic, a footnote in the history books, while the support type spirit masters of the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect ruled the world.
He let out a long, slow, and incredibly weary sigh. The sound was a quiet, sad, and utterly final surrender.
"It is… a necessary evil," he said, his voice a dead, hollow sound. "For the future of our clans… we will do what must be done."
The pact was sealed. The two great attack-type sects, the hammer and the dragon, were now united. And their first target was not the Spirit Hall. It was their old, and now terrifyingly powerful, ally. The world was about to be plunged into a new, secret, and very, very bloody war.
~~
Three weeks ago, in the newly established grounds of Shrek Academy, a different, more personal kind of consolidation was taking place. The air was thick with the scent of fresh-cut lumber and the palpable energy of a new beginning.
Tang Hao had returned, a sorrowful specter in the bright afternoon sun. He had delivered his son back to the academy, back to the care of a man he respected for his mind, if not his strength. After the brief, formal exchange with Flender and Yu Xiaogang, the Grandmaster had immediately sequestered his prized disciple.
They walked to a quiet, secluded corner of the training field, far from the prying eyes and ears of the other students.
"Show me, Xiao San," Yu Xiaogang had said, his voice a low, clinical sound, though his eyes, hidden behind the thick lenses of his spectacles, were gleaming with a feverish, academic excitement. "Everything. Your training with your father… your new abilities… I want to see it all."
Tang San nodded, a proud, confident smile on his plain face. The past year had been a grueling, hellish ordeal. But it had also been a period of monstrous growth. And now, it was time to show his teacher the fruits of his labor.
He held out his right hand. "First, my Blue Silver Grass," he announced. "It has… changed."
The spirit that materialized in his palm was no longer the familiar, common blue. It was a deep, royal purple, and a network of fine, dark purple veins pulsed with a faint, ominous light. It radiated an aura that was no longer one of simple life, but of a cold, potent, and incredibly dangerous poison.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened. He leaned in, his gaze sharp, analytical. He gently took one of the purple vines in his hand, his fingers tracing its strange, new texture. "A mutation," he breathed, his voice filled with a hushed, reverent awe. "A poison-attribute mutation. Fascinating. How?"
"My father had me consume the blood of the spirit beasts he hunted," Tang San explained. "Combined with the nature of my first three spirit rings, it seems to have… altered the very essence of my spirit." He then named it, his voice ringing with a new, powerful authority, "I call it the Purple Spirit Grass."
"Excellent," Yu Xiaogang murmured, his mind already racing, cataloging this new, unprecedented variable. He had Tang San test its new properties. He watched as the purple vines struck a wooden training dummy, leaving behind a sizzling, black mark, a testament to its new, corrosive poison. He saw that its binding strength was greater, its tenacity more profound. It was a perfect, beautiful fusion of control and a direct, debilitating offense.
Tang San then detailed his new spirit bones, the Toxic Endurance granted by the Ironback Poison Beetle's left leg, and the devastating, wide-area power of the Venomous Earthquake Bear's Toxic Tremor. He explained his new, fourth spirit ring ability, the Purple Silk Bind, its adaptive, spirit-flow-targeting properties, its paralytic neurotoxin.
Yu Xiaogang listened, his face a mask of stone, but his mind was a raging, triumphant storm. 'Perfect,' he thought, a flicker of pure, unadulterated pride in his cold eyes. 'The poison attribute synergizes perfectly with his hidden weapons. The spirit bones enhance his physical resilience, compensating for the inherent weakness of a plant-type spirit. And this new binding skill… it is a masterpiece of control and suppression. His father's brutal, physical training, combined with my own, superior theoretical guidance… we are forging a true monster.'
"Teacher," Tang San said, his own voice filled with a new, confident power. "Now that I have returned, what is my role in the team?"
Yu Xiaogang smiled, a rare, genuine expression of pride and affection. "Your role has not changed, Xiao San," he said, his voice a low, final, and utterly, completely, and non-negotiable command. "You are the core. You are the leader. Your control, your mind, will guide them to victory."
He looked at his disciple, and a cunning, strategic light entered his eyes. "And to solidify that leadership, to remind the others of your new, absolute superiority… you must prove it. I want you to be confident enough that you can easily defeat Mubai and my nephew, Tianheng. Are you?"
A confident, almost arrogant smirk touched Tang San's lips. "Teacher, I do not know how much they have improved in this past year. But… they do not know of my new spirit bones. They do not know of my fourth spirit ring ability. If I fight them now, before they can adapt to my new power… they will lose. I guarantee it."
Yu Xiaogang's smile widened. "Excellent," he said. "Then you will fight them. Tomorrow morning."
The next morning, the sun was a pale, watery disc in the sky. Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng stood on the main training field, their expressions a mixture of confusion and a faint, underlying annoyance.
"What is this about, Uncle?" Yu Tianheng asked, his voice a low, respectful rumble as he looked at Yu Xiaogang. "Why have you summoned us so early?"
Yu Xiaogang just smiled, a cool, enigmatic expression. "A simple spar," he said, his voice a calm, even sound. "To gauge the progress of your training. You two will fight together. Against him."
He gestured to the figure who was walking towards them from the other side of the field.
Dai Mubai's eyes narrowed. He recognized the plain, familiar face. Tang San. But he was different. He carried himself with a new, hard-won confidence, a cold, dangerous light in his eyes that had not been there a year ago.
Yu Tianheng's expression was one of pure, bewildered confusion. "Uncle? You want us to fight Xiao San? Together? Two against one?"
Dai Mubai let out a short, arrogant snort. He looked at Yu Xiaogang, his voice dripping with a condescending, if still respectful, disbelief. "With all due respect, Grandmaster," he said, "I understand that Xiao San has been training with his father. He must be much stronger now. But for the two of us, two power-attack-type Spirit Ancestors, to fight him at the same time? He is a control-type Spirit Master. A direct, head-on assault from the both of us… it would be too much for him. It is… unfair."
Tang San met his senior's arrogant gaze with a calm, almost placid smile. The year of brutal, solitary training under his father had forged a new kind of confidence within him, a certainty that was as hard and as unyielding as the iron of a forging hammer.
"Don't worry, Boss Mubai," he said, his voice even and direct. "I have no intention of underestimating either of you. I just want to test some of the new techniques and abilities I've learned. It has been a long year."
Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng exchanged a look. In the year that had passed, a bond of mutual respect, forged in the crucible of the Grandmaster's brutal training and their shared, burning hatred for Zhang Tian, had formed between them. They were no longer just teammates; they were brothers-in-arms. They both gave a curt, almost synchronized nod.
"Alright, Xiao San," Dai Mubai said, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his handsome face. "If you want a real test, you'll get one. Just be careful. We won't be holding back."
"Let's just see what you've got," Yu Tianheng added, his own voice a low, rumbling sound of pure, competitive energy.
The three of them took their positions, forming a wide triangle in the center of the training field. The air grew still, thick with a palpable, electric tension.
And then, the world exploded.
"Evil Eye White Tiger, Possess!"
"Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, Possess!"
Dai Mubai erupted in a brilliant, dazzling white light, his body swelling, transforming into the magnificent, terrifying form of the White Tiger. At the same time, Yu Tianheng was wreathed in a storm of crackling blue-purple lightning, the phantom of a great dragon coiling behind him.
They did not waste a single, fractional second. They attacked in perfect, brutal unison.
Dai Mubai charged, a blur of white and black fury, his claws extended, aiming to tear Tang San to shreds in a close-quarters assault.
Yu Tianheng remained stationary, his hands crackling with a violent, chaotic energy. He unleashed a storm of pure, electrical power, a wide-area attack designed to cut off Tang San's escape routes and fry him where he stood.
It was a classic, and devastatingly effective, pincer movement.
But Tang San was not a simple opponent. He was a master of movement, a phantom born from the secret arts of the Tang Sect.
His feet blurred, tracing the complex, ethereal patterns of the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track. He did not retreat. He did not charge. He flowed.
He moved between the two attacks, a ghost in the storm. He weaved around Dai Mubai's lunging claws with an ease that was almost insulting, and he glided through the gaps in Yu Tianheng's lightning storm as if it were a gentle summer rain.
The two attackers were stunned. They had expected to overwhelm him, to crush him between their combined power. But he was like water, formless, untouchable.
"Don't let up!" Dai Mubai roared, his frustration growing. "Third Spirit Ability! White Tiger Vajra Transformation!"
A brilliant, golden light erupted from him, overlaying his white fur. His body swelled even further, his muscles becoming as hard as granite. His power and defense skyrocketed.
"Second Spirit Ability! Thunder Crash!" Yu Tianheng bellowed, his own power surging. The storm of lightning around him intensified, exploding outwards in a brilliant, chaotic wave of pure, destructive energy.
The combined assault was a thing of terrifying, beautiful power.
But Tang San was still a ghost. He moved with an even greater speed, his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track a masterpiece of evasive art. The storm of lightning, the golden blur of the transformed tiger… they could not touch him.
He had seen enough. It was his turn to play.
He came to a stop, his feet planted firmly on the ground. A slow, confident smile touched his lips. His fourth spirit ring, a deep, majestic purple, flared to life.
"Fourth Spirit Ability: Purple Silk Bind!"
He raised a hand. It was not a grand, dramatic gesture. It was a simple, almost casual flick of his wrist.
A spray of deep purple, almost black, silk shot from his fingertips. It was not a single web. It was a cluster of living, sentient strands that seemed to seek out their targets with a hungry, intelligent malevolence.
Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng felt it at the same time.
It was not a physical binding. It was something far more insidious. The purple silk strands seemed to phase through their defensive auras, their very skin, and latch onto something deeper. Their spirit power.
They felt a strange, alien energy invade their meridians, their spirit power flow becoming sluggish, chaotic. It was like trying to push a river through a clogged pipe. Their control, their very connection to their own power, was being disrupted, twisted, thrown into disarray.
"What is this?!" Yu Tianheng growled, his lightning flickering erratically.
But they were not just powerful; they were strong. The Grandmaster's brutal, year-long physical training had forged their bodies into weapons of tempered steel.
With a shared, guttural roar of pure, defiant effort, they flexed their muscles. They did not try to use their spirit power to break the silk. They used their raw, physical strength.
The purple silk, which had been a spiritual shackle, strained, groaned, and then, with a series of soft, snapping sounds, it broke.
Tang San's eyes widened slightly. 'They broke it? With physical strength alone? Their bodies… they have become incredibly strong in this past year. Teacher's training… it truly is effective.'
But his surprise was a fleeting thing, quickly replaced by a cold, confident certainty. He had not expected the binding to hold them for long. It had served its true purpose.
Dai Mubai and Yu Tianheng stood panting, the strange, disruptive energy of the silk gone from their bodies. But something else remained. A faint, almost imperceptible tingling numbness. A slight, sluggish feeling in their limbs.
The poison.
They both felt it at the same time. Their spirit power, which should have been a raging, roaring river, was now a slow, muddy trickle. Their recovery speed had been crippled.
"Now," Dai Mub-ai snarled, his voice a low, dangerous growl. "It ends now." He knew they had to finish this quickly, before the poison could take full effect.
He and Yu Tianheng unleashed their final, most powerful attacks.
"Fourth Spirit Ability! White Tiger Meteor Shower!" Dai Mubai roared. He raised his massive tiger paws, and a dozen fist-sized spheres of pure, white-hot light materialized in the air around him. They locked onto Tang San, a swarm of miniature, homing suns.
"Fourth Spirit Ability! Thunderous Dragon Head!" Yu Tianheng bellowed. A massive, bluish-purple dragon head, crafted from pure, condensed lightning, detached from his own spirit avatar and shot towards Tang San, its jaws open, ready to devour him whole.
The two attacks screamed through the air, a perfect, inescapable pincer of death.
Tang San looked at the oncoming storm of light and lightning, and his expression did not even flicker. He did not feel a hint of fear.
The torso spirit bone he had absorbed, the sixty-thousand-year-old Venomous Earthquake Bear's bone, began to glow with a faint, powerful light from within his body.
"Torso Spirit Bone Ability: Toxic Tremor."
He did not move. He did not dodge. He simply stomped his foot.
The very ground of the training field seemed to scream. It did not just shake; it exploded. A massive, visible shockwave of pure, venom-infused kinetic energy erupted from Tang San, a semi-circular wave of pure, destructive power that shot towards the two oncoming attackers.
And at the exact same moment, his second spirit ring flared. "Parasite!"
The invisible seeds he had planted on their bodies during the initial exchange exploded to life. A network of thick, thorny purple vines erupted from their very skin, binding them, rooting them to the spot.
They roared in a mixture of shock and fury, their powerful fourth-ring attacks faltering for a crucial, split second as they were caught in the unexpected trap.
It was a second they did not have.
The shockwave hit them.
It was not a simple, physical blow. It was a wave of pure, bone-shattering force, infused with the potent, debilitating poison of the Venomous Earthquake Bear.
Their magnificent, powerful beast spirit possessions, their defensive auras… they were shattered like glass. The shockwave slammed into their physical bodies, and they were thrown backwards as if they had been hit by a battering ram.
They crashed to the ground a dozen meters away, their bodies a crumpled, broken heap, their spirit possessions fading, leaving them in their human forms, bruised, battered, and utterly, completely defeated.
They lay there for a long moment, the world a spinning, painful haze.
Finally, Dai Mubai pushed himself up onto one elbow, a low groan of pain escaping his lips. He looked at Tang San, who stood in the center of the field, his expression calm, his breathing even.
He let out a short, bitter, and surprisingly respectful laugh.
"You win, Xiao San," he said, his voice a hoarse, defeated sound. "You've… you've become a true monster."
Yu Tianheng, lying beside him, just nodded, his own pride shattered, but a new, profound respect for this younger team member dawning in his eyes.
The spar was over. The lesson had been learned.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels like "Douluo Dalu: Time Travel", "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon