Watching Yu Xiaogang make a clown of himself, Ling Feng felt much less annoyed.
"Hmph, you were the one who slandered me first!"
"Besides, Spirit City has places for Soul Fighting. Do you dare accept my challenge?"
Yu Xiaogang's thoughts raced as he blurted out, "When did I ever slander you?"
"Your Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring is fake. You used some kind of disguise Soul Skill to make your Soul Ring look like a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, that's all."
Ling Feng said, "Oh? A disguise Soul Skill? Want to head to the Soul Fighting Arena? I'll let you see all three of my Soul Skills."
Yu Xiaogang furrowed his brow. Seeing Ling Feng's confident expression, he knew he had guessed wrong.
"I've got it. It's a Soul Bone! You have a Soul Bone that can unleash a disguise Soul Skill!" Yu Xiaogang argued.
Soul Bones were exceedingly precious. Even the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had only a few inherited Soul Bones.
That was one of the reasons Yu Xiaogang was ostracized.
The people of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan feared their clan leader would give Yu Xiaogang a Soul Bone to help him break through his bottleneck.
Who could accept the resources they had worked so hard to earn for their clan being handed to a good-for-nothing?
"A Soul Bone?"
Ling Feng still looked confident, but inside he was actually a little shaken.
Because Yu Xiaogang had hit the mark: he really did have a Soul Bone, and it was an External Soul Bone at that.
He hadn't fully absorbed this External Soul Bone, the Eight Spider Lances, so someone else might still be able to snatch it and use it.
But he couldn't let that show. What if someone really took a liking to his Soul Bone?
Damn Yu Xiaogang. Looks like there's no way I can settle this peacefully with him! Ling Feng thought.
He had lived in this world for more than ten years. He was no longer the timid corporate drone he had been in his previous life; his outlook had changed long ago.
"Whether I have a Soul Bone or not, we can find out in the Soul Fighting Arena."
"Just in time to use your life to offer a sacrifice to my newly acquired Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill!"
By now, some of the onlookers seemed to have taken a dislike to Yu Xiaogang's lofty attitude from the start, and they began egging them on.
"That's right! We can all tell the power and Soul Power fluctuations of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill!"
"To the Soul Fighting Arena!"
"Soul Fighting! Soul Fighting! Soul Fighting!" someone chanted.
Yu Xiaogang's face darkened. He knew he had guessed wrong again, and Ling Feng had backed him into a corner.
But if he really accepted Ling Feng's Soul Fighting challenge, could he actually win?
Though he came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and had absorbed Soul Rings according to the clan's traditions, he hadn't gained the corresponding Soul Skills.
The domineering Thunder Dragon Claw and the area-wide Thunderous Might had both turned into farts on Luo Sanpao.
His Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, had only two Soul Skills: two kinds of farts. What was more, he could only use them three times a day. Even he was starting to despise them.
With Luo Sanpao's Soul Skills, he was bound to lose against the other man's Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Skill—unless his opponent was a support Soul Master.
Yu Xiaogang kept thinking, trying to come up with a defense.
"I've got it! You have Twin Martial Souls. Your other Martial Soul has already been cultivated to the Soul King level, or even higher!"
"You wanted to cheat the Spirit Hall out of its stipend, so you only gave your Second Martial Soul three Soul Rings to pass yourself off as a Soul Elder!"
Yu Xiaogang clutched at this lifeline and began lecturing them about the Martial Soul knowledge he had learned from the clan's inherited records.
But he failed to notice that everyone around him was looking at him as if he were an idiot.
Ling Feng was so young—he looked only sixteen or seventeen. If he really were a Soul King, even the Pope would probably come out to take him as a disciple.
Would a genius like that need to go to so much trouble disguising himself just to get a hundred Gold Soul Coins?
At last, the commotion reached the Purple-Robed Bishop upstairs.
A Purple-Robed Bishop could serve as the head of a Spirit Hall branch elsewhere. Here, he was only responsible for matters concerning the Spirit Handbook.
"Quiet!"
The Purple-Robed Bishop ignored Yu Xiaogang and turned to Ling Feng.
"Child, may I take a look at your Martial Soul and Soul Rings?"
Seeing the Purple-Robed Bishop's attitude toward Ling Feng, Yu Xiaogang finally came to his senses and realized how foolish his words had been.
If Ling Feng really were a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old Soul King with Twin Martial Souls, it would rock Spirit City and make him famous throughout the Douluo Continent.
For a moment, Yu Xiaogang felt both jealous and resentful.
Why is Heaven so unfair? He's a commoner, yet he has such talent, while I was born into one of the Upper Three Sects and my Martial Soul still underwent a disastrous mutation?
Ling Feng ignored Yu Xiaogang's jealous glare and obediently revealed his Martial Soul and Soul Ring.
"His Martial Soul is a Demon Spider. This Soul Ring's aura is indeed that of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring!"
"Child, give me your hand," the Purple-Robed Bishop said.
Ling Feng held out his hand. As soon as the Purple-Robed Bishop took it, he knew the answer.
His own Martial Soul was a Gem Martial Soul. It enhanced his mental strength and helped him appraise treasures, Soul Masters, Soul Rings, and the like.
"Your Excellency, I wasn't trying to cheat the Spirit Hall out of its stipend!" Ling Feng said earnestly.
"I know," the Purple-Robed Bishop said with a nod.
He turned to the Soul Masters who had gathered around to watch and explained on Ling Feng's behalf.
"Everyone, this child has only one Martial Soul, and his third Soul Skill truly comes from a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. You may all go."
"As for you—hmmph, you dare cause trouble in Spirit City!" The Purple-Robed Bishop looked at Yu Xiaogang, his eyes full of displeasure.
The young Yu Xiaogang hadn't yet been beaten down by the outside world, and he was struggling to keep his emotions under control again.
"I won't accept this! You're definitely protecting him!"
"You want to recruit him into the Spirit Hall, so you're helping him hide the secret of his Twin Martial Souls and protect him!"
In his eyes, the bishop was obviously trying to protect Ling Feng's reputation. He didn't want the genius he planned to recruit saddled with a reputation for cheating the Spirit Hall out of its stipend.
"Hmph! You still dare make trouble? You're asking to die!"
The Purple-Robed Bishop was furious. A burst of Soul Power surged from him, and an overwhelming pressure swept toward Yu Xiaogang.
He was a Purple-Robed Bishop stationed in Spirit City, with the cultivation of a Soul Emperor. Yu Xiaogang had no chance of withstanding it.
Yu Xiaogang wasn't Tang San in the future. How could he possibly withstand the Soul Power pressure of a Soul Emperor?
With a thud, the Purple-Robed Bishop pressed Yu Xiaogang flat against the floor.
The cold floor jolted him, and Yu Xiaogang finally felt afraid.
He hadn't yet proved himself to his clan. How could he die here?
He no longer cared about his dignity and hurriedly invoked his family connections.
"Stop! I'm Yu Xiaogang of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. My father is Yu Yuanzhen, the clan leader of one of the Upper Three Sects and an honorary elder of the Spirit Hall!"
"If you dare kill me, my father won't let you get away with it!"
"Someone from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?" The Purple-Robed Bishop frowned.
At the time, the Upper Three Sects and the Spirit Hall were still on their honeymoon. The Upper Three Sects held a high standing in the Spirit Hall, so Yu Xiaogang's family was indeed not someone he could afford to offend.
The Purple-Robed Bishop withdrew the pressure. The weight lifted from Yu Xiaogang, and a patch of his pants was wet, the reek of urine rising into the air.
Fortunately, the Purple-Robed Bishop had sent the onlookers away. Otherwise, Yu Xiaogang would have been too mortified to go on living.
"Do you have any proof of your identity?"
The Purple-Robed Bishop wasn't afraid of being held accountable. He had every reason to suspect Yu Xiaogang was an impostor.
As a direct descendant of one of the Upper Three Sects, how could he still be only a Soul Grandmaster in his twenties?