Meng Yiran and Meng Baichuan

As the capital of the Balak Kingdom, Balak City was large enough to rival some of the major cities within the Heaven Dou Empire.

Since Lin Yuan had come, there was naturally no reason not to enter.

As for school, with his speed, he could reach Suotuo City Intermediate Soul Master Academy on the day classes began.

After entering Balak City, Lin Yuan did not immediately head for his destination out of concern for safety.

Instead, he circled through the streets and alleys several times, making sure no one was following him.

Only then did he purchase a map of Balak City and, following its directions, arrive at the city auction house.

Using Dai Mubai's Soul Tool as an auction item to qualify for entry, Lin Yuan was led to a private room by a beautiful maid.

After asking around, he learned that the starting price of Millennium Whale Rubber had already been driven up to two thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber cost over ten thousand.

Fortunately, the auction house was selling three pieces of Millennium Whale Rubber and one piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber today.

With the mindset that it was not his money, so there was no need to feel bad about spending it, Lin Yuan waved his hand and purchased the three pieces of Millennium Whale Rubber at a price far above market value.

He also bought several Soul Tools of fairly decent quality and cashed out several tens of thousands of Gold Soul Coins.

As for the piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber, there were simply too many people competing for it, and most of them intended to hoard it for speculation, much like stockpiling gold in his previous life.

To avoid becoming a target for everyone,

Lin Yuan did not compete for it.

Even if he had won it, it would have been useless. With his cultivation, even if he fully circulated the Supreme Sacred Heaven and Earth Technique, he would not have been able to melt it.

Using ordinary fire would only have roasted the Whale Rubber into charcoal.

But while he did not want trouble,

someone else wanted to cause him trouble.

Sure enough, just after obtaining his auction items and before he could walk out of the auction house, a delicate, haughty young voice rang out behind him. "Hey, you in black up ahead, stop right there."

Lin Yuan recognized the voice. It belonged to the person who had competed with him for the Millennium Whale Rubber and had also won the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber.

When he turned around, he saw a girl slightly older than Dai Mubai and a boy around his own age walking toward him.

The girl was exceptionally beautiful, with short hair that reached her ears. She looked twelve or thirteen years old. Her neat, fitted outfit tightly outlined her already well-developed figure.

Her large dark-brown eyes were fixed firmly on Lin Yuan, as though she would never rest until she achieved her goal.

The boy beside her also had dark-brown eyes and looked seventy to eighty percent similar to the girl. They appeared to be a pair of siblings.

Yet the boy's eyes held a maturity the girl lacked.

Lin Yuan discreetly looked them over and discovered that although the boy was young, the Soul Power fluctuations around him were exceptionally powerful. He was likely already a Soul Elder.

The girl was the same.

But judging by her appearance, she was unlikely to be a transmigrator.

The boy, on the other hand, was more likely to have advanced to Soul Elder at the age of twelve or thirteen.

After all, as long as one was talented, consuming Whale Rubber to raise the age limit of one's soul rings made it highly possible to absorb soul rings beyond one's limit and break through to Soul Elder before turning thirteen.

A nine-year-old Soul Elder... another transmigrator? Lin Yuan muttered inwardly. Outwardly, however, he remained calm and asked in a low voice, "What is it?"

"Of course there is something. I am Meng Yiran of the Dragon Snake Family, and this is my younger brother, Meng Baichuan. The renowned Unrivaled Dragon Serpent of the Soul Master world are our grandfather and grandmother. If you know what's good for you, hand over those three pieces of Millennium Whale Rubber right now. Otherwise, don't even think about leaving here today."

Originally, the money she and her brother had brought was enough to win those three pieces of Millennium Whale Rubber.

But Lin Yuan had doubled the price.

In order not to miss out on the Ten-Thousand-Year Whale Rubber that came afterward, she had been forced to give them up.

Faced with Meng Yiran's threats, Lin Yuan asked only one question. "Are Senior Dragon Duke and Senior Serpent Granny here?"

"No." Meng Yiran had always been straightforward, so she answered directly upon hearing the question.

"If they aren't here, what gives you the right to ask me for Whale Rubber?" Lin Yuan demanded sharply.

"You..." Meng Yiran was left speechless.

At that moment, an auction house employee who had heard the commotion approached. He first examined the three of them, then displayed two yellow, three purple, and one black soul rings as he said in an official tone:

"You three, this is an auction house. Fighting is prohibited. If you have any grievances, please settle them outside."

Seeing Lin Yuan dressed entirely in black with his face covered, wearing a veiled hat whose circle of black gauze hung down and concealed his whole face in shadow, along with his Soul Power cultivation of only around the twenties,

Meng Baichuan seemed to come to a realization and immediately advised from the side, "Forget it, Sister. We were in the wrong to begin with."

"Fine." It was clear that the girl truly doted on her younger brother. At his words, her previous fury unexpectedly subsided.

Lin Yuan paid them no further attention and turned to leave.

"Xiaochuan, with the strength of either one of us, we could easily crush him alone. Why did we let him go?"

Meng Yiran looked at her younger brother in confusion.

Meng Baichuan did not answer. After glancing at Lin Yuan's already distant back, he turned, took out the Dragon Snake Family's token, and asked the auction house's Soul Emperor:

"We are members of the Dragon Snake Family. May I ask whether that black-robed man just now paid with a gold card from the Star Luo Empire?"

The Dragon Snake Family was a powerful Soul Master sect second only to the world's seven great sects. With their Dragon Snake Combined Strike, a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, even the Lower Four Sects did not dare provoke them lightly.

Seeing that the boy had actually produced the Dragon Snake Family's token, the Soul Emperor immediately put on a friendly smile.

"So you are disciples of the Dragon Snake Family. My apologies, my apologies. The young master is correct. That gold card did indeed come from the Star Luo Empire, and it bore a White Tiger emblem."

Hearing this, an expression of confirmation appeared on the boy's face. Then he looked at Meng Yiran and said, "Sister, it won't be long before we see him again."

Upon hearing that, Meng Yiran seemed to think of something and asked in surprise, "Could he be going to Shrek too?"

Meng Baichuan nodded, a mysterious smile appearing on his face.

Ever since Lin Yuan began cultivating the Five Thunder Heavenly Heart Formula and the Supreme Sacred Heaven and Earth Technique, his five senses had far surpassed those of Soul Masters at the same level. Thus, even with some distance between them, he still heard their conversation clearly.

Hearing Meng Baichuan conclude that he was heading to Shrek Academy and apparently mistake him for Dai Mubai, Lin Yuan found it rather amusing.

But then again, that boy was at the Soul Elder stage, and Lin Yuan still did not know what he had to rely on. It was better not to act rashly for now.

Otherwise, he might try to steal a chicken only to lose the rice used to bait it.

Caution had to come first in all things.