Bone Dragon? Zhu Zhuqing Immediately Thought of Gu Ling!

At those words, the corner of Gu Ling's mouth twitched. Of course, he knew why Flender had suddenly changed his attitude. What appreciation for talent? What testing his ability to handle pressure?

Wasn't it simply that Flender had been frightened by what he had just said?

Gu Ling was not foolish enough to expose Flender. After all, his goal had only been to scare Flender into backing down, not to escalate things beyond repair.

If he truly provoked Flender into flying into a rage and the man disregarded everything to use the power of a Soul Saint, then he and Ye Lingling were still no match for a Seven-Ring Soul Saint.

Since the other party was willing to find himself a way out, Gu Ling naturally could not be bothered to keep pressing the matter.

Thus, Gu Ling slowly withdrew his Bone Dragon Martial Soul. The ghostly white Bone Dragon phantom behind him gradually faded away, while one yellow and two purple Soul Rings sank back into his body.

Then he looked at Flender and asked calmly, "Since Headmaster Flender merely wanted to test my ability to handle pressure, then you're done testing me now, right? May I leave?"

Hearing this, the smile on Flender's face grew even more pronounced, and he hurriedly nodded.

"Of course!"

"Of course!"

As he spoke, he even took two steps aside on his own initiative.

"The ten moves are over, and you performed quite well. It's rare for a young man to have such strength."

Seeing how utterly different Flender looked from before, Ye Lingling's gaze turned somewhat strange as she thought to herself:

A few minutes ago, this man had looked as though he had come to demand an explanation. In the end, he had even become enraged from humiliation and was prepared to disregard the rules he had set himself.

Yet Gu Ling merely mentioned his surname and Martial Soul, and his attitude immediately made a complete reversal. He really does bully the weak while fearing the strong!

Gu Ling did not bother with Flender any longer. He merely turned to Ye Lingling and said:

"Let's go."

Ye Lingling nodded lightly.

The two of them walked straight past Flender.

This time, not only did Flender not stop them, he even turned sideways to make way for them. Only after Gu Ling and Ye Lingling's figures gradually vanished at the end of the street did the smile on his face slowly stiffen.

Elsewhere.

Gu Ling and Ye Lingling had already walked quite far. After confirming that Flender had not followed them, Ye Lingling finally could not help turning to Gu Ling and saying softly:

"That man really does bully the weak while fearing the strong."

Gu Ling immediately laughed when he heard that.

"You only noticed now?"

Ye Lingling shook her head gently and explained:

"At first, I thought he was merely protective of his students. His students had been beaten up like that, so while it might not have been reasonable for their teacher to come demand an explanation, it was at least understandable."

"But later..."

Recalling how Flender had forcibly raised his Soul Power at the end, even using his Martial Soul and soul skills, her voice carried a hint of speechlessness.

"He was the one who proposed using only the same amount of Soul Power as you. He was also the one who said that he would leave as long as you lasted ten moves."

"But when he discovered he could not beat you, he actually refused to honor his own words. Yet the moment you mentioned your family, he immediately changed his attitude."

At this point, Ye Lingling paused.

"So who did he think of just now?"

Gu Ling glanced at her.

"You guess."

Ye Lingling frowned slightly.

"Your surname is Gu."

"Your Martial Soul is the Bone Dragon..."

At that point, she suddenly halted. Then, her cool eyes visibly widened.

"Bone Douluo?"

Gu Ling smiled without saying anything.

Ye Lingling immediately understood.

"No wonder!"

"No wonder he suddenly became like that!"

But the next second, Ye Lingling seemed to recall something, and her expression gradually turned strange.

She remembered very clearly that not long ago, Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo had personally asked about Gu Ling's background. Even Bone Douluo himself had said that there was no evidence proving Gu Ling had any blood relation to him.

Ye Lingling stared at Gu Ling for several seconds before asking in surprise:

"Wait."

"You weren't fooling him, were you?"

Gu Ling shook his head with a perfectly serious expression.

"When did I fool him?"

"I merely asked him what my surname was and what my Martial Soul was. Then I let him think for himself. From beginning to end, I never said Bone Douluo was anything to me."

Ye Lingling: "..."

After several seconds of silence, she finally could not hold back her laughter.

"You're so bad."

Gu Ling shrugged and defended himself.

"How is that bad? That's called making reasonable use of an information gap. Besides, a Seven-Ring Soul Saint was about to disregard the rules and bully me. What was wrong with scaring him a little?"

Ye Lingling thought about it and found that it really did not seem wrong. As they spoke, the two continued walking toward the hotel. Before long, their figures vanished completely into the night.

Elsewhere, Shrek Academy.

Flender had just pushed open the dormitory door when the people in the room almost all looked up at the same time.

Tang San was the first to rise to his feet.

"Headmaster!"

"How did it go?"

Oscar was equally curious.

Ma Hongjun even propped half his body up from the bed and asked impatiently:

"Teacher!"

"Did you find that bastard? Did you avenge Dai Boss and me?"

Xiao Wu, who had already regained consciousness, also looked toward Flender. Even Yu Xiaogang, who had been sitting there silently all along, turned his gaze toward him.

Faced with everyone's attention.

Flender's body stiffened slightly. Uncontrollably, the image of Gu Ling chasing him down and beating him up, forcing him to resort to cheating on the tenth move, surfaced in his mind.

Could he say that?

Of course not!

He was the headmaster of Shrek Academy!

A dignified Level-78 Soul Saint!

If these students found out that he had voluntarily proposed suppressing himself to Level 37 to fight Gu Ling, yet after ten whole moves, not only had he failed to defeat the other party, but had instead been beaten into such a sorry state...

Where would he put his old face?

At that thought, Flender coughed twice. Then he clasped his hands behind his back and deliberately assumed an indifferent, composed expression.

"Of course I found him."

Hearing that, Ma Hongjun's eyes lit up as he pressed:

"And then?"

Flender said blandly:

"What else could have happened?"

"I personally took action. Could a Three-Ring Soul Elder really turn the heavens upside down? That kid is young, and he does have some ability. His personality is arrogant enough too."

"So I gave him a lesson while I was at it. Consider it venting your anger for you."

Hearing this, Ma Hongjun was overjoyed.

"Haha!"

"I knew it! With Teacher personally taking action, that kid was definitely going to get beaten up!"

Xiao Wu's previously grim expression also eased considerably.

Tang San, however, continued asking:

"Headmaster, how badly was he hurt?"

"..."

The corner of Flender's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

How badly was he hurt?

Could he say that Gu Ling was perfectly fine, while he himself had taken who knew how many punches and kicks?

Of course not!

Thus, Flender waved a hand and said with a serious expression:

"Enough."

"I'm a Soul Saint. Could I really beat a twelve-year-old child into any serious condition? I merely taught him a small lesson so he would know not to be so arrogant in the future."

At that point, he deliberately darkened his expression.

"After all, Shrek Academy educates students. We are not some bandit gang. If we truly beat someone into a bad state, what would people say if word got out?"

Tang San nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this, but Ma Hongjun was clearly somewhat dissatisfied.

"Teacher, you should have hit him a few more times. It would have been best if you beat him so badly he couldn't get out of bed for days too!"

Flender's face immediately darkened.

"You talk too much!"

"If you hadn't gone and provoked him first, would there have been so much trouble? Lie back down!"

Ma Hongjun immediately shrank his neck and did not speak again.

Seeing that, Flender finally sighed in relief inwardly. As for the Bone Douluo Gu Ling had mentioned earlier, he did not say a single word about him.

What a joke.

If he told these students that the moment he heard Gu Ling might be connected to Bone Douluo, he immediately did not dare continue fighting, would that not be blatantly telling everyone that the reason Flender had suddenly stopped was because he bullied the weak while fearing the strong?

Meanwhile.

Shrek Academy's girls' dormitory.

It was growing increasingly late. Zhu Zhuqing had just finished a day of cultivation and was now sitting by her bed, quietly arranging her clothes.

Creak—

The door was suddenly pushed open from outside.

Ning Rongrong walked in. She had not participated in any spirit battles that evening, but after taking a walk outside earlier, she had heard quite a bit of news.

The moment she entered, Ning Rongrong could not help saying:

"Zhuqing."

"Have you heard?"

Zhu Zhuqing raised her head, looking puzzled.

"Heard what?"

Ning Rongrong casually shut the door. As she walked toward her bed, she said:

"It's about Fatty and Dai Mubai. I heard from Little Ao and the others that the two of them seemed to have been beaten up during the Lantern Festival last night."

Zhu Zhuqing's movements paused slightly. She actually knew a little about this matter, since Dai Mubai's injuries had been impossible to hide when he returned yesterday. She simply had no interest in asking.

After all, what did Dai Mubai getting injured have to do with her? Yet Ning Rongrong's next sentence suddenly changed her formerly calm expression.