At the gates of Spirit City.
The young man gazed at the magnificent city before him, a glimmer of hope finally lighting his gloomy eyes.
"Spirit City truly is the holy land of Soul Masters. Even the gate guards are stronger than me!"
"There must be a way here to help me break through the bottleneck at level twenty-nine, right?"
This young man was Yu Xiaogang, from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. His family had just driven him out—or, rather, he had been too ashamed to remain there.
He was already twenty-four years old, an age when students at advanced Soul Master Academies were expected to graduate.
Even the worst advanced Soul Master Academy required its students to reach Soul Elder rank before graduation.
Yet as a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the Upper Three Sects, he could not even meet that basic requirement.
How could the other branches of the family let him keep wasting the clan's vast resources?
His resources had been cut off, and he might even become a tool for certain elders to undermine the clan leader's authority. Naturally, he had no face to remain with the family.
As he left, he secretly swore that he would prove to his family that he, Yu Xiaogang, was no good-for-nothing.
"Hmph, you'll regret this!"
Yu Xiaogang silently steeled himself and entered Spirit City.
In a great hall in Spirit City, many Soul Masters had gathered.
To suppress Soul Beasts, Spirit Hall had deliberately built Spirit City on the edge of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Most of the Soul Masters gathered here were training, gaining experience, or completing missions in the Star Dou Great Forest.
Some had come to collect their Soul Master subsidies;
others had broken through in cultivation and come to update their Spirit Handbooks. Ling Feng was one of them.
"You're sixteen this year and already reached Soul Elder rank? Your talent's pretty good!"
The Spirit Hall deacon handling the Spirit Handbook updates glanced at Ling Feng's book and praised him.
"Too bad this is Spirit City. If you were at a branch hall in a small city, I'd definitely recruit you into Spirit Hall."
"But there are plenty of geniuses like you here. Recruiting you wouldn't earn me much credit."
The deacon put down the Spirit Handbook and asked, "Would you like to go to another city to update it?"
Ling Feng shook his head. "Deacon, I'll do it here."
"Very well. Show me your Soul Rings. I need to verify them."
Ling Feng released his Martial Soul. Three Soul Rings appeared beneath his feet, circling up and down around him as they radiated an intense surge of Soul Power.
"Good, you really are a three-ring Soul Elder. Yellow, yellow... Hmm? Why is one black? Is your third Soul Ring a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring?"
The deacon's mouth fell open. Ling Feng's third Soul Ring had clearly stunned him.
"Deacon, my third Soul Ring really is a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!" Ling Feng made no attempt to hide it.
This deacon had earned a post in Spirit City, so his knowledge was clearly beyond that of a deacon at a small-town Spirit Hall.
"You don't need to call me 'sir.' My surname is Wang. Just call me Deacon Wang."
"Please wait a moment. I'll go fetch the bishop!"
The deacon hurried to his feet and started upstairs to fetch the bishop, hoping to recruit Ling Feng.
But just then, someone interrupted him.
"Hmph, a Ten Thousand Year third Soul Ring? What a scam! So much for the Spirit Hall deacon's expertise!"
The newcomer was a young man with a buzz cut, thick lips, and a gloomy expression. It was Yu Xiaogang.
"Who are you?" Deacon Wang frowned. He was annoyed at being insulted to his face.
But Yu Xiaogang's clothes were rather fine. Worried that he might be related to some important figure in Spirit Hall, Deacon Wang didn't dare make a scene.
Yu Xiaogang shook his head. "I'm just an ordinary Soul Master here to register my Spirit Handbook."
"I spoke up only because I didn't want you to let this man cheat Spirit Hall out of its subsidies!"
He came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and had been quite well-off.
That was why he had never cared for Spirit Hall's subsidies and had never registered his Spirit Handbook there.
Living frugally after a life of luxury had been difficult since he left the family. Before long, he had spent all his savings.
With no money and no way to earn any, he had no choice but to register his handbook and collect some subsidies to get by.
As for calling himself an ordinary Soul Master, he simply didn't want to mention his family name to a lowly deacon. The man wasn't worth it.
Ling Feng withdrew his Martial Soul and turned to the buzz-cut young man. For some reason, the man's appearance seemed familiar.
"Is that him?" Bibi Dong suddenly spoke from within him.
"You know him?" Ling Feng asked.
How could Bibi Dong not know him? Yu Xiaogang had haunted her all her life. Even on the verge of death, she had been unable to forget him.
But that had all happened in her previous life. Now, she was merely a remnant soul.
If Ling Feng achieved something, she might have a chance at revival. If he died young, she would vanish into nothingness as well.
And for some reason, seeing Yu Xiaogang again through Ling Feng's eyes, she couldn't find the feelings she'd had in her previous life.
That was how it was with an unreachable ideal. Even when the ideal itself appeared, the feeling was gone.
At that moment, she even thought he seemed like a clown.
"That man is Yu Xiaogang of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He knows a little about Martial Soul Theory," Bibi Dong reminded him.
With the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's inheritance behind him, Yu Xiaogang's knowledge of Martial Soul Theory was probably still only half-baked.
"So it really is him!"
Ling Feng cursed his bad luck inwardly. He hadn't expected to run into Yu Xiaogang just by coming to update his Spirit Handbook.
Bibi Dong had told him he could be a little more assertive. Now that Yu Xiaogang had come looking for trouble, how could he swallow the insult?
"You say I'm cheating Deacon Wang. What proof do you have? If you can't produce any, then you're slandering me!"
"I'm a Soul Elder. I won't let you slander me!"
"Even if you're older and stronger than me, I'm not afraid. We'll settle this with a Soul Fight!" Ling Feng shouted.
Ling Feng released the pressure of a Soul Elder's Soul Power, bearing down on Yu Xiaogang.
His spiritual power rivaled that of a Soul King, or even higher, and he had precise control over the pressure of his Soul Power. It affected Yu Xiaogang alone.
Watching this, Bibi Dong didn't say a word to stop him.
"I didn't expect Ling Feng to hear that Yu Xiaogang was an heir of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and still dare to fight back. He really is the one I chose!"
Bibi Dong knew all too well that even if she reincarnated and helped the young Bibi Dong of this era, she and Yu Xiaogang were fated to have no future together.
Ling Feng's challenge would force Yu Xiaogang to leave this troublesome place, which was exactly what Yu Xiaogang wanted.
If Ling Feng tried to kill Yu Xiaogang, Bibi Dong might have spoken up to stop him.
Their bond had already been exhausted in her previous life. This was all she could do.
The moment Ling Feng's Soul Power pressure struck, Yu Xiaogang's face went pale. He staggered and took several steps back.
"You dare attack me? This is Spirit City!" Yu Xiaogang's voice trembled.
He could only invoke Spirit Hall to intimidate Ling Feng, because he was just a level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster.
If he fought this man in a Soul Fight, he would probably be in for a nasty beating.