Liu Erlong, who sat beside Yu Xiaogang, rarely spoke and had been listening the whole time. But when she heard that Yu Xiaogang had not left to travel but had been expelled from his clan, her expression visibly grew a little strained.
An uncontrollable rage blazed up from the bottom of her heart, reddening her eyes.
"They've gone too far!" she roared, her voice ringing like a great bell and making the air around them hum. She smashed the wine cup in her hand to the ground, shattering it into countless pieces.
The sudden outburst gave everyone a fright.
"Third Sister, what's gotten into you?" Flender asked hurriedly.
Liu Erlong said indignantly, "I think the clan Xiaogang was born into has gone too far. They struck his name from the clan rolls just because he lacked talent for cultivation. That's far too heartless."
"That just goes to show that everyone in Xiaogang's clan is a narrow-minded, hidebound fool who knows nothing but cultivation!"
Liu Erlong showed no mercy with her words, not even sparing a thought for the fact that Yu Tianheng was present.
After a while, Liu Erlong seemed to realize what she had said. She looked at Yu Tianheng and said a little sheepishly, "Sorry, I got a little worked up just now. Of course, those words weren't directed at you, but at the old fogeys in your and Xiaogang's clan. Tian Heng, please don't take them to heart."
Yu Tianheng smiled and said without concern, "It's all right. I think you're right too."
Liu Erlong put a hand on Yu Xiaogang's shoulder, her spirit soaring to the clouds. "Xiaogang, a clan like that isn't worth going back to. You'd be better off traveling with me and Big Brother Flender. Once we're strong enough, the three of us can go to your clan and demand justice for you!"
Yu Xiaogang nodded, but he still held out little hope.
After all, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan he came from was one of the famous Upper Three Sects on the continent, with a Titled Douluo-level expert holding the fort. Going to pick a fight with a power like that was nothing short of a fool's dream.
But faced with Liu Erlong's goodwill, he could hardly pour cold water on her.
"By the way, Xiaogang, we've known each other for a while now, but I've never heard you speak of the clan you came from. Why not tell us frankly today, so we know where things stand?" Flender asked.
Although Yu Xiaogang, Liu Erlong, and Flender had formed the "Golden Iron Triangle" and had laid bare their hearts to one another, Yu Xiaogang had never revealed his origins.
It was mainly because he felt inferior. Being expelled from his clan was hardly an honor, after all, and unless his brain was full of water, he wouldn't want to bring it up.
But now that Flender had asked, Yu Xiaogang could hardly keep hiding it.
He gave a bitter laugh. "Very well. You're both my best friends. Now that things have come to this, I don't intend to hide it anymore."
"The clan I come from is called the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, one of the Upper Three Sects on the Douluo Continent. The Martial Soul passed down in the clan is hailed as the world's number one Beast Martial Soul, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon."
"But because of a Martial Soul Mutation, I failed to awaken it. The mutation also meant that my Soul Power Level would never rise above level 29. Yet my father is Yu Yuanzhen, the current patriarch of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, a Titled Douluo-level expert known as Thunder Douluo. He's an exceptionally proud man, and having his own son turn out to be a good-for-nothing with a mutated Martial Soul made him lose a great deal of face."
"You know what happened after that. I was expelled from the clan and wandered about. Then I met you and Erlong, and we formed the Golden Iron Triangle."
After hearing Yu Xiaogang's account, Liu Erlong and Flender were both shocked. They had known he might come from some great clan in the Soul Master World, but they had never imagined it would be a colossus like the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Though the news stirred them up, their hearts also sank a little.
Picking a fight with the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan was obviously impossible.
Remembering what she had said earlier, Liu Erlong couldn't help blushing.
But before long, she pulled herself together. "Hmph, so what if it's the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan? We of the Golden Iron Triangle are no pushovers either. We're still young. Once we've grown stronger, we might well be qualified to cross swords with them."
"Right, Sister Erlong is right. Xiaogang, you need to pull yourself together. You can't give up on yourself," Flender encouraged him.
Yu Xiaogang nodded, and a little hope welled up in his heart.
Yu Tianheng, who had been watching everything from the side, saw that the time was about right. He took a clan emblem representing a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan from inside his robes, placed it on the table, and slowly slid it in front of Yu Xiaogang.
"Uncle, no matter what, you're my own uncle and a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Now that you're away from home, you might run into trouble someday. If you do, you can take out this emblem representing the clan to deter them."
Yu Xiaogang was about to shake his head and refuse when Liu Erlong suddenly picked up the emblem and held it before her eyes for a closer look. The more she looked, the more shocked she became.
"Sister Erlong, what's wrong?" Flender noticed something was amiss and hurriedly asked.
"This... I think I have an emblem just like this one!" As soon as the words left her mouth, Liu Erlong took a token identical to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan emblem from the clothing next to her skin.
"This?" Yu Xiaogang was utterly shocked.
As the patriarch's own son, he knew there were not many such emblems representing direct descendants of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and even fewer people who could obtain one. It was perfectly normal for Yu Tianheng to have one. He himself should have had one too, but for certain reasons, the clan had never given him one. But why did Liu Erlong have one? Could it be...?
Liu Erlong said, "I grew up in a single-parent family and lived with my mother from childhood. I even took her surname. My father left this emblem with my mother."
Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang immediately recalled the letter Yu Tianheng had written him. Even Flender thought of it too.
"You're from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan too!"
"Huh?" Liu Erlong was a little confused about what was going on.
"If I'm not mistaken, your father should be the second-in-command of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, my second uncle, Yu Luomian. That would make you my younger cousin," Yu Xiaogang said, his expression somewhat complicated.
He should have thought of it sooner. Her surname was Liu, and her Martial Soul was a Fire Dragon Martial Soul, extremely similar to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. It was presumably the result of a Martial Soul Mutation.
Without a doubt, Liu Erlong was the illegitimate daughter his second uncle was keeping outside the clan.
He had never imagined there could be such a coincidence in the world.
Liu Erlong was stunned as well. When she heard Yu Xiaogang say the name Yu Luomian, she more or less understood what had happened.
She had never imagined that her father also came from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. He had never told her that, and still less had she imagined that he was Yu Xiaogang's second uncle.
It was far too much of a coincidence.