Crisis

Not a word was spoken all night.

At dawn the next morning, everyone opened their eyes and came out of meditation.

Jiang Jiu would naturally have preferred to get a good night's sleep, but when he saw that no one else besides him and Tang San felt the same way, he went along with the crowd. Besides, he could sleep sitting up, and the quality of his sleep wasn't even that bad.

He wasn't the only one who'd fallen asleep while sitting there.

Jiang Jiu nudged Ning Rongrong's little head, which was resting against his shoulder.

There was still a glistening wet patch on Jiang Jiu's clothes. She'd slept like a log.

"What is it?"

Ning Rongrong seemed inclined to keep "sleeping in," so Jiang Jiu had no choice but to wake her up the hands-on way.

It worked like a charm. Once Ning Rongrong woke up, she wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

After providing the morning's entertainment, they returned to their main task: searching for Soul Beasts.

"We really are having rotten luck." Flender rubbed his chin.

They still either couldn't find any sign of their target Soul Beast, or the ones they found were a little too young.

Jiang Jiu had the rare good fortune of spotting a Ten-Year Soul Beast, a Lightning Rabbit. The rabbit scampered off in a panic, not caring whether it ran headfirst into a tree.

Seeing this, it wasn't hard to understand how some rabbits managed to survive.

There was a Soul Saint in their group, and most of the others were in their twenties or thirties. Yet quite a few Ten-Year and Hundred-Year Soul Beasts had charged at them earlier.

Maybe it really was true that "thinking they won't attack because Soul Masters are strong is the mindset of the weak."

At any rate, the Lightning Rabbit got away unharmed. Unlike the other Soul Beasts, it hadn't been hurt by Jiang Jiu's group. An injury would have severely diminished their chances of survival.

They walked and stopped along the way, and by noon, everyone paused to rest.

"Why are you still spacing out?" Jiang Jiu handed Ning Rongrong some food.

Ning Rongrong shuddered, as if she'd come back to herself.

"How humiliating!" She clenched her teeth, keeping her voice down, but her face was full of resentment.

She was the little princess of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and she'd actually drooled in her sleep. Worse, she'd drooled all over someone else.

And the most important thing was that everyone had seen it.

She'd go home and have them killed to keep them quiet!

Fortunately, the others were considerate enough. By now, they were all acting as though nothing had happened.

Pretending not to notice was a good thing. At least it spared the girl's pride and prevented a tragedy, though Ning Rongrong had only been thinking about it.

"How is she?"

When Jiang Jiu walked over to Flender, Flender gave him a meaningful look.

If Ning Rongrong stayed dazed and distracted, the training wouldn't be nearly as effective.

Jiang Jiu nodded to show that she was fine.

But just then, Flender suddenly straightened up. His eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses turned grave.

"We really are having rotten luck!"

Jiang Jiu looked in the direction Flender was watching.

The good news: it wasn't the Titan Giant Ape.

The bad news: there were three people approaching, two old and one young.

Jiang Jiu had a pretty good idea who they were.

They'd come to the Star Dou Forest early and still run into them? And in a forest this vast, they'd just so happened to meet the Peerless Dragon and Snake couple while they were together.

They really were unlucky.

"Everyone, gather around," Flender told them.

No matter who was approaching, encountering other Soul Masters in a Soul Beast forest called for vigilance, vigilance, and more vigilance.

Soul Beasts were naturally something to be wary of. When it came to other Soul Masters, no amount of caution was excessive.

At level seventy-eight, Flender was undoubtedly among the strongest in the outer reaches of the Star Dou Forest. But the three people across from them seemed far too relaxed.

If two Soul Saints or Soul Emperors were escorting a younger relative, then they could afford to act that way. But Flender knew it wasn't that simple.

He knew those two old-timers!

Those two had made their names even earlier than the Golden Iron Triangle, and their Martial Soul Fusion Skill was quite famous as well.

Of course, Flender was certain that the Golden Iron Triangle's Martial Soul Fusion Skill was no weaker.

If Yu Xiaogang and Liu Erlong were with him, Flender wouldn't fear them.

Or if he'd been here alone, he could have said he didn't care. At worst, he'd run. He was an exceptionally rare flying Soul Master, after all.

But he had a whole group of students with him. He had no choice but to act like a humble servant.

When the newcomers drew closer, Flender patted down his clothes.

"I'm Flender. It's a pleasure to meet you, seniors."

"Are you the Flender known as the Flying Horn?" The old woman among the two looked a little surprised.

Flender nodded.

"Well, this is quite..." Chao Tianxiang hadn't expected to run into someone who'd vanished for twenty years.

"Grandma, what's the Flying Horn?" her granddaughter, Meng Yiran, asked curiously from the side.

Was that man with the shoehorn face really that impressive? Her grandmother was usually quite arrogant toward ordinary people.

"The Golden Iron Triangle suddenly retired twenty years ago. Your grandfather and I felt quite regretful when we first heard about it."

"You flatter me, seniors," Flender replied with a polite smile.

Polite words were just polite words. There was no need to take them too seriously.

But honestly, his reputation still carried weight among people several decades older than him.

Unlike these kids in their teens, who showed no respect at all for their elders.

"What about your two friends?" Dragon Duke Meng Shu asked.

"Ah, we're each looking after a few students, just getting by."

"One of my students has reached level thirty, so I brought him here to hunt a thousand-year Soul Beast."

Flender patted Jiang Jiu on the shoulder.

As for why it wasn't Tang San—

Flender was a shrewd man. He could tell at a glance why the Dragon and Snake couple had come to the Star Dou Forest: they were here to help their granddaughter obtain her third Soul Ring.

Both of them were level thirty and looking for their third Soul Ring. Tang San's appearance didn't exactly stand out, but you could still get a rough idea of his age.

Jiang Jiu was much better at throwing people off.

If no one told them his real age, who would guess he was twelve?

The girl across from them looked about fifteen or sixteen. If Jiang Jiu was said to be fifteen or sixteen too, then both sides would save face, wouldn't they?

"What a handsome young lady. How old are you this year?" Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang praised.

Feeling the sincerity in her words, Meng Yiran pursed her lips. Her grandmother had never praised her like that. Everyone always said she was cute, even though she had short hair and wore a fitted outfit.

Still, that blue-eyed, golden-haired fellow was indeed handsome and well-mannered. He was just the sort elders liked.

"Fifteen... or sixteen."

Flender had wanted to give her a hint, but it turned out Jiang Jiu was hiding his age too.

Jiang Jiu was at a loss for words. Snake Granny or not, had she fed all the wisdom of her sixty or seventy years to the dogs?

Only Ning Rongrong was secretly laughing.

"That's about the same age as my granddaughter. Very good, very good."

"And you're tall, too. As for your development... well, it's distinctive in its own way."

Seriously, were you setting us up on a blind date? You don't even have a grandson!

Jiang Jiu gave Flender meaningful looks, but Flender pretended not to notice.

It wasn't that Flender had completely ignored the situation. He was working hard to think of a way out. He'd leave the stalling to Jiang Jiu. After all, the atmosphere was quite cordial.