The Golden Iron Triangle's First Rift

"Xiao Gang, do you have some grievance against Spirit Hall?"

Noticing that Yu Xiaogang's tone was almost filled with hatred whenever he mentioned Spirit Hall, Flender could not help but frown in confusion.

He did not understand why Yu Xiaogang would have a grudge against Spirit Hall.

Although Spirit Hall was the most powerful force on Douluo Continent, it was not particularly wanton in its actions.

Moreover, Spirit Hall had made many contributions to the Soul Master World. It provided free Martial Soul awakenings for commoners, distributed Soul Master Subsidies to weaker Soul Masters, and maintained order in the Soul Master World.

It could be said that Spirit Hall deserved much of the credit for the Soul Master World becoming what it was today.

Yu Xiaogang was already in his twenties yet only had a Soul Power rank in the teens. He was clearly of commoner birth and should, by all rights, have received quite a few benefits from Spirit Hall. Why would he hate Spirit Hall?

"Boss Flender, aren't you curious why, despite barely drinking before, I now drink so often and always look so troubled?"

"It's all because of Spirit Hall!"

Facing Flender's confusion, Yu Xiaogang took a deep breath. A pained expression appeared on his face as he clenched his fists and spoke in a low voice.

"What exactly happened?"

"This is what happened..."

Unable to resist Flender's questioning, Yu Xiaogang closed his eyes. Clenching his fists, he slowly recounted everything that had happened to him in Spirit City in a low voice.

From the time he arrived in Spirit City, enduring countless hardships before finally joining Spirit Hall—though in truth, it was only because of his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan background that Qian Xunji reluctantly gave Yu Yuanzhen some face.

He had wanted to use Spirit Hall's vast collection of books to find a way to evolve his Martial Soul, Luo Sanpao, and escape his fate of mediocre talent.

In Spirit City, his diligence and love of reading caught the attention of Spirit Hall's Saintess, Bibi Dong. With Bibi Dong's active help, he was able to read many of Spirit Hall's books.

But who could have known that because he was simply too outstanding, he gained Bibi Dong's affection and drew the hostility of all the Soul Masters in Spirit City, suffering endless torment as a result.

Being broad-minded, he did not take those matters to heart.

But Spirit Hall was fundamentally a den of filth and corruption. Not only did the Soul Masters in Spirit City look down on his poor talent, even Spirit Hall's Pope, Qian Xunji, despised his talent.

Because he had gotten too close to Bibi Dong, Qian Xunji not only sent people to beat him brutally, but even had him captured and tortured inhumanely for three days and three nights.

He could endure even that, since he truly was not worthy of Bibi Dong.

But after he was released—

Spirit Hall still refused to let him go. It even had Saintess Bibi Dong find him and say that he had deceived her before, that there was no way she could have taken a fancy to trash like him, and that he should get out of Spirit Hall immediately.

It also used its prestige and status in the Soul Master World to denounce the Martial Soul Theory he had only developed after pouring countless hours of effort into research day and night in Spirit City as useless heresy.

The honor and status he had struggled so hard to gain in the Soul Master World vanished in an instant, turning him directly into the laughingstock of the Soul Master World!

By the end, Yu Xiaogang was utterly grief-stricken, tears and snot streaming down his face.

What Yu Xiaogang described was clearly the evil deeds of Spirit Hall as seen from his own perspective, while all his own petty motives had been carefully concealed.

However, because of his relationship with Flender, coupled with his genuine talent for storytelling, it really did sound convincing. Flender could not help but believe seven or eight parts of it.

"I never expected the people in Spirit Hall to be like this. Just because your talent was poor, they actually discriminated against you so horribly. That's absolutely despicable!"

After hearing Yu Xiaogang's accusations, Flender was also indignant and felt that Yu Xiaogang had been treated unfairly.

He truly had not expected Yu Xiaogang to receive such unjust treatment in Spirit Hall.

However, as a commoner Soul Master, Flender had once benefited from Spirit Hall and had just received help from people of Spirit Hall. He had not yet been completely influenced by Yu Xiaogang.

"But Xiao Gang, you can't view everything so extremely. Perhaps many of Spirit Hall's higher-ups truly aren't good people, but that doesn't mean everyone in Spirit Hall is like that."

"At the very least, Spirit Hall has made so many contributions to the continent. That proves there are still good people in Spirit Hall."

"And those three Your Excellencies just helped us. You said they knew you, yet they still helped us. That shows they aren't like the people in Spirit Hall you described."

After speaking up for Yu Xiaogang, Flender changed his tone and tried to persuade him earnestly.

When Yu Xiaogang realized that Flender was still speaking well of Spirit Hall, he felt somewhat annoyed. However, he also knew that Spirit Hall still had a fairly good image on the continent.

Furthermore, Su Mo and the other two had just helped them.

It was impossible to completely blacken Spirit Hall's name now and make Flender instantly become like him, filled with disgust for Spirit Hall.

But he was not in a hurry.

He was now beside Flender and Liu Erlong. As long as he continued smearing Spirit Hall in front of them and let them see Spirit Hall's ugly side, the two would sooner or later become just like him.

Not far away, Yue Guan and Gui Mei paid no attention to Yu Xiaogang and Flender's conversation, since the two had deliberately lowered their voices.

Although Su Mo had poured a large amount of Soul Power into his ears in an attempt to enhance his hearing and eavesdrop on their conversation, he still could not hear them clearly.

It had to be said that although Douluo Continent was a fantasy world, Soul Masters who had not undergone Martial Soul Possession or used Soul Skills really only displayed abilities on the level of a mid-tier martial arts world.

However, although he had not clearly heard Yu Xiaogang and Flender's conversation, Su Mo possessed not only the Death God Scythe Spirit, but also the Twelve-Winged Fallen Angel Martial Soul.

The Fallen Angel Martial Soul possessed the ability to control negative emotions. Thus, with the Twelve-Winged Fallen Angel Martial Soul, Su Mo could sense Yu Xiaogang's intense anger and deep hatred.

Hmph! Looks like he's speaking badly about our Spirit Hall?

Su Mo was not surprised that Yu Xiaogang wanted to smear Spirit Hall in front of Flender, merely snorting coldly to himself.

In the original story, Yu Xiaogang had successfully made both Flender and Liu Erlong utterly disgusted with Spirit Hall. But now that Su Mo was here, it would not be so easy for Yu Xiaogang to achieve his goal.

Under everyone's watchful eyes, Liu Erlong absorbed the Blazing Sun Earthwalking Dragon's Soul Ring and ultimately completed the absorption successfully.

After successfully absorbing the Flame Earthwalking Dragon's Soul Ring, Liu Erlong immediately told Flender that they should help Su Mo search for a Mantis Soul Beast with over fifty thousand years of cultivation.

Flender's First Soul Skill was quite special. It could condense a pair of Soul Power eyes in the sky, and those eyes possessed vision comparable to that of hawks and falcons, making them very useful for finding Soul Beasts.

Therefore, with Flender's help, the group soon found a dark-attributed Ghost Blade Mantis with around sixty thousand years of cultivation.

With Chrysanthemum Douluo Yue Guan and Ghost Douluo Gui Mei present, this Ghost Blade Mantis naturally could not escape and was ultimately hunted by Su Mo.

After absorbing this Ghost Blade Mantis's Soul Ring, Su Mo finally obtained the Spirit Avatar he had wanted.

However, while Su Mo was absorbing the Soul Ring, the Golden Iron Triangle experienced its first disagreement.

While Su Mo was absorbing the Soul Ring, Yu Xiaogang pulled Flender and Liu Erlong aside and said that they had already helped Su Mo find a Soul Beast, so they could leave now.

But Liu Erlong was somewhat unwilling.

Just as in the original story, the reason she would fall for Yu Xiaogang, who was ordinary in every way and could even be called useless, was entirely because she was drawn to his melancholy temperament and inner sorrow, causing her maternal instincts to overflow.

But as someone starved of love, Liu Erlong not only longed to love and be loved.

She yearned for romance, but she also longed for familial affection.

Because she had always wanted a younger brother, Liu Erlong wanted to grow closer to Su Mo, whom she now viewed quite favorably. Ideally, she wanted to acknowledge Su Mo as her God Brother.

The current Liu Erlong had not yet become as crazed by love for Yu Xiaogang as she would later in the original story, to the point that it seemed as though she had lost her mind.

Since Liu Erlong currently only held a relatively favorable impression of Yu Xiaogang, and that feeling had not yet fully developed into love.

Thus, when Yu Xiaogang said they should leave now, Liu Erlong naturally was not very willing.