Chapter 3: Past Events: Tang Hao and Lan Xue

About half an hour later, the martial soul awakening ceremony had reached its end.

This awakening ceremony was considered a success, barely enough to satisfy Nan Tianchen; the children of the various great families all had at least level three innate soul power, with the outstanding ones even approaching level five.

With proper cultivation, it would be no difficulty for them to rely on resources to become a Soul Ancestor, Soul King, or Soul Emperor in the future; as for becoming a Spirit Saint, that would depend on their level of effort and luck.

As for a genius like Nan Feiling with innate level seven soul power or higher, she was the only one.

But Nan Tianchen was not disappointed, because he still had his precious son who had yet to awaken; not to mention himself, just looking at Lan Xue's talent, the son born to her could not possibly have poor aptitude.

Lan Xue was one of the most outstanding geniuses Nan Tianchen had ever seen.

Moreover, this genius's growth trajectory was very unique: born a commoner in the Gu Lei Kingdom, she later awakened the top-tier tool spirit Mysterious Ice Halberd, and thus traveled far to the Heaven Dou Empire to study at Tianshui Academy, one of the Five Elements Academies.

With innate full soul power, her cultivation speed before level thirty was unrivaled in the world.

The current dean of Tianshui Academy was her close friend; back then, the two of them had even participated in the Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament together.

That was the best result Tianshui Academy had achieved in a hundred years.

With the top-tier beast spirit Ice Phoenix and the top-tier tool spirit Mysterious Ice Halberd joining forces, they swept through the other Five Elements Academies and the two great royal academies of Heaven Dou and Star Luo like a whirlwind, finally meeting the Spirit Hall Academy in the finals.

It was a pity that two fists could not defeat four hands; after battling the Spirit Hall Team for a long time, they were ultimately a step behind and defeated.

At that time, Qian Xunji also recognized Lan Xue's talent, evaluating her as having the potential of a Super Douluo.

But right after that, a strange thing happened: ever since breaking through level thirty, Lan Xue's cultivation speed became slower and slower. It was still fine before level fifty—although it had slowed down compared to before, she was still a top-tier genius compared to others—but after level fifty, her cultivation progress was extremely slow, and she was even gradually overtaken by many people; for instance, the Haotian Twin Stars completely stole her thunder.

Many people thought she was just a flash-in-the-pan genius, and gradually, Lan Xue became indistinguishable from the crowd.

But she did not give up. After graduation, Lan Xue traveled the continent, her halberd sweeping across all directions, punishing the wicked and eliminating evil. She fought with her life to break through to level sixty at the age of thirty-five, and she did make a name for herself in certain places. Many outstanding noble youths sought her love, but all were rejected by her, cold as frost.

From then on, many people called her the "Ice and Snow Goddess!"

Relying on constant hard work and bitter cultivation, many years later, Lan Xue finally broke through to level seventy, and as a result, she ushered in her second transformation; her cultivation speed returned, and it was even more terrifying than it had been before level thirty.

In the blink of an eye, she caught up to the Haotian Twin Stars again. By that time, Lan Xue was already world-renowned and was once again hailed as a genius destined to become a Title Douluo.

Having heard of Lan Xue's deeds, only Nan Feihuang knew the reason why her cultivation speed fluctuated: she possessed Extreme Ice, and the Spirit Masters of this era seemed to have little understanding of extreme attributes.

An extreme martial soul has normal cultivation speed before level thirty, turtle-like speed between level thirty and level seventy, and rapid speed after level seventy; extreme martial soul power is purer and more resilient.

It just so happened that this period was also the time when the Haotian Twin Stars were famous across the continent. Tang Hao wanted to test just how outstanding this woman, who was mentioned in the same breath as them, really was, so he proposed a duel to her.

Lan Xue, who had a bit of a martial arts fanatic personality, readily agreed, and the two arranged to have a fair fight on Guteleisi Mountain near Gu Lei City.

In that battle, the two had similar soul power, and the quality of their martial souls was also on par; it could be said they were evenly matched.

Unfortunately, due to some special reasons, Lan Xue's Extreme Ice was in a semi-crippled state and could not be utilized; otherwise, she would definitely have gained the upper hand.

But Tang Hao grew anxious. As the most outstanding successor of the Clear Sky Sect, if he couldn't even take down a woman, where would the Clear Sky Sect's face go? Thus, he used his ultimate technique, which he had only just mastered not long before: Ring Detonation.

Once Ring Detonation was unleashed, the situation tilted instantly. Because it was his first time using the Ring Detonation ultimate technique, Tang Hao unleashed it but couldn't hold back his strength; with a mighty hammer strike, he knocked Lan Xue off the cliff.

Lan Xue was first severely injured by the Clear Sky Hammer and then fell off the cliff; with injuries piled upon injuries, she was on the verge of death when she was saved by the then-Crown Prince of the Gu Lei Kingdom, Nan Tianchen.

After all, with two such outstanding people dueling within the borders of his Gu Lei Kingdom, how could he not pay attention?

Nan Tianchen brought Lan Xue back to the imperial palace and, with the most meticulous care, saved her life.

To repay Nan Tianchen's kindness, Lan Xue asked him what he needed her to do; as long as it was something she could do, she would not refuse.

Nan Tianchen immediately proposed to Lan Xue, hoping she would become his Crown Princess. To repay the debt of saving her life, Lan Xue agreed.

Perhaps Nan Tianchen's move had a hint of leveraging kindness to seek reward, but there was no coercion involved; the final decision still rested with Lan Xue herself.

Moreover, Nan Tianchen truly needed a top-tier genius like Lan Xue. The Gu Lei Kingdom was different from the Balak Kingdom; the Balak Kingdom was the strongest military kingdom under the Heaven Dou Empire, with an army exceeding 400,000, a force that even the Spirit Hall could not ignore.

The Gu Lei Kingdom, however, was an agricultural nation with very abundant grain production, but its army was only 150,000, and Spirit Masters were even scarcer. Therefore, the Gu Lei Kingdom was also the country among the four kingdoms that was closest to the Heaven Dou Empire and most reliant on them.

It was only by paying an exorbitant price in grain as tribute every year that they received the protection of the Heaven Dou Empire; otherwise, the Gu Lei Kingdom would have long been swallowed by Star Luo.

But if the kingdom had a Title Douluo of its own, then such a situation could be significantly changed.

One must know that in this period, when there were only a dozen or so Title Douluo on the continent on the surface, even the Heaven Dou Empire did not have a single Title Douluo and could only rely on the Upper Three Sects to hold the stage.

Lan Xue was precisely the material of a Title Douluo.

After they were married, the two treated each other with mutual respect, and two years later, they gave birth to their first child, Nan Feihuang. The couple got along quite well; although their union began because of a debt of gratitude, after many years of living together, it was not the case that they had no feelings for each other.

Perhaps the two of them now had a marriage that was four parts mutual respect, four parts love, and two parts gratitude.

In any case, Lan Xue had never regretted the decision to marry Nan Tianchen.

How could the child born to such a Lan Xue not be outstanding? As long as he didn't end up like a certain guy from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Family—who was the son of a Super Douluo, yet his martial soul mutated into a pig—it would be fine.

Nan Tianchen led Feihuang and the others toward the inner palace.

"Cough, cough..." Walking on the road, Lan Xue suddenly began to cough.

Nan Feihuang hurriedly stepped forward and gently stroked her back, "Mother, you are coughing again. Are you alright?"

Lan Xue patted her precious son's head and smiled, "Be good, Mother is fine, it's just an old ailment."

Nan Feihuang looked at Lan Xue with worry. In truth, Lan Xue's injuries from back then had never fully healed, and she had even been left with many hidden injuries.

Her aptitude was originally not at all inferior to Tang Hao's, and perhaps even exceeded it. Tang Hao was able to break through to the Title Douluo realm at forty-four; Lan Xue, who had already broken through the level seventy barrier of extreme attributes, should have been about the same.

But now, she was already forty-eight years old, yet she remained stuck at level eighty-nine Spirit Douluo; no matter how hard she cultivated, her soul power could not advance even a tiny bit.

Nan Feihuang understood that this was because her foundation had been damaged by Tang Hao. Without any fortuitous encounter, he feared that the limit of her life would be level eighty-nine Spirit Douluo.

Nan Feihuang had thought about how to treat Lan Xue: the Immortal Herbs of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. They must exist there—herbs that could cure her hidden injuries.

As for Tang Hao, Nan Feihuang would settle this account with him personally in the future.

In fact, Lan Xue had said that she did not hate Tang Hao. Although Tang Hao had destroyed her foundation, the battle back then was a fair fight; since Ring Detonation was Tang Hao's ultimate technique, it was understandable for him to use it to defeat her.

She was simply not as skilled as her opponent.

Nan Feihuang admitted that this was indeed a fact.

In terms of that battle itself, it was indeed fair; after all, Tang Hao did not use any underhanded tricks and won in an open and honorable manner, so Nan Feihuang would not retaliate with any despicable means.

It was just that Nan Feihuang felt a bit of injustice for his mother.

That Tang Hao was born into the Clear Sky Sect, and from a young age, he had the best of all resources; at a young age, he inherited the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique, the Clear Sky Nine Absolutes, and Ring Detonation, along with many other ultimate arts, as well as the Haotian Sect Inherited Soul Bone.

As for Lan Xue, although her aptitude was extraordinary, she was only of commoner origin. Tianshui Academy was considered a famous school, but how could it be mentioned in the same breath as the Clear Sky Sect? Her halberd techniques were all explored bit by bit on her own and perfected during battle.

The gap in resources is too vast!

Since that is the case, he will use resources even stronger than the Clear Sky Sect to grow stronger, and in the future, he will openly and honestly, without resorting to any petty tricks, issue another challenge to the Tang Family on behalf of his mother; when that time comes, whether it is Tang Hao, Tang Xiao, or even Tang San, it will not matter who accepts the challenge.

(End of this chapter)