Lu Ming had just opened his mouth.
A chilling aura suddenly swept in from his right.
Though no ice formed, the temperature around them instantly dropped several degrees.
Snow Empress walked expressionlessly at Lu Ming's right side.
She stared straight ahead, and no emotion could be read in those sky-blue eyes.
Yet within half a meter of her, even the drifting dust had frozen in place.
"Some people really have no shame, acting so intimately in public."
Snow Empress's voice was cold, like snow that had never melted for ten thousand years.
Gongsun Li stiffened.
She turned her head and made a face at Snow Empress.
"Bleh, bleh, bleh!"
"Sister Snow, are you jealous?"
"Sadly, Brother Lu Ming only has two arms, and Ice's little sister and I have already claimed them."
Snow Empress's eye twitched slightly.
She turned to look at Lu Ming's other side.
There, Ice Empress was hugging Lu Ming's right arm, holding a huge handful of assorted snacks.
Her cheeks were stuffed full, like a little squirrel hoarding food.
"Mmm... this one's tasty too..."
Ice Empress had not noticed her sister's killing intent at all and continued eating without a care.
Lu Ming sighed helplessly.
This was not shopping.
This was practically an Asura field.
Xue Qinghe, following behind them, felt even more on edge.
She looked at the man surrounded by three peerless beauties ahead of her, and the corner of her mouth could not help twitching.
Those three women.
One was an unfathomably powerful Six-Ring Soul Emperor.
The other two were mysterious powerhouses whose depths even she could not see through.
Especially Snow Empress, dressed in white.
Just walking beside her made the Angel Martial Soul within Xue Qinghe tremble.
It was suppression from a higher level of life itself.
Yet these three terrifying beings were actually fighting over Lu Ming's affection?
What kind of bewitching potion had this Lu Ming from Jixia Academy fed them?
"Your Highness seems to have something on your mind?"
Lu Ming suddenly turned back and looked at Xue Qinghe, who had remained silent.
Xue Qinghe abruptly came back to her senses.
She quickly composed her expression and revealed her signature gentle smile.
"I have made a fool of myself."
"Qinghe was only thinking that Jixia Academy truly is full of talented people."
"And you are even... quite fortunate with women."
She practically ground out those last four words through clenched teeth.
Lu Ming merely smiled without concern.
"They are just some immature children."
The moment he said that.
Three sharp pains struck the soft flesh at his waist at once.
They came from the left, the right, and... a certain kind of freezing Soul Power "caress."
Lu Ming's expression did not change, and he did not even furrow his brow.
To him, that little pain was no more than an itch.
The group continued onward.
Before long, a noisy argument rose from ahead.
It came from the direction of the tea stall from earlier.
"What? Nothing to say now?"
"If you can't explain yourself, then stop making a fool of yourself here!"
"A Master? More like a shameless fraud!"
The surrounding pedestrians pointed and mocked him with cutting words.
At the center of the storm, Yu Xiaogang's face had turned the color of liver.
His chest heaved violently, his fists clenched tight, and his nails dug deep into his palms.
The fragments of the teacup he had smashed still lay quietly by his feet.
"A bunch of... ignorant fools!"
Yu Xiaogang gritted out the words.
"You don't understand the profundity of Martial Soul theory at all!"
"My Ten Core Competencies are treasures of the Soul Master world!"
"One day, you will regret your ignorance today!"
Even at this point, he still held his head high, clinging to that worthless pride.
Dai Mubai, standing beside him, wished he could crawl into a crack in the ground.
This was too humiliating.
As a prince of the Star Luo Empire, when had he ever suffered such disgrace?
Just then.
A teasing voice passed through the crowd and clearly reached everyone's ears.
"Oh? Isn't this the renowned Master?"
"What is it? Your theories failed to sell, so now you are taking your anger out on teacups?"
The voice was not loud, but it carried a strange penetrating force.
The previously clamorous crowd fell silent in an instant.
Everyone instinctively turned toward the sound.
The crowd automatically parted, opening a path.
Lu Ming slowly walked in with three peerless beauties and Xue Qinghe, the current Crown Prince.
That group was simply too eye-catching.
The man was strikingly handsome, and the women were devastatingly beautiful.
And His Highness the Crown Prince was accompanying them.
Their presence instantly overwhelmed everyone there.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Did you come to laugh at me?"
Lu Ming chuckled and stepped up to the tea stall.
He did not look at Yu Xiaogang. Instead, he glanced with interest at the shards of porcelain on the ground.
"A joke?"
"No, no, no. Master, you misunderstand."
"I did not come to watch a joke."
Lu Ming raised his head and calmly looked at Yu Xiaogang.
"I merely came to expose a scam."
The moment those words were spoken.
The entire crowd erupted.
A scam?
What scam?
Yu Xiaogang's heart skipped a beat, and he shouted sharply:
"What nonsense are you spouting!"
"My research into Martial Souls is truth proven through countless validations!"
"You reckless brute who only knows how to rely on brute force, what do you know about theory?"
Lu Ming did not get angry.
He even nodded.
"Is that so?"
"Since Master is so confident, could you explain something for me?"
"Your first core theory: there are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."
"What exactly does that mean?"
Yu Xiaogang snorted and straightened his back.
Once the conversation entered the realm of theory, he regained a trace of confidence.
"It means exactly what it says!"
"No matter how weak a Martial Soul may be, as long as its Soul Master is willing to cultivate diligently, they can still become strong!"
Lu Ming smiled.
His smile was brilliant.
"Then may I ask, Master."
"Have you worked hard yourself?"
Yu Xiaogang froze.
"Of course I have!"
"I study ancient texts day and night, neglecting food and sleep..."
"I am asking about cultivation."
Lu Ming cut him off directly.
"Since there are no useless Martial Souls, then why has your Martial Soul, Luos an Pao, remained a pig that can only fart after all these years?"
"Since there are only useless Soul Masters, then why are you still stuck at level twenty-nine, unable to break through level thirty?"
"Doesn't that prove..."
The smile on Lu Ming's face abruptly vanished, and his gaze became razor-sharp.
"You are that useless Soul Master?"
Boom!
Those words were like a massive hammer, smashing fiercely into Yu Xiaogang's heart.
His face instantly turned deathly pale.
This was the deepest pain in his heart.
A scar that could never heal in his entire life.
And now, Lu Ming had brutally ripped it open before everyone!
"You... you..."
Yu Xiaogang pointed at Lu Ming, his finger shaking violently, yet he could not form a complete sentence.
The people around them suddenly understood.
"That's right!"
"This guy says there are no useless Martial Souls, but he himself is only level twenty-nine?"
"I'm already level thirty-five. Doesn't that mean he is not even as good as me?"
Before you continue