Lu Ming: Old Woman! Bibi Dong's Defense Shattered!

"With this level of skill, you still dare call yourself Master?"

"If this isn't a fraud, what is?"

The murmurs surged 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 a mutation! A malignant mutation!"

"This is a special case!"

Lu Ming spoke again, his voice calm.

"Oh? A special case?"

"Then since you can't even figure out your own Martial Soul, let alone find a way to resolve the mutation's flaws."

"What qualifies you to teach others?"

"Relying on those theories you concocted after skimming a few ancient texts?"

"Or relying on that mouth of yours that can twist black into white?"

Lu Ming stepped forward.

With each step, his aura grew stronger.

"As for the so-called Ten Core Competencies."

"The Spirit Ring absorption age theory was summarized from predecessors' data—anyone could do that."

"The no-waste-Martial-Soul theory—you yourself are the biggest counterexample."

"As for the rest..."

Lu Ming shook his head, his eyes full of pity.

"Just some common-sense stuff, repackaged by you and passed off as your original creation?"

"Yu Xiaogang."

"You've fooled the world for so many years."

"Don't you feel any shame at all?"

These words struck like pearls.

Not only were they logically airtight, they hit the vital point.

Yu Xiaogang's psychological defenses crumbled completely in that moment.

The theoretical edifice he prided himself on stood fragile and pitiful before Lu Ming's few sentences.

"Shut up! Shut up!!"

Yu Xiaogang clutched his head and crouched down in agony.

His eyes were bloodshot, tears swirling in their sockets.

I won't listen!

I don't believe it!

I am the Master! The only theoretical master in the Spirit Master world!

The world is drunk while I alone am sober!

They just don't understand! They're jealous of my talent!

Dai Mubai, standing nearby, couldn't bear to watch anymore.

Even though he felt 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, glaring at Lu Ming.

"Even if you are the Dean of Jixia Academy, you can't humiliate people like this!"

"Humiliate?"

Lu Ming glanced at him.

"Is telling the truth also humiliation?"

"If he really has skill, let him refute me with his strength."

"Even if it means using his students to defeat mine."

At the mention of students.

Dai Mubai fell silent.

Defeat?

Just now outside the city, their Imperial Dou Team hadn't even touched a single finger of that person before being wiped out.

How could they refute that now?

Just as Yu Xiaogang was utterly despairing and the surrounding crowd was drowning him in curses—

An extremely terrifying aura suddenly descended from the sky.

Hum—

The air on the entire Vermilion Bird Street turned thick in an instant.

It felt as if a great mountain was pressing down on everyone's heart.

The once noisy crowd fell into a deathly silence.

All sound was forcibly cut off by this pressure.

In the sky, the originally gray clouds suddenly parted.

A purple-black pillar of light, like divine punishment, landed in the center of the tea stall.

Within that pillar of light.

A stunningly beautiful woman in a brilliant golden long dress, wearing a Nine-Curved Purple Gold Crown, slowly materialized.

She held a scepter studded with countless gems.

On her fair, flawless face was a majesty that looked down on the world.

Her appearance dimmed everything around her.

Even peerless beauties like Gongsun Li and Ice Empress seemed to pale slightly before the domineering aura of one who had long held the highest seat.

The Pope of Martial Soul Hall.

Bibi Dong!

Seeing this figure.

Yu Xiaogang, who had been crouching on the ground, suddenly lifted his head.

A light of disbelief burst from his murky eyes.

"Dong... Dong'er?"

He trembled, calling that name in his heart.

But he didn't dare speak it aloud.

Because now, she was the lofty Pope.

And he was nothing but a down-and-out clown just exposed.

Bibi Dong did not look at Yu Xiaogang first.

Her gaze swept coldly over everyone present.

Finally, it landed on Lu Ming.

She had originally come incognito to investigate the suddenly rising Jixia Academy in Heaven Dou City.

And incidentally...

To see the man who had haunted her dreams for decades.

But she never expected.

The moment she arrived, she witnessed a scene that tore her heart apart.

The man she loved.

The Master she considered brilliant and talented in her heart.

Was being trampled on and humiliated by a junior, in front of so many people!

How could she endure this?

"Just now."

Bibi Dong's red lips parted slightly.

Her voice was soft, yet carried an unquestionable authority.

"Who was it that said the Master is a fraud?"

Her voice held a fury barely restrained, about to erupt.

A terrifying pressure belonging to a Titled Douluo, even a Peerless Douluo, surged toward Lu Ming like a tsunami.

Behind Lu Ming, Xue Qinghe's face changed drastically.

That woman...

Had actually come!

And for Yu Xiaogang, of all people!

Although he knew of this tangled history from the "Life Simulator," seeing Bibi Dong fly into a rage for a worthless man still stirred an indescribable bitterness and anger in Xue Qinghe's heart.

That was her mother!

To appear in Heaven Dou City openly, for the sake of an outsider!

Facing Bibi Dong's oppressive aura, Lu Ming remained as calm as ever.

He even reached out to brush off a speck of nonexistent dust from his shoulder.

"I said it."

"So? Does this lady have some guidance?"

Lu Ming asked knowingly.

This flippant attitude thoroughly enraged Bibi Dong.

"Insolent!"

Bibi Dong's scepter struck the ground heavily.

Boom!

A wave of purple soul power radiated outward.

The surrounding tables and chairs instantly turned to dust.

Even the stone slabs on the floor cracked inch by inch.

"What do you think you are?"

"Qualified to judge Master's theories?"

Bibi Dong's eyes blazed with killing intent as she stared fixedly at Lu Ming.

"Apologize to Master immediately."

"Otherwise."

"Today will be your day of death!"

Domineering.

Forceful.

This was the Martial Soul Hall Pope's style of conduct.

On the Douluo Continent, her words were imperial edicts.

No one dared to defy them.

Yu Xiaogang watched Bibi Dong standing before him, his eyes brimming with emotion.

She still cares about me!

Even after all these years apart, she still steps forward for me!

His shattered self-esteem seemed to mend a little in that moment.

"Did you hear me?"

Yu Xiaogang stepped out from behind Dai Mubai, his backbone straightening again now that he had backing.

"Young man, don't be too arrogant."

"There are some people you simply can't afford to offend."

"..."

Lu Ming watched this pair of "rekindled flames" man and woman, finding it utterly ridiculous.

"Apologize?"

The smile on Lu Ming's lips grew even wider.

"On what grounds?"

"Because your voice is loud?"

"Or because you... look old?"