After leaving the sect, Yu Xiaogang's luck took a steep downturn.
Before his departure, he had asked his father for a sect token. With the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's token, he could freely enter the Spirit Hall and even gain audience with the leaders of the other two top sects. This would have made finding a method to break through his martial spirit's bottleneck past level 30 much easier.
However, just as he was leaving the mountain gate, he was intercepted by Yu Xiaomen, who stealthily stole his sect token.
As the saying goes, "The King of Hell is easy to meet, but little demons are hard to deal with." Without this symbol of identity, Yu Xiaogang couldn't even get past the first guards at the entrances of the Spirit Hall, the Clear Sky Clan, or the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan—let alone meet their leaders.
With no token, he could have returned to the clan and asked his father, Yu Yuanzhen, for another one. But Yu Xiaogang was far too proud for that. Before he had left, he'd sworn to himself: If I can't make something of myself, I'll never return.
So, he was forced to find a different way—searching for any opportunity to infiltrate the Spirit Hall, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, or the Clear Sky Clan. His goal: to access their secrets and discover a way to evolve his martial spirit.
But before he could even begin that quest, he faced a major setback.
He was swindled.
A despicable con artist had approached him, claiming to possess a divine elixir that could evolve martial spirits. Yu Xiaogang, driven by desperation and a flicker of hope, believed him—and handed over all his money.
Now penniless, he wasn't completely without options. After all, he was still a level-29 spirit master. He could have joined a soul-hunting team to earn commissions by helping others hunt spirit beasts. He could have even joined the Spirit Hall as an officer and gone from village to village helping awaken children's martial spirits.
But this was Yu Xiaogang—the son of Yu Yuanzhen, patriarch of a top-tier sect. Noble, proud, and obsessed with status.
Help commoners awaken their martial spirits? Teach the rabble? Join uncultured soul hunters just to survive?
He'd rather starve.
And starve he did—for three full days.
Fortunately, heaven didn't completely abandon him. Just as he was getting dizzy from hunger, he saw some spirit masters walking out of the local Spirit Hall with a few gold soul coins in hand.
It was then that he remembered—the Spirit Hall provided monthly stipends to registered spirit masters.
Immediately, Yu Xiaogang went to the Spirit Hall, registered his rank, and collected his stipend. Thus, he reluctantly accepted a meal from the very organization he had always scorned.
Walking out of the Spirit Hall wearing a plain black scholar's robe, his frail body as thin as a bamboo pole, Yu Xiaogang scoffed as he clutched a pouch of soul coins:
"Hmph. The Spirit Hall uses the empires' wealth to win hearts. Despicable. But hey, if I don't spend their money, someone else will."
With his hunger finally eased, he returned to brooding over his troubles.
No matter how hard he tried to cultivate, his bottleneck remained immovable, like an unyielding rock.
It was laughable—if even Yu Yuanzhen's personal power-transfer rituals couldn't help him break through level 30, what chance did he have alone?
In fact, without Yu Yuanzhen's help, reaching spirit master level at all would've been a miracle.
Naturally, he needed someone to blame.
In a dark corner of his room, whenever Yu Xiaogang's frustrations peaked, he would summon his martial spirit—Luo Sanpao, a pig—and unleash his fury:
"You useless piece of trash! You had the potential to evolve into a Golden Holy Dragon, but you regressed instead! Do you have any idea what you've done? Because of you, I've been branded a failure for over a decade! If not for you, I'd be a Spirit Ancestor by now—no, a Spirit King!"
"Give me back my Golden Holy Dragon! GIVE IT BACK!"
In a fit of rage, he kicked Luo Sanpao to the ground. The pig whimpered pitifully.
If harming a martial spirit didn't reflect back on the spirit master, Yu Xiaogang swore he'd butcher it and eat pork that very night.
---
In a cheap inn in Yelin City...
Yu Xiaogang staggered into his room in a daze, pushing the door open—only to find three people already inside.
Two elderly men stood flanking a tall, handsome young man at the center.
"You..." Yu Xiaogang started.
Before he could finish, a flash of golden light struck him. His body went limp, and he collapsed to the floor.
Just before losing consciousness, he heard their conversation:
"So this is that famous waste son of Yu Yuanzhen? Hah, his martial spirit is a pig, and his spirit skill is... farting? Hahahaha!"
"That's not all. I heard this trash drained the clan's resources for over ten years. Yu Yuanzhen personally channeled power into him, just to barely get him to level 29. If not for him, Yu Yuanzhen would've been a Rank-95 Super Douluo by now!"
"We should thank this failure—he's slowed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan's progress for years."
"But are you sure you want to choose him?"
"What I need... is a failure. A clown."
Shut up! I'm not a failure! I'm not a clown! Yu Xiaogang screamed internally as his mind faded into darkness.
---
At dusk, Yu Xiaogang groggily awoke on the floor.
He shook his small, dizzy head, confused. Strange. Why am I lying on the floor? What just happened...?
Unable to recall anything, he shrugged it off and returned to his usual worries.
Food was no longer an issue thanks to the Spirit Hall's stipend—but his true goal seemed as distant as ever.
He needed access to other factions on the continent, to steal or learn the secret to evolving his martial spirit. He wanted to use their resources to help his Luo Sanpao become the Golden Holy Dragon.
But without a sect token, how could he get close to those places?
Scratching his head in frustration, Yu Xiaogang stepped outside.
With his hands behind his back, he walked through the streets of Yelin City, face full of worry.
Then suddenly, his eyes widened.
He saw a beautiful figure weaving through the crowd—a woman with deep wine-red hair and a stunning figure.
Yu Xiaogang's eyes lit up like a starving wolf.
She was indeed beautiful, the kind of woman any man would desire. But that wasn't what caught Yu Xiaogang's attention.
He recognized who she was—
Bibi Dong, the current Holy Maiden of the Spirit
Hall.
The moment he realized her identity, the gears in his mind began turning rapidly.
---
(End of Chapter)