Tang Shan: "Dugu Yan, you are courting death!"

Outside the Crown Prince's Mansion in Tiandou City.

After receiving Qian Renxue's orders, Snake Lance and Pufferfish hid within the shadows.

"Are you picking Yu Luomian or Yu Xiaogang?" Snake Lance tilted his head to glance at Pufferfish.

"Yu Xiaogang." Pufferfish's tone was flat.

"Fine, then I'll go take care of Yu Luomian." Snake Lance nodded, flashed into the shadows, and vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Fool."

Pufferfish sneered, letting out a cold, low grunt. "Yu Luomian is a Soul Douluo, after all. Making a move inside Tiandou City will surely alert the city guard soul masters. If the situation spirals out of control, I'd like to see how you explain that to the Young Mistress."

Meanwhile, Snake Lance was laughing to himself on the road. "Pufferfish, do you really think you're clever? Yu Xiaogang has deep ties with the Pope. If you dare touch him and the blame falls back on us later, I'd like to see how you survive the fallout."

"In this game, I am ultimately the one who holds the upper hand."

Outside Blue Tyrant Academy.

"Heh, do you really think you have victory in your grasp?"

Pufferfish finally realized Snake Lance's goal in choosing Yu Luomian, but he did not panic.

"Spirit Hall belongs to the 'Qian' family, and the Young Mistress will inherit the position of Pope sooner or later. Loyalty that isn't absolute is absolute disloyalty. You, Snake Lance, only know how to play petty tricks and hesitate at every turn; you will be discarded by the Young Mistress sooner or later."

"The one who wins in the end will only be me!"

Blue Tyrant Academy, Vice Dean's office.

Yu Xiaogang was sitting at his desk, carefully flipping through the student roster.

"Tai Long is only level thirty-two at nineteen years old. Mediocre talent."

He tapped his fingers on the desk, a haughty smile curling his lips as he muttered to himself, "Tomorrow, I shall implement The Wise One's brilliant teaching method—morning runs for the entire academy. It will surely help this batch of people be reborn."

Bang, bang, bang.

A sudden knock sounded at the door.

Yu Xiaogang frowned and opened the door, but there was no one outside.

"Which bored idiot is playing games with me!"

He flew into a rage and slammed the door shut.

Ever since he took charge of Blue Tyrant Academy three years ago, there were always teachers and students jealous of his talent and status, tripping him up in both open and secret ways.

Damn it all—

Pufferfish, hiding in the shadows of the room, was almost amused to the point of laughter. A piece of trash who only reached the rank of Soul Elder at fifty, daring to curse him?

A sound of rushing wind cut through the air.

Before Yu Xiaogang could turn around, a hand-blade struck the back of his neck.

He collapsed straight to the floor on the spot.

Staring at the little afro-haired man lying on the ground like a dead dog, Pufferfish crouched down and thoughtfully began to massage his legs.

During the process, Yu Xiaogang was jolted awake by the pain more than once, but each time, Pufferfish obediently lulled him back to sleep.

Staring at the twisted, deformed legs, his gaze shifted to Yu Xiaogang's third leg. He had only intended to teach him a small lesson, but he remembered the curse from just a moment ago.

A flash of malicious mischief crossed Pufferfish's eyes.

His gaze swept over the heavy desk, and his lips slowly curled upward.

A moment later, Pufferfish retreated to the window, looking at his setup with a satisfied nod.

The desk stood tilted on one corner, firmly bound at the top with hemp rope, the other end tied to the door handle and pulled taut.

As soon as someone pulled the door open from the outside, the desk would instantly lose its balance and smash heavily onto Yu Xiaogang's third leg.

Pufferfish drew a sharp breath, then raised his hand and struck Yu Xiaogang's face with a burst of gentle Soul Power. Before the man could wake up, he had already slipped out of the room without a sound.

Yu Xiaogang opened his eyes in a daze. Before his brain could recover, a tearing, excruciating pain surged from his legs.

"Ah—!"

A shrill scream pierced the night sky, startling lights into life all over the academy.

"Brother Gang!"

Liu Erlong, who had already gone to sleep, woke up instantly at the sound of the scream. After throwing on her clothes, she rushed toward Yu Xiaogang's room with several teachers who had arrived at the noise.

"Brother Gang! What happened to you? Open the door!"

Liu Erlong gripped the door handle, shaking it violently and pounding on the door.

"Erlong... save me..." came Yu Xiaogang's weak voice from inside.

"Break the door down!" Hearing this, Liu Erlong turned her head and barked the order.

Amidst the crashing sounds of the door being smashed, Yu Xiaogang regained a sliver of his senses, gritting his teeth as he swore, "Don't let me find out who this is! Otherwise, I will make you wish you were dead!"

Before he could finish his sentence, his eyes caught sight of the taut hemp rope hanging in mid-air.

Following the rope, one end was tied to the door handle, while the other...

Yu Xiaogang's pupils constricted. That heavy office desk had been stood upright at some point, positioned directly against his lower body and held up only by the tension of the rope.

If the door were to be pulled open...

"Don't! Don't open the door!!" Yu Xiaogang was terrified out of his wits, bracing his arms to scramble backward while wailing incessantly.

"Move!"

Outside the door, Liu Erlong had long since lost her patience and shoved the teacher who had been pounding on the door aside.

Arcs of electricity crackled around her. After receiving "guidance" from Yu Xiaogang, her Fire Dragon martial soul had mutated into a Thunder Dragon Lizard.

Although her martial soul had degraded, no one dared to question her status when she claimed to be a disciple of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.

For Liu Erlong, who had lacked love since childhood, this was undoubtedly a tremendous comfort; as long as she could bask in the glory of the clan, she didn't care if her martial soul had regressed.

Bang!

She yanked the door open with brute force.

The next second, a scream a hundred times more miserable than before echoed throughout the entire academy.

Having already fled several miles away, Pufferfish clearly captured this wail with his Title Douluo senses and instinctively covered his own lower body.

"Hiss—"

He dared not linger any longer, channeling his Soul Power into his feet and bolting straight toward the Crown Prince's Mansion.

On the other side, outside a restaurant in Tiandou City.

Snake Lance looked at Yu Luomian, who was sprawled on the ground with a bruised and swollen face, panting heavily with a grim expression.

"It's just two broken legs, it's not like I'm taking your life."

He had intended to finish this quietly, but now that such a commotion had been made, it was going to be troublesome.

Are you even speaking human language? What do you mean it's not taking my life?!

Seeing that Snake Lance was about to leave, Yu Luomian's eyes turned bloodshot.

As the younger brother of the dignified Thunder Douluo, he had always been the one to bully others; when had he ever suffered such a humiliating insult?

"The glory of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon!"

He roared, his body surging with violent thunder as he lunged at Snake Lance's back with a Thunder Dragon Claw.

Sensing the aura of a soul master rapidly approaching from the distance, Snake Lance cursed the trouble, turned around to knock Yu Luomian unconscious with a single palm strike, and vanished into the night like a blur.

Love-Hate Yin-Yang Well

It was unknown how much time had passed when Tang Shan slowly opened her eyes. The first thing that came into view was Dugu Yan's concerned face.

"Tang Shan, how do you feel? Your third soul ring..."

Dugu Yan had just started to speak when she saw the young girl's gaze drift past her, landing squarely on Lan Yu, who was standing not far away.

"Brother! I succeeded!"

Tang Shan's eyes lit up. She stood up and lunged forward, crashing straight into Lan Yu's arms. Like a clingy kitten, she rubbed against his neck, wrapped her legs around his waist, and spoke with a voice full of joy.

Lan Yu was stunned by her pounce and quickly reached out to support the girl's hips. "Slow down."

"My third soul ring is six thousand five hundred years old; I'm almost catching up to you, Brother~"

The girl cupped Lan Yu's face, her eyes curving into crescents.

Lan Yu helplessly hoisted her up a bit. "Then I'll just lie flat from now on and let you protect me."

Standing to the side, Dugu Yan watched their intimate display, her gaze darkening. "Tang Shan, I want to spar with you."

She genuinely wanted to test her strength.

For one, Tang Shan, like Lan Yu, was a genius capable of absorbing soul rings beyond the limit. If she could defeat her, there might still be a chance to catch up to Lan Yu.

For another, watching the scene before her, she felt a mix of jealousy and envy—she simply felt uncomfortable.

"No." Tang Shan didn't even turn her head, refusing flatly and decisively.

She had finally found an excuse to linger in her brother's arms and act spoiled, yet Dugu Yan had to come and ruin it.

How hateful!

To use her brother's words: she was simply asking for death!