Yu Xiaogang's Regret

In the 2630th year of the Douluo Calendar, the cold wind was biting.

At the outskirts of Lost Trace Grand Canyon, atop Nameless Lonely Peak.

Yu Xiaogang was drenched in blood. Looking at the figures closing in around him, his eyes filled with pain. "Did Ling Yi send you to kill me?"

"No."

Ah Rou shook her head, expressionless. "He told us to protect you and escort you back to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and never let you show yourself again..."

Ah Yin's face was filled with resentment. "He said he would announce to the continent that you had already been killed by his own hand."

Liu Erlong took a step forward, killing intent surging. "But we believe that only when you're dead will all of this truly end."

"Yu Xiaogang, for your own selfish desires, you used the lives of countless civilians and Soul Masters to conduct evil experiments. There is no longer even the smallest place for you to stand on this Douluo Continent!"

Tang Hao, who had just caught up to the mountaintop, swung the giant hammer in his hand and secretly glanced at Ah Yin, who looked like a goddess, then shouted with righteous fervor.

The eight purple-red spider spears behind Bibi Dong spread open, her jade face icy. "Executing Evil Soul Masters is Spirit Hall's duty! Yu Xiaogang, you must die today!"

"That's right! Today is the day you die. Blood debts must be paid with your blood!"

"I truly never expected that someone as kind as Master Ling would have a brother as bloodstained as you!"

"Pah! Brother? Is Yu Xiaogang even worthy?"

"Exactly! Yu Xiaogang is nothing but trash. If Master Ling hadn't been kindhearted and brought him along to study martial soul theory, what would he even be?"

"He refused to walk the proper path and became an Evil Soul Master, betraying Master Ling's guidance!"...

Amid the waves of curses and contempt, evil energy welled up in Yu Xiaogang's eyes. His beard and hair, unkempt for many days, fluttered as he said viciously, "Ridiculous. You fools have all been deceived by him. He is the greatest evil in this world!"

"You want my life? Are you worthy?!"

"I'll let you see a power that he, Ling Yi, will never possess in his entire life—the Blood Red Nine-Headed Evil Dragon King!"

As his voice fell, a streak of crimson light emerged from within Yu Xiaogang's body.

"Roar—! Roar—! Roar—!..."

Dragon's Roar rang out one after another, shattering the white clouds in the sky. A blood-red figure over ten zhang tall appeared above Yu Xiaogang's head.

Bat-like fleshy wings spread open. On nine necks that looked slender compared to its body, ferocious dragon heads loomed one after another. Between their sharp fangs, drops of thick, blood-colored saliva dripped downward, turning into blood mist in midair and spreading out.

"So strong!"

"Is this really that legendary piece of trash?"

"With such a stench of blood, just what kind of slaughter has this devil caused?!"...

The aura Yu Xiaogang displayed at that moment shocked the pursuers who arrived later, and also made the three women ahead—Ah Yin and the others—as well as Tang Hao, Bibi Dong, and the people from those major forces, take him with the utmost seriousness.

The next instant.

"Blood Red Nine-Headed Evil Dragon King True Body—!"

"Invincible Golden Body!"

"Duang—!"

"Hell Demon Dragon Flame—!"

"Clear Sky True Body! Great Sumeru Hammer—!"

"Eternal Creation—!"

Several hours later.

The thousand-zhang lonely peak had been shortened by over a hundred meters out of nowhere. Amid the ruined piles of rubble, Yu Xiaogang lay like a puppet shattered and pieced back together again, his lifeless eyes filled with longing for life.

Suddenly, as if in a final flash of vitality, Yu Xiaogang lifted his head and looked at the cold faces around him. The evil energy in his eyes faded, and a clarity unseen for many years returned. He murmured softly to Ah Yin, Liu Erlong, and the other women not far away, "Tell Ling Yi that in this life, I, Yu Xiaogang, was the one who wronged him. If there is a next life, I want to call him Brother Yi one more time..."

Lingyun City.

Listening to the returned group recount what had happened, Ling Yi was silent for a long time, pain and self-reproach in his eyes. "I'm the one who harmed Xiaogang..."

"Don't say that!"

Ah Yin stepped forward, drew Ling Yi's head into her embrace, stroked his shoulder-length black hair, and said gently, "This isn't your fault."

Liu Erlong crouched beside Ling Yi, took his warm large hand, and pressed it against her jade-like cheek. Her eyes, once filled with killing intent, became as gentle as water. "He brought it on himself. You already did everything you could. A person whose mind is lost to power, who releases the demon in his heart—the human part of him died long ago."

"That's right!" Ah Rou crouched on Ling Yi's other side, resting her beautiful head against the man's thigh. Her ruby-like eyes looked straight into those guilt-filled eyes as she said, "You're just too kind. You like carrying everything alone, always thinking for other people, never considering yourself..."

Beside Ling Yi's ear, three women's voices, different in tone yet equally pleasant and equally gentle, took turns comforting him.

The three women's efforts worked well. At the very least, Ling Yi's low spirits gradually improved.

Of course, it was also possible that Ling Yi simply did not want Ah Yin and the others to worry, and had only shown that he had let it go.

He was just that kind of gentle, kind person.

Refusing the three women's deeper comfort, Ling Yi returned alone to the rear courtyard of the City Lord Manor and shut himself inside the little house woven from Blue Silver Grass.

Elsewhere, Ah Yin and the other two women watched Ling Yi's departing back in silence.

"This incident hit him hard," Ah Rou said, looking toward the rear courtyard, her voice tinged with heartache.

Liu Erlong's brows shot up, and she gritted her pearly teeth. "It's all that bastard Yu Xiaogang's fault. He was so desperate for quick success, went down an evil path himself, and even dragged Ling Yi into blaming himself."

Ah Yin said nothing. She only stared blankly toward the rear courtyard, as though she could see through the thick courtyard wall to the azure little house, and to the person she thought of day and night.

"I'm planning to sacrifice myself to him after a while."

Very suddenly, Ah Yin said it with absolute certainty.

Yet words that would have caused a massive uproar outside did not move Ah Rou or Liu Erlong.

Ah Rou's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "Isn't that too soon? Brother Yi is only Level 85 right now. At the very least, we should wait until he cultivates to Level 90, right?"

"Also..." Ah Rou paused, then continued, "Let me sacrifice myself first. You can sacrifice yourself when he reaches Level 99. Maybe he really can strive for that realm..."

"It's different."

Ah Yin shook her head and said frankly, "I am a hundred-thousand-year-old Blue Silver Emperor transformed into human form. You are a hundred-thousand-year-old Soft Bone Rabbit transformed into human form. In terms of origin, of course I am more compatible with his Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul."

"Only my sacrifice can give him hope of cultivating to Level 99."

"Don't worry, I haven't spent all these years in vain." Ah Yin raised her fair hand and pressed it to the left side of her chest, feeling the powerful beating within and the enormous vitality firmly locked inside it, then said, "You should know that the highest profundity of the Blue Silver Domain allows me to come back to life within forty-nine days after death. Together with this Crystal of Life that he and I have nurtured together, plus the special environment of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, in ten years at most, I can completely shed my soul beast body and return to his side as a human woman..."

Seeing the longing and sweetness revealed in Ah Yin's words, envy inevitably appeared in Ah Rou and Liu Erlong's eyes.

Bang—!

A heavy crash came from the gatehouse of the City Lord Manor, cutting off the three women's conversation.

A few breaths later, a brisk and decisive figure entered the sight of Ah Yin and the other two women.

"Where is that guy?"

The moment the newcomer stepped into the hall, she swept her gaze around. Not seeing the figure she had been thinking about, she asked Ah Yin and the others bluntly.

She was a tall female general of valiant bearing, her brows brimming with heroic spirit. Set off by a suit of deep black armor, her jade-white, beautiful face, paired with the sharp aura about her at this moment, stirred the heart even more.

"Shelly, he's in a bad mood right now. Don't go disturb him," Ah Yin immediately advised as she looked at the female general.

"In a bad mood?" Shelly's heroic brows rose, and she said forcefully, "Are the three of you that useless? After all this time, you still haven't drained him dry?"

"I don't believe that if you drained him dry, he'd still have the mind to think about that trash Yu Xiaogang!"

"Shelly, can you stop talking about draining him dry every time you open your mouth..." Ah Rou raised a hand to rub her forehead and said speechlessly, "...It's too much."

Right after that, Ah Yin and Liu Erlong nodded in unison to show their agreement.

However, faced with three pairs of eyes that wanted to draw a clear line, Shelly curled her lip in disdain and said fiercely, "Who was it that got that guy drunk and dragged him onto the bed?"

Liu Erlong's gaze drifted down to the lower left, as if something there had caught her attention.

Shelly said, "And who was it that lured that guy into the cave of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Beast, destroyed the passage, and stayed inside with him for three days and three nights straight?"

Ah Rou lifted her head and began carefully examining the carved patterns on the roof.

Shelly said, "And also—"

"Enough!" Ah Yin gave a soft shout. "Yang Shelly, know when to stop!"

"Tch~~" Shelly met Ah Yin's oppressive gaze without the slightest concern. "What? This old lady wanted his body, so I forced myself on him. I dared to do it, and I dare to admit it. Do you dare?"

After she finished speaking, her forceful gaze swept over Ah Yin, Ah Rou, and Liu Erlong. Without waiting for the three women to respond, Shelly turned and walked toward the rear courtyard of the City Lord Manor. Based on her understanding of him, at a time like this, he was most likely there.

Watching that tall figure walk into the rear courtyard, Ah Yin and the other two women's eyes flickered, and no one knew what they were thinking.

"As expected of the bloodline of the Breaking Clan. Full of aggression!" Liu Erlong said, a hint of temptation appearing on her face.

Ah Rou nodded and answered, "He said before that the Breaking Clan's Soul Breaking Spear attacks without defending. Only by comprehending that concept can one's cultivation advance by leaps and bounds."

"That's also why Shelly, despite being from a branch line, has a cultivation speed even faster than the two Yang Wudi brothers."

"Shelly's Soul Breaking Scythe Spear probably already has the killing power of a top-tier Martial Soul," Ah Yin added.

After those few words, the vast hall once again fell into silence.

Looking at one another, the three women seemed to see the true thoughts beneath the forced calm of the other two.

High in the sky, sunlight poured out its passion without reservation, bringing the warmth of life to all things in the world.

Drifting white clouds, gathering and scattering without constancy, faintly formed Yu Xiaogang's ordinary face, wearing a slight smile as it looked down at the earth below.

At some unknown point, the hall of the City Lord Manor had become empty.

A new book sets sail~

This time, let's go slower, steady and sure, step by step by step, step by step by step, all the way to the very top!