Chapter 5: I’ve Awakened Twin Martial Souls?

"That is precisely why I say you are still a child..."

Tang Hao looked at Xue Yuan, who seemed ready to drag him back to Heaven Dou at this very moment to bash a few holes into Xue Qinghe's skull with a ninth soul skill. He reached out and pressed down firmly on her head, asking, "You are the one currently betrayed by Heaven Dou and wanted by the entire continent. If I accompany you back to kill the Crown Prince of Heaven Dou—the one supposedly in charge of the big picture—do you think the people of Heaven Dou will thank me for bringing such catastrophe upon them?"

Xue Yuan argued stubbornly, "I can..."

Tang Hao ruffled her silver hair into a messy heap, cutting her off directly. "Find evidence? You want to find evidence right under Xue Qinghe's nose?"

This question brought the hot-headed Xue Yuan, who had been determined to return to Heaven Dou to clear her name, back to reality. She began to think it over carefully. Tang Hao wore a half-smile, took a sip of wine, and said lazily, "You may try. When you have enough leverage, then you can convince me to return with you. But for now, neither you nor I have the strength to face the entire Spirit Hall."

Xue Yuan was stunned, immediately asking, "Spirit Hall? Wasn't this the underhanded work of the Star Luo Empire?"

To a child ignorant of the inner workings of the Heaven Dou royal family, the Star Luo Empire, being a similarly vast nation, seemed far more threatening than a self-established organization of soul masters like Spirit Hall. But how could it be that simple?

"With Spirit Hall in existence, Star Luo and Heaven Dou will never engage in a direct, all-out war. Furthermore, the poison in your system comes from a titled Douluo of Spirit Hall, known as the Pufferfish Douluo."

Tang Hao explained slowly. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Though it is a lethal, soul-bound poison, the one who administered it was soft-hearted. They didn't aim to kill you immediately, but rather to gradually destroy your meridians, causing your soul power to drain and your martial soul to shatter. Fortunately, another martial soul inside you protected your body, preventing you from becoming a complete cripple."

Xue Yuan’s mind went blank. She pondered his words repeatedly, and after a moment of reaction, she asked hesitantly, "Wait a moment... another martial soul?"

"Your martial soul is called the Soul-Wounding Bird, correct?" Tang Hao crossed his legs on the recliner, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. "That is the orthodox founding martial soul of Heaven Dou. Strictly speaking, the Swan martial soul of the current Heaven Dou royal family is the mutated side. Otherwise, how could a flashy but useless Swan martial soul have managed to suppress all other factions and unify Heaven Dou during the initial era of warring states?"

Xue Yuan felt a sudden flash of realization. Tang Hao finally stood up from his chair. He clasped his hands behind his back, rose unhurriedly, and looked at the slowly setting sun outside the window, reminiscing, "Legend has it that the Soul-Wounding Bird is an incredibly fierce ancient divine beast capable of traversing between the realms of the living and the dead. It is the most terrifying agility-attack type martial soul. With its suppression, the other martial soul within you remained hidden; it only emerged to protect your body once the Soul-Wounding Bird was damaged."

He turned his head to look at the dazed young girl and reminded her, "Congratulations, Your Highness. A blessing in disguise."

Xue Yuan felt as if she had been led into a maze. She clenched her fists tightly, sensing once again the emptiness in her meridians, her voice growing faint. "But my martial soul is unusable, and my soul power is almost entirely gone."

"Exactly. You need to recuperate and keep a low profile, not charge back to your death in a fit of passion." Tang Hao picked up the blacksmith’s apron hanging by the chair and tossed it backward. It landed perfectly on Xue Yuan’s head, obscuring her face before he continued, "When you learn to hide your emotions and stop wearing 'I want revenge' written all over your face, that is when I will tell you how to begin the next phase of your plan."

How long would that take?

Xue Yuan had just opened her mouth when footsteps sounded outside. The two stopped their discussion with tacit understanding. A few seconds later, Tang San pushed the door open, carrying a large bucket of water, and said dutifully, "Dad, the water is here."

Tang Hao brushed past him without even sparing his own son a glance, merely saying faintly, "I will be away for a few days. Take care of your sister."

Xue Yuan opened her mouth to speak but hesitated, casting a look of resentment at the child who was even shorter than her. Tang San observed the subtle atmosphere between the two, hesitated for zero seconds, and asked, "Dad, is she your illegitimate daughter?"

"..."

"..."

Xue Yuan looked at Tang Hao in silence, her eyes clearly screaming, "Am I?"

"You... I... she is just..." Tang Hao felt his tongue tie into a knot. Looking at the innocent expressions of the two children, he chose to turn away and spoke to Xue Yuan via secret voice transmission: "He only thinks I am a common blacksmith. Do not let anything slip."

Watching Tang Hao push the door open and leave, Xue Yuan stepped forward in frustration. Seeing that he had no intention of looking back and that her body had not yet recovered, she could only turn around and look at the child left behind by his father in this dilapidated hut, asking, "Has your father always been like this? You two don't seem very close."

"I don't know either. Perhaps it has something to do with Mother." Tang San, as if long accustomed to this, earnestly and clumsily carried the water to the stove and began to skillfully boil water to cook. He added, "Is there anything you would like to eat?"

Xue Yuan murmured a response and sat back on the bed, nursing her meridians while trying to communicate with Xue Qinghe again. But despite calling out several times, the soul of Xue Qinghe refused to appear. She had no choice but to focus on her internal injuries and carefully sense the second martial soul Tang Hao had mentioned.

Tang Hao did not return that day, nor was he seen the next. When Xue Yuan woke the following morning, Tang San had already returned from cutting wood and fetching water with his usual proficiency. With such an unreliable father, it was no wonder the child was so calm; after all, every storm he had encountered had been stirred up by his own father.

Xue Yuan could not help but be even more curious about the reasons that had forced Tang Hao into hiding.

A day later, Xue Yuan looked down at the rice porridge mixed with raw grains, hesitating. Tang San finished his bowl of white porridge in one gulp, looked at Xue Yuan, who hadn't touched her chopsticks, and said honestly, "Big sister, you have 'disgust' written all over your face."

Xue Yuan took a deep breath, picked up the wooden bowl with elegance, and drank the rice soup bit by bit, though a strange, uncomfortable feeling welled up inside her. As a princess of Heaven Dou, supported by the masses and living in luxury, she had never known that her own people could only survive on rice soup...

Her fingers were as delicate as white jade, and combined with the etiquette that had no place in this broken shack, she was clearly a golden branch and jade leaf of the past...

Tang San stared for a moment, set down his chopsticks, and made a sincere promise: "I will keep an eye out next time I go into the mountains and try to catch some wild pheasants for you to gain some strength."

Xue Yuan’s hand paused as she drank the soup. She raised her eyes to look at Tang San, and an indescribable emotion rippled through her heart.

Suddenly, the door of the shack was kicked open, and a voice shouted: "Get that person who is harboring a criminal of Heaven Dou out here!"