Beware of Fires, Thieves, and Best Friends!

[So this was Yu Xiaogang, the theoretical master famous across the continent?]

[Some master. Mediocre teacher was more like it!]

[Anyone with even a little knowledge knew to choose a soul beast whose attributes suited the martial soul. But he had a life-attribute Blue Silver Grass absorb a venomous Mandala Snake. I'd never seen anything so absurd!]

Comments raced across the Heavenly Screen, a flood of mockery and doubt.

Then a furious comment suddenly appeared.

[Shut up! I've spent twenty years studying martial soul theory. Peasants like you wouldn't understand!]

[Well, look who's here! Even Qian Renxue, the Angel God, explained it clearly on the Heavenly Screen. You're still trying to argue?]

[The facts are right there for the whole continent to see. Just admit it instead of digging your heels in.]

[+1.]

[You... Urgh!]

The comment cut off halfway through.

[No way. Did he get so angry he coughed up blood? Talk about thin skin.]

[Trash master.]

Countless comments piled on.

With his past laid bare by the Heavenly Screen, Yu Xiaogang could no longer face his former lover, Bibi Dong. Dejected, he decided to leave for Nod Town and put this humiliating place behind him.

But before he could set out, he looked up and saw the stinging comments racing across the Heavenly Screen.

Every word of mockery and doubt, every remark that stripped away his disguise, pierced him like a blade.

The reputation he had spent years building as a "theoretical master" crumbled under the eyes of the entire continent. Hot blood surged into his throat. Yu Xiaogang shuddered violently, unable to hold it back, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

Blood splattered across the pages of Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul on the table.

His face went white as paper. He swayed, barely keeping himself upright by gripping the edge of the table. The reputation he had spent decades building was collapsing around him.

A hotel in Nod Town.

Tang Hao had left for Nuoding Academy to find Xiao Wu, while Li Xun and Tang San sat by the window, watching the Heavenly Screen.

"Brother Xun, that master is useless. He wanted to take me as his disciple and make me absorb a venomous Mandala Snake." Tang San's fists clenched, anger written across his face.

Thanks to the Heavenly Screen's early revelations, everyone knew Tang San would one day become a god.

Tang Hao no longer hid his strength as a Titled Douluo. Instead, he personally searched for and hunted suitable soul beasts for Tang San's spirit rings. On one side stood Yu Xiaogang, stuck at level thirty for life with theories full of holes. On the other stood Tang San's own father, a powerful Titled Douluo. There was no contest.

Li Xun turned toward the indignant Tang San, an odd look on his face.

The Tang San he remembered, the one who lived by "a teacher for a day, a father for life" and defended Yu Xiaogang at every turn, was gone. His arrival had quietly changed the course of fate. That troubled, single-minded boy had become someone who could tell right from wrong.

A deep sense of accomplishment rose in Li Xun's chest.

What other transmigrator could turn the final boss of the Douluo series into someone like this?

[Li Xun's kitchen was spacious, its cookware neatly arranged. As Qian Renxue chatted, she used her Angel God Power to send a knife flashing through the air, preparing ingredients with practiced ease.

"All right, Mom, I get it. The man's a scumbag." Li Qingyang hurriedly cut Qian Renxue off and changed the subject. "But there's something I've never understood. Auntie said you and Dad fell in love at first sight. You're beautiful, powerful, and you had Spirit Hall behind you. Why did you fall for him?"

Qian Renxue smiled without stopping her work. "You brat. If I hadn't ended up with your father, you wouldn't be here. Meeting him was fate, really. We'd actually crossed paths long before that."

"I wasn't happy growing up in Spirit Hall. Your grandfather, Qian Daoliu, was always stern. He rarely smiled..."

"Wait, wait."

Li Qingyang interrupted, bewildered. "Grandpa? Stern? You're talking about my grandpa?"

The Qian Daoliu he knew was warm and kind, always doting on him and his sister. He could hardly imagine him being stern.

Qian Renxue laughed softly at his astonished face. "Yes. He was a completely different person back then. He placed great hopes on me and wanted me to inherit the Angel God Position. With the hopes of the entire Angel Clan on my shoulders, he was strict with me in everything. It's different now. I've become the Angel God, and that burden is gone. Besides, he adores you and your sister. Of course you wouldn't have seen that side of him."

"Okay, I think I get it."

Even after her explanation, Li Qingyang looked doubtful. He still couldn't imagine Qian Daoliu as stern and severe.

Qian Renxue paid little attention to his doubts. Her power kept the kitchen tools moving as she continued her story.

"Later, your grandmother, Bibi Dong, who was pope at the time, sent me on a mission. That was when I met your father. He was spirited, handsome, and exceptionally strong. Quite a few talented, beautiful female soul masters secretly fell for him. Your aunts Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong, Ye Lingling, Dugu Yan, and Shui Bing'er still haven't married. Perhaps after meeting someone as remarkable as your father when they were young, no one else could measure up. Now do you see how sought-after he was?"

"Whoa!"

Li Qingyang sucked in a breath, his eyes going wide. "Mom! You mean those aunts who visit all the time and bring toys and snacks for me and my sister all liked Dad? They were your rivals? But you get along so well! I thought you'd always been close friends!"

Qian Renxue gave a little huff, mischief glinting in her eyes. "Silly boy. Do you really think they want to be friends with me?"

"Then why do they visit?" Li Qingyang asked.

"Have you ever heard the saying, 'Beware of fires, thieves, and best friends'?" Qian Renxue paused, then spoke slowly.

"Why do you think I come home to cook every day when I'm the pope of Spirit Hall and the Angel God, and we have a cook? Why do I stay so close to home? To keep an eye on my 'dear friends' when they come visiting, of course."]