Chapter 87: 104. Ah Yin Divided into Three
As soon as her words fell, the blue silver grass coiling around Tang Hao suddenly retreated into the earth. In the next instant, those same vines sprouted from the ground beside Tang Xiao, gently wrapping around him.
The sacrificial domain expelled Tang Hao coldly and instead embraced Tang Xiao tenderly within it.
It all happened so fast that Tang Hao's mind froze for a moment. Only after a few seconds did he realize—he had been kicked out. Ah Yin had changed the target of her sacrifice—she had transferred it from him to Tang Xiao.
Inside the luminous domain, Ah Yin stepped gracefully toward Tang Xiao. She cupped his face gently and kissed him.
To Tang Hao, watching from outside, the scene was like a dagger plunging straight into his heart.
He thought of all he had endured—fine, he admitted it to himself—everything he had done was to manipulate Spirit Hall into forcing Ah Yin to sacrifice herself for him.
He had paid dearly for this scheme. Under the sect's relentless pursuit, he had been forced to raise his Clear Sky Hammer against his own kin, carrying a burden of guilt that could never be cleansed.
He sacrificed so much… and now, just as he was about to reap the result of his plan, just as Ah Yin opened her sacrificial domain for him—Tang Xiao arrived. He did nothing, and yet he had stolen the gift meant for Tang Hao.
That was Ah Yin's hundred-thousand-year soul ring—a symbol of her love. In their previous life, she had poured her devotion into that ring as an offering to him. That was his, Tang Hao's, exclusive soul ring.
Jealousy. Pain. Desperation. A storm surged in Tang Hao's heart.
It all erupted in one anguished howl.
"Ah Yin—ahhhhhhh!"
To Tang Hao, the roar sounded like that of a beast. Somewhere deep in his mind, it seemed as if a grim voice whispered mockingly, Come back, Haozi. Come back to Gotham. I promise I won't kill you again.
He went berserk, swinging his Clear Sky Hammer madly against the golden-red barrier of the sacrificial field.
But inside, Ah Yin and Tang Xiao saw nothing but each other. Tang Hao might as well have been invisible.
When their kiss ended, Tang Xiao whispered, "Ah Yin, I don't need your sacrifice. I just want you to stay by my side."
Tears glistened in her eyes. "Brother Xiao, thank you for not despising me, for still loving this ruined, tainted body… but it's too late. The process has already begun. To give everything I have to the one I love most—that's the best ending I could hope for."
She reached out and gently brushed her hand over Tang Xiao's crippled body. "I'm sorry. It's my fault you ended up like this. Your talent was no worse than Tang Hao's—you shouldn't have become like this."
"It's not your fault," Tang Xiao said, his voice trembling. "It's that beast Tang Hao's doing."
Ah Yin shook her head softly. "If not for me, he wouldn't have done any of this. So now, I'll return to you everything that was originally yours."
Tang Xiao felt a surge of immense vitality flooding his body through the vines coiling around him. That life energy flowed boundlessly into his wounds, fusing his shattered spine, knitting flesh and bone anew.
Slowly, with trembling hands, Tang Xiao stood up—his strength restored. He could walk again.
But when he looked toward Ah Yin, joy crumbled into dread. Her glow was fading—the light of her form growing thinner, dimmer.
"Brother Xiao," she said softly, her words trembling yet resolute, "may my love for you take form as this soul ring—forever by your side."
Her body disintegrated, dissolving into a blood-red hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
All eyes fell upon it—the shining crimson halo drifting amid the fading light of her sacrifice.
Tang Tian's face brightened with awe. Tang Hao's expression collapsed in disbelief. Hidden in the shadows, Qian Xunji and the others watched in silent regret.
"Ah Yin!" Tang Xiao screamed, reaching for her fading figure. His fingers grasped nothing but air. The soul ring hovered before him, glowing softly—the prize most soul masters could only dream of. Yet joy was the last thing he felt. He had seen her one final time… and lost her forever.
The sacrifice continued. Within the domain, Tang Xiao's soul power surged rapidly to level 90. Eight soul rings manifested—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black—and then the crimson hundred-thousand-year ring joined them, fusing seamlessly. Tang Xiao became a Titled Douluo—the youngest in the entire continent, armed with a hundred-thousand-year ring.
"Ahhhhh! Why?! Why must it be like this?!" Tang Hao cried, hurling the Clear Sky Hammer aside. He beat his chest with wild fury, howling like a wounded beast.
In the Divine Realm, within the Asura God Palace—
"You've got to be kidding me," the Asura God muttered, dumbstruck. Then his expression darkened as he shouted, "I told you to sacrifice yourself to Tang Hao! And you went and gave it to Tang Xiao instead?! Damn you, stupid romantic fool! Is your crippled lover really more important than your son? That invalid? You've ruined everything! That hundred-thousand-year soul ring was supposed to be for my Precious Child's protector!"
When Ah Yin's sacrifice ended, her second treasure—the hundred-thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor's right leg bone—appeared as well.
It should have gone to Tang Xiao, but the shameless Asura God intervened directly. With one flick of his hand, the spirit bone flew past Tang Xiao and landed right in Tang Hao's grasp.
"You useless fool!" the god barked. "Fine, the ring's lost, but you better not waste the soul bone meant for my Precious Child's guardian!"
Meanwhile, in the Eternal Temple of the Divine Realm—
Huo Yuhao observed with quiet satisfaction. Just moments earlier, he had performed a delicate feat—extracting all of Ah Yin's memories and love for Tang Xiao and sealing them within that blood-red ring.
For Huo Yuhao, Ah Yin was still an essential piece in the grand design. But his upcoming story required a different Ah Yin—one who despised Tang Hao, not one who loved Tang Xiao.
Thus, the Ah Yin who had loved Tang Xiao was gone, erased within her sacrifice.
From the ground where she vanished, a Blue Silver Emperor life seed emerged. Huo Yuhao's eyes gleamed as he contacted his agent in the mortal world. "Tian Meng," he said, "the target's appeared. You know what to do."
"Copy that, Brother Hao. Mission accepted," Tian Meng replied confidently.
With perfect precision, Tian Meng swapped the real Blue Silver Emperor seed for a fake one, completing the ruse.
And thus, Ah Yin's sacrifice was cruelly divided into three parts:
Her soul ring went to Tang Xiao.
Her soul bone, to Tang Hao.
And her life seed—stolen by Tian Meng.
Poor Ah Yin had been neatly split into thirds.
(END CHAPTER)
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