Yu Xiaogang wore bright red wedding robes, happily holding the hand of Liu Erlong, who was likewise dressed in red, bashful and enchanting.
The two gazed deeply into each other's eyes, about to perform their wedding bows.
At this happiest of moments, Yu Luomian, the second-in-command of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, burst into the wedding hall.
Pointing at Liu Erlong, Yu Luomian shouted himself hoarse, revealing a secret that could ruin both their lives:
"This marriage cannot happen! Erlong... Erlong is my illegitimate daughter! Yu Xiaogang, she's your first cousin!"
Those words shattered all of Yu Xiaogang's happiness and reason.
He looked in horror at the woman he deeply loved before him, then at Yu Luomian.
He did not choose to face it, nor did he choose to comfort Liu Erlong, who was just as devastated.
Instead, like a coward, he flung away Liu Erlong's hand, clutched his head, and fled the wedding like a madman, vanishing into the boundless night.
[Utterly irresponsible, cowardly to the extreme! When trouble arose, he knew only how to flee, leaving the mess to the woman who loved him deeply. Over all these years, he never once bravely faced her or offered an explanation, allowing rumors and gossip to wound others. Truly a coward without a shred of responsibility.]
This revelation actually hit Yu Xiaogang himself less fiercely than the earlier exposure of his "stolen theories."
After all, he had been running from this for twenty years and had long since grown numb.
But for the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and the woman who had waited bitterly for Yu Xiaogang for twenty years, it was undoubtedly salt in their wounds.
Outside Heaven Dou City, in front of a secluded wooden cabin in the forest.
Still beautiful, yet unable to hide the weathering of the years, Liu Erlong stared fixedly at the screen of light, tears already streaming down her face.
Watching the figure flee in panic on the screen, she felt as though a knife were twisting in her heart.
She directed her thoughts into the chat screen and left a comment filled with despair and sorrowful resentment.
[Liu Erlong: Xiaogang... it's been twenty years. Why can't you be just a little braver? Even if you had only stepped forward and said you were sorry, I would have accepted it...]
At that moment, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan erupted into an uproar.
The shocking scandal involving first cousins became a laughingstock for Spirit Hall and the two great empires over tea and meals.
"Hahaha! I'm dying of laughter! Is this how the Upper Three Sects raise their children?"
"First cousins almost getting married? This gossip about the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan is far more entertaining than that so-called Grandmaster's theories."
"No wonder Yu Xiaogang is trash. It turns out that not only is his martial soul useless, but his character and courage are utterly worthless too."
In the Far North, Shui Bing'er likewise felt nothing but disdain and contempt for Yu Xiaogang.
She curled her lip. "Master, this Yu Xiaogang really is one of a kind."
"His martial soul is a pig that can only fart, his theories are stolen, and all he can do when trouble comes is run away. Every aspect of him, inside and out, has 'trash' and 'coward' written all over it."
On Shrek Academy's training grounds, the air froze, and all was silent.
Behind Flender's trademark square black-rimmed glasses, his eyes were bloodshot.
As the former leader of the Golden Iron Triangle, he understood Liu Erlong's feelings for Yu Xiaogang better than anyone.
He also knew better than anyone how Erlong had endured these past twenty years.
"Twenty years..." Flender's voice was frighteningly hoarse.
His gaze was as sharp as a blade. "Xiaogang, twenty whole years!"
"If you had gone back to see her even once, even if you had only said you were sorry through a closed door, you could have halved the bitterness in her heart."
"But you? You hid in that dump, Nuoding City, too afraid to even ask about her. I, Flender, have been shrewd and calculating all my life, but when it came to choosing a brother, I was truly blind. I misjudged you!"
Yu Xiaogang was already deathly pale from the Heavenly Screen's revelations. Now, publicly accused by his former elder brother, he panicked even more.
He instinctively stepped back, his eyes shifting evasively as he tried to use their old bond to conceal his guilty unease:
"Flender, you... how can you say that? We're brothers who faced life and death together, the Golden Iron Triangle renowned across the continent!"
"Besides, I'm still here at Shrek Academy, doing everything I can to help you teach these seven students. Are even you going to kick me while I'm down, like everyone else?"
"Shut up!" Flender was so furious that he laughed. He unleashed the pressure of a level seventy-eight Soul Saint, leaving Yu Xiaogang struggling to breathe.
"Stop using teaching students to gild your own face."
"If you had shown even the slightest bit of a man's responsibility toward Erlong, I, Flender, would have thought more highly of you today. Even if the entire continent cursed you, I would have stood by your side."
"But what happened instead? You're a coward through and through. A piece of trash who only runs away from difficulties!"
[Assessment summary: Yu Xiaogang.] [Lazy in childhood: despite having the opportunity afforded by a mutated martial soul, he made no effort to improve, causing his martial soul to degenerate.] [Deceitful in youth: he exploited the feelings of Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden to steal Spirit Hall's theories, deceiving the world and stealing a reputation.] [Cowardly in middle age: he took no responsibility when trouble arose, abandoned his beloved, implicated his clan, and dared not face reality for twenty years.] [Overall evaluation: the number one in all of Douluo Continent's history-the most laughable master!]
Just as everyone was about to continue mocking Yu Xiaogang, the text on the Heavenly Screen changed.
[Assessment complete. Calculating the reward for being listed.] [Though a negative example, anyone assessed by the Great Dao Heavenly Screen bears the karma of heaven and earth.] [Reward issued: soul power level increased by one; one perfectly compatible thousand-year soul ring bestowed!]
A dazzling golden pillar of light descended from the sky, enveloping Yu Xiaogang at Shrek Academy.
His aura abruptly surged, crossing the heavenly chasm that had troubled him for decades and reaching level thirty.
Immediately afterward, a deep purple thousand-year soul ring condensed within the golden light.
It settled naturally around Yu Xiaogang.
Level thirty-one!
As the light dispersed, Yu Xiaogang was swept up in wild joy.
He forced out a twisted smile, raised his head, and shouted at the sky, "Hahaha! Level thirty-one! I've finally broken through level thirty. Heavenly Screen, you've finally done something decent!"
The Heavenly Screen displayed Yu Xiaogang's breakthrough, leaving every Soul Master dumbfounded.
[Seriously? He gets a reward for this?! Where's the justice?!] [My heavens, even a supreme piece of trash like this gets rewarded for being publicly pilloried? It looks like being assessed by the Heavenly Screen is an enormous opportunity, no matter how rotten your reputation is!] [Yu Xiaogang really stepped in dog shit this time. After being stuck for decades, he actually broke through by making a public spectacle of himself.]
Immersed in the joy of his breakthrough, Yu Xiaogang could hardly wait to display his newfound power.
"Come out, Luo Sanpao!"
Yu Xiaogang shouted, his hands rapidly forming seals as he struck the summoning pose he considered incomparably dashing.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
The air froze. The pig-like Luo Sanpao did not appear as usual.
"Hm? What's going on?" Yu Xiaogang froze, then circulated his soul power again.
"Luo Sanpao, Sanpao, appear!"
There was still no response, and Yu Xiaogang's expression changed drastically.
He felt that the newly born soul power within him was not following the pathways for Martial Soul Possession or summoning.
Instead, bizarrely and uncontrollably, it surged madly toward his lower body-his buttocks, to be precise.
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