Ghost Leopard Douluo: The Clown Was Me?

Even a guy as thick-skinned as Demon Bear Douluo had actually...

Ghost Leopard Douluo stared fixedly at Demon Bear Douluo's rugged face, his eyes gradually turning red.

It was over.

Completely over.

Even Demon Bear, that blockhead who couldn't fit anything in his brain besides muscles and recklessness, now had a gaze that had become so... unfathomable.

He, too, had been driven out of his mind by those two lunatics!

"It's my fault, Old Bear!"

"It's because I was afraid of getting beaten up that I left you in the hands of those two maniacs and didn't look back!"

"Old Bear—!"

Ghost Leopard Douluo could no longer suppress his internal collapse, letting out a heart-wrenching howl on the spot. The sound was enough to make the listener sad and the bystander weep.

"Wuwuwu... I've failed you!"

Snot and tears streaming down his face, he looked at the bewildered Demon Bear Douluo with the grief-stricken expression of a man watching his best friend suffer from a terminal illness and about to depart this world.

"It's all my fault! If I hadn't run away yesterday, how could you... how could you have been tortured by them into this state!"

"Look at you! You used to just look simple-minded, a bit blunt, but now... your eyes have gone vacant!"

"You big dummy, you've completely turned into a real fool! Wuwuwu..."

Hearing this incoherent, tearful accusation, Demon Bear Douluo's rugged face went blank, then stiffened, and finally... turned the color of a pig's liver at a speed visible to the naked eye!

The veins on his forehead bulged one by one like twisted earthworms, and the spirit power throughout his body began to surge uncontrollably!

This stupid leopard... what kind of bullshit is he spewing?!

"You're the one who's stupid, damn it!"

"Your whole family is stupid!"

Before the words even faded, Demon Bear Douluo's fan-sized hand slammed shut!

Hum—!

Amidst a harsh, metallic vibration, a layer of intensely concentrated dark golden light instantly covered his entire right hand!

It was no longer flesh and blood.

It was a hideous bear claw cast from the deepest dark gold, covered in mysterious patterns and filled with an indestructible, razor-sharp aura capable of tearing through everything!

The five sharp claws were each like a short sword forged from divine metal, their tips flashing with a cold light capable of easily rending space itself!

Ghost Leopard Douluo's howling stopped abruptly.

The sorrow and self-reproach on his face froze instantly, replaced by an indescribable fear that welled up from the depths of his soul!

"If you dare to spit out even half a word of 'stupid' again..."

Demon Bear Douluo said slowly, word by word, in a tone that was almost boastful and cruel.

"I will use this... External Spirit Bone from the Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear to tear your big mouth, along with your tongue, to shreds!"

Ghost Leopard Douluo's eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets!

"The Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bear's... External Spirit Bone?! Where did you get that?!"

Isn't this something that only exists in legends?!

Watching Ghost Leopard Douluo's terrified expression, the pent-up frustration Demon Bear Douluo had been holding since morning vanished in an instant.

In its place was an unprecedented, immense sense of satisfaction that made him puff out his chest!

He stroked his brand-new, indestructible bear claw with affection, feeling the power to tear through everything, before finally turning his gaze toward the indifferent Ghost Douluo standing to the side.

On that rugged face, a complex expression—bordering on "shame" and "gratitude"—actually emerged.

"Ghost Leopard, did you... think Brother Ghost was trying to harm me yesterday?"

Demon Bear Douluo asked in a muffled voice, and Ghost Leopard Douluo nodded subconsciously.

"I thought so too yesterday!"

Demon Bear Douluo slapped his thigh, his voice filled with remorse!

He turned abruptly toward Ghost Douluo, his hulking frame bowing slightly. The sincerity of his attitude caused Ghost Leopard Douluo's brain to crash once again!

"Brother Ghost! It was my fault yesterday!"

"I thought you were trying to stab me in the back, and I even cursed you in my heart!"

"But how was I to know... you weren't trying to harm me at all; you were clearly... unable to stand seeing your brother being too weak, and you dragged me along to witness a heaven-sent fortune!"

Ghost Douluo, who had been silent all along, finally revealed a rare, almost warm smile on his perpetually gloomy face in response to Demon Bear Douluo's heartfelt "confession."

He slowly raised his hand and gently patted Demon Bear Douluo's shoulder, which was thicker than a city wall.

"Hey, what are you saying."

"You and I are both elders of Spirit Hall; we are brothers."

Ghost Douluo's voice remained hoarse, yet it carried an unprecedented, convincing "air of an elder."

"With such a good opportunity to help my brothers be reborn, how could I, old Ghost, possibly keep it all to myself?"

These words left Ghost Leopard Douluo stunned.

A thought so absurd it made his very soul tremble began to violently batter his reason.

Could it be...

Was this actually a heaven-sent opportunity?!

Just as his worldview collapsed and began to reorganize, a voice filled with a hint of laziness and amusement drifted over from the side.

It was Spirit Kite Douluo.

She was dragging the "pig-headed" Yan, who had completely given up on thinking, and watched Ghost Leopard Douluo with great interest, her eyes filled with what looked like schadenfreude.

"Speaking of which, Elder Chrysanthemum, if it weren't for you yesterday, I truly wouldn't have had this blessing."

"I haven't even properly thanked you for this opportunity of the Ultimate Fire."

Before her words had even faded.

Hum—!

A wisp of golden divine flame, pure to the extreme, danced joyfully upon her fair fingertips like a docile sprite.

Even though it was just a tiny flicker, it made Ghost Leopard Douluo's soul scream and shudder instinctively!

He felt that if that tiny flame were to drift toward him, he would be burned away in an instant, leaving not even a speck of ash behind!

Chrysanthemum Douluo raised his signature orchid finger, elegantly covering his mouth with "Yue Guan's Sigh," and let out a pleasant, light chuckle.

"Oh my~ Sister Spirit Kite, you're being far too polite."

"Just as old Ghost said."

"We are all one big, loving family, after all."

"And as a family, we should stay together, go see the senior, and seek a great fortune."

Ghost Leopard Douluo: "..."

Ghost Leopard Douluo's brain had completely turned into mush.

He stared blankly at the ferocious bear paw of Demon Bear Douluo, which was flickering with dark golden divine light.

Then, he looked at the golden divine flame on Spirit Kite Douluo's fingertip that made his soul tremble.

So...

Yesterday, that damn sissy Chrysanthemum Douluo wasn't trying to beat me up?

He grabbed me yesterday... to forcibly shove a heaven-sent opportunity down my throat?!

And I...

I, goddammit...

I thought he was trying to harm me, so I activated my Avatar of the Martial Soul and ran away like a stray dog?!

A surge of scalding blood, mixed with endless regret and shame, rushed straight from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

Ghost Leopard Douluo's face instantly turned the color of liver, looking a hundred times worse than Demon Bear Douluo's had just moments ago!

He remembered.

Yesterday, when he was fleeing, the sound that came from behind him was Chrysanthemum Douluo's exasperated, furious cursing.

Thinking about it now.

That wasn't the mockery of a victor at all!

That was clearly... the heartbroken frustration of someone disappointed that their peer wouldn't live up to expectations!

So...

From beginning to end...

The clown was actually me?