When Yu Xiaogang's words fell, all the generals present were instantly speechless.
War is not won by numbers alone. People aren't unfeeling war machines—they have emotions and fear the unknown. Clearly, inside Gangzi's flat-topped head, the concept of "morale" didn't even exist.
Just as Yu Xiaogang was preparing to order the entire army forward, the battle had already begun to collapse toward total defeat for the coalition.
The rebels launched their counterattack. After enduring a round of soul-guided artillery fire, the coalition had already lost all morale.
As they counterattacked, the rebels shouted:
"Those who don't want to die, pick up your weapons and strike against the coalition!"
Soon, some of the coalition soldiers turned their spears against their own comrades. The coalition's lines were pierced, and the rebels surged swiftly toward the high ground where Yu Xiaogang stood.
Seeing this, Yu Xiaogang flew into a rage:
"Damn livestock, you dare defect like this?!"
But the tide of battle shifted too quickly. Watching the coalition forces rushing closer, Yu Xiaogang began to feel fear himself.
He didn't want to die. His life was far more valuable than that of these livestock. He still needed to live to see Tang San ascend to godhood and bring him along. He still needed to reach the God Realm and become a God Emperor.
He hastily grabbed Gu Rong's hand:
"Gu Rong, take me away! And the rest of you—I order you to organize a defense, cover my retreat, and buy me time to escape!"
"Fine, fine." Gu Rong seized Yu Xiaogang and whisked him out of the battlefield, leaving the frontline generals stunned and disordered in the wind.
They ran away just like that.
After Yu Xiaogang fled, the coalition completely collapsed, scattering in every direction. Gu Rong carried him in a swift flight, when suddenly, above them, the air looked as though ink had spread through it, and a bone dragon emerged from the rift.
Standing atop the bone dragon was Zhao Hengning, surrounded by nine soul rings: yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red, red—his soul power level, 93.
"Bone Douluo Gu Rong, where are you going? I've been meaning to settle the score of my brother with you," Zhao Hengning declared.
Gu Rong set Yu Xiaogang down and said:
"The rest of the road you'll have to run on your own. I'll hold him off."
With no choice, Yu Xiaogang started running across the ground, while behind him, two bone dragons clashed violently.
Running frantically, Yu Xiaogang soon saw a troop approaching from behind—it was the remnants of the coalition fleeing. They were mounted on warhorses and quickly caught up.
Yu Xiaogang cried:
"Quick! Give me one of your horses!"
But the deserters paid him no heed, rushing past him like the wind.
Yu Xiaogang was dumbfounded—then suddenly his stomach rumbled. Pffffft!
A foul stench erupted.
Yu Xiaogang's soul power level: Late stage Rank 26 → Peak Rank 25.
He dropped a level?! Yu Xiaogang's face turned green. He had run too frantically and forgotten to take heavenly treasures. That fart had directly blown away a rank.
Heartbroken over his lost cultivation, Yu Xiaogang was just about to pull out a heavenly treasure to chew on when he heard urgent hoofbeats behind him.
He turned—and saw a unit of rebel cavalry charging his way. They too spotted him.
For a moment both sides froze. Then the rebel commander shouted:
"Kill him! That's the coalition leader, Yu Xiaogang!"
Gangzi's love of flaunting himself had backfired—he'd erected statues of himself in every city and fortress, desperate for the world to admire his "majestic" figure. Naturally, he was instantly recognized.
Yu Xiaogang's hair stood on end. He sprinted as fast as he could, but how could human legs compare to horses? As the pursuers drew closer, Yu Xiaogang suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
He summoned his martial spirit—a big spotted pig. Swinging his legs over its back, he slapped its rump and shouted:
"Hyah! Run, you fat pig, don't let those filthy peasants catch us!"
"Oink, oink!" The spotted pig squealed and bolted.
Suddenly, Yu Xiaogang's belly gurgled again. Pffffft! Another foul-smelling fart burst out.
Yu Xiaogang's soul power level: Peak Rank 25 → Early Rank 25.
Another rank gone. But surprisingly, that fart boosted the pig's speed to rival a thousand-li stallion. Riding atop the pig, Yu Xiaogang sped forward, even overtaking fleeing deserters.
Blending into the deserters' ranks, the scene became utterly comical: a column of horse-mounted deserters with one flat-topped man in their midst, riding a pig.
But once the fart's "boost" faded, the pig slowed again. Yu Xiaogang's face turned bitter.
Normally he resented his flatulence, but now he desperately prayed for another fart to speed up his escape.
Behind him, a cry rang out:
"The flat-topped man ahead is Yu Xiaogang! Kill him!"
Riding his pig, Yu Xiaogang quickly wiped sweat from his head. Looking around at the deserters, he barked:
"Give me your helmets—now!"
One deserter hesitated, then tossed his helmet to him. Yu Xiaogang hurriedly put it on.
The pig slowed again, just as the deserters began to leave him behind. Then—pfffft! Another rancid fart erupted.
Yu Xiaogang's soul power level: Early Rank 25 → Mid Rank 24.
Another level gone. But once again, the pig accelerated, propelling Yu Xiaogang to the front of the deserters' column—before slowing down again.
From the rear, another cry:
"The one farting ahead is Yu Xiaogang! Kill him!"
Hearing this, Yu Xiaogang's stomach inconveniently rumbled again. He clenched tightly, refusing to let it out. But if you block one passage, gas finds another.
Unable to hold it, Yu Xiaogang released a mouth fart—a vile-smelling belch.
Yu Xiaogang's soul power level: Mid Rank 24 → Late Rank 23.
That doesn't count as farting… right? he thought, drenched in sweat.
Riding his pig among the deserters, he kept fleeing. Suddenly, an arrow whistled through the air, piercing his ear clean through—leaving him one-eared.
"Ahhhhhh!" Yu Xiaogang howled in pain.
No time to grieve. Another shout rose from behind—
"Kill him! The one riding the big spotted pig is Yu Xiaogang!"
When he heard those words, Yu Xiaogang instinctively drew his sword. But when he glanced at the huge spotted pig galloping beneath him, he couldn't bring himself to strike.
It wasn't that he felt pity for the beast — it was because this pig was his martial soul. If he truly killed it, not only might he fail to escape, but the feedback of pain through his martial soul would be unbearable.
Looking around at the coalition soldiers riding fine warhorses, Yu Xiaogang realized it was far too late to change mounts. In desperation, he snarled and barked an order:
"Hurry up and block them! Hold them off for me and buy me time to escape!"
But the soldiers didn't give him the slightest attention. In fact, upon hearing his words, they only spurred their horses faster, trying to distance themselves from him.
Yu Xiaogang's small, flat-headed face twisted in anger. "You damned lowborns! To sacrifice your lives for me, a noble, is your honor! Go stop them at once — do you hear me?!"
"Like hell I will," one deserter cursed, kicking Yu Xiaogang hard and knocking both him and the pig to the ground. Without a backward glance, the man bolted in another direction.
Yu Xiaogang tumbled into the dirt, his helmet clattering away. Cursing furiously, he scrambled back onto his pig. But now he had been completely left behind by the main force.
The sound of pursuing hooves grew louder, like a death knell pounding in his ears. From behind came the shouts of the enemy:
"There! The one on the pig, the flat-headed man with no ears — that's Yu Xiaogang! Kill him!"
Panic gripped Yu Xiaogang. He kicked and pummeled the pig beneath him, screaming, "Faster! Run faster, you useless swine! I don't want to die! Hurry up!"
The big pig squealed pitifully.
Just as the pursuers were about to close in, Yu Xiaogang suddenly felt his belly tighten. His eyes lit up.
Pfffft!
A foul, stomach-churning stench burst out, choking the riders behind him and making them cough violently.
Yu Xiaogang's level: From late-stage Rank 23 → mid-stage Rank 22
With that release, the pig suddenly sped up, leaving the choking pursuers behind.
"Damn that pig!" the enemy commander roared. "It dares gas us like that? After him! I'll throw him and those four deer into a pot and make a pig-and-deer feast! Catch Yu Xiaogang alive — I'll boil him alive myself!"
Yu Xiaogang broke into a cold sweat. He urged the pig to run faster. But the fart-powered "buff" didn't last long, and soon the pig slowed again.
The pursuers quickly closed the gap. Desperate, Yu Xiaogang forced out another fart, losing more soul levels, but once again the pig surged forward and widened the distance.
Thus, a bizarre sight unfolded on the battlefield — a horde of cavalrymen chasing after a flat-headed man with no ears, riding a pig, the distance between them stretching and shrinking with each disgusting burst.
By the time Yu Xiaogang's soul power fell to Rank 20, the pig was slowing again, and the distance was closing rapidly.
He looked back at the soldiers, who were grinning eagerly at the chance for merit. Desperation seized him.
"Come on! Fart! Fart for me!" he begged, but the more anxious he grew, the emptier his belly felt. No gas came.
The pig's speed dwindled, and Yu Xiaogang sank into despair. He could already imagine himself being captured, thrown into a pot with four deer, and cooked into a feast.
"No! I don't want to die! This can't be my end! I am Tang San's teacher — the teacher of a God King — destined to become a God Emperor myself! I have a brilliant future ahead! I can't die in the hands of these lowborns! Someone, save me!" Yu Xiaogang screamed in terror.
Just at that desperate moment, a flash of sword-light swept across — and every pursuing knight was instantly annihilated.
Chen Xin (Dustheart) and Ning Fengzhi descended gracefully, standing atop the Seven Killing Sword, floating above Yu Xiaogang.
Looking down, they were greeted with a most ridiculous sight — a flat-headed, earless man astride a huge spotted pig, galloping for his life.
Once he was sure he was safe, Yu Xiaogang dismounted the pig.
Ning Fengzhi landed before him and said politely, "Forgive us, Alliance Master. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect arrived late to your rescue."
Yu Xiaogang checked his own state: Rank 20. For an ordinary spirit master, that was the level of a "quasi–Grand Spirit Master." Strictly speaking, still only a Spirit Master. Normally, once one obtained a second spirit ring, one would at least be Rank 21. Yet here he was — a Rank 20 spirit master with spirit rings.
A moment ago, Yu Xiaogang had desperately wished he could fart more to survive. But now, his flat-headed face twisted bitterly. Deep down, he felt no gratitude at all toward Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin — only resentment that they hadn't come sooner. If they had arrived earlier, would I have lost so many levels?!
He was about to curse them when suddenly his face changed and his stomach churned violently.
"No! Not now!" Yu Xiaogang clenched his rear tightly, cursing in his heart: Damn it! When I was being chased, you didn't come. Now that I'm safe, suddenly you show up!
"Alliance Master Yu, what's wrong?" Ning Fengzhi asked.
Yu Xiaogang said nothing, pressing his lips shut.
Realization dawned on Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin. They quickly retreated to a safe distance.
Like a balloon that could hold no more, Yu Xiaogang finally exploded — both from his rear and his mouth, blasting out a wave of noxious stench.
As the vile odor filled the air, the flat-headed man felt a flicker of hope: Even if I'm down to Rank 20, I still have two spirit rings. Surely my level can't drop below Spirit Master rank, right? If not… then I can fart freely from now on!
But then, two yellow rings appeared at his feet. Seeing them, Yu Xiaogang's heart sank with dread.
Could it be…
Cracks suddenly spiderwebbed across his second spirit ring. Then, like glass, it shattered into countless fragments and drifted away.
Yu Xiaogang had fallen — from the lofty Grand Spirit Master — back down to the lowly rank of Spirit Master.
Soul Power Level: From early-stage Rank 20 → early-stage Rank 19!
"No! Don't! My soul power, my Grand Spirit Master rank — don't leave me!" Yu Xiaogang howled like a pig being slaughtered.
Ning Fengzhi and Chen Xin could hardly bear to watch. At last, Chen Xin said to Ning Fengzhi,
I sense danger near Gu Rong's position, Sect Master. I'll return shortly.