A Will to Shatter the Heavens! Yu Xiaogang's Mad Gamble!

(Xiao Wu artwork)

Flender winced from the pain of his grip. Seeing that familiar obsessive gleam in his friend's eyes—the one that appeared whenever he mentioned that theory—a powerful sense of unease suddenly rose within him.

"Xiao Gang, you... you can't be thinking..."

"That's right!"

Yu Xiaogang cut him off, his voice hurried and excited, like a drowning man clutching at his last straw.

"It's Little San! My disciple, Tang San!"

"He is, aside from Bibi Dong, the only Twin Martial Souls possessor I know of on the continent today!

His talent is peerless! He is the most perfect proof of my lifelong theories!"

Yu Xiaogang released Flender and began pacing back and forth through the cramped office. The faster he spoke, the more excited he became.

"What are the King's Hall arena rules?

If the challenger is Level 31, then they can only send out a Soul Grandmaster no higher than Level 30 to fight!"

"Little San is currently stuck at the Level 30 bottleneck!

He only needs one Soul Ring to break through to Level 31!"

His steps abruptly stopped. He turned around, an unhealthy flush blooming across his face.

His eyes gleamed with the madness of a gambler staking everything he owned.

"As long as we immediately take him to obtain his Third Soul Ring and let him advance to Level 31, then challenge the King's Hall arena!"

"By then, according to the rules, the King's Hall will have no choice but to send out a Soul Grandmaster below Level 30 to face him!"

"Flender, think about it! A Level 31 Tang San with Twin Martial Souls, abundant combat experience, and my careful guidance—

Against a Soul Grandmaster... would there be any suspense at all?!"

"This would be an absolute crushing victory! A guaranteed win!"

Yu Xiaogang waved his arms, spittle nearly spraying onto Flender's face.

He was utterly immersed in the perfect logic he had constructed for himself and the fantasy of a tremendous victory.

"As long as we win this match, we can win a Divine Artifact from the King's Hall! A Divine Artifact bestowed by the Heavenly Ranking!"

"More importantly—"

His voice suddenly dropped, yet it carried an extreme allure and bewitching quality.

"By then, the entire continent will know that it was my disciple, Yu Xiaogang's disciple, who defeated the arrogant King's Hall!

It was my theories, Yu Xiaogang's theories, that cultivated a genius capable of defeating the Heavenly Ranking's number one force!"

"Those who once mocked me, despised me, and drove me out of the family...

Those who doubted my title of 'Master'... will all crawl at my feet and look up at my accomplishments!"

"I will truly become famous across the continent and live without a care!

No one will ever dare question another word I say!"

His gaze was unfocused, as though he had already seen himself standing at the pinnacle of glory, receiving the worship of countless people.

Flender looked at his friend, who seemed to have gone mad. The unease and worry in his heart grew wildly like weeds.

"Xiao Gang..."

Flender's voice was incomparably heavy as he tried to pull him back from his insane fantasy.

"Your idea... sounds feasible, but there are far too many variables. The risks are simply too great!"

"The King's Hall is unfathomable. We know nothing about their methods!

What if the Soul Grandmaster they send possesses some strange and unpredictable ability?"

"Besides, life and death are ignored in the arena!

Have you forgotten what happened to Hu Yan Zhen of the Elephant Armor Sect, the Elder of the Clear Sky Sect, and your father?! What if something happens to Little San..."

"There is no what if!"

Yu Xiaogang brutally interrupted Flender. He suddenly turned around, his back facing Flender as he looked out into the heavy night.

The dim light in the office stretched his hunched yet upright silhouette across the mottled wall, making him seem strangely lonely and resolute.

His voice suddenly became low and distant, carrying an unusual resolve.

"Flender... in life, there are not many opportunities to truly seize fate by the throat and achieve a heaven-shaking reversal."

"All my life, because of my useless Martial Soul, I have suffered countless scornful looks, been cast out by my family, and ridiculed by the world.

I devoted myself to theoretical research, yet people called it empty talk and said I was seeking fame."

"I have no choice but to consider..."

He slowly turned around. Sparse starlight from outside the window fell across his face, illuminating those eyes that burned with their final flames.

"This may be the only—and final—opportunity of my life, Yu Xiaogang's life."

His gaze passed through Flender and through the office walls.

It seemed to fall upon that towering hall in the distant valley. He spoke each word distinctly, his voice not loud, yet filled with the sonorous ruthlessness of cutting off every path of retreat.

"Life is like a game of chess."

"Even if the King's Hall is the sky above us."

Yu Xiaogang's fist clenched tightly once more. His nails dug deeply into his palm, drawing blood, yet he was completely unaware of it.

"I, Yu Xiaogang—"

"Will shatter this sky!"

"Flender!"

The fervor in his eyes reached its peak. He suddenly grabbed Flender's arm with such force that he nearly crushed it.

"There's no time to lose! We'll leave right now for the Soul Beast Forest and obtain Little San's Third Soul Ring!"

"If we succeed in this battle, our names will resound through the heavens!"

Flender looked at the resolute light in his friend's eyes, a light that allowed neither doubt nor objection.

He opened his mouth, but in the end, every word of persuasion turned into an incomparably heavy sigh.

Outside the window, the night was like ink, without stars or moon.

And the Golden Heavenly Ranking was like a sea of molten gold at a boil.

Within the rolling vortex of clouds, its vast pressure was like tangible mountains, heavily weighing upon the hearts of every onlooker.

The announcement of the top seven had already thrown the entire continent into turmoil.

The King's Hall's successive rankings above the Pope had especially left everyone in a near-numb state of shock.

Just as the atmosphere was about to freeze solid—

The golden light of the Heavenly Ranking erupted once more like the first ray of light at the dawn of the universe!

Its brilliance coated the entire valley, and even the distant mountains, in a layer of flowing gold!

Countless people instinctively held their breath, their eyes wide and round, their hearts seeming to be tightly gripped by an invisible hand.

A new ranking, carrying an even more ancient and weighty aura—

An aura as terrifying as if it had emerged from the dust of history—slowly condensed into form:

[Soul Master Strongest Ranking 6th Place: King of Slaughter Tang Chen!]

[Affiliated Faction: City of Slaughter]

[The previous previous Sect Master of the Clear Sky Sect, Asura God inheritor, and current ruler of the City of Slaughter.]

[Martial Soul: Clear Sky Hammer. Level 99 Assault Type Half-God Peerless Douluo. He once roamed the continent without a single defeat, his might suppressing an entire era. In ground combat, he was invincible in the world, thus earning the fearsome title of "Invincible on Land"!]

[Due to sinking into the Blood Fiend erosion of the City of Slaughter, he fell into becoming the King of Slaughter. His mind was long influenced by the parasitism of the Blood Red Nine-Headed Bat King, leaving him immersed in bloodshed and chaos, unable to unleash the full strength of his peak. Thus, he ranked sixth on the Powerhouse Ranking!]

[Reward Obtained: The age of all Soul Rings increased by—six thousand years!]

"Boom—!!!"