Chapter 280: Annihilation, Part One
The battlefield was a scene of utter slaughter a merciless, one sided massacre. Even with the centuries old martial techniques passed down through the Hao Tian Sect, their defenses were as fragile as glass before Ye Wen's meticulously trained disciples.
As for the remaining soul masters, faced with the overwhelming strength and numbers of the Spirit Empire's forces, any will to resist vanished. One by one, they fell to their knees, raising their hands high in surrender. But the Spirit Empire's soldiers, loyal to Ye Wen's uncompromising discipline, did not spare them so easily. Shackling the prisoners with cuffs that suppressed their soul power, they began processing them with the same relentless precision as they had with the captured soldiers from the previous day.
A few diehard rebels tried to escape but were swiftly and thoroughly subdued. By now, the only ones still fighting were the famed "Twin Stars" of the Hao Tian Sect, Tang Xiao and Tang Hao, who were locked in a desperate struggle against Dao Ba.
The Hao Tian Hammer was indeed powerful, yet its flaw was equally glaring: if its explosive power failed to defeat the opponent in a single strike, the hammer wielder was doomed. And against the strength of Dao Ba, Tang Hao and Tang Xiao found themselves at a dire disadvantage. After a fierce but futile resistance, the brothers finally faltered, staring up at Dao Ba in bitterness and resignation.
"Brother, I've failed you," Tang Xiao said, his voice tinged with regret. "It seems today we will both meet our end here."
Equally weakened, Tang Hao stood before his elder brother, resolutely accepting his fate. "Don't speak such nonsense, Brother. I was the one who fell short in the past, and we wouldn't be in this situation if I hadn't made so many mistakes. Let me go first." Tang Hao turned to Dao Ba, his voice filled with rage and defiance. "I'm standing right here! Go on, kill me! But don't think you've won just yet. You may have used a trick to whisk my son Tang San away, but he's a god now. You'll all face divine retribution soon enough. I'll be waiting in hell to watch it unfold."
Tang Hao's unyielding spirit, his proud defiance, earned the admiration of some soldiers nearby. But Dao Ba simply looked at him with cold indifference. Without replying, he shifted his gaze to Tang Xiao, stepping toward him and swinging his blade.
A clean strike a severed head flew high, leaving a spray of blood in its wake.
"No! Brother!" Tang Hao screamed in agony, his eyes blazing with fury. He glared at Dao Ba, shouting, "You animal! Why didn't you kill me first?"
Dao Ba responded with a dismissive kick, knocking Tang Hao to the ground. He slung his weapon over his shoulder, scratching his ear with a little finger in annoyance. "You're noisy. Don't worry; you're going to die too. Just not by my hand. Someone else has already reserved that privilege."
Tang Hao felt a pang of dread as old, half buried memories surfaced. With a bitter smile, he whispered, "Is it… Ayin?"
But Dao Ba, disinterested, walked away to sit nearby and watch the battlefield's aftermath, his back turned to the fallen Tang Hao.
The more Dao Ba ignored him, the stronger Tang Hao's unease grew. Ayin's fate was an enigma, something he couldn't quite grasp. And the fact that his godlike son, Tang San, had been taken away so effortlessly by the enemy marshal weighed heavily on his mind, filling him with a gnawing sense of dread. But what could he do now? His prized Hao Tian Sect technique had brought him victory in the past, but today, it had brought only ruin.
As the other Spirit Empire disciples gathered, they dragged the bodies of the defeated Hao Tian Sect elders, discarding them in a heap. Looking at the fallen figures the proud symbols of his once glorious sect Tang Hao felt hot tears well up, his heart breaking with grief.
"Perhaps the Hao Tian Sect truly is finished," he murmured in despair. The thought of the sect's remaining heirs on Seagod Island offered him a glimmer of comfort, but it was a small balm in a sea of loss.
But then a familiar figure appeared, making his heart sink in terror.
"Ayin…" Tang Hao's voice trembled.
Ayin's arrival was met with silence from those around her. The years had done nothing to diminish her beauty, though a cold and aloof aura now surrounded her, making her unapproachable. Her black and purple gown flowed as she moved closer, her gaze meeting Tang Hao's with icy indifference.
The closer she came, the more Tang Hao's fear grew, his shame and regret intensifying. Unable to meet her eyes, he averted his gaze, a broken man facing the woman he had once loved.
But Ayin merely looked down at him, her expression devoid of emotion. She raised her hand, and several round, bloody objects tumbled onto the ground between them. Tang Hao recoiled as he recognized the faces staring back at him faces he knew, some well, some only faintly. Yet each was painfully familiar.
The sight brought a rush of nausea and horror. His mind refused to accept what lay before him. He screamed in disbelief, his voice thick with horror. "Impossible! It can't be! What have you done? What have you done, Ayin?"
In the end, he resorted to cursing her, this woman he had once loved so deeply. He tried to lunge at her, to grab her and shake answers out of her, but his strength had left him. All he could do was glare up at her, fury and despair mingling in his eyes.
Ayin's expression remained impassive. In a voice as cold as death, she said, "The heads of 362 Hao Tian disciples from Seagod Island are all here."
Hearing the exact count, one even he hadn't known precisely, Tang Hao felt himself unraveling. His last hope shattered, replaced with a pit of despair. His beloved sect's last hope for survival had been obliterated.
For the first time, Ayin's lips twisted into a smile, one tinged with bitterness and venom. "Hurts, doesn't it? The rage, the pain, the despair this is all your doing, Tang Hao. All because of you. I wouldn't have done any of this if it weren't for you, but our child is gone dead. And it's all your fault, you worthless wretch! I want you to feel the same hopelessness I felt. I want you to watch your legacy die and know it's because of you. Every last one of you Hao Tian scum deserves this."
Ayin's curses and accusations left Tang Hao pale, his heart a mixture of guilt and sorrow, yet also burdened by the absolute ruin of his sect. He was a hollow shell, his once mighty spirit crushed into oblivion.
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