In the next instant, Tang Xiao raised the Clear Sky Hammer and smashed it down. Tang Lie's head was instantly crushed flat, his brain bursting open like a smashed watermelon—blood, flesh, and brain matter splattered everywhere. He was dead beyond doubt.
"Patriarch!"
"Patriarch!"
The Clear Sky Clan disciples stared at their leader being slain, their hearts overcome with grief. Yet not a single one dared step forward to avenge Tang Lie by striking at Tang Xiao.
"You wanted to curse me from the depths of hell? Sorry, Tang Lie, but you won't be getting that chance." Tang Xiao lifted the Clear Sky Hammer again, the hammerhead still stained with Tang Lie's flesh and blood. With a cold sneer, he said, "Better come reminisce inside my hammer instead."
As he spoke, a strange black mist seeped out from the Clear Sky Hammer, enveloping Tang Lie's corpse.
Everyone could see Tang Lie's spirit—his soul that had not yet dispersed—being forcibly stripped from his body.
Tang Lie's soul gained awareness, and he realized he was being dragged into the ominous and sinister Clear Sky Hammer.
"Tang Xiao, what are you trying to do? No—don't! Let me go!" For the first time, true fear appeared in Tang Lie's voice.
But in no time, his soul was completely sucked into the Clear Sky Hammer.
After devouring Tang Lie's soul, Tang Xiao felt better than ever before. His aura skyrocketed, his strength surging from Rank 92 Title Douluo straight up to Rank 94.
"Hahahaha! Power! Power! I can feel the overwhelming power!" Tang Xiao closed his eyes, drunk on the ecstasy of his rapid growth.
Only after a long while did the disciples of the clan realize what had just happened.
"Tang Xiao, y-you… you devoured Tang Lie's soul!"
"Tang Xiao, are you an Evil Soul Master?"
"Tang Xiao, you've fallen!"
The clan was thrown into chaos. Some of them, realizing how dire the situation was, immediately tried to flee.
Amidst the noise, Tang Xiao suddenly heard a sweet, enthralling voice:
"First Trial of the Rakshasa God complete. Reward granted: +10% Rakshasa Affinity, Rakshasa Domain.
Second Trial activated: Within one year, raise your strength to Rank 95. Reward: +1000 years to all spirit rings, +10% Rakshasa Affinity. Failure penalty: loss of godhood qualification."
Tang Xiao opened his eyes, listening to the second trial's announcement. A wicked smile curled across his lips. "One year to reach Rank 95? A whole year? For me, Tang Xiao, every moment counts—I won't wait that long."
His gaze turned sinister as he looked at the fleeing disciples. He put away the Clear Sky Hammer, then picked up the Rakshasa Scythe from the ground. With a flash, his figure vanished, reappearing instantly in front of the disciple who had fled the farthest.
The disciple only saw Tang Xiao appear before him, and in the next moment, a gleam of the scythe split his body into two halves.
A wisp of soul-light drifted out from the bisected corpse.
Tang Xiao stared at it as if it were a delicious cake. He opened his mouth and swallowed the soul in one gulp.
After devouring the soul of just one disciple, the benefit wasn't as great as with Tang Lie's spirit, but his power still grew even stronger.
"He's devouring souls! Damn it, run for your lives!" the disciples screamed in panic, scattering in every direction.
"Run? Not so easy. I crave power—and you're all nourishment for my strength!" Tang Xiao sneered. With another flicker, he appeared in front of another escaping disciple.
"N-no, please! Don't kill me! Spare me, I beg you!" The disciple trembled in terror, so frightened he even wet himself.
But the only response he got was the scythe slicing down, cleaving his body. His soul floated free—only to be swallowed in one gulp by Tang Xiao.
"Jie jie jie… Power! Power! I need more power!" Tang Xiao panted heavily, his eyes bloodshot, his aura growing ever more frenzied as he looked at the scattering disciples like a predator hunting prey.
The next moment, he appeared before three Soul Emperors.
"Fight him!" the three roared, summoning their Clear Sky Hammers. Each displayed a spirit ring configuration of yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black.
Together, they swung their Clear Sky Hammers toward Tang Xiao.
But a single flash of the scythe cut them cleanly in half at the waist.
"Ugh… ahhhhhh!" Their upper bodies still clung to life, writhing in agony and screaming miserably.
"Kill me! End my pain, please!" one of them begged, unable to bear the torment.
Tang Xiao's face twisted into a cruel smile. "The souls most delicious are those steeped in pain, torment, fear, and resentment."
He didn't kill them immediately. Instead, he went hunting for his next prey.
Beneath the moonlight, Tang Xiao was like a reaper, brandishing his scythe and harvesting lives. With every swing, at least one disciple fell; with every breath, another soul was devoured.
By the end, the entire Clear Sky Clan stronghold was drenched in blood.
Finally, Tang Xiao planted his foot on the chest of the last surviving elder, pinning him to the ground. He didn't kill him right away.
"Old man, now you're the last one left of the Clear Sky Clan. Before you go, do you have any last words?" Tang Xiao asked with a wicked grin.
The elder coughed up blood, his eyes dim with grief as he said, "Tang Xiao, you too are a son of the Clear Sky Clan. You were once the clan's pride, one of its twin stars. It was the clan that raised you… and now…"
Another cough wracked his chest. His eyes grew mournful as he continued, "Tang Xiao, you also wield the Clear Sky Hammer. Now your hammer is stained with the blood of your own kin. The clan lies destroyed at your hands. Can you not hear it? Your Clear Sky Hammer is crying."
"My Clear Sky Hammer is crying?" Tang Xiao paused for a moment. Then he turned his palm, summoning the small black hammer into his hand. Smirking, he said, "Crying? No, no. My Clear Sky Hammer is rejoicing—rejoicing at the supreme power! Hahahaha!"
The elder's eyes filled with despair. "Tang Xiao, you are becoming nothing more than a beast enslaved by strength. Because of your selfishness, the entire clan has fallen. Turn back! It's not too late to turn back now!"
"Hahahaha!" Tang Xiao ground his foot harder into the elder's chest, sneering, "Old fool, yes, today the Clear Sky Clan falls by my hand—but do you think this was mine alone? You blame me entirely, but why don't you mention the good deeds of my dear brother, Tang Hao? If not for him, if not for his birth, would the clan have ended up like this?"
"As for you, old thing—what face do you have to tell me to turn back?" Tang Xiao glared venomously at the Clear Sky Sect elder.
"When Tang Hao kidnapped the woman I loved, where were you? When I was crippled and spent half my life in mediocrity, where were you? When that dog Tang Lie took advantage of his promotion to Title Douluo to replace me and drive me out of Clear Sky Sect, where were you? Oh, I almost forgot—you're one of the Elder Council too. Back then, when I was forced to step down as sect master, you cast your vote as well, didn't you?"
"Cough, cough…" The elder said nothing, only spat blood.
"Because I was weak and useless, I couldn't keep the woman I loved at my side, and she was forced to bear a child for a man she didn't love. Because I was weak and useless, the glorious future that should have been mine was stolen by Tang Hao. Because I was weak and useless, you dogs had no courage to confront Tang Hao or Spirit Hall, and instead dumped all the sins on me. Now I, Tang Xiao, have had enough of weakness and uselessness. You say I'm becoming a beast enslaved by power? Hahahahahaha!" Tang Xiao laughed wildly, then his eyes bulged as he roared at the elder:
"So what?!"
"That's right! I, Tang Xiao, would rather be a beast driven by power than a useless waste of a man!" Tang Xiao gripped the Rakshasa Scythe tightly.
"The first half of my life has taught me one thing: without power, my fate is controlled by others. With power, it's I who control the fates of others!"
"I want power—more and greater power! I will climb step by step to a height untouchable to all others. I will even become a god, and repay every torment of my first half of life a hundredfold! And Clear Sky Sect… you're just the beginning!"
"So don't use Clear Sky Sect to morally shackle me. I, Tang Xiao, live only for myself!"
With that, Tang Xiao raised the scythe and struck.
Blood splattered everywhere. The last elder of the rat's nest fell into a pool of blood.
From that moment, history gained a definitive conclusion: the thousand-year legacy of Clear Sky Sect ended completely here. Later generations summarized this history in one sentence: Tang Chen raised Clear Sky Sect to a height it didn't belong to. When it began to fall, one of the Clear Sky twin stars, Tang Hao, kicked it straight into the coffin. The other twin, Tang Xiao, hammered down the lid and nailed it shut.
Tang Xiao devoured the elder's soul. After consuming the entire sect's worth of souls, the accumulated energy in his body finally reached a critical point.
He sat cross-legged amid the corpses of the rats, circulating his cultivation method with all his might to break through his bottleneck.
At last, Tang Xiao's aura surged, rising from level 94 Title Douluo to level 95.
At the Title Douluo realm, each level was an immense leap. Tang Xiao felt he could now defeat several of his former selves from just an hour earlier.
Not only that, a notification rang out in his consciousness:
Rakshasa God Trial: Second Test complete. Reward – All soul ring ages +1000 years. Rakshasa Affinity +10%.
Tang Xiao's soul rings flared into view. With the Rakshasa God's power boosting him, his configuration shifted to four purple, four black, and one red.
The sensation was exquisite. The intoxicating pleasure of immense power made Tang Xiao stomp on the bones of Clear Sky Sect, raise his ape-like arms, pound his chest, and let out a resounding baboon cry beneath the moonlight.
"Power, power—greater power! But this is still not enough. Level 95 is far from enough. I want more power! I will repay the humiliation Tang Hao gave me a hundredfold!" Tang Xiao declared.
As his hunger for power rose, the Rakshasa God's third trial immediately followed.
Rakshasa God Third Test: Establish your own faction, and report results in five years. Rewards will be based on the strength of your faction.
"Establish my own faction…?"
Looking at the corpses of Clear Sky Sect disciples sprawled all around, Tang Xiao felt regret. If he had known earlier, he would have spared them, turned them into his slaves, and squeezed every last drop of value out of them.
But… perhaps it wasn't too late.
He had an idea. Holding the Rakshasa Scythe, Tang Xiao walked to the highest point of the rat's nest and gazed around. On the ground were clusters of blood-red lilies, each with a skeleton at its center.
They had once been his kin. But now, Tang Xiao felt no sorrow—only the burning desire for power, to take revenge on Tang Hao and Tang San, to ascend to godhood, and to reunite with Ah Yin.
He swung the Rakshasa Scythe, unleashing his domain—Rakshasa Domain.
"Awaken, my slaves!"
Evil, suffocating aura spread outward from Tang Xiao, blanketing the entire Clear Sky Sect.
And then, something grotesque happened.
A bisected corpse twitched. Its legs crawled forward, its upper body dragged backward, and the two halves fused back together. The corpse stood up, and the Rakshasa Domain's foul energy poured into it from every orifice—mouth, nose, ears, eyes, even… elsewhere.
It shrieked: "Aaaahhh—uuuuuuhhh!" Its body convulsed violently.
The bronze-colored skin darkened to coal black. Its arms lengthened, its legs shortened, making it shorter overall. Straight hair curled, lips thickened.
Its tightly shut eyes snapped open, glowing blood red. Enlarged nostrils snorted like a bull.
"Aaaahhhh!"
Revived, it pounded its chest with ape-like arms and roared savagely.
That was only the beginning. All around Tang Xiao, one after another, more short-legged, long-armed, black-skinned figures resurrected. Each beat their chests, howling their barbaric baboon cries into the night.
"It was I who granted you life and will. Everything you are belongs to me. Kneel, my slaves!" Tang Xiao commanded.
The blackened rats obeyed, dropping to their knees before him in loyalty.