Douluo: Poisonous Tongue, Loves Telling the Truth

Ye Zhiqiu gathered his courage to say this. Although he could not discern Xia Ran's true strength, the other party was clearly not very old.

No matter what, he was still a Soul King; he did not believe that someone as young as Xia Ran could be stronger than him.

However, Xia Ran merely revealed an expression of impatience.

"Tsk~ How annoying!"

He activated his Mysterious Cat Martial Soul Avatar. Ink-black energy stained his white clothes, and four soul rings—one yellow and three purple—slowly emerged, pulsing around his body.

"You want to test me?"

The threatening tone in Xia Ran's voice was self-evident; that single short sentence carried an immense sense of oppression to everyone present.

Ye Zhiqiu was stunned. With this pure aura of darkness, the quality of the opponent's martial soul was definitely superior to his Black Water Turtle.

"One, two, three, four... four soul rings. Is he only a Soul Ancestor?"

Suddenly, as if he had seen something truly terrifying, his eyes widened.

"This is... a thousand-year second soul ring!!!"

"How is this possible? Who exactly are you?"

Throughout the history of the Douluo Continent, many had attempted to absorb soul rings beyond their limits, but without exception, they had all exploded and died.

For this reason, to ensure safety, current soul masters chose soul beasts with age limits lower than the standard set by the soul master community, just to avoid any unexpected accidents.

Yet, the young man before him had actually absorbed a thousand-year-level soul ring as his second one.

Ye Zhiqiu secretly lamented in his heart: how could these little brats have provoked such an existence?

Seeing Xia Ran activate his Martial Soul Avatar again, Tang San and the others were reminded of the fear of being dominated that day.

Xiao Wu slowly regained consciousness. Seeing Xia Ran's back as he faced Ye Zhiqiu, her long eyelashes trembled.

"I said it, it's just a small conflict. Now, take them and go."

"Get lost!"

The word "get lost," imbued with the power of laws, instantly intimidated everyone present.

Ye Zhiqiu immediately activated his Martial Soul Avatar and, using the effects of his soul skill, dragged his students away from the inn in a disheveled state.

In the distance, Zhao Wuji clicked his tongue in secret:

"I didn't expect this little guy to have grown to such a point!"

The commotion ended, and Xia Ran tossed a few Gold Soul Coins to the innkeeper as compensation for the losses caused during the fight.

Currently, he held no expectations for the protagonist group.

Unless the Asura God and the Sea God descended to the mortal realm together to help Tang San grow, he could not imagine any way he could be defeated by these losers.

Glancing back at the group, Xia Ran ignored them and flashed back into his room.

With the Void Domain no longer shrouding the scene, Tang San breathed a sigh of relief.

He hurried to Xiao Wu's side, his eyes filled with heartache as he looked at the injured girl.

Then, his gaze turned venomous. Staring in the direction where Xia Ran had disappeared, he spoke in a resentful tone.

"It's all that bastard Xia Ran's fault. If he had acted sooner, you wouldn't have been injured so badly!"

Ning Rongrong, standing to the side, was completely dumbfounded the moment she heard this.

"No... are you really being this ridiculous?"

"By your logic, Dai Mubai was the one who provoked the female student first. Why don't you blame him?"

In the crowd, Dai Mubai was clutching his chest, trying to recover from his injuries. Hearing Ning Rongrong mention him, his face turned a shade of pale green.

Tang San shifted his gaze to meet Dai Mubai's guilty expression.

In his heart, he silently labeled this "Boss Dai," who repeatedly instigated trouble only to be taught a lesson each time.

As for Xiao Wu, the person involved, her impression of her "Third Brother" began to shift silently after hearing his outrageous statement.

She was a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast; she was just a bit naive, not stupid. She could still tell who was right and who was wrong.

"Brother, don't say things like that in the future. If it weren't for Xia Ran, after Boss Dai and I lost our combat ability, it would have been you guys next."

"Xiao Wu, you..."

"Alright, don't say anymore. I'm not feeling well."

Xiao Wu did not give Tang San a chance to retort. She still remembered the day of the entrance exam, when Tang San had wanted to use hidden weapons to kill Xia Ran over a mere disagreement.

Now that Xia Ran had actually stepped in to help, Tang San was still bad-mouthing him behind his back.

[Xiao Wu's level of resentment toward Tang San: 10%]

[Reward for host: Soul power increased by 2 levels]

While meditating in his room, Xia Ran suddenly heard the system prompt, and immediately, all the free-roaming soul power in the air converged toward him.

A feeling of being filled with soul power spread throughout his entire body, and the corners of Xia Ran's mouth curled upward...

"Heh~ Tang San!"

Chapter 26: Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent

The next day, the group finally arrived at the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest.

Having learned their lesson from the Blue Sunshine Academy incident yesterday, Tang San and the others were much better behaved.

Xiao Wu, on the other hand, had been lively ever since they entered the forest, skipping and hopping along the entire way.

Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong remained by Xia Ran's side, while Zhao Wuji led the way, clearing a path.

The entire forest was divided into various zones, and the group was currently in the outer perimeter where vegetation grew most densely.

Not only were there towering trees blocking the sunlight, but the ground was also covered in waist-high weeds, causing the group's progress to be quite slow.

Occasionally, they encountered a few weak, century-level spirit beasts along the way, which were dealt with by Tang San and the others under Zhao Wuji's supervision.

It wasn't until the afternoon that the group encountered the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent from the original story.

"Movement ahead! Prepare for battle!"

As the lead teacher, Zhao Wuji was the first to sense the anomaly.

A rapidly moving serpentine shadow appeared within his line of sight; upon closer inspection, it was indeed an injured Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.

"Oscar! You lucky brat!"

Hearing this, Oscar felt a surge of joy; he knew he had encountered a spirit ring suitable for himself.

The gloomy mood he had been in due to Ning Rongrong and Xia Ran vanished instantly, and he stared wide-eyed at the giant red serpent flying toward them.

"The usual rules: you all attack first. I will only intervene if you truly cannot handle it."

"This is a millennium spirit beast; it is the best way to test your current strength."

Zhao Wuji said this to Tang San and Dai Mubai, as Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong had not interacted with anyone else since staying by Xia Ran's side.

Xia Ran had not made a move either, and Zhao Wuji did not ask about it; after all, teaching was not his primary concern.

The only reason he was a teacher at Shrek was that he was tired of running and wanted to find a stable environment to live in.

Seeing the giant red serpent closing in, Tang San and the others summoned their martial spirits.

He had originally intended for Ma Hongjun to use his martial spirit's aura to suppress the serpentine spirit beast, then use his Blue Silver Grass in coordination with the other two to subdue it.

"Fatty! Release your martial spirit at full power; your Evil Fire Phoenix suppresses it."

Who would have thought that this fat guy had snuck off to release his evil fire last night, causing him to be a half-beat slow at the critical moment.

By the time he unleashed the full aura of his Evil Fire Phoenix, the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent had already reached them.

With a sweep of its thick tail, the nearly eight-meter-long body cleared the area like a tabletop, instantly knocking Tang San and Dai Mubai flying.

Of the three, only Xiao Wu managed to dodge the attack thanks to her agility.

From a tree branch, Xia Ran watched the battlefield with the two girls, unable to help but mutter to himself:

"How on earth is this level of strength supposed to destroy the Martial Soul Hall!"

Indeed, this protagonist team couldn't afford to lose a single person; without Ning Rongrong's speed boost, they couldn't even dodge the first strike.

Seeing the two of them spitting blood after being slammed into the air, the two girls couldn't help but click their tongues.

Zhao Wuji had just stepped back from the battlefield and hadn't even steadied his footing when he heard two loud thuds.

Looking back, he saw Dai Mubai and Tang San plastered against tree trunks, unconscious.

He then looked at Xiao Wu, who had just landed, and Ma Hongjun, who was still in mid-air; both wore expressions of utter embarrassment.

"Are these really little monsters?"

Zhao Wuji found the result inconceivable; he hadn't been this weak when he was twelve or thirteen.

"I really don't know what the point of Flender recruiting these students is."

Helpless, he had to take action himself.

It wasn't Tang San and Dai Mubai's fault; it was truly because Ma Hongjun had been distracted.

Over the past six years, Yu Xiaogang had taught Tang San everything he knew about spirit beasts.

Facing the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent, Tang San had quickly devised a strategy: the Evil Fire Phoenix suppressed serpentine spirit beasts in the food chain.

They had intended for Fatty to unleash his aura in an instant to catch the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent off guard.

Who knew the fat guy would be so unreliable...

In the end, it was Zhao Wuji who used his Spirit Saint strength to crush the opposition, stepping in to capture the fleeing Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.

The giant red serpent was gripped by the head, its massive body thrashing on the ground.

"Oscar, don't just stand there like a fool."

Zhao Wuji called over Oscar, who was hiding at the edge of the battlefield, handed him a dagger, and pointed to the fleshy crest on the Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent.

"Its brain is in there. Stab it, and its spirit ring will be yours."

Oscar, taking the dagger, was momentarily stunned; the snake was simply too large—its head alone was half the length of his own body.