Master Yu Xiaogang, Overwhelmed with Grief!

(Beautiful image of Liu Erlong)

He slowly raised his head, his gaze passing through the crowd before finally settling on the young man in green standing in the distance with his hands behind his back, a faint smile on his lips.

Lin Jiang...

Just how many astonishing figures like this were still hidden under your command?

Could this Heavenly Ranking... truly become a stage for King's Hall alone to shine upon?

An unprecedented gravity and chill quietly rose in the heart of this Level 99 Peerless Douluo.

The skies of the continent... were truly about to change.

And the center of that change seemed to be this seemingly unremarkable valley, along with that unfathomable young Hall Master.

Shrek Academy, Dean's Office.

The dim room was lit only by the faint glow of a Soul Guiding Lamp on the desk,

casting Flender's usually shrewd, mercenary face into shifting shadows.

Yu Xiaogang sat in a battered wooden chair opposite him,

his back ramrod straight, both hands clenched tightly over his knees, his knuckles white from the force.

The air was frighteningly silent. Only the occasional chirping of insects outside the window and Yu Xiaogang's heavy, nearly ragged breathing could be heard.

"The news... has been confirmed."

Flender's voice was dry as sandpaper scraping together.

He pushed up his worn crystal glasses, and his eyes behind the lenses held a rare sorrow and helplessness.

"The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan... Sect Master Yu Yuanzhen, second-in-command Yu Luomian, and seven core Elders of the clan...

A total of nine top experts, were wiped out yesterday in the King's Hall valley."

"Rumble—!"

It was as though a divine thunderbolt from the heavens had exploded inside Yu Xiaogang's mind!

His entire body swayed violently. The color instantly drained from his usually stern, rigid face, leaving it as pale as paper.

Those eyes that always tried to remain wise and calm had their pupils abruptly contract to pinpoints, only to be swallowed by surging bloodshot veins and stained red!

"Y-You... what did you say?!"

Yu Xiaogang sprang from his chair so violently that he nearly overturned it behind him.

Both hands braced against Flender's battered desk piled high with ledgers,

he leaned forward, his voice twisted and hoarse with extreme shock and grief.

"W-Wiped out?! Nine top experts?! Including my father... Yu Yuanzhen?!"

Every word seemed to be forced from between his teeth, trembling with bloody agony.

Flender closed his eyes heavily and slowly nodded.

Though he had long known what this news meant to Yu Xiaogang,

saying it aloud still felt as if something had lodged in his throat.

"According to the fragments of information that returned... the nine of them joined forces and unleashed the Nine Dragon True Body... yet a Titled Douluo of King's Hall defeated them head-on... alone."

"All nine... perished. Not even their bones remain."

"Crack—!"

The fingers of Yu Xiaogang's right hand, which rested on the desk, suddenly tightened.

He actually crushed a corner of the solid redwood desk! Wood chips scattered down in a shower.

His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at Flender, his chest heaving violently,

as though a wounded beast were madly charging and roaring within his chest.

"King's Hall... King's Hall!!!"

He nearly squeezed those three words out from the depths of his soul. His voice was low and hoarse, like the curse of a vengeful ghost, filled with bone-deep hatred and...

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan!

It was one of the Upper Three Sects, a clan that had stood for countless years, possessed the world's number one Beast Martial Soul, and commanded awe across the continent!

It was his root, the source of his bloodline,

the clan he had always been proud of in his heart, the final shield of his dignity, even after he had been forced to leave because of his mutated Martial Soul!

His father, Yu Yuanzhen, the Thunder Douluo at the peak of Level 95, had held the authority of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan for decades. How imposing and powerful he had been!

His second uncle, Yu Luomian, and those Elders who had watched him grow up...

And yet... even the combined strength of the clan's finest had been no match for a single person?!

They had even been slaughtered cleanly, without so much as an intact bone left behind?!

"Pfft—!"

Overwhelmed by fury and anguish, Yu Xiaogang felt sweetness rise in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood.

It splattered across Flender's ledgers in tiny, shocking drops.

"Xiao Gang!" Flender's expression changed as he hurriedly rose.

But Yu Xiaogang abruptly raised a hand to stop him and fiercely wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve.

The grief in his red eyes receded like a tide, replaced by a chilling coldness,

and a flame of obsession that grew wildly.

"Flender."

His voice suddenly became calm. Terrifyingly calm.

"Erlong... where is she now? Is she safe?"

Yu Luomian was Liu Erlong's biological father.

That woman as fiery as flame, with whom he had once shared a doomed romance, leaving him burdened with guilt for half his life.

Flender's eyes darkened. He shook his head, deep worry and helplessness appearing on his face.

"I don't know... I've used every connection I have to investigate, but Erlong's whereabouts have been a mystery ever since she left.

Now that the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan has suffered such a disaster, if she learns of it... I'm afraid she..."

He did not continue, but his clenched fists and bloodshot eyes said everything.

Liu Erlong was not only the pain in Yu Xiaogang's heart, but also the woman Flender had silently loved and protected for half his life.

"Damn it... damn it all!!"

Yu Xiaogang slammed his fist down on the desk, making the ink bottle and pen holder rattle loudly.

"This King's Hall acts with such tyranny and cruelty, slaughtering sects and exterminating clans without the slightest humanity! They treat all the heroes of the world as nothing!

What exactly are they trying to do?! Do they really think that because they took first place on the Heavenly Ranking, they can do whatever they please?!"

Flender looked at his friend in this state, his own heart filled with grief and fury. But he was several years older and had experienced more, so he understood the cruelty of reality all too well.

He let out a long sigh, his voice full of exhaustion and helplessness.

"Xiao Gang... anger is useless. King's Hall is now as powerful as the heavens."

"Didn't you see? The Soul Master Strongest Ranking was just announced, and two more of their people made the list, both ranked above Bibi Dong, the Pope of Spirit Hall!

One of them even received an increase of five thousand years to their soul ring age!"

"A force like this, strength like this... has already surpassed our understanding, even the understanding of the Upper Three Sects."

"We... what can we do now besides watch helplessly? We are powerless..."

The words "powerless" were like four icy awls stabbing viciously into Yu Xiaogang's heart.

He abruptly lifted his head and stared fixedly at Flender.

The cold calm in his bloodshot eyes was utterly shattered,

replaced by a nearly crazed light that blazed and danced fiercely within them!

"No!"

Yu Xiaogang's voice suddenly rose, sharp enough to grate on the ears.

"Flender, you're wrong! We are not powerless!"

He rounded the desk and grabbed Flender by the shoulders, his fingers sinking deeply into Flender's flesh from the force, his gaze burning with terrifying intensity.

"I still have a chance! I still hold a trump card... one capable of overturning everything!"