While the Supreme Pontiff's residence in Spirit City lay under a blanket of artificial peace, the outskirts of the Heaven Dou Empire were drowning in a storm of desperation.
Far from the ivory towers and the quiet breathing of twins, the air was thick with the scent of crushed vegetation and the metallic tang of fear.
In a dense, jagged stretch of woodland near the border city of Lushin, two figures moved through the undergrowth like wounded ghosts. The moonlight, filtering through the interlocking branches, illuminated a scene of harrowing struggle.
Tang Hao, the genius of the Clear Sky Sect, looked nothing like the legendary figure the continent whispered about. His hair was matted with sweat, and his breathing was a series of ragged, rhythmic grunts. Beside him—or rather, leaning heavily into his side—was Ah Yin.
The Blue Silver Empress, usually a vision of ethereal grace, was pale, her forehead slick with cold sweat. Her hands were perpetually clasped over her swollen abdomen, her knuckles white with the strain of every step.
"Yin'er, I know how much pain you are in," Tang Hao whispered, his voice cracking with a mixture of terror and forced resolve. "Please... just bear it a little longer. We will... we will find safety."
Ah Yin gasped, her legs buckling for a moment before Hao's powerful arm hauled her back up. "Y..yes, Hao'er," she stuttered, her voice thin and reedy. "Don't w..worry. I can at least bear this for the c..child. The time is n..nearing... I can feel her stirring... we need to act."
Tang Hao's eyes darted toward the horizon, where the faint, distant glow of Lushin City's watchtowers teased him. "The city is near. With this speed, we will surely reach it by midnight. There are high-level healers there, hidden clinics that don't ask for Spirit Hall identification. We'll get you a room, a healer... everything will be fine."
Ah Yin stopped, her hand gripping a tree trunk so hard the bark groaned. "B..but Hao'er," she panted, her eyes wide with a different kind of fear. "Can't we go to my domain? The Star Dou Forest... it's not that much further. The Blue Silver King resides there. He is a high-level healer of our kind... I can manage to get help from the other soul beasts. They are my friends, they know the rhythm of my life..."
Tang Hao went silent, his jaw tightening so hard a muscle leaped in his cheek. The mention of the Star Dou Forest seemed to trigger a visceral reaction in him—a deep-seated human prejudice that even love couldn't entirely wash away.
"No... not the forest," he said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. "They wouldn't allow this. I know how they look at us. It's a forbidden thing, Yin'er. A human and an Empress? They would see it as a desecration. We wouldn't go to the forest. It is safe here, in the world of men. I am sure of it... yes... yes."
Ah Yin looked at him, her sapphire eyes clouded with a mix of exhaustion and skepticism. She knew the forest; she knew the ancient, slow wisdom of the trees. They didn't care about "desecration"; they cared about the cycle of life. But she saw the frantic, obsessive glint in Hao's eyes—the look of a man who needed to believe his own world was the only sanctuary left.
"Hao'er, we can at least try," she pleaded, her voice trembling. "If the beasts turn us away... we can come back to the human cities. But the King... he could stabilize the birth in minutes."
Tang Hao turned on her, his eyes flashing with a sudden, sharp fury born of pure stress. "You... why are you so stubborn? Just listen to me, okay? Human cities are the most safe! We have walls, we have laws, we have medicine!" He turned away, muttering under his breath, a dark, jagged thought escaping: "...not like your damn forest... where... every damn species eats their own."
The words hit Ah Yin like a physical blow. She opened her mouth to defend her home, to tell him of the harmony he refused to see, but a sudden, white-hot spike of agony lanced through her midsection. She cried out, a sharp, broken sound, and her speed dropped instantly.
The Shadow in the Trees
Tang Hao, lost in his own spiraling thoughts of maps and escape routes, didn't realize she had fallen back until he was several meters ahead. He whirled around, his heart leaping into his throat.
"Yin'er? Hey... are you okay?" He scrambled back to her side.
Ah Yin couldn't answer at first. She was heaving deep, ragged breaths, her face twisted in a grimace of absolute pain. "I don't know... Hao'er... I can't take much now," she whispered, her eyes fluttering. "Let's go... I..."
Before she could finish, her eyes rolled back. The light of the Blue Silver Empress dimmed, and her body went limp in his arms.
"Yin'er! Ah Yin!" Tang Hao's voice rose to a panicked shout. He shook her gently, then violently, but she was gone—succumbed to the exhaustion of the flight and the toll of the pregnancy.
He didn't hesitate. He scooped her up, cradling her against his chest like the most fragile glass on the continent. "Lushin," he hissed to himself. "I have to get to Lushin."
But he wasn't alone.
High in the canopy of a massive oak tree, twenty meters away, a figure stood as still as a gargoyle. This was a Soul Douluo, a specialized tracker from the Spirit Hall's "Shadow Unit." He had been trailing them for three days, waiting for the perfect moment of vulnerability.
Seeing the Blue Silver Empress lose consciousness, the tracker knew the jackpot had arrived. He reached into his belt and pulled out a small, high-frequency signaling device—a spirit-tool that sent a localized pulse to a receiver held by an Elder nearby.
Target incapacitated. Initiating suppression, the message read in silent pulses of energy.
The tracker didn't wait for a reply. The promise of the rewards promised by Qian Xunji—soul bones, status, gold—clouded his judgment. He saw Tang Hao, a man famously powerful but currently distracted and burdened by a fainting woman. It was a chance for legendary glory.
The Soul Douluo leaped. "Seventh Soul Skill: Shadow Raven's Descent!"
He transformed into a blur of black feathers and sharp energy, diving straight for Tang Hao's exposed back.
Tang Hao didn't even turn around.
The air around him didn't just vibrate; it shattered. Even in his distress, his instincts as a Clear Sky Douluo were peerless. The moment the tracker's killing intent flared, Hao's world slowed down.
He shifted his weight, keeping Ah Yin perfectly level in his left arm. His right hand blurred to his side, and in a burst of black and silver light, the Clear Sky Hammer appeared. It wasn't the giant version, but a compact, dense head of pure destructive force.
BOOM!
Without looking, Tang Hao swung the hammer in a tight arc. The collision was sickening. The Soul Douluo's crow-like form met the hammer mid-air. The sound of snapping ribs and the explosion of spirit power echoed through the woods. The tracker was sent flying backward, his shadow form shredded, his body hitting a tree with enough force to splinter the trunk. He fell to the ground, coughing up blood, his lungs collapsed and his internal organs a pulp.
Tang Hao stood over him for a second, his face a mask of demonic fury. The "Spirit Hall dog" had dared to touch him while his wife was dying. He raised the hammer high, intent on crushing the man's skull into the dirt.
But then, Ah Yin let out a soft, unconscious moan.
The sound acted like cold water on his rage. He looked at the dying tracker, then at the distant lights of Lushin.
He signaled them, Hao realized, his mind sharpening through the panic. If he's here, the Elders are close. Lushin is a trap now. They'll be waiting at every gate.
He didn't deliver the killing blow. He didn't have the seconds to spare. He pulled the hammer back, tucked Ah Yin tighter against his chest, and did the one thing the Spirit Hall wouldn't expect.
He turned away from Lushin. He turned away from the healers. He headed deeper into the untamed wilderness, toward the city of Veridian, located three days away through a treacherous mountain pass. It was a gamble—a desperate, mad dash through hostile terrain—but it was the only way to break the net.
As Tang Hao vanished into the darkness, his silhouette flickering between the trees, the night seemed to grow colder. The Soul Douluo lay dying in the dirt, his signal already received.
Far away, in the luxurious silence of Spirit City, Bibi Dong slept, unaware that the chess pieces of her revenge were already screaming in the dark. The journey to Veridian would be a survival quest written in blood, and the future of the Douluo Continent hung on whether a man's pride would break before his wife's heart did.
The hunt was no longer a shadow; it was a storm.
Status Report:
Ah Yin: Unconscious, late-stage pregnancy complications.
Tang Hao: Distressed, fleeing toward Veridian City, high alert.
Spirit Hall: Signal received by an Elder (likely Yue Guan or Gui Mei); pursuit intensified.
Location: The Borderlands between Heaven Dou and Star Luo.
Are you ready for the Awakening?
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Author's Note:
Actually I am on holiday so it's late. It's usual 3-4chs/week. Lastly, Merry Christmas to u all!!