Liu Erlong Tested Su Ling's Depths?

"Do you know Dean Flender?" Su Ling feigned surprise.

"Have you ever heard of the Golden Iron Triangle?" Liu Erlong asked softly.

"I heard the dean mention it. He's the Horn of Flight, and there are also the Horn of Wisdom and the Horn of Slaughter. Could you be the Horn of Slaughter?" Su Ling asked.

"That's right!"

"Then I should address you as my senior." Su Ling cupped his hands and bowed.

"You don't need to call me your senior or anything. I prefer what you called me earlier-big sister." Liu Erlong gave a rare smile.

[Ding... Liu Erlong's favorability +10. Obtained White Chest ×6, Yellow Chest ×1.]

After learning who Su Ling was, Liu Erlong's favorability soared.

"Those crystals probably aren't worth much. Consider them a gift. Take these gold soul coins back." Liu Erlong took the gold soul coins Su Ling had given her out of her soul tool again.

Since he was one of Flender's people, swindling him seemed rather inappropriate.

"Sister Liu, there's no need. These crystals are useful to me. They're worth the price," Su Ling said.

"Have you discovered what these crystals do?" Liu Erlong looked at him curiously.

Su Ling said, "On my way to Heaven Dou City, I obtained a defensive formation. These crystals can supply the energy to sustain its defenses."

"I see. Since you won't take these gold soul coins back, I'll tell you where I found them. If you need more in the future, you can go get them yourself. Come on, let's sit inside," Liu Erlong said.

Only by telling Su Ling their source could she accept the nearly twenty thousand gold soul coins with an easy conscience.

"Thank you, Sister Liu!" Su Ling said.

They arrived at Liu Erlong's wooden cottage. Though simple, it was clean and tidy.

Liu Erlong poured Su Ling a cup of hot tea, then took out a sheet of paper and wrote down the location where she had found the crystals.

"Su Ling, what's your martial soul? Boss Fu told me about it before, but it's been so long that I seem to have forgotten," Liu Erlong said.

Su Ling said, "My martial soul was originally the Water Moon Bow. Through my efforts over the years and Dean Flender's help, it has evolved into the Five Elements War Bow."

With that, Su Ling stood up, stepped back twice, and released his martial soul. His soul rings appeared one after another.

Generally speaking, people ought to feel more favorably toward juniors with great potential.

Liu Erlong wouldn't harm him, so Su Ling had no problem showing her his martial soul and soul rings.

"The Five Elements War Bow?"

"Your soul rings... why is your fourth soul ring a ten-thousand-year one?" Liu Erlong asked, looking puzzled.

Su Ling said, "It's only just over ten thousand years old. It was also thanks to that ring that my martial soul successfully evolved."

"I see. Rank forty-three soul power. Very good. Come outside and let me test your depths!" Liu Erlong rose and headed outside.

My depths?

Shouldn't it be my length?

She's got it backward!

"What are you muttering about?" Liu Erlong asked.

"N-nothing!" Su Ling hurried after her.

Once they were some distance from the cottage, Liu Erlong stopped and said, "Su Ling, use your Five Elements War Bow to attack me with your strongest attack."

"Sister Liu, then release your martial soul and complete your martial soul possession first," Su Ling said.

"You're only a Soul Ancestor. There's no need," Liu Erlong said with complete confidence.

"Then, Sister Liu, try my third soul skill first, and we'll try the others afterward."

With that, Su Ling drew the Five Elements War Bow.

"Your third soul skill? You're looking down on me. I'm a rank seventy-five Battle Soul Saint. Come on!" Liu Erlong said sharply, seemingly displeased that Su Ling was underestimating her.

She could handle a Soul Ancestor's skill without even using her martial soul.

That was the confidence of the Horn of Slaughter.

Su Ling's soul ring lit up as he activated his third soul skill, Explosive Flame Arrow.

With his bow drawn into a full moon, Su Ling fired a fiery-red arrow at Liu Erlong. Only thirty-odd meters separated them.

"What?"

The instant Su Ling attacked, Liu Erlong realized that the power of the fire attribute he unleashed was no ordinary thing.

Circulating her soul power, Liu Erlong's hands turned fiery red. Wrapped in soul power, they caught Su Ling's Explosive Flame Arrow head-on.

Bang! An explosion rang out, and flames soared into the sky.

Liu Erlong was sent flying more than ten meters backward, twisting in midair before landing.

She looked somewhat disheveled now. The explosive flames had damaged her clothes, burning fist-sized holes in several places.

Her fair skin was exposed, and Su Ling could even catch a fleeting glimpse of the edges of her peaks.

But Liu Erlong hadn't noticed yet. "Your third soul skill is excellent. I underestimated you. It's considerably stronger than many soul masters' fourth soul skills. Good. Very good."

Liu Erlong's eyes were filled with appreciation for Su Ling.

[Ding... Liu Erlong's favorability +5. Obtained White Chest ×2, Yellow Chest ×1.]

"Thank you for the praise, Sister Liu," Su Ling said.

Liu Erlong was very interested in Su Ling, so she said, "Keep going. Use your fourth soul skill too."

With that, Liu Erlong released her martial soul and completed her possession.

Her martial soul was a fire dragon, a true dragon martial soul mutated from the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul. It qualified as a top-tier martial soul as well.

"Come on!" Liu Erlong said.

"All right!"

Su Ling nodded, then drew the Five Elements War Bow again. His fourth soul skill had come from the Golden-Armored Earth Dragon and leaned toward the metal attribute.

His fourth soul skill was called Golden Light Arrow Rain, an area attack skill. The moment Su Ling drew his bow, twelve phantom figures appeared around him.

Whoosh...

As the golden arrow flew out, the arrows in the twelve phantoms' hands shot forth at the same time.

This soul skill could concentrate all its arrows on a single point or attack an area. Su Ling could also control the number of arrows in the rain himself.

Firing twelve arrows now consumed nearly a third of Su Ling's soul power in one go.

Each arrow was considerably stronger than his earlier Explosive Flame Arrow. The metal attribute was a sharp weapon for slaughter.

Liu Erlong no longer dared take him lightly. She took on the form of a fire dragon, her arms turning fiery red as she struck at Su Ling's attack.

Thunderous booms rang out without pause as the twelve arrows struck almost the same spot.

The series of explosions also reached the Blue Tyrant Academy, and quite a few people came out to look in Liu Erlong and Su Ling's direction.

"That's where the dean lives." Jiang Zhu emerged with a worried expression.

"Come on, let's take a look," Huang Yuan said.

"We'll go together." Jing Ling stepped forward too.

Apart from Tai Long, Jiang Zhu, Huang Yuan, and Jing Ling had the highest soul power in the Blue Tyrant Academy's advanced class. After the three ran over, the other students wanted to follow, but the academy's teachers stopped them.

"Don't go. Wait until we've checked it out. All of you, go back and rest," a male teacher said.

With several teachers blocking their path, the students could only give up.

[Ding... Detected a goddess within five hundred meters of the host whose goddess overall rating meets the requirements!]

[Goddess: Jiang Zhu]

[Goddess overall rating: 91]

[Binding requirement: Favorability above 60]

[Current favorability: Unknown]

Huh, someone's coming?

As his fourth soul skill's attack ended, Su Ling heard the system's notification.

Liu Erlong had just finished receiving Su Ling's soul skill, inwardly marveling at the power of his attacks.

She reckoned that if she hadn't used a soul skill, Su Ling would have injured her.

Flender, you really have raised a monster.

[Ding... Liu Erlong's favorability +2. White Chest ×1.]

"Dean, are you all right?" While Liu Erlong was lost in thought, two young men in their early twenties and a girl who looked seventeen or eighteen emerged from the woods ahead.

The girl appeared to be over a hundred and sixty-five centimeters tall. Her long, dark-red hair was distinctive, and she looked sweet and well-behaved.

Though she fell a little short of Shrek's three beauties, she was still unquestionably a rare beauty.

A goddess overall rating of 91 wasn't especially high.

On the Douluo Continent, cultivating soul power was harder for support-type soul masters than for power attack-type or agility attack-type soul masters.

In the original story, the Advanced Soul Master Tournament was about to begin when she appeared.

It was truly no easy feat for Jiang Zhu to reach rank thirty-five soul power at nineteen.

Huang Yuan and Jing Ling were also rank thirty-five, but they had only reached that level in their twenties. The gap was obvious.

Jiang Zhu's talent was also better than that of Meng Yiran, whom Su Ling had met earlier.

After just one glance, Jiang Zhu's initial favorability appeared. It wasn't much-only 3 points.

Seeing that people had arrived, Liu Erlong immediately put on a stern expression. "Didn't I tell you not to wander into this forest? I'm fine. Hurry back and cultivate."

Comparison really did sting. Liu Erlong had thought quite well of these students before, but beside Su Ling, they were simply far too lacking.

One stood in the heavens and the others on the earth. There was no comparison.

She even felt that Su Ling alone could defeat the entire team the academy had assembled.

Seeing Liu Erlong angry, they immediately said, "Dean, we'll head back right away."

The three turned back at once, vanishing from Su Ling's sight in the blink of an eye.

Liu Erlong said, "Su Ling, those students just now are the ones our Blue Tyrant Academy has trained for the Advanced Soul Master Tournament. How many students does your academy have now? How strong are they? Can you put together a team?"

Su Ling said, "Eight, including me. Four are currently Soul Elders, and the other three are close to breaking through. Before the Advanced Soul Master Tournament, I reckon most of them can become Soul Ancestors. Even if they don't, their soul power should be close to that level."

"Really?" Liu Erlong's eyes lit up.

"Then you should be preparing to enter the Advanced Soul Master Tournament too, right?"

Su Ling shook his head. "I'm not sure about that. I haven't heard the dean mention it."

"When are you returning to the academy?" Liu Erlong asked.

"In about two months, probably. If things go quickly, it might only take a month."

Su Ling answered, wondering what Liu Erlong meant. Could she be planning to go to Shrek?

"Good. Come find me when you head back. I'll go to Shrek with you," Liu Erlong said.

Well, it really was just as Su Ling had thought.

He had merely gotten to know Liu Erlong ahead of time. He hadn't expected this encounter to change the course of the plot. Shrek might enter the Blue Tyrant Academy directly, without making a trip to the Heaven Dou Royal Academy.

"By the way, is Xiao Gang at Shrek?" Liu Erlong immediately asked.

Su Ling feigned a blank look, and Liu Erlong hurriedly explained, "Everyone calls him Grandmaster."

"No!" Su Ling said.

Hearing this, Liu Erlong felt a little disappointed, but Su Ling continued, "One of the academy's students, Tang San, apparently had a teacher called Grandmaster before he came to the academy. I don't know whether he's the person you mean, Sister Liu."

"He should be. There's no mistaking it. Otherwise, why would he go to Shrek Academy?"

"Good, very good. To think Xiao Gang has a disciple too. Now I have all the more reason to go. This Advanced Soul Master Tournament will be the moment our Golden Iron Triangle shows its edge once again," Liu Erlong said, her face full of anticipation.