Chapter 4: Shame Leads to Courage, Unwavering Ambition! Yu Xiaogang's Collapse: So I'm really a waste?
"Pass down the order!"
Bibi Dong's voice suddenly rose.
"Closely monitor all movements of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School!
Especially the whereabouts of Ning Fengzhi, Jian, and Gu!
Also, have Gui and Ju Douluo on standby!"
She would never allow any of the three upper sects to possess the power to break the existing balance!
If Ning Fengzhi really wanted to hunt for a soul ring, then perhaps... it would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to nip him in the bud!
Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan.
Sect Master Yu Yuanzhen's expression was uncertain, showing both envy for Ning Fengzhi's opportunity and shock and contemplation at the information revealed by the Heavenly Curtain.
"Yu Jingcheng... the Light Dragon King..."
Yu Yuanzhen repeatedly chewed on this name.
The stubborn figure who left the sect in despair sixty years ago due to a mutated martial soul gradually overlapped with the image of the "unwavering ambition" strongman in the Heavenly Curtain's narration.
"Guards!"
Yu Yuanzhen shouted in a deep voice.
"Sect Master!"
An elder strode in.
"Immediately mobilize all intelligence resources of the sect and investigate!
At all costs, find out the whereabouts of my third brother, Yu Jingcheng!
Also, find out exactly what the 'Light Dragon King' is!"
A flame ignited in Yu Yuanzhen's heart.
Tianmu said that Luo Sanpao's malignant mutation was caused by insufficient talent.
But his third brother was able to defy fate and evolve his "Pig" martial soul into the "Light Dragon King"!
Does this mean that the bloodline of their Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan still hides secrets and potentials that even they themselves are unaware of?
Perhaps, the hope for revitalizing the sect does not lie with him, nor with those talented juniors, but with that third brother who they have forgotten for sixty years!
Shrek Academy.
After Tang San's emergency treatment, Yu Xiaogang slowly regained consciousness.
His face was ashen, his eyes vacant, as if all his energy had been drained away.
The "judgment" of the Heavenly Canopy had shattered the pride and theories he had built up throughout his life.
"Stealing... piecing together... misleading the younger generation..."
Yu Xiaogang muttered to himself, appearing almost insane.
Flander and Zhao Wuji stood aside, exchanging bewildered glances, unsure how to comfort him.
They too were shocked by the contents of the Heavenly Canopy.
Tang San clenched his fists tightly, watching his teacher in this state, his heart filled with anger and resentment.
"Teacher!"
Tang San said in a deep voice.
"What the Heavenly Dao says may not be true!
Even... even if the theories are borrowed, your heart in teaching us is genuine!
Your research on martial souls is by no means entirely useless!"
However, at this moment, Yu Xiaogang could not hear anything.
Only one name echoed repeatedly in his mind, dragging him into the abyss of memory.
"Yu Jingcheng... Third Uncle..."
Yu Xiaogang had never met this Third Uncle.
Before he was even born, his third uncle had already left the sect, becoming a taboo subject within the family.
Yet, his entire life seemed to be lived in the shadow of that name.
When he awakened his martial spirit at the age of six, and that pig appeared, he clearly remembered the complex expression on his father Yu Yuanzhen's face—a mixture of disappointment, pain, and a hint of bewilderment—which ultimately culminated in a long sigh:
"It's... Luo Sanpao again...you...and your third uncle, truly worthy of being uncle and nephew..."
When he grew a little older and unwillingly questioned his uncle Yu Luomian, he was met with merciless ridicule and contempt:
"Your third uncle? A useless piece of trash who brings shame to the family!
He awakened that thing, but instead of thinking of doing his last bit for the family, he ran away like a coward!
Xiao Gang, don't be like him!"
The elders and other clansmen in the sect used Yu Jingcheng as a negative example.
"Have you heard?
Young Master Gang's martial soul is exactly the same as his runaway third uncle's!"
"What a misfortune for the family!
Third Uncle was also a genius back then, but...sigh!"
"You must learn from this. With a mutated martial soul, you must be even more resolute. Don't be like Third Uncle, giving up on yourself and becoming a disgrace to the sect!"
Disgrace, waste, coward, giving up on oneself... this was everything he heard about his third uncle, Yu Jingcheng, from childhood.
These words, like poisonous thorns, pierced deeply into young Yu Xiaogang's heart.
He hated, he resented, he blamed all his misfortunes on this damned martial soul mutation.
He believed that since his martial soul was already like this, struggling was useless; he might as well find another way.
So, he gave up and chose so-called "theoretical research."
But today, Tianmu told him that the "useless third uncle" he despised and took as a warning had embarked on a completely different path.
[Shame breeds courage, and unwavering ambition leads to the transformation from a pig's body into a radiant dragon king!]
[Willing to degenerate and lacking ambition is the worst possible choice.]
Tianmu's words were like resounding slaps to his face.
It turned out, the coward wasn't his third uncle, but himself!
It turned out, it was himself who had willingly fallen into depravity!
It turned out, the real shame was himself! A wave of immense shame and regret overwhelmed him like a burst dam. His proud theory was a joke, and his life choices were an even bigger joke!
"Ah—!"
Yu Xiaogang let out a shrill scream, spitting out another mouthful of blood, his vision going black, and he fainted once more.
At the same time, the Haotian Sect, the Star Luo Empire, the Heaven Dou Royal Family... all the top forces across the entire Douluo Continent were utterly shaken by this first inventory.
On one hand, they frantically probed Ning Fengzhi's movements, assessing the impact of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School's sudden surge in strength.
On the other hand, they used every means to investigate that unfamiliar name—Yu Jingcheng—and that incredibly powerful-sounding martial soul—the Light Dragon King!
Everyone realized that this world was about to change.
And what earth-shattering secret would the next review in three days reveal?
And who would obtain that supreme opportunity to ascend to the heavens?
Countless eyes, filled with anticipation, longing, and fear, awaited the arrival of noon three days later.
Sun and Moon Continent, Light Empire, the pinnacle of Holy Light.
The golden curtain of the sky slowly dissipated, and the sky returned to clarity, but the atmosphere on the holy mountain was even more stagnant and solemn than when the curtain had descended.
In the temple square, tens of thousands of believers still knelt on the ground, but their faces, besides piety, held a deeper, more profound fervor and awe.
"From a pig's body... transformed into the Dragon King of Light..."
"Heaven itself bears witness!
Our Emperor is a supreme being who, knowing shame, rises to the challenge and never loses his lofty ambitions!"
"So His Majesty has endured such trials!
It was His Majesty, with his supreme will, who transformed the humble into the sacred, and the mortal into the extraordinary!"
(End of Chapter)