There's a Traitor!

Ling Chen remained completely composed. He was already a controversial figure, and speaking with the tone of an adult was perfectly normal for him.

After all, he'd returned to childhood after growing older, so he'd lived more than a decade longer than his current age suggested. To make him speak like a child again, they'd probably have to erase his memories.

"Oh, my! Dean Flender, you really do have a terrible memory! I wonder where people usually bury owls?"

Ling Chen wore a wicked grin. Flender immediately understood what he meant and backed away a few steps, pushing up his glasses.

"Kid! You may have Sword Douluo backing you, but don't forget, this is my territory! Now that you're in my hands, I've got plenty of ways to deal with you!"

Ling Chen stretched languidly, completely unafraid, and stared at Flender with disdain.

"That's fine. I've got plenty of ways to deal with your ancestors, too!"

"You..."

Flender gritted his teeth in anger. Yu Xiaogang patted him on the shoulder.

"You're a grown man. Why are you arguing with a child?"

Flender wasn't happy to hear that.

"When your family's Graveyard Mountain was turned upside down, you wanted to kill him! You tell me not to argue with a child, but why don't you take a look at yourself?"

Ling Chen tried to slip away while the two were busy arguing, but a figure stepped into his path.

"Where do you think you're going, little guy?"

Liu Erlong rested one hand lightly on Ling Chen's shoulder. His body felt as if it had been filled with lead; he couldn't move.

"So many adults picking on one little kid. Aren't you ashamed?"

Liu Erlong gave a cold laugh, and the pressure on Ling Chen's shoulder increased.

"You say you're a child, but we don't believe you! At an age when you ought to be crying over scraped knees, you're doing things that are anything but child's play. Even Spirit Hall wouldn't go so far as to kill people and rob graves."

"But you're wearing a child's face while doing filthy things! I even suspect you're with Spirit Hall!"

Ling Chen didn't get angry. Instead, he burst into crazed laughter.

"Hahahaha! You make some fair points. But where's the evidence? If Titled Douluos can twist the truth just by running their mouths, then doesn't that make you and Yu Xiaogang a perfect match?"

When it came to arguing against a crowd and using moral pressure, Ling Chen wasn't afraid.

He had neither parents nor relatives here. He'd arrived in Slaughter City alone, with no ties to anyone. Morality? All Ling Chen saw was human nature.

Ling Chen had at least received a higher education. As a law-abiding citizen, he naturally knew how to deal with unreasonable people.

"You're older than me, so I respect you as my seniors. But if you want to make things difficult for me, I'll see it through to the end!"

Liu Erlong's face turned ashen. He'd hit a sore spot.

"My relationship with Xiaogang is true love! It's not something a brat like you can explain away with a few words!"

Enraged, Liu Erlong raised her hand, ready to slap the ill-mannered child for his foul mouth.

Ling Chen narrowed his eyes. He knew how hot-tempered that old woman was. If she hit him, she wouldn't care about the consequences.

That slap would leave him bruised and swollen, and might even knock out a few teeth.

But was Ling Chen afraid? When thirty Soul Kings from Spirit Hall had surrounded him, he hadn't even furrowed his brow. When a hundred people surrounded him in Slaughter City, he hadn't been afraid then, either.

"Go on, hit me! It's just one slap from a Soul Douluo. What kind of scene hasn't I, Li Tianyi, seen?"

Ling Chen glared furiously. He couldn't understand what Liu Erlong and the others were doing. The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had been wiped out, and instead of going back to see what had happened, they were picking on a seven-year-old kid. What was the point?

A large hand caught Liu Erlong's slender one just as she was about to bring it down. Liu Erlong froze for a moment. Turning around, she saw Yu Xiaogang's calm, resolute face.

The two gazed lovingly into each other's eyes. Ling Chen got goose bumps all over.

"So this is love? I love your mom's twisted-dough snacks!"

Ling Chen couldn't help grumbling inwardly. His urge to leave grew stronger, but Liu Erlong still hadn't taken her hand off his shoulder.

Ling Chen didn't mind them showing affection in private, but making such a blatant display of it in the academy made him feel sick.

Ning Rongrong and Flender stood off to the side without saying a word. With no other choice, Ling Chen closed his eyes and sent his consciousness into Dragon Pillar Space.

There were still a few things he hadn't figured out. First was his clone. After experiencing it over the past few days, even he felt it was downright absurd.

Next was his Second Martial Soul. In theory, he should have awakened a random Beast Martial Soul.

Even if the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon's Martial Soul Origin made up a larger share, he could still have obtained some other Beast Martial Soul.

Ling Chen could ask the Golden Dragon about these questions. It might know something.

Spirit City, Spirit Hall.

A Red Cardinal was reporting the casualties from the Soul Hunting Operation.

"Your Holiness the Pope, we sent ten thousand Soul Masters to fight the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and only a thousand survived! Of the four elders, one fell and another lost an arm! We had no choice but to retreat!"

Bibi Dong had been sipping tea in a relaxed mood, but the bad news made her crush the teacup in an instant.

"Useless! A bunch of useless fools! You had ten thousand Soul Masters and four Titled Douluos, yet you couldn't take down a mere auxiliary sect!"

"You even launched a surprise attack, and still lost a Titled Douluo and nine thousand Soul Masters! You've disgraced Spirit Hall!"

Bibi Dong slammed the Pope Scepter against the ground, shaking the entire Spirit Hall. The Red-Robed Cardinal didn't dare breathe too loudly, afraid that the moment he spoke, he'd die where he stood.

"What about the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?"

Bibi Dong asked coldly. She couldn't imagine the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had managed to withstand the Soul Hunting Operation. What about the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan? Could things have gone even worse there?

"It's been wiped out! But we suffered heavy losses, too!"

The Red-Robed Cardinal answered in a trembling voice.

Only then did Bibi Dong let some of her aura subside. The casualties were far from satisfactory, but the destruction of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had achieved her first goal.

"Tell me what happened to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

Since the operation had failed, Bibi Dong needed to mete out the appropriate punishment and review what had gone wrong.

"The child you were looking for, the one named Li Tianyi, was at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. It was his domain! His domain reduced even a Titled Douluo's attributes to 82 percent, and its range was enormous!"

"Not only that, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect seemed to have been prepared for us. Before we even reached the city walls, Chen Xin and Gu Rong had already wiped out nearly a thousand of our men."

"Oh?"

Bibi Dong raised an eyebrow. This was starting to look suspicious.

The Soul Hunting Operation had been an order from the upper ranks. There was no way the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could have known about it in advance.

Unless... there was a traitor!