Chapter 61 68.69. I Didn't Know Erlong's Identity
"Let me introduce myself, my name is Flandre." After speaking, Flandre pointed at Liu Erlong and said, "Her name is Liu Erlong; she's my friend. And you, brother?"
The crew-cut replied lightly, "My name is Yu Xiaogang."
"Yu Xiaogang!" Liu Erlong pursed her lips in surprise.
Yu Xiaogang's brow twitched slightly. "You know me?"
Liu Erlong shook her head, then asked, "Your surname is Yu — are you from the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus Sect?"
"That's right." Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back. His origin was his proudest capital, especially when facing this bunch of bumpkins — a genuine sense of superiority rose in him: "I'm the son of the current sect leader, Yu Yuanzhen." He added one more line: "I'm also Yu Xiaogang, the Master certified by the Soul Theory Research Association."
"That's amazing — a Master certified by the Soul Theory Association. They're authorities in the field." Liu Erlong praised.
Hearing that, the corners of Yu Xiaogang's mouth twitched into a small smile.
"So your martial soul must be the world's top beast martial soul, the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus," Flandre said.
Yu Xiaogang's grin froze before it could form; a strange expression crossed Liu Erlong's face as well.
"What's wrong?" Flandre suddenly realized the atmosphere had turned odd.
Yu Xiaogang wore a zombie-like expression. He shook his head and said, "My martial soul underwent a malignant mutation. It should have evolved into a Golden Saint Dragon, but instead it mutated in reverse into a useless martial soul called Luo Sanpao."
"Ah, sorry—I touched a sore spot." Flandre awkwardly apologized.
"Since the three of us share a soul-skill fusion technique, why don't we get to know each other more deeply?" Liu Erlong said, then summoned her martial soul.
A crimson dragon shrouded in flames appeared behind Liu Erlong, four soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple—circling her body. "This is my martial soul, called Fire Dragon, a Level 49 fierce-attack Soul Sect."
Flandre marveled at the majesty of Liu Erlong's martial soul. "Sister Erlong's martial soul is not at all inferior to the top beast martial souls like the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus."
"This is—?" When Yu Xiaogang saw the dragon Liu Erlong summoned, his pupils shrank. Compared with Flandre, who was a lowly freelance Soul Master, Yu Xiaogang — as the son of the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus Sect leader and a scholar who had pored over the Spirit Hall's library — could not fail to notice the affinities between Liu Erlong's dragon martial soul and the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus martial soul.
This dragon martial soul must have differentiated from the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus's martial soul. In other words, Liu Erlong had, more or less, intricate ties to the sect.
Could she be someone from the sect? Yu Xiaogang decided not to expose his deduction and planned to investigate Liu Erlong's identity privately later.
Next, Flandre also summoned his martial soul: a cat-owl, colors yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, and five soul rings circled his body. "My martial soul is Cat-Owl, Level 55, agile-attack Soul King."
Finally it was Yu Xiaogang's turn. He looked miserable. With a puff, a small beast that was neither pig nor dog appeared beside him. Two yellow soul rings hovered around Yu Xiaogang.
"My martial soul — Luo Sanpao. Level 29 Great Soul Master."
"Wow, so cute." Liu Erlong couldn't help hugging Luo Sanpao.
"Since the three of us have a soul-fusion technique, why don't we address each other as siblings and travel the continent together?" Flandre proposed.
"Alright." Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong agreed.
They exchanged ages; Flandre was eldest and so the big brother, Yu Xiaogang was the middle brother, and Liu Erlong the youngest sister.
At that moment they felt camaraderie and set out together, leaving Yelin City.
"Wait—did I forget something?" Flandre tapped his head, then remembered: his real reason for coming to Yelin City had been to confess to Liu Erlong. But he decided to postpone it — they had just met new companions and the mood wasn't right. He'd declare his feelings to Sister Erlong another time, he thought.
Perhaps in the original timeline, many years later, a lonely Flandre would recall the image of his brother and his sister flying off together and might regret not confessing right when Yu Xiaogang first met Liu Erlong.
After meeting Yu Xiaogang, the difficulty between Flandre and Liu Erlong was resolved.
Because of their shared soul-fusion technique, when the three trained together a golden light surrounded them; they formed a triangle and trained close to one another.
Flandre and Liu Erlong accelerated their soul power rotation. At last, Liu Erlong excitedly exclaimed, "I've never felt better. Training together triples my cultivation speed. I feel I can break through within a month and advance to Soul King."
"Same here." Flandre happily said, "If we keep training like this, before fifty we might even reach Soul Douluo." (Thinking of their original cultivation in the source)
Yu Xiaogang, however, felt unhappy.
He had been very hopeful about the soul-fusion technique: when Soul Masters with fusion techniques train together, progress can be achieved with half the effort. Learning that an unknown three-person fusion skill existed made him ecstatic — perhaps he could finally break past 29 and reach Level 30, a quasi-Soul Venerable. And if he chose his third soul ring well, maybe he could activate Luo Sanpao's Golden Saint Dragon bloodline and continue training to eventually transform into a Golden Saint Dragon.
But when the three trained together, Yu Xiaogang still felt the bottleneck unshakable; no matter how fast they trained, 29-level soul power remained 29-level soul power.
Watching his good brother and sister reap the benefits of the fusion technique, their cultivation shooting up while he remained motionless, jealousy rose in Yu Xiaogang's heart. These two—one from a merchant background and one a woman who didn't seem of high status—had such talent, yet he, Yu Xiaogang, the noble son of the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus Sect leader, was stuck perpetually at 29.
Jealousy made him uneasy. He had counted on the fusion skill to give him the advantage, not to benefit others while he made no progress. Why should that be?
So for a time afterward, Yu Xiaogang made all kinds of excuses to avoid training with Flandre and Liu Erlong.
His dropping out directly interrupted Flandre and Liu Erlong's training accelerator. Although they wanted Yu Xiaogang to join, seeing the displeasure on his crew-cut head, they didn't press it.
However, more than ten days after Yu Xiaogang bailed, he suddenly changed his mind and rejoined them as the good brother and middle sibling for joint training.
What prompted his change was learning Liu Erlong's identity.
From the moment he saw Liu Erlong's martial soul, Yu Xiaogang suspected she might be linked to the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus Sect. So, without telling them, he spent money to have someone investigate her background. Finally the results came.
Liu Erlong's connection to the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus Sect was even deeper than Yu Xiaogang had imagined: she was the illegitimate daughter of his uncle, Yu Luomian.
Although their father-daughter relationship wasn't very good, Yu Luomian still valued this gifted daughter and compensated her for many years of neglect.
"She's actually Yu Luomian's daughter!" Surprise flashed across Yu Xiaogang's face, then resentment showed without concealment.
Yu Xiaogang's hatred of Yu Luomian ranked second only to his disdain for Yu Xiaomen within the Blue Electric Tyrannosaurus Sect.
When Yu Xiaogang was still in the sect, he could never understand why his uncle relentlessly targeted him.
Why did his uncle oppose him when he, as the sect leader's son, received threefold core disciple resources? Why intervene when his father, Yu Yuanzhen, transmitted power for his training? Every sect elder meeting, his uncle led the charge to strip him of core disciple privileges; if not for his father's protection, he would have become a mere drudge.
Clearly, elevating his martial soul to Golden Saint Dragon would benefit the sect greatly, yet his uncle seemed to wish he remain a perennial failure with no chance to rise.
In the end, when he was forced out of the sect, it was his uncle pulling strings behind the scenes.
Yu Xiaogang deeply hated this uncle, but lacking voice and influence he could only bury his resentment.
Fate, however, was perverse. Yu Xiaogang never expected to meet his uncle Yu Luomian's daughter — and to have a soul-fusion technique with her.
The moment he recognized Liu Erlong's identity and remembered the past targeting and humiliation from Yu Luomian, fury flared in Yu Xiaogang's heart. Since Yu Luomian valued this daughter so much, he decided to use Liu Erlong to take revenge on the uncle who always picked on him.
As everyone knows, when Soul Masters who have a soul-fusion technique cultivate together, they not only gain accelerated advancement, they also grow closer emotionally.
If he could use training to draw Liu Erlong nearer to him, then turn her into a woman blindly obedient to Yu Xiaogang and propose marriage, he thought with an evil smile curling his mouth.
"What, you say Liu Erlong is my cousin and we can't marry because it's unethical? She's my cousin, but I didn't know that — I even told her my identity and she didn't reveal hers. If she insists on marrying me, what's wrong with that? If I marry her without knowing her identity, what fault is that of mine? If Uncle Yu Luomian later exposes her identity and I feel betrayed, I can easily divorce her — how is that my fault? If Liu Erlong falls for me and resents her father who broke our marriage, that's their father-daughter issue, not mine!" Yu Xiaogang rehearsed every vindictive justification for his revenge in his mind.
He planned every step of his scheme to take revenge on Yu Luomian. He then realized Flandre was also an obstacle in the three-person fusion dynamic.
No — he couldn't allow Liu Erlong and Flandre to grow closer. He had to draw Liu Erlong to his side.
He didn't know what the fusion technique's leadership structure was; if he could dominate it, then Liu Erlong would inevitably fall for his intelligence and charm. That thought excited Yu Xiaogang.
So the three resumed training together.
With the training accelerator's blessing, Flandre and Liu Erlong's cultivation rates soared.
But as their speeds increased, the closeness between Flandre, Liu Erlong, and Yu Xiaogang also quietly deepened. For Flandre, the bond represented friendship — he had no idea that continual reliance on the fusion skill would eventually shape him into an unwaveringly loyal friend to Yu Xiaogang.
In Liu Erlong's case, the relationship subtly shifted into attraction to a different sex. Under the influence of the fusion skill and some light in the sea of spirit, she gradually became drawn to Yu Xiaogang. She craved the scent he emitted and liked his clever little crew-cut appearance.
Originally, with only her and Flandre, she had developed feelings for Flandre. But with Yu Xiaogang's involvement, Flandre's place in her heart shrank until it was replaced by the crew-cut scholar in academic robes, hands clasped behind his back, eyes shining with intelligence.
This subtle, imperceptible change influenced them both before they realized it.
Yu Xiaogang was the least affected, but as a scholar he noticed the changes in Flandre and Liu Erlong and guessed with licentious delight: could it be that this three-person fusion technique was led by me?
Although that was a strong possibility, he only knew for sure after the first time they used the fusion technique.
Finally, Liu Erlong's soul power broke through.
"Xiao Gang, Brother F — my soul power has broken through. I'm now a quasi-Soul King!" Liu Erlong said.
"Congratulations, Sister Erlong," Flandre said sincerely.
Yu Xiaogang was envious of Liu Erlong's talent, but thinking of his plan, he could only stiffly say, "Congratulations, Sister Erlong."
"No time to waste, Sister Erlong — let's set off to hunt soul beasts and acquire soul rings." Flandre proposed.
"All right, Big Brother F." Liu Erlong replied.
As the two were about to leave, Yu Xiaogang said, "Wait — I'll go with you."
Flandre said, "Xiao Gang, that might not be a good idea."
That remark stabbed at Yu Xiaogang's fragile pride. He scowled, "Flandre, do you look down on me because I'm only a Level 29 Great Soul Master?"
Flandre hurriedly explained, "I didn't mean that."
"Then what did you mean?"
"I meant the Star Dou Forest is dangerous — you—"
Yu Xiaogang flushed and stuck out his neck. "You look down on me, Yu Xiaogang. But don't forget, this fusion technique can't do without me, and I'm a Master certified by the Spirit Hall. When we encounter soul beasts, I can give you crucial guidance."
(END CHAPTER)
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