My Co-renting Lady Boss

"The second sealing is in the Tang Dynasty. If this theory is true, after so many years, it should be easy to gather five people, right?"

Yun Potian raised his doubts.

"Is it really easy?"

Tang Cha’s expression turned peculiar: "You must know that ancient transportation and communication were not so advanced, and the number of people aware of the Five-star Soul Pearl left in the Spirit Realm is extremely few. Over the following centuries, hardly anyone knew this secret."

"Then how did the Mo Family become aware of it?"

Tang Ming hurriedly asked.

"According to the Mo Family, they discovered a message left by a fallen ancestor from the Tang Dynasty in an ancient tomb belonging to the Mo Family. This was how they learned the secret. Since then, they’ve been striving to gather the Five-star Soul Pearls. Yet, despite centuries of effort, the Mo Family has never succeeded because it’s extremely difficult.

For the Five-star Soul Pearls to manifest their power, a condition must be met: if the owner of the Five-star Soul Pearl is a woman, she must remain pure. Once her purity is lost, the Five-star Soul Pearls will automatically transfer within a certain period to five newborn infants, scattering across the world. They need to be rediscovered, and only when these people have matured can the power of the Five-star Soul Pearls be unleashed."

Tang Cha chuckled, his expression peculiar as he remarked, "Finding five people isn’t hard, but who can ensure that the woman among them remains pure?"

"This does sound exceedingly stringent."

Yun Potian nodded repeatedly.

"Thus, after years of efforts yielding no results, the Mo Family began contacting contemporary top martial arts powers, believing numbers bring strength. They urged various factions to contribute efforts according to Ancient Tang Sect records. Since over four hundred years ago, the Mo Family has been working with other major forces, each one taking responsibility for guarding a different Soul Pearl. Someday, they hoped to gather all five."

"And what was the result?"

Tang Ming couldn’t help but look curiously at Tang Cha.

"The result, of course, is failure. Otherwise, their plan would have succeeded."

Yun Potian cast a sideways glance at Tang Ming.

"No, no, no, the result was remarkable. Through this method of dispersed joint effort, things developed in a favorable direction. About twenty years ago, the Heavenly Mechanism Sect, Mo Family, Ancient Tang Sect, Meng Family, and Rainbow Cloud Peak once managed to gather all the Five-star Soul Pearls."

Tang Cha hurriedly shook his head.

"Hmm? Since they managed to gather them, did they succeed in opening the sealing?"

Yun Potian and Tang Ming quickly pursued the question.

"Although they had gathered the Five-star Soul Pearls, due to an accidental event where Meng Ruming, the eldest daughter of the Meng Family’s Moonfall Trace in the main family, pledged herself eternally to Liu Mengting’s father, losing her purity, the Five-star Soul Pearls transferred once again before they could be utilized, ruining the only plan that could have opened the sealing."

Tang Cha’s face showed a peculiar smile.

"Darn it!"

Tang Ming and Yun Potian couldn’t help but swear. Hearing this, they even found themselves wishing the sealing had been opened back then, wondering what kind of scene it would have presented now.

"I know what you’re thinking. Actually, back then I also hoped Meng Ruming had not lost her purity. However, after living dependent on each other with Tang Ming for so many years, I definitely wouldn’t let such a thing happen, because once the Five-star Soul Pearls open the sealing, those serving as hosts to the Five-star Soul Pearls would become either powerless cripples, or worse, fall dead on the spot."

Tang Cha looked solenmly at Tang Ming and Yun Potian: "This equates to sacrificing five people’s lives to open the sealing. Naturally, no one but each family’s highest leaders knows this secret, and I learned it from Tang Ming’s father. This led to the downfall of Tang Ming."

"Ancient Tang Sect joining with the Mo Family to destroy the Tang Family... could it be because the Tang Family refused to sacrifice the Son of Sunken Star, leading to tragedy?"

Yun Potian looked uncertainly at Tang Ming.

"That’s only one aspect of the reason."

Tang Cha nodded, hesitantly looking at Tang Ming: "When the Five-star Soul Pearls scattered once again, Ancient Tang Sect used special means to trace the location where the legacy of the Son of Sunken Star guarded by them previously would be transferred. It turned out the Son of Sunken Star had moved to the Tang Family’s young master, namely onto Tang Ming."

"For this, Ancient Tang Sect negotiated with the Tang Family, but as another top hidden family, naturally the Tang Family would not surrender Tang Ming, and Ancient Tang Sect lacked the means to force it. Yet when the Mo Family was sent to negotiate with the Tang Family, they remained resolute, refusing to sacrifice Tang Ming for the so-called unlocking of the sealing, which led to the Tang Family’s downfall."

Tang Cha sighed, reflecting: "Back then, the Southern China Meng Family, Western China Rainbow Cloud Peak, North China Tang Family, East China Ancient Tang Sect, Central China’s Heavenly Mechanism Sect, as well as the Mo Family and God and Ghost Sect from the distant South Sea Islands, were all participants of the Apocalypse Plan.

Yet, with only five Soul Pearls, two factions were bound to be unable to partake, and the force officially providing the Five-star Soul Pearls to open the sealing would receive immense benefits. As for what the benefits were, the Mo Family did not specify but everyone knew it was highly enticing.

God and Ghost Sect often acting independently wasn’t particularly invested in this. The Tang Family, upright and righteous, withdrew their participation upon realizing the Five-star Soul Pearls sacrifices, leading to tragedy.

Unfortunately, fate played tricks as the Son of Sunken Star ended up with the Tang Family. And since the Tang Family didn’t want to partake, the fate was predictable.

Ancient Tang Sect wanted to control the Son of Sunken Star to secure their piece of the pie when opening the sealing, and the Mo Family aimed to eliminate the non-cooperative Tang Family. The two forces joined to attack the Tang Family.

This led to the subsequent extinction of the Tang Family."

"Was this how my family was destroyed?"

Tang Ming muttered with a grim face.

"The Divine Machine Refinement Tang Family was wiped out to protect an infant, and for that, I admire them."

Yun Potian sighed in admiration.

"Indeed! As a possessor of one of the Martial Arts Eight Great Skills, Divine Machine Refinement, the Tang Family wouldn’t have been annihilated had it not been for the alliance of the Mo Family and Ancient Tang Sect. Even then, the two forces paid a high price."

Tang Cha nodded, reaching to unveil the grim scar on his chest: "As a successor of Ancient Tang Sect’s Thousand Evil Poison Technique, I once directly battled the controller of Divine Machine Refinement, Tang Ming’s father. The outcome... had he not held back, I’d have been killed by him twenty years ago."

Seeing the scar on Tang Cha’s chest, Yun Potian and Tang Ming inhaled sharply, clearly witnessing the severity of Tang Cha’s injuries back then.

"Tang Ming, your father, named Tang Mosheng, was the last generation family head of the Tang Family, and the final inheritor of the Eight Great Skills, Divine Machine Refinement."

Tang Cha closed his clothing, gazing complexly at Tang Ming: "Originally, the Son of Sunken Star in Ancient Tang Sect was my junior, Tang Haixin, but because Meng Ruming lost her purity, the Five-star Soul Pearls were redistributed, and the Son of Sunken Star fell upon you, which led to the downfall of the Tang Family.