"You…!"
Tang Hao's chest heaved, the Haotian Hammer trembling faintly in his hand.
"You little brat. Don't think that just because you're good-looking, you can flaunt your mouth in front of me! You think I won't hit you?!"
His tone was heavy with fury, but there was a flicker of hesitation beneath it. How could a boy so beautiful, so young, sound so sharp?
Yet before his hammer could rise, Tang San stumbled forward, his face taut with desperation.
"Dad! Please respect my Teacher!"
The words cracked through the firelit clearing.
Tang Hao froze. For a long, long heartbeat, all the weight of decades seemed to collapse into his chest. His heart sank as the truth coiled around his mind: He doesn't call me father first. He calls another man Teacher instead. Loyal… utterly loyal. Even against his own father.
"In just a few months…" Tang Hao whispered hoarsely. "…The bond between you has rooted so deep. Teacher and disciple… stronger than blood."
He raised his gaze toward Subei, eyes dark with warring heat and sorrow.
Subei's faint smile returned, edged like steel. "Tang Hao, do you even understand yourself anymore? Are you clinging to your dead wife's memory… or merely consuming it, propping your pain up as righteousness?"
"Qian Xun Ji—the man who struck your wife down—died years ago. And who dealt him the finishing blow? It was Bibi Dong. She avenged Ah Yin for you. Yet you spit her name as your enemy? Hah! Such twisted self-deceit. You cling to hate not for justice but to savor your pain. I despise it."
He spat harsh words into the dirt itself.
Tang San's eyes widened. Teacher's arguments… they… they make sense. Did Father… really mislead me?
Tang Hao's face tensed, his lips pulling into a grimace. "Qian Xun Ji… was slain by Bibi Dong?"
Subei's gaze never wavered. "Don't tell me until now you truly believed it was your hammer that ended him. Yes, you injured him. But he was a Title Douluo with life-saving cards—he would not have died so simply. Tang Hao, open your eyes. Fate's dagger wasn't yours. It was hers."
Tang Hao clenched his fists. "…Even if that is true, Spirit Hall will never spare me, nor any who stand against their throne. The grudge is forged in blood. Nothing can reconcile it."
He shook himself and snarled. "And I'd be a fool to believe the words of a child! Pretty lips don't mean wisdom. I've no reason to trust what you say."
His aura swept down, pressing onto both Subei and Tang San like collapsing mountains. Tang San's knees nearly buckled, but it was to his Teacher he turned, not his father.
"Dad, you can't… do this to him! He is my Teacher!"
Tang Hao shut his eyes painfully. "One day, Xiao San. You'll understand. My harshness is to save you from a crueler fate."
Already his gaze tilted skyward. This place is too dangerous; Spirit Hall combs relentlessly. If I don't move them further, Bibi Dong herself will soon catch up.
But in the depths of the Star Dou, not far away, a beast king howled. Er Ming's wounded body had returned to Star Lake, his roars echoing underwater. Da Ming, the Azure Bull Python, rose in alarm. They conferred between themselves—speaking of the King, the boy who walked with beasts, and how he had been taken by humans.
The Titan Ape guzzled stolen liquor, his face scarlet, his blood boiling. He roared drunkenly into the starry night: "The King is ours! Even if I must wake the Lord, I will call upon the Beast God! We will save him!"
The Azure Bull Python groaned anxiously, coiling tighter around Star Lake. "Drunk ape… reckless ape…"
But Er Ming was already gone, crashing toward the forbidden core, swearing to bring down the wrath of dragonhood itself upon the humans who dared lay hands on Subei.
…
Meanwhile, Tang Hao's aura pressed down harder. Tang San's vision shook with despair. His admiration for his father was cracking, splintering.
If Father can be poor, I accept. If Father can be weak, I accept. But Father cannot be unreasonable. He cannot call my Teacher enemy, he cannot act like a bandit, dragging us both without reason.
Bitterness filled his chest. Father… you fail me now. Subei has shown me truth. And you only chain me blindly in hate.
"Dad, if you force this… then Xiao San will hate you!" His eyes blazed, bitter tears welling. "You can live without wealth, you can even be a hidden broken man… but you—you cannot bully my Teacher!"
Subei's voice rose, calm but biting.
"Well said, Xiao San." His gaze met Tang Hao's firmly. "Oh, Tang Hao. Once you swung your hammer like heaven's thunder, bold and righteous. Now? You crawl in shadows, seething at ghosts, blind to truth. You call it loyalty to your wife. I call it cowardice to move on. To insult the woman you lost by remaining chained to false hatred."
The words struck like daggers. Tang Hao's face twisted, veins visible as his spirit power swirled violently.
The moonlight turned the ground silver white, eerily serene against the trembling air.
Subei tipped his face toward the pale light and sighed. If she doesn't arrive soon, I may truly be stolen away by this brute tonight…
His voice slipped softly, half amusement, half plea. "Elder sister… are you really going to let me be snatched away? If so, I won't even die—I'll just suffer, heart torn apart by a crude man's tyranny, night after night. Isn't that worse than death?"
Laughter, rich and sultry.
"Fufufu… truly the King. You say it, and I appear."
From the shadows above the clearing, a figure stepped out, voluptuous and languid. Her curves gleamed like flame and silk, her clothes little more than strips that clung daringly. The starlight and her aura clashed—hot, alluring, dangerous.
She swept a single look at Tang Hao… and unleashed power that clashed against his Haotian aura, shaking the ground. Dust exploded skyward as two titans squared off.
Subei's lips curved in relief.
"The King's Sister has come."
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