"What did you say?"
"Xiaogang, you're not joking, are you?"
After hearing Yu Xiaogang's words, Flender cried out in shock and looked at him as if he were insane.
Dai Mubai and the others reacted the same way. They truly couldn't believe anyone would willingly cripple their own Martial Soul.
"I'm not joking!"
"From Xiaosan's situation, I've already figured it out. A Martial Soul may be a gift from heaven, but it's also a shackle!"
"As long as the Martial Soul in my body remains, no matter how much I cultivate, I'll never break through the bottleneck."
"But if my Martial Soul is crippled, then things will be different."
"The cultivation methods here require an awakened Martial Soul, but Xiaosan's Tang Sect techniques are different. You can cultivate them without a Martial Soul."
Yu Xiaogang earnestly explained it to Flender.
"Xiaogang, are you serious?"
Flender studied Yu Xiaogang's expression, his own conflicted. At last, he realized Yu Xiaogang was serious.
"Flender, I'm serious."
"You know how hard I've worked all these years to break through the bottleneck. Now that the opportunity is right in front of me, how can I give it up?" Yu Xiaogang said to Flender, his eyes reddening.
"...Are you willing to kill Luo Sanpao?" Flender asked Yu Xiaogang another very practical question.
Yu Xiaogang's Martial Soul was different from everyone else's.
Not only could he summon it on its own, but it also possessed an independent consciousness.
Luo Sanpao was practically no different from a pet.
"...I!"
Yu Xiaogang opened his mouth. At first, hesitation showed in his eyes, but soon his resolve hardened. "I've made up my mind!"
Naturally, he was attached to Luo Sanpao.
But deep down, he understood all too clearly that Luo Sanpao was his shame.
If his Martial Soul hadn't evolved into Luo Sanpao through a defective mutation, things wouldn't have turned out this way.
If his Martial Soul hadn't mutated, he would have been the young master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and in the future, its clan leader.
With his intelligence, he couldn't even imagine how powerful he would be if his Martial Soul had been a normal Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon.
Perhaps he would already be a Titled Douluo.
Tang Hao had managed it. Why couldn't he?
"Teacher!"
Just then, Tang San came out.
Tang San had been cultivating and only came out after hearing the commotion outside. He hadn't expected to hear that his teacher was going to cripple his Martial Soul.
"Xiaosan!"
"Once a teacher, a teacher for life!"
"I promised I'd help you, and the only way I can help you better is by cultivating alongside you!"
Seeing Tang San, Yu Xiaogang smiled and spoke.
"Teacher!"
Hearing Yu Xiaogang's words, Tang San was deeply moved.
"All right, Flender. Cripple my Martial Soul!"
Yu Xiaogang turned to Flender again, his tone resolute.
"Fine. Since you've made up your mind, I'll respect your choice."
Flender stopped trying to dissuade him and went straight over to Yu Xiaogang. "Then I'm going to do it."
Soul Power gathered in Flender's hand.
"Do it!"
Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth and shouted.
Pfft~
Seeing Yu Xiaogang's determination, Flender didn't hesitate again. Just as Tang Hao had done that day, he punched Yu Xiaogang in the abdomen.
The Soul Power gathered in his fist erupted at once, surging straight into Yu Xiaogang's dantian.
After locating the Martial Soul inside Yu Xiaogang's body, Flender directed all his Soul Power at Luo Sanpao.
"Ugh~"
With a mournful cry, Luo Sanpao died beneath Flender's hand.
Pfft—!
Yu Xiaogang immediately spat out a mouthful of blood essence.
Along with his Martial Soul, his Soul Rings disappeared as well.
Yu Xiaogang could clearly feel his Soul Power Level drop from its previous level of 29 to 21.
Exactly the same as Tang San!
The master and disciple were now in the same boat.
"Xiaogang, are you all right?"
Flender immediately grew worried at the sight.
"I'm fine..."
"It's normal to feel like this right after your Martial Soul is crippled. I'll be fine after I sleep..."
After managing to say that, Yu Xiaogang's head lolled to the side and he passed out.
Lin Yue knew nothing about the Martial Souls of Tang San and Yu Xiaogang, master and disciple, being crippled.
He hadn't planned on keeping tabs on the Shrek crowd!
After he'd harvested every last Immortal Herb and taken in all the Soul Beasts, Lin Yue no longer cared what happened to Tang San.
In his view, without the Immortal Herbs and Soul Beasts, Tang San had no chance of rising to prominence as he had in the original story.
Unless Tang San really was, as those conspiracy theories online claimed, someone Asura God had pulled over from another world.
But if that were true, targeting Tang San now wouldn't help, so he simply left him alone.
After the One-Punch Gold-Devouring Pangolin finished digging, Lin Yue successfully found the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' dragon bones.
After he contained them, Gu Yuena saw them and asked Lin Yue to give her some time.
She could condense two god-level Soul Bones from those two sets of dragon bones.
After digging up the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' remains, Lin Yue went straight to the Star Dou Great Forest and dug up all the Life Gold beneath Lake of Life, moving it into the Containment Shelter.
Gu Yuena needed that Life Gold to recover, so Lin Yue left it untouched.
What Lin Yue lacked now wasn't energy, but cultivation.
Lin Yue had also asked Gu Yuena about it.
To break through to godhood, there were only two paths: inherit a godhood or create one yourself.
Lin Yue had asked the Containment System too. It would provide him with powerful containment shelters, but not a godhood.
If he wanted to become a god, he would have to figure it out himself.
Lin Yue didn't know whether the system was telling the truth. He wasn't entirely convinced.
The system could contain all the Soul Beasts in one go. It made no sense that it couldn't give him a godhood.
Maybe it just didn't want things to be too easy for him!
If he ever encountered a problem he couldn't solve, he believed the system would step in.
Until the system was willing to give him a godhood, he could only find a way on his own.
Of the two paths, inheriting a godhood or creating one himself, Lin Yue would definitely choose to create his own.
He didn't really want to work that hard.
[ Ding~ Warning: the host's choice to inherit a godhood may expose the existence of the system. Please proceed with caution.]
As soon as Lin Yue had that thought, the system sent him a warning.
"..."
Lin Yue was speechless. It seemed he could only take the path of creating his own godhood.
That meant he would need to gather faith.
As Lin Yue wondered how he would gather faith in the future, he returned to Spirit Hall without even realizing it.
"Elder Lin Yue, you're finally back!"
"Her Holiness the Pope gave orders that you were to see her as soon as you returned!"
The people of Spirit Hall saw Lin Yue and hurried over to tell him.
"The Pope wants to see me?"
"Fine, I got it."
After acknowledging them, Lin Yue headed straight for Pope Palace.
"Elder Lin Yue, you finally remembered to come back?"
The moment Bibi Dong saw Lin Yue, she launched into a barrage of questions.