Ye Zhiqiu worked up the nerve to say that. He couldn't see how strong Xia Ran was, but the other man was clearly young.
Still, he was a Soul King. He refused to believe that someone so young as Xia Ran could be stronger than him.
But Xia Ran's expression turned impatient.
"Tsk~ What a pain!"
His Mysterious Cat Martial Soul possessed him. Ink-black color spread across his white clothes, and four Soul Rings—one yellow and three purple—slowly appeared, swirling around him.
"Want to try me?"
The threat in Xia Ran's voice was unmistakable. That brief question alone weighed heavily on everyone who heard it.
Ye Zhiqiu was stunned. That pure aura of darkness meant the quality of the other man's Martial Soul was definitely superior to his Black Water Turtle.
"One, two, three, four. Four Soul Rings—so you're only a Soul Ancestor?"
Then, as if he had witnessed something terrifying, his eyes widened.
"That's... a thousand-year second ring!"
"How is that possible? Who are you?"
Throughout the history of the Douluo Continent, many had tried to absorb Soul Rings beyond their limits, but every one of them had died from the strain.
To stay safe, Soul Masters now chose Soul Beasts younger than the limits set by the Soul Master World, just in case something went wrong.
Yet this young man had already absorbed a thousand-year Soul Ring as his second.
Ye Zhiqiu cursed inwardly. How had these kids managed to provoke someone like him?
Seeing Xia Ran's Martial Soul Possession again reminded Tang San and the others of the fear they had felt when he'd utterly dominated them that day.
Xiao Wu slowly regained consciousness. Seeing Xia Ran's back as he faced Ye Zhiqiu, her long eyelashes trembled.
"I told you, this was just a minor dispute. Now take them with you."
"Get out!"
The single word, "Get out," imbued with the power of laws, instantly cowed everyone present.
Ye Zhiqiu activated his Martial Soul Possession and used his Soul Skill to drag his students out of the inn in disgrace.
Watching from a distance, Zhao Wuji clicked his tongue in amazement.
"I had no idea the little guy had grown this strong!"
Once the commotion was over, Xia Ran tossed the innkeeper a few Gold Soul Coins to compensate for the damage caused during the fight.
He no longer had any expectations for the protagonist group.
Unless the Asura God and Sea God descended together to help Tang San grow stronger, Xia Ran couldn't imagine any way he could lose to these useless people.
He glanced back at the others, then paid them no more mind and slipped back into his room.
With the Void Domain no longer blanketing the area, Tang San breathed a sigh of relief.
He hurried over to Xiao Wu. Seeing her injuries, his eyes filled with heartache.
Then his gaze turned venomous as he glared in the direction Xia Ran had disappeared. In a resentful voice, he said,
"This is all that bastard Xia Ran's fault. If he'd stepped in sooner, you wouldn't have been hurt so badly!"
The moment Ning Rongrong heard him, she stared at him in disbelief.
"Seriously... how can you be so ridiculous?"
"By that logic, Dai Mubai was the one who started flirting with those girls. Why aren't you blaming him?"
Dai Mubai was standing nearby, one hand pressed to his chest as he recovered from his injuries. At Ning Rongrong's words, his face turned pale, then flushed red.
Tang San turned to look at Dai Mubai and caught the guilt in his expression.
He silently added another mark against Boss Dai, who kept picking fights and getting taught a lesson for it.
Xiao Wu, who had been at the center of the incident, also saw her impression of her third brother change after hearing Tang San's outrageous remark.
She was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, just a little naïve—not stupid. She could tell who was right and who was wrong.
"Brother, don't say things like that again. If Xia Ran hadn't stepped in, you would've been next after Dai Mubai and I lost our ability to fight."
"Xiao Wu, you..."
"Enough. I'm not feeling well."
Xiao Wu didn't give Tang San a chance to argue further. She still remembered how, during the entrance exam, Tang San had reached for a Hidden Weapon without a second thought, ready to kill Xia Ran.
Now Xia Ran had stepped in to help them, and Tang San was still badmouthing him behind his back.
[Xiao Wu's dislike of Tang San: 10%] [Reward: Host's Soul Power increased by 2 levels]
Xia Ran was cultivating in his room when he suddenly heard the system notification. The Soul Power drifting through the air immediately gathered around him.
A feeling of fullness spread through his body. Xia Ran's lips curled into a smile...
"Heh heh~ Tang San!"
Chapter 26: The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent The next day, they finally reached the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest.
After their lesson from Canghui Academy the day before, Tang San and the others behaved themselves.
Xiao Wu, on the other hand, seemed lively ever since they entered the forest, bouncing along the path.
Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong stayed beside Xia Ran, while Zhao Wuji led the way.
The forest was divided into several regions, and they were currently in the outermost area, where the vegetation grew thickest.
Towering trees blocked out the sunlight, and waist-high weeds covered the ground, so the group made slow progress.
Along the way, Tang San and the others dealt with a few weak Hundred-Year Soul Beasts under Zhao Wuji's supervision.
It wasn't until the afternoon that they encountered the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent from the original story.
"Something's moving up ahead! Get ready to fight!"
As the teacher leading the group, Zhao Wuji was the first to sense that something was wrong.
A streaking snake-shaped shadow appeared in his line of sight. He focused, and saw a wounded Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.
"Oscar! You're in luck, kid!"
Oscar's heart leapt when he heard that. He knew they'd found a Soul Ring suited to him.
His gloomy mood over Ning Rongrong and Xia Ran vanished. He stared wide-eyed at the giant red serpent racing toward them.
"Same as always. You attack first. I'll step in only if you can't handle it."
"This is a thousand-year Soul Beast, the perfect test of your current abilities."
Zhao Wuji was speaking to Tang San, Dai Mubai, and the others. Since Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong had started staying by Xia Ran's side, they hadn't spoken to anyone else along the way.
Xia Ran hadn't lifted a finger either, but Zhao Wuji didn't ask about it. Teaching them wasn't his concern, anyway.
He had taken a teaching job at Shrek purely because he was tired of running and wanted a peaceful place to live.
As the red serpent drew near, Tang San and the others summoned their Martial Souls.
He had planned to have Ma Hongjun use the aura of his Martial Soul to suppress the snake-type Soul Beast. Then he and the other two would work together with Blue Silver Grass to subdue it.
"Fatty! Release your Martial Soul with all you've got. Your Evil Fire Phoenix has the advantage over it."
But the fat guy had secretly gone off to release his Evil Fire the previous night. At this crucial moment, he was half a beat too slow.
By the time he unleashed the aura of his Evil Fire Phoenix at full power, the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent had already reached them.
Its thick tail swept across them in an instant. The nearly eight-meter-long body moved like a hand clearing a tabletop, sweeping Tang San and Dai Mubai right off the ground.
Only Xiao Wu managed to dodge the attack with a leap.
Up in a tree, Xia Ran watched the fight with the two girls, unable to stop himself from complaining inwardly.
"How did these guys ever destroy Spirit Hall with skills like that?"
It proved the protagonist group couldn't afford to lose even one member. Without the speed boost Ning Rongrong provided, they couldn't even dodge the first attack.
The two girls clicked their tongues as they watched the pair spit blood while hurtling through the air.
Zhao Wuji had just withdrawn from the fight and hadn't even had a chance to steady himself when he heard two thuds.
He turned around to see Dai Mubai and Tang San already slumped unconscious against a tree.
He looked at Xiao Wu, who had just landed, and Ma Hongjun, still in the air. Both wore awkward expressions.
"Are these really Little Monsters?"
Zhao Wuji couldn't make sense of it. He hadn't been this weak at twelve or thirteen, had he?
"I really don't know what Flender was thinking when he recruited these students."
With no choice, he stepped in himself.
It wasn't Tang San or Dai Mubai's fault. Ma Hongjun had simply been distracted.
Over the past six years, Yu Xiaogang had taught Tang San everything there was to know about Soul Beasts.
When Tang San faced the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, he quickly came up with a plan. The Evil Fire Phoenix had the advantage over snake-type Soul Beasts in the food chain.
They had planned for the fatty to unleash his aura in an instant and catch the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent off guard.
Who knew the fatty would be so unreliable...
In the end, Zhao Wuji had to use his Soul Saint strength to overwhelm the serpent and catch it as it tried to escape.
The giant red serpent was pinned by the head, its massive body thrashing on the ground.
"Oscar, don't just stand there like an idiot."
Zhao Wuji called Oscar over from the edge of the fight, handed him a dagger, and pointed to the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent's fleshy crest.
"Its brain is here. Stab it, and its Soul Ring will be yours."
Oscar stared at the dagger, stunned. The serpent was so huge that its head alone was half as long as his whole body.
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