"Er Ming!" she snapped. "How many times do I have to tell you—watch where you step! What if you crush one of my kin?"
The ape scratched his head sheepishly. "Sorry, Sister Xiao Wu."
"So, what is it?" she asked, paws on her hips.
"Your mom is back," he replied.
Xiao Wu lit up. "Really? Take me to her!"
She hopped onto the ape and they set off.
Xiao Wu's mother, Ah Rou, had transformed decades ago and traveled between human and beast worlds. She always brought back strange and interesting stories.
As the ape stopped, Xiao Wu leapt down and hugged her mother. "Mom! Tell me what happened in the human world this time!"
"Of course, sweetie," Ah Rou smiled, stroking her soft fur.
Just as she began—
Crack!
Huo Yuhao's divine sense descended. To the three beasts, it was as if time stood still.
But it was really a time stream manipulation—a place where one second in the real world equaled a year inside.
"Let's do some remodeling," Yuhao whispered.
He extracted soul clusters from Xiao Wu, Er Ming, and Ah Rou.
Then, wearing a doctor's white coat, he summoned a Soul Scalpel, and began surgery:
Removed part of Xiao Wu's soul.
Injected "goodies" into Ah Rou's soul.
Swapped soul fragments between Er Ming and Xiao Wu.
By the end, three pixelated blobs remained.
He placed the soul blobs back into their bodies and left three special soul badges and a ring full of gold soul coins in Ah Rou's pocket.
With a wicked grin, Yuhao muttered, "You're welcome, little brat. Enjoy your future," and vanished.
For Ah Rou and the others, everything had passed in an instant.
Later, Ah Rou began her tale:
"I visited Swan City and met a rich but shy young man. When I looked at him, he blushed and turned away."
She giggled. "A total rookie. With a few sweet words, I had him spending 180,000 gold coins on me!"
"He told me he loved me and would give me everything. I asked, 'What if people want to kill me, but you can't protect me?' He swore they'd have to step over his dead body."
She showed off a soul ring. "He gave me this when he proposed. Said he'd give me all his inheritance... and he did."
Xiao Wu's eyes widened. "Mom... you didn't actually stay with him, did you?!"
"Let him off easy?" Arou's face showed an even more contemptuous expression as she said smugly, "I wouldn't even let off one of the rabbits from our Great Forest, let alone him. The time I spent with him depended on how deep his pockets were. When he had given me everything, he had no more use, so I agreed to his pursuit, found an excuse to go soul hunting with him, lured him into the Star Dou Great Forest, and then attracted a ten-thousand-year soul beast. That idiot really fought to the death for me. He died holding my hand, saying he wanted to love me again in the next life. To his last breath, he never knew that besides him, I was also seeing three other men. Heeheehee…"
Xiao Wu's rabbit ears twitched as her eyes sparkled with admiration. "Mommy, you're amazing!"
Arou continued, "That kind of man, we usually call a simp!"
"How strange, why call them a simp?" Xiao Wu asked.
"A simp is someone who treats you well without boundaries. But deep down, all they want is your body," Arou said with disdain. Then she added earnestly, "Xiao Wu, remember this: never make it easy for a simp. Humans have a saying: 'The easier something is to get, the less it's cherished.' And another: 'The one who's loved becomes fearless, the one you can't get is forever alluring.'"
"When you go to the human world, learn to categorize men. Some men want your soul rings and bones—those are powerful humans, avoid them. Some men don't know your identity, but they won't fall for your tricks—don't waste time on them. Only the ones who want your body and are willing to constantly lower their boundaries to please you—those are the ones you target."
"Use bait for the fish that bites. As long as you choose the right man and use the right techniques, you can be like Mommy—get a man to spend 180,000 Gold Soul Coins with just three sentences."
"Wow~ Mommy, how do I find a simp who'd give up everything for me from a crowd of men?" Xiao Wu asked, eyes full of curiosity.
Arou began her lesson: "Very simple. You need to casually test every man you meet with obedience tests."
"What's an obedience test?" Xiao Wu asked.
"I already mentioned one," Arou replied. "I asked that simp: 'If one day lots of people wanted to kill me, but you couldn't defeat them, what would you do?' He said, 'Then let them step over my corpse!' That's an obedience test."
"Of course, you can't be too intense at first. When you find a target, use your charm. Dress gorgeously, wear perfume, make your voice sweet and soft, the kind that makes ears pregnant. Learn to cry at the right moments to touch a man's heart. When he's captivated, you start the test."
"Start light: pretend you're hungry, ask him to buy you food. Or pretend you're sick, ask him to care for you. Once he's fulfilled your requests, move on to the next test—take him shopping and only pick the most expensive things. If he pays, you move to the next stage."
Arou continued: "The key is to keep probing and breaking his boundaries, turning him into someone with none. The more he lacks limits, the easier it is to control him. Learn to categorize men—premium simps, average simps, non-simps. But remember this: a simp is still a dog. Even if you weld yourself to him, never let him off easy. What you can't get is always what stirs the heart, understand?"
"I understand, Mommy." After absorbing her mother's wealth of social experience, Xiao Wu became more eager to enter the human world. She wanted to be like Mommy—make a man spend 180,000 on her with just three sentences.
"Oh, right—Er Ming is a great practice target," Arou said, pointing at the Titan Giant Ape.
Xiao Wu looked at him with the eyes of a predator, her gaze fleeting before she softened it into a look of delicate innocence.
Er Ming hadn't heard her conversation with Arou. When he noticed Xiao Wu looking at him, a blush crept up his face. He scratched the back of his head nervously, heart pounding.
"Xiao Wu is looking at me! Hehe!"
Meanwhile…
Yu Xiaogang stumbled forward, his heart in despair.
Being lost in darkness forever wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that he had once seen the light.
That was exactly how Yu Xiaogang felt now.
After his martial spirit awakening, despite the ridicule of being "trash," he remained strong-willed and worked two hundred times harder than others. He refused to give up.
But then came the Golden Dragon Essence Fruit. He was so close to transforming his spirit—so close to turning Luo Sanpao into the Golden Holy Dragon.
He was just one step away from success!
But then someone came and stole it all.
Yu Xiaomen—a name Yu Xiaogang now gnashed his teeth at. He intercepted the fruit, snatched away Yu Xiaogang's chance to rise. His martial spirit evolved into the Golden Holy Dragon, while Yu Xiaogang remained stuck with Luo Sanpao.
Their gap widened to the point of despair.
Yu Xiaogang was crushed.
Unknowingly, he arrived in Coconut Grove City, where he had once met Bibi Dong.
He couldn't help but think—what if he had chosen Bibi Dong instead of the fruit? At least she couldn't be snatched by Yu Xiaomen. With her power, she could've protected him, helped him rise, and maybe even borne his talented children.
The thought filled him with bitter regret.
He wandered to the lakeside and looked out at the shimmering surface. Despair flooded him again.
Even if he evolved into the Golden Holy Dragon now, he would never surpass Yu Xiaomen, who was already that. Better to die than live as a joke.
He dipped his foot in the lake—icy cold stabbed into his bones. Yu Xiaogang shivered violently.
Too cold. Makes my scalp tingle. Better wait till spring when the water's warmer.
At that moment, a hand patted his shoulder.
"Brother, what's weighing on your heart so much that you'd choose such an extreme path?"
(The author notes adds:
Many readers ask: Why doesn't Huo Yuhao, who's so powerful, just steamroll Shura and change the world of Douluo?
But in my story, Huo Yuhao is already op, cunning and manipulative. Crushing Shura outright and turning him into a pathetic clown before crushing him—those are two very different things.)
Flender was born into a family of traveling merchants.
His father often traveled from place to place selling goods. Due to a lack of long-term clients and small business scale, the operation was not particularly successful.
Moreover, Flender's father lacked business integrity—selling fake and substandard products, short-changing customers. Such things happened frequently.
Because their clientele mostly consisted of individual buyers, small-time traders, and commoners rather than powerful nobles or major forces, Flender's family managed to avoid retribution over the years.
His father's personality had a lasting influence on Flender, cultivating his later traits of stinginess, cunning, and a love for petty gains.
The turning point for the family came when Flender awakened his martial spirit as a child.
He possessed an innate soul power of level 8.5, and his martial spirit was the Owlcat.
Such talent was considered exceptional across the entire Douluo Continent. If nurtured well, he could marry, have children, and elevate the family from lowly merchants to a prestigious soul master clan.
(If Flender's father knew Flender would fall in love with a woman and remain alone for her until death, he would probably explode inside his coffin.)
So, the once stingy father spared no expense when it came to investing in Flender's future.
He spent a large sum to hire the best team of soul masters to hunt a century-level soul ring for Flender, and paid handsomely to get him into the best soul master academy he could arrange.
At the academy, Flender met the woman who made his heart flutter for the first time: Liu Erlong.
What brought them together was the resonance between their martial spirits, which usually indicated the potential for a Martial Spirit Fusion Technique.
In the world of Douluo, soul masters with martial spirit fusion techniques could cultivate together (dual cultivation), enhancing both their strength and intimacy.
Generally speaking, if two male soul masters had such a bond, they became close "bros"; two females, they were likely "orange-coded" (suggesting a romantic relationship); and male-female pairs typically ended up as couples.
Flender was overjoyed, believing this meant he and Liu Erlong were destined to be together.
But—
Despite the resonance, they couldn't perform the Martial Spirit Fusion Technique, let alone dual cultivate to enhance their training.
Even the academy instructors were baffled. Eventually, they concluded that the resonance must have been a false alarm.
Flender was deeply disappointed, and eventually gave up on the idea.
On Liu Erlong's side: she was raised by her mother, and her father was Yu Luomian. She existed as a result of one of Yu Luomian's fleeting affairs.
Yu Luomian had not paid much attention to this mother-daughter pair until Liu Erlong awakened her martial spirit and revealed innate level 8.5 soul power. Her martial spirit had mutated, but not in a harmful way like Yu Xiaogang's. Her Fire Dragon martial spirit, like the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, was a top-tier beast spirit. With proper training, she was destined to become a Soul Douluo and possibly even earn a title.
Liu Erlong couldn't deny that she and her mother owed Yu Luomian a debt.
It was thanks to his help that she could afford soul master academy tuition and acquire a century-level soul ring instead of just a ten-year one.
So, although she didn't particularly like her irresponsible father, she accepted that he was her father.
Flender and Liu Erlong became friends due to their martial spirit resonance. Even though they couldn't execute a fusion technique, they got along well.
They shared a dream: to one day open a soul master academy. However, they had different ideas on how to realize that dream.
Liu Erlong, a concubine-born daughter of a noble clan, was raised by her mother and saw firsthand how hard it was for commoner soul masters. She dreamed of creating an academy for commoners.
Flender, being raised in a merchant family, saw things through a business lens. He believed that for a school to succeed, it first needed branding. Create buzz, attract talented soul masters, train them into champions, win glory in the soul master tournaments—then the school could rise to fame in one fell swoop.
Despite their differences, they hadn't had a falling out. After all, building a school wasn't something that could be done overnight. It was still a distant dream.
(So later, when Liu Erlong became fully devoted to Yu Xiaogang, resulting in Blue Tyrant Academy being absorbed into Shrek Academy and Flender's commercial strategy prevailing—yes, it was all Xiaogang's fault!)
After graduating from the soul master academy, Flender and Liu Erlong traveled the continent together, meeting powerful soul masters and gathering resources in preparation for their future academy.
Flender brought Liu Erlong to Coconut Grove City, a popular place for confessions of love. He planned to confess during the annual Lantern Festival.
He had meticulously prepared every detail of the event, hoping for a grand and romantic confession to capture Liu Erlong's heart.
However, the very first step of his plan went awry. Flender had intended to take Liu Erlong out boating on Coconut Grove Lake, but before they could begin, both of them sensed martial spirit resonance.
"Martial spirit resonance?" Flender exclaimed in surprise.
"You felt it too?" Liu Erlong asked.
Flender nodded, a wild idea forming in his mind:
"That means... our martial spirit fusion technique isn't between two people—it's at least three!"
"Three people? That's impossible!" Liu Erlong exclaimed in disbelief.
"In the soul master world, nothing's impossible," Flender said. "A three-person fusion technique may be rare, but it's not unthinkable. The important thing is to find the person who triggered this resonance."
So, they followed the signal—
And soon, they saw a scene:
A young man with a buzz cut, wearing a black graduation robe, stood by the lake, gazing at the water with a melancholy look.
He took a few steps forward.
What's he trying to do? Flender and Liu Erlong wondered.
Then they saw the buzz cut young man dip his foot into the lake, then withdraw it.
"Could it be he's trying to…" Liu Erlong speculated.
"We have to stop him," Flender said. His martial spirit activated—wings of the Owlcat emerged from his back. He flapped and flew over to the young man, patting his shoulder:
"Brother, what's got you so down you'd consider such an extreme option?"
The buzz cut youth snapped out of it and looked at Flender, then at Liu Erlong, who had just caught up. He too felt the powerful resonance.
"You felt it too?" Flender asked.
The young man nodded, his hands behind his back, a glint of wisdom in his eyes:
"There exists a martial spirit fusion between us—and it's a rare three-person fusion technique."
Thus marked the first meeting of the Golden Iron Triangle.
"Nice to meet you, my name is Flender." After introducing himself, Flender pointed at Liu Erlong. "This is Liu Erlong, a friend of mine. And you are?"
The short-haired young man said coolly, "I'm Yu Xiaogang."
"Yu Xiaogang!" Liu Erlong pressed her lips together in surprise.
Yu Xiaogang raised an eyebrow. "You know me?"
Liu Erlong shook her head and immediately asked, "Your surname is Yu. Are you from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan?"
"That's right." Yu Xiaogang clasped his hands behind his back. His background was his greatest source of pride—especially in front of these country bumpkins. It always gave him a sense of innate superiority. "I'm the son of the current Clan Master, Yu Yuanzhen." He added with emphasis, "Also, a recognized Master by the Martial Soul Theory Research Society—Master Yu Xiaogang."
"That's incredible! Being recognized as a master by the Soul Master Theory Society means you're an authority in that field," Liu Erlong praised.
Yu Xiaogang's lips curled into a slight smile.
"So that means your martial soul must be the number one beast-type martial soul—the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, right?" Flender asked.
Yu Xiaogang's smile froze before it could fully form. Liu Erlong's expression also turned a bit strange.
"What is it?" Flender finally realized the atmosphere was off.
Yu Xiaogang's face became stiff, zombie-like. He shook his head and said, "My martial soul underwent a malignant mutation. It was supposed to evolve into the Golden Holy Dragon but instead degenerated into a useless martial soul called Luo Sanpao."
"Sorry for bringing up something painful," Flender said awkwardly.
"Since we three share a martial soul fusion skill, why don't we get to know each other better?" Liu Erlong suggested, summoning her martial soul.
A massive crimson dragon, wreathed in flames, appeared behind her. Four soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple—circled around her. "This is my martial soul, Fire Dragon. I'm a level 49 assault-type Soul Sect."
Flender marveled at the aura of her martial soul and said, "Erlong's martial soul is no weaker than the top-tier Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon."
"This is..." Yu Xiaogang's pupils contracted slightly. Unlike Flender, who was a grassroots soul master, he was the son of a Clan Master and a scholar who had read countless records in the Spirit Hall archives. How could he not recognize the resemblance between her soul and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon?
This dragon-type martial soul must have been derived from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. In other words, Liu Erlong must have some connection—possibly a deep one—to the clan.
Could she be from the clan? Yu Xiaogang decided to keep quiet for now and investigate her identity in private.
Flender then summoned his own martial soul: a cat-eagle hybrid. Four soul rings—yellow, yellow, purple, black—hovered around him. "My martial soul is Cat-Eagle, level 55 agility-type Soul King."
Last was Yu Xiaogang. He looked frustrated. With a puff, a small beast that looked neither like a pig nor a dog appeared beside him, surrounded by two yellow rings.
"My martial soul is Luo Sanpao. I'm a level 29 Grandmaster."
"Aww, it's so cute!" Liu Erlong couldn't help but scoop up Luo Sanpao.
"Since the three of us share a martial soul fusion skill, why don't we call each other siblings and travel the continent together?" Flender proposed.
"Sounds good," both Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong agreed.
They exchanged ages. Flender was the oldest, so he became the eldest brother. Yu Xiaogang was second, and Liu Erlong was the youngest sister.
At that moment, a bond formed between the three as they left Coconut Grove City together.
"Wait, I feel like I forgot something..." Flender tapped his head. Then he remembered—he had come to Coconut Grove City to confess his love to Liu Erlong!
But now wasn't the right time. They had just become friends. He decided he'd wait for a better opportunity to confess. Maybe, many years later, as he aged alone, he'd look back at this moment and regret not speaking up—especially when his brother and the girl he liked ended up together.
After meeting Yu Xiaogang, the issue between Flender and Liu Erlong was resolved.
Thanks to their martial soul fusion technique, when the three cultivated together, golden light surrounded them in a triangular formation.
Flender and Liu Erlong accelerated their soul power circulation. In the end, Liu Erlong excitedly said, "I've never felt this good while cultivating. Our speed together is three times faster than when I train alone. I think I'll reach Soul King in less than a month!"
"Same here," Flender said happily. "If this continues, we might even reach Soul Douluo before we're fifty." Yu Xiaogang, however, was not pleased.
He had high hopes for the martial soul fusion technique, as cultivating with it usually yielded greater results. When he learned they might have one together, he was thrilled. Maybe it would help him break through to level 30. If he could choose the right third soul ring, perhaps he could activate the Golden Holy Dragon bloodline in Luo Sanpao and eventually evolve it.
But even with the faster training speed, the bottleneck at level 29 remained unshaken. No matter what, it refused to budge.
Watching his "brother" and "sister" benefit and progress while he remained stuck made Yu Xiaogang jealous. One was a merchant's son, the other a seemingly ordinary woman—yet they had such talent. And he, Yu Xiaogang, noble son of the Clan Master, was stuck forever at level 29?
Jealousy and resentment brewed in his heart. He had hoped the martial soul fusion technique would benefit him, not the others. If he didn't gain anything while they skyrocketed in strength, why bother?
So he began making excuses to avoid joint cultivation.
With Yu Xiaogang pulling out, Flender and Liu Erlong's training "accelerator" stopped working. Though they wanted him to join, seeing his sulky demeanor, they didn't push him.
But about ten days later, Yu Xiaogang changed his mind and rejoined their training like a loyal companion again.
Why? Because he had discovered Liu Erlong's true identity.
From the moment he saw her martial soul, he suspected a connection to the clan. He secretly hired someone to investigate her background.
The result stunned him—Liu Erlong was the illegitimate daughter of Yu Luomian, his uncle.
Though their relationship was strained, Yu Luomian still cared for his gifted daughter and provided compensation over the years.
"She's Yu Luomian's daughter?!" Yu Xiaogang was shocked. But then, hatred spread across his face.
His resentment toward Yu Luomian was second only to his hatred toward the entire clan.
Back when he was still in the clan, he never understood why this uncle kept targeting him.
So what if he, as the clan leader's son, received triple resources? Why did Yu Luomian have a problem with that?
His father personally trained him—again Yu Luomian interfered.
At every elders' meeting, Yu Luomian always led the charge to strip him of his core disciple status. If not for his father, Yu Xiaogang would've been demoted to a menial disciple.
Even though evolving his martial soul could have greatly benefited the clan, Yu Luomian still tried to block him.
Eventually, Yu Xiaogang was forced to leave the clan—and it was all due to Yu Luomian.
Yu Xiaogang deeply hated him. But weak as he was, he could only bury that hatred deep inside.
Yet fate played a cruel joke. He had now encountered Yu Luomian's daughter. And they even shared a martial soul fusion skill.
In that moment, Yu Xiaogang decided to use Liu Erlong as a tool to take revenge.
Everyone knew that soul masters who shared a fusion technique became closer through cultivation. If he could use that to lure Liu Erlong in, then propose marriage when the time was right...
Yu Xiaogang's mouth curled into a sinister grin.
What? You say Liu Erlong is my cousin, so marriage would be unethical?
But I didn't know she was my cousin! I already told her my background—she didn't tell me hers and insisted on marrying me. How is that my fault? You tell me!
If Yu Luomian revealed the truth and it broke me emotionally—saying I was tricked by my own cousin into marriage—then I'd have no choice but to annul it. Is that my fault too?
Liu Erlong falling in love with me and resenting her father—well, that's their problem. What does it have to do with me, Yu Xiaogang? You tell me!
Yu Xiaogang mentally mapped out his revenge plan. But then he realized: their fusion skill was shared among three people. Flender, too, would be affected—and he was a problem.
I can't let Erlong and Flender grow any closer. I have to draw her toward me, Yu Xiaogang thought.
If the fusion technique were centered around me, then Liu Erlong would naturally be drawn to my brilliance and wisdom.
And so, the three resumed joint training.
As their training accelerated again, Flender and Liu Erlong grew closer to Yu Xiaogang—not just in cultivation, but emotionally.
Flender's connection was forged in deep friendship. He didn't realize that through this technique, he would eventually become a friend who could never betray Yu Xiaogang.
Liu Erlong's bond took a different turn—emotional and romantic attraction. Under the influence of the technique and something from the spiritual sea, she was increasingly drawn to Yu Xiaogang. She loved his scent, his wisdom, even his modest flat-top haircut.
She had once started to like Flender, but now that Yu Xiaogang was in the picture, Flender's image faded. It was replaced by a scholar with a robe, hands behind his back, and wise, shining eyes.
This subtle transformation grew stronger without anyone realizing it.
Only Yu Xiaogang remained mostly unaffected. But he, a scholar, observed the changes. And he felt a surge of joy.
Could it be... this fusion skill is centered around me?
He couldn't be sure until the first time they used it in battle.
Eventually, Liu Erlong's soul power broke through.
"Xiaogang, Big Brother Flender—I did it! I'm now a quasi-Soul King!" she said.
"Congratulations, Erlong!" Flender said genuinely.
Yu Xiaogang, full of envy, forced himself to say, "Congratulations, Erlong."
"Let's go hunt a soul beast right away!" Flender suggested.
"Sure, Big Brother Flender," Liu Erlong agreed.
Just as they were about to set off, Yu Xiaogang interjected, "Wait! I'm going with you."
Flender hesitated. "Xiaogang, is that a good idea?"
That sentence stabbed Yu Xiaogang in his fragile ego. His expression twisted. "Flender, do you look down on me because I'm only level 29?!"
Flender quickly explained, "No, I didn't mean that—"
"Then what did you mean?!"
"I mean, the Star Dou Forest is dangerous, and—"
Yu Xiaogang blushed and snapped, "You're just looking down on me! Don't forget, the fusion skill needs me too! Plus, I'm a recognized Master by the Spirit Hall. I can offer crucial insights when we face soul beasts!"