Upon hearing this, Tang Xiao swallowed back the words he was about to say, his eyes filled with shock and confusion. He asked, "Brother Hao, what do you mean by that? Isn't Ah Yin already dead?"
"Brother, this is a long story."
After a pause, Tang Hao sighed and continued, "After Ah Yin sacrificed herself to me, I took my son and lived in seclusion in a small village, raising him with great difficulty."
"Until one day, he suddenly became the disciple of a young man. Although this person was only a teenager, he was exceptionally talented, even comparable to me."
"You should have heard of his name; he is Lin Mu!"
Upon hearing this, everyone present was stunned.
Although the Clear Sky Sect was closed off from the outside world, it did not mean that they were completely cut off from contact. In the past year or two, Lin Mu had become famous throughout the continent, and they had naturally heard of him.
A moment later, Tang Xiao was the first to recover, looking astonished. "Brother Hao, what does this have to do with Ah Yin?"
To him, even if Lin Mu was exceptionally talented, it was irrelevant; he only wanted to know about his sister-in-law's safety.
"Brother, it was Lin Mu who stole Ah Yin! He first deceived my son, and then took Ah Yin away from me. Now I'm all alone, and I've even lost an arm and a leg."
As he spoke, Tang Hao's eyes were filled with anger. He clenched his fists, then quickly relaxed them.
With his current Soul Power of just over level seventy, he couldn't possibly deal with Lin Mu, let alone Dugu Bo. He could only watch helplessly as his son and wife were deceived by Lin Mu.
"What!"
Tang Xiao's eyes widened, looking at Tang Hao in disbelief. He asked urgently, "What exactly happened? Is Ah Yin dead or alive?"
Upon learning of Tang Hao's tragic end, the five elders were equally shocked.
However, they were more gloating than anything else, wishing Tang Hao suffered even more. After all, if Tang Hao hadn't made his mistake back then, they wouldn't have been implicated.
"Big Brother."
Facing Tang Xiao's question, Tang Hao didn't rush to answer, instead looking at the five elders behind him, his eyes revealing a hint of distrust.
If they knew that Ah Yin might be resurrected, it might endanger Ah Yin's safety.
Noticing Tang Hao's scrutiny, the Seventh Elder immediately flew into a rage, sneering, "You've ruined the sect so badly, ending up with your wife and children separated from you, you deserve it!"
Hearing this, Tang Hao's face darkened, almost unable to suppress his anger.
But thinking of the sins he had committed, more than half of his anger subsided. After all, he was the one who owed the sect.
Originally, he wanted to wait until Tang San became the most outstanding Soul Master of the younger generation before letting Tang San acknowledge his ancestors and return to the sect, which would be a way of making amends.
Unexpectedly, under Lin Mu's instigation, Tang San became a completely unfilial son!
He would rather believe a stranger than help his own father with a small favor, as if raising him was for nothing.
Seeing this, Tang Xiao's expression suddenly turned cold, and he said in a deep voice, "Seventh Elder, Brother Hao has already received his due punishment, so don't kick him while he's down."
"Sect Master, this beast not only killed my son, but also the former Sect Master and countless sect disciples. You can't show favoritism!" the Seventh Elder said with a face full of dissatisfaction.
At the same time, the other four elders stood at his side, clearly indicating that they were on the same side as the Seventh Elder.
Seeing that the five elders were showing him no respect, Tang Xiao felt very helpless.
Even as the Sect Master, he couldn't do anything to the five elders, and besides, he was definitely no match for them if they joined forces.
If Tang Hao were still in his prime, the two brothers could have dealt with them together, but now that Tang Hao had lost one of his arms and legs and his Soul Power had dropped to level seventy, even the Seventh Elder could defeat him.
At this moment, Tang Hao stepped forward and knelt directly before the Seventh Elder, his voice heavy as he said, "Seventh Elder, now that I've returned to the sect, I will no longer shirk my responsibilities. I only hope you can give me some time to resolve this matter, and then I will let you deal with me as you see fit."
Looking at Tang Hao kneeling on the ground, the five elders were all incredulous.
Although they were Tang Hao's elders, he had always been arrogant and had never knelt before them before. They never expected him to go this far.
Even the Seventh Elder hesitated; after all, Tang Hao was the son of the former Sect Master.
"Seventh Elder, put aside your grudges for now. So many years have passed; a few more months won't make a difference," the Second Elder said firmly.
Hearing this, the Seventh Elder immediately seized the opportunity and temporarily let Tang Hao go.
Afterwards, Tang Xiao led Tang Hao to a study, wanting to inquire about the details of the matter.
With Tang Hao's embellishments, Tang Xiao flew into a rage, shouting, "Shameless brat! How dare you bewitch my nephew! You crippled my Brother Hao's hand and leg, and even imprisoned and humiliated my sister-in-law!"
"Brother, he also stole the sect's two Soul Bones."
"Don't worry, Brother Hao, I will definitely avenge you and retrieve the Spirit Bones as well. The elders won't stand idly by either."
Spirit City.
Since the third round of the competition, Lin Mu had returned to the inn to cultivate.
Now, the main quest completion rate was over 70%, having previously been rewarded with one level of Soul Power and an increase of 10,000 years in age for any Soul Ring.
Combined with a year of cultivation, his Soul Power was approaching level 89, and all his Soul Rings had reached over 10,000 years.
To break through to the Title Douluo level as soon as possible, Lin Mu planned to try condensing a Soul Core.
Previously, Lin Mu dared not try rashly, fearing that he might damage his meridians or even lose all his cultivation, which would be a greater loss than gain.
But now, his mental strength had reached the level of a Title Douluo, and his control over Soul Power surpassed that of some Super Douluos, giving him at least a 90% certainty.
Lin Mu planned to condense this first Soul Core into a fire-attribute Soul Core.
Although he had now collected four sets of elemental armor, Nava Flame Armor's fire attribute had been greatly enhanced, equivalent to the so-called Ultimate Fire.
He would consider condensing Soul Cores of other attributes after breaking through to Title Douluo.
If he could collect four or five Soul Cores, he might be able to rival gods with his mortal body, since the gods in this world were not considered particularly strong.
Next, Lin Mu tried to use his mental strength to guide his Soul Power to gather in his dantian, making it rotate at high speed to form an inward-compressing vortex.
Then, he integrated the attributes of his Martial Soul and his understanding of the heaven and earth energy into the vortex.
He continuously drove the vortex, forcibly compressing the Soul Power, mental strength, and heaven and earth energy to a critical point.
As the vortex was continuously compressed, the energy density finally reached its limit, condensing into a red crystal.
"So this is the Soul Core?"
Lin Mu exhaled a breath of stale air, feeling the immense energy contained within the crystal, and suddenly felt a sense of unreality.
Although the process took quite a while, it went relatively smoothly overall, simpler than he had imagined.