Chapter 98: The Pain and Loneliness of Tang Hao, and the Arrival of His Real Third Sister, Ah Ying!

Liu Erlong had never forgotten how her mother died.

After unexpectedly becoming pregnant with her, as a woman from a questionable background, her mother had never thought of—nor dared to think about—marrying Yu Luomian. To give birth to her, her mother had returned to her hometown.

But life back home was too hard. Relying on her mother alone, it was simply impossible to raise her. So her mother had once held her in her arms and gone to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, hoping to meet Yu Luomian.

She had hoped that Yu Luomian would give her some money to help raise their child.

At that time, Yu Luomian was already married. In the end, he didn't even see her mother once and had someone drive her out.

If it had only been for the sake of his lawful wife, perhaps that could be understood. But afterward, Yu Luomian had never sought her out in private, nor had he sent a single copper soul coin.

And so, her mother raised her alone in hardship. Eventually, the toll on her health became too great, and she passed away.

After awakening her martial soul, she learned she had a father from a great soul master clan. But her mother never told her which clan he belonged to, or what his name was.

Only now did Liu Erlong finally know.

After the group—Yu Yuanzhen, Yu Luomian, and Liu Erlong—crossed the great river that wound around the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's mountain range, they finally returned home.

"Sect Master! Vice Sect Master! You're finally back!"

Just as they arrived at the sect gate, several disciples of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan who were on gate duty suddenly burst into tears and dropped to their knees in front of Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Luomian, their voices choked with emotion.

They cried out that the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had suffered a vicious attack from evil soul masters, with devastating casualties.

Not only had four of the nine Elders died, but over half of their clan members and disciples had perished as well.

"What?!"

Upon hearing this, both Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Luomian felt as if they had been struck by lightning. The world spun, and darkness fell over their eyes—they nearly collapsed on the spot.

Fortunately, several disciples rushed to support them.

"Oh, heavens! What did our Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan do to deserve this?!"

"Why?! Why treat our clan this way?!"

Yu Yuanzhen clenched his fists tightly, looked to the sky, and roared in fury and grief.

Thinking back to the meeting with the Emperor Xue Ye and Spirit Hall to discuss dealing with the evil soul masters—how he had dismissed it as nothing—it now felt like karma had arrived far too quickly.

Their Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had truly suffered at the hands of the evil soul masters. And to suffer such losses… the organization responsible must be the same one mentioned at that meeting.

'This can't go on.'

'We must urge the Heaven Dou Empire and Spirit Hall to convene another meeting.'

'This evil soul master organization that's already wreaking havoc across the continent must be eradicated!'

Yu Yuanzhen seethed with anger, resolute in his decision.

People are always like this. If the fire hasn't reached their doorstep, they keep their distance and act indifferent. But once the flames arrive, they panic more than anyone.

But there's an old saying:

'I know you're in a hurry, but please—don't be in such a rush.'

After all, from Qian Xunji's perspective, he was deliberately allowing Bibi Dong's Evil Nether Hall to grow rapidly in strength—using them to threaten the three upper sects and the two great empires.

That way, the two empires would have no choice but to agree to complete Spirit Hall's final piece of the puzzle.

Last time, when Spirit Hall and the Heaven Dou Empire convened a meeting, they wanted the three upper sects to send forces and work together to wipe out the cunning evil soul master organization that already had a leader.

But the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan refused.

And now that they've suffered, they want to reconvene a meeting and team up to destroy them?

'What a joke!'

…

Meanwhile, as Yu Yuanzhen and Yu Luomian brought Liu Erlong back to the sect—

Tang Zhen, along with Tang Xiao and the sorrowful, lonely Tang Hao, returned to the Clear Sky Sect.

At first, Tang Zhen hadn't revealed that Tang Hao had caused a scene at Qian Xunji's wedding, giving him the perfect excuse to extort a ten-thousand-year soul bone and even the Clear Sky Sect's foundational artifact, the Great Sumeru Hammer.

Instead, he simply mobilized the sect's power to search for a ten-thousand-year soul bone.

But unfortunately, ten-thousand-year soul bones weren't so easy to find.

Although Tang Hao already possessed six soul bones, aside from the two ten-thousand-year ones gifted by Tang Zhen and one ten-thousand-year torso bone, the rest were only of thousand-year quality.

As for Tang Zhen himself, he only had one ten-thousand-year soul bone—one of the Clear Sky Sect's inherited treasures.

Being a sect heirloom, the soul skill of this soul bone was extremely compatible with Clear Sky Hammer soul masters.

So unless absolutely necessary, Tang Zhen certainly didn't want to part with it.

He believed that as long as he could find another ten-thousand-year soul bone, that would be enough to shut Qian Xunji up.

After all, aside from the Sect Master and the person who absorbed the soul bone, no one else knew the specific ability of their heirloom soul bones.

Unfortunately, even with the full power of the Clear Sky Sect mobilized, they still couldn't find one.

And as time passed—

Though Tang Zhen and Tang Xiao never publicly spoke of Tang Hao's disastrous behavior at Qian Xunji's wedding, many of the guests who attended—including nobles and soul master clans near Heaven Dou City—had witnessed it firsthand.

After they returned, word quickly spread.

Tang Hao, overestimating himself and acting like a clown, made a scene at Qian Xunji's wedding in Spirit City… only to be publicly slapped down by Ah Yin, who was now Qian Xunji's wife.

Qian Xunji used that as justification to demand the Great Sumeru Hammer and a ten-thousand-year soul bone from Tang Zhen as compensation.

The news spread fast.

Before long, everyone in the Clear Sky Sect knew.

No one had expected that Tang Hao would still be so obstinate.

To the point where he dared to storm into Spirit Hall and ruin the wedding of its Pope.

Because of him, the Clear Sky Sect was now being forced to hand over one of their most important artifacts and yet another heirloom soul bone.

All the disciples of the Clear Sky Sect were furious with Tang Hao.

He became a pariah—hated, spat on, and utterly despised.

But Tang Hao didn't care.

He had thought his beloved Third Sister, Ah Yin, had been forced to marry Qian Xunji.

But at the wedding, in front of so many people, when he tried to "rescue" her, Ah Yin said she was truly happy with Qian Xunji—and even asked him not to slander her husband.

That moment shattered him. He was humiliated and devastated.

After returning to the Clear Sky Sect, he once again drowned himself in drink, trying to numb the pain.

So even when the whole sect turned against him, it barely affected him anymore.

But one day, at the gates of the Clear Sky Sect—

A tall, plump woman arrived, sweating profusely and breathing heavily, with long hair tied into two thick braids. Her face was full of wrinkles and pockmarks, her eyebrows and beard even thicker than most men's.

She looked like a gender-swapped Zhao Wuji—plus size edition.

And she was heavily pregnant.

After several months, she had discovered she was pregnant.

This was Tang Hao's real Third Sister, Zhu Yingmei.

After much struggle and pain, she had come to the Clear Sky Sect—hoping to give her child a complete family.