Yu Xiaogang from Ten Thousand Years Ago Was This Pathetic?!

Heaven Dou City.

On a long street.

Qian Renxue looked up at the sky.

Qian Daoliu's name had settled firmly in sixth place on the Strength Rankings.

Her violet eyes were full of shock.

"Grandpa is only sixth?"

Tang Ya stood beside her.

Hearing Qian Renxue, she reacted at once.

"Qian Daoliu is your grandfather?"

Qian Renxue nodded gently.

"Grandpa is the Great Enshrined of Spirit Hall."

"He possesses the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul, and his Soul Power reached Level 99 long ago."

"To the public, Grandpa is the strongest person on the continent."

Ma Xiaotao folded her arms.

"The strongest person in the public eye, yet he only ranks sixth."

"It seems Douluo Continent has more hidden powerhouses than we imagined."

Qian Renxue did not respond.

She kept watching the Golden Rankings.

To her, Qian Daoliu had always been the most powerful figure in Spirit Hall.

Though Bibi Dong held the exalted position of pope, even she could not compare with Qian Daoliu.

The other enshrined members of the Worship Hall all obeyed Qian Daoliu's orders.

Qian Renxue had been taught by Qian Daoliu since childhood.

She knew better than anyone how powerful her grandfather was.

Invincible in the air.

The Angel God's representative.

A Level 99 Limit Douluo.

Any one of those titles was enough to make countless Soul Masters across the continent look up to him.

But now—

Qian Daoliu had not made the top five.

"Grandpa is only sixth."

Qian Renxue said it again.

"Then who exactly are the top five?"

Tang Ya shook her head.

"We don't know either."

"Records from ten thousand years in the future mention Qian Daoliu, Bo Saixi, and Tang Chen."

"But I can't think of anyone above them right now."

Ma Xiaotao looked up at the Golden Rankings.

"Maybe some of the top five come from ten thousand years in the future."

Qian Renxue's gaze shifted slightly.

She thought of someone.

Long Yuan.

When they had discussed the Strength Rankings earlier, Long Yuan had declared that Bibi Dong could only rank last.

At the time, Qian Renxue had not believed him.

Bibi Dong possessed Level 98 Soul Power, Twin Martial Souls, and Rakshasa Divine Power.

How could someone that strong rank only twelfth?

But once the Golden Rankings were revealed, Bibi Dong really had placed twelfth.

Long Yuan had then mentioned Qian Daoliu.

He had said Qian Daoliu would not make the top five.

Qian Renxue had not believed him then, either.

Grandpa was publicly known as the continent's strongest.

Even if he could not take first place, he should never have been shut out of the top five.

Now, the Heaven Rankings had given their answer.

Sixth place.

Just outside the top five.

Qian Renxue's expression grew grave.

"Grandpa really didn't make the top five."

"Long Yuan was right."

Tang Ya looked at her.

"Sister Qian, what are you talking about?"

Qian Renxue did not answer at once.

She remembered how calm Long Yuan had looked then.

When he mentioned Bibi Dong's and Qian Daoliu's rankings, he had not hesitated at all.

That had not been a guess.

He had seemed to know the results already.

"Bibi Dong could only rank last."

"Qian Daoliu wouldn't make the top five."

"Both things he said came true."

Qian Renxue slowly raised her head.

Her gaze passed over sixth place and settled on the still-unrevealed top five.

"So was everything he said true?"

Qian Renxue slowly raised her head.

Her gaze passed over sixth place and settled on the still-unrevealed top five.

Who exactly was Long Yuan?

He had known not only Bibi Dong's ranking, but also that Qian Daoliu would not make the top five.

Could he really know the continent like the back of his hand?

Tang Ya did not notice what was on Qian Renxue's mind.

She glanced up at the Heaven Rankings, then turned to Ma Xiaotao and Qian Renxue beside her.

"Sister Xiaotao, Sister Qian."

"What should we call our team?"

Ma Xiaotao folded her arms and thought seriously for a moment.

"The Genius Team?"

Tang Ya shook her head at once.

"That's way too corny."

Ma Xiaotao raised an eyebrow.

"Then what would you call it?"

Tang Ya's eyes darted around, and a smile spread across her face.

"How about the 'A Little Shock for the World' Team?"

Qian Renxue and Ma Xiaotao both looked at her.

Both wore strange expressions.

Ma Xiaotao lifted a hand to her forehead.

"Isn't that name a bit too arrogant?"

Qian Renxue frowned slightly too.

"When the other teams hear it, they'll probably think we're calling them all trash."

"And not every Soul Master competing is trash."

Tang Ya did not care.

"We want to show them what a real shock is."

"Besides, a name is just a name."

"Are they going to surrender just because they don't like it?"

Ma Xiaotao looked at her.

"You're going out of your way to make enemies."

"I'm not afraid of them coming after us."

Tang Ya lifted her chin.

"If they don't like it, we'll beat them until they accept it in the arena."

Qian Renxue fell silent for a moment.

She looked at the people moving through Heaven Dou City and remembered that she was about to enter the Soul Master Tournament as Qian Renxue.

She had spent too many years in hiding.

This time, she did not need to disguise herself as Xue Qinghe or watch every step she took in the palace.

She would stand in the arena as herself.

If so, what was the point of keeping a low profile?

"A Little Shock for the World."

Qian Renxue repeated the name.

Ma Xiaotao murmured it twice as well.

Her eyes gradually lit up.

"The three of us will do far more than give people a little shock."

"We should make sure everyone remembers us."

Tang Ya nodded immediately.

"Yes, exactly!"

Qian Renxue looked at them both.

A moment later, she gave a slight nod.

"It's a good name."

"Since I'm entering the tournament as Qian Renxue, there's no reason to keep a low profile."

"Then let's stride into the arena with our heads held high."

She lifted her gaze to the Golden Rankings in the sky.

"Then we'll be called A Little Shock for the World."

Ma Xiaotao raised her hand.

A wisp of crimson flame danced between her fingers.

"I like that name."

Tang Ya reached out and placed her hand over Ma Xiaotao's palm.

After a moment's hesitation, Qian Renxue laid her hand on top.

"The three of us, together, will shock the world."

Just then—

Ma Hongjun's voice came from the distance.

"It's them!"

Several figures hurried down the far end of the street.

Ma Hongjun led the way.

He had changed his clothes and cleaned much of the soot from his face, but his hair had yet to grow back.

His fat face looked utterly comical.

Dai Mubai walked beside him.

Yu Xiaogang, Zhao Wuji, and Oscar followed behind.

Zhao Wuji's face darkened as his gaze went straight to Ma Xiaotao.

"Were you the ones who bullied the students of our Shrek Academy?"

Ma Xiaotao turned around.

She glanced at Ma Hongjun's bruised and swollen face, then looked at Zhao Wuji.

"We were."

"So what?"

Zhao Wuji took a step forward.

"You've got courage."

"Even facing me, the Immovable Wisdom King, you dare admit it."

Ma Xiaotao looked up at him.

"What's an Immovable Wisdom King?"

"I've never heard of you."

Zhao Wuji's face darkened at once.

"You've never heard of Zhao Wuji, the Immovable Wisdom King?"

Ma Xiaotao shook her head.

"No."

She looked Zhao Wuji up and down.

"Are you famous?"

Tang Ya added from beside her, "Sister Xiaotao, since we came to this era, we really haven't heard of him."

A vein bulged on Zhao Wuji's forehead.

He was the Immovable Wisdom King. When had anyone ever looked down on him like this?

Zhao Wuji was about to speak when Yu Xiaogang raised a hand to stop him.

"Zhao Wuji, don't act rashly."

Zhao Wuji glanced back at Yu Xiaogang.

"They beat Fatty into this state, and you're telling me not to act rashly?"

"We haven't established what happened yet."

Yu Xiaogang turned to Ma Xiaotao.

His gaze lingered on the Soul Rings behind her.

Two purple Soul Rings.

Four black Soul Rings.

This Soul Ring Configuration flew in the face of every Soul Master theory he had developed.

Yu Xiaogang suppressed his shock and asked:

"Young lady, how exactly did you absorb two Thousand-Year Soul Rings and four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings?"

Ma Xiaotao glanced at him.

She did not answer.

To her, Yu Xiaogang looked plainly dressed and disheveled, with clothes that were worn and shabby.

And this man had asked outright for the secrets of her cultivation.

Naturally, she ignored him.

Yu Xiaogang stood there, his expression growing uglier.

He was hailed as the foremost authority on Soul Master theory. Wherever he went, Soul Masters treated him with respect.

Yet this woman would not even give him an answer.

Seeing this, Dai Mubai immediately stepped forward.

"Young lady, this is the Grandmaster."

"You'd best show him some respect."

Tang Ya looked at Yu Xiaogang.

"Grandmaster?"

She gave Yu Xiaogang another look.

"Grandmaster of what?"

Dai Mubai's expression grew awkward.

"You've never heard of the Grandmaster?"

"He's Yu Xiaogang, the foremost authority on Soul Master theory and creator of the Ten Core Competition Theories!"

Tang Ya and Ma Xiaotao both froze.

Qian Renxue's gaze also settled on Yu Xiaogang.

Yu Xiaogang?

Tang San's teacher, ten thousand years ago.

The master of Martial Soul Theory recorded in the Tang Sect Records.

They had not expected to meet him here.

Tang Ya studied Yu Xiaogang again.

Disheveled hair.

A defeated expression.

Even his clothes had not been straightened.

However she looked at him, she could not reconcile him with the renowned theorist described in the records.

Ma Xiaotao frowned outright.

"He's Yu Xiaogang?"

Yu Xiaogang's face was grim.

"I am."

Tang Ya looked at him, her eyes full of doubt.

"But wasn't the Yu Xiaogang in the records the foremost authority on Soul Master theory?"

"Why do you look like this?"

Ma Xiaotao made no attempt to hide what she thought.

"In the Tang Sect Records from ten thousand years in the future, Yu Xiaogang is Tang San's teacher."

"He's called the Grandmaster. He should be held in high regard."

"So why do you look like some washed-up, slovenly old man?"

Yu Xiaogang's face went completely dark.

"Who exactly are you people?"

Tang Ya did not answer.

She kept looking at Yu Xiaogang.

According to the records from ten thousand years later, Yu Xiaogang had possessed extraordinary theoretical knowledge despite his limited strength.

Yu Xiaogang's teaching had also been essential to Tang San's growth.

But the Yu Xiaogang before her was nothing like the man she had imagined.

Ma Xiaotao folded her arms.

She made no move to attack, either.

But all interest had vanished from the way she looked at Yu Xiaogang.

The supposed foremost authority on Soul Master theory could not even solve the problems with his own cultivation.

His Soul Power had remained at rank twenty-nine for years.

And his Martial Soul was nothing more than an ordinary Luo Sanpao.

What gave a man like that the right to tell her how to cultivate?

Yu Xiaogang noticed Ma Xiaotao's look, and his expression grew darker still.

"You still haven't answered my question."

Ma Xiaotao finally spoke.

"I don't want to answer your question."

Yu Xiaogang clenched his fists.

"Do you realize that a Soul Master's Soul Ring Configuration must follow certain rules?"

"A configuration of two purple and four black rings exceeds what a Soul Master's body can endure."

"Without some special method, you could never have absorbed them successfully."

Ma Xiaotao looked at him coolly.

"The fact that I did absorb them proves your theory isn't accurate enough."

Yu Xiaogang's expression stiffened.

Tang Ya, standing nearby, added:

"Grandmaster Yu Xiaogang, your Ten Core Competition Theories don't seem to mention Whale Rubber, either."

"If you truly know everything, why don't you know what Whale Rubber is actually used for?"

Yu Xiaogang's brows drew tight.

"Whale Rubber?"

Tang Ya nodded.

"Whale Rubber strengthens a Soul Master's physique and increases their capacity to absorb Soul Rings."

"The older the Whale Rubber, the stronger its effect."

"Sister Ma Xiaotao has her current Soul Ring Configuration because she consumed Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Glue."

A thoughtful look flashed through Yu Xiaogang's eyes.

He had never heard of such a thing.

At least, none of the theories he knew mentioned Whale Rubber changing a Soul Master's limits for absorbing Soul Rings.

Dai Mubai could not help speaking up:

"The Grandmaster simply hasn't studied Whale Rubber yet."

"That doesn't mean his theories are wrong."

Tang Ya turned to him.

"He hadn't studied it, yet he declared it impossible."

"If that isn't a flaw in his theory, what is?"

Dai Mubai opened his mouth but did not answer at once.

Ma Hongjun stood behind them, his face dark.

"Stop spouting nonsense."

"Even if the Grandmaster hasn't studied Whale Rubber, he's still the foremost authority on Soul Master theory."

"You should respect him."

Ma Xiaotao looked at Ma Hongjun.

"You should worry about yourself first."

"Your hair hasn't even grown back. I don't know what gave you the nerve to stand there and speak."

Ma Hongjun flushed red.

"You..."

Zhao Wuji stepped forward.

"Enough!"

"Today, you injured a student of Shrek Academy and insulted the Grandmaster."

"We can't let this end here."

Flames sprang to life in Ma Xiaotao's palm.

"What do you intend to do about it?"

Zhao Wuji stared at the flames in her hand.

"You think I'm afraid of your flames?"

Ma Xiaotao raised her eyes slightly.

"Then try me."

Zhao Wuji leaned forward.

Powerful Soul Power spread from his body.

But before he could release his Martial Soul, Qian Renxue stepped forward.

The radiance of the Six-Winged Angel appeared behind her.

Six Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, and two black—rose at once.

A sacred aura spread from her body.

Zhao Wuji stopped moving.

Dai Mubai and Ma Hongjun both turned to look at Qian Renxue.

Another Soul Emperor.

And her Martial Soul was the Six-Winged Angel.