Tang Hao's face was gloomy.
He could sense a special energy fluctuation from Ning Tianya and knew the other party must have done something, but he never imagined that Ning Tianya could send a message out despite being isolated by his Killing God Domain.
His original plan to torture Ning Tianya a bit, to make him cooperate and interrogate more information, had to be abandoned now.
He tossed Ning Tianya aside.
"Sword Dao Chen Xin."
His tone was grave, feeling immense pressure from the other party.
If it were over a decade ago, he believed he could have sparred with Chen Xin, even though Chen Xin was already a Titled Douluo back then, while he had just broken through the ninetieth level and hadn't even obtained his ninth spirit ring yet, not truly counting as a Titled Douluo.
More than ten years had passed, seas had changed into mulberry fields. He no longer had the same spirit and ambition as before.
His body was now tattered, full of internal injuries everywhere. He had neglected his cultivation for a full six years, and only in the last five years had he barely recovered to the ninety-third level he had reached upon his initial breakthrough back then.
Back when he had just broken through the ninetieth level, before he could obtain his ninth spirit ring, he fought a great battle against the many Titled Douluos led by Qian Xunji. In the end, A Yin sacrificed herself. Having perfectly fused with A Yin's 100,000-year spirit ring, his Spirit Power broke through three levels consecutively, reaching the ninety-third level.
Using Ring Explosions and the Great Sumeru Hammer, exhausting all his means, he had fought his way out through the group of experts led by Qian Xunji.
Unfortunately, A Yin still died.
And that 100,000-year spirit ring, the source of all that misery, was absorbed by him, the one who loved A Yin the most.
After that, he began a life of decadence, until six years later, when his son awakened a twin Martial Spirit with innate full Spirit Power. Seeing hope again, he resumed cultivation, working to restore his strength.
Until today, a full five years later, he had only managed to restore his cultivation to his former ninety-third level.
His internal injuries were truly difficult to suppress. He had spent a long time regulating them, forcibly blocking them at the joints of his meridians, allowing him to continue cultivating, albeit while enduring the pain of torn meridians.
Perhaps after another five years, he might have hope of breaking through to the ninety-fifth level?
In a daze, Tang Hao reviewed the course of these past ten-plus years. His focus returned, fixing on Chen Xin in mid-air.
On the rooftop of the Blacksmith Association building, Su Ming, Zhu Jiuyang, and others appeared, looking towards the area where Tang Hao was, barely making out Tang Hao's features.
"It's him!"
Lou Gao exclaimed in surprise, recognizing Tang Hao and speaking his name aloud.
"Tang Hao!"
Tang Hao's gaze shifted to the rooftop of the Blacksmith Association building, an unconscious killing intent flashing in his eyes.
This killing intent descended, causing everyone's hearts to tremble with horror. Being targeted by Tang Hao's killing intent was no less intimidating than facing a Titled Douluo's Spirit Skill head-on.
Zhu Jiuyang frowned, stepping forward to shield his disciple behind him.
"Tang Hao, how dare you!"
Seeing Tang Hao's intense killing intent, Chen Xin directly summoned his Seven Kill Sword, ready to fight at any moment.
Tang Hao snorted coldly, suppressing the killing intent that had unconsciously surged within him, and threw Ning Tianya and the other Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan disciple towards Chen Xin.
He had stripped both Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan disciples of their storage Spirit Tools.
His earlier interrogation had yielded some information; he knew they had quite a few pieces of equipment made from Spirit Metal. These would suffice for his use for a while.
After throwing the two out, he turned into a black afterimage, swiftly heading towards the city outskirts.
Chen Xin caught Ning Tianya and the other disciple, looked in the direction Tang Hao left, and breathed a sigh of relief.
"His Spirit Power level is lower than mine, but that killing intent of his is truly terrifying."
Chen Xin, who primarily cultivated the Sword Dao, felt his own killing intent wasn't as pure as Tang Hao's.
Ning Tianya, currently being held by Chen Xin, was trembling.
Mommy, that was so scary!
Chen Xin said irritably, "Look at you, scared like this! He didn't even lay a hand on you!"
Ning Tianya felt like crying but had no tears. He was just a measly little Spirit Elder; how could he not be terrified when threatened by a Titled Douluo?
Chen Xin suddenly frowned, looking towards another alley not far away.
Holding Ning Tianya and the other disciple, he landed and walked into that alley, where he found Zhao Tieshan, unconscious.
Blacksmith Association.
Su Ming's heart was pounding.
"That killing intent from Tang Hao just now was aimed at me, right? Right?"
He felt a bit of a scalp-numbing fear now.
Lou Gao merely shouted Tang Hao's name; that shouldn't have provoked such killing intent.
As for why Su Ming immediately judged that Tang Hao's killing intent was directed at himself, it was naturally because he had a guilty conscience.
"What the heck!"
Su Ming admitted that the Tang Hao of the Soul Land III era was the Lord of the Plane, and the faith of forging was rightfully his. His own actions were a bit like petty theft. But in the Soul Land I era, forging had nothing to do with Tang Hao whatsoever. For this Tang Hao to reveal killing intent towards him over the faith of forging was just going too far.
Could causality really reverse along the timeline back to the Soul Land I period?
"The 'me' in Soul Land III isn't targeted by Tang Hao, the 'me' in Soul Land II has no crisis either, but instead, the 'me' in Soul Land I gets noticed by Tang Hao?"
Su Ming's heart was still unsettled as he followed everyone back to Lou Gao's forging room.
Chen Xin had also returned with Zhao Tieshan, Ning Tianya, and the other disciple.
"We analyzed for so long, practically for nothing. Miles was probably killed by Tang Hao," Chen Xin stated.
Tang Hao.
Everyone present looked at each other.
Zhu Jiuyang, coming back to his senses, looked at Ning Tianya and asked, "What did Tang Hao want with you?"
Chen Xin also looked at Ning Tianya.
Ning Tianya swallowed hard and described the earlier scene.
"Investigating the forging system?" Lou Gao said in surprise. "He himself was a Divine Blacksmith before. If he had just come to the Association directly, it's not like we would have refused to explain these things to him, right?"
Zhu Jiuyang shot a glance at Lou Gao.
Has forging made your brain stupid?
Would Tang Hao dare to show his face?
"From the looks of it now, his goals are two-fold," Zhu Jiuyang summarized Tang Hao's objectives, sweeping his gaze over everyone present. "One is to not expose himself, the other is to obtain Spirit Metal. He got the latter. For the former, we cannot and need not concede. He killed Miles; we won't take the blame for it."
Before Lou Gao and the others could state their position, Chen Xin, the highest combat power present, spoke directly.
"I agree."
Chen Xin's stance surprised everyone present. Even Ning Yuan was somewhat puzzled, his face showing hesitation,Tangled over whether he should stop the Sword Elder.
Weren't the three great clans supposed to stand together?
Were they really going to report Tang Hao directly to Spirit Hall?
Even though Tang Hao had been expelled from the Clear Sky Clan, who in the spirit master world would truly take that seriously?
It was just like how the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan expelled that so-called Grandmaster, Yu Xiaogang, from the family. If you really had a conflict with Yu Xiaogang, you'd still have to be wary of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan behind him.
The matter of Miles could be considered big or not so big. As the second greatest clan under heaven, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan could completely shoulder the charge of killing a Platinum Bishop.
Chen Xin glanced at Ning Yuan, guessing what he was thinking.
Although Ning Yuan was very thorough in considering everyday minor matters, when it came to major issues concerning the clan's future, Chen Xin believed he saw things more clearly than Ning Yuan.
(End of Chapter)