While the entire academy was in an uproar over Prince Xue Xing's arrival and celebrating Chen Ming's achievements, inside a remote little room, Yu Xiaogang stared at the Douluo Heart Method in his hands and at Chen Ming's public speech in the Spirit Hall. His eyes were bloodshot like those of a rutting bull.
The louder the cheers and discussions outside became, the more oppressive the atmosphere inside Yu Xiaogang's room grew.
"Greed… a new cultivation method… honorary elder of the Spirit Hall… imperial duke…"
"Why? Why?! WHY?! I worked for so many years and still couldn't accomplish any of it, yet some brat can do it so easily! Why is it that I, the number one theorist on the continent, don't even have as much fame as a child like him?!"
Yu Xiaogang imagined that scene of overwhelming attention. Imagined standing before countless people, becoming someone who could leave his name in history despite not even reaching the rank of Spirit Elder. Imagined himself as the one admired by the masses because of his talent.
He desperately wished that the person standing on that stage and delivering those words had been him. That the one discussed by countless people, envied, jealous of, even hated… was him.
It was a dream he had never even dared to imagine in his entire life.
But when Yu Xiaogang looked again at the Douluo Heart Method, then at the cramped room around him—which actually wasn't small at all—he only felt as though everything in his life, even his dignity, had been trampled into the dirt and crushed like mud beneath someone's feet.
Yu Xiaogang was deeply insecure. The gap created by his Martial Soul and his birth made it impossible for him not to be insecure. But Yu Xiaogang was also proud—proud to the point of distortion, proud in a way that was almost incomprehensible.
It was difficult to understand, yet it had always been his state of mind.
The prouder he was of his origins and family, the more inferior he felt because of his Martial Soul and his inability to break past Level 30.
And the more insecure and repressed he became, the more desperately he wanted to prove himself.
But the more he wanted to prove himself, the more he realized he had no ability to do so. So he could only force himself to appear incomparably proud while sinking further into extreme inferiority.
Because he was proud, he became insecure. Because he was insecure, he became even more desperate to appear proud. Because he lacked ability, he became even more twisted.
That was Yu Xiaogang's entire life—and the truth in his heart that even he himself never wished to face.
The more he thought about it, the more agitated Yu Xiaogang became, until he completely lost control of his emotions. In fury, he grabbed a stool from the room and smashed it wildly around him, wanting to shatter every decoration and piece of furniture into pieces.
But before he could smash much of anything, the old wooden stool—already worn from age—split apart. One of the broken legs flew up and struck the corner of Yu Xiaogang's eye, the sharp pain forcing him to stop.
Looking at the broken stool, Yu Xiaogang covered one eye with his hand and shouted furiously,
"So even you bully me! You bully me too! Even a damn wooden stool wants to bully me!"
"Go, Luo Sanpao!"
"Fart like thunder, shake the heavens and split the earth—Luo Sanpao!"
The first Spirit Ring on Yu Xiaogang's body lit up as he tried to command Luo Sanpao to attack.
But when Luo Sanpao saw the chaotic room and sensed that there was no one else present, it turned its head in confusion. Holding back the urge in its stomach, it looked at Yu Xiaogang with innocent and bewildered eyes.
There was no target to attack, so who exactly was it supposed to attack?
Yes, as an extremely, extremely special Martial Soul that possessed its own consciousness, although Luo Sanpao obeyed Yu Xiaogang's commands most of the time…
But in reality, Luo Sanpao possessed its own ability to think and could disobey Yu Xiaogang's wishes to a certain extent. It was just that under normal circumstances, Luo Sanpao chose to obey his commands.
This time, after being summoned, Luo Sanpao saw only its own room and could not smell even the slightest trace of an enemy. Naturally, it looked at Yu Xiaogang in confusion.
When Yu Xiaogang saw that Luo Sanpao had accepted his Spirit Power yet still refused to use its Spirit Ability, he instantly became even more enraged. He felt as though even his useless Martial Soul had betrayed him. Rushing forward, he circulated his Spirit Power to the limit and kicked Luo Sanpao hard in the stomach.
That kick caused Luo Sanpao to unleash not only the accumulated power of its usual three blasts in a single shot, but also a stream of murky dark-yellow liquid. Its pig-like body was sent flying directly into the mess.
And because of the connection between Martial Soul and master, not only was Luo Sanpao squealing miserably, even Yu Xiaogang himself clutched his stomach and collapsed onto the ground, his face red as he curled up like a cooked shrimp.
Yu Xiaogang's kick had truly been vicious. It kicked Luo Sanpao until it squealed nonstop, and it also left Yu Xiaogang himself feeling as though his insides had been torn apart, unable to even stand up.
Looking at Luo Sanpao—whose attack from that kick had sprayed out not only gas but liquid as well—looking at the room and piles of documents contaminated by that arrow-like burst of diarrhea, Yu Xiaogang felt as though his very soul had left his body.
"I clearly… clearly had ideas too. If I had just a few more decades—no, just a few more years—I could've… I definitely could've achieved something like this too! So why is that brat the one receiving all the praise instead of me?! Why?!"
Yu Xiaogang lay on the floor staring blankly at the ceiling, his heart filled with confusion.
He had always looked down on Chen Ming. Back when he first saw Chen Ming's information sheet and read that his Martial Soul was the Heavy Armored Earth Dragon with innate Level 7 Spirit Power, he had genuinely despised him.
As someone carrying the bloodline of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, Yu Xiaogang looked down equally upon all Spirit Masters with sub-dragon Martial Souls.
Because those Martial Souls were neither as powerful as the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon nor capable of resisting its bloodline suppression. Even Spirit Masters with higher levels were often no match for Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Spirit Masters of the same level.
Ordinary people and normal Spirit Masters would notice the "dragon" in Chen Ming's Martial Soul. Yu Xiaogang, however, only noticed the "sub-dragon."
Even though his own Martial Soul was not a Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon at all, but merely a farting pig that couldn't even compare to ordinary sub-dragon Martial Souls, and was worlds apart from even average beast-type Martial Souls.
But Yu Xiaogang was arrogant. As a member of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, he naturally looked down on ordinary sub-dragon Martial Souls. As the most favored child of the clan leader, he naturally looked down on commoner Spirit Masters.
If Chen Ming's records and Wang Sheng's records were placed together, Yu Xiaogang would naturally conclude that Chen Ming's talent and future achievements would surpass Wang Sheng's.
But when actually facing them, Yu Xiaogang would look down on Chen Ming even more—even knowing Chen Ming's Martial Soul was better and his innate Spirit Power was higher than Wang Sheng's.
Because he was proud to his very bones and held arrogance toward sub-dragon Martial Souls. This was a shared trait of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan, not just Yu Xiaogang alone.
The only difference was that Yu Xiaogang himself did not even possess a sub-dragon Martial Soul, yet still looked down on sub-dragon Martial Souls anyway.
And yet it just had to be Chen Ming. The very person Yu Xiaogang despised the most. The brat who had rejected him. The child he had once met but ignored.
That very child had accomplished the thing Yu Xiaogang had dreamed of achieving his entire life.
Being weaker than others—Yu Xiaogang had long since grown used to that. Though painful, he had already accepted reality.
Because of that, however, his pride in the one thing he excelled at—his theories—had twisted into something dark, exaggerated, and almost incomprehensible.
After all, aside from that, he had nothing left.
No family. No clan. No lover. Nothing at all.
But Chen Ming's appearance was like a vicious slap across Yu Xiaogang's face, forcing him to witness someone with an even worse background than his own, yet with greater talent and superior theoretical achievements.
And that person was just a child! A child who was only around ten years old this year!
As a Level 29 Spirit Master already over fifty years old, everything Yu Xiaogang had ever wanted was possessed by Chen Ming. And not only did Chen Ming have absolutely nothing to do with him, Yu Xiaogang had even watched him grow step by step right before his eyes.
Every single detail stabbed directly into his heart.
Yu Xiaogang hated it!
He hated himself for not simply taking Chen Ming in as a disciple back then.
He hated how Chen Ming ignored him when he went looking for him after obtaining his first Spirit Ring. He hated how some poor brat with no background could reach such heights while he himself remained a useless waste!
Although Yu Xiaogang believed that by taking Tang San as his disciple, he would eventually nurture an unparalleled powerhouse…
The moment he thought about how, even if he truly succeeded, the one drawing everyone's attention would still only be Tang San and not himself, Yu Xiaogang felt jealousy and hatred toward Chen Ming from the depths of his heart—even though there was barely any connection between them at all.