novelHire Chapter 908: The Hatred of a Father's Murder, The Agony of a Son's Loss
Chapter 908: The Hatred of a Father's Murder, The Agony of a Son's Loss
...Upon hearing that the Battle Soul Hall was heading to the Starry Sky Great Forest to hunt for World Rings, and that Bixixi was personally leading the team, Tang Er immediately sensed something was wrong.
The Starry Sky Great Forest was the Battle Soul Hall's hunting ground, this was common knowledge. Countless World Beasts died under the Battle Soul Hall's hunts every year.
But there had never been a time when Bixixi needed to personally take action.
And if Bixixi was personally taking action, there was only one possibility.
—The Battle Soul Hall was preparing to hunt an exceptionally powerful World Beast, one that required Bixixi's strength. Combined with Bixixi's plan, it was easy to deduce that the Battle Soul Hall's target this time was undoubtedly a World Beast over a hundred thousand years old.
And Little Rabbit, hiding in the core area of the Starry Sky Great Forest, fell squarely within Bixixi's hunting range.
"The Battle Soul Hall killed my wife! Li Qingran killed my father! I will never coexist peacefully with you all!"
Seeing Tang Er's hysterical, frenzied appearance, the teammates who had followed him were all startled.
However, they could understand Tang Er's pain and madness. The hatred of a father's murder, the resentment of a wife being taken away.
Even though they hadn't experienced it personally, such profound hatred was something no man could accept.
"Tang Er, I see none of the World Beasts dead here are hundred-thousand-year ones. Didn't you say Little Rabbit was protected by two hundred-thousand-year World Beasts?"
A teammate tried to reason with him, "Since there are two hundred-thousand-year World Beasts, even if Bixixi personally takes action, she might not necessarily succeed in hunting them. Calm down first, maybe she's alright?"
His teammate's words were like a bucket of cold water, barely extinguishing the spark of madness in Tang Er's heart.
"Right! If she's alive, I must see her; if she's dead, I must see her body!"
Tang Er bit his tongue until it bled, forcing himself to calm down.
Relying on the faint, almost imperceptible Battle Power connection he shared with Little Rabbit, he led his teammates charging into the forest's core area.
Inside a hidden cave.
"Little Rabbit!!"
Tang Er rushed into the cave entrance and immediately saw that safe and sound figure.
But then he froze.
Because standing beside Little Rabbit were two unfamiliar men with profound auras and burly builds.
One had a face full of rough, fierce features but wore a bear-skin coat, while the other had a sinister, hawk-like gaze but was dressed in a dark green robe.
If not for the unmistakable, dense World Beast aura clinging to them, for a moment he would have suspected Little Rabbit had taken two wild old lovers behind his back.
"Second Brother!"
Seeing Tang Er, Little Rabbit jumped up in surprise and threw herself into his arms.
"It's great... you're still alive too!"
"I thought... I thought I'd never see you again."
Feeling the warm body temperature in his arms, Tang Er's hanging heart finally settled.
He looked warily at the two strange men. "They are..."
"Heh heh, Tang family kid, don't recognize me anymore?"
The bear-skin-clad big man grinned, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth.
"I'm the Purple-Gold Flame Bear! That's the old poison, the Jadewater Jiao! Thanks to that Master's blessing, we're human now too!"
"What?!" Tang Er and his teammates were shocked.
Hundred-thousand-year World Beasts... had become human?!
Wasn't it said that World Beasts transforming was extremely difficult, a nine-deaths-one-life ordeal?
Why did it sound from the Jadewater Jiao and Purple-Gold Flame Bear's tone like it was easy?
Little Rabbit pulled Tang Er's hand, her eyes filled with gratitude and excitement, and recounted everything that had happened earlier in detail.
"...That's how it was. That white-clothed senior, though he looked cold and aloof, is actually a very good person.
He taught us the 'Heavenly Demon Body Refinement Chapter.' Not only did he not kill us, he even helped us shed our mortal forms and be reborn..."
"He is our benefactor!"
"Benefactor?"
These two words were like a sharp knife, brutally stabbing into Tang Er's heart.
He violently pushed Little Rabbit away, looking at her with disbelief.
"You say... that executioner who killed my father is your benefactor?!"
Tang Er's eyes instantly turned blood-red, his voice trembling with rage.
"Little Rabbit! Do you even know what you're saying?! Not long ago, that person... that white-clothed swordsman, cut off my father's head right in front of me!!"
"My father's murderer, and you call him benefactor?!"
The smile on Little Rabbit's face froze.
Looking at Tang Er's ferocious expression, her heart ached, but she still took a deep breath, her eyes full of complexity.
"Brother... I know you're hurting."
"But... grievances have their source, debts have their debtor."
"I was there for the situation too. It was your father who wanted to kill Li Qingran first."
Little Rabbit's voice was soft, but each word pierced the heart.
"That senior originally didn't intend to act. It was your father who said he wanted to 'cut the weeds and dig up the roots.' He was the one who moved to kill first... That senior was only protecting his wife."
"If the positions were reversed, if someone wanted to kill me, wouldn't you also be like that senior and kill the other person?"
"Shut up!!" Tang Er roared furiously, cutting her off.
"That's a different matter! That was my father!!"
"Regardless of who was right or wrong, the hatred of a father's murder cannot be shared under the same sky!"
He stared fixedly at Little Rabbit, the disappointment and heartache in his eyes overflowing.
"I never thought... you would actually speak up for an outsider."
"Is it because he gave you this skin? Because he turned you into humans? So you've forgotten he's the demon who killed my father?!"
"I..." Little Rabbit was at a loss for words, tears welling up in her eyes.
The bear big man and jiao big man beside her couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to step forward to argue, but Little Rabbit stopped them.
"Fine... just fine."
Tang Er took two steps back, letting out a miserable laugh.
"Those who walk different paths cannot make plans together."
"Little Rabbit, since you recognize a thief as your father and hold that benefactor of yours in such high regard... then from now on, we..."
He gritted his teeth, squeezing the words out from between them.
"Go our separate ways!"
"My vengeance, I'll seek it myself! I don't need you involved, and I hope you... stay away from that Li Qingran from now on!"
Though not explicitly stated.
The meaning between the lines was already clear.
If she got too close, he wouldn't mind including Little Rabbit, the Jadewater Jiao, and the Purple-Gold Flame Bear as targets of his revenge.
Having said that, Tang Er turned sharply and, with his bewildered teammates in tow, rushed out of the cave without looking back, disappearing into the vast night.
Leaving only Little Rabbit standing in place, tears falling like rain.
...
At the same time.
Canglan Divine Realm.
"ROAR————!!!"
A dragon's roar filled with grief, indignation, and furious rage shook the entire Divine Realm palace.
The Golden Dragon King coiled upon his golden divine throne, his massive dragon pupils burning with tangible flames of anger.
"Dead... my son... my North and South Green Bean Hikikomoris!"
"My only son!!"
He had sensed it.
His precious son, who though looked a bit strange and wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed but had maxed-out defense, his aura had completely vanished.
And he died in an extremely humiliating way, his very soul ground to dust!
"Who?! Who dares touch this king's offspring!!"
The Golden Dragon King swept his Divine Sense, instantly piercing through the planar barrier and locking onto the two figures in the core area of the Starry Sky Great Forest.
A white-clothed swordsman.
A young girl absorbing a World Ring.
"Li Qingran... it's this Li Qingran again!!"
The Golden Dragon King was furious beyond measure.
"Even if you are the person His Lordship designated to be cared for... but the hatred of a son's murder must be avenged!!"
"This king won't kill you, but I will cripple you!! I'll make you know divine majesty cannot be offended!!"
He abruptly rose, his massive dragon body about to tear through space and descend to the Lower Realm.
However.
Just as his dragon claw touched the planar barrier.
*Zzzzt—!*
The eternally unchanging auspicious clouds of the Divine Realm overhead suddenly turned into a suffocating pitch-black.
An enormous, utterly indifferent Giant Golden Eyeball emerged from the void without warning.
It had no pupils, only endless rules and lightning.
It simply stared quietly at the Golden Dragon King, like staring at a crawling insect trying to escape prison.
"You..."
Every scale on the Golden Dragon King's body instantly stood on end. A fear originating from the depths of his soul froze him in place.
Before he could even beg for mercy.
*BOOM—!!!*
A pillar of golden tribulation lightning, thick as a celestial column, carrying the irresistible will of the "Heavenly Dao," descended upon his head.
"ARGH!!!"
The Golden Dragon King let out a shrill, miserable scream. His indestructible dragon body instantly split open, flesh torn, blasted down from mid-air and smashed heavily onto the palace floor, creating a bottomless crater.
He was charred black all over, smoking, barely clinging to life.
"Old Gold!!"
The Silver Dragon King beside him was terrified out of her wits. She rushed over to shield the Golden Dragon King, kneeling and begging towards the giant eyeball.
"My Lord! My Lord, spare him!!"
"Old Gold was driven mad by the agony of losing his son! He didn't mean it! Please, on account of our diligent service before, spare his life!!"
In the sky above.
The Giant Golden Eyeball slowly rotated. An icy voice exploded in the minds of both dragons.
"Li Qingran, from this day forth, is the 'Son of the Realm' of the Canglan Realm."
"Your task is to assist her wholeheartedly. Even if it costs your lives, you must protect her safety."
"If there is another mistake, or if you harbor any delusional thoughts..."
"You two old loaches will have no reason to continue existing."
Having spoken, the Giant Golden Eyeball slowly faded away.
The Canglan Divine Realm returned to calm.
Only the ruins remained, where the Silver Dragon King held the half-cooked Golden Dragon King, trembling.
The Golden Dragon King struggled to open his eyes, coughing up a piece of internal organ fragment.
He lowered his noble head. But beneath his charred eyelids, deep within those turbid dragon pupils, hid a resentment more dark and venomous than the abyss.
Son of the Realm...
What a fine Son of the Realm...
The hatred of a son's murder, the humiliation of a broken spine... how can this debt be left unsettled?
It must be settled.
But definitely not openly.
The Golden Dragon King closed his eyes. His Divine Sense swept across the entire Canglan Continent, finally landing on that figure resolutely leaving in the gale.
The hatred of a father's murder, the agony of a son's loss.
In a sense, weren't they the same thing?
"Got it." The Golden Dragon King narrowed his eyes, the corner of his mouth curling into a sinister smile.
...