The steaming teacup was held in Tang Sui's icy palms, and under her control, her body temperature slowly rose back to normal, preventing the teacup from freezing and cracking.
"Sui Sui, quickly tell us, what exactly happened?" Zhao Wuji, sitting beside Flanders, couldn't contain his curiosity.
Tang Sui looked up, taking in the earnest concern and worry on the faces and in the eyes of her four elders. She let out a soft sigh and began to confess.
"All of you here are elders whom Tang Sui genuinely recognizes, so it's time I told you some things."
"You all know that I was sickly as a child, and even after embarking on the path of cultivation, I was prone to dying young, correct?"
Apart from Liu Erlong, the other three, including the Master, nodded repeatedly.
"In fact, before my martial soul even awakened, I was close to not making it," Tang Sui lowered her eyes, organizing the words she had prepared along the way, and spoke slowly.
"I remember that day was also overcast, much like today, and it looked like it was about to rain. My body developed a high fever due to the dampness. Brother and Father were not home, and no one knew I was dying."
This was not a lie.
Whenever it was overcast and rainy in her childhood, and a cold snap hit, she would easily fall ill. Each time, it was a race against death.
Fortunately, there were medicinal herbs her brother collected from the mountains and brewed into soup, which kept her alive.
In the blink of an eye, she who was once so frail that a gust of wind could knock her down had grown to this level of strength.
This was something she had never expected either.
Listening to Tang Sui speak with a tone that was half reminiscent and half sentimental, the Master and the others felt their hearts clench. As Tang Sui's teacher, the Master's gaze towards her was filled with undisguised pain, and he felt a sense of regret for not meeting her sooner.
"That day, as I drifted in and out of consciousness from the fever, I suddenly heard a sound from within the house. Mustering my strength, I went out to see a stranger in a black cloak. I never imagined that this would be an encounter that would change my life."
"That senior's true form was a primordial exotic beast. He was heavily injured and on the verge of death. Little did he expect to encounter me, who was already a hybrid of human and soul beast."
"Primordial exotic beast?!" The Master exclaimed in surprise. "Primordial exotic beasts are not soul beasts. Although ancient texts record that they possess special abilities similar to soul skills, they have no soul power. How can they cultivate and transform into humans?"
Flanders and the others also wore expressions of having their horizons broadened.
Tang Sui nodded and shook her head. "It's similar to how a ten-thousand-year soul beast transforms into a human, reaching the 60th level and entering its mature stage, or the 70th level to become fully human."
"Primordial exotic beasts, also known as the demon race, can directly transform into humans in their infancy, with their cultivation completely unsuppressed. This is because they do not cultivate soul power but another force called demonic power. However, similar to ten-thousand-year soul beasts before entering their mature stage, their aura is extremely easy to expose."
"If it weren't for me being a hybrid, with my father's human bloodline being dominant, I likely wouldn't have survived this long."
Zhao Wuji, sensing something unusual, looked over with confusion. "What do you mean by that?"
"That senior, whose time was running out, wanted to take a gamble and pass on his bloodline. He asked for my consent. I didn't want to die at the time, so I agreed to the senior's proposal," Tang Sui said, half truthfully and half fictionally. "I don't know how the senior managed it. In any case, when Brother came back and woke me up, the senior had already disappeared, and my fever had subsided."
Flanders took a sip of tea to calm his nerves, but the Master had lost interest in his tea and continued, "And then?"
"And then... it wasn't until I was six years old, when the village chief took me, my brother, and other children from the village to awaken our martial souls, that I realized I was different from my brother and the others. I could cultivate another energy that could be mutually converted with soul power, demonic power."
At this point, Tang Sui's tone shifted. "The final match of the Soul Master Elite Competition eight years ago feels like yesterday. After I lost control, a great demon senior... well, comparable to the overlords among ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Because of this trace of thin demonic bloodline within me, she picked me up and brought me to the Slaughter City where she resided. She and another great demon senior took care of me, and I managed to escape danger."
"Great demon... does this mean that among the primordial exotic beasts, or rather, the demon race, there are also distinctions in strength and titles?" the Master asked hesitantly.
Tang Sui nodded with a smile. "Yes. If we were to use soul master cultivation levels to gauge them, she is a Titled Douluo of level 99."
"Level 99!!!"
The Master and the others nearly fell off their seats, exclaiming in unison.
"On the current Douluo Continent, there are fewer than ten Titled Douluos who have reached level 99. To think that there are two such existences within the Slaughter City!" Flanders' hand trembled as he held his teacup, spilling tea incessantly.
Tang Sui nodded and continued to drop bombshells. "After the senior picked me up, although my injuries healed, my memories were lost. The two seniors patiently taught me the ancestral knowledge of the demon race. Later... some things happened, and one of the seniors... entered eternal seclusion. And I became the ruler of the Slaughter City."
The Master and the others, caught off guard by this bizarre turn of events, were stunned.
"The ruler of Slaughter City?!" Zhao Wuji, who had heard of the Slaughter City's reputation, gasped. The Master and the others also had their worldviews shattered.
Tang Sui nodded and added, "Yes. However, the Hell Road in the Slaughter City is now gone. Whether one can obtain the Killing God Domain depends entirely on their luck. Furthermore, since I took complete control of the Slaughter City, it is now my absolute domain. It is also my intelligence network and a crucial foundation for combat power, besides the Tang Sect."
"On a side note, the Slaughter City is actually a trial ground left by the Asura God. To fully possess the authority of the Slaughter City, I previously communicated with the Asura God's divine consciousness remaining on the Douluo Continent. I learned that the king of the Spirit Empire, Bibi Dong, is now the inheritor of His old adversary, the Rakshasa God."
One shocking piece of news after another poured out from Tang Sui's mouth, causing the Master and the others' expressions to grow increasingly grave. The most alarming revelation was that Bibi Dong had become the inheritor of another deity!
Throughout history, anyone connected to a deity could not be simple.
Coupled with the Spirit Hall's own formidable strength, it was no wonder they were so confident in openly challenging the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, the two largest powers on the Douluo Continent!
And Tang Sui continued:
"Both the Asura God and I have had conflicts with the Rakshasa God, and we have reached a mutually beneficial agreement."
"I have returned this time because I want to exchange information about the Spirit Empire's current situation with you all. Secondly, as I just heard from Dean Flanders about the fall of the Barac Kingdom, I wish to ask, Teacher, how do you plan to proceed?"
---
Author's Note ---
Preparing to defend Gengxin City! The Blacksmith's Association is truly miserable.