Gu Rong raised his eyes.
"He just killed Zhao Wuji and ordered the three great sects to submit."
"It doesn't look like he's merely trying to frighten people."
Ning Fengzhi shook his head.
"Spirit Hall cannot fight multiple opponents alone."
"If they attack the Clear Sky Sect, they will have to guard against the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and us."
"As long as the three great sects join forces, even Spirit Hall will have to pay a price."
Chen Xin gently stroked his sword hilt.
"Qian Daoliu is indeed powerful."
"But however powerful he is, that doesn't mean all of Spirit Hall can disregard the three great sects."
Gu Rong sneered.
"If he wants to wipe out our sect, let him try."
Ning Fengzhi did not respond.
He picked up another letter.
The letter came from Heaven Dou City.
It recorded the results of the investigation following Ning Rongrong's disappearance.
The restaurant shopkeeper had seen Qian Daoliu.
The hotel shopkeeper had also confirmed that Ning Rongrong had been brought inside.
But after that, no one had seen Ning Rongrong again.
Zhao Wuji had gone to look for Ning Rongrong and ultimately died on Heaven Dou City's Southern City Wall.
Ning Fengzhi's fingers settled on the letter.
"There's still no news of Rongrong."
Chen Xin's gaze darkened.
"She went to Heaven Dou City a while ago."
"I'll go find her."
Ning Fengzhi shook his head gently.
"Now is not the time."
"Spirit Hall has just issued its proclamation. Heaven Dou City must already be under the watch of various factions."
"If we enter Heaven Dou City now, we'll only risk alerting Spirit Hall."
Gu Rong looked at Ning Fengzhi.
"Are we supposed to just wait?"
Ning Fengzhi fell silent for a moment.
"Rongrong is my daughter."
"Of course I won't give up looking for her."
"In a couple of days, Uncle Jian and I will go to Heaven Dou City."
"We'll confirm Rongrong's whereabouts first, then decide what to do next."
Chen Xin nodded.
"All right."
Ning Fengzhi looked out the window.
Disciples of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect came and went.
The sect remained peaceful.
But he knew in his heart.
Ning Rongrong's disappearance, Zhao Wuji's death, and Qian Daoliu's order to submit.
These events were already linked together.
Whatever that White-Haired Man intended to do, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had to be prepared.
Three days later.
Heaven Dou City.
Outside a hotel in the south of the city.
Flender, Yu Xiaogang, and Liu Erlong stood in the middle of the street.
Through various channels, the three had already learned that Qian Daoliu had appeared here.
The students of Shrek Academy stayed farther away.
Tang San, Dai Mubai, Oscar, and Ma Hongjun stood beside a carriage, their eyes fixed on the hotel.
They did not approach.
Flender glanced at the hotel's tightly shut doors.
"According to the information, he's inside."
Liu Erlong raised her hand and gripped the Martial Soul token at her waist.
"Old Zhao died at his hands."
"He also held Rongrong captive."
"Today, he must give us an explanation."
Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back.
"Zhao Wuji's body was placed on the city wall."
"Since that man dared to do that, it means he believes no one can do anything to him."
"But he won't expect the three of us to be able to unleash the golden sacred dragon."
Flender nodded.
"Erlong is here now."
"As long as the three of us join forces, even if he's a Titled Douluo, he may not escape unscathed."
Liu Erlong said nothing.
She raised her head and looked toward the hotel's top floor.
Her eyes held anger that had been suppressed for a long time.
Yu Xiaogang stepped up the stairs.
He reached the hotel doors, raised his hand, and slapped the door panel.
"Whoever's inside, come out!"
The hotel lobby was silent.
Yu Xiaogang raised his hand again.
"I know you're in there."
"You killed Zhao Wuji and imprisoned Ning Rongrong."
"Today, you must give Shrek Academy an explanation!"
As his words fell.
Footsteps came from deep inside the hotel.
One step.
Then another.
The footsteps gradually drew closer.
Golden ripples spread through the space at the center of the lobby.
A figure emerged from the ripples.
White hair fell behind his shoulders.
His golden robe swayed gently with the fluctuations in space.
Qian Daoliu stopped before the three.
He glanced at Yu Xiaogang, then swept his gaze over Flender and Liu Erlong.
"You're looking for me?"
Yu Xiaogang took a step forward.
"You're the one who killed Zhao Wuji and imprisoned Ning Rongrong?"
Qian Daoliu's expression was indifferent.
"Yes."
"Zhao Wuji trespassed into the forbidden ground I established and even dared to attack me."
"So I killed him."
"Ning Rongrong provoked me of her own accord, first making false accusations, then ordering Zhao Wuji to kill."
"The punishment she received was also something she brought upon herself."
Yu Xiaogang stared at the White-Haired Man before him.
The other man had admitted it far too readily.
Whether killing Zhao Wuji or imprisoning Ning Rongrong, both seemed to be insignificant trifles in Qian Daoliu's eyes.
That attitude made Yu Xiaogang's expression grow increasingly grim.
He took two steps forward.
"Since you've admitted it, surrender immediately."
"Remove the restrictions placed on Ning Rongrong and hand her over to Shrek Academy."
"Then come back with us and answer for Zhao Wuji's death."
Qian Daoliu glanced at him.
"You want me to surrender?"
Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back.
"That's right."
"Zhao Wuji was the vice dean of Shrek Academy."
"Ning Rongrong is also a student of Shrek Academy."
"By attacking them one after another, you have already crossed Shrek Academy's bottom line."
"I advise you not to resist any further."
Yu Xiaogang turned sideways and looked at Flender and Liu Erlong beside him.
"The three of us are the Golden Iron Triangle, renowned throughout the soul master world."
"Once we unleash our Martial Soul Fusion Skill, the golden sacred dragon possesses the power to contend with a Titled Douluo."
"If you surrender willingly, you might still keep your life."
"Otherwise, the Golden Iron Triangle will make you pay."
Flender pushed up the Crystal Glasses on the bridge of his nose.
The soul power of his Cat Owl martial soul was already circulating within him.
Liu Erlong stood on Yu Xiaogang's other side.
The aura of a fire dragon gradually rose from her.
The three stood in separate positions, forming precisely the formation the Golden Iron Triangle used to unleash their Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
Qian Daoliu swept his gaze over them.
"The Golden Iron Triangle?"
"What the hell is that?"
Flender's gaze darkened.
Liu Erlong frowned as well.
Yu Xiaogang's expression changed on the spot.
The Golden Iron Triangle was a name they had earned in their youth.
Relying on their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, the golden sacred dragon, the three had once achieved many battle successes in the soul master world.
Even a Titled Douluo would not look down on them like this.
Yet Qian Daoliu's gaze held not the slightest regard for the three.
Yu Xiaogang suppressed his irritation.
"If you've never heard of the Golden Iron Triangle, that only shows how narrow your knowledge is."
"The soul master world honors me as the Grandmaster of theory."
"Flender is the Horn of Flight."
"Erlong is the Horn of Slaughter."
"When the three of us join forces, it is far more than simply adding our soul power together."
"This is your last chance to surrender."
Qian Daoliu's gaze settled on Yu Xiaogang.
"The Grandmaster of theory?"
"A fraud deserves to call himself golden?"
Far down the street.
Tang San immediately frowned when he heard those words.
Yu Xiaogang was his teacher.
In his eyes, his teacher's research into martial souls far surpassed that of ordinary people.
Those martial soul theories had also provided tremendous help with his cultivation.
Yet now, Qian Daoliu had publicly called Yu Xiaogang a fraud.
Yu Xiaogang's face was livid.
"Who are you calling a fraud?"
Qian Daoliu strode out of the Hotel.
He did not release his Martial Soul.
No Soul Rings appeared beneath his feet, either.
Yet as he approached, an invisible pressure still bore down on the Golden Iron Triangle's formation.
Flender retreated half a step.
The Fire Dragon Soul Power that had just risen within Liu Erlong also stalled briefly.
Yu Xiaogang had the lowest cultivation.
The pressure he endured was even stronger.
His legs felt as though they had been filled with lead, and even taking a single step became extremely difficult.
Qian Daoliu stopped before him.
"You're the one I mean."
"Most of your so-called Martial Soul Theory came from the texts Spirit Hall accumulated over generations."
"When you were young, you entered Spirit Hall's Library and consulted vast amounts of material unavailable to the public."
"Martial Soul inheritance."
"Soul Ring ages."
"Soul Beast attributes."
"Development paths for support-type Soul Masters."
"Which of these did you research yourself?"
Yu Xiaogang's fingers slowly clenched.
"I consulted Spirit Hall's texts only to refine my own theories."
"Knowledge ought to be used for research."
"I organized those materials and published them for Soul Masters everywhere. What was wrong with that?"
Qian Daoliu looked at him.
"Organized?"
"You merely copied down the fruits of generations of Spirit Hall's Soul Masters, then changed a few names."
"And in the end, they became your Ten Core Competencies, Yu Xiaogang."
The color gradually drained from Yu Xiaogang's face.
Few people knew about that part of his past.
Back then, he had only been able to enter and leave Spirit Hall's Library freely through his connection to Bibi Dong.
Only after leaving Spirit Hall had he begun organizing and spreading his theories.
Soul Masters elsewhere only knew that these theories had come from him.
No one knew that the vast majority of their contents had already been recorded in Spirit Hall's texts.
Qian Daoliu continued:
"If you had merely copied them down, that would have been one thing."
"But you insisted on adding oil and vinegar, mixing your own conjectures into them."
"There are no useless Martial Souls, only useless Soul Masters."
"That statement sounds lofty and grand, but in reality, it is utterly wrong."
"Differences in Martial Soul quality exist from the moment of awakening."
"Can Blue Silver Grass and the Clear Sky Hammer be the same?"
"Can the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and an ordinary wooden pagoda be the same?"
"And can the Six-Winged Angel and Luo Sanpao be the same?"
Yu Xiaogang stiffened.
Beside him, Flender hurriedly looked toward him.
Confusion also appeared on Liu Erlong's face.
Qian Daoliu did not stop.
"You cannot resolve the defects in your own Martial Soul, so you shift the blame onto Soul Masters."
"You want to prove that Martial Souls have no hierarchy."
"But you know better than anyone that Luo Sanpao is the very reason you can never break past level 30."
"You write your personal obsession into your theories, then have other Soul Masters test them for you."
"With rubbish like that, you dare call yourself Grandmaster?"
Yu Xiaogang's breathing quickened.
He stared at Qian Daoliu, panic appearing in his eyes for the first time.
The man not only knew that he had entered Spirit Hall's Library.
He also knew the true source of those theories.
Even the thoughts Yu Xiaogang had held while proposing his theories were exposed one by one.
Yu Xiaogang took a step back.
"Who exactly are you?"
"How do you know these things?"
Qian Daoliu did not answer his questions.
He turned to Liu Erlong.
"You waited so many years for someone like him?"
Liu Erlong froze for a moment.
She looked at Qian Daoliu, then turned to Yu Xiaogang.
"This has nothing to do with Erlong."
Yu Xiaogang spoke immediately.
"Whatever you want, come at me."
Qian Daoliu looked back at him.
"Now you know to protect her?"
"Where was that sense of responsibility when you abandoned Liu Erlong back then?"
Liu Erlong's slender body stiffened.
Her wedding to Yu Xiaogang had been forced to a halt because of their blood relationship.
Yu Xiaogang had then left alone.
All these years, she had believed that Yu Xiaogang had chosen to run away because he could not accept their relationship.
Even through her pain, she had never truly blamed Yu Xiaogang.
Now, hearing Qian Daoliu's words, she suddenly realized that things were not so simple.
The look in Yu Xiaogang's eyes changed.
"Don't talk nonsense."
"I left Erlong because we're related by blood."
"She's my younger paternal cousin."
"We can't be together."
Qian Daoliu said indifferently:
"Is that really so?"
"On the surface, you were preparing to marry Liu Erlong."
"But in your heart, you were thinking of another woman."
"You could not have that woman, so you made Liu Erlong a substitute for your affections."
"After the wedding was halted, you neither stayed to explain nor stood beside her to face it together."
"You left alone simply because you had never truly intended to marry her."
Yu Xiaogang's face abruptly turned white.
Liu Erlong stood where she was.
She had seen Yu Xiaogang's reaction.
If Qian Daoliu were lying, Yu Xiaogang should have refuted him immediately.
Yet now, apart from panicking, he had not given a single direct answer.
Liu Erlong walked up to Yu Xiaogang, step by step.
Her eyes gradually reddened.
"Xiaogang."
"Who is this other woman he's talking about?"
Yu Xiaogang avoided her gaze.
Liu Erlong looked at the man who had been by her side for so many years.
Scenes from the past surfaced in her mind, one after another.
Before the wedding, Yu Xiaogang had indeed often stared into space alone.
When she asked why, he merely said he was thinking about Martial Soul Theory.
Back then, she had never suspected anything.
Now, however, Qian Daoliu had laid everything before her.
Liu Erlong raised her slender hand and caught Yu Xiaogang's sleeve.
"Xiaogang."
"Look at me."
"Is what he said true?"
Yu Xiaogang's face grew paler and paler.
He did not dare look Liu Erlong in the eyes.
Still less did he dare let Qian Daoliu continue.
Once that part of his past was fully exposed, Liu Erlong would never trust him as she once had.
Yu Xiaogang violently shook off Liu Erlong's hand.
"Enough!"
"Stop listening to his nonsense!"
Liu Erlong stood where she was.
She looked at her empty palm, the hope in her eyes fading little by little.
"Xiaogang, you still haven't answered me."
Cold sweat seeped from Yu Xiaogang's forehead.
"Now isn't the time to talk about this."
"He's deliberately driving a wedge between us."
"Old Zhao's bones have yet to grow cold, and Ning Rongrong has suffered every torment. We can't let him stall us."
Liu Erlong did not move.
She continued looking at Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang's breathing quickened.
He knew he could not answer.
The moment he spoke Bibi Dong's name, everything Qian Daoliu had said earlier would be confirmed.
Yu Xiaogang immediately turned to Flender.
"Flender!"
"Enough talk!"
"Attack!"
Flender's expression changed.
"Xiaogang, Erlong, she..."
"Whatever it is, we can discuss it after we kill him!"
Yu Xiaogang cut Flender off.
"If we keep delaying, we'll only give him an opening."
Before you continue