Flender was just about to reason with them when he sensed an overwhelmingly oppressive aura behind him. He turned back stiffly and saw an old man staring at him with contempt, as though he were nothing more than an insignificant ant.
Flender had naturally learned from Zhao Wuji that Lin Yan had a Title Douluo backing him. But as a gambler, he dared to bet that the Title Douluo was not present for the moment, hoping to quickly learn from Lin Yan the truth behind his Thousand-year Soul Ring as his second Soul Ring.
As the saying went, high risk brought high returns. These Shrek Academy students were all clinging to that lucky mindset, and Yu Xiaogang, that fool who did not know when to stop, had also been egging them on.
"Your Excellency, I, I..." Flender was the sort who bullied the weak but feared the strong. Faced with the old man's oppressive gaze, he could not even form a complete sentence.
The old man looked at the speechless Flender, reached out, and pressed a hand onto his shoulder. An invisible pressure instantly swept over him, and with a bang, Flender was forced to his knees.
"You can't even speak clearly. Are you really fit to be an academy headmaster?" the old man asked as he looked at Flender.
"I, I..." Flender had truly been frightened to tears. He knew all too well that a Soul Sage like him standing against a Title Douluo was like an egg smashing against a rock. He would shatter on impact.
At that moment, he was already thinking about how to take the children away. If this continued, they might not even keep their lives.
The arrogance on the faces of Dai Mubai and the other two vanished as they lowered their heads. There were only three of them because Xiao Wu had been afraid of running into a Title Douluo and claimed she was unwell, so the other two girls had escorted her back to the dormitory.
The old man's withered fingers clamped around Flender's shoulder like iron pincers. His knuckles tightened slightly, and with a crisp crack, the clear sound of bone breaking exploded through the air and entered everyone's ears, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.
Flender trembled all over, cold sweat instantly soaking his back. The intense pain made his vision go dark, yet he gritted his teeth and did not let out a single groan.
The old man's voice held not the slightest ripple, yet it carried an unquestionable brutality, as if he were discussing something utterly trivial. "I'm not an unreasonable man. How about this? Last time, that dog bear had his right arm crippled by me. Today, you cripple your own left arm. What do you say?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to feel that it was not enough. His fingers lightly ground against Flender's shattered shoulder bone. Seeing the cold sweat seeping from Flender's brow, a glint of coldness flashed through his eyes as he added impatiently and contemptuously, "Once you're done, take your useless bunch of students and get out of my sight. Don't keep being an eyesore."
"Fine..." Flender was just about to agree.
Yu Xiaogang, who was holding Tang San nearby, could no longer sit still. Seeing that his good brother was about to lose an arm, he could no longer restrain himself. He stood up and pulled out the Martial Soul Hall Token Tang Hao had given him that day. "I am an honorary elder of Spirit Hall. You dare?"
The old man's figure flashed, leaving almost no afterimage behind, and he had already appeared before Yu Xiaogang.
Without a word, he grabbed Yu Xiaogang's wrist holding the token. His grip was so strong that it nearly crushed the bones. Before Yu Xiaogang could react, the honorary elder token of Spirit Hall had already been snatched away.
The old man glanced at the token and rubbed the martial soul insignia on it with his fingertips. Then he raised his eyes, his gaze piercing Yu Xiaogang's face like icy spikes. The mockery in his voice was undisguised. "A Soul Grandmaster dares to use this lousy token to swindle others? An honorary elder of Spirit Hall? If I said I was a Spirit Hall worshiper, would you believe me?"
Before his words had even faded, a crisp crack rang out.
The token, forged from refined iron and high-grade wood and impossible for ordinary soul masters to damage, was casually crushed in the old man's hand into countless tiny fragments of iron and wood, which scattered onto the ground.
When he raised his eyes again, the mockery in them had become naked disdain, falling directly upon Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang stared dumbfoundedly at the hand that had just crushed the token. His face was filled with disbelief, and he had even forgotten the agony in his wrist.
"If you dare spout any more nonsense, I'll cripple you too." The old man's voice was not loud, but it carried the unique pressure of a Title Douluo. It was like a massive boulder crushing Yu Xiaogang's heart, cold enough to pierce his bones.
Flender, still kneeling on the ground nearby, had originally felt more than half the weight in his heart lift.
He had thought that once Xiaogang brought out the honorary elder token of Spirit Hall, even if the other party was a Title Douluo, he would have to show Spirit Hall some respect. His left arm should have been saved.
Yet he had never expected this old man to be so utterly lawless. Not only did he ignore the token, he crushed it outright.
This was a token of Spirit Hall!
Even a Title Douluo should not have been this bold, openly provoking Spirit Hall's authority, right?!
Flender's heart sank as despair surged through him once more. Cold sweat instantly drenched his back.
Lin Yan watched Lin Tian crush the token with a strange look in his eyes. He felt that this guy had done it on purpose. He could have simply thrown the token away and slapped Yu Xiaogang, but he had deliberately crushed it. Did he want to imitate this token too?
It seemed he would have to ask him once they returned to the hotel.
In the end, under the old man's gaze, he desperately crippled his own left arm. His cultivation, once at level 78 as a Soul Sage, instantly fell to level 76 the moment he lost his left arm.
From that day onward, the headmaster and vice-headmaster of Shrek Academy had both become one-armed Soul Sages.
"Get out!" The old man looked at Flender, who had crippled his own left arm, signaling that he could take his students and leave.
Hearing those words, Flender felt as though he had received salvation. He immediately took the students and Xiaogang away from that place of despair. He had never imagined that today would turn him into a one-armed Soul Sage just like Old Zhao!
He regretted it beyond measure, but regret was useless. Everything had already happened.
Lin Yan watched the Shrek Academy students flee like homeless dogs, then looked at the old man and complained helplessly, "You really have a twisted sense of humor."
"Just tell me, did you enjoy it?" the old man asked Lin Yan.
Lin Yan fell silent for a moment before nodding. "It was alright."
"Exactly." The old man seemed to sense something and said to Lin Yan, "Looks like we have another guest. This time, you deal with her. You're best at handling this sort." After saying that, his figure had already vanished from before Lin Yan.
Watching Lin Tian come and go without a trace, Lin Yan, who had been about to ask who it was, could only swallow his question and continue toward the corridor.
Very soon, Lin Yan encountered the guest Lin Tian had mentioned: Ning Rongrong, the princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
The girl wore a simple white dress that gave her a clean, fresh appearance. Her neat short hair reached her ears, her tender skin resembled lychee flesh, and her delicate features were exquisite. She stood around one meter sixty-five tall, with a very well-proportioned figure and a noble, otherworldly temperament. She looked like an aristocratic young lady who had received an excellent education.
If someone like Ning Rongrong came looking for you, many people would be ecstatic, perhaps even thrilled. Lin Yan, however, was not. He even found it annoying. What he and Lin Tian wanted to lure out was Dugu Bo, not someone from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
It could be said that in this era, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect was of no help at all to him and Lin Tian. They could simply be ignored.
"Hello, genius Lin Yan. May we get to know each other?" Ning Rongrong's eyes curved as she smiled, a perfectly measured faint smile resting on her lips. Her gaze fell gently upon Lin Yan, and her polite voice carried a touch of girlish liveliness.
Lin Yan raised his eyes and gave her a glance without even the slightest pretense of courtesy. His brows furrowed, and the impatience on his face nearly spilled from his eyes.
"Put away that act on your face. If you have something to say, say it plainly, young sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect." His voice was cold and hard, his detachment undisguised. He was clearly not interested in Ning Rongrong at all and only wanted to send her away quickly so she would stop wasting his time.
Ning Rongrong had not expected Lin Yan's reaction to be completely beyond her expectations. The impatience on his face was overflowing, and confusion mixed with a trace of displeasure rose within her. This guy is actually this impatient with me?
She suppressed her displeasure and continued smiling. "Genius Lin Yan, as the young sect master of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, may I be friends with you?"
"There's no need." Lin Yan gave Ning Rongrong no face at all. "You should go play with those rabble friends of yours. At least you're more suited to each other."
"Why is your mouth so foul?!" Ning Rongrong finally could not endure it any longer and snapped back.
Lin Yan looked at the furious Ning Rongrong and asked, "Are you done?"
Ning Rongrong stared at Lin Yan in confusion, not understanding what he meant by those words.
Looking at Ning Rongrong standing there like an idiot, Lin Yan covered his forehead and said without any politeness, "It's simple. If you're done, you can get lost."
Ning Rongrong: "?"
As the princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, she had never seen anyone this arrogant. He actually dared to speak to her like that.
She no longer wanted to waste words and got straight to the point. "I want to buy the secret of how your second Soul Ring became a Thousand-year Soul Ring. Name your price!"
What the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect lacked least was Gold Soul Coins. Ning Rongrong believed she could buy the secret of that Thousand-year second Soul Ring!
Lin Yan looked at Ning Rongrong as though she were an idiot. "Do I know you that well?" After saying that, he no longer wished to waste time talking to her. He walked past her, preparing to leave.
Ning Rongrong finally could not take it anymore. She turned around and glared furiously at Lin Yan's back. "You bastard! Do you really think a Title Douluo backing you means he can protect you? Believe it or not, once you reach Heaven Dou City..."
Lin Yan, who was walking toward his room, did not care in the slightest. He did not even hear her clearly. Once he returned to his room and shut the door, that irritating voice finally disappeared.
Lin Tian had already shed the identity of the old man and was sitting there leisurely brewing tea. Seeing Lin Yan return, he smiled and asked, "How was it?"
"You really deserve to die!" Lin Yan looked at Lin Tian calmly brewing tea and finally could not hold back his curse.
"Don't be angry." Lin Tian poured a cup of tea and placed it before Lin Yan. "After you finish this cup, we'll get ready to leave too."
Before you continue