"....My son," Dai Hao looked at Huo Yuhao in the Susanoo with a complicated expression.
He didn't expect things to escalate to this extent. The last thing he remembered was being at his quarters in the western border of the Sun Moon Empire, doing his usual business of training, when the statue of his Ancestor Dai Mubai started glowing like a star.
And to put it shortly; his ancestor's remnant soul appeared and said he would possess his body temporarily and in return his cultivation, soul rings, and even soul bones would increase tremendously. With his help, he would become a Limit Douluo in his lifetime!
It was a tempting offer that he would obviously accept, why wouldn't he? Although he couldn't become his divine successor as Dai Mubai had straight up said to him that he didn't want to give up his God Position yet, Dai Hao was still more than satisfied.
After all, he would become a Limit Douluo! That was a realm of cultivation that very few in the world had reached.
If he became a Limit Douluo, he would be able to protect his family and the empire more. If had that kind of strength, the tragedy that happened to his wife and son wouldn't occur.
Although he couldn't save them, he could still protect his children.
But then... As Dai Mubai possessed his body, he realized what his goal was.
His son.
The one he didn't know he had. With the woman he had truly loved but left behind for the sake of his nation's safety.
Huo Yuhao.
Dai Hao had always felt like the boy was familiar when he first saw him. That face...he bore a striking resemblance to his mother and him. How could he be so blind?
It explained so much now...
It was him. His son was the one who murdered his wife and son.
Dai Hao didn't want to think about it but he could guess as to why. Although the time he spent with his wife was short, he knew that she was a cold and ruthless woman. So her torturing Huo Yun'er and Huo Yuhao when he wasn't around was highly likely.
And considering it was years that he wasn't around in the manor...
Huo Yun'er's death didn't seem to be natural now.
Dai Hao didn't know what to feel about his son.
Excitement and joy? That the woman he loved had bore him a magnificent and terrifying child that any father would be proud of.
Anger? That he killed the Duchess and Dai Huabin in cold blood.
Guilt? That he wasn't there when the woman that he truly loved and their child was being hurt.
He was conflicted.
Huo Yuhao coldly looked at him.
"I...I don't know what to say to you, to be honest. I didn't think that..." Dai Hao closed his eyes, tears rolling down his face.
"Yun'er was the only woman that I had truly loved in my life. She understood me, she knew me. We were together since childhood. We should've married...I should've married her. But I...I didn't. Out of fear that she and I would be under constant scrutiny of the nobility of empire.
The duchess was simply a political agenda, I hold no love for that woman. But...I did love the son we had, so I should hate you for that. But I can't.
My son, Yuhao, you have the right to avenge your mother. As I should have the right to avenge my son, your brother. But my guilt for letting you and your mother down...softens the raging inferno within me."
Dai Hao's voice cracked as more tears streamed down his face. The majestic white armor around him flickered unsteadily as Dai Mubai's divine consciousness receded slightly, allowing the man's own emotions to surface more clearly.
"My son... I do not wish for us to fight. I do not want to see my son bleeding and dying....
If you still desire revenge... Then here," he floated down from the air and landed on the ground. Without a moment of hesitation, his knees hit the ground with a clang and hung his head low. "Take my life!
There was silence.
Huo Yuhao dissipated the Susanoo and quietly approached the kneeling Dai Hao.
He was expressionless as stood before his father and pulled back his right arm, a popping veins appeared on his forehead.
Sixth Soul Ring, Second Skill - Praising Sun, Light and Shadow Eternal: Increases Huo Yuhao's Yang-related attributes by 500%; physical attributes, fire and light.
A terrifying wave of steam exploded outward from Huo Yuhao's body as his skin turned red and his muscles swelled with overwhelming power. The air around him distorted from the sheer physical force as a fiery golden-red aura emitted from his body.
Boom!
"Ack!"
Dai Hao was sent flying like a cannonball, tumbling across the battlefield before crashing heavily into where outer courtyard was supposed to be. He momentarily lost consciousness and groggily woke up.
Pain. Immeasurable, excruciating pain filled him.
Dai Hao opened his mouth to curse, only to realize that he felt even more pain from opening his mouth.
"M-My teeth...!" Several of his teeth flew out of his mouth mixed with blood. Not only that, but he could feel several of his organs had popped and reduced to blood, his bones to mush, and his soul core and dantian were on the verge of destruction.
The only reason that he was still alive was because his ancestor's divine power and domain was healing him fast enough that he didn't die instantly.
"Y-You..."
"Huh. Weird. You're still alive," Huo Yuhao coldly said, although his voice was low it seemed to reach Dai Hao's ears. "What's with those eyes, 'father?' I thought you wanted me to take your life. Weren't you asking for my forgiveness?"
He disappeared and appeared before Dai Hao's eyes, his arm already cocked back like a loaded spring.
'Noo!' Dai Hao's eyes widened as he saw the fist.
BOOM!!!
Another devastating punch landed squarely on Dai Hao's face, his soul skill amplifying it to a horrifying degree. His head snapped back violently as more blood sprayed out of his body.
His body tumbled backward once again, carving a deep trench into the earth.
Huo Yuhao didn't stop. He flickered forward again, appearing right above the fallen man, fierce winds gathered around his cocked arm.
There was no soul power circulating around his arm, it was only through sheer physical strength that a vortex of wind had appeared!
"Aaeshh!!" Dai Hao screamed incoherently, a blinding golden surrounded his body and his wounds started stitching themselves together, his teeth regrowing. Most of his internal injuries had been healed as well.
It was his first soul skill, White Tiger Shield Body Barrier, but modified through divine intervention that enhances his overall defenses and provides extraordinary healing ability.
It was then, Huo Yuhao punched down.
Boom!
"!!!!"
One fist effortlessly shattered the barrier on Dai Hao's body like fragile glass. His eyes rolled to the back of his head.
His body convulsed violently as the punch caved in his chest armor and sent a devastating shockwave through his entire being. Fresh blood erupted from his mouth and nose like a fountain, several more bones shattered instantly.
Even with Dai Mubai's divine consciousness desperately reinforcing the body, the damage was catastrophic.
Huo Yuhao landed lightly on the ground, steam still pouring off his body. He looked down at the twitching, broken figure of his father without the slightest trace of emotion.
"....I've thought about this moment a lot for the past few years. A disturbing amount of times I've thought of how this would go.
I've thought about what to say to you. I've thought about just, leaving you alone and just go after those bastards who had truly caused the death of mom. After all, at worst, you were just an absent father who didn't know about me. You simply cared more about your duty than your own family.
No, I'm assuming the best of you if I really thought that. You didn't care about my mom. If you did, you would've had people secretly protecting her in the shadows. And you say you loved her, yet, why didn't you visit her? Do you know about Dai Luoli? My little brother from another mother, not from the Duchess?
You took on another mistress while my mother was still alive, suffering every single day in that cursed mansion. During that time of being with my little brother's mother, why didn't you visit my mom? If you had..."
Huo Yuhao's voice remained eerily calm, yet each word carried the weight of years of suppressed hatred and pain. The golden scarlet steam around him continued to rise as his soul skill burned fiercely through his body.
Dai Hao struggled to push himself up. Blood continued to leak from his lips, but his eyes, filled with a mix of paternal regret, guilt, and fury, locked onto Huo Yuhao.
"Son... I... I didn't know..." He rasped weakly, his voice hoarse. "I swear on my life, I didn't know..."
"Did you really think I didn't notice the concentrated divine power and domain energy in your fingers?"
"?!!"
Looking at Dai Hao's shocked eyes, Huo Yuhao sighed. "Within my domain, all your plans and schemes are easy to see through. You were goading me to take your life or forgive you, by doing so, I would get close to you with complicated emotions.
In that few moments of hesitation, you would've pierce my body with whatever secret technique you were going to use and I would die."
"S-Son, I..."
"I don't care. This ends with either you and I dying. I've decided...That I'm going to break you physically, thoroughly, and then killing you mentally until there's nothing left of you. This isn't just for my mom...But for me as well.
"Oh, you can do the same to me if you win. After all," A wicked smile appeared on his face. "I'm just a clone."
"...Huh?"
"HUH?!!"
Dai Hao and Dai Mubai, appearing from behind the former's head like an apparition, reacted respectively.
Huo Yuhao continued on smiling and squatted down, staring straight at the confused men. "I'm just stalling for time, just as you are. I mean, really? I'm sure that Tang San knows that the only way of killing me is by getting a God Officer to kill me. Titled Douluos now... They aren't enough.
Do you really expect me to believe that one God descending through divine possession would be the only plan that Tang San would use against me?"
In normal cases, yes! That's what Dai Mubai wanted to yell. After all, Huo Yuhao was just someone of Soul Saint cultivation without his seventh soul ring! He still hasn't have his martial soul true body yet! Forget a divine descent, just a normal Titled Douluo should've been enough to take him out.
But through sheer spiritual power and physical strength, he overpowered a group of elite Titled Douluos, Soul Douluos, and even a Quasi-Demi God Limit Douluo!
And he was just a clone?! There should be limits to such monstrosity!
'Descendant, get back. I'll handle this from now on.'
'But Ancestor—!'
'Enough! You're just a useless piece of shit, I shouldn't have listened to your nonsense. Besides... They're here now.'
'Who—?'
"Hm?" Huo Yuhao furrowed his brows and looked up, seeing passed his domain to look at the real sky.
A massive, black hammer the size of a mountain tore through the clouds, descending with world-shaking momentum. It was pitch-black, covered in ancient, blood-red patterns that pulsed with destructive intent.
The mere presence of the hammer caused the Infinite Tsukuyomi, stacked two other domains, to flicker and crack violently at the edges, as if the very fabric of the domain(s) was being suppressed by overwhelming divine might.
The Clear Sky Hammer!