Spirit City, Spirit Plaza
"Dong'er! Don't you love me anymore?" Yu Xiaogang cried out in despair.
Bibi Dong had her right arm linked through Ning Fengzhi's and was holding Qian Xunqian in her left. She shook her head helplessly and said:
"Xiaogang, I'm sorry. I don't think I... love you anymore. Sigh... I know what I'm saying is awful, but to give our love a perfect ending, I still have to say it:
"Let's break up!"
"No!!!"
"Snowflakes drift, the north wind howls..."
Yu Xiaogang clutched his head with both hands and dropped to his knees with a thud, roaring:
"Dong'er, didn't you used to love watching me study Martial Soul Theory? I'm about to publish my Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul! I'm going to become a household-name theoretical grandmaster!"
"This..."
Bibi Dong had been about to speak, but in the end she forced the words back down.
They said there was no hurt without comparison. In the past, Yu Xiaogang had been the only theoretical grandmaster in her eyes, so she'd naturally been fooled by this bookworm, who never stopped showing off his knowledge.
But the Qian Xunqian in her arms now was a genuine theoretical grandmaster—or rather, a scientific research powerhouse. According to Qian Xunqian, her Innate Spirit Power Cultivation Device model had already made a breakthrough.
The next step was to assemble it and test it on Soul Beasts. If it worked, they could then test it on death-row inmates. At that point, even commoners without Innate Soul Power would be able to cultivate!
That one invention alone would solve a problem that had plagued Douluo Continent for ten thousand years. Bibi Dong was a woman with a brainy streak in love; to win her heart, a man first had to be intelligent.
In a roundabout way, Qian Xunqian had raised Bibi Dong's standards for a partner. In science, they called that a threshold.
After three years of comparison, Bibi Dong had realized that her boyfriend was really just a "grandmaster" who knew how to recite books. He might have made a passable elementary school teacher, teaching children basic facts, but...
Calling him a theoretical grandmaster was downright laughable.
Still, he was her ex-boyfriend, and breakups ought to be dignified. She held back from mocking Yu Xiaogang's most cherished theoretical knowledge to his face.
Unfortunately, Bibi Dong wanted to make the breakup dignified, but Ning Fengzhi didn't. He smiled at Yu Xiaogang and looked him up and down.
"Smiling with a dagger hidden behind it" and "a smiling tiger" were phrases that described the likes of Ning Fengzhi.
"So this is the man who'll become Douluo Continent's greatest theoretical grandmaster," Ning Fengzhi remarked casually.
Yu Xiaogang perked up. Forgetting that Ning Fengzhi might be his rival in love, he rubbed his head and said awkwardly:
"Oh, not at all. I'm still a long way off! But 'will become' is just the right way to put it! You, sir, truly have a keen eye and a knack for recognizing talent!"
Qian Xunqian turned away, not wanting to look at a fool.
Bibi Dong lowered her head in silence, regretting that she'd ever fallen for someone like him.
"I wonder what brilliant insights you might have. Do share them so I can savor them... Didn't you just mention something called the Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul?"
Yu Xiaogang rubbed his nose and chuckled twice before saying:
"It's going to be published in a few days anyway, so there's no harm in telling you now. Dong'er, you two are the first to hear about my Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul! (And, of course, the readers watching on their screens.)"
"Brother Yu, please."
"Ahem!" Yu Xiaogang wouldn't pass up any chance to show off. Now he clasped his hands behind his back, raised his chin, and puffed out his chest, looking every bit the lofty expert.
Seeing him like this only made Bibi Dong angrier. She'd been young and inexperienced, and this kind of person had fooled her just by putting on airs. Sigh!
"Innate Soul Power is directly proportional to Martial Soul strength!" Yu Xiaogang finished and glanced at the three of them.
Heh heh heh. Hurry up and praise my theory!
"Uncle, isn't that common knowledge? Our teacher just taught us that today..."
A little girl playing in Spirit Plaza tugged at Yu Xiaogang's pants and said.
Bibi Dong couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing. "Little girl, what grade are you in?"
"Big sister, I'm in first grade this year!"
"That's wonderful!"
Ning Fengzhi really was an honorable man. He could still spare the Grandmaster's dignity and hold back his laughter. No wonder he'd become the future sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect!
"Brother Yu, did you copy this theory down wrong? Maybe you accidentally included common knowledge when you were compiling it?"
Yu Xiaogang flushed red with embarrassment. Still unwilling to give up, he asked the little girl:
"Is this really common knowledge?"
"Of course!" the little girl replied innocently. "If you don't believe me, my classmates are all around here. They can vouch for me. Uncle, did you never go to elementary school?"
"Pfft!" A mouthful of blood surged up Yu Xiaogang's throat, but luckily he didn't spit it out.
To save face, Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath and continued to maintain his inscrutable air:
"There are nine more. The second one: There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."
At that, even the well-mannered Ning Fengzhi couldn't help laughing out loud:
"Hahahaha!"
Qian Xunqian nodded and said, "Who would have thought this uncle could come up with such a magnificent theory!"
Yu Xiaogang held his head high, feeling immensely pleased. Hmph! That was the skill of this uncle—no, the Grandmaster!
"Oh? If you believe that theory is true, why are you already twenty-one, yet still only at Soul Power Level eighteen?"
Ning Fengzhi said with a smile.
Qian Xunqian added another blow at just the right moment. "Right, right! Uncle was only at level eighteen three years ago, too. Why hasn't he gained even one level in three years?"
"Pfft!"
Bibi Dong truly couldn't hold back. Breakups were supposed to be dignified, but passing up such a spectacle might leave her regretting it for the rest of her life.
"By your own theory, Xiaogang, you seem to be a useless Soul Master..."
"Pfft!" The knife from an ex-girlfriend was a real knife. One stab, and it went straight through Gangzi's heart.
"You... you... you..."
Qian Xunqian spoke up to explain:
"Sis Bibi, Brother Ning, actually, there's some truth to what he said. If you look at it narrowly, noncombat Martial Souls really are useless Martial Souls. But from a broader perspective, every Martial Soul has its uses.
"Martial Souls like sickles and hoes can help farmers till the land and promote agricultural development. Blue Silver Grass Martial Souls can be used to grow grass and make feed for rabbits. And someone with a Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul can use Martial Soul Possession to play a rabbit performer onstage!"
After all, were people born to fight?
No. They were born to develop and support themselves, to enjoy life!
And enjoyment required resources. In the end, those resources came from human labor.
People had to work to support themselves and obtain supplies. In Qian Xunqian's eyes, the greatest people in this world weren't Soul Masters who spent every day cultivating and competing.
They were just consumers, sucking the blood of commoners from atop their heads.
The greatest people were the farmers who provided food to the world without even realizing it, the architects and workers who built homes for everyone... and perhaps Soul Engineers in the future.
They were the producers, the true foundation that kept human society running! They weren't useless!