While everyone was joking around.
Flender walked over as well.
Compared to Zhao Wuji, Flender held a slightly higher place in everyone's esteem.
Generally speaking, the only people who dared talk back to him were Yang Jian and that little hellion, Ning Rongrong.
But considering Flender's relationship with Yang Jian, Ning Rongrong had stopped casually talking back to Flender after confirming that she truly liked Yang Jian, out of consideration for him.
Thus, the moment Flender spoke, everyone immediately dropped their playful, spectator-like attitudes and grew serious.
"A Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent?"
"Big brother, what kind of soul beast is a Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent?"
Ning Rongrong looked at Yang Jian and asked softly.
Now, she had even dropped the "Yang" from "Big Brother Yang."
Whatever felt most comfortable was fine.
However.
She could ask all she liked; Yang Jian paid her no attention.
Seeing this.
Ning Rongrong wasn't angry. She simply imitated Yang Jian's wicked grin, took a large bag of Gold Soul Coins from her Soul Tool, and handed it to him.
Then she asked again, "Big brother, come on, tell me."
Hmm?
There are actually several hundred Gold Soul Coins in here.
Yang Jian briefly felt the bag, then opened it. Only after confirming its contents did he give a light cough. "Ahem... since Rongrong wants to know, naturally, as your boss, I'll tell you everything I know and hold nothing back."
"The Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent is one of the few snake-type soul beasts that are both nonvenomous and relatively powerful. It also has wings and is extremely fast."
"In particular, the crest on its head stores plenty of nutrients that it can use to boost its speed at critical moments."
"Whether you're murdering someone and stealing their goods or fleeing for your life, it's a fine choice."
"If Oscar absorbs this Soul Ring, his third Soul Ring will most likely grant a speed-related ability. He might even gain the ability to fly."
"The ability to fly?!"
Barely had Yang Jian finished when Dai Mubai couldn't help blurting out in astonishment, "Yang, you're not kidding, are you?"
Dai Mubai could hardly be blamed for being so shocked.
In this era, even soul masters as powerful as Titled Douluos couldn't simply fly unless they had a flight-type martial soul, a soul skill, or some other means.
At most, they could rely on their immense soul power to remain suspended in the air briefly.
These were Titled Douluos, the powerhouses standing at the very pinnacle of the continent, and even they could do no more than that.
That showed just how heaven-defying the ability to fly was for a soul master.
"Mm."
Yang Jian nodded.
"Mm? That's all you've got?"
"Yang, don't you know how important flight is to a soul master?"
"As the old saying goes, it's like giving a tiger wings! If I could fly, my strength would go up by a huge margin!"
Dai Mubai rubbed his hands excitedly, turned, and slapped Oscar on the shoulder. "Oscar, give it your best! Whether your brother here gets to take flight is all up to you."
"Boss, can Oscar really fly?"
"Then does that mean we won't have to worry about him during battles anymore?"
Ma Hongjun asked.
"Fatty, what are you thinking? Even if he really gets a flight soul skill, how long do you think a Thousand-Year Soul Ring will let him fly?"
Yang Jian sounded rather helpless.
He felt that everyone in Shrek had gone completely off the rails.
Either their standards had become so lofty that nothing ever measured up.
Or they were daydreaming so often that a single Thousand-Year Soul Ring could send their imaginations running wild.
"Jian, now you understand, don't you?"
Flender suddenly came up beside Yang Jian and spoke.
"Understand what?"
Yang Jian asked.
"You, honestly. You're far too dazzling, and you're always so outspoken. You've made everyone set their sights above the clouds. Sooner or later, something will go wrong if this continues."
"Rein it in a little."
"Consider it a contribution to our academy."
Flender said.
"Oh, spare me. At most, I..."
Yang Jian had instinctively been about to talk back, but remembering the Three-Headed Flood Dragon Wolf King's Head Soul Bone still lying in his Soul Tool, he paused. "Fine."
"Huh?"
"You'll really rein it in?"
Seeing that Yang Jian had actually agreed, Flender immediately sounded astonished.
Yang Jian said nothing, merely frowning at him.
The unspoken meaning was already quite clear.
"Fine, fine. Do as you please."
"Letting them get some experience will be good, too. Otherwise, they'll go out and stir up trouble without knowing how high the heavens are or how deep the earth is."
"And end up suffering badly."
Hearing Flender say that.
Yang Jian grew puzzled instead. "Old man, you haven't had your body possessed, have you?"
"What do you mean, possessed?" Flender asked.
"I seriously suspect you're not the same person you used to be."
"Why's that?"
"Wasn't one of your old mottos something like, 'Only mediocrities don't dare stir up trouble'? Why are you suddenly worried about them going out and getting hurt, hmm?"
"Hahahahaha..."
At that, Flender suddenly burst out laughing.
Ever since the night he confirmed that Yang Jian was already a rank forty-eight Soul Ancestor, he had hardly stopped smiling.
He seemed to have become much more cheerful overall.
"Times change, Jian."
"They say yin and yang must be balanced. If this world has someone as astonishingly gifted as you, someone who can tower over an entire era, then there must be a great villain standing opposite you."
"No matter how talented Ma Hongjun and the others are, they're merely geniuses with somewhat greater talent. They still belong within the ranks of geniuses."
"But in terms of talent alone, you already stand at the very pinnacle of this age. Could your opponent possibly be weak?"
"Perhaps our era will see the birth of a World-Destroying Lord."
"What does destroying the world mean?"
At this point.
Flender paused again and pretended to stroke his beard before continuing, "It would surely mean leaving soul masters without soul beasts, or inciting those fallen soul masters to revolt."
"When I traveled far and wide in my youth, I once heard people say that somewhere in the west of the continent, there is a City of Sin that only takes in fallen soul masters. For certain reasons, they cannot leave the city."
"If someone destroyed that city and let those fallen soul masters out, it might really bring about the end of the world."
The west of the continent?
The City of Sin...
Isn't that fucking Slaughter City?
And that whole theory about destroying the world...
Seriously, man?
You've read Douluo Continent too?
"Old man, you've read too many novels and storybooks. It's not that mysterious."
"Besides, how do you know I'm the World-Saving Lord and not the World-Destroying Lord?"
Yang Jian teased.
Naturally, he wouldn't tell Flender that his guesses were so accurate it felt as though he'd read the script.
"Hahahahaha..."
Flender laughed again. "Oh, please. You, the World-Destroying Lord? When feeding Xiaotian dragon blood and dragon meat, every time the younger beasts stopped being useful, you stopped killing soul beasts of those ages. Is that something a World-Destroying Lord would do?"
"That's called maximizing benefits, understand?"
"Xiaotian can already eat the flesh and blood of hundred-year soul beasts. If I still fed Xiaotian ten-year ones, wouldn't I just be wasting time and holding things up?"
"Besides, if I have no use for ten-year soul beasts, why would I kill them? Leave them sitting around to ferment into Ningbo Three Stinks?"
The moment Yang Jian finished speaking.
Flender said, "That's why you'll never become the World-Destroying Lord. You still have humanity."
At this point.
Without waiting for Yang Jian to answer, he continued in a low voice, "You brat, isn't your language a little too crude?"
"What crude language? What did I say?"
Caught off guard by Flender's sudden remark, Yang Jian froze.
"You brat, even if Rongrong smells down there, you shouldn't talk about her like that!"
"She is a young lady, after all. You're lucky she even lets you smell it. What more do you want?"
"Besides, how come I never knew young ladies smelled down there? And 'Three Stinks,' at that. Is something wrong with your nose?"
"Holy shit! Flender! What the hell have you got stuffed in that brain of yours?!"
The moment Yang Jian realized what Flender was talking about, he completely exploded.
That shout instantly drew everyone's attention.
Including Oscar, who had just accepted the knife Zhao Wuji handed him.
He was about to stab the thousand-year Phoenix-tail Crested Serpent that everyone had beaten down while Yang Jian and Flender were chatting, then absorb its Soul Ring.
"Stop!!!"
Before you continue