Chapter 240: Tang San Is Crippled Too
"Brother, is there truly no way to save Xiao San?"
"Hao, I've tried everything. His wounds are… beyond repair. Even the strongest healing soul masters would find it impossible to restore what's been lost."
…
In a haze of pain and confusion, Tang San faintly heard voices speaking around him.
He slowly opened his eyes. Wooden beams came into view above him, faintly illuminated by dim light. A chill ran through the air.
"Where am I?" Tang San muttered weakly.
He tried to push himself up with his right hand—but as he moved, a stabbing pain erupted through his lower body, sharp enough to make him cry out.
Startled by the sound, the two men conversing nearby hurried to his bedside.
One was Tang Hao. The other looked remarkably similar—features rougher, but clearly of the same bloodline.
Tang San didn't even notice them approach. His trembling gaze fell downward, to the bandages wrapped tightly around his waist and thighs, faint spots of blood still visible.
The piercing pain confirmed what his heart already knew. The memory of crashing into the cliff, the shattered Eight Spider Lances—all of it flashed before him.
Then the words he had overheard echoed again in his mind: it's all turned to ruins—completely destroyed.
He froze.
"'Ruins'…?" The realization hit him like an earthquake. Tang San bit down hard, his jaw trembling violently.
"Xiao San…" Tang Hao looked at his son with grief in his eyes. Tang San's expression made it clear he had already understood.
"Father, I…" Tang San's voice broke as his whole body trembled.
"Don't worry, Xiao San!" Tang Hao forced a reassuring tone. "I'll find the best healing soul master in the continent. I swear I'll make you whole again!"
But inside, he already knew. His son was beyond saving. Once flesh was reduced to mangled pulp, not even a Titled Douluo-level healer could restore it—and as far as he knew, no such healer even existed.
Tang Xiao, standing nearby, looked equally grim. Tang Hao's return to the Clear Sky Sect with his son should've been a momentous occasion, yet under these circumstances… there was no joy to be had.
Silently, Tang Xiao turned and left the room, leaving father and son alone.
…
In the Clear Sky Sect's main hall, Tang Xiao had gathered all of the elders and leading members.
It was time to inform everyone of Tang Hao's return—and of his son.
"I heard that Tang Hao and that bastard son of his have returned?" scoffed an elder from a high seat before Tang Xiao could even speak.
"I also heard the boy fell from the iron bridge and is crippled for life. Couldn't even cross a chain—what use could such trash be to our sect?" another elder added coldly.
Tang Xiao's expression darkened. Whatever else Tang Hao had done, he was still his younger brother—and Tang San, his son, was born of Ah Yin.
Back then, both he and Tang Hao had feelings for Ah Yin. Though she had chosen Tang Hao in the end, Tang Xiao had never denied that he had loved her too. Even now, her memory lingered painfully in his heart.
"Sixth Elder," Tang Xiao said sternly, "the chain broke—that's why Xiao San fell. It was not his fault. He is gravely injured. As an elder, you shouldn't speak so harshly."
"Elder?" one man mocked with a laugh. "Are you telling me that bastard child counts as a member of the Clear Sky Sect? I will not recognize such filth!"
"Seventh Elder, you—!" Tang Xiao's fury burst forth.
The seventh elder's insult stung deeply. To curse Tang San that way was to insult his mother, Ah Yin. For Tang Xiao, who still cherished her memory, it was unbearable.
Just as the tension in the hall reached a breaking point, the elderly man seated at the center finally spoke in a calm but commanding voice.
"Enough! Have you forgotten your status as elders? Quarreling like children before the sect—what a disgrace."
Silence returned immediately, though disdain still flickered in a few faces.
Seeing the hall quiet again, the long-browed elder turned to Tang Xiao. "Tell me, Tang Xiao—is it true that Tang Hao's son is crippled?"
Tang Xiao hesitated for a long moment before nodding. "It will be very difficult, perhaps impossible, for him to recover."
The long-browed elder's expression cooled further.
A man who could no longer continue his bloodline was of no consequence to the Clear Sky Sect.
Reading the shift in his eyes, Tang Xiao quickly interjected. "Second Elder, even if Xiao San cannot recover physically, his talent alone is extraordinary! He bears twin martial souls and has survived the Hell Road of the Slaughter City. At only nineteen, he has already reached the sixtieth rank—one spirit ring away from the Soul Emperor level!"
His plea came swiftly, nearly desperate. Tang San was Ah Yin's child, and Tang Xiao could not abandon her last legacy.
At his words, the entire hall grew quiet. The elders exchanged astonished glances.
The long-browed elder's gaze sharpened. "Everything you've said—is it true?"
"Every word!" Tang Xiao answered without hesitation.
The old man drew in a deep breath. After a long pause, he said solemnly, "Then bring them here."
Tang Xiao frowned slightly. "Second Elder, Xiao San is still resting from his injuries. Can it wait until he recovers?"
The elder nodded. "Very well. Once he's recovered, have Tang Hao bring him to the main hall."
With that, the long-browed elder rose and strode out of the chamber.
The other elders exchanged glances. The seventh elder seemed about to speak again, but seeing the Second Elder's departing figure, he could only snort coldly and follow.
…
Tang San knew nothing of the debates within the Clear Sky Sect's great hall—nor that the broken iron bridge had been the work of an unseen phantom.
And the truth behind his crippling injury? That, too, had been Luo Ling's doing.
When Tang San had fallen from the cliff, Luo Ling was there. He had struck personally, ensuring Tang San would never stand as a threat again.
Now, as he glanced toward the cabin where the unconscious youth lay, Luo Ling turned away and took to the air, disappearing into the hidden recesses of the mountain.
His true purpose in coming to the Clear Sky Sect had never been Tang San.
What he sought was their secret art—Ring Detonation.
Crippling Tang San was merely an afterthought.
In truth, even Ring Detonation and the famed Clear Sky Nine Skills did not particularly interest him.
But since the legend described them as the pinnacle of soul master techniques, Luo Ling figured he might as well take a look.
Flying toward the steep cliffs deep within the sect grounds, he soon found his destination: the Clear Sky Sect's treasury.
By covertly manipulating one of the sect's disciples through his spiritual threads, Luo Ling had already uncovered most of the sect's secrets.
The Great Sumeru Hammer and the secret of Ring Detonation were not recorded in writing—only passed down orally by each generation's Titled Douluo.
But the Clear Sky Nine Skills? Those were stored within the sect's archives.
And Luo Ling was already on his way there.
(END CHAPTER)
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