"Hell, I must've shit my pants today and opened my third eye!"
Zhao Wuji pointed right at Yu Xiaogang's nose and went off on him.
"And you're absolutely certain it's impossible? Who the hell do you think you are, saying something's absolutely impossible?"
Yu Xiaogang jumped at the sudden roar. His face turned a livid green. "Zhao Wuji! What do you mean by this? You're nothing but a crude brute, and you dare question my authority in the Soul Master World?"
"Authority my ass!"
Zhao Wuji spat on the ground, his eyes full of contempt.
"You're just a useless Soul Grandmaster stuck at level twenty-nine! You've been stuck there so long you can't even fart!"
"Tell me, how many Soul Beasts have you hunted in your life?"
"Have you ever been to the inner reaches of the Star Dou Great Forest? Have you seen what a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast looks like?"
"You don't even know what reaching level thirty feels like. So where the hell did you pull that bullshit theory from, claiming that the limit for a third Soul Ring is one thousand seven hundred and sixty years?!"
Every word Zhao Wuji spoke was a knife, each one finding its mark and stabbing straight into Yu Xiaogang's vitals.
The more he spoke, the more fired up he got, and the louder his voice grew. "You sit here copying scraps from a few lousy books, cobble together a bunch of dogshit conclusions, and then call yourself invincible?"
"And you go around saying, 'There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters!' By your own logic, you're the biggest waste in the whole world! Instead of wasting time acting like a big shot, why don't you figure out how to break through level thirty before you start running your mouth?"
If Tang San had been there at that moment, he would surely have glared red-eyed with rage and shouted, "Damn you, Zhao Wuji! How dare you insult my lofty teacher like this! You're seeking death!"
That point-blank verbal barrage left Yu Xiaogang frozen in place.
Under the oil lamp, his gaunt face went from white to green, then purple, before finally turning the color of pig liver.
His deepest secrets had been exposed right to his face, and the last scrap of fig leaf he used to disguise his pride had been ripped away.
The sheer humiliation hurt worse than being stabbed twice!
"You... You're slandering me! He's slandering me!"
Yu Xiaogang's lips quivered as he pointed a trembling finger at Zhao Wuji. "You... you brute! You've no respect for scholarship! No respect for scholarship at all!"
Li Yusong and Shao Xin realized they were in trouble. If this really came to blows, Zhao Wuji could slap the useless fool into a meat pie.
Old Zhao was a straight-shooting idiot with no brains. They'd been colleagues for years; griping about each other in private was one thing, but why did he have to say it right to the man's face?
The two of them hurriedly lunged forward from either side, holding Zhao Wuji's arms tight and covering his mouth for good measure.
Shao Xin was sweating buckets. He quickly turned to Yu Xiaogang and tried to smooth things over.
"Sorry about this, Grandmaster! Old Zhao's an asshole when he's been drinking! He can't keep his mouth shut, and he just loves blurting out the truth!"
That attempt at smoothing things over cut even deeper than Zhao Wuji's words.
At the words "the truth," Yu Xiaogang's blood pressure shot up to two hundred and eighty. He nearly spat up a mouthful of blood.
"Mmph! Mmph!" Zhao Wuji was still struggling.
Li Yusong put on a big smile and joined in the damage control. "That's right, that's right. Grandmaster, you're magnanimous enough to sail a boat in your belly—don't take offense at a brute like him! Old Zhao's a hothead, and he's been riled up today. He's had a bit to drink and is just acting like a drunkard. Please bear with him!"
But Yu Xiaogang's self-esteem had already been smashed into a QR code. There was no way he could hear a word of their consolation.
He couldn't stay in this room for another second!
His dignity had been rubbed into the dirt again and again, and he could feel the air around him laughing at him.
He wanted to rush forward, point at Zhao Wuji, and curse him out, but he was a total weakling and stood no chance against Zhao Wuji's bulk.
In the end, he flared his nostrils twice, let out a loud, icy snort, then turned and kicked the threshold aside before plunging into the night without looking back.
He sprinted all the way back to his shabby little room and slammed the wooden door shut behind him.
Yu Xiaogang pressed his back firmly against the door. His legs gave way, and he slid straight down to the floor.
He gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently.
Zhao Wuji's words looped endlessly through his mind like a curse.
"You're just a useless weakling who can't break through level thirty..."
"Have you ever seen what a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast looks like...?"
Yu Xiaogang's eyes were bloodshot, his fists clenched tight.
"Level thirty... a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"
He gritted his teeth, his nasal voice sounding especially shrill in the night.
"I, Yu Xiaogang, will prove it to all of you!"
"My theory is absolutely right! There's no way a monster with a Ten Thousand Year third ring exists. That would be a desecration of the iron laws of the Soul Master World!"
Meanwhile.
Ning Rongrong had picked out a bedroom with a huge dressing room and was figuring out how to slowly lure Su Chen into joining the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
But the moment she stepped out to sound him out, she ran into an utterly absurd scene.
Xiao Wu was clinging to Su Chen like an octopus, her long legs wrapped around his waist as the two of them strolled openly into a room.
Ning Rongrong froze at the top of the stairs, ten thousand question marks floating over her head.
They'd already reached the high ground?
That progress bar was moving way too fast!
Miss Ning had only just left the fountain and hadn't even touched a brick on the first outer tower yet, but that Rogue Rabbit on the other side had already marched in with her minions and flattened her base crystal?
She looked down at her own chest, then thought back to Xiao Wu's curves. Gritting her teeth, she stamped her feet in fury.
"Outrageous! How could the premium cabbage the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had its eye on be snatched up first by some wild rabbit from god-knows-where?"
Ning Rongrong had never failed to get what she wanted, not once in her life.
She wouldn't back down, even if it meant stealing him away.
With a good hoe, there wasn't a corner of a wall you couldn't dig up!
Unwilling to accept defeat, Ning Rongrong ran over to the next door and knocked hard.
The door opened a crack, and Zhu Zhuqing poked half her head out.
She said nothing, but her cold eyes seemed to ask, "What?"
Ning Rongrong lowered her voice. "Zhuqing! You're really going to let that rabbit act so smug? Let's form an alliance! We'll knock her off her perch, and then we can share the resources!"
Zhu Zhuqing looked at Ning Rongrong as if she were an idiot and coldly spat out two words.
"Boring."
Bang.
The door slammed shut without mercy.
Ning Rongrong had been given the cold shoulder. She stood there fuming and going crazy.
Inside Su Chen's room.
Xiao Wu had been simmering with anger all day. That flat-chested green tea who'd been dripping with fake sweetness and flirtatious charm, calling him "Brother Chen" every other sentence, had made Xiao Wu want to twist the woman's head off and kick it around like a ball.
Revenge! She had to get her revenge, and make it clear who he belonged to!
As soon as they entered the room, Xiao Wu shoved Su Chen onto the incredibly soft bed. Then she pounced on him like a hungry tiger.
"Monster! Take my Great Might Heavenly Dragon!"
Xiao Wu shouted viciously as she roughly tugged at Su Chen's clothes, playing absolutely no fair.
Su Chen couldn't help laughing in exasperation.
A few days without a beating, and she was ready to tear the roof off.
A mere ten-thousand-year Rogue Rabbit dared to wield a sword before Guan Yu? Had she forgotten who wore the pants in this house?
"Fine. In this card game, it's either you die or I do."
"I'll show you what a real game of Fight the Landlord looks like!"
The battle began in an instant.
There were no flashy Soul Skills, only the most primitive hand-to-hand combat.
Xiao Wu refused to back down. She broke out her signature move, scissoring her legs around Su Chen's waist.
"Take this! Rabbit Kicks Eagle!"
Su Chen snorted. Instead of retreating, he pushed forward and met her head-on.
"Parlor tricks, and you dare show off before a master? Take my Shield of Dawn!"
The bed let out a violent protest.
Through the Storage Soul Tool, Ah Yin was once again forced to watch.
Listening to the fierce battle outside, Ah Yin trembled in the space.
This kid's stamina was inhuman! Even a ten-thousand-year-old Titan Giant Ape probably couldn't keep going like this, could he?
Then she thought of Tang Hao, who had always surrendered after three minutes.
Ah Yin couldn't help spitting in her heart.
As expected, there was no harm without comparison. Compare goods and toss the inferior ones; compare people and some would die of shame!
That blacksmithing brute, Tang Hao, had put all his strength into swinging his hammer. When it came to the real thing, he was a complete mess.
Every night, he just shut his eyes and thrashed around, shouting things like, "It's our duty to restore the glory of the Clear Sky Sect!"
Restore what, my ass!
If the Spirit Hall hadn't been chasing them so relentlessly back then, forcing them to flee through the wilderness and seek thrills, she might not even have gotten pregnant with Tang San!