Dugu Bo flew ahead like a rabbit running for its life, going full speed and pouring out Soul Power as if it cost him nothing.
He was genuinely frantic. His heart was in his throat—his granddaughter was still in Suotuo City, and Tang Hao might be there too. How could he not panic?
Zi JI followed alongside Xuan Qing, neither fast nor slow. Watching Dugu Bo's frantic pace, Zi JI couldn't help shaking her head.
Even Xuan Qing couldn't bear to watch.
"Old Poison, don't fly so fast. Keep going like this, and you'll run out of Soul Power before you reach Suotuo City."
Dugu Bo didn't even look back. He just roared, "Easy for you to say! If it were your wife, you'd be even more worried than I am!"
Zi JI's face turned scarlet. She turned her head away, not daring to look at Xuan Qing.
Xuan Qing hadn't even noticed her reaction.
"I'll tell you something. Tang Hao's son, Tang San, is at Shrek Academy in Suotuo City."
Dugu Bo slowed down. "Shrek? What kind of place is that?"
Seeing that he'd slowed, Xuan Qing explained, "It's the academy founded by Flight Corner Flender, one of the Golden Iron Triangle. But they never officially registered it."
"To be fair, it's an academy set up by a bunch of unemployed drifters and street thugs. Their teaching staff is pretty pathetic."
Dugu Bo's eyes widened, as if he'd seen a ghost. "What? An academy founded by street thugs? Can you explain that a little more clearly?"
Xuan Qing didn't hide anything from him. "I mean exactly what I said. You know Zhao Wuji, the Immovable Wisdom King, right? The wanted criminal from Spirit Hall. Never mind how he ended up on their wanted list—he's definitely a criminal, and he's the vice dean of Shrek Academy."
Dugu Bo was even more baffled. "Has Tang Hao lost his mind? Why would he send his son to a place like that?"
Xuan Qing spread his hands. "Birds of a feather. Tang San's kowtowing master is that fame-hungry fraud, Wisdom Corner Yu Xiaogang—the son of that old dragon, Yu Yuanzhen, who was driven out of his family."
Dugu Bo frowned. "I know all that. Can you tell me something I don't know?"
Xuan Qing thought for a moment. "Simply put, Tang Hao's a brute who only knows how to swing a hammer. The Clear Sky Sect trained their muscles right into their brains."
"Or, to put it another way, their heads are full of holes. Apart from swinging their arms and hammering away, they can't do a thing."
Dugu Bo's old face twitched violently. That was... vicious. But it also seemed to make some sense.
Xuan Qing continued his analysis. "On top of that, Tang Hao wants to destroy Spirit Hall. His son took Yu Xiaogang as his master, making him Yu Yuanzhen's grand-disciple."
"Even if Yu Yuanzhen drove his son out of the family, he couldn't possibly deny him. They can make use of that connection."
"So, as long as they haven't come to blows yet, everything should be fine. Besides, Shrek goes Soul Fighting at night. We still have two hours."
Xuan Qing glanced at the sky. "No matter what, we'll get there in two hours. Don't panic. It won't help."
Dugu Bo took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down. He slowed a little more; the Soul Power drain really was too much.
But he still felt uneasy, so he asked, "The Clear Sky Sect really is that brainless? That can't be right. Tang Chen was an extraordinary genius in his day."
"He reached Peerless Douluo at just over fifty and even created such secret techniques as Ring Detonation and the Great Sumeru Hammer. How could he be brainless?"
Xuan Qing shook his head. "You've only seen the surface. I told you before that the Clear Sky Twin Stars hunted Soul Beasts for Soul Bones, right? Then guess whether Tang Chen went on a massive hunt for Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."
"No matter how gifted he was, and even if he had no bottlenecks, accumulating Soul Power still takes time, doesn't it? You know how long it takes a Titled Douluo to accumulate enough Soul Power to advance one rank."
Dugu Bo froze. As a Titled Douluo, he knew exactly how long it took to rise one rank.
Even with a Soul Core, he'd only just managed to reach level ninety-three. The amount of Soul Power a Titled Douluo needed to advance one rank was astronomical.
Xuan Qing didn't stop when he saw Dugu Bo's reaction.
"At Tang Chen's age, if he wasn't supported by a full set of Soul Bones that were at least eighty thousand years old, then he could only have been one of the Fallen Ones. Otherwise, he'd be going against the basic principles of cultivation. Which do you think he was?"
Dugu Bo fell completely silent. Thinking it over, he had to admit... Xuan Qing wasn't wrong!
"As for Ring Detonation and the Great Sumeru Hammer, those secret techniques are just tricks. Their effects are actually much like enhancement-type Soul Skills."
"You know that once your attributes are enhanced, every attribute really does improve, but it also puts a lot of strain on your body. Otherwise, why would they go on massive hunts for Soul Beasts to get their Soul Bones?"
"They even decreed that no one could learn Ring Detonation unless they were the sect leader's heir."
"Isn't it because they're worried that once everyone learns it, all the high-quality Soul Beasts will be killed off? Even if that didn't make them enemies of the entire Soul Master World, how many generations do you think they'd last?"
"Soul Beasts grow over thousands or tens of thousands of years. Soul Masters grow over a century; they can go through four, five, even six generations. No matter how quickly Soul Beasts grow, they can't keep pace with Soul Masters' growth."
Dugu Bo was completely convinced. He'd never thought about it from that angle before, but now that Xuan Qing had pointed it out, everything suddenly clicked.
He looked at Xuan Qing with a complicated expression. "How do you know so much?"
Xuan Qing looked at him as if he were an idiot and said nothing. But his expression clearly said, Do you really have to ask?
Dugu Bo grew a little annoyed at the look. "What's with that expression? I'm warning you, if you don't explain yourself, I may not be able to beat senior, but I'll still fight you to the death!"
This time, Xuan Qing let out a long, helpless sigh.
"The intelligence of the whole Soul Master World is cause for concern. I'll give you two examples, and you'll understand why I say that."
"First, when you fight Soul Masters who wield the Clear Sky Hammer, don't you all go straight for the hammer?"
Dugu Bo thought it over. "Isn't that right? If you don't attack the weapon, what are you supposed to hit?"
Xuan Qing was completely speechless. "And that's why I say the Soul Master World's intelligence is cause for concern. Can't you go around the hammerhead and hit the person? Do you have to ram your head into the hammer and see whose is harder?"
Dugu Bo's old face turned red. Every recorded battle against the Clear Sky Hammer had basically gone that way, including the ones he'd fought when he was young.
"Second, when we get there, we'll probably run into Ning Fengzhi too."
Dugu Bo lurched in midair, nearly falling out of the sky. "What? Ning Fengzhi? What's he doing there?"
His mind was buzzing. His brain's CPU was already overclocked. What did any of this have to do with anything?
"Ning Fengzhi's daughter, Ning Rongrong, is at that academy too. The little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect is studying at Shrek."
"Do you think he could possibly not know we're going to Heaven Dou Royal Academy?"
This time, Dugu Bo really did lose control of his flight. He dropped out of the sky, then hurriedly flew back up.
He stared wide-eyed, his face saying, Are you messing with me?
"Let's put Tang Hao's lack of brains aside. Ning Fengzhi is the sect leader of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Isn't he supposed to be especially shrewd?"
Xuan Qing shook his head. "Remember this, Old Poison: being good at scheming doesn't mean you have brains. You know Qian Daoliu and Qian Xunji, right? Why do you think they lost to Tang Chen and Tang Hao?"
Dugu Bo shook his head. He really didn't know.
"Forget what kind of people they were. In a fight, they were absolute idiots. They didn't even understand the principle of using your strengths to attack your opponent's weaknesses."
"The Six-Winged Angel had light, fire, and divine attributes, and wielded a sword. He could've used those wings to keep his distance and wear his opponent down, but instead he took that broken sword and hacked at the hammer head-on."
"Go ask a blacksmith if he'd hit you over the head with a hammer while you were holding a newly forged sword."
Dugu Bo pictured it. That was exactly right. What sane person would take a finished sword and hack at a hammer? Wouldn't that be stupid?
The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. This kid might be young and a little long-winded, but he really did see through things.
The sun sank below the horizon, and the sky turned orange-red. At last, the three of them arrived above Suotuo City.
Dugu Bo was about to dive down when Xuan Qing grabbed him. "Don't rush. The enemy is in the dark, and we're out in the open. We just need to make sure your granddaughter is safe."
"We'll follow from the shadows and see how things play out. If we show ourselves too soon, we might alert them."
Dugu Bo was worried, but he knew Xuan Qing was right. He suppressed his impulse and nodded. "I'll do as you say."
Before you continue