Yu Xiaogang Collides with Liu Erlong

"Now, you—"

Before Fang Fan could finish, Yu Xiaogang broke down.

His legs gave way, and he collapsed onto the cold bluestone pavement of the alley.

His hands braced against the ground, fingertips digging into the cracks between the stones, his nails packed with dust and moss.

His lips trembled violently. Something swirled in his reddened eyes, but he desperately held it back from falling.

"Shut up—don't say another word!"

He shouted as he scooted backward on his butt, grinding against the rough stone slabs and dragging a gray smear across the hem of his black robes.

He wanted to cry, but no tears would come.

In his life, he had been cast out by his clan, mocked by Spirit Hall, and treated as a joke by the entire Soul Master world—

But he had always held onto one backbone: his theories, his disciple,

And that saying of his: "There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."

Yet today, with just a few calm words from this white-robed youth, that backbone had been shattered piece by piece.

He suddenly realized just how much of a failure his life had been—

No one believed his theories, his disciple had gone astray,

He had cultivated for decades and remained stuck at Level 29 without budging,

Even the "hard work" he had been most proud of had been exposed as nothing more than an illusion piled up by family background.

He scooted backward, as pathetic as a turtle flipped onto its shell, until his back bumped into a pair of warm legs.

Everyone looked toward that person.

She was a mature woman who appeared to be in her thirties.

She wore a simple, elegant green cloth dress. Her long hair was loosely tied behind her head with a strip of cloth, with a few stray strands hanging beside her ears.

Her face was not stunning, but it carried the gentleness and resilience forged by time, while her brows held the crisp decisiveness of a woman of the martial world.

Yet at that moment, those eyes stared fixedly at Yu Xiaogang, who sat sprawled on the ground, emotions too complicated to describe churning within them.

When Yu Xiaogang looked up and saw that face, his entire body stiffened as though he had been struck by lightning.

His eyes widened. His mouth opened and closed, then closed and opened again, like a fish thrown onto shore.

How could he run into her at a time like this?

This time, he had returned to Heaven Dou City only intending to take one distant look outside the mountain gates of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan before leaving.

He did not want to alarm anyone or stir up any memories.

He had not expected to encounter this terrifying drunkard youth.

Much less had he expected to run into her at his most miserable, disgraceful, and humiliating moment.

He wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.

But the bluestone slabs fit together seamlessly, without even a gap large enough to hold his shame.

"Yu Xiaogang?"

Liu Erlong cried out in surprise, her voice filled with disbelief and a tremor even she could not explain.

She looked down at him—this man she had once loved to her bones and hated to her bones.

Now, he sat on the cold ground, utterly lost, like a child abandoned by the whole world.

The string in her heart that time had sealed away was suddenly plucked hard.

Then she raised her head, her gaze passing over Yu Xiaogang and landing on the three people opposite them.

"What happened to you? Did they bully you?"

Her eyes abruptly turned cold.

Two blazing flames suddenly ignited in those once-gentle eyes.

Like an enraged female tyrant dragon, she radiated scorching killing intent.

Crimson flames burst from her body, forming a flickering layer of fire around her green cloth dress.

The white walls lining both sides of the stone alley flickered between light and shadow.

The bluestone beneath her feet crackled as the flames scorched it.

Tongues of fire shot from the cracks between the stones, burning the moss in the corners into charred powder.

"! That drunkard youth bullied me!"

Seeing that Liu Erlong did not blame him for leaving without a word all those years ago and instead immediately wanted to stand up for him, Yu Xiaogang was instantly flooded with the relief and excitement of surviving a disaster.

He scrambled up from the ground, dusting the dirt from his black robes.

Pointing at Fang Fan, he loudly accused him in an almost vindictive tone:

"He's the one who bullied me!"

The oncoming heat forced Ning Rongrong back half a step.

The hem of her green dress flapped wildly in the hot wind stirred up by the flames.

She looked at Liu Erlong, whose entire body was wreathed in fire, and her heart skipped a beat—

Why was this woman so terrifying when she got angry? She was practically a living volcano erupting without warning.

And that Yu Xiaogang had been sprawled on the ground like a dead dog just moments ago, yet the instant someone backed him up, he had immediately perked up—

What kind of man let a woman stand up for him?

Ning Rongrong had seen shameless people before, but never anyone this shameless.

This woman was definitely love-struck.

Zhu Zhuqing raised an eyebrow slightly and instinctively stepped half a pace forward, shielding Fang Fan at her side.

She said nothing, merely staring coldly at the woman wreathed in flames.

Seven Soul Rings slowly rose beneath Liu Erlong's feet—

Two yellow, two purple, and three black. The aura of a Level 78 Soul Sage swept outward like a tangible storm of flames.

A crimson fire dragon phantom gradually emerged behind her.

Its body coiled, its head held high, its fiery dragon eyes coldly looking down upon the three insignificant youths before it.

The surrounding air warped violently under the scorching heat. Old vines that had climbed the walls on both sides of the stone alley for years silently curled up and withered, and a burnt smell filled the air.

Yet the three opposite her showed no fear in the face of a Level 78 Soul Sage unleashing her full power.

Although Ning Rongrong frowned, there was no fear in her eyes. Zhu Zhuqing's gaze remained as cool and indifferent as ever, as though the person before her was not a Soul Sage but merely a passerby.

And that white-robed youth—he did not even straighten up. He remained leaning crookedly against Zhu Zhuqing's shoulder, only the hazy drunkenness in his eyes parted slightly.

A trace of surprise flashed through Liu Erlong's heart.

Who exactly were these three youths, to remain this calm under the pressure of a Level 78 Soul Sage?

Her fury made her laugh—

They bullied others so arrogantly and still acted so fearless. They truly needed a lesson.

"You three disrespectful brats, how dare you bully someone—you need to be taught a lesson!"

She shouted sharply, and her third purple Soul Ring suddenly lit up.

"Third Soul Skill: Raging Fire Thunderclap!"

The fire dragon behind her threw back its head and let out a deafening roar, its jaws opening wide.

A crimson fireball wrapped in the power of lightning rapidly condensed in its throat.

Flames and lightning intertwined and surged, exploding with crackling bursts as a pungent burnt stench filled the air.

The fireball blasted toward the three of them like a falling sun.

Wherever it passed, the stone slabs cracked under the intense heat, sending fragments flying everywhere.

The heatwave warped the entire alley into a scorching hell.

Fang Fan's once-lazy eyes suddenly became clear as a mirror.

He placed one hand on Zhu Zhuqing's shoulder, his fingers tightening slightly.

Zhu Zhuqing felt a warmth on her shoulder as an incomparably pure Sword Intent surged from that hand into her meridians.

At an unimaginable speed, it rushed straight toward her Martial Soul space.

Her Nether Civet Martial Soul suddenly awakened at that instant—

It was not awakened by her own summons. Drawn by that Sword Intent, it eagerly leaped out of the Martial Soul space on its own.