Forget Romance, Fight for Equality

Spirit Hall, in the Saintess's private cultivation chamber.

A faint fragrance hung in the air, the rich scent peculiar to a girl in her adolescence.

The chamber's stone door eased open. Bibi Dong, only eighteen and already beautiful enough to topple kingdoms, lifted her skirts and ran in as though she were treading on clouds.

Her autumn-pool eyes brimmed with affection and admiration, fixed on Lin Fan as he stood with his hands behind his back.

"Xiaogang..."

Bibi Dong's voice was soft enough to drip like water. Two rosy clouds rose on her fair cheeks. "I knew you weren't the useless man they said you were. You hid how much you suffered from everyone, all so you could prove yourself today, didn't you? Now you've done it. My teacher and the Elder Hall have no reason to keep us apart anymore..."

Overcome with emotion, Bibi Dong opened her arms, wanting to embrace from behind the man who had captured her heart.

Across the continent, the audience watching through the Firmament waited with eager eyes for the couple to come together. Instead, Lin Fan did something none of them expected.

As if he had eyes in the back of his head, he slid aside and neatly dodged Bibi Dong's embrace. He even brushed at his sleeve with a hint of distaste.

Alarm bells rang in Lin Fan's mind.

As a speedrunner, he knew exactly what a "lovers reunited" plot point meant.

Hah. If this romance route starts, next comes eloping, then getting torn apart, then a melodramatic double suicide to top it off. This is an action game. The love plot is the biggest trap.

One sidestep had taken him clear of Bibi Dong's arms.

But when he turned and met her eyes, so full of affection and admiration, his heart sank for reasons he couldn't explain.

That look... was too real.

For an instant, he felt that if he brushed her off carelessly, something bad might happen.

Lin Fan shook off the thought he had no business entertaining. His expression quickly turned grave.

Keep it together. It's just a game. Don't think about pointless things.

Lin Fan faced her. There was no trace of tenderness on his handsome face. Instead, it shone with a sacred light of compassion for all living beings.

He looked straight into young Bibi Dong's stunned eyes.

"Bibi Dong! You disappoint me!"

The sharp rebuke made her flinch. She stared at him blankly. "X-Xiaogang, what's wrong?"

"You're the Saintess of Spirit Hall. You enjoy the finest cultivation resources on the entire continent, yet all you can see is this little romance?!"

Lin Fan swept out a sleeve and pointed toward the vast world beyond the chamber, each word ringing out. "Have you ever seen how commoners struggle like ants at the bottom? Do you know how the Two Great Empires and the Upper Three Sects reap commoner Soul Masters like wild grass?!"

"How can we talk about love when the mountains crushing the Soul Master World still stand, when the sects and nobles still monopolize its resources?!"

His gaze seemed to pierce the ages. With absolute conviction, he delivered a declaration that rang like thunder:

"I, Yu Xiaogang, will never live for myself alone! For the common people of this world, I will seek a road to heaven where everyone can become a dragon!"

His words left Bibi Dong stunned, her mind utterly blank. And they carried far beyond the chamber, broadcast across the boundless Firmament!

In the present, inside the Papal Palace.

Bibi Dong, who now held immense power, was dumbstruck by the declaration ringing out from the Firmament.

She watched the man shining in the image as the words "never live for myself alone" echoed again and again in her ears.

Was this... still Yu Xiaogang?

Compared with him, the real Yu Xiaogang, who had run all over the continent trying to vindicate his pitiful pride and ultimately couldn't even protect the woman he loved, wasn't fit to stand beside a stray dog!

"So... if this is the real you, your vision reaches this far?"

Bibi Dong's eyes reddened with a tangled mixture of regret and admiration.

And within the Firmament, Lin Fan was only getting started.

Ignoring young Bibi Dong's shocked gaze, he walked to the desk, picked up a sheet of parchment, and drew on the political economy he had learned in his previous life to deliver a lecture on how to slay dragons.

"Look at this continent. The Two Great Empires control the land and power, while the Upper Three Sects monopolize the forests of high-level Soul Beasts and the finest Martial Soul inheritances. Together, they're a vast net draped over the common people, cracking their bones and sucking out the marrow!"

"Spirit Hall claims it awakens commoners' Martial Souls for free, but what's it really doing? Picking out useful cannon fodder to keep itself perched above everyone else! Once commoners awaken as Soul Masters, they have no resources and no cultivation methods. They either become the nobles' dogs or die on the outskirts of the Soul Hunting Forest!"

With every word, Lin Fan tore away the veil of feudal respectability that Douluo Continent had worn for tens of thousands of years, laying the bloody truth of class oppression before everyone.

Outside the Firmament, the entire continent fell silent.

Commoners and low-ranking Soul Masters alike stood with their mouths open, trembling from head to toe.

Lin Fan had named the source of a pain their ancestors had felt for generations but had never known how to put into words!

Inside the Firmament, Bibi Dong was completely stunned.

Every word Lin Fan spoke struck like a red-hot hammer against the beliefs Spirit Hall had instilled in her since childhood.

"Education for everyone... abolishing hereditary sect rule... No, how could that be possible? Master said a Soul Master's level is set at birth. Nobles are nobles because their Martial Souls and bloodlines are innately superior..."

She took an involuntary half step back, twisting her skirt in both hands. Her lips moved, but when she tried to argue, her voice came out no louder than a mosquito's buzz.

"Xiaogang, what you're saying... it's completely different from what my teacher taught me..."

"Then did your teacher ever tell you why commoner children rejected at the awakening ceremony aren't even allowed to learn the most basic Meditation Technique?"

Lin Fan watched her calmly.

"Or did he tell you commoners are born to be chives, destined to be harvested crop after crop?"

Bibi Dong shuddered.

She wanted to argue, but all she could picture were the commoner children at Martial Soul Awakening ceremonies, mocked and driven away by people like Su Yuntao because their Martial Souls were too poor.

The unwillingness in those children's eyes suddenly came back to her with startling clarity.

She also remembered that while she, as Saintess, enjoyed the best cultivation resources, Spirit Hall's attendant Soul Masters from humble backgrounds could spend their entire lives doing menial work at the bottom. They weren't even allowed into the Library Pavilion.

Before, she had never thought anything was wrong with that.

But now Lin Fan had ripped away the veil that had covered her eyes since childhood.

Bibi Dong's eyes reddened, and her voice trembled. "Then... what should we do?"

When she looked at Lin Fan now, it was no longer with a lover's infatuation. Her beliefs had been shattered, and she longed for something new to stand on.

"It's simple."

"I call it the 'Declaration of Class and Equality for Commoner Soul Masters'!"

"Step one: introduce nine years of compulsory Soul Master education for everyone! Break the nobles' monopoly on Soul Power cultivation methods and knowledge of Soul Beasts. Print their so-called secret teachings as cheap books, so every child who awakens a Martial Soul has something to study!"

"Step two: establish a plan to reinvest Soul Power resources in commoners! Distribute resources held by high-level fighters, and form a Soul Tool research corps made up of commoners. With our collective strength, we'll crush those self-important Titled Douluo!"

"Step three: abolish hereditary sect rule! The resources of the world belong to those worthy of them! Anyone who dares stand in our way will be killed without mercy!"

Everything Lin Fan said burned out young Bibi Dong's brain. For a long while, she couldn't gather her thoughts.