Flender walked toward Liu Erlong and Ling Feng, eyes narrowed, a smile on his face.
"Miss, have you changed your mind? Would you like to sell the Dragon Ganoderma Leaf?" Flender asked.
Liu Erlong looked at Ling Feng, as if asking him what to do.
Seeing this, Ling Feng nodded. "The Dragon Ganoderma Leaf is actually mine. I gave it to her!"
"I hid the spirit herb in the Sunset Forest. If you want it, come with me!"
Flender's eyes lit up. No wonder Liu Erlong hadn't wanted to sell him the spirit herb. It turned out it wasn't hers!
"Fine!"
Flender wanted to find a quiet place to make the deal, too. That way, he could better "swindle" the two of them and make more money.
Ling Feng led Flender and Liu Erlong into the Sunset Forest.
This was the outermost fringe of the Sunset Forest, where almost no Soul Beasts roamed.
But beneath the cover of night, it felt a little more dangerous.
Only Flender, confident in his own strength and bolstered by the fact that his cultivation surpassed both of theirs and his Martial Soul specialized in speed and agility, would have dared to follow them.
"We're here. Let's do it here," Ling Feng said.
Flender stopped cautiously and asked, "Where's the spirit herb you mentioned?"
"We'll talk about the spirit herb later. First, return the two hundred Gold Soul Coins you owe her!" Ling Feng said.
Flender's heart sank. He understood that the two of them hadn't come to sell him any medicine at all.
"What two hundred Gold Soul Coins? That was the money I got for selling books. This young lady agreed to it at the time!" Flender said.
"So you're not planning to pay it back?" Ling Feng asked.
"I'm not. What are you two going to do about it?" Flender said.
Ling Feng and Liu Erlong exchanged a glance. The Soul Power within them burst forth as they activated Martial Soul Possession and Dragon Transformation.
"So you're only Soul Elders. I thought you were someone powerful!"
"If you can beat me, I suppose I could return the money," Flender said, leaving himself a way out.
He wasn't some heinous villain. He just liked swindling a little money to fund his dream.
The two were so young, yet far stronger than he had been at their age. Perhaps they had some powerful force backing them.
Flender activated Martial Soul Possession, and four Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, purple, purple—rose and fell beneath his feet.
He was about to fly into the air, putting himself beyond defeat.
But just then, he felt a cold, sinister aura descend and wrap tightly around him.
Within that sinister aura, he felt as though his Soul Power had dropped by more than ten percent.
And the aura seemed to carry some kind of corrosive poison, making Flender grow wary.
"It's you?"
At last, he remembered where he had seen Ling Feng before. Ling Feng had warned him with this same aura.
Ling Feng ignored Flender. His strength had risen too quickly over the past year, and he needed someone to Soul Fight against so he could digest and consolidate his gains.
The First Soul Ring beneath his feet lit up. Spider armor encased his body, and his aura strengthened with it.
In the next instant, several Spider Spears, sharp as blades, burst through the earth and stabbed toward Flender.
Flender was a speed-type Soul Master, after all. He darted rapidly from side to side, dodging Ling Feng's attacks.
But then he realized that the Spider Spears had formed a cage around him, trapping him inside as they swiftly closed in to tear him apart.
Liu Erlong wasn't idle, either. Her Dragon-Transformed arm became a huge dragon claw and swiped at Flender.
Flender had no defensive Soul Skill. If that claw caught him, it would tear him apart.
"Gale! Wind Blade!" Flender chanted the Soul Skill incantation, and a Soul Ring beneath his feet lit up.
A whirlwind swept toward Liu Erlong, impeding her advance, while several invisible blades of wind sliced at the cage of spider legs trapping him.
Flender had plenty of experience. Afraid he might not be able to break through the cage formed by the Spider Spears, he directed all the Wind Blades at the same spear.
Sure enough, after several Wind Blades struck, Flender finally broke one Spider Spear and charged out.
"I'm a Soul Ancestor, and he's clearly only a Soul Elder. Why am I struggling so much?" Flender sensed something was wrong.
Though both were hundred-year Soul Skills, his Soul Power was stronger, so his skills should have been more powerful.
But this wasn't the time to dwell on that. Once free, Flender tried to fly into the air and put himself beyond defeat.
But just then, he saw Ling Feng's eyes.
Those eyes were like the whirlpool of an abyss, brimming with depravity, evil, and bloodlust.
Flender needed only one look. It felt as though a hammer had struck his head, and his movement toward the sky ground to a halt.
He fared better than the fallen one from before; at least he managed to maintain Martial Soul Possession.
But Ling Feng gave Flender no chance. He unleashed his second Soul Skill again, and several Spider Spears pinned him in place.
Some of the Spider Spears even pierced his body, leaving him unable to move.
Flender's mind was spinning, but the pain in his body forcibly jolted him awake.
Coming straight at him was Liu Erlong's dragon claw, wreathed in fire, its scales clearly visible.
Just as it was about to strike, Flender steeled himself and circulated his Soul Power, using the wind to twist his body aside.
"Ugh!" Flender let out a muffled groan. He and the Spider Spears lodged in his body were sent flying by Liu Erlong's punch.
"I surrender! I'll pay you back! Don't kill me!"
Flender crashed heavily to the ground, his features twisted, his heart filled with fear.
If Liu Erlong's punch had landed on his head, he would probably have died. Fortunately, at the last moment, he had used a whirlwind to shift his position.
"Hmph!" Liu Erlong snorted, standing to one side and staring coldly at Flender to keep him from trying anything.
Flender endured the pain, counted out two hundred Gold Soul Coins from his money pouch, and tossed them over.
"That's not enough. You still need to make amends. Hand over all your money," Ling Feng said, walking closer.
It was too dark for Flender to see clearly until now: the Third Soul Ring beneath Ling Feng's feet was actually a black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring.
Flender was terrified. Faced with the power of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring, even a Soul Ancestor like him would have little chance of winning.
"I..." Flender tried to defend himself.
But when he saw Ling Feng's black Soul Ring, he gave up resisting and handed over his money pouch.
Flender's heart ached. Giving his money to Ling Feng hurt even more than being injured.
Ling Feng opened the pouch and found a few scattered Gold Soul Coins inside, along with a card from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect Chamber of Commerce.
"Hmph. If I catch you scamming people again, I won't just teach you a little lesson!"
Ling Feng didn't kill Flender, but he didn't let him off, either.
Ling Feng's second Soul Skill had pierced Flender's body, infecting him with Death Spider Poison.
If he could purge the poison, that would be good luck for him.
If he couldn't, he would have to suppress it with his Soul Power and suffer its torment for the rest of his life.