Heaven Dou City was in chaos. News spread like wildfire, and the streets rang with angry voices.
"Yu Xiaogang is a scam artist—just a charlatan fooling the Rivers and Lakes!"
"Have you seen that garbage theory he published? Nonsense piled on top of nonsense. Not a shred of truth in it!"
"And he has the face to claim he researched it himself? That bastard has no shame!"
"He calls himself a 'Grandmaster'? A so-called great teacher who preaches theories he's never proven? People like him only drag down the name of spirit masters. He wants to make the entire Douluo Continent reek with his stench!"
"I swear, if Tang San hadn't apprenticed under him, maybe—just maybe—he wouldn't have turned out like this. That 'guidance' poisoned him!"
"Take the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament, for example. Did Shrek's success have anything to do with him? Hah! That was all thanks to the techniques Tang San inherited from the Clear Sky Clan. Yu Xiaogang contributed nothing! Not a damn thing!"
Another jeering voice cut in.
"This master and disciple are two snakes from the same pit—vermin, both of them!"
"And Tang San? He's no better! The skills he flaunted in the finals were clearly secret techniques of the Clear Sky Sect. Everyone knows he learned them behind their backs!"
"That brat's nothing but a mutt, a shameless thief!"
"A traitor's child and an ungrateful wolf! He benefited from the Clear Sky Clan's legacy and repays them with disgrace!"
"The Clear Sky Sect has hidden from the world for years now. Who knows what they think of this outrage? But if they had any sense, they'd disown him outright!"
One roar among the crowd grew darker, laced with venom.
"A thief of sect techniques deserves a fate worse than death! If I caught him, I'd cut off his hands and feet, gouge out his eyes, cut out his tongue, tear out his throat, deafen his ears, and toss the rest into a dung pit to rot!"
"Isn't that too much?" someone asked weakly, pale from the sheer brutality.
"Too much?!" the man bellowed. "A sect-thieving rat like him gets off easy with death. If we don't heap punishment onto him, where's the justice? Where's the lesson?"
The crowd roared in savage agreement. Curse piled upon curse until the square quaked with thousands of voices spewing their fury.
It was exactly what Ning Fengzhi wanted. Behind the scenes, he had carefully steered the conversation away from Yu Xiaogang's slanderous article—where Yu labeled Lu Yuan an Evil Soul Master—towards Yu Xiaogang himself.
Now, all over the continent, the public condemnation shifted. From small inns to grand halls, no one cursed Lu Yuan anymore. Instead, their target was Yu Xiaogang—the notorious "Grandmaster."
Soul masters weren't fools. They trained, they studied, they fought. They valued proof, logic, clarity. And every line of Yu Xiaogang's so-called theories crumbled under scrutiny.
What happened when a man's every word collapsed?
Only one thing.
He had to be cursed without pause, damned without reprieve, scorned until he broke!
Just imagining the anger sharpened their voices further. If Yu Xiaogang dared to appear in public now, those furious brothers of the Spirit Master world wouldn't stop at insults. They'd smash his skull open just to make sure whether there was a brain inside… or just shit.
One lone man muttered as if defending him. "I think the Master…"
"What the hell did you just say?" The crowd froze, then their collective rage swerved and descended.
"Master? Did you just call him Master?"
"You dare? You think he deserves that title?"
"Brothers, let's beat this fool too!"
The mob roared and surged. The man didn't even get another word out before fists flew.
…
Meanwhile, in Soto City, far from the roaring voices, a heavy silence hung.
Within the modest grounds of the Shrek Academy—rebuilt in the same quiet village where it first began—two figures trudged into hiding.
Flender supported his "good brother," Yu Xiaogang, who staggered like a ghost.
The reason they returned here was simple: Yu Xiaogang could no longer endure the storm.
Fearing that the furious mobs would catch him, Flender had convinced Yu to retreat. They would stay in hiding until the public calmed, then slowly creep back into the world.
But Yu Xiaogang's pride wasn't built for this.
"Bang!"
Books crashed to the ground as Yu Xiaogang flipped the heavy table over.
"Clang! Crash!"
Plates, glass, and every object that could shatter didn't survive his rampage. Furniture toppled. The little house shook with his rage.
His hair, once neatly combed, had fallen loose strand by strand. His face twisted hideously.
"Damn it all!"
His fists shook. In a fit of madness, he slapped himself hard across the face. Once. Twice. Thrice.
The sting of flesh meeting flesh, the sting of humiliation.
The voices of the continent drilled into his skull like venomous worms.
"Charlatan."
"Fraud."
"Worthless."
Yu Xiaogang couldn't stop hearing them. He'd been denounced as a liar to the point that no one on Douluo Continent spoke of him without spitting.
Everywhere—streets, taverns, academies—people mocked him. They laughed at the "flaw-filled theories" of the so-called Grandmaster.
His pride collapsed.
He collapsed.
"Boom boom boom."
A heavy knocking at the door broke through his spiral.
"Xiaogang, are you okay in there?" Flender called, voice full of worry.
These past days had been the darkest yet. In less than a week, Yu Xiaogang had transformed from renowned teacher to the most hated man on the continent. No one understood how the tide had turned so brutally, so fast.
Perhaps no one except Flender suspected what lay beneath—the hidden manipulations twisting the crowd's fury.
"Come on, old brother. Open up!"
Inside, Yu Xiaogang just sat slumped, fingernails digging into his palms.
For Flender, the disaster went beyond just Yu Xiaogang.
Even Shrek Academy suffered.
Once, their name carried a gleam of respect after reaching the finals of the tournament. But now?
Now, to hear the phrase "Shrek Academy" was to hear jeers. At the registration office, where normally hundreds would flock in the wake of such glory, not a single student showed interest.
Not one.
The Academy grounds, once bustling, now stood dead quiet. The villagers mocked it. Strangers pelted their gates with rotten eggs.
All because Yu Xiaogang's reputation fouled their name.
And truly… Shrek was on the verge of ruin.
"Xiaogang, you need to eat something," Flender pleaded at the door. He carried a simple tray of food, the only thing he could think to help.
"You've gone three days and nights without a single bite. If you keep this up, your body won't hold."
The door creaked. From the shadows, Yu Xiaogang sat on the ground, his face gray, his body frail as if a decade aged in days.
He looked up in despair.
"Flender… tell me. Is my theory really wrong?"
The question cracked the silence like lightning.
Even Flender hesitated. His mouth opened, closed, then he forced a smile and patted Yu Xiaogang's trembling shoulder.
"I think your theory… can still be perfected."
Yu Xiaogang's eyes widened. The faint hope he'd clung to snapped.
His throat tightened.
"Pffft—"
Dark blood spurted from his mouth, staining the floor.
The truth was unbearable. Flender's words confirmed it—everything was flawed.
"Xiaogang!" Flender rushed forward, carrying him upright. "Don't give up now. You've still got me—we'll figure this out!"
But despair already drowned him.
…
Far away, in the depths of Star Dou Great Forest—the heart of the most ancient wilderness—an entirely different scene played out.
At the Lake of Life, Lu Yuan gently set down a pot filled with green vines and leaves that shimmered faintly in the sunlight.
"Blue Silver Emperor!"
Both Daming and Erming instantly recognized it. As hundred-thousand-year-old spirit beasts, their perception was sharp. They gasped the moment they saw the plant.
This was no mere Blue Silver Grass. This was her—the legendary Blue Silver Emperor.
But why, how, was she like this? Reduced to a pitiful plant in a pot?
"Lu Yuan," Daming's voice shook. "Where did you get this Blue Silver Emperor?"
Lu Yuan casually waved his hand as if it were nothing. "Oh, her? Found her while digging in a cave."
He smiled as the plant basked in sunlight. The leaves quivered, giving off faint warmth.
"Beautiful, isn't she?"
Erming sniffed the pot. His massive nostrils flared. "Wait… is that alcohol?"
"She likes to drink." Lu Yuan grinned shamelessly. "Every time I pour wine into her soil, she perks up. See? We're fated companions."
His audacity left even spirit beasts stunned.
Xiao Wu, unable to hold back, urged softly, "Lu Yuan… maybe you should plant her beside the Lake of Life. The Blue Silver Emperor deserves better than… this."
But Lu Yuan shook his head like she'd just suggested he starve.
"And deprive her of her wine? Impossible!"
Daming's eyes darkened. He could tell the truth.
This Blue Silver Emperor… she wasn't blooming naturally. This was regression.
Her body wasn't whole anymore. The only reason a hundred-thousand-year-old beast would return to this state… was one.
Sacrifice.
Or slaughter.
The truth boiled inside him, and at last, the gentle titan exploded.
"Outrageous! To do this to the Blue Silver Emperor—this is utter cruelty!"
He roared. The waves of the lake trembled under his fury.
Liu Erlong's eyes shot wide too, her heart clenching.
Who had done this?
Then the answer began to piece together, link by link.
Only two on the continent bore hundred-thousand-year spirit rings. Bibi Dong, from killing the Death Spider King. And… Tang Hao.
That left only one explanation.
"It was him," Liu Erlong spat. Her lips curled in fury, her mind racing faster than lightning. "Tang Hao. It has to be him! That bastard!"
Tang Hao—the so-called Clear Sky Douluo.
And then, suspicion turned. Her eyes narrowed as they fell on Lu Yuan.
"Wait… don't tell me—you really stole Tang Hao's wife?"
The words stunned the group.
Because piece by piece, the details clicked.
Tang San's first martial soul was Blue Silver Grass. His second was the Clear Sky Hammer. His mother… was the Blue Silver Emperor.
And now here she was—with Lu Yuan.
My god.
Had Lu Yuan truly taken Tang Hao's wife?
The scandal was unthinkable. But the signs danced in front of their eyes.
Liu Erlong wanted to laugh, wanted to cry, wanted to curse. The mystery of the continent unraveled in a single outrageous truth.
If Ning Fengzhi ever found out, the smug sect leader would choke on his own tea from laughter.
The scene devolved further as accusations, arguments, and roars spun between spirit beasts and humans alike. Some defended Tang Hao, others condemned him, but one truth became undeniable:
The Blue Silver Emperor had been tortured, discarded, and only Lu Yuan's bizarre intervention had saved her in this pitiable state.
Xiao Wu's heart clenched tighter than ever. If Tang Hao could ignore her—a soft hundred-thousand-year rabbit soul beast—in order to "serve his son's growth," then what future had she faced?
She shivered. If not for Lu Yuan, what would have happened to her?
The revelation tore her illusions away, piece by painful piece.
The debates raged long, but one path remained.
If the Blue Silver Emperor still had a chance, then it lay with the Blue Silver King—a powerful plant spirit beast said to thrive nearby at over eighty-thousand years old.
"Let's go see him," Xiao Wu pleaded, her big eyes glistening.
"Alright," Lu Yuan agreed lightly, stroking the pot.
The others—furious, shocked, grieving—could only nod.
And so, with heavy secrets, boiling rage, and scandalous truths binding them, they set their path deeper into mystery.
--
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