A few days later, at 3 a.m.
Zhu Wu wrapped his feet in ragged cloth and walked against the night wind, finally arriving at the riverbank about fifty meters across from Tang Hao's home.
This was the maximum distance that Xiao Bai, his out-of-body spirit guardian, could separate from him at the moment.
"Xiao Bai, go." Zhu Wu looked over his right shoulder and whispered encouragement.
To avoid Tang Hao sensing any soul energy fluctuations, Xiao Bai had already transformed into a magpie. The little bird nodded its head slightly and flapped its wings, silently taking flight.
Tang Hao's residence was composed of three adobe rooms. The blacksmith workshop was the one on the left, closest to the downstream side of the river. The doorway was covered by a wooden board, but the board was quite shabby—made of several planks nailed together, riddled with gaps, and with a large opening at the top due to uneven height.
This, conveniently, was Xiao Bai's entry point.
"Creak, creak." The strong night wind shook the loose door and window, causing them to groan. The noise perfectly masked the sound of flapping wings.
This was exactly why Zhu Wu had chosen to bring Xiao Bai here tonight.
The night was dark, and fifty meters was too far to see clearly. But through the connection with his spirit guardian, Zhu Wu could feel Xiao Bai approaching.
"I wish we could share vision," he sighed inwardly, but unfortunately, after trying, he had found it impossible.
In this world where all spirit abilities needed to be supplemented by spirit rings, he deeply felt the cruelty of the system.
In recent days, he fully understood the pain of flying spirit masters who needed to have flight-type spirit skills in order to fly.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." The cold wind slapped his face painfully. Zhu Wu tightened his collar and waited silently.
Meanwhile, Xiao Bai had already flown into the forge and landed at the slag outlet of the furnace. Its short legs quickly ran inside. With a gentle flap of its wings, the small body floated upwards, its sharp claws gripping the rough adobe wall. Then, focusing its multicolored light between its brows toward the corner, it began to glow faintly.
A large lump of oval-shaped clay, shaped like a dumpling wrapper, was pressed against the corner. The surrounding soft earth slowly filled the gaps.
After a short while, sensing the pressure above lighten and the clay no longer slipping, Xiao Bai's head pushed upward again.
"Puff, puff, puff." Using its sharp beak and claws together, it pressed the clay in the middle and edges firmly, as if building a nest.
Time passed slowly until the entire lump of clay covered the corner like a dumpling skin, with the fuse pointing downward unobstructed. Only then was Xiao Bai satisfied and landed.
Lowering its head, the multicolored light flickered, and it collected all debris into its spatial pocket, carefully cleaning up all traces.
Flap flap. The spirit guardian beat its wings and flew out of the forge happily, heading back toward Zhu Wu.
"Good job, Xiao Bai!" Zhu Wu quietly praised, summoned back his spirit guardian, and quickly turned to run.
"I guess Tang Hao hasn't noticed. As for the Asura God, he probably wouldn't be watching the father and son while they sleep, right?" he thought while running.
Tang Hao had obtained the Killing God Domain at age 28, emerging from the City of Slaughter long before meeting A Yin. According to the original story, the Killing God Domain was the credential for qualifying for the Asura God trial. The Asura God used this method to widely select heirs.
So, it was hard to say that the Killing God Domain attached to Tang Hao's Haotian Hammer spirit guardian did not carry the Asura God's divine will.
Honestly, after reading the sequel, he suspected Tang San might be the destined child of the Douluo Continent in the previous era of Huo Gua.
Just as the God King Tang San could sense the birth of a destined child in Douluo Continent, the Asura God surely could sense such births too.
Moreover, since Tang Hao's Killing God Domain immediately locked onto Tang San, it had been monitoring him.
If Tang Hao carried the Asura God's divine will, then watching Tang Hao was basically the same as the Asura God watching.
Tang Hao could even act as a bodyguard.
Whether the Asura God knew that Tang San, the destined child who had his soul transplanted, had taken over or not was unclear.
Maybe later he would find out, since Tang San's abnormal behavior from a young age might reveal something. But nothing stopped it, because the event had already happened. Though the body changed, the destiny remained undiminished—he was still the destined child of Douluo Continent, capable of being trained as a divine heir.
However, compared to cruelly splitting his daughter's soul to inject into the three-eyed golden chimera beast and arranging for her to meet Huo Gua in the mortal world, the Asura God was obviously much more cunning.
First, by using Tang Hao, he let Tang San enter the City of Slaughter to obtain the Killing God Domain, then helped Tang San pass the Sea God trial—helped because the deep sea demon whale king was killed by Tang San with the Asura God's power.
This was also the opportunity for the Asura God to strongly intervene, convincing the Sea God to allow Tang San to inherit his divine position with another spirit guardian. It might even be that the Asura God tacitly approved Tang San poisoning the Hell Road, aiming for Tang Chen to get the Asura Demon Sword into Tang San's hands.
If true, the Asura God was a real multi-layered schemer.
Perhaps Tang San's life had long been planned by the Asura God, whether or not he was the "true" destined child.
"Honestly, with ten-thousand-year-formed spirit beasts showing up at the start, killing a thousand-year-old spirit beast to get an auxiliary spirit bone, immortal herbs delivered, the Vast Sea and Heaven Cover gifted, and consecutive sacrifices of ten-thousand-year spirit beasts—it's hard to believe Tang San isn't a destined child."
"Hmph, also a fellow time traveler who knows the story—damn right I am the destined child!"
"And even a thief like Tang San was chosen, which shows the Asura God in this world isn't that great either." Thinking this, Zhu Wu quickly disappeared into the darkness.
The next morning, in the west of Saint Soul Village.
The winter weather was cold and gloomy. Approaching the New Year, no one came to the blacksmith workshop to make farming tools. The rows of adobe houses around looked particularly quiet.
Tap tap tap. In the distance, Tang San jogged back, then dashed into the kitchen and lifted the pot lid at the stove.
Every day before going to the mountain, he put rice in the pot, arranged the firewood, and waited for the porridge to be perfectly cooked by the time he returned.
"Dad, it's time to eat." Carefully ladling two bowls onto the table, Tang San called softly inside the house.
Soon footsteps approached. Tang Hao lifted the door curtain, strode out, sat at the table, and gulped down the porridge before stepping outside.
Tang San said nothing more, finished his porridge, tidied up briefly, and headed straight to the forge.
Since awakening his twin spirit guardians, his father Tang Hao had clearly changed a lot. He no longer slept in the mornings but personally instructed Tang San on the Wild Cloak Hammer technique.
Arriving at the forge, Tang Hao had already stoked the charcoal fire and thrown the pig iron into the furnace.
"Today we'll continue forging the pig iron," Tang Hao said briefly.
"Yes, Dad." Tang San nodded respectfully and strode to the anvil, picking up the forging hammer waiting beside it.
Soon, the pig iron was heated glowing red. Tang Hao skillfully grabbed it with iron tongs and placed it on the anvil.
Clang clang clang. Tang San swung the forging hammer, hammering rhythmically.
Meanwhile, the top coal fully burned, and more burning sparks and slag fell through the cracks into the slag outlet.
Outside, the hammering sounds continued non-stop, while the accumulating slag inside clashed and sparked more intensely as it piled higher.
After half an hour, pop. A cluster of sparks flew into a top corner, igniting an exposed fuse.
The fuse was thin, its flame quiet, and its smoke light—completely covered by the blazing coal fire above.
In the blink of an eye, without warning—
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion erupted inside the forge, releasing a terrifying shockwave. The entire adobe forge table was lifted from the base. Large chunks of earth and bricks, mixed with glowing red-hot coal and flying sparks, exploded outward in all directions.
"Xiao San!" Tang Hao reacted quickly, slapping a palm toward Tang San's side as he raised the forging hammer, trying to use soul power to dissipate the shockwave and flying debris.
Tang San also reacted swiftly, raising the hammer to shield his head and chest.
Both knew well that being hit in the lower body might still leave a chance for survival, but a blow to the head or heart would almost certainly be fatal.
Tang Hao's reaction was fast, and his soul power was quick, but nothing could outrun the initial shockwave of an unexpected explosion.
Without a doubt, Tang San was instantly thrown backward. The forging hammer he held struck his chest with a dull thud. His right arm twisted painfully, with joints creaking—obviously broken.
Puff puff puff. Other parts of his body were struck by flying stones and sparks with muffled impacts.
Nearby, Tang Hao, whose first thought was to save Tang San, was also pushed back by the shockwave and repeatedly struck by flying debris.
The explosion was too sudden. He didn't even have time to activate his spirit guardian or defensive spirit skills.
Rumble rumble. The flying debris smashed the already fragile adobe walls, causing them to collapse.
Pop pop pop pop. Flames rose, spreading sparks to flammable materials nearby, quickly igniting a roaring fire.
Worried about his son, Tang Hao steadied himself and without hesitation channeled soul power to rush toward Tang San.
Boom! Carbon sparks inside the room caused a secondary explosion, though far less powerful than the first.
"Thunder?" In a flash, the explosion woke nearby villagers who hurried outside and saw thick smoke rising from Tang Hao's house.
"Tang Hao's house is flooding—go put out the fire!"
Screams echoed.
Tang San, your house blew up!
Far to the north of the village, Zhu Wu also heard the noise and instinctively turned his head.
Without hesitation, he called to his grandfather Zhu Gang and rushed out to see the commotion.
(End of Chapter)
If you'd like, I can help with further chapters or support me at https://www.patreon.com/YugiroTL