No One Understood How to Handle the Relationship Between Father, Brother, and Stepmother Better Than Me

The black-class mecha swept through the clouds, and Shrek City gradually came into view below.

This city, named after the Douluo Continent's foremost academy, was more orderly than Heaven Dou City. Its streets ran in neat grids, its buildings were distributed symmetrically along the central avenue, and Shrek Academy's iconic Golden Ancient Tree stood at its very heart, its golden leaves glowing softly beneath the sunlight.

Yin Hongye's mecha did not enter the city. It slowly descended into an open patch of land several hundred meters from the city walls.

The cockpit opened. Yin Hongye stepped down first, then glanced back at Qian Renxue.

She followed him down, her golden hair blown to one side by the wind outside the city.

Yin Hongye raised a hand and slapped the mecha's outer shell. The entire black mecha turned into a streak of light and shrank into the storage Soul Tool on his finger.

Qian Renxue looked toward the city gate in the distance. People came and went there; Soul Masters entered and exited, while ordinary merchants pushed carts as they lined up to enter. It looked no different from Heaven Dou City.

"Why didn't we fly into the city?" she asked.

Yin Hongye was already walking toward the gate without looking back. "Flying is prohibited inside the city. We can just go in directly."

The Spirit Pagoda headquarters stood on the outskirts of Shrek City. Even if a level-twelve Godslayer Soul Missile landed on it, the Spirit Pagoda would remain unharmed.

Unlike the Blacksmith Association's gloomy black building, this structure was entirely white and radiated a gentle glow.

Its spire pierced the clouds, with no top in sight.

At the entrance, a sign boldly read: Li So-and-so and dogs are prohibited from entering.

Yin Hongye entered the lobby. Before he had time to look around, a voice came from the lounge area.

"Hongye, you finally came."

A silver-haired young man leaned against a pillar in the lounge, as though he had been waiting for a long time. He wore a bright purple silk shirt with two buttons undone at the collar, covered by a short black jacket embroidered with golden patterns. His trousers were fitted silver-gray, and the pointed toes of his leather shoes were polished enough to serve as mirrors.

Just standing there, every inch of him screamed flamboyance.

A gold coin spun between the fingers of his right hand, rolling over his knuckles from index finger to pinky, then back from pinky to index finger with effortless fluidity.

Sunlight slanted in through the glass windows, making the gold coin flash repeatedly and giving his silver hair a cool sheen.

When he saw Qian Renxue behind Yin Hongye, the coin rolling between his fingers paused atop his middle finger.

"Oh." His gaze lingered on Qian Renxue for two seconds before returning to Yin Hongye's face. The corners of his mouth curved slightly. "Half a year apart, and you finally grew a brain!"

"Mu Hongchen, stop teasing me. She's just a friend," Yin Hongye said calmly, showing no particular feelings toward Qian Renxue.

He withdrew his gaze from the silver-haired youth and headed deeper into the lobby. "Let's go straight to the Soul Master Tower."

Qian Renxue followed him. Mu Hongchen flicked the coin into the air, caught it, slipped it into his pocket, and followed as well.

The three crossed the lobby. When they passed the front desk, several staff members recognized Yin Hongye and instinctively started to rise, only for a glance from him to press them back down.

They reached the deepest part of the lobby, where a conspicuous red door stood before them. A black sensor panel was embedded in the doorframe, its edges glowing with a dim crimson light—this was the exclusive passage for Spirit Pagoda higher-ups.

Yin Hongye took a palm-sized card from his pocket and pressed it against the sensor panel.

With a beep, the elevator opened.

Mu Hongchen looked at the opened access door, then at the card in Yin Hongye's hand. His expression froze for a moment.

"How do you still have access privileges?"

Yin Hongye put the cracker back into his pocket, his tone calm. "It wasn't difficult to crack. I study literature, not martial arts. Only brainless weaklings become military officers. I'm a civil official."

Mu Hongchen was speechless, but when he remembered that he studied literature too, he felt better. Given some time, he could crack it as well.

The three entered the elevator. It began ascending, and a faint sense of weightlessness rose from beneath their feet.

Qian Renxue leaned against the back wall of the elevator car and suddenly remembered the sign she had seen outside the Spirit Pagoda entrance.

"What did that sign outside mean?"

Mu Hongchen leaned against the elevator rail, the gold coin in his hand rolling over his fingers again. Hearing that, he tilted his head and jerked his chin toward Yin Hongye. "Let the person involved explain."

Yin Hongye stood before the elevator doors, staring at the changing floor numbers with his back to them. After two seconds of silence, he finally spoke, his voice utterly emotionless.

"That was me. I killed Pagoda Master Li of Eastsea City's Eighteen Heavenly Pillars, so I got blacklisted."

Qian Renxue waited for him to continue, sensing that there was more he had not said.

"That Pagoda Master Li believed until his death that he had done nothing wrong. What was wrong with wanting to rise above others? Why could others bully and mock him? What was wrong with wanting not to be bullied or ridiculed?"

"He was merely a madman driven insane by power and ambition. He framed his opponents, murdered his wife, killed his son—if there was profit to be had, there was nothing he would not do. After murdering his wife, he turned around and married a girl from the Spirit Pagoda's Hua family."

The last sentence landed softly, as light as a feather, yet it felt incomparably heavy.

Yin Hongye never turned around. He did not say that the murdered wife had been his mother.

The coin in Mu Hongchen's hand paused, flipped over the back of his hand, then rolled back again. He said nothing.

"Hongye, are you all right?" he could not help asking.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. A person can only die once, and I've already died once."

Yin Hongye's voice remained calm. At that moment, the elevator doors opened, revealing another portrait of Ling Bing Douluo directly opposite them.

"Let's go. To the Soul Spirit Tower."

His gaze lingered on Ling Bing Douluo's portrait for a moment. That guy isn't even half as filial as I am. I understand how to handle the relationship between father, brother, and stepmother better than he does.

Further inside stood a silver door. When they pushed it open, a spacious room came into view.

The room was simply furnished yet full of design.

A tall woman sat behind a desk. She appeared to be around twenty years old, with delicate features and long red hair flowing down her back. She was like the room's most beautiful decoration; with her there, the entire room brimmed with vitality and youthful energy.

When she saw them enter, she rose with a smile. She was very tall and wore a black uniform.

"Yin Hongye, it has been a long time. You've grown taller again." The woman held no ill will toward Yin Hongye. He had earned the Leng family an additional seat among the Eighteen Heavenly Towers.

That seat had originally belonged to the Hua family from the Dou Ling Continent.

And the Hua family supported the Qian Gu family.

Everything Yin Hongye had done had been a slap in Qian Gu Dongfeng's face.

Still, their relationship could not become too strained. Yin Hongye's talent was already obvious for all to see.

"Greetings, Heavenly Phoenix Douluo." Yin Hongye's voice was as usual. "Sister has become even more beautiful lately."

"You still know how to sweet-talk people," Leng Yaozhu said with a smile.

When Mu Hongchen and Qian Renxue saw Leng Yaozhu, both instinctively said, "Greetings, Your Excellency Heavenly Phoenix."

The difference in forms of address was the hierarchy created by strength.

Leng Yaozhu said, "No need for formalities. I won't delay you any longer. The Soul Spirit Tower has one hundred and eight floors; you will be clearing it for quite some time. I'll take you there."

Before long, they arrived at a completely circular hall.

Before the three of them, a golden door slowly opened. "Go in. The Soul Spirit Tower is inside, and everything within is real."

Leng Yaozhu gave them a reminder, but she did not mention any danger. With Yin Hongye here, even a hundred-thousand-year Soul Spirit would have to die if it encountered him. He was the greatest danger of all.