The Dragon Whisker Needle was an extremely insidious Hidden Weapon. It was shaped like a needle when used, but once it entered the body, it twisted and curled into a ball.
Without hesitation, Lin Ye took the crystal.
Even though he had no use for it, he couldn't leave it for Little Scumbag.
In short, Tang San's unhappiness made Lin Ye happy.
He loved building his happiness on Tang San's pain.
Just as he was about to look at some of the other Soul Tools, Snow Empress stopped him and kept him from making any more irrational purchases.
As Lin Ye wondered why, Snow Empress's voice rang in his mind. "These Soul Tools are all fakes."
What? They were all fakes?
Lin Ye paused, but he knew Snow Empress couldn't be mistaken.
When he looked at these "Soul Tools" again, the corner of his mouth twitched.
They'd done a pretty good job of faking them. Even the fakes gave off Soul Power fluctuations, and he had no idea how they'd managed that.
Lin Ye had seen plenty in his time, and even he had nearly been fooled.
One could imagine how ordinary Soul Masters with little experience would react to those Soul Power fluctuations. They'd be overjoyed, thinking they'd struck it lucky and found a bargain, then foolishly hand over their money and take all these fakes home.
If there were one or two real items mixed in, so people could find a bargain with a keen eye—or get lucky and pick a genuine one—that would be fine.
But every single one was fake. That was going too far.
A swindler, a swindler—a real swindler.
No, this was outright fraud.
Come to think of it, if Flender really had this many Soul Tools, he wouldn't be worrying about Shrek Academy's budget.
Just like that, Lin Ye lost all interest.
"Boss, how much for this crystal?"
Flender opened his eyes from the reclining chair and sized up the young man before him. "Kid, how old are you?"
"Hm?"
A few question marks seemed to pop up over Lin Ye's head. What was with the random question about his age?
Though puzzled, he answered, "Twelve."
Twelve?
Flender froze, his eyes full of disbelief as a storm surged through his heart.
Good heavens, a twelve-year-old Soul Ancestor at level 45.
What family did this genius come from? Spirit Hall, or one of the Upper Three Sects?
Looking at the others, Xiao Wu was level 29. Not bad, not bad—another Little Monster.
The Soul Tool on Ice Empress's wrist concealed her aura, so Flender sensed only an ordinary person.
As for Snow Empress, he couldn't gauge her strength at all. Still, his instincts told him that this beautiful woman was no ordinary person.
And those whose strength you couldn't gauge were usually far stronger than you—big shots on a completely different level.
Amid his shock, an idea took shape in Flender's mind: he would recruit this young man into Shrek Academy.
Once it had occurred to him, the idea took hold and wouldn't let go.
But recruiting him would require a bit of finesse.
His thoughts raced, and his eyes rolled as he quickly came up with a plan.
At once, Flender put on a show of casualness and asked, "You're a student at Shrek Academy, aren't you?"
Lin Ye: "???"
What was Flender the swindler talking about? Didn't he know who was enrolled at his own academy?
Before Lin Ye could ask, Flender put on an expression of admiration and praise, then launched into a speech of his own. "A promising young talent like you could probably only come from Shrek Academy.
"Shrek Academy's entrance requirements are that students must be under twelve and have Soul Power above level 25.
"Besides, the children from noble families are spoiled from birth, raised in the lap of luxury.
"They know nothing about the outside world, let alone how to fight. Shrek Academy doesn't accept students like that. The academy has admitted sixty-two students in total, but only fourteen have graduated.
"After leaving the academy, every one of those fourteen became a figure of renown. The most outstanding among them is now the youngest Elder in Spirit Hall, with authority second only to the Pope."
As he spoke, Flender looked at Lin Ye with approval and said earnestly, "You're very talented. With Shrek Academy's guidance, I'm sure you'll achieve even greater things in the future."
Once he'd finished, Flender watched the young man's reaction.
Heh heh heh, come on, hurry up and join Shrek. Aren't you curious what Shrek is like? Don't you want to meet some Little Monsters just like you?
Heh heh heh, come on, come on!
Lin Ye: "..."
Fine, fine. He really knew how to praise himself.
An Elder of Spirit Hall, with authority second only to the Pope? He just made that up on the spot?
Who did he think he was fooling?
But by now Lin Ye had figured it out. Flender had been talking around the point because he'd taken an interest in Lin Ye's talent and wanted to make him curious enough to visit Shrek.
Lin Ye didn't bother arguing with him about it. "Boss, how much is this crystal?"
Flender waved a hand, unconcerned. "It's not worth much. Ten Gold Soul Coins will do."
He thought to himself that the boy might become a Little Monster at Shrek someday, so he couldn't leave him with a bad impression.
Without another word, Lin Ye dropped ten Gold Soul Coins on the counter, picked up the Board Crystal, and left the shop.
After they'd left the shop and walked a short distance, Xiao Wu said eagerly, "That Shrek place sounds interesting. Let's go take a look."
Lin Ye glanced at her and chuckled. "And people wonder why I say you're not too bright."
Hearing Lin Ye say she wasn't too bright, Xiao Wu immediately grew unhappy, her little mouth puffing up.
Lin Ye said quietly, "Don't you think the things he said were abrupt and completely out of the blue?"
Xiao Wu frowned. "What do you mean?"
Lin Ye said, "He's the dean of Shrek Academy. He only said all that to make us curious and lure us into visiting his academy."
Xiao Wu suddenly understood. The human world was so complicated. She wanted to go back to the forest.
Beside them, Ice Empress twitched her nose and glanced at the snack stall by the street. She immediately perked up. "There's something delicious over there."
After speaking, she gazed eagerly at Lin Ye.
She meant for Lin Ye to pay.
In fact, she had her own Little Treasury, but whenever they went out together, she never volunteered to pay.
A proper little miser.
Seeing her expectant gaze, Lin Ye smiled. "Don't rush. Let's find somewhere to stay first."
Xiao Wu said, "There's a hotel over there. Let's stay there."
Everyone looked in the direction Xiao Wu was pointing and saw a rather distinctive hotel.
The hotel wasn't very large, but it had its own charm. The whole building looked like a giant rose, and the walls and decorations were a vivid rose red.
Lin Ye's eyes lit up. "The Rose Hotel. It looks pretty nice.
"Come on, I'll take you all to get a room."
With that, he led the way toward the Rose Hotel.
The three women exchanged glances, then followed him.
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