The Grandmaster's Dignity Was Torn to Shreds! The Ten Core Competencies Were Nothing but a Patchwork of Old Materials!

Notting Academy's plaza had been temporarily converted into an inspection ground.

Di Yao had not taken Yu Xiaogang into a Secret Chamber for questioning.

He had chosen to present the evidence in public.

The reason was simple.

Yu Xiaogang's most valuable asset was not his strength.

It was his reputation.

Since he liked speaking from the lofty position of a "theoretical Grandmaster," Di Yao would strip away that skin first.

Several long tables stood in a row at the center of the plaza.

Account Ledgers, receipt forms, supply serial numbers, incomplete files, and lists of private storerooms were laid out across them.

The academy students gathered at a distance, none daring to approach.

Tang San stood at the edge of the crowd, his expression dark.

Xiao Wu was among the crowd as well.

She had only come along to watch the excitement.

But when she saw Spirit Hall's Law Enforcement Team and sensed the dark golden aura around Di Yao, her entire body tensed.

She instinctively sensed danger.

Not the ordinary danger of Soul Masters hunting Soul Beasts.

It was a deeper kind of bloodline suppression.

Like a rabbit seeing the sun hanging directly above its head in the darkness.

Yu Xiaogang stood before the long tables.

His expression was terrible.

Yet he still forced himself to maintain his composure.

"Di Yao."

"You've made such a huge scene today. Have you considered the consequences?"

Di Yao picked up the first Account Ledger.

"The consequence is that someone has to settle their debts."

Yu Xiaogang said in a low voice, "Theoretical research cannot be measured by simple accounts."

Di Yao nodded.

"That is why I am not only looking at the accounts."

He raised a hand.

Deacon Zhou immediately laid out three sets of documents.

"First."

Di Yao pointed at a copied volume of Spirit Hall's Soul Beast Catalog.

"Over the past five years, you borrowed thirty-two volumes of the Soul Beast Catalog."

"Officially, it was for organizing theories on the compatibility of low-grade Martial Souls."

"But you had no sample records."

"No review records."

"No returned results."

"You did not even have the most basic records of Soul Beast age discrepancies."

Yu Xiaogang's expression stiffened.

Di Yao picked up the second document.

"Second."

"Awakening crystal fragments and Soul Power testing tools."

"You borrowed them under the pretext of researching the growth potential of useless Martial Souls."

"But the actual usage records were concentrated on Tang San alone."

"This was not public research."

"It was private cultivation."

The surrounding students erupted in an uproar.

Tang San's gaze turned even colder.

Yu Xiaogang gritted his teeth. "Tang San is my disciple. Is there a problem with studying his growth trajectory?"

Di Yao looked at him.

"If you use your own things, there is no problem."

"If you use Spirit Hall's resources, there is a problem."

He picked up the third file.

"Third."

"Tang San's awakening record was altered."

"The original file appeared to contain fluctuations from Twin Martial Souls."

"You did not file a report."

"And you concealed it for a long time."

"If the growth of someone with Twin Martial Souls spirals out of control, do you, a theoretical Grandmaster, not know how great a risk that could pose?"

When those words landed, Yu Xiaogang's face finally turned pale.

Twin Martial Souls.

Those four words carried immense significance in the world of Soul Masters.

They represented talent.

But they also represented danger.

If mishandled, Martial Soul conflict, Soul Power backlash, and even harm to others could all result.

Di Yao said coldly, "You knew the risks."

"But you did not report them."

"Because Tang San is your disciple."

"Because you wanted to prove yourself."

"Because you wanted to use him to turn your life around."

Yu Xiaogang suddenly raised his head.

"Shut up!"

Di Yao looked at him.

"Getting anxious?"

Yu Xiaogang's chest heaved violently.

What he could not accept most was anyone saying he treated Tang San as a tool.

He had sincerely treated Tang San as his disciple.

But Di Yao's words were too venomous.

They had dug out the obsession in his heart that he had been unwilling to admit.

To prove himself.

To prove the theory of useless Martial Souls.

To prove that Yu Xiaogang was not worthless.

Tang San stepped forward, his voice icy.

"My teacher gave me a new life."

"He is not someone a person like you can slander."

Di Yao glanced at him.

"Shut up first."

A chill flashed through Tang San's eyes.

Di Yao said, "We have not yet settled the matter of you attacking Law Enforcement Team personnel."

Tang San clenched his fists.

Xiao Wu whispered beside him, "Third Brother, don't act rashly."

Tang San glanced at her and forcibly suppressed his anger.

Di Yao continued looking at Yu Xiaogang.

"Didn't you always claim to be a theoretical Grandmaster?"

Yu Xiaogang's gaze was gloomy.

"I proposed the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul. Everyone in the world of Soul Masters knows them."

Di Yao laughed.

"Then let us talk about that."

He raised his hand.

The Law Enforcement Team brought out several old documents.

Each bore a Library Pavilion catalog number from Spirit Hall.

Di Yao spread the documents out.

"Of your Ten Core Competencies, at least six can be traced to prototypes in Spirit Hall's old materials."

"Some were statistics on low-grade Martial Souls."

"Some were notes on Soul Beast compatibility."

"And some were compilations gathered over many years by awakening Deacons from Branch Halls."

"You organized them."

"But you presented that organization as original work."

Yu Xiaogang's expression changed completely.

"Impossible."

Di Yao said, "The document numbers are here."

"The borrowing records are here."

"Your signature is here as well."

Hu Liena looked at those old documents, inwardly startled.

She had originally thought Yu Xiaogang might simply have unclear accounts.

She had not expected the so-called Grandmaster's theories to bear so many traces of Spirit Hall's old materials as well.

Di Yao did not say that Yu Xiaogang had copied everything.

He only tore apart the most crucial point.

There was nothing wrong with organizing materials.

There was nothing wrong with drawing on others' work.

The problem was that he had taken Spirit Hall's materials, submitted no results, and still packaged himself as the sole truth.

Yu Xiaogang's lips trembled slightly.

He forced himself to speak. "Theory is, by nature, refined upon the foundation laid by those before us."

Di Yao nodded.

"Correct."

"So you should have cited your sources."

"You should have submitted your results."

"You should have filed them."

"You should have accepted review."

He took a step forward.

"You did none of those things."

Yu Xiaogang could not speak.

The looks in the surrounding students' eyes began to change.

They had originally thought the Grandmaster was poor, modest, and unfairly wronged.

But now, with piece after piece of evidence laid before them, no one could easily speak for him anymore.

Being poor did not mean being clean.

Being low-key did not mean being without fault.

Tang San watched the change in the gazes around him, and the killing intent in his heart grew deeper and deeper.

He respected his teacher more than anyone.

Yet today, before everyone, Di Yao was tearing his teacher's dignity to shreds bit by bit.

Unforgivable.

Yu Xiaogang suddenly lowered his voice.

"Di Yao."

"Your teacher knows who I am."

His words were soft.

Only Di Yao, Hu Liena, and a few people nearby heard them.

Hu Liena's expression changed.

She knew what Yu Xiaogang meant.

Bibi Dong.

Old feelings.

The past.

Yu Xiaogang wanted to use that connection to pressure Di Yao.

Di Yao looked at him, his gaze as cold as ice.

"Of course I knew."

"That was why I needed to get to the bottom of it."

"What gave you the right to treat her past indulgence as a get-out-of-death-free card today?"

Yu Xiaogang looked as if he had been struck by lightning.

Those words were harsher than all the evidence before them.

Because they did not merely tear apart the Grandmaster's dignity.

They also tore apart that lingering affection between him and Bibi Dong that he had thought he could still exploit.

Hu Liena's heart shook.

She suddenly understood why Di Yao had dared to investigate so ruthlessly.

It was not that he did not know Yu Xiaogang was connected to her teacher.

It was precisely because he knew that he could not allow this thread to keep rotting away.

Di Yao turned and gave the order.

"Yu Xiaogang is suspected of embezzling Spirit Hall resources, altering awakening records, and concealing information on a high-risk Twin Martial Souls."

"Seize all relevant materials and restrict him from leaving Notting Academy."

"Tang San assaulted Law Enforcement Team personnel and refused a retest. Place him under priority surveillance."

Yu Xiaogang's expression turned ugly.

Tang San, however, suddenly lowered his head.

He did not argue further.

He merely stood there in silence.

Di Yao glanced at him.

Tang San's reaction was not surrender.

He had merely tucked his killing intent away again.

This man was far more troublesome than Yan.

When Yan got angry, he charged straight ahead.

When Tang San got angry, he waited.

Hu Liena asked quietly, "Should we take them down now?"

Di Yao shook his head.

"Not enough yet."

Hu Liena frowned.

"Not enough evidence?"

Di Yao looked toward the outskirts of Nuoding City.

"The Black Market trail behind Yu Xiaogang has yet to move."

"And the Title Douluo behind Tang San has yet to show himself."

A chill ran through Hu Liena's heart.

"You really want to lure out Tang Hao?"

Di Yao said blandly, "Not yet."

"We just need to know where the pond is first."

Just then, a Law Enforcement Team member hurried over to report.

"Sir, traces of the Black Market Soul Hunting Group have been found outside Nuoding City."

"They seem to be asking about a female student at the academy."

A female student?

Di Yao's eyes shifted slightly.

Hu Liena frowned as well.

"Who?"

The team member lowered his voice. "Xiao Wu."

Within the crowd, Xiao Wu's body suddenly stiffened.

She did not know why, but an intense sense of unease suddenly rose within her.

Di Yao's gaze passed through the crowd and landed on her.

In that instant.

Xiao Wu felt as though the Soul Beast Origin within her body had been fiercely clenched by something.

Her face went pale in an instant.

A flash of Dark Gold Eyes glinted in Di Yao's eyes.

"A 100,000-Year Transformation?"

His voice was very soft.

Yet it made Xiao Wu feel as though she had fallen into an icy abyss.