It's Big Shit, hopeless, mocked Big Shit [Revised]

People came and went on the official road of Notting City, dust mingling with the smells of baked flatbreads and livestock.

Beiming Lieyang walked in front, with Ice Emperor wrapped in a cloak following closely by his side, her eyes darting around constantly, finding everything novel.

"I didn't expect such a remote little human town to be quite lively."

She sniffed and looked into the corner of the street with a face full of disgust, "What's with all these mixed smells—flatbreads, cured meat, and also that... is that horse dung?"

"Your nose is sharp." The corner of Beiming Lieyang's mouth lifted.

Ice Emperor rolled her eyes at him: "Still, it's certainly much more interesting than that lifeless, dead-white wasteland of the Far North."

Snow Emperor walked on the other side, the hem of her cloak untouched by dust.

She didn't speak, her calm gaze sweeping across both sides of the street, occasionally falling on Beiming Lieyang to confirm he was within her line of sight.

"Xiao Yang, Xiao Yang, what is that?" Ice Emperor suddenly tugged at his sleeve, pointing to the candied hawthorns stuck on a bundle of straw by the roadside.

"Candied Hawthorn."

"Is it good?"

Beiming Lieyang looked at her glowing eyes and couldn't help smiling: "Come on, I'll buy you some."

He stopped at the stall, took out money to buy a skewer, and incidentally asked for directions to Notting Academy.

The vendor pointed to the east of the city, and Beiming Lieyang thanked him, came back with the candied hawthorns, and handed them to Ice Emperor's lips.

Ice Emperor took a bite, her eyes instantly lighting up: "It's sweet on the outside and sour on the inside, actually pretty good."

She pushed the candied hawthorns toward Beiming Lieyang's mouth, "Taste it!"

Beiming Lieyang lowered his head and bit down on the piece she had bitten, chewing twice: "Hmm."

The next second, Ice Emperor stood on tiptoe and poked him on the forehead:

"Just 'hmm'? I'm eating something sour, sweet, and crunchy, and in your mouth it's just an 'hmm'? Go on, tell me, is it so sour it makes your teeth ache, or so sweet it's cloying?"

Beiming Lieyang's head tilted back slightly from her poking.

He looked down at Ice Emperor's sparkling eyes, the corners of his lips curving: "Sweet. But not as sweet as Little Aunt's smile."

Ice Emperor froze, then let out a sharp chuckle, reaching out to pinch his face:

"Goodness, you've learned bad habits, even using words to sweet-talk people!"

Beiming Lieyang let her pinch him: "I'm not sweet-talking you."

Ice Emperor pinched his face and shook it, her eyes curving as she smiled: "Is Little Aunt's smile that sweet? You're a smooth-talker!"

Snow Emperor quietly watched their interaction from the side, like a mother watching a brother and sister frolicking, quiet and content.

This was the most comfortable time she had felt in hundreds of thousands of years.

Beiming Lieyang felt a stir in his heart, pulled that skewer of candied hawthorns over, and handed it to Snow Emperor:

"Snow Mom should taste it too." Snow Emperor curved the corners of her mouth and gently bit off a small piece from his hand.

The crisp sound of the sugar coating shattering echoed as she chewed twice, her brow relaxing: "It is quite sweet, very good indeed."

"Right!" Ice Emperor stood akimbo on the side, "I told you it was good!"

Beiming Lieyang saw a tiny bit of sugar residue on Snow Emperor's lips and raised a hand to wipe it for her.

Ice Emperor made a clucking sound from the side:

"Oh my, you snatched the candied hawthorns to feed Xue'er, and after feeding her you even wiped her mouth, what about me?"

Beiming Lieyang's expression didn't change: "You already bit it yourself."

"Then didn't you just bite the one I bit earlier?!"

Beiming Lieyang paused: "That's different."

"How is it different?"

"I won't tell you."

Ice Emperor stood akimbo and glared at him, about to press the matter further, when Snow Emperor suddenly reached out.

She gently stroked Ice Emperor's head, then patted Beiming Lieyang's head, her movements very light, carrying a mother-like gentleness.

Ice Emperor's voice jammed, her face turning slightly red, and she began to squawk again:

"Xue'er! Why are you petting my head! I'm not a child anymore!"

"Mm, not a child anymore." Snow Emperor withdrew her hand, her gentle gaze sweeping across the two of them,

"But when you two are bickering, it makes me feel like I've adopted two kids."

Ice Emperor opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but her face grew even redder.

Hmph, Xue'er talking about adopting kids and all that...

I'd never call you Mom.

Beside them, the corners of Beiming Lieyang's mouth couldn't be pressed down.

The corners of Snow Emperor's mouth lifted as she spoke again: "Alright, didn't you still need to find someone?"

"Xue'er, were you laughing at me just now?"

"No."

"You're lying!"

"Have you ever seen me lie?"

Ice Emperor was choked into silence, then turned to ask Beiming Lieyang, "Where is that academy you mentioned?"

"Right ahead."

Beiming Lieyang led the two women toward Notting Academy in the east of the city, surveyed the surroundings, and then spoke:

"Snow Mom, Ice Aunt, we'd better go up into the sky to watch."

Anyway, Snow Mom and Ice Aunt hadn't sensed any powerful auras; clearly Tang Sian hadn't arrived yet, and that biological dad of his wasn't lingering nearby either.

So they might as well ascend into the sky and take a look at Notting Academy.

Ice Emperor was just about to reach out to embrace him, but Snow Emperor had already scooped up Beiming Lieyang and soared into the air first.

Ice Emperor paused for a moment, then quickly followed.

The three of them landed in a layer of mist above the academy.

Looking down from the high vantage point, the layout of Notting Academy was clear at a glance.

A few rows of gray-looking school dormitories surrounded a playground, where students were practicing basic skills with uneven movements.

"You ran all this way just to confirm one person?" Ice Emperor muttered as she looked below.

"Mm."

"What kind of person? Worth a special trip?"

"Yu Xiaogang. Calls himself a master, number one in martial soul theory."

For Beiming Lieyang, a child who had never set foot in human society, to abruptly come looking for someone named Yu Xiaogang—

Plus knowing the names of things like the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, they had long since gotten used to it.

After all, ever since the sun in his dreams had occasionally told him things a few years ago,

from whale glue being able to physique enhancement, to finding the Ten-Thousand-Year Mysterious Ice Cave and the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well,

if this wasn't the guidance of the gods, what was it?

Added to that, they trusted Beiming Lieyang wholeheartedly.

Ice Emperor chewed on a candied hawthorns with a crunch:

"Isn't that just someone who dabbles in theories? What's there to confirm?"

"That depends on which version he is."

"Some versions have white hair, some have a flat top. The white-hair version can still be considered a character, but the flat-top version..."

"That's just a big piece of shit."

Ice Emperor almost choked on the candied hawthorns: "What kind of messy nonsense are you talking about? We're eating here, why are you talking about..."

"Can't help it, if it's the flat-top version, then it really is farting like thunder, shaking the heavens and shattering the earth Luo Sanpao."

Ice Emperor: "??"

Snow Emperor softly spoke up: "If that's the case, the gap is still quite large."

"How can there be such a weird name?" Ice Emperor complained.

Beiming Lieyang immediately gave a brief summary of Yu Xiaogang's deeds.

Exogenous beast martial soul, innate half-level, not even level thirty by age fifty, plagiarizing Spirit Hall's theories to publish the Ten Core Theories and even getting the plagiarism wrong.

Boasting as a martial soul theory master, yet unaware that ten-thousand-year spirit rings possessed soul shock.

Ice Emperor's face was full of question marks:

"Isn't this just a trashy plagiarist? What are you confirming him for?"

"To confirm how far development has progressed on the human world's side."

Beiming Lieyang came to Notting City precisely to investigate whether Yu Xiaogang was the manhua version or the anime/novel version.

He genuinely wanted to see what kind of farts the guy could pop out.

If the other party truly was the anime and novel version, Tang San was extremely likely to also be the original-work version.

Coupled with the fact that Tang San hadn't arrived at Notting City yet, he could intercept a certain rabbit in advance.

Before that rabbit came to Notting City, she must have stayed in some village and secured a working-student quota.

Only after that would she come to Notting City Junior Soul Master Academy to study.

Following that, this single rabbit would fall into the Third Brother Third Brother loop.

Ice Emperor looked at him suspiciously, then pointed downward: "Is that the flat-top down there?"

Lean, in a gray robe, with graying temples and a very striking, sexy flat top, he was walking in from outside the front gate.

His walking posture was very slow, his back held very straight, as if he were deliberately putting on airs, and he was clutching a cloth bag in his hand.

Beiming Lieyang's mouth twitched.

What was this supposed to be?

The manhua version of Snow Mom, Ice Aunt, and the Old Poison, paired with the anime original version of the sexy flat top?

A mashed-up world?

"That's the person you're looking for?" Ice Emperor leaned over to look down, "Doesn't look like much either, all skin and bones, doesn't even have half the presence of my little Yang."

Beiming Lieyang ignored her praise, his gaze landing on two teachers chatting idly below.

The moment those two teachers saw Yu Xiaogang walk out, they immediately piled on flattering smiles and greeted him.

Yu Xiaogang nodded slightly, responded indifferently, and continued walking forward.

Once he turned the corner at the end of the corridor, the faces of those two teachers instantly changed.

"Still putting on airs? Yet every month he runs over to Spirit Hall to collect his subsidy."

"At least the man still carries the title of 'Horn of Wisdom'."

"What Horn of Wisdom, if your strength is too weak you can only be the 'Horn of Wisdom', just flapping your gums, otherwise how would he rely on his strength that's still stuck at rank 29?"

"Sigh, the man had his glory days at least. I heard Liu Erlong from the Golden Triangle likes him, you know."

"Tsk tsk... That's a famously great beauty with an amazing figure, why'd she take a fancy to him? Could that person be blind?"

"That's possible. But it could also be a monster fetish, after all there are always some people with rather niche tastes, the uglier they look the easier it is to take a bite."

"Hahaha..."

Gossip finished, the two of them laughed and left.

At the end of the corridor, Yu Xiaogang's back noticeably paused, his hand gripping the cloth bag tightened, his eyes blood-red.

Up in the sky, Ice Emperor's expression turned extremely colorful.

She turned to look at Beiming Lieyang, her mouth twitching:

"This is the flat-top you were talking about? He's the 'Horn of Wisdom'? And someone likes him? Whoever likes him must really be blind? Oh, or rather, they like ugly monsters?"

Beiming Lieyang fell silent: "Farting like thunder, heaven-shaking earth-shattering cannon, who knows, maybe Liu Erlong just likes that flavor?"

Bottom-layer code romance of Douluo Continent, plus a love triangle.

Ice Emperor: "..."

Snow Emperor turned her face away, her shoulders twitching slightly.

"Alright, confirmation's done, let's go."

"Just like that? Not gonna beat him up?"

"Beat him for what? Did he provoke me?"

"No."

"Then why would I beat him?" Beiming Lieyang glanced at her.

"The guy hasn't offended me, I'm not to the point where I go stamping on whoever I happen to find an eyesore."

He certainly knew how outrageous this flat-top was, spouting nonsense beyond his own capabilities,

but the guy had no conflict of interests with him; if he just ran over and kicked him simply because he knew what would happen to him in the original work,

wouldn't that make him even more Tang San than Tang San?

Knowing Tang San, becoming Tang San, surpassing Tang San?

Ice Emperor thought about it and actually nodded: "Makes sense. So where are we going now?"

"Now that the confirmation's done, it's time for real business."

Ice Emperor hooked her arm around his neck: "What real business?"

"Finding a hundred-thousand-year rabbit near a human town."

Ice Emperor's eyes widened: "Wait, there's a hundred-thousand-year rabbit here in the human world? Is that fellow kept in captivity?"

"Yep. That rabbit has already transformed into human form, saying she wants to avenge her mother."

"If we find her now and say we'll help her avenge her mother's murder in the future, we can secure a hundred-thousand-year spirit ring."

"Even if we don't have a conflict of interests with Bibi Dong right now, we'll run into each other eventually, so it wouldn't be breaking a promise."

"Spares this silly rabbit from being used by the Tang father and son for a sacrifice, only to end up as a brainless scabbard in the future, shouting big brother big brother all day long."

Ice Emperor tilted her head: "You make it sound like she's quite miserable."

"She really is quite miserable."

"Then let's go find her!" Ice Emperor patted his shoulder.

The three turned around and sped toward the outskirts of the city.

Down below, Yu Xiaogang stood in place with blood-red eyes for quite a while, his breathing growing heavier and heavier, his hand gripping the cloth bag tightening then loosening, loosening then tightening.

A moment later, he abruptly turned around and strode out the gate without looking back.