Two months ago, in the smoldering ruins of what was once the central plaza of Suotuo City, a scene of carnage and despair was slowly being absorbed by the horrified, whispering survivors. The air, thick with the dust of pulverized stone and the coppery tang of blood, was a testament to the cataclysmic rage of a single, powerful being.
Into this maelstrom of his own making, a solitary figure walked. Tang Hao moved through the wreckage, his steps heavy, each one a testament to the profound, soul-crushing grief that had fueled his destructive outburst. The bodies of the innocent, caught in the indiscriminate blast of his fury, were a grim, silent accusation that he did not even register.
His eyes, burning with a sorrowful fire, were fixed on a single point. The central flagpole, miraculously still standing, though bent and scorched. And there, tied to it like a piece of butchered meat, was his son.
He ignored the plaque at the base, its mocking words already seared into his memory. He reached up with a hand that was surprisingly steady and gently untied the ropes that held the broken body of his last hope. Cradling the unconscious Tang San in his arms, he felt the faint, shallow rise and fall of his chest. He was alive. Barely.
Without a word, without a backward glance at the city he had just annihilated, he vanished, a ghost of grief and rage leaving a tomb of silence in his wake.
A few minutes later, at the ravaged gates of Shrek Academy, Dean Flender was surveying the damage from Zhang Tian's explosive trial, his mind a frantic mess of calculations and future expenses. A shadow fell over him. He looked up, and his blood ran cold.
Tang Hao stood before him, his face a mask of stone, his eyes burning with an intensity that promised death. In his arms, he held the ruined, bleeding form of Tang San.
"Heal him," Tang Hao's voice was not a request. It was a command, a low, rumbling thunder that promised catastrophic consequences for failure. "Find the best healing Spirit Masters in this city. Bring them here. Now."
Flender didn't dare to ask what had happened. He didn't dare to hesitate. He just nodded, his face pale with terror. "Y-yes! Right away, Your Excellency!"
He turned and practically flew towards the city, his mind racing through his list of contacts, calling in every favor he had ever accumulated.
Within the hour, two middle-aged men arrived at the academy, their faces etched with a mixture of professional concern and a healthy dose of fear. They were the brothers Lin, renowned in Suotuo City for their healing clinic. The elder, Lin Feng, possessed a 'Life Weaving Staff' tool spirit. The younger, Lin Jie, had a similar 'Soothing Jade Staff'. Both were five-ringed Spirit Kings, their healing abilities respected, if not legendary.
They had been told only that a student of Shrek Academy had been grievously injured and that the client was a reclusive Titled Douluo who valued his privacy above all else. They had not been prepared for the sight that greeted them in Flender's cramped, dusty office.
Tang San lay on a hastily cleared table, his body a canvas of horrific injuries. The two healers drew a sharp, collective breath, their professional composure momentarily shattered.
"Gods above…" Lin Jie whispered, his eyes wide with shock. "What kind of beast could have done this?"
"There is no time for questions," Tang Hao's voice was a cold stone dropped into a silent pool. "Heal him."
The two brothers snapped back to attention. They moved with a practiced, efficient grace.
"The arm bone," Lin Feng said, his voice a low, clinical murmur as he examined the jagged piece of bone still protruding from Tang San's abdomen. "It must be removed first. It's pressing on his internal organs. Brother, prepare your Soothing Jade Light. The moment I pull it out, there will be massive hemorrhaging. You must seal the wound instantly."
Lin Jie nodded, his face grim. His fourth spirit ring, a deep purple, began to glow. A soft, gentle green light, cool and restorative, emanated from his jade-tipped staff.
Lin Feng took a deep, steadying breath. He gripped the bloody, slick bone with both hands. "On three," he said. "One… two… THREE!"
With a sickening, wet squelch, he pulled. The bone came free. A torrent of dark, venous blood erupted from the wound, a gruesome fountain that painted the table crimson.
"Now!"
The green light from Lin Jie's staff intensified, focusing into a concentrated beam that washed over the gaping wound. The bleeding, which had been a flood, slowed to a trickle, and then stopped. The torn flesh and muscle began to knit together with visible speed, the raw, red edges of the wound pulling closed, leaving behind a new, puckered scar.
For the next hour, they worked tirelessly. They set his broken ribs, healed the internal bruising, and cleansed the last of Zhang Tian's poison from his system. But one task remained beyond their capabilities.
Lin Feng held up the severed arm, which had been carefully preserved. He looked at the sealed, smooth stump of Tang San's shoulder. "Your Excellency," he began, his voice hesitant as he addressed the terrifying, silent figure in the corner. "We have stabilized him. He will live. But his arm… reattaching a completely severed limb is beyond our power."
He swallowed nervously. "For such a procedure, you would need a healer of a much higher level, or one with a legendary healing spirit. The Nine Heart Begonia of the Ye Family in Heaven Dou City is said to be capable of such miracles."
Tang Hao just stared at them, his expression unreadable. He gave a single, curt nod. A dismissal.
The two brothers, their task complete, quickly gathered their things. Flender pressed a heavy pouch of gold coins into their hands, a fee far exceeding their usual rates. They accepted it with trembling hands and departed as quickly as their dignity would allow, eager to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the terrifying Titled Douluo.
Tang Hao sat in the quiet, dim office, a silent statue of grief and rage, watching the slow, even rise and fall of his son's chest. He knew the healers were right. The Ye Family was his best hope. But the thought was a bitter, impossible one.
'Go to Heaven Dou City?' he thought, his mind a cold, calculating machine now that the initial storm of his rage had passed. 'To the heart of the empire, where the Spirit Hall's eyes are sharpest? After what I did in Suotuo City… they will be hunting for me. They will have agents everywhere. To reveal myself there, to abduct the patriarch of a major healing clan… it would be suicide. It would be leading them directly to my son.'
He felt trapped, his immense power a useless, impotent thing against the delicate, intricate web of politics and consequence.
It was in this moment of quiet desperation that a soft, hesitant voice broke the silence.
"Uncle… I… I have something to tell you."
He looked up. Xiao Wu stood in the doorway, her small frame trembling slightly, her large, magenta eyes filled with a mixture of fear, determination, and a profound, heartbreaking sadness.
He had been aware of her presence, of all of them, lurking just outside the door. He gave a slight, almost imperceptible nod to Flender and the others. They took the hint and dispersed, their footsteps receding down the hallway, leaving the two of them alone in the quiet, shadowed room.
Tang Hao's gaze settled on the young girl. His expression was heavy, weary. "Speak," he said, his voice a low rumble.
Xiao Wu took a deep, steadying breath. She walked into the room and closed the door behind her. She did not look at the broken form of Tang San on the table. She looked directly at the Titled Douluo.
"You've been following us, haven't you?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady. "All this time. From Nuoding Academy." She paused, her gaze unwavering. "That means… you've known what I am from the very beginning."
Tang Hao's expression didn't change, but he gave a slow, single nod. "I have."
His voice was surprisingly gentle, stripped of its earlier rage. "I knew you were a hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast in human form. I discovered it not long after you and my son became roommates at Nuoding."
He saw the fear in her eyes, the instinctive terror of a prey animal before a predator. "Do not be afraid," he said, his voice softening further. "I have no intention of harming you. A relationship between a human and a spirit beast… it is not something I am opposed to."
He looked at his unconscious son, a flicker of a deep, ancient pain in his eyes. "My son's mother… my wife… she was also a hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beast."
The words were a key, unlocking the last of Xiao Wu's fear. A wave of profound, utter relief washed over her. The greatest secret of her life, the one that had forced her to live in constant fear of discovery, was not a source of danger from this powerful man. It was a source of kinship.
Tears welled in her eyes, tears of relief and shared sorrow. She wiped them away with the back of her hand, her expression hardening with a new, fierce resolve.
"I can help him," she declared, her voice filled with an unshakeable conviction. "I can help reattach his arm."
Tang Hao's head snapped up, his gaze sharp, intense.
"I grew up in the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest," she explained quickly. "Near a place that we spirit beasts call the Lake of Life. The water from that lake has incredible restorative properties. It can heal almost any wound, knit flesh and bone back together. I am certain… I am certain it can reattach my Brother San's arm."
She looked at Tang San's broken body, and her own voice broke with a sob she could no longer contain. "It won't… it won't heal everything that hateful Zhang Tian did to him. But his arm… we can save his arm. And the water will heal the damage to his internal organs."
Tang Hao understood her unspoken meaning. The lake could heal flesh and bone, but it could not regenerate what was no longer there. His son's ability to have a future, to have a family of his own… that had been stolen.
A fresh wave of cold, murderous rage washed over him, but he suppressed it with an iron will. Xiao Wu was right. The immediate priority was healing what they could. The matter of his son's manhood… that was a problem for another day. He would find a way. He had to.
He stood up, his massive frame seeming to fill the entire room. He walked over to the table and, with a gentleness that was at odds with his immense power, he lifted the unconscious form of his son into his arms.
He then looked at Xiao Wu. "You will guide me," he said.
He reached out his free hand, and before she could react, he had scooped her up as well, holding her securely against his side. "Hold on," he rumbled.
With a final, silent nod, he stepped through the wall of the office as if it were made of smoke and shot into the sky, a dark, sorrowful meteor streaking south, towards the ancient, beating heart of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Three days later, they arrived. The air in the core region was different. It was thick, heavy, saturated with a life force so potent it was almost a physical presence. The trees were colossal, ancient beings that seemed to scrape the very heavens, and the silence was a deep, watchful thing, broken only by the distant roars of creatures whose power defied imagination.
Xiao Wu led him to the edge of a vast, tranquil lake. The water was a clear, shimmering emerald green, and a soft, ethereal mist rose from its surface, carrying with it a scent of pure, unadulterated life. This was the Lake of Life.
Two colossal figures rose from the depths to meet them. One was a massive ape, its fur as black as night, its yellow eyes burning with an ancient intelligence. The other was a serpentine creature of impossible scale, its body the color of the sky, its head that of a mythical bull. Er Ming. Da Ming.
'Elder Sister Xiao Wu!' Er Ming's mentally projective voice was a deep sound, filled with concern. 'You have returned! But who is this human? And the other… he is badly injured.'
Da Ming's gaze was more suspicious. He stared at Tang Hao, his massive head held high, his aura a palpable pressure. "You have brought a powerful human to our sanctuary, Elder Sister. Why?"
Xiao Wu quickly explained the situation, her voice filled with a pleading urgency. She told them of her Brother San's injuries, of the promise held by the waters of the lake.
The two great beasts were hesitant. Their love for their sworn sister was absolute, but their distrust of humans, especially one as powerful and sorrowful as the one before them, was deep-seated.
"Please," Xiao Wu begged, tears streaming down her face. "I love him. He is my life. I cannot let him remain like this."
Her plea, so raw and filled with genuine love, was the deciding factor. Da Ming and Er Ming exchanged a long, silent look. Finally, Da Ming gave a slow, reluctant nod. "Very well, elder sister. For you."
Xiao Wu wasted no time. She scooped the cool, life-infused water of the lake into her hands. Tang Hao carefully laid his son down at the water's edge.
The next step was the most brutal. With a sharp, obsidian shard, Xiao Wu carefully, methodically, scraped away the newly healed flesh at the stump of Tang San's shoulder, re-opening the wound.
Tang San's unconscious body twitched, a low moan of pain escaping his lips.
With the wound open and bleeding afresh, she took his severed arm and pressed it firmly against the stump. Then, she began to pour the water from the Lake of Life over the join.
What happened next was a miracle.
The moment the emerald water touched the wound, it began to glow with a soft, vibrant green light. The bleeding stopped instantly. The torn edges of flesh began to move, to writhe, reaching for each other like lovers long separated.
Tendons reconnected. Muscles wove themselves back together. And slowly, impossibly, the severed bone began to fuse, a faint, white line of new growth sealing the break.
They continued to pour the water over him, washing his entire body in its healing essence. The scar on his stomach faded, the internal damage mending under the gentle, persistent power of pure life.
After an hour, the process was complete. Tang San's arm was reattached, the skin smooth and whole, leaving behind only a faint, silvery scar. He was still unconscious, his body still weak from the trauma, but he was whole again. Mostly.
Tang Hao looked down at his son, then at the tearful, exhausted girl who had saved him. A flicker of something akin to warmth, a feeling he had not experienced in many, many years, touched his broken heart. "Thank you," he rumbled, the two words carrying the weight of a lifetime of pain.
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A/N: Check out my other novels like "Harem Master: Seduction System" and the "Villain: Manipulating the Heroines into hating the Protagonist" and I hope you like this story and those stories as well.
Check out more chapters on my P.atreon. The P.atreon will have 20+ Chapters ahead for this story. I hope you like it.
The link of p.atreon is: bit.ly/evildragon