Wang Dong'er was having a dilemma.
About almost a month ago, she had finished her deep meditation and had reached rank 40. Because of special circumstances, she could only get her soul rings from her family's home.
Which is also known to be the Clear Sky Hammer Sect's home! The sect that was once famous throughout the land as the strongest sect with the strongest Tool Martial Soul, and that they had produced numerous heaven-defying geniuses.
The most famous one of all was obviously the Thousand-Hand Douluo, Sea God, Tang San!
Wang Dong'er always felt that something was... amiss with herself and her family.
For one, she couldn't completely remember her childhood. Her oldest memory was when she was seven years old and woke up in her bed, with both her uncles greeting her from the door with saddened expressions; telling her that her parents had gone out for something important.
It wasn't until a while ago that she learned that her parents weren't dead or had abandoned her, but because they were involved in some kind of battle against a fearsome foe!
Her uncles were lying to her, and they obviously knew of her parents' situation. But she didn't probe them for information, she understood that they wouldn't answer her questions.
Secondly, her soul rings. To be honest, how she got her soul rings always baffled her. She could only remember a strange black orb with mysterious ancient runes on it being in her hands before blanking out for a couple of days, and waking up to see her new soul ring.
How? Just, how?! Wang Dong'er wasn't dumb, clearly, that wasn't the normal way of getting a soul ring! She never questioned it because she got it from her uncles, they were her family after all.
Then finally, the reactions she got when she told her uncles about the dissolution of Tang Sect, and the emergence of a new sect that she and her friends joined called — Akatsuki, or New Dawn according to Huo Yuhao.
Their expressions drastically changed. They had looks of worry, resignation, and slight determination—as if they were prepared to do something drastic.
However, she didn't pay much attention to them. She had other problems.
Old Tang that had been sleeping in her spiritual sea suddenly acted up. Although he had no facial features, he exuded a very displeased aura—heavy and suffocating.
He started going tougher on her, pushing to train harder in the Tang Sect's secret techniques and the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer, all the while asking questions about the Akatsuki Sect.
Wang Dong'er felt, no, she knew that Old Tang didn't like Akatsuki and especially the complete disintegration of Tang Sect.
During her trial he would click his tongue when she uses jutsus, make snide remarks upon seeing her use Tang Sect secret techniques in conjunction with jutsus, and go completely silent when she starts muttering about when she could see Yuhao again.
When she was going back to Shrek Academy, she had heard Old Tang mutter about the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, and some Love Valley.
He went silent quickly for the journey, until Wang Dong'er heard about Huo Yuhao's situation from Mu En.
It was also during that time that she also became Mu En's disciple.
But nevermind that.
Wang Dong'er became worried and anxious about Huo Yuhao for several days.
And just three days before Huo Yuhao's return, she then heard.
A vague, faint, and discernable voice echoing in the corner of her mind—
'Kill Huo Yuhao.'
It scared Wang Dong'er more than she could admit.
Because in her mind and soul, she felt as though that voice sounded like... herself.
'Kill Huo Yuhao.'
It came like a whisper behind her ear while she was alone in her room. It didn't speak again after that, but it didn't need to. That one sentence was enough to chill her soul.
She tried asking Old Tang about it, but he refused to answer, simply saying:
[You are not ready to know.]
Wang Dong'er wanted to scream, but she needed help. She was going to ask someone for help, preferably either Mu En or Xuan Zi.
—But then Huo Yuhao came back, well, his Shadow Clone that is.
Wang Dong'er was obviously happy to see her crush back safe and sound, bombarding him with numerous questions, at first...
And the voice returned, louder even.
'Kill Huo Yuhao!'
'Kill Huo Yuhao!'
'Kill! Kill! Kill! Urghh!'
'I WANT MY BODY BACK! WHOLE!! MY IDENTITY! I—!'
Wang Dong'er wanted to cry, but held it in as much as possible.
She didn't want to lose the love of her life.
...
"Fuck!"
Old Tang, or Tang San's split soul in reality, wouldn't cuss out a profanity like this when he was inside his daughter's spiritual sea, his wife would kill him if she knew.
But he was just too frustrated and angry to stay calm anymore.
"This wasn't supposed to happen.... None of it! How did the Rising Star of the Planet get so out of control?! Did the Planar Lord do something?
No, that can't be it. Mom and Dad would've reported it to me if that dying horse had made a move. Imperator only has a few centuries left in her, and if she did make a move, she would die quicker and my parents would take over her role.
So what's going on here? I had everything planned! The child would rebuild my sect, become strong and get close to my child —securing myself a worthy son-in-law!"
Old Tang clenched his fists. "But he's become uncontrollable! Taking over my sect, stealing its secret techniques, and he even has the gall to be close to other girls! The part of my daughter's soul, Dong'er, is slowly developing independence and the Auspicious Emperor seems to be heading in the same direction.
My daughter's soul cannot be separated for too long, in just a few years, the original soul that was Tang Wutong would be gone... forever! Unforgivable. I was just going to give him some easy challenges, but now..."
Old Tang snorted coldly and slapped his hands together. He sat cross-legged, floating mid-air, and started making several hand-seals. Mysterious oceanic blue magical circles hovered all over his body before aligning correctly above his hands.
Extreme divine power exuded out of his spirit body at that moment.
"By the cost of my divine essence, I sacrifice ninety-five percent of this split divine consciousness.
Let it burn—not as an offering, but as a weapon!
I cast a curse not through flesh, nor through blood, but through the TRUE NAME—his birthright, spoken by fate itself.
May it bind his soul in torment beyond time, for what he has done cannot go unanswered—!
His name....HUO YUHAO!"
As soon as Old Tang invoked the name, the magic circles collapsed inward like imploding stars. A pulse of divine energy surged through the spiritual void, distorting both time and space.
The curse began to form—a construct laced with divine law, engraved with ancient runes not even God Officers dared to utter recklessly.
It wasn't merely a curse of pain or misfortune.
It was a chain—one that would bind Huo Yuhao's growth, fracture his will, and ultimately corrupt his soul from the inside out!
A curse cast not with hatred...but of necessity.
"This is not vengeance," Old Tang whispered coldly, his spirit body flickering, a sign that his divine energy was low. "This is a correction. You're too dangerous at this point in time, boy."
He sighed deeply. "You were the chosen one! I foresaw that you would bring back my sect to new heights, not destroy it. You were to bring balance to the Plane, not leave it in darkness."
"And to think, I was starting to think of you as a son..."
"Oh well. By my clairvoyance, I feel a birth of a new star child ten thousand years later. It's just a few eons. I'm patient."
Just as Old Tang was lamenting in losing a valuable ally, the divine curse that was forming suddenly froze and burst into tiny fragments, becoming pure energy, disappearing into the void of time and space.
Old Tang was stunned!
"What's going on?! Why did the divine curse shattered!? This normally only happens if either the target is too strong or the incantation I used wasn't right!"
"Even though I'm only a fragmented divine consciousness of a God, not even an ordinary Limit Douluo could resist being marked by my divine curse. So how...?"
"Well, it was because of the latter. That boy's True Name isn't Huo Yuhao..."
"Who?!"
Old Tang turned around, completely alarmed that someone had barged into his daughter's spiritual sea without him knowing.
Standing before him was an exquisitely handsome man, he looked quite young as well. He exuded nothing, as if he was just a normal mortal man.
He looked like a 26-27 year old, with pitch black silky hair cascading his back, light-blue eyes that seemed to reflect the very fabric of the universe itself, and a quiet presence that felt as though he was truly a normal, human man.
Like hell! What kind of normal human barges into a spiritual sea without the split divine consciousness of a God King knowing?
"Who are you?!" Old Tang demanded, bracing himself, his spirit body crackling from the earlier divine exertion.
The man didn't answer right away. Instead, he glanced around the spiritual sea, as if inspecting a child's drawing.
Then his gaze fell on Old Tang.
Old Tang 'stared' back at him, and was surprised.
Just what sort of pair of eyes are those?
If it was full of killing intent, Old Tang would not be afraid. However, this pair of eyes was filled with indifference.
This indifference was like arrogance towards reality, the disdain towards people of the worlds of both mortal and divine, the trampling of life and the abandonment of rules!
It was the gaze of God!
Old Tang, or Tang San, was a powerful God himself and the Enforcer of the Divine Realm. He held the highest seat of divinity in his realm.
Yet, he couldn't help but shudder under that gaze.
It wasn't fear—not the kind that made mortals cower—it was something deeper. A primal acknowledgment.
This man… was above him.
Above God Kings.
Old Tang gritted his teeth, and demanded, "Who are you?! Don't you know who I am? You—"
"To cut off the weeds, one must eliminate the roots..."
The mysterious man didn't give Old Tang an answer. He raised his arm and swiped his hand, his lips curled.
Old Tang didn't get to react.
His featureless head slowly split open—his spirit body started breaking down into motes of golden light.
"Y-You... You're f—!"
Old Tang disappeared in a burst of divine particles, his final words cut off mid-syllable—never to be finished.
The spiritual sea fell into an unnatural silence.
The man who erased him stood still, his hand lowered to his side.
"....Fool," he muttered quietly.
Then, he turned his head and met the gaze of a terrified Wang Dong'er.
The mysterious man smirked, his cold aura quickly dissipated. He now exuded a warm and comforting presence—gentle, almost human.
Like sunlight after a storm.
"Be not afraid," he said softly, his tone patient, almost kind. "I am a friend. That spirit I vanquished was an evil spirit, a vengeful spirit that wished to do harm to your loved ones. You no longer hear that strange voice now, correct?"
Wang Dong'er couldn't respond. Her body trembled, eyes wide, breath shallow. She wasn't just terrified—she was confused.
And yet, upon hearing his words, she gradually calmed down the suffocating pressure that had loomed over her for weeks lifted like a storm finally passing.
The whispers—the maddening, violent voice screaming to harm Yuhao—were gone. Completely. Not even an echo remained.
She pressed her hands to her chest, feeling her heartbeat slowly steady.
"...It's gone," she whispered, more to herself than to him.
The man gave a quiet nod. "Good. That wasn't you, Dong'er. It was something that was never supposed to be inside you; a curse."
Wang Dong'er blinked. "A curse...?"
"That's right. It was placed upon you by a very, very evil man. A bastard and manipulator, one who wouldn't blink an eye if it means millions or even billions would die."
Wang Dong'er went pale white as the man's words settled in her chest like ice.
"A curse... someone like that?" she whispered, voice barely audible. "He placed a curse on me?! Someone who my parents—on no! M-My parents!? Did he do something to my parents?!"
The man shook his head and gently placed a hand on her shoulder, "I can feel that your parents are fine, for now. So please, calm down."
Wang Dong'er snapped out of her daze and looked up at the mysterious man. "M-Mister...who are you?"
"....I have many names throughout time and space, to the point I've forgotten my original name. But one title stuck close to my heart, created by my loved ones."
"You may call me... AllFather."
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AN: 👀 👀 👀 👀
Now, who might this be...? An OC? Or someone from the Tang universe using an alias? Welp, peace out!