Chapter 130: Legacy Spirit Bone
At the break of dawn, the winter fog lingered, almost as if the very air was saturated with earthly aura. This was not surprising, given that this had once been the nesting ground of the Sky-Piercing Golden Eagle Emperor, a creature that had lived for seventy thousand years. Here, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was naturally abundant.
Suddenly!
A long, resonant cry pierced the air without warning, echoing throughout Ao Yang Cliff.
Disciples of the Haotian Sect and soul masters from affiliated clans emerged from their quarters, looking up towards the direction from which the sound emanated.
Immediately, discussions broke out among them.
"This cry, so sharp and mighty, it must be that one of the direct descendants has made a breakthrough in their power," remarked Niugao, a burly figure donning a horned golden helmet, his voice as deep and resonant as a bell.
Before his equally robust and muscular companion, Titan, could respond, two brothers approached, their postures upright like javelins. The elder among them smirked and mocked, "Stupid ox, always stating the obvious!"
"What?!" Niugao snapped, his face clouded with anger. His eyes bulging like an ox's, he bellowed at the brothers, "What? Are your skins itching for a beating?"
"Bring it on! You think I'm afraid of you?!" retorted Yang Wushuang, eager for a fight, before his elder brother Yang Wudi could even speak.
Even though his power was one realm lower than the big guy across from him, when it came to Yang family's Soul-Breaking Spear going up against the defensive skills of the Armored Giant Rhinoceros, it was hard to say who would come out on top!
"Moreover, if Yang Wushuang can't win, isn't his brother Yang Wudi there to back him up? In the same realm, neither Niugao nor Titan is a match for his big brother!"
"Hey—"
A soft call that started off in the distance but quickly approached, reaching the four around Niugao. A tall and slender figure appeared beside them, spreading his hands and advising, "Alright, alright, let's not stir up any trouble. Someone's breaking through up there, let's keep it quiet—"
"Tsk~" ×3
Niugao glanced at Yang Wudi and Yang Wushuang, exchanging looks before spitting disdainfully but refraining from further argument.
Still, Niugao, feeling increasingly unfair the more he thought about it, wasn't entirely pleased. Turning to the newly arrived Baihe, he asked with a hint of sarcasm, "White Feathered Bird, since you're here, you should know who's making the breakthrough, right?"
Baihe, unruffled by the nickname, rolled his eyes at Niugao but didn't respond to him. Instead, he looked at Titan, who was smiling beside Niugao, and probed, "Gorilla, judging from your expression, you know, don't you?"
"Hmm," Titan nodded in acknowledgment, not bothering to hide it, "A couple of days ago, the Young Master told me he felt he was close to a breakthrough. It's bound to happen any moment now—"
"What?!" ×3
At Titan's words, while Baihe showed no immediate reaction, Niugao and the Yang brothers, Yang Wudi and Yang Wushuang, exclaimed in unison.
“Master Hao… Master Hao, have you broken through?!” Niugao's eyes widened in astonishment, resembling those of a bull.
“Tang... ahem!” Yang Wudi nearly slipped and called out his brother Yang Wushuang's private name, but quickly corrected himself, “Master Hao, Master Hao, during our sparring two months ago, weren’t you merely at the forty-ninth level?”
“Exactly!” Yang Wushuang promptly added, “With this breakthrough, you’ve reached the fiftieth level. After absorbing the fifth spirit ring, you'll become a Spirit King!”
"But the issue is," Niugao pointed out, temporarily putting aside his past quarrel with the Yang brothers, “isn’t Master Hao just twenty years old?”
“A twenty-year-old Spirit King!” Baihe’s complexion became rosy, his eyes filled with proud colors.
At nearly forty years old himself, he was merely a high-level Spirit King. Still a level away from becoming a Spirit Emperor, he had been surpassed by his nephew Tang Hao, younger by over a decade, reaching the same level. This naturally left his heart with mixed feelings of disappointment and joy, but the joy far exceeded the disappointment.
It was now November 2607 of the Douluo Calendar, and Tang Hao, the second son of Tang Zhen, the master of the Clear Sky Sect, was on the verge of breaking through to the fiftieth level at just twenty years of age, becoming a Spirit King.
As for the others, Titan, the eldest, was now forty-two, a sixty-fourth level Spirit Emperor.
Yang Wudi, just half a year younger than Niugao, was equally strong, also a sixty-first level Spirit Emperor.
Baihe, a year younger than Niugao, was currently thirty-nine, a fifty-ninth level Spirit King.
Yang Wushuang, the youngest, was thirty-eight and a fifty-seventh level Spirit King.
In terms of talent, there isn't much difference among the five of them. They all have the potential to become Spirit Douluos in the future, capable of supporting their respective families.
Baihe lifted his head, gazing towards the pinnacle of Haoyang Cliff, murmuring to himself, "Sister, can you see this? Haoyang has become a Spirit King at just twenty. One day, he will surely become a new mountain that dominates the Douluo Continent, just like the old sect master!"
Recalling his elder sister who passed away from childbirth complications six years ago after giving birth to her daughter Tang Yuehua, Baihe felt an inexplicable pang of sorrow.
The White family, also known as the Sharp-tailed Swifts, was already dwindling by the time it reached Baihe's father's generation. It was Baihe's elder sister's marriage to Tang Zhen, son of 'Clear Sky Douluo' Tang Chen, and her becoming the wife of the Clear Sky Sect master that allowed their family to gradually grow stronger under the Sect's protection.
One could say that the greatest contributor to the Sharp-tailed Swifts, now the Agile Clan, earning the title of one of the 'Four Single-Attribute Clans' along with the Herculean Gorillas Tai family, the Armored Giants Rhinoceros Niu family, and the Soul Breaking Spears Yang family, was Baihe's elder sister. She gave birth to two sons and a daughter for the main line of the Clear Sky Sect master.
Ten days later, accompanied by a Contra-level elder from the sect, Tang Hao successfully hunted down a spirit beast over eleven thousand years old, effortlessly breaking through to the Spirit King level with a spirit power of fifty-one.
When Tang Hao, full of pride, returned to Haoyang Cliff, the headquarters of the Clear Sky Sect, he found many uncles from the main and branch lines of the sect present, along with leaders from affiliated spirit master families, all gathered, waiting for something.
At the base of Haoyang Cliff, in the sect's main hall.
Tang Zhen sat high on the main seat, calmly watching Tang Hao stride in, his eyes filled with satisfaction.
In a loud and clear voice, he said, "Hao'er, reveal your Clear Sky Hammer and spirit rings!"
"Yes, Father!"
Tang Hao did not ask why. Apart from nodding slightly at his elder brother Tang Xiao, who stood beside Tang Zhen, his eyes were solely fixed on his father, Tang Zhen. Even though there were thirty to forty people on either side of the grand hall, representing the core strength of the Clear Sky Sect with many having greater strength than he did at the moment, he remained focused on his father.
Tang Hao's right hand stretched forward, and a dark light flashed, transforming into a gigantic hammer in his grip within moments.
Simultaneously, five rings of vivid color—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, and black—emerged beneath his feet, undulating from bottom to top.
“Hiss——!”*
At this moment, the enormous sect hall echoed with a series of gasps, and the atmosphere seemed to heat up.
Immediately after, whether it was those who had returned within the last two days upon receiving the notice or those who had known earlier, everyone's eyes were fervently watching Tang Hao, fixated on the giant hammer in his hand and the five undulating rings beneath him.
Especially the largest outermost black spirit ring!
“Hahahaha——!!!”
Tang Zhen laughed heartily as he gazed at his son Tang Hao's fifth black spirit ring.
After his laughter subsided, Tang Zhen glanced around at the thirty to forty figures in the hall. His eyes were full of solemnity as he matched them with the eyes of those present, and he formally declared:
“Today, I bestow one of the three great inherited spirit bones of our Clear Sky Sect upon my son Tang Hao. Do any of you have objections?”
Even though the words came as a question, under Tang Zhen's overwhelming presence, nearing the level of a Title Douluo, the expansive hall fell completely silent.
Not the slightest sound of dissent nor any murmur was heard.
(End of Chapter)