Your Theory Is Trash, My Resources Are Truth

The noon sun was blinding, yet it could not warm the few dilapidated thatched huts of Shrek Academy.

A middle-aged man with a crew cut, dressed in a gray cloth robe, pushed open the tottering door of the boys' dormitory. His cloth shoes were caked with mud, and his face carried an air of self-importance along with a trace of barely concealed anxiety.

"Xiao San, your teacher is here..."

Yu Xiaogang's words caught in his throat.

What met his eyes was not his high-spirited disciple, but a "creature" wrapped head to toe in bandages, its face swollen like an over-fermented purple sweet potato as it lay groaning on a wooden board bed.

Beside him, Flender held a bowl of black herbal soup, looking awkward.

"Th... who did this?!" Yu Xiaogang's voice instantly rose several octaves. His stiff face twitched violently with rage. "Who beat my disciple into this state? Where is Zhao Wuji? Is he dead?"

Tang San struggled to open eyes swollen into narrow slits. The moment he saw Yu Xiaogang, two streams of tears slid down his face, mixing with the ointment and smearing everything into a mess.

"Teacher... you finally came..." Tang San's voice was hoarse, thick with a crying tone. "It was Qian Mo... someone from Spirit Hall. He used money to corrupt Xiao Wu and Oscar, and he even took Ning Rongrong away... He humiliated me, humiliated your theory..."

"Spirit Hall?!"

A trace of wariness flashed through Yu Xiaogang's eyes, but it was overwhelmed by the fury of someone whose reverse scale had been touched.

"Spirit Hall indeed! Throwing their weight around and stealing another man's beloved!" Yu Xiaogang abruptly turned around, clasping his hands behind his back as he struck a righteous pose. "Xiao San, rest assured. No matter who the other party is, reason must be respected in this world. Money may buy temporary comfort, but it cannot buy a strong person's dignity!"

Flender set down the bowl of medicine and sighed. "Xiaogang, that Qian Mo... there's something strange about him. And what he offered was simply too..."

"Too much?" Yu Xiaogang snorted coldly, cutting off his old friend. "Flender, you've fallen too. Take me to him! I want to ask him face-to-face what right he has to ruin someone's future!"

The three of them marched aggressively toward the rear of the academy.

After passing through the overgrown wasteland, the sight before them brought Yu Xiaogang to a halt.

The original forest was gone, replaced by a magnificent palace floating in midair, flowing with dazzling light. White marble formed its steps, gold its tiles, and dense spirit power fluctuations had nearly condensed into tangible mist. Even from a hundred meters away, they could feel their pores opening.

Compared to it, Shrek's thatched huts behind them were no better than a pigsty.

"Extravagance and indulgence! Lost ambition through indulgence!" Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth and gave his eight-character assessment, using it to conceal the fleeting jealousy in his eyes.

He took a deep breath, gathered his soul power, and shouted toward the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace, "Qian Mo! Come out!"

The instant his voice fell—

"Boom—!!!"

A seven-colored light pillar shot into the sky from the top of the palace without warning, instantly piercing through the clouds. Heaven and earth changed color as auspicious qi swept in all directions like a tsunami.

Yu Xiaogang was blasted three steps back by the shockwave and nearly fell flat on his backside.

"Th... what kind of phenomenon is this?" he asked, uncertain and alarmed.

The doors of the Cloud Top Heavenly Palace slowly opened.

Qian Mo, dressed in a platinum robe, leaned lazily against the door frame with a string of crystal-clear grapes in hand. He looked down at the disheveled Yu Xiaogang, a mocking curve at the corner of his mouth.

"Which wild dog is barking at the entrance to my divine palace?"

"You!" Yu Xiaogang's face flushed red with fury, and even the hand he pointed at Qian Mo shook. "I am Yu Xiaogang, known as the 'Master'! As a junior, you show such disrespect toward an elder. Is this Spirit Hall's upbringing?"

"Master?" Qian Mo burst out laughing and casually tossed a grape into his mouth. "That level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster? That theory peddler who plagiarized Spirit Hall's records and stitched together the so-called 'Ten core competitiveness'?"

Having his shortcomings exposed in public, Yu Xiaogang reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "What do you know?! There are no useless martial souls, only useless Spirit Masters! My theory is a treasure of the Spirit Master World!"

"Is that so?"

Qian Mo turned sideways and snapped his fingers.

"Rongrong, come out and open this 'Master's' eyes."

A series of crisp footsteps rang out. Ning Rongrong emerged slowly, wearing a gorgeous glazed skirt. A sacred nine-colored halo coiled around her, and with every step she took, an illusory lotus bloomed beneath her feet.

She spread open her palm.

"Buzz!"

An incomparably dazzling pagoda appeared.

Not seven tiers.

One, two, three... eight, nine!

A nine-tiered pagoda shone with boundless radiance, its divine might as oppressive as a prison!

"N... nine tiers?!" Yu Xiaogang's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. He stared fixedly at the pagoda as though struck by lightning. "Impossible! This is absolutely impossible! The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is limited by its martial soul and can only ever have seven tiers. This is an iron law! It's written clearly in my theory..."

"Your theory?" Qian Mo sneered, his voice sharp as a blade. "Your theory is a joke."

"Your so-called iron law only exists because your knowledge is shallow and you have never seen a true Immortal Grade Herb. Your so-called 'there are no useless martial souls' is merely an excuse to hide the fact that you failed to break through level thirty for thirty years."

Qian Mo walked down the steps one by one.

Every step felt as if it landed directly on Yu Xiaogang's chest.

"Admit it, Yu Xiaogang. After studying for your entire life, your so-called title of 'Master' isn't worth as much as a single herb I can casually hand out."

"No... this isn't real..." Yu Xiaogang staggered back, his face pale as paper. His academic mansion collapsed at that moment.

"And there's more." Qian Mo turned toward Oscar, who had been watching the spectacle from the side. "Xiao Ao, catch."

A bone emitting icy blue light flew toward him.

"Ten Thousand Year Mirror Shadow Beast Skull." Qian Mo sounded as casual as if he were throwing away trash. "Since you've followed me, a meeting gift like this is indispensable."

Oscar caught it in a fluster, feeling the terrifying spirit power fluctuation within. He was so excited he nearly dropped to his knees. "Thank you, Boss!"

He absorbed it on the spot.

Ten minutes later, Oscar's soul power surged wildly. He broke through the level-thirty bottleneck in one go and even soared all the way to level thirty-three!

Qian Mo spread his hands as he looked at the ashen-faced teacher and disciple. "Do you see it? Tang San, you trained under this 'Master' for six years. Other than learning how to use hidden weapons for sneak attacks, how much did your soul power increase? Oscar followed me for one day. One soul bone is worth more than your three years of hard training."

"This is reality."

"Resources will always outweigh your ridiculous theory."

Tang San clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails pierced his palms. He wanted to argue. He wanted to say that Oscar's foundation was unstable, that external objects would always remain external objects. But as he watched Oscar's wildly soaring soul power and ecstatic expression, every word turned into a feeble groan.

Just as Yu Xiaogang's mental defenses completely collapsed and he prepared to drag Tang San away from this place of heartbreak—

"Aunt Erlong, since you're here, why hide?"

Qian Mo suddenly called out toward the empty air.

At the edge of the forest, a fiery red figure stiffened.

Liu Erlong had originally heard that old ghost Flender had struck it rich, so she had come specifically to mooch off him, and perhaps see whether she could merge Blue Tyrant Academy into the arrangement. She had not expected to run into the man she thought of day and night, yet hated to the bone.

"X... Xiaogang?"

Liu Erlong walked out from the shade trembling, her beautiful eyes instantly filling with tears.

Yu Xiaogang's entire body stiffened. He suddenly turned around, unable to look at the woman. Instinctively, he grabbed Tang San and tried to flee. "We're leaving! Quickly!"

"Why run?"

Qian Mo flashed forward and blocked their path.

"What? You abandoned your bride on your wedding night and ran away. Now that you've met her again, you don't even dare say sorry?" A devilish smile hung on Qian Mo's face. "Yu Xiaogang, you're not just trash. You're also a coward."

"Shut up! This is between us!" Yu Xiaogang roared hysterically, trying to preserve the last shred of his dignity.

"Between you?" Qian Mo pulled out a recording stone from his robes. "No, no, no. This is about 'using' people."

Soul power flowed into it.

A light screen projected into the air.

The image was blurry, but the sound was clear. It showed the younger Yu Xiaogang speaking animatedly to Bibi Dong's back.

"Dong'er, as long as you help me obtain the Spirit Hall library records, I can prove that I'm a genius! Those people from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan who look down on me will regret it!"

"Erlong? Heh, her personality is too explosive. How could she compare to your gentleness? I only approached her because... she was one part of the Golden Iron Triangle and could help me complete my research into Martial Soul Fusion Skills."

The image came to an abrupt end.

Although this was fabricated dirt Qian Mo had edited through magic modification with the system, at this moment, its destructive power was nuclear explosion level.

The entire area fell silent.

Liu Erlong stood where she was, and her tears stopped. She looked at the man who dared not turn around. The affection in her eyes faded bit by bit, replaced by the despair and... fury of being deceived.

"Xiaogang... is this true?" Liu Erlong's voice was as cold as ice.

"No! Erlong, listen to my explanation! It's fake! He forged it!" Yu Xiaogang panicked and waved his hands frantically.

"You know perfectly well whether it's true or false." Qian Mo delivered the final blow. "A man who wouldn't even spare his own niece in order to prove his theory; a man who used Bibi Dong and then used Liu Erlong. Is scum like that worthy of being a teacher?"

"Aah—!!!"

Liu Erlong let out a piercing howl. The Fire Dragon Phantom around her went berserk, and the surrounding trees instantly turned to ash.

"Get out!!"

She did not kill him. That was her final mercy. But that single word completely severed twenty years of love thread.

Yu Xiaogang's face was pale as paper, as though his spine had been ripped from him. He no longer dared linger for even a second. Dragging along the equally dazed Tang San, he fled Shrek Academy in disgrace like two lost dogs.

Watching their retreating figures, Qian Mo clapped his hands and turned toward the group of "New Team" members behind him, whose gazes were burning with fervor.

Ning Rongrong held the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, Zhu Zhuqing wiped her claws, Oscar stroked his newly acquired soul bone, and Xiao Wu's eyes were ice-cold.

"From today onward, Shrek Academy will be renamed Martial Soul Hall Divine Academy."

Qian Mo swept his hand grandly, his spirit soaring to the clouds.

"I will form a squad. Its name will be... the God Slaying Squad."

"Target: Suotuo City Spirit Arena. I want the entire continent to know that if you follow me, Qian Mo, even a pig can fly into the sky. If you follow Tang San, even a dragon will have to coil up and become an insect!"

Late at night.

Inside the basement of a Cheap Inn in Suotuo City.

Yu Xiaogang was drunk beyond recognition, sprawled over the table and muttering nonsense.

Tang San sat in a dark corner, studying a bottle of ink green liquid in his hand by the faint candlelight. He had spent every last coin he had to buy it on the Black Market—the venom of a Thousand Year Man Faced Demon Spider.

"Teacher lost... the theory lost..."

Tang San muttered to himself. Purple glint flickered in his eyes, carrying a trace of madness.

"But I can't lose."

"If the righteous path is blocked, if I can't compete in resources..."

Tang San pulled out the bottle stopper, and a pungent fishy sweetness spread through the air.

"Then I'll trade my life for it!"

He tipped back his head and drank the bottle of venom, enough to poison a cow to death, in one gulp.

"Urgh—Aah—!!!"

Agonized screams echoed through the basement as Tang San's skin instantly turned a bizarre purplish black.