Petty Flender, How Ridiculous

"Teacher!"

At the sound of that familiar voice, Tang San's eyes immediately reddened.

He turned his head and, sure enough, saw that familiar figure.

Xu Linjiu rubbed Tang San's head and reassured him, "Don't worry. I'm here. Go get some rest first."

"Yes, Teacher!"

Tang San answered with reddened eyes, then silently stepped aside.

Xu Linjiu's gaze slowly swept over everyone present before finally settling on the middle-aged man at the front.

"The Master really thinks highly of me, to have actually invited you here, Senior Flender."

Flender raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised. "Oh? You know me?"

"Of course. The renowned Four-Eyed Cat Eagle Flender—how could I not know you?"

"Since you know me, that makes things easier."

Flender stepped forward with a teasing smile on his face. "Young man, since you know who I am, then you must also know how vast the difference is between a Soul Sage and a Soul Ancestor, right?"

He raised a hand and patted Xu Linjiu's shoulder. "Since that's the case, I advise you to be sensible. Apologize to Xiaogang obediently, then hand over the method that allowed that little fellow's Martial Soul to evolve. I can pretend none of this ever happened. What do you say?"

"Sorry, but I've already found three problems with what you just said."

Xu Linjiu raised his hand and gently pressed down on the arm Flender had placed on his shoulder. A chill began gathering in his palm.

"First, I'm not a Soul Ancestor. I'm a Soul King!"

As his words fell, five soul rings rose from beneath his feet at once—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black (disguised), a perfect configuration.

"A Soul King in his twenties? How is that possible?!"

Flender was truly shocked this time. Such talent was even greater than Qin Ming's!

"Second, regarding Little San's Martial Soul evolution, I already told him about it. He simply refused to believe that he was actually useless."

A bone-piercing chill suddenly erupted and rapidly spread up Flender's arm.

Flender's expression changed. He tried to pull his arm away, only to discover that it had been firmly frozen in place and could not break free.

"Third!"

Xu Linjiu stared directly into Flender's eyes as the chill in his hand erupted without warning. "A mere Soul Sage, and you dare make such a fuss before me?"

Terrifying cold instantly swallowed Flender whole.

"What?!"

Startled, Flender immediately tried to possess his Martial Soul and fly away.

But the cold spread far faster than he had imagined. In the blink of an eye, layer upon layer of ice completely sealed the hand he had placed on Xu Linjiu's shoulder and continued spreading across his body.

He desperately circulated his soul power in an attempt to break free, only to discover in horror that even the soul power in his body seemed to have frozen into ice.

"How is this possible?!"

By the time Flender spoke those final words, he had already become a complete ice sculpture.

"Hmph. A mere agility attack-type Soul Master—where did you get the nerve?"

Everything had happened so suddenly that the people outside the field had yet to react.

By the time they came to their senses, Xu Linjiu had already walked up to Yu Xiaogang.

"Y-you... what are you going to do?"

Only when Yu Xiaogang met Xu Linjiu's gaze did he suddenly wake up.

The face before him was clearly handsome, yet in Yu Xiaogang's eyes, it was more terrifying than a demon.

Yu Xiaogang's legs gave out, and he dropped straight to his knees.

He looked up at Xu Linjiu and opened his mouth to say something, but he was too terrified to force out a single word.

"Master, Master, what am I supposed to say about you?"

Xu Linjiu shook his head, slowly crouched down, and gently placed a hand atop Yu Xiaogang's head.

"As the saying goes, there may be a first and second time, but never a third or fourth. This is already the third time you've provoked me. It seems I can't let you off without teaching you a lesson this time."

As he spoke, Xu Linjiu applied slight pressure with the hand on Yu Xiaogang's head. A vast surge of Inner Focus crazily poured into Yu Xiaogang's body.

"No!"

Yu Xiaogang let out a miserable howl, flailing his limbs as he tried to escape. But what could a Grand Soul Master possibly do before a Soul King?

Xu Linjiu's Inner Focus rapidly coursed through Yu Xiaogang's body, leaving him in unbearable pain everywhere it passed.

"Oh, found it!"

Xu Linjiu's eyes lit up as he abruptly increased his output of Inner Focus.

Yu Xiaogang screamed. A flash of light appeared before him, and Luo Sanpao was forcibly summoned.

"Luo luo luo luo!"

Luo Sanpao, suddenly summoned, looked utterly confused. But upon seeing its master being tortured, it immediately charged at Xu Linjiu.

"Don't interrupt me!"

A glint flashed through Xu Linjiu's eyes. Psychic directly seized control of Luo Sanpao, suspending it in midair.

"Now, let's try this!"

Crack!

An extremely faint sound of something breaking came from within Yu Xiaogang's body.

The expression on Yu Xiaogang's face instantly froze, replaced by utter disbelief.

"How could this happen?! How could this happen?!"

He could clearly feel that the connection between himself and Luo Sanpao had been severed.

"Luo Sanpao! Luo Sanpao!"

He frantically circulated his soul power, trying to sense the Martial Soul that had accompanied him for most of his life once more, but there was nothing within him—only emptiness.

"No—!"

Yu Xiaogang threw back his head and roared, glaring at Xu Linjiu with bloodshot eyes. "What exactly did you do?!"

"Nothing much."

Xu Linjiu used Psychic to lift Luo Sanpao before his eyes. The little creature's gaze was filled with confusion. "I simply felt that it would be too much of a pity for this little fellow, who clearly carries the bloodline of the Golden Sacred Dragon, to be held back by you. So I gave it a way to survive."

When it came to detached Martial Souls, if Xu Linjiu claimed second place, no one in the world would dare claim first.

Ever since Glastrier had become his Martial Soul, he had been diligently researching the mysteries of detached Martial Souls.

With the contract ability inherent to the Pokédex Martial Soul, it was not difficult for him to find the connection point of the contract between Luo Sanpao and Yu Xiaogang.

That useless Yu Xiaogang had raised a detached Martial Soul for nearly fifty years, yet it was still nothing more than a purple pig.

He could clearly perform a Martial Soul fusion with Flender and Liu Erlong, yet even now, he still treated Luo Sanpao as nothing but a pig.

"Oh, right."

Xu Linjiu withdrew the Psychic he had placed on Luo Sanpao, then patted Yu Xiaogang's shoulder again. "I left all of Luo Sanpao's soul rings with you. No need to thank me."

With that, he turned and walked toward the center of the field, looking at Ma Hongjun, who was lying on the ground pretending to be dead.

"I nearly forgot. There's still one fish that slipped through the net."

Xu Linjiu bent down, grabbed one of Ma Hongjun's ankles, and dragged him before Xiao Wu like a dead dog.

"Xiao Wu."

Xu Linjiu released him. "This dead fatty was the one with the filthy mouth earlier. How do you think we should deal with him?"

Xiao Wu tilted her head and thought for a moment. Then the corner of her lips suddenly curled upward as she raised her right hand and made a scissor gesture with her index and middle fingers.

"Crack."

She softly uttered the crisp sound.

Ma Hongjun, who had been pretending to be dead on the ground, shuddered violently.

The next second, he abruptly opened his eyes, flipped over, and scrambled to his feet.

"Don't, don't, don't! I was wrong, I was wrong!"

Ma Hongjun dropped to his knees with a thud. "Mercy, Auntie! I've got a foul mouth! I'm just a dead fatty! You're magnanimous, please don't..."

Xu Linjiu waved a hand. "Don't worry. I can't do something that cruel."

Upon hearing that, Ma Hongjun instantly turned and hugged Xu Linjiu's leg, weeping bitterly. "My lord, I knew you were magnanimous and wouldn't hold it against me!"

But Xu Linjiu's next words made Ma Hongjun's crying stop abruptly.

"Don't celebrate too soon."