Tianmeng asked:
"Then is there any way to suppress this trend of level dropping?"
Huo Yuhao replied:
"It's not like there's no way. If someone transmits soul power to Yu Xiaogang, or if he absorbs rare heavenly treasures that can be converted into soul power, then this portion of external soul power can temporarily substitute for his original soul power that's leaking away. But—"
Huo Yuhao's tone shifted:
"This method also has side effects."
"Side effects?"
"A large amount of external resources being injected and then released will only make the hole in the measuring cup bigger. The leakage will grow faster and faster, which will then require even more external transmissions of soul power or heavenly treasures to sustain his realm from dropping. That cycle repeats endlessly. In the end, either the external resources are exhausted, or the gap grows so large that no amount of input can fill it. At that point, Gangzi will still end up with his level reset to zero, and his martial soul will disappear." Huo Yuhao explained.
Tianmeng opened his mouth, unable to find words for a long time. Eventually he just gave Huo Yuhao a thumbs up and said:
"I don't even know what to say. Just one thing—Hao-ge, you did a beautiful job."
Huo Yuhao looked at Yu Xiaogang, who sat in the divine vision's field, despairing and helpless on the ground, and said:
"Although Tang San and I are sworn enemies, there's still one interest we share: watching this maggot despair in helplessness, yet still stubbornly struggle against fate. Level 29? That's nothing. Keep dropping lower for me. Watching this worm slide from trash fog into an even deeper abyss of trash fog, wriggling and struggling… it's really a delight to the body and soul."
At this moment, Gangzi was completely hopeless and powerless.
He desperately longed to break past level 29 and shake off the humiliating title of "trash fog." But reality was mocking him—he was sliding into the abyss of level loss instead.
Why? I, Yu Xiaogang, born of noble lineage, destined to stand above all, why does fate play one cruel joke after another on me? It was bad enough that I've never been able to break the shackle of level 29 my whole life—but now you want to strip away the soul power I've cultivated through 200 times more effort? Why must I suffer such unfair treatment?
If it were just as Gu Rong said earlier, leaking soul power like dripping water, Yu Xiaogang wouldn't have been so desperate. But now? Every fart expelled a chunk of his cultivation. At this rate, in just a few days his soul power would be completely emptied—unless he never farted again in his life.
After standing still for a long time, Yu Xiaogang finally got up, his "flat-top head" working hard to think of what to do.
Suddenly, his belly bulged again—
Flat-top's expression drastically changed. He looked pleadingly at Gu Rong and cried:
"Gu Rong, help me, I beg you, it's coming again!"
Gu Rong sighed helplessly:
"But how am I supposed to help you, Alliance Master Xiaogang?"
"Any way works! Just don't let me fart." Yu Xiaogang begged.
"How about… I seal your rear?" Gu Rong asked.
"Yes, yes, yes! Seal it first!" Yu Xiaogang didn't care about dignity anymore.
Seeing this, Gu Rong sent a stream of soul power to block Yu Xiaogang's rear.
Finally, Gangzi didn't need to force himself to hold it in anymore. He sighed in relief and began thinking about how to solve the level-dropping problem.
"Alliance Master Xiaogang, your stomach… will this really not cause problems?" Gu Rong asked, pointing at Yu Xiaogang's now-bulging belly with a strange look.
Yu Xiaogang looked down and found his stomach swollen and round. He said:
"Temporarily it should be fine. Let's first figure out how to deal with the level dropping."
But as the saying goes: when God closes a door, He forgets to close the window.
The fart trapped in Yu Xiaogang's belly eventually found another way out. Suddenly, Yu Xiaogang felt nauseous. His face changed, and realizing what was happening, he quickly covered his mouth to block whatever was trying to escape.
"Alliance Master Xiaogang, what's wrong?" Gu Rong asked curiously, stepping closer.
"Mmph—mmphh!" Yu Xiaogang looked at him desperately for help.
But his mouth was forced open, and the soul power realm he had cultivated burst out as a foul-smelling yellow gas, spraying right into Gu Rong's face.
Covered in Yu Xiaogang's disgusting "mouth fart," Gu Rong for a moment wanted to slap this pig to death. But when he steadied himself and saw Yu Xiaogang's situation, he nearly broke into laughter.
Yu Xiaogang's realm: from mid-level 28 → peak-level 27 (great completion).
This time, it didn't even follow the usual pattern. It directly robbed Yu Xiaogang of a full level.
"Alliance Master Xiaogang, you dropped another level," Gu Rong said, his tone carrying a hint of schadenfreude.
"No, no! Not my levels! Don't leave me!" Flat-top's face twisted in despair. He cried out miserably, using both mouth and nose, trying to suck back the soul power that had escaped. But it was useless.
After struggling for a long time, Yu Xiaogang's eyes were bloodshot. He raised his head and roared:
"I was born to stand above all! I bear the noble blood of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan! I am not a trash fog, nor should I ever fall to the realm of lowly commoners! I absolutely will not allow my levels to drop further, to become like a mere peasant—I will never allow it!"
Then flat-top turned toward Gu Rong, declaring firmly:
"Gu Rong, I will cultivate back to my original realm. The training ahead will depend on you."
So, Gu Rong once again began transmitting soul power for Yu Xiaogang to cultivate.
He sent a stream of gentle soul power into Yu Xiaogang's veins. Yu Xiaogang absorbed it, using it for cultivation.
This had always been their training method in the past. But this time was different—once Gu Rong's soul power entered, Yu Xiaogang felt something unusual inside his body. He ignored it, continuing to refine Gu Rong's soul power for cultivation.
As he trained, his belly bulged again.
And then—
"Oh no… it's coming…" Yu Xiaogang said in despair.
Gu Rong quickly stopped the transmission and leapt to the side.
Yu Xiaogang held it in and held it in—until finally he couldn't—
Pffft! A foul-smelling gas burst out.
"No! Not my level! Don't leave me!" Flat-top's face twisted with pain.
"Alliance Master Xiaogang… maybe that was just an ordinary fart?" Gu Rong said. "Your level hasn't dropped."
Yu Xiaogang quickly circulated his soul power to check—indeed, he was still at peak-level 27. He sighed in relief and allowed Gu Rong to continue transmitting soul power.
But in the following training sessions, every time Gu Rong injected soul power into Yu Xiaogang, it always ended with Yu Xiaogang farting.
Gu Rong thought of a possibility. His expression darkened:
"Don't tell me… you're actually converting the soul power I give you into farts and releasing it?"
This was a question laced with anger from Gu Rong, but when those words entered Yu Xiaogang's ears, he interpreted them very differently.
The flat-topped man excitedly said:
"So that means, as long as someone transmits cultivation power to me, then the farts I let out won't count as my own level anymore, and my rank won't drop, right?"
"What?" Gu Rong roared in fury.
"You mean to tell me you want me to keep transmitting my soul power to you nonstop, just to stop your level from falling?"
Yu Xiaogang, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, replied:
"Of course. Gu Rong, I'll trouble you with this. When Xiao San becomes a god, I'll definitely have him give you a hand up."
"Forgive me for refusing. This is an insult to me," Gu Rong said flatly without hesitation.
For the sake of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, he could endure having his soul power wasted on this useless fog-ridden man, but not like this.
Even if Gu Rong's talent had reached its limit and he was destined never to break past Rank 96, that soul power was still the fruit of his bitter cultivation.
And Yu Xiaogang wanted to treat his painstakingly cultivated energy as nothing more than farts to stop himself from falling levels?
What did Yu Xiaogang take him for?
And furthermore—did Yu Xiaogang have no self-awareness at all about what he was in Tang San's eyes?
He even dared to say "when Tang San becomes a god, he'll help me." Ha!
"Gu Rong, I'm the Alliance Leader."
Hearing Gu Rong rebut him, Yu Xiaogang instantly felt his dignity crumble, so he stiffened his neck and emphasized his status.
"Even if you're Alliance Leader, you can't order me, a Titled Douluo, to do such a thing. A Title cannot be humiliated!"
Gu Rong shot Yu Xiaogang a cold glance.
If it weren't for the fear of ruining Sect Master Ning's plans, he would have slapped this swine to death already.
Suppressing his fury, Gu Rong activated space teleportation and vanished.
"No, Gu Rong, you can't leave me! You must fulfill your duty of transmitting cultivation to me!"
Yu Xiaogang lunged for the spatial tunnel but grasped nothing.
At last he could only roar in impotent rage.
Not long after Gu Rong left, Yu Xiaogang again felt something was wrong.
His belly swelled, as if something within him was eager to break free and run toward freedom.
"No, don't! Please, don't! I don't want to lose another level!"
Yu Xiaogang begged, face contorted in constipation.
But his pleas couldn't quench their yearning for freedom.
In the end, Yu Xiaogang could no longer hold back—pffft!
A foul stench once again spread through the underground chamber.
Yu Xiaogang hurriedly sat cross-legged to sense his body's state.
Instantly, his flat-topped face twisted like a bitter melon.
His rank had dropped from the pinnacle of Level 27 down to the late stage of Level 27.
Now Yu Xiaogang was even more convinced:
to stop his cultivation from slipping, he absolutely needed a Titled Douluo to keep transmitting soul power to him, letting that substitute rank get released as farts instead.
But the best candidate, Gu Rong, had already thrown down the burden and left.
Where could Yu Xiaogang possibly find someone willing to sacrifice for him now?
Helpless, he ordered his servants to brew him medicinal baths with rare and expensive herbs.
Soaking in the concoction, he absorbed the medicinal essence, hoping to cultivate back the levels he had lost.
Yet once he had fallen to late-stage Level 27, let alone Level 28—even the peak of Level 27 became an insurmountable chasm.
In the bath, his flat-topped face suddenly twisted again—here it came.
He struggled painfully, but how could one resist bodily instincts?
The potion around him bubbled furiously.
After another release, Yu Xiaogang hastily checked his rank—and to his surprise, it hadn't fallen further.
"Could it be… that was just an ordinary fart?"
Yu Xiaogang began to doubt.
He continued absorbing the potion, letting out fart after fart, and his cultivation stayed the same.
Encouraged, he climbed out of the tub and kept farting freely.
At first, his rank stayed intact.
So Yu Xiaogang grew bold, letting them out without restraint.
But just when he had relaxed his guard—pffft!
Yu Xiaogang's level shifted: Late-stage 27 → Mid-stage 27.
"No! My cultivation!" Yu Xiaogang wailed in anguish.
It took him a long time to recover before he plunged back into the tub to absorb more of the herbs.
From this experience, Yu Xiaogang drew a conclusion:
He could absorb and consume rare heaven-and-earth treasures to replace his cultivation when releasing farts.
The older the herb and the richer its medicinal essence, the longer it could buffer him against rank drops.
From then on, Yu Xiaogang no longer cared about anything else.
He diverted all the Alliance's precious resources, hoarding rare herbs solely for himself.
Still, this was only a way to slow the loss of his rank.
Yu Xiaogang didn't want to rely on medicine forever—he longed to recover his former level, break the barrier of Level 29, become a true powerhouse of the continent, stand at the peak overlooking all, and ultimately follow Tang San to the God Realm to achieve the great enterprise of becoming a God Emperor.
Thus, he packed rare herbs into a soul tool, gnawing on thousand-year ginsengs as he made his way to find Tang San.
By sheer luck, he arrived just as Tang San had finished his closed-door cultivation and was preparing to hunt his sixth spirit ring.
Seeing Tang San and Tang Hao, Yu Xiaogang instantly collapsed in tears and snot, pouring out his tragic misfortune before Tang San.
Tang San, listening to his master's sob story, couldn't help but feel a spark of joy.
In this time filled with endless bad news, this was the only good news he had heard.
Deep down, he gave a silent thumbs-up to Xinghuo Academy.
He had thought that seeing Yu Xiaogang forever stuck at Level 29, raging helplessly, was already the height of happiness.
But Yu Xiaogang's new predicament opened Tang San's eyes.
So there was this way to play, too.
Yu Xiaogang cried to Tang San:
"Xiao San, you must have a way—you must! Please, find a way for your teacher, I can't keep losing ranks like this."
Tang San comforted him:
"Teacher, for your condition, I currently don't have any good solution. How about this: for now, you can temporarily rely on these treasures to stabilize your level. A few years from now, when your disciple becomes a god and returns, all your problems will be solved."
"You really have no other way?" Yu Xiaogang asked in pain.
"For the moment, this is the only option," Tang San said.
"Very well. Then I'll wait for you to become a god. At that time, you must resolve your teacher's troubles, and take me along to become a God Emperor. Also—do not spare a single soul of Xinghuo Academy! I'll see to it that those lowborn wretches never find peace in this life or the next!" Yu Xiaogang snarled, face twisted.
"Of course, Teacher," Tang San said.
"All right, Master Yu. I'm taking Xiao San to hunt spirits now. We won't be accompanying you further," Tang Hao said.
"Fine," Yu Xiaogang replied.