Shooting an Owl, Tang San Wants to Learn the Craft

"Fine!"

Flender answered, his voice carrying a trace of provoked anger.

He circulated his Soul Power and lightly pushed off the ground with both feet. Like a great bird spreading its wings, he flew backward and landed steadily in an open space several dozen yards away.

"Let me see just how justified you are!"

"Spread out!" Zhao Linchuan shouted coldly. Hearing him, Zhu Zhuqing, Xiao Wu, and the others immediately retreated far away.

At the same time, Flender, having landed, pushed off the ground. He extended his right hand, fingers curled like claws, and shot toward Ning Rongrong like lightning!

He did not use Martial Soul Possession, much less any soul skill.

His pride simply would not allow it!

He, Flender, a dignified rank seventy-eight Soul Sage—if he needed to use his Martial Soul or soul skills against an auxiliary-system Soul Grandmaster, he might as well smash his head against a latrine stone and die!

Against an opponent of this level, he could crush her with one hand. Why would he need Martial Soul Possession?

Why would he need a soul skill?

If word got out, wouldn't his peers laugh their teeth out?

Yet it was precisely this pride that made him pay a price in blood.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Ning Rongrong pulled the trigger repeatedly, each pull accompanied by a crisp, piercing gunshot.

Flames flashed six times from the muzzle beneath the sunlight. Six bullets roared from the chamber like six meteors, shrieking through the air as they shot toward Flender's limbs!

Flender sensed the danger and instinctively tried to dodge. His body reacted in that instant—his waist and abdomen tensed, his center of gravity sank, and his legs bent slightly as he prepared to evade to the left.

But no matter how fast he was, he could not outrun bullets that had already left the barrel!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Four of the six shots struck him. One hit his left arm, one his right arm, and two hit his legs.

"Urgh..."

A muffled groan of pain escaped Flender's mouth. His legs instantly froze in place against his will, his muscles spasming and his joints locking up, as though the steel beams supporting his entire body had been pulled away.

Then Flender stumbled, his center of gravity pitching forward as he could no longer keep his footing.

Thud! A heavy sound rang out as he hit the ground.

Flender crashed heavily onto the earth face-first, sending dust flying.

His limbs twitched faintly as blood flowed continuously from the four wounds like tiny streams, soaking his sleeves and trouser legs and spreading four dark-red blooms across the dirt.

The color drained from his face, cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his teeth ground together. Yet aside from that low groan, he made no further sound.

"Flender!"

Li Yusong was instantly dumbfounded. He stood frozen in place, his eyes filled with disbelief.

It was as if someone had pressed pause on his brain. Every thought stopped functioning, leaving only one voice echoing over and over in his head: How the hell did she do that?

An auxiliary-system Soul Grandmaster fired a few shots from some metal contraption she had gotten from who knew where at a rank seventy-eight Soul Sage, and then that Soul Sage collapsed?

That was unreasonable. That was impossible. That simply should not have happened in this world!

Li Yusong subconsciously glanced at Ning Rongrong, only to find her looking at the fallen Flender with an amused half-smile, her expression utterly calm.

Li Yusong quickly came back to his senses. His gaze swept across the wounds on Flender's limbs, still gushing blood, and he shouted at Oscar.

"Xiao Ao! Stop standing around! Get your sausages out!" With that, he hurried toward Flender.

"Never underestimate your enemy," Zhao Linchuan said from the side. "Even a lion hunting a rabbit must use its full strength."

"Because you never know what trump cards your enemy may possess."

Zhu Zhuqing and Xiao Wu subconsciously nodded at his words.

Even Tang San, who had been standing nearby watching the show, felt deeply moved by those words.

However, his attention was focused more on the metal tool Ning Rongrong had used earlier.

Was that some kind of mechanical hidden weapon, similar to the Buddha Fury Lotus?

Does someone in this world know how to use such things too?

Tang San's gaze stuck to the Soul-Extinguishing Gun, his brows slightly furrowed as his mind raced.

What sort of structure did that thing have?

What kind of metal was needed to forge it?

What was the principle behind its firing mechanism?

What was needed to activate it?

At that moment, Tang San developed an intense interest in the metal tool Ning Rongrong had used.

If he could "learn" its principles of operation, it would undoubtedly strengthen the Tang Sect's foundation. They could use it to improve the Tang Sect's other hidden weapons and raise the Tang Sect's overall strength to another level.

A short while later.

After Flender ate several of Oscar's large sausages in succession, the wounds on his body finally healed.

He sat on the ground, staring down at the bullets removed from his wounds in his palm, his brows tightly knitted.

They were merely lumps of iron made from rare metal, without any Soul Power or anything extraordinary attached to them.

Yet such ordinary lumps of iron had actually inflicted such enormous damage on him?

If they had not struck his limbs, but instead his chest and between his brows...

Flender did not dare think any further. A chill shot up from his tailbone to the top of his head, making his entire body shudder.

Seeing Flender's embarrassed and angry expression, Ning Rongrong said teasingly, "Dean Flender, do you still think we are arrogant and lawless now?"

"Hmph!" Flender snorted coldly without answering.

Ning Rongrong continued, "If there is nothing else, we'll go have some free time now."

With that, she did not wait for Flender's approval. She directly linked her arm through Zhao Linchuan's and headed out along the path.

After the four left, Flender rose to his feet with gritted teeth and brushed the dirt and debris off himself.

His gaze fell upon Oscar. After a moment of silence, he spoke coldly.

"Xiao Ao, run fifty laps around the village. If you don't finish, you are not allowed to stop and eat!"

"Ah—?!"

Oscar, standing nearby, was instantly shocked. Thinking he had misheard, he hurried two steps forward and asked, "Dean Flender, what did you say? I didn't hear you clearly."

"I said run fifty laps around the village. If you don't finish, you are not allowed to stop and eat!" Flender repeated coldly.

After saying that, he gave Oscar no chance to bargain. He tossed the bullets in his hand behind him, turned around, and walked toward his residence.

"No way!!!"

Oscar wailed as though his parents had died. Clutching his head with both hands, he dug all ten fingers into his hair, looking like a dog whose tail had been stepped on.

"Fifty laps?! I won't finish even if I run until dawn tomorrow!!!"

Tang San's eyes immediately lit up at the sight. His gaze followed the bullets Flender had tossed and landed on the grass not far away.

He started walking, pretending to be nonchalant as he headed toward where the bullets had fallen.

He intended to pick up those lumps of iron and study them carefully, to see whether he could reverse-engineer some of their secrets.