The End of Xiao Gang's Grand Ambitions

"Hand it over!"

Yu Xiaogang's eyes brimmed with greed. He wanted to absorb the drop of True Dragon bloodline right then and there.

But Xiao Xiao was watching him like a hawk, so he did not dare try anything.

They exchanged the Golden Dragon King bloodline for four Soul Bones. After Lu Ming confirmed that they all came from ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts, he gave them to Xiao Xiao for safekeeping.

Bibi Dong stared at the golden drop for a long time. Her face remained composed, betraying nothing,

but inside, she was stunned. Only when she held the drop in her hand did its power truly hit her.

The drop was no bigger than a bean, yet a raging dragon seemed to surge within it. Only the Soul Power wrapped around it kept it relatively calm.

"Young man, you've accomplished a great deal at your age. To have such strength already..."

Bibi Dong smiled.

"Do you intend to remain an independent Soul Master, or will you join an academy?"

Though she spoke with a smile, a trace of wariness lay in her eyes.

If Lu Ming remained independent, everyone could breathe easy.

But if he joined an academy, he would likely enter the All-Continent Soul Master Elite Tournament. Then Spirit Hall's Golden Generation might face him,

and even Bibi Dong had no confidence they could beat an opponent like that.

Lu Ming turned and took Xiao Xiao's soft hand with practiced ease.

"Sister Xiao Xiao, let's go!"

Xiao Xiao nodded. They sat atop the enlarged Nine-Phoenix Ceremonial Xiao and flew toward the forest.

"How rude!"

Yu Xiaogang bristled on Bibi Dong's behalf, even stamping his foot twice.

Bibi Dong shot him a cold glance.

"And you call yourself a master of theory. You've studied Martial Souls for years, yet you don't even know the name of that woman Xiao's Martial Soul."

"She has a ninety-nine percent chance of becoming a Peerless Douluo, and you've gone and made an enemy of her..."

Bibi Dong grew more agitated as she spoke, then stopped. What was the point? A level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster had never seen the world of Titled Douluo. How could he grasp what it meant for someone so young to stand at the peak of level ninety-eight?

She tossed the golden drop to Yu Xiaogang, then strode away on long legs clad in purple stockings.

Before leaving, she warned him, "Don't absorb it all at once. Take a little each day. Spread it over a year, and you should be fine."

Yu Xiaogang cradled the golden drop, unable to take his eyes off it. He gave her a perfunctory assurance that he understood.

As soon as Bibi Dong was gone, he could no longer contain his excitement.

"I am a master of theory. I've devoted my life to studying Martial Souls. No one knows more about them than I do."

Yu Xiaogang held the golden drop close, his eyes shining.

"So this is the True Dragon bloodline Sanpao fears and longs for?"

He brought it to his nose and sniffed. The scent was intoxicating. His blood seemed to boil.

"Hahaha!"

Yu Xiaogang burst out laughing. Tears even spilled from his eyes.

"I, Yu Xiaogang, have suffered for half my life. A mutated Martial Soul, a laughingstock in my own clan, a failed first love..."

"But through my own efforts, I developed the Ten Core Competitive Theories and took Clear Sky Douluo's son as my disciple."

"And now I have obtained the True Dragon bloodline!"

"Once I absorb it, I, Yu Xiaogang, will no longer be worthless. I'll surpass the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and stand above all dragons!"

"I'll reach the pinnacle of Soul Masters and become a Titled Douluo revered by all!"

"They'll call me the Fart Dragon Douluo! Hahaha!"

Xiao Gang was too far gone. He was lost in his own fantasy, and someone needed to slap him awake.

"Come forth! Fart like thunder, shake heaven and earth—Luo Sanpao!"

At Yu Xiaogang's chant, a purple pig came bouncing out. Its rear end was unmistakably that of a pig!

"Oink, oink, oink!"

Yu Xiaogang stroked Luo Sanpao's piggy head, his expression full of affection.

"Sanpao, are you ready to evolve? Ready to become a True Dragon?"

"Oink, oink, oink!"

Yu Xiaogang understood and nodded with a smile.

"Come! Let the new life of Yu Xiaogang begin!"

Gulp!

Yu Xiaogang swallowed the golden drop whole.

A moment later, he opened his eyes, trembling.

"Nothing happened?"

This was nothing like he had imagined. There was no pain, but no sign of evolution either.

"Wait! Here it comes!"

A mighty force surged through Yu Xiaogang's meridians. An unprecedented sense of ease swept over his mind.

Luo Sanpao squatted nearby, changing too. The two horns on his head grew longer and larger, taking on a sharper, more defined shape.

A little tuft of silver fur sprouted on his tail, and pale purple scales began to emerge from his purple skin.

"Finally... am I about to break through?!"

Yu Xiaogang felt power surging through him!

Just how bold did that newfound strength make Xiao Gang feel?

Put it this way: even the Titan Giant Ape would have to take two slaps before it could leave!

But something was going wrong. The energy inside him grew more violent by the moment, tearing at his meridians.

The pain was worst in his lower abdomen. Yu Xiaogang rolled wildly across the ground, as if a dragon were ripping into him with its jaws.

"What's happening? Why did it suddenly turn so violent?!"

Though Luo Sanpao was outside his body, he could not escape it either. His once-small body swelled to nearly twenty meters long.

His round pupils became vertical slits. He truly seemed to be evolving into a dragon.

Pop!

Luo Sanpao could not withstand the pressure. Every scale on his skin burst free, shooting into Yu Xiaogang's body.

They punched countless holes in his clothes, and blood poured out.

Yu Xiaogang struggled to muster the Soul Power of a level-twenty-nine Soul Grandmaster to suppress the savage energy within him. It was like throwing an egg against a rock.

"Aaaagh!"

He screamed. Blood seeped from his mouth, and his eyes lost focus.

His Soul Power had been scattered, his dantian destroyed, and sixty percent of his meridians severed. Yu Xiaogang lay in a pool of blood, consumed by regret.

Why?!

Were his grand ambitions over just like that?!

He had already chosen his Titled Douluo name!

"Dong... Dong'er!"

"Come back... cough... save me!"

Yu Xiaogang spent the last of his strength and passed out.

"Oink..."

Luo Sanpao collapsed too. That was his final cry. At least he had managed to evolve halfway into a dragon!

In the direction Bibi Dong had gone,

she stopped in midair. Her eyelid twitched violently, and her heart pounded.

"Xiao Gang!"

(Yu Xiaogang has only passed out because the later plot requires it. The protagonist will kill him with his own hands!)

"Little Lu, I wasn't strong enough. I still let someone bully you."

Xiao Xiao's eyes were red. She had blamed herself the entire way.

She was supposed to be his protector, yet Lu Ming had stood in front of her.

"It's all right, Sister Xiao Xiao,"

Lu Ming reassured her.

"From the first moment I saw you, I thought of you as my sister, not some protector. I don't want anything to happen to my sister because of me."

At those words, Xiao Xiao could no longer hold back her tears.

She came from the Multiverse and was different from the Xiao Xiao of ten thousand years later in this world.

She was withdrawn and had used cultivation to numb herself.

She had taken on the role of protector because she wanted to change and leave her past behind.

That was why she felt an inexplicable attachment to Lu Ming and wanted to care for him and protect him always.

But his words touched her deeply. At last, she was sure: Little Lu really sees me as his sister, not just a tool or a protector!