Flender, a Business Genius; the Deeply Cunning Grandmaster; Ma Hongjun Begins the Attack Challenge

"Dad went out today. I never expected the Star Official Challenge to be real!"

"It wasn't a scam by Spirit Hall!"

"Feng Xiaotian actually accepted the Star Official Challenge and obtained the Second Spirit, the Soul Breaking Spear!"

"Hu Liena even got a God-Given Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring!"

"And I... wasted two chances to accept the challenge for nothing. Damn it!"

Tang San's eyes were bloodshot, his glare nearly splitting them apart.

Whenever he thought of how he'd thrown away two Lucky Star Feathers, his heart bled.

Tang San firmly believed his talent was far superior to Feng Xiaotian's and Hu Liena's.

If he'd accepted those two Star Official Challenges, he'd surely have reached even greater heights. But a missed chance was a missed chance.

"I wonder when I'll get another Lucky Star Feather?"

Tang San let out a heavy, unwilling sigh and turned back toward the cave...

The next day, inside the room beside the arena.

Lin Feng stretched and sat up in bed, full of energy.

"A new day has begun. Time to get to work!"

PS: Third update (3/4)

Chapter 18: Flender, a Business Genius; the Deeply Cunning Grandmaster; Ma Hongjun Begins the Attack Challenge

Shrek Academy, the plaza.

A large crowd of students had gathered here.

Soul Masters who'd come to watch the Star Official Challenge were there as well.

The admission fee was ten Gold Soul Coins per person.

Ordinary civilians couldn't afford to pay their way in.

The entire plaza had been divided into several sections.

The closer to the arena, the higher the price.

And that was on top of the admission fee.

Flender, the dean of Shrek Academy,

stood atop a tall building, looking down at the plaza.

The neat rows of people, the layout, the arrangements—he was quite pleased with it all.

The shameless man pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and slapped his thigh.

"Damn, I really am a business genius!"

"Today's income alone is worth ten years of the academy's usual profits!"

Zhao Wuji stood beside him, rubbing his forehead helplessly.

Though Shrek Academy was an advanced Soul Master academy recognized by the Heaven Dou Empire's royal family,

it was truly embarrassing for them to pull a stunt like this.

Teachers from Shrek Academy patrolled the edges of the arena.

They kept order. Anyone who dared to chatter or make a racket

would be thrown out, without a refund.

Countless Soul Masters were furious but dared not complain. To witness the Star Official Challenge,

they had no choice but to put up with it for now.

The area directly in front of the arena was reserved for Shrek Academy's students.

A group of teachers stood at the very front.

Liu Erlong and Yu Xiaogang led them.

Ma Hongjun stood nearby, looking smug.

He held his hands behind his back, striking the pose of a master.

But his lecherous eyes kept sneaking glances at the pretty female students.

His lips smacked in secret as he swallowed.

He had to make sure nobody caught him, and the chubby boy's acting was convincing.

Just then, the door to the room beside the arena opened.

A young man in white, his silver hair flowing, stepped out.

There wasn't a trace of Soul Power on him.

He looked utterly ordinary.

Yet his handsome face was flawless as a piece of fine jade.

He looked like an immortal descended from the heavens—dazzling beyond compare.

When the Silver-Haired Man appeared, all the female students

let out shrieks, their faces flushing red.

The crowd grew restless in an instant.

The teacher keeping order hurriedly shouted, "Silence!"

Only then did the crowd quiet down again.

Everyone fixed their eyes on the arena,

where the young man had slowly walked over and sat down on a meditation cushion.

They were thrilled and utterly in awe of him.

When Yu Xiaogang saw him emerge from the room,

his brow immediately furrowed. He felt his own looks had been threatened.

Then he noticed that the other man had no Soul Power at all.

He was just an ordinary, unremarkable person.

As for accepting the Star Official Challenge and changing his fate,

Yu Xiaogang had felt inexplicably disappointed about the idea since last night.

Ma Hongjun put his hands on his hips, looking displeased.

Among the female students who'd just screamed,

several had caught his eye.

For a moment, he felt as if his head had turned green.

But he quickly put the little matter out of his mind.

As long as he accepted the Star Official Challenge and grew stronger,

would he really have any trouble finding a pretty girlfriend?

Thousands of people in the crowd, at that moment,

kept perfectly silent in unspoken agreement, gazing expectantly at the Silver-Haired Man seated on the cushion at the center of the arena.

Lin Feng sat cross-legged on the cushion, meditating with his eyes closed.

He was as still as a mountain, as if no one else were there.

He had the composure of a man who wouldn't flinch if Mount Tai collapsed before him.

In truth, though, he'd cracked open the corner of one eye to survey the scene.

"What's Shrek Academy up to?"

"Are they holding military drills? Why are the lines so neat?"

Lin Feng was at a loss. Then he spotted signs posted in several places.

They read "Twenty Gold Soul Coin Section" and "One Hundred Gold Soul Coin Section."

He couldn't help laughing. So this had all been the work of the greedy Four-Eyed Owl Flender.

"Flender really took advantage of me holding the challenge here today."

"He's raked in a fortune for himself. Outrageous!"

"If he doesn't split the appearance fee with me, there'll be hell to pay..."

Lin Feng grumbled to himself for a few moments.

Then his attention was drawn to a close-cropped man by the arena.

He stood with his hands behind his back, looking quite imposing.

He gave off an inscrutable air.

But though his face seemed stern, there was something gloomy about it.

His nose was sunken, and his lips thin and narrow, giving him a mean look.

A face like that usually belonged to a petty man, one deeply scheming and cunning.

"Could that sinister fellow really be Yu Xiaogang, the number-one scumbag in Douluo Continent?"

"The woman beside him is wearing a blue dress,"

"but her gaze is sharp, and there's muscle on her arms."

"Uh... she must be Liu Erlong, known as the human-shaped Mother Tyrannosaurus."

"Ah, another lovesick fool, just like Bibi Dong."

"She got tricked into digging wild vegetables by Yu Xiaogang and still thinks she's happy."

"Red hair, a big belly, a little... no, a big fat guy."

"That has to be Ma Hongjun, the one with the Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul."

Lin Feng took a quick look at the three of them.

Yu Xiaogang was the biggest eyesore, with Ma Hongjun coming second.

That guy was a womanizer and didn't settle down until he met Bai Chenxiang.

Liu Erlong was still alluring, though she was just a little less voluptuous than Bibi Dong.

She was still a feast for the eyes, a delight to behold.

Lin Feng sat there a little longer.

The thousands of people in the crowd hadn't made a sound. It was starting to feel eerie.

So he opened his eyes and calmly swept his gaze across the crowd.

Then he spoke in a commanding voice:

"Yu Xiaogang, Ma Hongjun."

"Since you're both here, come up and accept the Star Official Challenge."

The moment he said this, the entire crowd erupted.

Deafening chatter rang out, and the place grew incredibly lively.

No one had expected

Yu Xiaogang, the national teacher of the Heaven Dou Empire,

or Ma Hongjun, one of the famed Shrek Seven Devils, to appear.