"Calling yourself a Master at this level? You've got some nerve."
"What else could you be but a fraud?"
The discussions surged in like a tide.
Every word was like a slap across Yu Xiaogang's face.
"No! That's not how it is!"
Yu Xiaogang roared hysterically.
"My Martial Soul is mutated! It's a malignant mutation!"
"This is a special case!"
Lu Ming spoke again, his voice calm.
"Oh? A special case?"
"Then if you can't even understand your own Martial Soul, or even find a way to fix its mutation defect..."
"What right do you have to teach others?"
"Based on theories you dreamed up after reading a few ancient books?"
"Or that mouth of yours that can twist black into white?"
Lu Ming took a step forward.
With every step, his presence grew stronger.
"The so-called Ten Core Competencies."
"The Soul Ring Absorption Age-Limit Theory was merely summarized from the records of those before you. Anyone could have done that."
"As for the No Useless Martial Souls Theory, you yourself are the greatest counterexample."
"As for the rest..."
Lu Ming shook his head, his eyes full of pity.
"They're nothing more than common knowledge. You dressed them up a little, and suddenly they became your original creations?"
"Yu Xiaogang."
"You've deceived the world and stolen fame for so many years."
"Have you no sense of shame at all?"
Every word struck home.
Not only was his logic airtight, but he had hit straight at the heart of the matter.
Yu Xiaogang's psychological defenses completely crumbled at that moment.
The grand palace of theories he had been so proud of looked unbearably fragile before Lu Ming's few words.
"Shut up! Shut up!!"
Yu Xiaogang clutched his head and crouched down in agony.
His eyes were bloodshot, tears welling in them.
I won't listen!
I don't believe it!
I'm the Master! I'm the only theoretical Master in the Soul Master world!
Everyone else is drunk while I alone am awake!
They don't understand! They're jealous of my talent!
Dai Mubai could no longer stand by and watch.
Though he also felt that Lu Ming had a point, Yu Xiaogang was still his teacher.
"Lu Ming! You've gone too far!"
Dai Mubai stepped in front of Yu Xiaogang and glared furiously at Lu Ming.
"Even if you're the Dean of Jixia Academy, you can't humiliate people like this!"
"Humiliate?"
Lu Ming glanced at him.
"Does telling the truth count as humiliation?"
"If he really has ability, then let him refute me with his strength."
"He can even have his students defeat mine."
At the mention of students.
Dai Mubai fell silent at once.
Defeat them?
Outside the city earlier, their Imperial Dou Team had been instantly defeated without even touching one of the other side's fingers.
How were they supposed to refute that?
Just as Yu Xiaogang fell into complete despair and the surrounding citizens cursed without end.
An incomparably terrifying aura suddenly descended from the sky.
Buzz—
In that instant, the air throughout Vermilion Bird Street turned thick and heavy.
It was as though a great mountain had been pressed onto everyone's hearts.
The previously clamorous crowd instantly fell into a terrifying silence.
Every sound was forcibly strangled by that pressure.
In the sky, the originally dim clouds suddenly parted.
A beam of purple-black light descended into the center of the tea stall like divine punishment.
Within that beam of light.
A peerlessly beautiful woman in a brilliant golden gown, wearing a Nine-Curved Purple Gold Crown, slowly appeared.
She held a scepter embedded with countless gemstones.
Her flawless, pale face carried an authority that looked down upon the world.
Her arrival made everything around her pale in comparison.
Even beauties like Gongsun Li and the Ice Empress seemed somewhat diminished before the commanding aura of someone long accustomed to power.
The Pope of Spirit Hall.
Bibi Dong!
Upon seeing that figure.
Yu Xiaogang, who had been crouching on the ground, suddenly raised his head.
An unbelievable light instantly burst from his clouded eyes.
"Dong... Dong'er?"
He trembled as he called that name in his heart.
But he did not dare say it aloud.
Because she was now the lofty Pope.
And he was merely a downtrodden clown whose lies had just been exposed.
Bibi Dong did not look at Yu Xiaogang immediately.
Her gaze swept coldly across everyone present.
At last, it settled on Lu Ming.
She had originally been traveling incognito, intending to investigate the suddenly rising Jixia Academy in Heaven Dou City.
And, while she was at it...
See the man who had haunted her dreams for decades.
But she had never expected.
That the moment she arrived, she would witness a scene that tore at her heart.
The man she loved.
The Master whom she believed to be extraordinarily talented.
Was actually having his dignity wantonly trampled by a junior before so many people!
How could she possibly tolerate that?
"Just now."
Bibi Dong parted her red lips.
Her voice was not loud, yet it carried an unquestionable authority.
"Who said that Master was a fraud?"
Suppressed within her voice was fury on the verge of eruption.
A horrifying pressure belonging to a Titled Douluo—perhaps even a Peerless Douluo—rushed toward Lu Ming like a tsunami.
Xue Qinghe, standing behind Lu Ming, went pale.
That woman...
Had really come!
And it was for Yu Xiaogang!
Although she had learned of this ill-fated relationship through the Life Simulator, seeing Bibi Dong become so enraged for a useless man still filled Xue Qinghe with indescribable bitterness and anger.
That was her mother!
Yet she had openly revealed herself in Heaven Dou City for an outsider!
Faced with Bibi Dong's pressure, Lu Ming remained as composed as ever.
He even reached up and brushed nonexistent dust from his shoulder.
"I said it."
"What? Does this madam have any advice?"
Lu Ming knowingly asked.
That flippant attitude completely enraged Bibi Dong.
"How dare you!"
Bibi Dong slammed the butt of her scepter heavily against the ground.
Boom!
A wave of purple Soul Power spread outward.
The surrounding tables, chairs, and benches instantly turned to dust.
Even the stone slabs on the ground cracked inch by inch.
"What are you?"
"What right do you have to judge Master's theories?"
Murderous intent filled Bibi Dong's eyes as she stared fixedly at Lu Ming.
"Apologize to Master immediately."
"Otherwise."
"Today will be the day you die!"
Overbearing.
Forceful.
That was the way the Pope of Spirit Hall conducted herself.
On Douluo Continent, her words were an imperial decree.
No one dared defy her.
Yu Xiaogang looked at Bibi Dong standing before him, his eyes full of emotion.
She still cares about me!
Even after being apart for so many years, she's still willing to stand up for me!
His shattered self-esteem seemed to receive a trace of repair at that moment.
"Did you hear that?"
Yu Xiaogang stepped out from behind Dai Mubai. With someone to rely on, he straightened his back once more.
"Young man, don't be too arrogant."
"Some people are not people you can afford to offend."
"..."
Looking at this pair of "rekindled old lovers," Lu Ming found it utterly amusing.
"Apologize?"
The smile on Lu Ming's lips deepened.
"Why?"
"Because your voice is loud?"
"Or because you... look old?"
Before you continue