His Eminence the Divine Smith?

It wasn't that Yang Jian had deliberately forgotten.

The truth was, someone at that level could no longer stir anything in his heart.

Even without absorbing his fifth Soul Ring, which prevented him from unleashing all fifty-one levels of Soul Power in his body.

With his physical strength alone, Yang Jian was confident he could kill Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang outright.

After all, his body had already been powerful, and killing Dragon Duke Meng Shu had just netted him another enormous haul of emotion rewards.

Never mind anything else-even facing a Soul Saint, Yang Jian wouldn't flinch in the slightest.

Why would he care about some old woman who had spent decades hovering in the lower ranks of Soul Emperor?

The fact that he remembered now was thanks to Ning Rongrong.

If her remarks hadn't made Yang Jian want to change the subject.

Who knew when he would have remembered?

"I've already killed Meng Yiran."

Flender spoke calmly.

"Huh?"

"Old man, you're that ruthless?"

Yang Jian was taken aback too.

He hadn't seen that coming. Flender actually had such a decisive, merciless side to him.

What a shame, though.

He hadn't finished harvesting Meng Yiran's emotion rewards.

Still, if he really thought about it, it wasn't that much of a shame.

She was only a prospective Soul Elder who had just reached level thirty, without any great fortune blessing her. Even the emotion rewards she produced at death would probably have amounted to a few scraps.

They were the sort of thing he could collect along the way, without much fuss.

If they were gone, it wasn't worth losing sleep over.

"Young Yang, you've only just started making your way in the world. There are some lessons you might not understand."

With a seriousness he rarely showed around Yang Jian, Flender said, "When you walk the martial world, the greatest taboo is mercy."

"Perhaps Meng Yiran was just a rookie who had reached level thirty. You didn't take her seriously, and you certainly had the strength to look down on her."

"But what about later? What about the future?"

"What if she encountered some extraordinary opportunity, her strength soared, and she found a few ruthless people to ambush you? What if they ambushed your children instead? You can't go your whole life without marrying and having children, can you?"

"Besides, a thief can spend a thousand days plotting, but who can spend a thousand days guarding against him?"

"Of course, you can say this girl would never amount to much, no matter what happened. But she's a woman."

"A woman might attach herself to a man. What if she were lucky enough to attach herself to a Titled Douluo?"

"Even if you aren't afraid, we-we don't need to invite that sort of disaster upon ourselves."

"Wouldn't you agree?"

Yang Jian barely took in Flender's earnest advice, but Ma Hongjun and the others nodded silently.

"The dean's right!"

Ma Hongjun was the first to respond, then turned toward the silent Yang Jian. "Boss, we know you're a kindhearted person, but with this sort of thing, well... anyway, the dean's right!"

"Give me a break, Fatty. I thought you were about to deliver some earth-shattering wisdom. Turns out all you could squeeze out was a fart?"

Yang Jian pressed his lips together, speechless. "All right, all right, move aside. I never said killing Meng Yiran was wrong. I just thought it was a bit of a shame. That's all, okay?"

"A shame? What's there to regret? Ohoho..."

As though she had discovered some earth-shattering secret, Ning Rongrong suddenly covered her mouth with both hands. "You-you actually liked that little hussy!"

"Don't tell me you're a masochist?!"

At that point.

Ning Rongrong changed expressions again, like a chameleon. "No wonder you ignored me when I kept trying to please you before. So you-you actually like that sort of thing?!"

"Ning Rongrong!"

"What? Did I hit a sore spot? Are you angry? It's fine! Everyone has their own unusual kinks. It's fine! Your big sister can learn to... mmph, mmph..."

Before Ning Rongrong could finish, Yang Jian caught her neck under his arm and covered her mouth. "Nobody will mistake you for a mute if you keep quiet!"

"And stop parroting me!"

"Don't you know it's rude to parrot people?!"

Yang Jian was at a loss for words.

He was beginning to regret using those trendy expressions from his previous life on Ning Rongrong to farm emotion rewards.

Had he corrupted her a little too much?

Why was this veering further and further off course?

"True. I saw Yang looking at someone's ankles just now."

"Maybe he has a foot fetish too."

For once, Zhu Zhuqing actually joined the discussion.

"No, I was watching Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang beside her! Those two are so short. How am I supposed to look up at them?"

"I can't even see them if I look straight ahead! Wait, no-Zhu Zhuqing! Aren't you supposed to be the cool, mature beauty, damn it?"

"Talking about this? You're going out of character!"

Yang Jian immediately complained in exasperation.

"Huh?!"

Taking advantage of Yang Jian's distraction, Ning Rongrong immediately broke free of his hand, freeing her mouth. "Chao Tianxiang? Don't tell me that besides a foot fetish, you also have..."

"Shut up!"

Yang Jian covered Ning Rongrong's mouth again. This time, he wasn't letting her get her way, no matter what.

"Hehehe..."

Thinking of the words Ning Rongrong had been about to say, Zhu Zhuqing couldn't help laughing aloud.

"Ahem. All right, all right. Let's get down to business."

Flender had held back his own laughter for quite a while before interrupting their antics. "Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang is still locked inside that tower."

"Exactly."

"We'll only truly have peace of mind once we deal with that old hag too."

Zhao Wuji chimed in.

"Huh?"

"Wait, old man. Since you two killed Meng Yiran, couldn't you have killed Snake Granny Chao Tianxiang while you were at it?"

"Don't tell me the two of you couldn't kill a low-ranking Soul Emperor?"

No sooner had Yang Jian finished speaking.

Than Zhao Wuji shrugged. "We couldn't help it, young Yang. You have no idea how tough that tower of yours is. It's nothing like an ordinary Soul Tool. I struck it with my palm, and it didn't even budge."

"Oh, speaking of that, I forgot to ask."

"What kind of Soul Tool is that? How come I've never seen you use it before? And a Soul Tool of that caliber-could it have been made by a divine smith?"

Flender adjusted his glasses.

He simply couldn't figure out how Yang Jian, who had grown up by his side, had acquired such a treasure.

Or how he had come into contact with a divine smith.

Surely this thing hadn't been made by a Titled Douluo?

If a Titled Douluo had intervened, everything would make sense.

Flender couldn't imagine anyone other than a Titled Douluo slipping past the senses of a level seventy-eight Agility Attack System Soul Saint like him without a trace.

Wait! That wasn't right!

When had young Yang hooked up with a mysterious Titled Douluo?

And one who was also a divine smith. Could it be someone from the Clear Sky Sect?

At that thought.

Flender's eyes suddenly lit up, and he seemed to enter some peculiar state.

However.

That indescribable state earned only one response from Yang Jian. "Hey! Old man, have you lost it? What are you thinking about so intently, with that look on your face? Don't tell me you're getting some in your dreams?"

"Tsk, tsk. At your age, and you still can't read the room..."

"Ahem-"

"So, was this really made by His Eminence the Divine Smith?"