Tang Fan was just about to speak when he heard a rumble. It turned out to be Bibi Dong's stomach growling.
Bibi Dong was terribly embarrassed. She lowered her head, her face scarlet. She was not yet the crazed woman she would become after turning dark; she was a somewhat innocent young girl.
"It's all right, I'm hungry too. Do you want to go out and eat with me, or should we order takeout?"
"Takeout?"
"You order food and have someone deliver it."
"Are you a noble too?"
"No, no, no, I'm no noble. There aren't any nobles in this country. Anyone can order takeout as long as they pay.
"I don't suppose you're in the mood to go out, so I'll order takeout."
Tang Fan took out his phone and tapped at it for a while, then took a can of cola from the refrigerator and handed it to Bibi Dong.
"Have a drink first."
"Thank you!"
Bibi Dong took the cola and paused. "It's cold? Are you an ice-attribute Soul Master?"
"Didn't I already tell you? There are no martial souls or Soul Masters here, only technology.
"It's like the Soul Tools on your Douluo Continent, except it's powered by electricity instead of soul power."
"Electricity? Lightning?"
"Mm, you can think of it as lightning that's been tamed."
"You don't have soul power, you're only commoners, yet you can tame lightning?"
"What's so strange about that? What, do you look down on commoners? Bibi Dong, don't forget where you came from yourself. No wonder someone called you an ungrateful wretch to your face."
"No! That's not it! I don't!"
Bibi Dong hurriedly defended herself, and the distress on her face did not seem feigned.
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent, Qian Xunji had arrived at the Worship Hall. Watching Tang Fan and Bibi Dong take so long without getting to the point, he was growing anxious too.
"Ji'er, calm down. As the Pope, how can you be so impatient?"
"Yes, Father, I know I was wrong, but..."
"Ji'er, let me ask you: are the words of that young man Tang Fan harmful or beneficial to our Spirit Hall?"
"Well... both, I suppose. The harm is that his words might shake the status of Soul Masters. The benefit is that he acknowledged the importance of commoners, and our Spirit Hall represents Soul Masters from the lowest strata."
"Mm, good. It seems you've made some progress after all."
Qian Daoliu was taking the opportunity to teach his son, while the nobles of the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire had already begun cursing up a storm.
These nobles were genuinely afraid of the commoners rebelling. They had spent so long getting the commoners to accept their lot, and they did not want all their efforts to go to waste because of one thing Tang Fan said on the heavenly screen.
The nobles' worries were needless. A word or two could not change the status quo; at most, it could plant a seed of discontent, waiting to sprout.
In his room, Tang Fan motioned for Bibi Dong to calm down.
"Don't get worked up. Sit down, let's get to the point. First, let me ask you, have you met Yu Xiaogang yet?"
"Yu Xiaogang? Who's that? I've never heard of him. What does he have to do with me?"
"A great deal. You could say he's the source of the tragedy of your entire life."
"What!"
Bibi Dong was so startled that she spilled the cola in her hand onto her clothes.
"Ah... my clothes!"
Tang Fan was at a loss too.
"Go take a shower in the bathroom and change your clothes."
Tang Fan led Bibi Dong to the bathroom and showed her how to use the things inside.
Bibi Dong found it all novel and played with the showerhead. Even as the Spirit Hall's Holy Maiden, she found it quite troublesome to take a bath.
"Stop playing and hurry up and take a shower. The takeout should be here by the time you're done."
"Oh!"
The bathroom door closed, and before long the sound of rushing water came from inside.
The heavenly screen's perspective followed Tang Fan, so naturally it showed none of the alluring sight.
Qian Xunji's mouth was twitching. Things had only just begun, so how had they already been interrupted? The wait was going to drive him mad.
This was a matter of great importance. He had to learn the whole story so he could decide how to respond.
Otherwise, with a reputation for forcing himself on his disciple spreading, he would struggle to hold on to his position as Pope.
Qian Daoliu, on the other hand, was better able to keep his composure and had already sent people to investigate Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang was also stunned to hear Tang Fan mention him on the heavenly screen. As things stood, he did not know Bibi Dong at all, so how had he become the person who ruined her life? He could not shoulder the blame for that.
"I have to leave Spirit City quickly. If I'm too late, I might not be able to leave."
At the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the clan master Yu Yuanzhen was also somewhat anxious.
"Someone, immediately send people to drag that unfilial son back here! He dares to offend anyone. Sooner or later, he'll drag the clan down with him."
The people from the Blue Dot Tyrant Dragon Clan were naturally not as fast as those from the Spirit Hall.
Yu Xiaogang tried to leave Spirit City, only to be seized by the Templar Knights at the city gate and taken back.
Entry into and exit from Spirit City had always been strictly controlled. He had long since been registered, so it was naturally easy for the Spirit Hall to catch him.
"Let me go! I haven't done anything! What right do you have to arrest me? Let me go!"
Yu Xiaogang shouted and yelled, but the Templar Knights paid him no attention. The onlookers watching the spectacle, however, pointed and whispered about him.
At Tang Fan's home, Bibi Dong had finished her shower, and breakfast had arrived: two steamers of buns, two bowls of silken tofu, and two fried dough sticks.
After her shower, Bibi Dong had changed into a long pink dress. Her hair hung loose and was still slightly damp.
Perhaps because she was a Soul Master, her skin was well cared for, without a single blemish.
"Very pretty!"
Tang Fan offered the compliment sincerely.
"Thank you!"
"Come and eat. Be careful this time, don't spill anything again."
Bibi Dong's face turned red again.
"I won't."
Tang Fan said nothing during the meal. No talking while eating or sleeping was a good habit.
Tang Fan was in no hurry, and the anxious people on the Douluo Continent could only wait.
After they finished eating and cleared away the dishes and chopsticks, Tang Fan finally returned to their earlier topic.
"First, let me tell you about Yu Xiaogang."
"All right."
"Yu Xiaogang is the youngest son of Yu Yuanzhen, the clan master of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He was doted on and highly regarded from childhood.
"But during his Martial Soul Awakening at the age of six, his martial soul underwent a malignant mutation. He awakened an external beast martial soul that looked neither quite like a pig nor quite like a dog, and his innate soul power was only half a rank."
"An external beast martial soul?"
"Mm. Because of that, he was also mocked quite a bit in his clan. Yu Yuanzhen spent a great many resources to raise Yu Xiaogang to rank 29, but he was completely unable to advance to rank 30."
"Isn't he just trash, then?"
"Indeed. And I don't know who chose his soul rings for him, but both of his soul skills are farts.
"They're the first soul skill, Fart Like Thunder, Earth-Shattering Luo Sanpao, and the second soul skill, Fart Like Smoke, Hypnotic Slumber Luo Sanpao."
Just hearing those two names made Bibi Dong pinch her nose in disgust.
"How revolting! How could I have anything to do with someone like that?"
Meanwhile, on the Douluo Continent, Tang Fan had exposed Yu Xiaogang's secrets.
Originally, only the people of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had known that Yu Xiaogang was trash. Now that the heavenly screen had exposed it, the entire Douluo Continent knew.
Yu Xiaogang was brought to the Worship Hall, where the Spirit Hall's worshippers all looked at him with disgust on their faces.
Yu Xiaogang's two soul skills really did not have much destructive power, but they were truly disgusting.