Who in the world does not know you? The fraud master Yu Xiaogang.

First Prince's Estate, study.

Qian Renxue sat quietly in the main seat, her gaze falling upon the Snake Spear Douluo before her, her brows knitting tighter and tighter.

"What did you say?"

Snake Spear Douluo gave a slight nod. "This subordinate confirmed it personally, it is indeed level 93."

"Didn't he just break through to Title Douluo not long ago?"

At these words, Pufferfish Douluo, standing off to the side, could not help but frown as well.

After reaching the level of Title Douluo, the time and effort required to break through each subsequent level increased exponentially.

It was entirely common for one to stagnate for years, decades, or even several decades.

For a newly advanced Douluo like Dugu Bo, logically speaking, being able to break through a single level within several years was already considered quite impressive; yet now he had consecutively broken through two levels in such a short span of time...

"Bizarre."

Qian Renxue said in a low voice, a flash of deep thought crossing her eyes.

"Although Dugu Bo's innate talent is passable, it is far from reaching this degree. Has there been any abnormality around him recently?"

Snake Spear Douluo shook his head. "That Old Poison has had mysterious movements over these past few months, often absent from his estate, and ordinary scouts have been unable to track him."

Qian Renxue did not press further. After a moment of silence, she suddenly shifted the topic. "What about the person I told you to investigate?"

Snake Spear Douluo's expression turned stern. "Reporting to the Young Master, those individuals have already left Heaven Dou City. Their specific destination has not yet been ascertained, but according to reports from the city gates, they left heading in a northeast direction."

Hearing this, Qian Renxue narrowed her eyes slightly.

Ever since today, she had sensed that the Sun True Fire within her body had grown much calmer, as if it had lost a certain resonance.

That sense of discomfort from being pulled and slightly disturbed had vanished, as though... the sun had left.

She raised her gaze to look out the window. The weather was gloomy, without a shred of sunlight.

"Then keep an eye on them for now."

"Dugu Bo's abnormalities during this period are nine-tenths related to that person. If the other party shows themselves again next time, I shall go personally."

"Understood, Young Master."

Snake Spear Douluo bowed and withdrew.

Pufferfish Douluo did not leave. Once the sound of Snake Spear Douluo's footsteps had completely faded away, he spoke in a low voice:

"Young Master, do you think that person is behind this mischief?"

Qian Renxue tapped her fingertips lightly against the table surface twice.

"I am not certain. But for someone as unyielding and untamed as Dugu Bo, either there is something that makes it impossible for him to refuse, or... he has been completely subdued."

"To be able to make a Title Douluo break through two levels in the span of just a few months—regardless of which scenario it is, it is worth my while to go and meet them."

Pufferfish Douluo spoke no more, merely nodding his head.

Glazed Tile School.

Inside the council hall, Ning Fengzhi sat upright in the principal seat. Beside his hand lay an unfolded letter, with Sword Douluo Chen Xin and Bone Douluo Gu Rong seated respectively on either side. The expressions of all three carried a hint of deep contemplation.

"The people have already left?"

It was Gu Rong who spoke.

"They left."

Ning Fengzhi nodded, his expression calm. "Scouts report that those individuals from Dugu Bo's estate have already left Heaven Dou City, heading in a northeast direction."

"That is a pity then." Chen Xin shook his head slightly. "We failed to meet them."

"It is fine."

Ning Fengzhi waved a hand, his gaze falling upon the letter beside him, and gently pushed it to the center of the desk.

"Although the people have left, during the course of the investigation, the scouts happened to discover something interesting."

Gu Rong raised a brow. "What thing?"

Ning Fengzhi did not answer directly, instead spreading the letter open and pushing it forward.

Chen Xin and Gu Rong lowered their heads to look at the exact same time.

The beginning of the letter was addressed to "Dean Flender," and the signature at the bottom read "Respectfully yours, Qin Ming."

Gu Rong picked up the letter paper and swept roughly across a few lines.

"Qin Ming? The name sounds somewhat familiar."

Ning Fengzhi explained to him: "A teacher at Heaven Dou Royal Academy, now considered a mid-level backbone on the academy's side."

Gu Rong finished reading the letter and casually laid it back down on the table.

"This kid is quite interesting. Being a teacher at Heaven Dou Royal Academy and not recruiting good saplings for the royal academy, he instead writes a long letter blowing this so-called Shrek Academy up to the heavens and down to the earth, tsk tsk."

"Shrek?"

Chen Xin leaned in to take a look, his brow twitching. "I've never heard this name."

"I haven't heard of it either."

Gu Rong leaned back against his chair, arms crossed over his chest, his tone carrying a trace of playful amusement.

"Still, since that kid Qin Ming is at least a decent sapling, an academy that can make him hold them in such high regard should be passable... Hm? Flender?"

Chen Xin also spotted that name, his expression turning peculiar.

"Flender... Is it him?"

Seeing the strange expressions on both of their faces, Ning Fengzhi asked, "This Flender—do you two know him?"

Gu Rong did not answer immediately, instead exchanging a glance with Chen Xin.

A moment later, the corners of his mouth curled down.

"How should I put it... It's been quite a few years since I last heard that name, this Flender."

"He has a moniker—the Flying Horn."

Chen Xin took up the thread:

"If I recall correctly, Flender, Liu Erlong, and Yu Xiaogang once had a trio combination known as the 'Golden Triangle.' They possessed a martial soul fusion skill capable of summoning a Golden Sacred Dragon."

"Golden Sacred Dragon?"

Ning Fengzhi's brow raised slightly, finally recalling just who this was.

Gu Rong, however, let out a scoff. "What Golden Sacred Dragon? At the end of the day, it's just a mutated fire dragon plus a cat-hawk, tossed together with a waste product Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon variant, cobbled into some makeshift thing. It's only good for bluffing outsiders who don't know the root of it."

He paused, a trace of undisguised contempt entering his tone:

"Do you know who the most useless of those three is?"

Chen Xin did not speak.

"Yu Xiaogang. That trash chased out of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, whose martial soul mutated into a hog, relying on bestowing the title of 'Grandmaster' upon himself to go everywhere swindling people.

Relying on a fire dragon and a cat-hawk, they claimed their three-person combined martial soul fusion skill could resist a Title Douluo, blowing it up to be something incredible."

"Yu Xiaogang..."

Ning Fengzhi silently recited the name. As the master of one of the upper three sects himself, he was also aware of the matter concerning Yu Xiaogang's martial soul mutation back in the day.

As for the so-called "Ten Core Theories" published by Yu Xiaogang, the various major factions actually knew them clearly in their hearts; one look was enough to tell their depth.

Not only were there quite a few errors within these theories, but many explanations were also vague and insufficiently detailed.

Rather than saying they were the fruits of research, they were more akin to summaries and collations of predecessors' knowledge.

Even a considerable amount of content directly copied records from Spirit Hall, and what was even more preposterous was that even in copying, they copied them wrong.

Reading through the entire piece, it was simply like a shoddily manufactured "plagiarized excerpt," and moreover riddled with loopholes.

This was precisely why, even though Yu Xiaogang had published the Ten Core Theories and styled himself a master, he could still only muddle along and wait for death in that tiny place of Notting City, while soul master factions and nobility with any discernment at all looked down on him.

He was only ever capable of fooling ordinary people.

These matters had long since become a laughingstock among the major factions.

Ning Fengzhi once again let his gaze fall upon the letter, and a moment later, he slowly folded the letter paper:

"Since Qin Ming has already written this letter, the people from Shrek will most likely come."

Gu Rong looked at him. "What do you plan to do?"

Ning Fengzhi remained calm and unruffled. "First return that letter; Shrek is not yet worth our excessive attention. Right now, the most important thing is those people who were able to make Dugu Bo view them in a different light."

He stood up, walked with his hands behind his back to the window, gazed out into the distance, and mused:

"If those people return again, I will make the trip personally at that time."

Gu Rong waved his arm. "Why wait for them to return and make another run? Didn't they head in the northeast direction? I'll go meet them first."

Ning Fengzhi was slightly startled. "Uncle Gu, you're going to go look for them?"

Gu Rong said in a ringing voice, "Since I know they went northeast, I'll just go search for them."

Chen Xin pondered for a moment. "Old Gu, be careful. I always feel something isn't quite right."

Gu Rong laughed heartily. "Old Sword, there's a day when even you worry about me?"

With those words, he turned and strode away.

Ning Fengzhi said to Chen Xin, "Uncle Sword, with Uncle Gu's strength, where in this world is there any place he cannot go?"

Chen Xin slowly shook his head. "For no reason at all, an intuition has welled up in my heart..."

"Intuition?"

Ning Fengzhi's brow furrowed tightly.