Yu Xiaogang, utterly alone.

The Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, main hall.

Yu Yuanzhen drew a deep breath and connected to the Heavenly Screen.

[Yu Yuanzhen: I was only joking with you all earlier. Please don't take offense! Truth be told, this old man is just a lightning snake. How could I possibly be a dragon? I'd had too much to drink!]

[Yu Yuanzhen: Think about it, everyone. What sort of existence is a real dragon? Senior Ao Che's Azure Tide Sacred Dragon roams the nine abysses, its roar shaking the nine heavens! If this lightning serpent covered in blue scales stood before him, I wouldn't even qualify as a dragon. I'd be the pet of a dragon's distant relatives!]

[Yu Yuanzhen: To be frank, I've always admired everyone on the Holy Spirit Continent! Especially Senior Ao Che, whose true dragon bloodline is unparalleled throughout the ages, with the Super Divine Artifact, Abyss-Suppressing Spear, in hand! How would I dare, how could I deserve to compare myself to Senior Ao Che? Even carrying his shoes, I'd fear sullying the ground beneath his feet!]

[Yu Yuanzhen: That said-]

[Yu Yuanzhen: If someone hadn't misled us, how could I have ended up like this? Yes, it was Yu Xiaogang! He invented the enslavement theory, he called your land a backwater, and he urged you to kneel and apologize! If you want to vent your anger, go after him! My Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon... pah, my lightning serpent clan wishes to maintain friendly relations with the Holy Spirit Continent for generations to come!]

[Yu Yuanzhen: So please don't take your anger out on our Blue Lightning Tyrant Serpent Sect!]

Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang stared at the Heavenly Screen, even more dumbfounded.

What the hell?

Fine, Ning Fengzhi and the others sold me out-

But Father, you too?!

Trembling, he connected to the Heavenly Screen.

[Yu Xiaogang: Seriously? You're changing your tune just like that?!]

Over on the Holy Spirit Continent.

[Meng Jiu: Holy crap! You're awfully quick to admit fault and shift the blame! Hahaha!]

[Old Wang: Never mind Ning Fengzhi passing the buck, but you share Yu Xiaogang's surname. You're his father or grandfather, aren't you? You're selling him out just like that? That's how you pass the buck!]

[Xiao Tian: I'm dying of laughter. A moment ago, you had the continent's greatest beast martial soul, and now you're the pet of a dragon's distant relatives? Clan Head Yu, are your tongue and your spine both that soft?]

[Wei Lai: You think you're worthy of maintaining friendly relations with us for generations?]

[Yu Yuanzhen: We're not worthy, we're not worthy! And we're not shifting the blame. It's the truth! It was his fault to begin with! Otherwise, how could we have been so foolish?]

[Yu Xiaogang: Father, doesn't your conscience hurt when you say that?]

[Yu Yuanzhen: Don't call me Father!]

[Yu Yuanzhen: Besides, you were expelled from the clan long ago! And whether you're even my son is still up for debate! On a dark and windy night, I was near a rubbish bin... otherwise, why would you have awakened a martial soul that wasn't a dragon or a lightning serpent?!]

[Yu Xiaogang: ...]

Meanwhile, on the Holy Spirit Continent.

[Meng Jiu: Incredible! Yu Yuanzhen, I bow to no one but you! You're so afraid of our retaliation that you won't even acknowledge your own son? And you can invent a mysterious origin for him on the spot!]

[Old Wang: What a pack of cowards, clinging to life and fearing death!]

Shrek Academy.

Yu Xiaogang was furious.

Sure enough, when life and death were at stake, even your father would betray you!

He'd even concocted an excuse like that!

He clenched his teeth, overcome by the desolation of having no one to lean on in this vast world, and forced a sentence through his tightly gritted back teeth.

[Yu Xiaogang: Not a shred of backbone! Unlike the Clear Sky Sect, who would never shift the blame. No wonder they're the number one sect...]

Before his words had even faded.

[Tang Xiao: This entire affair happened because Yu Xiaogang misled us, and we... as sect master of the Clear Sky Sect, I solemnly apologize to all you seniors! How could our lousy hammers dare compare to you?]

[Tang Xiao: If we've caused any trouble... we... we'll give you Yu Xiaogang as compensation!]

[Yu Xiaogang: ...]

Shrek Academy.

Furious, Yu Xiaogang punched the old tree beside him.

The tree didn't budge.

His hand swelled into a large lump.

"Owww-!"

Yu Xiaogang hopped in place from the pain, cradling his hand and sucking in sharp breaths, his eyes reddening.

"The Upper Three Sects... they're all petty villains who forget loyalty at the sight of profit!!"

At that moment, Yu Xiaogang was utterly despairing!

Suddenly, he remembered something, and hope rekindled in his eyes.

Wait... that's right.

Bibi Dong held power in Spirit Hall.

Back then... back then, he and she had shared a past.

She was the only woman above his station he'd ever managed to win over.

Given her temperament and their old affection...

At this critical moment, surely she wouldn't abandon him!

"When it really matters, she's the one I can count on!"

He struggled to push himself halfway up from the ground, ignoring his disheveled state as he gazed at the Heavenly Screen, his face full of hope.

His eyes looked just like those of a drowning man staring at the last piece of floating wood.

Then he saw it.

[Golden Crocodile: I am Spirit Hall's Second Worship. We deeply apologize for Spirit Hall's earlier transgressions! Please, everyone of the Holy Spirit Continent, do not take your anger out on us. Those outrageous words were all instigated by Yu Xiaogang! Our Supreme Pontiff and elders were all deceived by him!]

[Bibi Dong: I am Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong. It was all... all Yu Xiaogang's fault. Please don't take your anger out on Spirit Hall. Whatever compensation you want, we can discuss it!]

The hope on Yu Xiaogang's face shattered, inch by inch.

First, he froze.

Then his pupils slowly lost focus.

Finally, as though his spine had been pulled out, he collapsed limply back onto the ground.

Bibi Dong!

Even she had sold him out.

And she had done it so decisively, so smoothly, even negotiating the price of compensation on his behalf.

At that moment, he truly was utterly alone.

"Impossible... it's all over now... if only I hadn't shown off!"

"This mouth of mine really is vile!!"

"I actually tried to shake their civilization with my insignificant theories!"

He truly regretted it!

Around him, everyone watched him with mournful eyes, as though looking at a dead man.

Even Tang San didn't dare approach.

What terrible bad luck.

Besides, the Heavenly Screen had a real-time intelligence function.

If it exposed him staying beside Yu Xiaogang... and even comforting him!

Wouldn't he be finished too?!

Tang San discreetly took another half step back, putting more than thirty feet between them.

At the same time, the Heavenly Screen lit up.

[Heavenly Screen real-time intelligence · Douluo Section]

[Real-time intelligence · Yu Xiaogang: Outside Shrek Academy, Yu Xiaogang sits slumped on the ground, motionless, his complexion ashen as paper, his eyes unfocused and lifeless. His lips move slightly, yet he cannot utter a single complete word.]

[Even as the wind dishevels his hair and beard, he only stares blankly at the Heavenly Screen, like a clay statue whose soul has been drawn out, every last hope turned to ash.]

Holy Spirit Continent.

[Meng Jiu: Well, well, well, how did our Grandmaster end up looking like this? Doesn't he look about ready to cry from fright?]

[Old Wang: Cry from fright? I bet he's pissed himself! Hahaha!]

[Xiao Tian: That's why you shouldn't stick your neck out for no reason! The bird that pokes its head out gets shot, and the fattest one gets shot first!]

[Zhou Yueban: As for your offenses against our Holy Spirit Continent, whether you're forgiven isn't up to us! That's for the people of the Holy Spirit Temple to decide!]

At that moment, countless people across the Douluo Continent swallowed hard.

Because at that moment, their lives lay in someone else's hands!