In his panic, Yu Xiaogang lost his reason.
To scatter the flames around him, he grasped at straws like a desperate patient seeking any cure, activating the third Soul Skill he had obtained from the Firmament.
"Third Soul Skill: Chain Farts, Overturning Mountains and Seas!"
He blasted out a string of high-pressure foul gas, trying to push the surrounding flames away.
Yet Yu Xiaogang's foolish action was nothing short of pouring oil onto a fire.
Standing in the distance, Ma Hongjun watched Yu Xiaogang struggle in the sea of flames, a sneer curling his lips.
Not only did he keep attacking, he increased his Soul Power output, unleashing an unbroken stream of Phoenix Fire Line.
Yu Xiaogang's chain of foul gas failed to scatter the flames and instead became the perfect accelerant.
Every burst of foul gas triggered a violent explosion and a surge of burning flames.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Amid the successive explosions, the spot where Yu Xiaogang stood became an enormous fireball.
"Aah-! Help! Somebody help!"
Yu Xiaogang rolled and wailed in the sea of flames. His clothes burned to ashes, and broad patches of his skin were scorched black and carbonized.
Only when Yu Xiaogang lost the ability to resist and lay like a dead dog on the scorched earth, barely breathing, did Ma Hongjun snort coldly and withdraw his Phoenix Fire Line.
Yu Xiaogang, the self-proclaimed Grandmaster of unrivaled theory, had actually lost in succession to two of his own students, both only level 29, in less time than it took a stick of incense to burn.
And each defeat had been more miserable, more humiliating than the last.
Bibi Dong looked at the distant body, charred all over, reeking and still twitching faintly.
There was no anger or pity in her eyes. Even her earlier mockery and disgust had vanished.
It felt like looking at a heap of garbage by the roadside; even one more glance would soil her eyes.
Bibi Dong paid Yu Xiaogang no further attention.
Her icy voice echoed over the empty ruins. "Elder Ju, Ghost Elder."
"At your command!" Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo stepped forward and respectfully dropped to one knee.
"Accompany me to the Star Dou Great Forest." Bibi Dong looked toward the ancient, mysterious forest in the distance.
"I will hunt Man Faced Demon Spiders and bring the Eight Spider Lances to complete evolution. The day I become a level 99 Peerless Douluo will be the day Spirit Hall reigns over the world."
"As you command!"
The auras of the three powerful figures vanished into the horizon.
All that remained amid the ruins of Shrek Academy was that charred, foul-smelling man, letting out piteous whimpers in despair and agony.
Looking at Yu Xiaogang, blackened all over on the scorched earth, his skin split and flesh torn, still twitching unconsciously, the softhearted food-type Soul Master Oscar could not bear it.
He raised his hand, Soul Power surging in his palm, and prepared to recite his soul incantation to make a recovery Big Sausage and save him.
"Little Oscar, what are you doing?"
A chubby hand reached over and clamped down on Oscar's shoulder.
Ma Hongjun's plump face, usually tinged with sleaziness and playful smiles, was now cold and stern.
"Fatty, Grandmaster... looks like he's about to die. If we don't save him, he really will," Oscar said hesitantly.
"Then let him die. He deserves it!" Ma Hongjun snorted coldly, pointing at Yu Xiaogang, who lay like a heap of mud on the ground, and said through gritted teeth:
"Little Oscar, has water gotten into your brain? Were you blind just now? He jumped out of his own accord to use us as stepping stones, all to curry favor with Bibi Dong."
"He'd even sell out his own students' lives so he could soar straight to the top."
The more Ma Hongjun spoke, the angrier he became, until all the fat on his body trembled with rage:
"If Zhu Zhuqing hadn't been fast enough today, if my Evil Fire Phoenix hadn't happened to counter his disgusting poison gas, we'd be the ones lying half-dead on the ground now, or even casually killed by Bibi Dong."
"He brought this entirely upon himself. He doesn't deserve any sympathy."
After hearing Ma Hongjun's words, Oscar fell silent.
In the end, he lowered his hand and dispersed the Soul Power in his palm.
Indeed, why squander kindness on someone ready to sell you out at any moment?
Not far away, Flender stood beside a broken stone pillar.
His square, black-framed glasses had shattered in the shock waves of the earlier battle. Through the damaged lenses, he gazed with mixed feelings at the man he had once considered his closest friend.
Decades of friendship, the Golden Iron Triangle renowned across the continent, the "Grandmaster" who, though weak, brimmed with theories and was arrogant beyond measure...
Before the temptation of strength and authority, it had all collapsed into a scattering of sickening fragments.
Flender felt no anger, only sorrow and disappointment.
From the moment Yu Xiaogang had wagged his tail and begged Bibi Dong for mercy, going so far as to attack his own students, the Yu Xiaogang he knew had already died.
"Sigh..."
Flender turned his back on Yu Xiaogang and spoke to everyone in a weary voice:
"Children, Hongjun is right. Leave him alone. He chose this road himself, and he must bear the consequences himself."
Flender surveyed the academy, which had been almost razed to the ground, and the teachers and students still shaken amid the ruins. Forcing himself to rally, he said:
"You've all had a fright. That's enough for today. First, tidy up the academy's ruins and clear out somewhere we can live."
"Classes will be suspended for a few days so everyone can rest. Tend to your injuries and settle your nerves. Once everything is in order, we'll resume classes."
Everyone from Shrek nodded silently. No one spared Yu Xiaogang another glance as they set about clearing the ruins.
The once highly revered "Grandmaster" clung to his last breath like garbage on the cold, scorched earth.
Far away, hundreds upon thousands of miles distant, the imperial capital of the Heaven Dou Empire was undergoing a slaughter of blood and fire.
Within the palace's inner grounds, battle cries shook heaven and earth.
Showers of arrows filling the sky and the light of low-ranking Soul Masters' Soul Skills wove together into an impenetrable net of death.
At the center of this torrent of steel, Qian Renxue was bathed in sacred, resplendent golden light.
The six angel wings behind her were fully spread. Every swing of the Angel Holy Sword in her hand swept up blazing golden flames, cleaving swathes of heavily armored soldiers, armor and all, into ashes.
On either side of her, the two Titled Douluo, Snake Lance Douluo and Porcupinefish Douluo, were unleashing Soul Skills with all their might.
The blue-violet lance in Snake Lance Douluo's hand transformed into venomous shadows that filled the sky.
Every thrust claimed dozens of lives.
Porcupinefish Douluo transformed into an enormous pufferfish covered in highly venomous spikes, rampaging through the enemy ranks like a meat grinder.
With two Titled Douluo protecting her at close quarters, Qian Renxue had suffered little actual harm despite being surrounded deep within enemy lines.
"Young mistress! There are too many enemies! We must break out at once!" Snake Lance Douluo sent more than a dozen royal knights flying with one sweep of his lance and roared breathlessly.
"No! I spent ten whole years undercover, and success was just within reach. I can't slink away like this."
Qian Renxue clenched her teeth, staring fixedly at Xue Ye atop the distant raised platform, protected at the center of layer upon layer of imperial guards and the royal Soul Master corps.
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