Tang San stood rooted to the spot, utterly motionless.
His mind had never been so clear.
Scenes from the past flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.
He remembered.
Back at Shrek Academy, the questions his teacher raised had always concerned only his own cultivation.
Whether it was Oscar's food-type martial soul or Ma Hongjun's evil fire phoenix, his teacher's guidance had amounted to a few brief remarks, touching on the surface without ever offering an in-depth analysis.
At the time, Tang San had simply assumed his teacher had limited energy and had poured all his heart and effort into him, his personal disciple.
He had even been deeply moved by it.
He remembered something else, too.
Whether they were hunting soul rings or devising tactics, his teacher's theories had always been grand and correct, yet when it came to the specifics, they had always needed to explore and test things themselves.
Back then, he had assumed his teacher was painstakingly fostering their independence.
Tang San remembered still more.
His teacher had known almost nothing about his Clear Sky Hammer or his blue silver emperor bloodline.
Everything he knew about cultivating twin martial souls had come from the records his father left behind and his own insights.
His teacher had never provided any substantial help.
So that was it.
It wasn't that he refused to help.
Nor was it that he hadn't put his heart into it.
He simply didn't understand!
All his knowledge came from those fragments of an ancient text stolen from Spirit Hall.
Whatever those fragments contained, he knew.
Whatever they didn't contain, he knew nothing about!
That was why he could guide a disciple like me, whose Blue Silver Emperor and Clear Sky Hammer were martial souls with relatively widespread knowledge available about them.
Yet he couldn't truly resolve Ma Hongjun's evil fire mutation, nor could he offer any groundbreaking ideas for Oscar's food-type martial soul.
His claim that "there are no useless martial souls, only useless soul masters" was never some supreme truth that could deliver everyone from suffering.
Within the limits of his knowledge, it was nothing but helpless, self-deceiving empty talk!
A colossal lie.
I, all of Shrek, and even the entire soul master world have been deceived by that lie for twenty whole years!
"Heh."
An exceedingly soft scoff escaped Tang San's throat.
He slowly raised his head and looked once more at the man sprawled on the ground, his face ashen.
Not a trace of respect or filial affection remained in that gaze.
Only bone-deep coldness and scrutiny remained.
It was as though he were looking at a pathetic clown.
At that moment, the atmosphere in the square completely turned.
"My heavens... so the Grandmaster's theories were plagiarized?"
"No wonder! No wonder I kept hitting walls everywhere when I followed the Grandmaster's theories to develop my iron armor rhinoceros martial soul! He was just forcing borrowed ideas onto things they didn't fit!"
"I said it before—how could one person understand every martial soul in the world? It's impossible!"
"A fraud who stole his reputation! That's exactly what he is!"
Murmurs rose one after another throughout the crowd.
The soul masters who had once worshipped Yu Xiaogang now felt as though their faith had been trampled into the dirt and ground to dust.
Anger and shame, mixed with the humiliation of being deceived, flushed their faces red.
Since his theories were false, stolen from someone else...
Then...
If a man falsified his scholarly work, how could anyone trust his private morality?
As one, everyone turned doubtful eyes toward Pope Bibi Dong.
Just moments ago, Yu Xiaogang had screamed himself hoarse alleging that the previous pope had defiled her...
How much credibility could there be in the words of a man who could plagiarize theories and even exploit the Saintess?
Could that so-called "defilement" merely have been the most vicious slander against a woman, born of love turning to hatred when he could not have her?
In an instant, the tide turned.
The contemptuous, prying gazes previously directed at Bibi Dong all gave way to sympathy and doubt.
On the Judgment Platform, Hu Liena watched Yu Xiaogang's shattered expression. There was not a hint of satisfaction in her eyes; instead, a heavy sorrow surfaced.
She drew a deep breath and turned toward the pope beside her, seeking permission with her gaze.
Bibi Dong's slender body still trembled slightly, but her eyes had regained the majesty and resolve befitting a pope.
She gave Hu Liena a gentle nod.
Some scars had to be laid bare for the world to see, even if reopening them meant spilling blood, so everyone could see just how hideous and filthy the truth beneath them was.
Having received her approval, Hu Liena's expression grew even heavier.
Her cool, clear voice rang out across the gathering once more.
"My teacher's innocence cannot be sullied."
"And some people must pay the price for their depravity!"
"Yu Xiaogang, after you betrayed Spirit Hall, my teacher was heartsick and intended to sever all ties with you. But you refused to abandon your wicked designs!"
Hu Liena pointed at Yu Xiaogang and demanded harshly.
"You secretly conspired with Qian Xunji, the former pope, to trick my teacher into returning to Spirit Hall!"
"Your true purpose was to cooperate with Qian Xunji, lure my teacher into the Secret Chamber, and commit an act beneath even beasts!"
"What you couldn't have, you would destroy with your own hands! That is your love, Yu Xiaogang!"
Boom!
Those words were more explosive than any of the previous accusations.
If plagiarizing theories was academic misconduct, then conspiring to force himself on a woman was the annihilation of humanity!
The entire gathering erupted!
"An animal! He's nothing but an animal!"
"Even a vicious tiger won't eat its own cubs, yet Yu Xiaogang joined forces with an outsider to harm the woman he loved?"
"He isn't human anymore! He's a devil!"
Curses drowned the entire square like roaring mountains and raging seas.
Hu Liena ignored the crowd's reaction. Her gaze passed through the throng and finally settled on Ning Lin.
A trace of complicated emotion entered her voice as well.
"And on that very day, the day my teacher was tricked into returning to the Papal Hall, she had arranged to meet Ning Lin."
"Ning Lin waited at their meeting place from when the sun stood high until the moon rose over the willow tips, yet my teacher never came."
"Realizing something was wrong, he disregarded his own safety and fought his way up to the Papal Hall alone!"
At those words, everyone was startled again.
Every gaze converged on Ning Lin.
This man had already shared such a deep entanglement with His Holiness the Pope all those years ago?
"Hahaha... hahahahaha!"
Just then, a burst of deranged laughter abruptly interrupted Hu Liena's account.
It was Yu Xiaogang.
He struggled up from the ground, his hair disheveled, looking utterly possessed.
His bloodshot eyes fixed on Ning Lin, and his smile brimmed with savagery and glee.
"Exactly! You couldn't be more right!"
"Ning Lin, I really did underestimate you!"
Yu Xiaogang laughed wildly.
"You really are formidable! I admit it!"
"You were only a rank-fifty Soul King back then, weren't you? Yet you managed to break through the pursuit of more than a dozen Soul Emperors all by yourself and force your way from the foot of Spirit Mountain right to the doors of the Papal Hall!"
"That devotion of yours, that complete disregard for death, was truly... moving!"
He deliberately drew out his words, making no effort to conceal their mockery.
Before you continue