A Narrow Victory for Grandwet

Seeing that Yu Xiaogang was drenched in sweat and unable to utter a single word, the referee raised his judging flag, about to declare the blue team the winner.

The four scholars watching from below the stage could see that Yu Xiaogang had reached a dead end.

Brother Jie cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted loudly into the distance:

"Xiao Gang, calm down and don't let him lead you astray. If he talks to you with rigid theories, you talk to him with macro-philosophy. Break free from established frameworks and use the most unrestrained Grandwet to shatter prejudices."

The roar pierced through the debate stage. Yu Xiaogang, whose face was pale, heard Brother Jie's words and her mind immediately turned to him. If she couldn't win the argument, she could still steer the topic elsewhere.

If he doesn't come up with a solution, he'll have no choice but to admit defeat.

Looking at the aggressive old scholar and then at the gloating faces below the stage, Yu Xiaogang felt even more unwilling to admit defeat.

Putting aside the facts, isn't there absolutely nothing wrong with what he said?

Yu Xiaogang picked up the conversation:

"Shut up! There are no useless Martial Soul in this world, only useless Soul Master. That's true. You've spent your whole life sitting in a daze, clinging to theories, but have you ever soared across the vast sky? This Grandwet can cross oceans and save his companions countless times. Isn't my hard work an undeniable fact?"

Yu Xiaogang glanced around at the crowd who were laughing at him, and sneered, "You bunch of frogs in a well, today I'll open your eyes to a whole new world."

He simply summoned Luo Sanpao, revealing two Yellow Soul Ring, flipped over and straddled the pig's back, unleashing his First Soul Skill by channeling his inner Soul Power.

"Hmph, oh--puff puff puff--"

A stream of air shot out from Luo Sanpao's exhaust port, using the recoil force to lift Yu Xiaogang off the ground and make her hover in mid-air.

Among the gathered crowd, the Allied Soul Master who had retreated from Sea God Island already thought he looked familiar. Now, witnessing the fat pig fly by farting, their suspicions were confirmed.

"It's confirmed! It's him!"

"That's right. He was riding this pig earlier, discussing Martial Soul Theory with a few burly men in mid-air. He was having a great time."

Discussions quickly spread outside the venue.

After Yu Xiaogang landed, she naturally heard these words.

But he couldn't care less about that right now. The Golden Sacred Dragon was beckoning to him. So what if someone noticed him? Did they think someone was recording it with Image Recording Stone?

As long as there's no Image Recording Stone, he can stubbornly deny it. Words alone aren't enough; be careful, or he might send a lawyer's letter to warn the other party.

Yu Xiaogang puffed out her chest, raised her head, pointed at the dumbfounded old scholar, and shouted loudly:

"See that? I can save my teammates from dire straits with my flying Soul Skill, can you? I even saved Titled Douluo, can you? There are no useless Martial Soul, only useless Soul Master. I did it. What are you still questioning? Look my eyes, tell me!"

The old scholar had devoted decades to studying orthodox scholarship and had spent his life pursuing rigorous research. He could naturally tell that Yu Xiaogang was taking isolated cases as truth and spouting nonsense.

His farts could make Luo Sanpao fly, and he once saved Titled Douluo? What does that have to do with him being a good-for-nothing?

He tried several times to steer the conversation back on track, but Yu Xiaogang was only interested in boasting about the Imperial Pig's flight.

The old scholar trembled with rage, pointing at Yu Xiaogang with a mixture of grief and indignation:

"You're being unreasonable! It's utterly absurd!"

"So what? You're getting worked up? You can't argue with that?!"

Yu Xiaogang, unforgiving and persistent, pressed on relentlessly, her voice growing increasingly harsh:

"Because I, the Grandwet, have long stood at the highest point of theory, looking down upon you frogs in a well. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. I, the Grandwet, can fly, but you cannot; this is the only truth."

The old scholar's beard trembled slightly as he pressed him for any other abilities besides flying with farts, and whether he had ever published a serious theoretical work.

Yu Xiaogang interrupted him repeatedly, using the questions of whether he could fly and whether he could save Titled Douluo to pressure him.

The old scholar was, after all, an honest man; the more he spoke, the more anxious he became, and his breathing became increasingly disordered.

He reached out to hold onto the edge of the table, but suddenly his vision went black, and he fell straight backward, unconscious.

The crowd fell silent as they watched the old scholar collapse.

The referee and several healing-type Soul Master rushed onto the debate stage and carried the unconscious old scholar off the stage for emergency treatment.

The referee wiped the cold sweat from his brow and looked tremblingly at Pope Qian Xunji.

Qian Xunji forcibly suppressed his smile, then nodded slightly in acknowledgment.

The referee cleared his throat and announced the result in a loud voice:

"The Blue Team scholar has withdrawn due to unforeseen circumstances. The first round of debate—Scholar Yu Xiaogang —is the winner!"

Yue Guan stepped forward, disdainfully waving away the lingering stench in the air, and spoke with a forced smile:

"Congratulations to Yu Dash­ i victory! You managed to knock your opponent unconscious with just a fart—truly an eye-opener! Please follow me."

Yue Guan led the way, taking Yu Xiaogang towards the spatial vortex.

Yu Xiaogang was completely unaware of how absurd his victory was. In any case, the Golden Sacred Dragon was beckoning to him, and he would soon become Dragon God Douluo in reserve. Once he cultivated into Titled Douluo, who would dare to speak ill of him? They would have to ask his Golden Dragon Claw if it would agree.

Tower burst into laughter, facing countless complex gazes:

"Haha--See that? There are no useless Martial Soul, only useless Soul Master. What wrong has this Grandwet done?"

In the VIP section, Yu Yuanzhen's face was ashen, and he held back for a long time before managing not to slap him to death.

Fortunately, this rebellious son didn't reveal his name when he said he saved the Titled Douluo, otherwise he really wouldn't have been able to hold back.

Yu Xiaogang stepped into the spatial vortex behind the debate stage, drawing the attention of various sects and scholars.

The moment his feet touched solid ground, before the smile on his face could fade, he couldn't help but look around.

The lake, reflecting gold and silver, the Sun Moon shining side by side, and this quiet world where not a whisper of wind could be heard—the more he looked, the more familiar it seemed to him.

His landing spot was a golden circular platform, with a circle of smaller seats around the edge, but there was no one around.

A layer of gold and silver light enveloped him, and a ray of golden light then extended from the center, rotating along the edge of the platform.

The empty spaces lit up and then dimmed one by one, and after circling around a full distance, the golden light stopped on him.

The light shield dissipated, and the golden light beneath his feet lifted him off the platform. Yu Xiaogang tried to look down, but his neck wouldn't obey him. He tried to move his fingers, but there was no response.

The familiar lake surface and his precarious situation already made him uneasy, and now that he couldn't even move his body, he could no longer maintain his earlier smugness.

Oh no, isn't this the place from my dream?

Could it be that he hasn't woken up at all, and that his time stranded on the island, building a ship with the others, encountering the Ji Ba brothers, and even debating the old scholar were all just a dream?

The image of his four close friends, who had grown larger and larger in his previous nightmare, inexplicably resurfaced, terrifying him and leaving him drenched in sweat.

Yu Xiaogang was still figuring out how to wake up from this dream when a declaration came from the air. The voice was neither male nor female, and the tone was neither joyful nor angry.

"Love and Destiny intertwine, a true adventure begins."

"You have..."

"No!"

Yu Xiaogang quickly answered.

I didn't! I didn't have anything!