The crowd automatically parted, opening a path.
A white-clad youth with an air of refinement slowly stepped out.
He looked no older than twelve or thirteen, yet the aura of nobility around him brought an inexplicable sense of pressure over everyone present.
It was Lin Qiu.
He gazed at Yu Xiaogang with indifference, as if looking at a stray dog begging by the roadside.
Yu Xiaogang sized Lin Qiu up. Seeing how young he was, he felt a little reassured.
"You ignorant brat, what do you know?"
Yu Xiaogang flicked his sleeve and struck the pose of an elder lecturing a junior. "Who in the Soul Master World hasn't heard of this Grandmaster? How dare you spout such nonsense and call me a fraud? Do you realize you're insulting knowledge itself?"
"Knowledge?"
Lin Qiu gave a derisive laugh. "And you think you're qualified to talk about knowledge?"
He slowly climbed the steps. With every step, his aura grew stronger.
"You claim to be a Grandmaster of Spirit Hall? Then let me ask you: what position do you hold in Spirit Hall? What authority do you command? Do you have the Pope's Order? The Elder's Order?"
Yu Xiaogang's face flushed red as he stammered, "I... Although I hold no official position, I'm an old acquaintance of the current Pope, and my theories are—"
"Silence!"
Lin Qiu's sharp shout cut him off.
He turned his hand over, revealing a radiant golden token.
The Six-Winged Angel engraved on it looked lifelike, and the token radiated sacred majesty.
"Open your dog eyes and take a good look. What is this?"
"T-The Martial Soul Hall Holy Son Order?!"
A knowledgeable Soul Master in the crowd exclaimed in shock.
At the sight of it, all the commoners dropped to their knees in unison.
"Greetings, my lord!"
In Spirit City, seeing the token was the same as seeing the Pope.
Lin Qiu gave the token a little shake and looked coldly at Yu Xiaogang, whose face had already gone deathly pale.
"Spirit Hall has never had any position called 'Grandmaster,' nor has it ever adopted any 'Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul' as official teaching material."
"This man is nothing but a disgraced outcast from his clan, a good-for-nothing with only twenty-nine levels of Soul Power who plagiarizes and cobbles books together to swindle people!"
Lin Qiu's voice rang across the entire square.
"What? He's only at level twenty-nine?"
"Fraud! He really is a fraud!"
"Damn it, he even tried to swindle the hard-earned money of commoners like us!"
The commoners erupted at once. Their furious gazes stabbed at Yu Xiaogang like swords, and someone even picked up rotten cabbage leaves from the ground and threw them at him.
Exposed in public, Yu Xiaogang's face turned pale, then green. His feigned arrogance crumbled completely, replaced by burning humiliation and venomous hatred.
He hated it most when people brought up his level!
He hated it most when people called him a good-for-nothing!
And now this youth was using a Spirit Hall token to lord it over him!
"You wretch! What do you know? My theories are invincible!"
Yu Xiaogang completely lost control. His eyes bloodshot, he glared furiously at Lin Qiu.
"So what if you're from Spirit Hall? You're just a brat who has no respect for his elders. Today, I'll teach you a lesson on behalf of your family!"
Enraged, Yu Xiaogang lost all sense and immediately roused his pitiful level-twenty-nine Soul Power.
"Like thunder from the rear, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao!"
A Yellow Soul Ring flashed. A pig-dog-like creature had barely appeared when Lin Qiu's eyes filled with disdain.
"You think you can take me on?"
He didn't even summon his Martial Soul. He merely raised his right hand and casually slapped at Yu Xiaogang.
He used no Soul Skill in that slap, only the strength of his body.
But with the Covering Sky Method bolstering him, the power contained in his body was enough to move mountains and fill seas.
Smack!
A crisp, ringing slap echoed out.
Yu Xiaogang, who had only charged halfway, and his Luo Sanpao were struck as if by a charging ancient elephant.
"Argh—!"
Yu Xiaogang let out a scream. He flew backward like a kite with its string cut, tracing a graceful arc before crashing hard onto the bluestone pavement more than ten meters away.
Pfft!
He spat out a mouthful of blood, along with more than a dozen broken teeth.
Half of Yu Xiaogang's face swelled up like a pig's head. He curled up on the ground, twitching violently.
He raised his head in terror and stared at the youth, who still stood where he had been, not even a corner of his clothes disturbed.
Fear!
Boundless fear swallowed him in an instant.
That slap had nearly scattered his very soul.
Was this really a child? That kind of strength... Even a Titled Douluo would be no better!
Lin Qiu took out a handkerchief and wiped his hand in disgust, as if he'd just touched something filthy.
"Get lost."
"If I ever catch you using Spirit Hall's name to swindle people again, I'll strip that skin right off you."
His voice was calm, but it carried a bone-chilling coldness.
Yu Xiaogang shuddered. He didn't dare say another word.
As the surrounding commoners jeered and spat curses, he scrambled up, clutching his face, and fled in disgrace like a stray dog.
Only after he had run a long way did Yu Xiaogang dare to look back. He shot a venomous glance in the youth's direction.
"Just you wait... I, Yu Xiaogang, will remember this humiliation!"
"When I've seen Bibi Dong and raised Tang San, I'll make you kneel before me and kowtow as you beg forgiveness!"
He roared in his heart, but all he could do was use the cover of night to slip away into the wilderness.
Watching the gray, dejected figure scramble away and finally disappear into the darkness, Lin Qiu remained impassive. He didn't even stir the hem of his robe.
As for the venomous look Yu Xiaogang had shot him before fleeing, Lin Qiu had noticed it, but he only found it amusing.
Grudges?
That was the only scrap of fig leaf the weak could clutch while raging helplessly.
In this world, only strength was the hard truth.
"Grandmaster... Heh."
Lin Qiu chuckled, his eyes glinting with mockery.
The so-called "Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul" were nothing more than materials that generations of Spirit Hall's predecessors had poured endless effort into compiling.
Using his so-called "access privileges" to the library, Yu Xiaogang had copied a passage from here, pieced together a sentence from there, then shamelessly put his own name on the result.
If that was enough to make someone a theoretical Grandmaster, then even a janitor at Spirit Hall could become a master after reading a few books.
Someone with neither strength nor character—if Lin Qiu hadn't had other uses for him, that slap just now would have done more than break half his teeth.
"Thank goodness for this young man!"
"That's right! If not for this lord, that fraud would've fooled us."
"One Gold Soul Coin! That's what my family lives on for a whole year!"
Only now did the commoners come to their senses. They crowded around, their eyes full of gratitude and reverence.
Quite a few young women, just beginning to experience the stirrings of love, gazed at Lin Qiu's peerlessly handsome face. Their cheeks flushed, and their eyes shone with a curious light.
"That young master is so handsome. I wonder if he's promised to anyone..."
"Shh, keep your voice down. He holds an Elder's Order and has a noble status. He's far beyond the likes of us."
Before you continue