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Zhao Wuji frantically shook his head—so hard his whole skull seemed to ripple like a wave. "No hatred, none at all! I have never resented you for crippling one of my arms. That was the price I deserved for my own mistakes. I never should've listened to that brat Tang San's slander. If you hadn't shown me mercy that day, I might've lost a leg as well."
"So the Soul Venerable that day really was Tang San," Ye Lan said evenly.
"Zhao Wuji, I know you've been doing errands for Tang Hao," Ye Lan continued. "After working with him so long, you must understand the character of that father and son."
"Yes!" Zhao Wuji cursed through clenched teeth. "Tang Hao and his son are a disgrace to the name of 'son and man.' In their eyes, I'm worth less than a dog!"
"You've seen Spirit Hall's strength yourself," Ye Lan sighed. "For the Tang father and son to dream of overturning Spirit Hall—it's like shaking a tree with bare hands."
"Yes! With you here, Spirit Hall can even unite with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Even the Clear Sky Sect would be nothing more than a stray by the roadside," Zhao Wuji hurried to agree.
"You underestimate Spirit Hall," Chrysanthemum Douluo cut in. "Even without an alliance, the Clear Sky Sect could be wiped out with a flick of the wrist. If not for that agreement…"
These days, most Titled Douluo moving openly on Spirit Hall's behalf were from the Pope's Palace.
If the ancients of the Douluo Palace took the field, there would be no force on the continent able to resist.
"I'm telling you all this," Ye Lan said at last, "because I need you to handle something for me."
Hearing Ye Lan's true aim, Zhao Wuji finally relaxed. The more you know, the quicker you die—if Ye Lan was speaking this freely, it meant he still found Zhao Wuji useful. That was better than serving those two, whose eyes were full of cruelty.
"Good! I, Zhao Wuji, am willing to follow Lord Ye Lan!" he declared, dropping to one knee.
"Enough. I don't need flattery," Ye Lan replied. "From today, I'll quietly rescind Spirit Hall's hunt for you. Your name will remain on the wanted notice, but no one from Spirit Hall will pursue you."
"Thank you, my lord!" Zhao Wuji said, bowing repeatedly. At last, he no longer had to fear Spirit Hall's assassins.
"My lord, what would you have me do?" he asked after rising.
"It's simple. Stay at Shrek Academy as our mole. Keep close watch on Tang San and Tang Hao. In a few months, I'll contact you," Ye Lan said.
"Understood. Easy enough! Truly brilliant, my lord—no one would suspect the man on Spirit Hall's wanted list is Spirit Hall's own spy!" Zhao Wuji piled on the praise.
Ye Lan shook his head. "I'm using you because I value your person. You're overprotective, yes, but you're also accountable and loyal. In broad strokes, you're the only one at Shrek Academy I can halfway stomach. The others are…repellent."
Zhao Wuji scratched his head sheepishly. He hadn't expected Ye Lan to rate him so highly.
"Go. Don't give the others at Shrek cause to grow suspicious," Ye Lan said.
"Right! Farewell, my lord!" Zhao Wuji's figure vanished in an instant.
After he left, Chrysanthemum Douluo praised, "Xiao Lan, your command of people is no worse than Her Holiness the Pope's! You're not even eighteen—how are you so seasoned?"
Ye Lan laughed. "It's simple—see through people's hearts."
"Zhao Wuji once tried to cling to the Tang father and son's thigh, but after they burned him a few times, resentment took root."
"Earlier today, when Wolf Uncle and I proposed a three-for-three exchange, I already counted on Tang Hao and Tang San not choosing Zhao Wuji. As expected, he's the one they cast aside."
"Besides, I spared him once back in Soto City. Now, leaning on the intimidating weight of Grandmaster Chrysanthemum, Old Ghost, and Wolf Uncle—and with Zhao Wuji's heart dead toward the Tangs—"
"Add it all together, and getting him to sell his life for me becomes easy."
Chrysanthemum Douluo nodded, enlightened. "Xiao Lan, when you told Old Ghost and me to intercept Tang San, your real purpose wasn't merely to make the Tang father and son live uneasily, was it? You wanted to plant Zhao Wuji as a hidden piece at Shrek, didn't you?"
Ye Lan only smiled, saying nothing.
Zhao Wuji was merely the visible piece on the board. The plan laid after that hidden move was Ye Lan's true aim.
Elsewhere.
After flying for an hour with Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Liu Erlong, Tang Hao set them down inside a cave.
"Xiao San, your father can't talk you down," Tang Hao said mildly. "I'll go check on the rest of Shrek Academy."
Grateful, Liu Erlong glanced at Tang Hao—she too was deeply worried about Shrek's people.
"Wait here. Don't wander," Tang Hao said, then disappeared.
The moment he left, Xiao Wu pressed herself tightly against Tang San's shoulder, knowing their days together were numbered.
Watching the two in love, Liu Erlong couldn't help but wonder how Xiaogang was faring.
After attending a three-day, three-night "party," Yu Xiaogang reached the depths of despair.
At last, the dungeon doors clanged open under the hands of the Palace Guard Knights. Yu Xiaogang scrambled to pull up his trousers and crawled toward freedom, tears streaming.
A dozen dark-skinned brutes stared at him, still unsated, their eyes hungry.
Seeing Yu Xiaogang's body slick with filth, the guard knights recoiled several steps.
"Yu Xiaogang, come any closer and I'll kick you back in!" one knight barked.
"I…I… wuu… wuuu…" Yu Xiaogang choked, humiliated and aggrieved.
His throat—and other places—still burned like fire; he wanted only to leave.
Another knight sneered, "Jail-Butt Xiaogang, go wash over there before you come back! You reek!"
Only then did Yu Xiaogang realize the stench and grime on his body. Shuddering with gooseflesh, he scrubbed himself under running water.
Freshly washed, he was escorted out of the Pope's Palace by the guard knights.
Outside that towering, majestic palace, Yu Xiaogang gulped the air of freedom like a drowning man.
Outside the dungeon—this was freedom.
He flung his arms wide in a gaudy gesture and embraced the world.
Passersby eyed his flamboyance and whispered:
"Doesn't he look like Yu Xiaogang?"
"Like? He is Yu Xiaogang—the plagiarist who stole from Spirit Hall!"
"Damn it, he tore up an ancient classic preserved by Spirit Hall for ten thousand years!"
"That guy pretended to be a 'Grandmaster' for decades—turns out his theories were copied!"
"Yu Xiaogang, I—#@￥!"
As he "embraced freedom," a hail of rotten eggs and wilted greens smashed into him.
Hearing the crowd's chorus calling him a plagiarist, Yu Xiaogang turned ghost-pale. The hurt in his heart was worse than any pain in flesh.
The crowd thickened around him, elbows and fists flying.
One punch invited another kick.
One person led, a second followed.
Within moments, Yu Xiaogang was swallowed by a sea of fists. Dozens surrounded him, shoving and striking without pause.
Crouching and shielding his head, he wailed through tears:
"I'm not Yu Xiaogang!"
"I'm not Yu Xiaogang!"
"I didn't plagiarize!"
"You've got the wrong man!"
His pleas did nothing to quell the citizens of Heaven Dou's righteous fury. Hands roved and fists fell; in short order, Yu Xiaogang's face swelled like a pig's head.
Unable to withstand the onslaught, a yellow glow flickered over his body.
The moment Luo Sanpao emerged, two soul rings shone upon it.
"Farts like thunder—Heaven-rending, Earth-splitting Sanpao!"
"Farts like mist—Sleep-inducing Sanpao!"
A dense yellow miasma roiled out, blanketing the dozens nearby. The sudden, eye-watering stench drove the crowd screaming and stumbling for the clear air beyond the stink-cloud.
Using the cover of that foul smoke, Yu Xiaogang hurriedly pulled out clothes and a hood of different colors from his soul tool, wrapped his pig-head face up tight, and slipped away amid the chaos.
He didn't change only to disguise himself. Whenever Luo Sanpao let fly…he let fly too.
Ordinarily, this wouldn't have been much.
But now, after those three "tempering" days, Yu Xiaogang had become a literal one-man flood.
Bundled up and reeking, he fled in panic, finally collapsing in an alleyway, utterly spent.
At the very edge of consciousness, in the instant before he blacked out, he saw the face he'd dreamed of.
With eyes full of tears, Liu Erlong gathered Yu Xiaogang into her arms. From the swollen pig-head features, she recognized him—this was her Xiaogang.
When Tang Hao finished checking on the rest of Shrek and saw they were already on the way back, he immediately returned to report to Tang San, Xiao Wu, and Liu Erlong.
Upon learning Shrek's people were safe, Liu Erlong didn't return with them. Instead, she set off for Spirit City to find Yu Xiaogang, who had left for the city days earlier.
But when she arrived, her vision went black.
In the square at Spirit City's heart, an image looped without end—Yu Xiaogang tearing ancient texts and publicly admitting to plagiarizing Spirit Hall's theories. The citizens' curses were deafening.
It wouldn't be long before the scandal swept the entire continent.
Though the "Grandmaster" image in her heart shattered, Liu Erlong had loved Yu Xiaogang for so many years—years of longing without fulfillment.
Her mother's heart surged; she wanted to care for the man now abandoned by all. Her concern for him only grew stronger. Apart from Xiaogang, she desired nothing.
So that day, she searched Spirit City tirelessly, asking anyone she could for news, even attempting to pry information from the Pope's Palace guard knights.
No matter how she tried, no one knew where Yu Xiaogang was.
At the edge of despair, a rank stench drifted by.
Liu Erlong knew that smell too well—the odor of Yu Xiaogang's Luo Sanpao.
At last, in an alley near the chaotic stink-cloud, she found the unconscious man.
She hugged Yu Xiaogang tightly. But as she began to feel heartache for him, her brows knit.
The smell from his body defied description—not only foul, but laced with that unmistakable photinia-like tang.
Liu Erlong set the thought aside for now. Carrying him to the largest inn in Spirit City, she took a room.
She set him in the bath and ran water to wash him clean.
As she bathed him, something felt wrong—why was there always more blood?
Why was Yu Xiaogang still bleeding?
Night fell. After settling him on the bed, Liu Erlong nestled into his arms.
Cleaned and cared for, Yu Xiaogang's body and mind finally loosened.
Before long, he woke from the fog. Seeing Liu Erlong beside him, a single aggrieved tear slid from the corner of his eye.
Noticing the movement, Liu Erlong looked up, saw that tear, and asked anxiously, "Xiaogang, what's wrong? Who bullied you? I'll avenge you! Was it that woman?"
Yu Xiaogang clutched her and wept bitterly. How could he tell her what had happened?
When he wouldn't speak, Liu Erlong forced herself to comfort him: "Xiaogang, Spirit Hall must have slandered you! In my heart, you'll always be the number one theory grandmaster!"
Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang's expression turned a turbulent mix of shame, rage, and numbness.
Suddenly, he seized Liu Erlong by the throat. "What do you know! My reputation is ruined—utterly ruined! How am I supposed to face anyone now?"
"Everyone who sees me will call me a despicable plagiarist!"
"How am I supposed to face the world!"
Facing his roughness, Liu Erlong hugged him tight and shouted, "I don't care! Whether you're a grandmaster or not, I am yours!"
Liu Erlong's selfless confession gave the cowardly Yu Xiaogang a fragile shard of masculine pride.
He thought of Bibi Dong's contempt, the guard knights' "care," those three days in the dark, the crowd's mockery.
He had to prove he was a man.
He squeezed Liu Erlong's throat and shouted, "Then prove it to me!"
He tore at her clothes frantically.
"No—no!" Liu Erlong cried. "Father forbids it—we promised him!"
"Forget that old codger!" Yu Xiaogang snarled. "You don't love me—if you do, prove it!"
His hands didn't stop.
Liu Erlong begged him again and again, but she dared not use soul power to fight him off—afraid she might hurt him by accident.
Just as Yu Xiaogang was about to succeed, a thunderous roar split the air:
"Yu Xiaogang, you beast—what are you doing!"
Yu Luomian had seen it with his own eyes—Yu Xiaogang forcing himself on Liu Erlong, on the brink of success. A surge of hot blood burst from his heart.
Startled, Yu Xiaogang jolted like a frightened animal.
He scrambled to pull on his pants and threw himself to the floor. "Uncle Luo! I—I was just…just overcome by impulse!"
Liu Erlong snatched up the quilt, covering herself as she pleaded, "Father! Xiaogang didn't do anything yet! Please, let him go this once!"
"Hmph! Didn't do anything yet? I'm ashamed to even say what I saw. One step more and you'd have made an unforgivable mistake!"
Clutching his chest, Yu Luomian panted. "If I hadn't heard that Spirit Hall arrested Tang Hao's son and surrounded Shrek Academy, if I hadn't come all the way to Spirit City worried sick for you—"
"Thank heaven I arrived. Otherwise you'd have been defiled by this beast!"
"No!" Liu Erlong shook her head wildly. "Father, I am not defiled! We love each other sincerely!"
"Hmph! Yu Xiaogang, you beast! You've dragged the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's name through the mud! Everyone in Spirit City knows you plagiarized Spirit Hall's theories! Since he was a boy, this bastard refused to obey the clan, always chasing some empty fame."
"He couldn't hack it in the clan, left for a few years, then came back the so-called 'Grandmaster of the Continent.'"
"Even then I wondered—how did this fool manage to publish a few theories that looked half decent?"
"Remember, this brat has defied the clan more than once. To show off his 'theories,' he refused to absorb dragon-type soul beasts, and instead absorbed beasts suited for pigs to gain more 'combat power'—and ended up with the continent's most laughable soul skill: farting!" Yu Luomian's voice cracked like thunder, making Yu Xiaogang's ears ring.
"And such a ridiculous 'Pig–Sanpao' soul master became the continent's number one theorist?"
"Turns out he plagiarized Spirit Hall's work! How are we to explain this to the continent? Fortunately, I foresaw this and erased Yu Xiaogang from our genealogy, preserving a sliver of face for the clan. Otherwise, how would I face our ancestors after death!"
"Father, please stop!" Liu Erlong sobbed. "Whether Xiaogang is a grandmaster or not, I love him—wuwuwuu…"
"Have I stopped you from being together? I even kept it secret for your sake! Your elder brother still doesn't know!"
"What did you promise me back then? You swore you wouldn't cross the bottom line—didn't you?"
Yu Xiaogang trembled, not daring to speak a word.
"I didn't, Father! I've remembered your words always!" Liu Erlong cried.
"And him?" Yu Luomian jabbed a finger.
Yu Xiaogang shivered again.
"Xiaogang lost control for a moment. I swear he'll never do this again!" Liu Erlong vowed.
"Hmph! If it's a purely spiritual love, then it doesn't matter whether Yu Xiaogang is a man, does it?"
With a crackle of lightning, Yu Luomian lunged at Yu Xiaogang.
"Father!" Liu Erlong's face drained of color. Terror seized her.
Pshht!
A spray of blood.
"Ahhhh!" Yu Xiaogang writhed and howled, rolling on the floor.
Pain. Unbearable pain.
A pain only men truly understand.
Thunder flashed in Yu Luomian's hand; in an instant, the bloody thing turned to charred ash.
"From now on, I won't meddle in you and Yu Xiaogang's affairs," Yu Luomian said coldly. "Live out your spiritual romance."
With that, he flew toward the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He would need tremendous effort to handle the fallout of Yu Xiaogang's plagiarism scandal.
He had to sever, once and for all, any tie between Yu Xiaogang and the clan.
Liu Erlong's heart turned to ash. That last, faint hope of becoming a woman vanished.
Clutching Yu Xiaogang, she wept without end.
Star Dou Forest, Lake of Life—midnight.
Two colossal shapes moved in near-silence, trying not to alert any soul beast.
It took them an hour to cover a few hundred meters, inching along.
At last, they slipped out of a dense thicket.
Using the cover of the forest, they seemed to have slipped beyond the Evil-Eyed Tyrant Master—"the Evil Emperor"—his experiments, and his spiritual probe.
The two shapes rose, scanning all around.
Sensing no pursuit from the Evil Emperor, they bolted north.
"Big Brother! We finally got out!" the Titan Giant Ape whooped as he ran. "Making us learn to write and read every day—ain't that just bullying us?"
The Sky Blue Bull Python sighed. "The Master's intentions may be for the good of soul beasts, but we aren't the same kind."
"That's right! If he turns us into humans, what about Sister Xiao Wu? If we become human, who'll protect her?" the Titan Giant Ape grumbled.
"Er Ming, you lead," the bull python said. "Didn't you meet Sister Xiao Wu near the outer forest? Didn't she say she's at Shrek Academy in Soto City?"
"Just follow me, Big Brother—I know the way!" Er Ming lifted his gaze to the stars, picked a direction, and thundered off.
After parting from Liu Erlong, Tang Hao flew south with Xiao Wu and Tang San.
Near the Star Dou Forest, he set them down.
"Father? Why bring us to the Star Dou Forest? We don't need spirit rings," Tang San asked, puzzled.
Tang Hao turned to Xiao Wu. "You tell him. Say your piece to him—and say goodbye."
Xiao Wu's body trembled, then steadied. She looked at Tang San. "San-ge…there's something I've hidden from you for a long time."
"What is it?" Tang San frowned. He and Xiao Wu had grown up together—what could she have hidden?
Head lowered, Xiao Wu whispered, "I'm a hundred-thousand-year Soft Bone Rabbit in human form…"
Tang San's pupils blew wide. His mouth opened soundlessly. He had never imagined his Xiao Wu was a rabbit spirit.
In an instant, countless memories of Xiao Wu flashed through his mind.
He swept her into his arms. "Xiao Wu! Human or not, you will always be my Xiao Wu!"
Relief calmed the storm in Xiao Wu's heart.
She wept with joy, clinging to him. "San-ge, you'll always be my San-ge!"
Half an hour later, seeing that they still hadn't let go, Tang Hao said, "Enough. Xiao San, say your goodbye. Xiao Wu must go where she should go."
Tang San's face changed. "Father! Why must she leave me? No matter where we go, we can bring Xiao Wu along!"
Tang Hao forced patience into his voice. "Do you know what a hundred-thousand-year soul beast means? It means Xiao Wu is a walking hundred-thousand-year ring and bone! She's only a Soul Venerable now; any halfway capable soul master could kill her for that ring. If her identity is exposed, the consequences are unimaginable—we'll face far worse pursuit than now."
Tang San gripped Xiao Wu's hand, demanding, "Father! Aren't you a Titled Douluo who stands astride the sky? You can't even protect Xiao Wu?"
(End of Chapter)