Failure Is the Mother of Success

"So humans and Soul Beasts on this planet... share the same origins?" Ah Rou asked, looking perplexed.

"You could say we're half the same species," Nan Feng replied.

"After all, in all the countless ages gone by, any animals and humans who weren't mutated by the Dragon God's aura were naturally eliminated."

"Just like humans today. In a few thousand years, or maybe ten thousand, or even tens of thousands, Soul Masters will become commonplace."

"Commonplace?" Ah Rou asked, taken aback.

"What about ordinary people?"

"Ordinary people? They'll die out without leaving any descendants," Nan Feng said.

"The ordinary people you've seen along the way, who have no Soul Power and only a Martial Soul, will be naturally eliminated in the future, just like the humans and animals who weren't mutated by the Dragon God's aura in the past."

The strong prevailed, and the fittest survived. As the number of Soul Masters grew, ordinary people as a species would naturally disappear little by little.

It was like the saying that poverty never lasted three generations. It didn't mean that people became rich after three generations of poverty. It meant that people who stayed poor for three generations couldn't find wives in the first place, and their family lines simply died out.

Ten thousand years from now, Soul Masters would be commonplace on Douluo Continent.

As for the nonsense some people spouted about how, without Spirit Hall, no one would help awaken Martial Souls and people would have to sell themselves or whatever... Were they brain-dead?

Every organization was a product of its time. Before Spirit Hall appeared, the human tribes and small kingdoms all had their own Martial Soul Awakening ceremonies. Otherwise, were there no Soul Masters on Douluo Continent before Spirit Hall came along?

Don't go in for hero worship. Everything was a product of its era. Spirit Hall had certainly played a positive role in advancing Douluo Continent, but that was the result of countless Soul Masters working together, not the achievement of Qian Daoliu and his family alone.

The Great Wall wasn't built by Qin Shi Huang; it was built by countless ordinary people at the bottom of society in his time. The Xiongnu weren't beaten down by Emperor Wu of Han; countless soldiers had fought with their lives on the line to defeat them.

The new era wasn't the achievement of one great leader, either. It had been built atop the bones of countless martyrs.

The people who went far and wide to awaken Martial Souls were ordinary Soul Masters on the ground, not the Six-Winged Angel Family. The effort to root out Evil Soul Masters and drive those scumbags into Slaughter City had been the result of Soul Masters across Douluo Continent working together.

On the contrary, if the Qian Family hadn't been selfish and set on keeping themselves above everyone else, constantly stopping the wars between Heaven Dou and Star Luo, Douluo Continent would've entered a unified new era ages ago.

Everything had two sides. Spirit Hall had existed for twenty thousand years, and Douluo Continent had barely budged. God King Tang had ruled for thirty thousand years, and Douluo Planet had already fucking entered the space age.

If all the credit for Soul Masters' progress in the past went to Spirit Hall, and to the Qian Family, then wouldn't Tang San deserve all the credit for Douluo Continent entering the space age?

Progress was the result of everyone acting together. It didn't belong to whoever stood at the top.

If you couldn't even understand that, then the saying really was true: you could cut off the queue on your head, but you couldn't cut the servility out of some people's bones. When faced with oppression, all they could think about was whose master whipped them less.

Fuck! Why couldn't they stand up?

Why couldn't they act like human beings?

Why did they have to be dogs?

They were always going on about gratitude. Gratitude my ass!

It wasn't the Qian Family who raised Soul Masters, and it sure as hell wasn't Spirit Hall. It was the billions of hard-working people exploited and oppressed by the Soul Master Class!

Spirit Hall, the Two Great Empires, the Seven Great Sects, the Eight Great Families, Soul Masters, nobles—they were all bloodsucking mosquitoes perched on the heads of the countless laboring masses of Douluo Continent!

"..."

"Mom, my head feels itchy."

After listening to Nan Feng's long-winded speech, Xiao Wu felt like she was growing a brain!

"Teacher..."

Hu Liena, who had joined them partway through, looked at Bibi Dong in bewilderment. Bibi Dong had come to watch because she was worried.

Bibi Dong's eye twitched slightly.

Why was Hu Liena looking at her?

She'd never thought of herself as a good person. Only an idiot would hold her to a bunch of saintly standards.

As the villain in a storybook, she wasn't a good person. Wasn't that fucking normal? Did she have to be a paragon of virtue like the righteous protagonist?

If she were always as noble and righteous as the protagonist, what the hell kind of villain would she be?

Besides, just as Nan Feng said: if going all the way was a crime, did stopping halfway make someone noble?

Who the hell was cleaner than anyone else in this world?

"But... why is he even cursing himself?" Hu Liena asked, looking bewildered.

Wasn't Nan Feng part of the Soul Master Class, the very group ordinary people supported?

"There are children here today. He's going easy on the swearing," Bibi Dong said, her expression a little awkward.

In his dreams, Nan Feng used to curse a lot worse!

The gist of it was something like: everyone was an idiot, and the whole world was one big, idiotic free-for-all!

"Only by becoming an idiot can you understand idiots, and then change them," Nan Feng said.

"It doesn't matter if you used to be an idiot. But from now on, and in the future, don't be a fucking idiot anymore."

"Being an idiot once in a while is normal. But if you're an idiot your whole life, then you really are an idiot."

"..."

"What does 'idiot' mean?" Xiao Wu asked timidly.

Ah Rou looked just as lost.

After listening for so long, she could only guess that it wasn't a nice word.

"The meaning of 'idiot' is broad. Anyone can be called one, as long as you can't stand them," Nan Feng said.

Xiao Wu nodded. "So that means you can be one too—"

Thump!

Nan Feng raised his hand and flicked Xiao Wu on the forehead, sending her straight to the ground, crouching with her arms over her head.

"You can only use 'idiot' to describe someone when you're stronger than them. Otherwise, the moment you say it, you'll become a giant idiot!"

"Got it?"

Xiao Wu lifted her head, eyes brimming with tears as she glared at Nan Feng, defiant.

You're the giant idiot!

"Oh?" Nan Feng raised an eyebrow.

"Still defiant?"

"Mom!" Xiao Wu threw herself into Ah Rou's arms, tears streaming down her face.

"Going to your mom won't help." Nan Feng grabbed Xiao Wu and hauled her upright.

"Tell me, are you still defiant?"

Xiao Wu wiped her tears and answered stubbornly, "I am!"

Thump!

"Okay, I give in!!" Xiao Wu burst into tears.

"Stop hitting me! I give in. You're the boss!"

"Don't just say it if you don't mean it," Nan Feng said, shaking his head.

"Xiao Wu, you need to understand that I'm absolutely not some dullard bound by fake morality. I've never minded picking on those weaker than me or throwing my weight around."

"I give in! I really do!" Xiao Wu said, meek as a lamb.

"You're the boss. I'll listen to you from now on, and I won't curse at you anymore."

"Good. But don't call me 'the boss.' That's gangster talk." Nan Feng set Xiao Wu down, patted her rabbit head, and with a flash of light, healed the swelling and pain.

"Then what should I call you?" Xiao Wu touched her forehead, which had been swollen just moments ago.

How amazing!

"You can call me Godfather," Nan Feng said solemnly.

"Godfather?" Xiao Wu asked, bewildered.

"Then who's the Godmother?"

Bibi Dong's eye twitched. She shot Nan Feng a threatening glare.

Don't drag me into your nonsense!

"Ahem!" Nan Feng cleared his throat.

"Our Godmother is named Failure!"

"???"

Xiao Wu looked utterly lost. "Why?"

"Because failure is the mother of success!" Nan Feng said.

"The road ahead is winding, but the future is bright. The darkness is about to pass, and dawn is just ahead. Our cause is bound to win the final victory!"