The journey back from the heart of the Star Dou Great Forest was a silent, grim procession. Tang Hao, his face a mask of stone carved from sorrow and rage, carried the unconscious forms of his son and Xiao Wu with an effortless, heartbreaking gentleness. The oppressive weight of his Titled Douluo's aura was a suffocating blanket, silencing the very forest around them.
He arrived at Shrek Academy like a ghost, a specter of vengeance returning to a haunted house. Flender and Yu Xiaogang met him at the ruined gates, their faces pale, their usual bravado completely gone in the face of this walking cataclysm.
"He is healed," Tang Hao's voice was a low, rumbling thunder that promised storms yet to come. "His arm is reattached. Watch over him. See that he becomes stronger."
He did not wait for a reply. He did not offer any further explanation. He placed his son's limp body into the waiting arms of a stunned Flender and then set a still-exhausted Xiao Wu gently on her feet.
"Take care of him," he said to her, his voice softer now, a rare flicker of something akin to paternal warmth in his burning eyes. With a final, lingering look at the pale face of his only child, he turned.
'I will draw their eyes away,' he thought, his mind a cold, calculating machine now that the initial, blinding rage had passed. 'The Spirit Hall will be hunting for the one who destroyed Suotuo City. I will give them a ghost to chase. I will become the storm in the east, so that my son may have peace in the west. When he is ready, when he is strong enough… I will return.'
With that silent vow, he vanished, melting into the shadows as if he had never been there at all.
The news of their return spread through the small, fractured student body like wildfire. Dai Mubai, Ma Hongjun, and Oscar, their faces a mixture of relief and trepidation, hurried to the infirmary where Tang San had been laid to rest.
"Xiao Wu!" Oscar exclaimed, his usual flirtatious demeanor replaced by genuine concern. "Are you alright? Is Xiao San… is he going to be okay?"
Xiao Wu, her eyes red-rimmed and puffy, just nodded silently. The ordeal had drained her, but her spirit was unbroken.
Dai Mubai's gaze, however, was scanning the empty grounds. "Where did he go?" he asked, his voice a low whisper. "Tang San's father… that Titled Douluo. Where did he go?"
Flender, who had just finished ensuring Tang San was comfortable, stepped out, his face etched with a deep weariness. "His Excellency has departed for a place far away from here. And on that matter," he said, his sharp gaze fixing on each of them in turn, "a word of warning."
He lowered his voice, his tone turning deadly serious. "What you saw in the woods, the identity of His Excellency… you will forget it. You will not speak of it to anyone. You will not even think it. Do you understand me, Mubai? Hongjun? Oscar? The name 'Clear Sky Douluo' is a taboo that could bring annihilation down upon us all if spoken in the wrong company. His Excellency's connection to Xiao San is a secret you will take to your graves."
The three boys felt a chill run down their spines. They nodded quickly, their faces pale with a new, profound understanding of the stakes. This was a secret that could get them killed.
"Dean Flender is right," Yu Xiaogang added, stepping out from the infirmary. "The matter of His Excellency's identity and his plans for Xiao San will be explained when Xiao San is ready. I will be the one to inform him."
His gaze was cold, authoritative, leaving no room for argument. The students nodded again, their earlier questions silenced by the sheer weight of the secrets they now carried.
Two days passed in a tense, watchful quiet. Tang San remained lost in the deep, healing sleep of recovery. On the morning of the third day, his eyes fluttered open.
The first thing he registered was the familiar, musty smell of the Shrek Academy infirmary. His mind was a foggy, confusing haze. 'What… what happened? The fight… Zhang Tian…'
He tried to sit up, a groan escaping his lips. A sharp, phantom pain shot through his right arm. He looked down, expecting to see a mangled stump. But his arm was there, whole and connected to his shoulder.
A wave of profound relief washed over him. 'It was a nightmare,' he thought, a weak, shaky laugh escaping his lips. 'Just a terrible, horrible nightmare. My arm is fine. Everything is fine.'
He flexed his fingers. They moved. Stiffly, painfully, but they moved. He let out another sigh of relief. Then, his fingers, tracing the line of his shoulder, brushed against something that wasn't supposed to be there.
A scar. A thin, silvery line that circled his entire shoulder joint.
He froze. His blood ran cold. He ripped the collar of his infirmary gown aside and stared. The scar was real. It was the undeniable proof of a limb that had been severed and then… reattached.
'No…' his mind screamed. 'It wasn't a nightmare. It was real. He really… he really did it.'
The memories came flooding back, a tidal wave of agony and humiliation. The sickening crack of his bone, the feeling of it being driven into his stomach, the final, violating blow that had stolen his manhood.
A strangled sob escaped his lips. His hand, with a desperate, trembling terror, moved down, fumbling with the waistband of his loose trousers. His fingers slipped inside.
He felt… nothing.
The place where his testicles should have been was an empty, scarred void.
The world seemed to tilt on its axis. The air was sucked from his lungs. A single, silent tear traced a path down his cheek, followed by another, and another, until he was shaking with a silent, all-consuming despair.
He was no longer a man. His dream of rebuilding the Tang Sect, of passing on its legacy to his own children… it was all gone. Shattered.
A new emotion, hot and black and venomous, began to bubble up from the depths of his despair, consuming the grief, replacing it with something else. Hatred. A pure, undiluted hatred that was so intense it was a physical thing, a burning fire in his gut.
'Zhang Tian,' the name was a curse on his tongue. 'You will pay for this. I will make you suffer a thousand times worse than what you did to me. I will flay you alive. I will take your women and defile them in front of you. I will destroy everything you hold dear.'
Ironically, even if he wanted to defile Zhang Tian's women, he didn't have the capability for it…
He sat up, his movements stiff, his body screaming in protest. He felt weak, his muscles atrophied, his bones aching. He felt a gnawing, desperate hunger, a sign that his body had been starved for days, fighting to heal itself.
He swung his legs over the side of the bed. He had to get out. He had to see. He took a single, wobbly step and then his legs gave out, sending him crumpling to the floor in a heap.
With a growl of pure frustration, he began to crawl, dragging his weak, pathetic body towards the door. He pushed it open and stumbled out into the weak morning sunlight. He saw the familiar, shabby buildings of the academy, the distant, half-finished framework of the new facilities.
He began to walk, his feet dragging, his body a trembling wreck, but his will was a rod of unbreakable iron. He had to find them. He had to find his friends, his teacher.
He stumbled onto the main training field. And he saw them.
Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, and his precious Xiao Wu were in the middle of a grueling training session. They were running, their bodies shining with sweat, while the massive, imposing figure of Zhao Wuji stood nearby, barking orders. His teacher, the Grandmaster, stood at the side, his arms crossed, observing with a critical, analytical eye.
They saw him. The training stopped instantly.
"Third Brother!" Xiao Wu cried out, her face a mixture of shock and overwhelming relief. She sprinted towards him, throwing her arms around his neck, burying her face in his shoulder as she began to sob.
"Xiao San!"
"Third Brother, you're awake!"
The others rushed over, their faces filled with a genuine, heartfelt concern that momentarily soothed the burning hatred in his soul.
"Don't move about, Xiao San," Yu Xiaogang said, his voice holding a rare note of paternal warmth as he placed a steadying hand on his disciple's shoulder. "Your body is still weak."
He turned to the portly boy. "Hongjun, go to the kitchens. Bring back a large portion of high-energy spirit beast meat stew. And some bread. And water."
Ma Hongjun, for once, didn't complain. He just nodded and waddled off as fast as his short legs could carry him.
They helped Tang San to a nearby bench, and as he sat, surrounded by his friends, his teacher began to speak. The story unfolded, a carefully curated narrative of heroism, betrayal, and sacrifice.
Yu Xiaogang told him of his father's dramatic appearance, the legendary Clear Sky Douluo, a revelation that sent a jolt of pure shock through Tang San. His father, the drunken, listless blacksmith, was a Titled Douluo?
He told him of how the malicious Zhang Tian, showing no respect for the hierarchy of power, had shamelessly used the unconscious Tang San as a hostage to threaten his father.
"That vile boy has no honor, no shred of decency," Yu Xiaogang said, his voice laced with a cold, righteous anger. "He fled like a coward with his two accomplices and the protection of the Seven Treasure Glaze Tile Sect, but not before leaving your desecrated body in the central plaza of Suotuo City for all the world to see, a final, disgusting act of humiliation."
Tang San's hands clenched into fists, his knuckles turning white. The image of himself, broken and displayed like a piece of meat, sent a fresh wave of black fury through him.
"But your father, Xiao San," Yu Xiaogang continued, his tone shifting to one of profound respect, "his righteous anger was so great that he… inadvertently leveled a portion of the city before he could retrieve you. He then took you and Xiao Wu to a mysterious place, where, with Xiao Wu's help, he found a mystical place that could heal your severed arm."
He explained how Xiao Wu's love and knowledge had been the key to his recovery, a detail that made Tang San look at the girl still clinging to his arm with a new depth of love and gratitude.
"And now," the Grandmaster concluded, "your father has gone. He has deliberately revealed his presence in other cities, drawing the full attention of the Spirit Hall upon himself, creating a massive diversion so that they don't trouble you while investigating the culprit who destroyed a portion of Suotuo City. All to ensure that you, his only son, would be safe to grow and cultivate in peace. He will return for you when you are ready to receive his true training."
Tang San was speechless, his mind reeling from the revelations. His father was a hero. A tragic, powerful hero who had sacrificed everything for him. And Zhang Tian… Zhang Tian was the devil incarnate. A malicious, cowardly villain who had not only injured him, but had humiliated his noble father.
The hatred in his heart solidified, crystallizing into a cold, hard diamond of absolute resolve.
'Zhang Tian,' he vowed silently, his eyes burning with an unholy light. 'You have found your way to death. You and your women, Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing, who stood by and watched as you committed your atrocities… you have all sealed your fates. I will hunt you down. I will make you regret the day you were born.'
He looked at his teacher, his expression grim. "Teacher," he said, his voice hoarse but firm. "My training. We must continue. I must get stronger."
Yu Xiaogang nodded, a flicker of pride in his eyes. "We will, Xiao San. We will. First, you must recover your strength. You were unconscious for nearly a little less than a week including the time it took for your father to find the mystical healing place to heal you and then return so it's natural that your body has suffered greatly. Fortunately, you are a Spirit Master so you can recover your vitality after eating meals properly."
He paused, a look of grim frustration on his face. "Unfortunately, our original plan to begin your arena training has been… complicated. The Great Spirit Arena of Suotuo City was one of the buildings destroyed in your father's… outburst. It will take years to rebuild."
He looked at his disciple, his expression hardening with resolve. "It does not matter. You will spend the next two weeks here, rebuilding your physical foundation. Eat, rest, and follow a light training regimen. After that, we will travel to another major city, perhaps Silves City or even further. And there, you will begin your true trial by fire. You will fight. One-on-one, and as a team. You will forge yourself in the crucible of combat until you are unbreakable."
Tang San nodded, a cold, predatory smile touching his lips for the first time. The pain was still there, a constant, dull ache in his body and a gaping, screaming wound in his soul. But now, it had a purpose. It was the fuel for his vengeance. He would recover. He would grow stronger. And he would have his revenge.
~~
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