Flender's Regret

Flender had never expected to be injured by a junior. He gritted his teeth in fury.

"You little girl, you hit pretty hard!"

Although Flender had been caught off guard in his momentary shock and was injured by Chu Zhao, now that he had activated Martial Soul Possession, summoned his Soul Rings, and raised his guard, his defenses would not be so easily breached.

Still, while a Soul Saint's defense was formidable, Chu Zhao wielded the sharpest Weapon Soul in the world. With fifty-sixth-level Soul Power and considerable combat experience, she might just be able to challenge a Soul Saint through sheer courage.

And if that failed, she still had the Death God Domain.

"Whether my Soul Rings are real or not, you'll find out if you try."

As Chu Zhao spoke, she sprang up lightly again. The Second Soul Ring beneath her feet flashed, and the surroundings instantly turned into a sea of blood as the air congealed.

"Your move is impressive, but against a Soul Saint fighting at full strength, it still falls short—especially against an Agility Attack System Soul Saint like me."

As he spoke, Flender easily neutralized Chu Zhao's Second Soul Skill.

Flender was stronger than Zhao Wuji and had no intention of holding back. He immediately unleashed his full strength, and Chu Zhao's Second Soul Skill only shaved off some of Flender's hair.

"My hair! My hairstyle! I barely had any hair to begin with, and now I'll have to spend money getting it styled again!"

Flender grew angry when he saw the loose strands drifting down.

He launched a counterattack against Chu Zhao. Remembering how much Tang San cared about her, Flender did not use a killing move right away. Instead, he used his Second Soul Skill to test the waters.

If Chu Zhao had truly been a level-thirty, two-ring Soul Grandmaster, this Second Soul Skill would have been enough to make her suffer. It would not kill her, but it would seriously injure her.

"Consider this a lesson. Don't casually provoke the strong."

Flender could practically see Chu Zhao collapsing to the ground, badly injured, so he spoke in advance.

Since Chu Zhao had displayed only two yellow hundred-year Soul Rings when she enrolled yesterday, yet now revealed four black rings and one red ring, the contrast was too great. Flender stubbornly believed that Chu Zhao had used some sort of disguising skill.

He thought Chu Zhao was still too young and hotheaded, with the mindset of a child.

If she wanted to pretend to be a Soul King, she should at least have used normal Soul Rings. How could she just pick whichever colors looked the strongest?

He had seen through her at a glance.

But Flender was destined for disappointment. The moment his Second Soul Skill was unleashed, he heard Chu Zhao's voice.

"An Agility Attack System's attack is nothing special."

After the currents dispersed, Chu Zhao looked nothing like someone who had been injured. She was more like a lion whose fighting spirit had been stirred.

"Are you really a Soul King?"

Flender had a terrible suspicion, but how could that be possible?

A twelve-year-old Soul King, with four Ten Thousand Year Soul Rings and one Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring—who would believe that?

"Isn't it obvious?"

She was referring to the four black and one red Soul Rings beneath her feet. "Five rings should make me a Soul King, right?"

Flender was too shocked to speak.

A twelve-year-old Soul King!

What did that even mean? By Flender's conservative estimate, she would certainly become a Soul Emperor before twenty and a Soul Saint before thirty... She was unquestionably a future Titled Douluo!

Among all the Titled Douluo on the continent—or indeed, throughout the entire continent—not a single person had reached the Soul King rank at twelve.

At twelve, reaching the Soul Grandmaster rank was already extraordinarily rare.

"Forget it, forget it. I'm done fighting."

Flender wanted to do Chu Zhao a favor and invest early in this seedling of a Titled Douluo.

If his investment paid off, he would become someone with ties to a Titled Douluo. Just thinking about it made him happy, and he said magnanimously, "Ask whatever you want. I'll tell you everything."

"What did Tang Hao tell you about me?"

Chu Zhao gladly accepted his goodwill and directly asked about the purpose of her visit.

"This..."

Flender was somewhat troubled, but thinking of Tang Hao's relationship with Tang San and Tang San's relationship with Chu Zhao, he hesitated briefly before recounting everything in full.

"So I was capable of mobilizing so many powerful people."

Chu Zhao had finally glimpsed a tiny fragment of the truth from years ago, and her feelings were exceedingly complicated.

"I've told you everything I know. As for the rest, perhaps only Haotian Mianxia knows."

Even as Flender spoke, he felt nervous, afraid that Tang Hao would get angry over this and leap out to smash him with a hammer.

"I understand. Don't worry, you didn't say anything. I learned all of this from Tang San anyway. I only came here to ask you for some guidance."

Chu Zhao knew what Flender was worried about and happened to address it perfectly.

Just as Flender was about to say that Chu Zhao was sensible and knew how to keep a secret, he heard her say with a sweet smile, "To make the act more convincing, let's have a real spar."

With that, Chu Zhao activated her Soul Skill again.

"You're far too combative, child. Fine, fine, I'll indulge you."

Flender reluctantly agreed.

However, because he regarded Chu Zhao as someone worth befriending through early investment and did not want to hurt her or sour their relationship, Flender held back and could not fully let loose.

The result was that Chu Zhao injured him again.

It left him utterly speechless. He could only bring out his full strength, hoping to make Chu Zhao retreat in the face of difficulty.

But Chu Zhao clearly would not turn back until she hit a wall. Even after being injured by Flender's Sixth Soul Skill in his Martial Soul Avatar state, she only grew more determined with every setback.

In the end, the battle between an established Soul Saint and a newly advanced Soul King ended with both sides injured.

"You young people these days are really too much! Too much! I'm a Soul Saint! I've been a Soul Saint for nearly twenty years, and this is the first time I've ever been this pathetic!"

Flender, disheveled from head to toe, hugged a tree trunk and began to fake-cry. Not many tears fell, but the tree was nearly snapped in half by his embrace.

Chu Zhao was not in much better condition. She wore black clothes, so no bloodstains could be seen, but her pale face showed that her condition was definitely poor.

"Haven't you heard the saying? The waves behind the Yangtze drive on those before them. Don't underestimate this later wave too much, or it'll be much harder when I beat you up like this."

Chu Zhao leaned against the roots of a tree, recovering her strength with the Longevity Art as she complained.

Flender was not particularly weak. The main reason Chu Zhao had managed to injure him repeatedly was that he had underestimated her.

Even if Chu Zhao truly was a Soul King, he still saw her as a junior. Her Soul Power was far below his, so how strong could she possibly be? Playing around with her a little should have been enough.

"I'm really regretting letting you leave Shrek Academy now. An unparalleled genius like you should have been a student of Shrek Academy!"

Having stopped his fake crying, Flender sighed wistfully.

Chu Zhao: Please, I never planned to stay at Shrek Academy. I was born rebellious and refused to be controlled. I'd probably drive you and Yu Xiaogang mad.