Flender

Biodata

Power Progression

Background / History

Shrek’s Independence and Financial Struggles

Flender founded Shrek Academy and resisted attempts to place it under outside control. He refused Balak Kingdom funding rather than submit to its royal family; the kingdom subsequently suppressed Shrek, although Flender and Zhao Wuji’s strength prevented that pressure from accomplishing much 31 82.

Keeping the academy open shaped his miserly habits. Before Tang Xuan enrolled, Shrek struggled with unpaid teacher wages and limited facilities. Even after receiving a total of 130,000 Gold Soul Coins from Tang Xuan, Flender repaired existing buildings, paths, fencing, and signage rather than rebuilding the campus 16 34.

Recruiting the Tang Brothers

At Yu Xiaogang’s invitation, Flender accompanied Tang Xuan and Tang San to the Star Dou Great Forest. He subdued a roughly nine-hundred-year Medusa for Tang San and supervised Tang Xuan’s attempt to absorb a twelve-hundred-year Sword-Tenon Eagle ring. Although he warned Tang Xuan against exceeding safe limits, he remained ready to intervene if the absorption failed 10.

After Tang Xuan succeeded, Flender eagerly sought to recruit both brothers and promised to help obtain their future soul rings. On their next hunt, he defeated beasts for Xiaogang and Tang San, then weakened a six-thousand-seven-hundred-year Earthflame Tyrant Dragon for Tang Xuan 11 15 16.

He initially refused Tang Xuan’s offer of 30,000 Gold Soul Coins because helping the brothers was a favor to their teacher, not paid work. He accepted only after Tang Xuan framed the money as an investment in their future academy 16.

Guild Funding and the Shrek Team

When Tang Xuan arrived in Suotuo City, Flender accepted funding from the Heavenly Journey Merchant Guild under a nominal affiliation agreement. The contract preserved Shrek’s control over management and teaching, but included a ten-million-gold-coin penalty for breach 31.

Recognizing that Tang Xuan had already exceeded Shrek’s graduation requirements, Flender appointed him teaching assistant despite his protests. He later established the Shrek Team with Tang Xuan as captain, Dai Mubai as vice-captain, and Xiaogang overseeing training 39 60.

Tang Xuan’s disappearance during a forest expedition left Flender distressed over both his unknown fate and Tang San’s despair. He felt responsible because Tang Hao had entrusted the brothers to Shrek 47. After Tang Xuan returned, Flender continued relying on him for training and publicly revealed his position as the guild’s president and Shrek’s principal investor 58 77 78.

Conflict with Spirit Hall

During the journey to Spirit City, Flender engaged an attacking Soul Douluo with a flying beast martial soul. He subsequently fought through the Golden Iron Triangle’s fusion skill against Chrysanthemum Douluo, whose attacks gradually weakened it 84.

When Bibi Dong sought to seize Tang Xuan and Tang San after the tournament, Flender urged Xiaogang to act rather than allow the brothers to be taken. Following the group’s escape, he worried that Shrek would face retaliation for offending Spirit Hall 90 91.

Imperial Academy and Later Life

Under the Wanling Empire, Shrek became its highest institution of learning. Flender welcomed this development as the realization of his ambition for the academy. By the later five-year reunion, Shrek had ten additional Soul Saints, more than forty Soul Emperors, and over ninety Soul Kings beyond its familiar senior teachers 111 115.

After the continent’s unification, Shrek’s teaching staff included six Titled Douluos and more than twenty Soul Douluos. Flender supported holding the former students’ weddings at the academy and promptly secured imperial funding for the celebrations 140 141.

Flender declined Tang Xuan’s invitation to accompany the younger generation to the Divine Realm, preferring a peaceful life at Shrek. He eventually handed practical authority to first vice-dean Qin Ming, while continuing to guide elite students occasionally and preside over major ceremonies 142 143.

At a later championship celebration, he formalized Shrek Seven Devils as the title awarded to future tournament teams, preserving the original Shrek Eight Monsters as a distinct legendary group. He also invited the senior students back to demonstrate their strength to the new generation 143 144.

Appearance

• Middle-aged: Described as a middle-aged man when Tang Xuan visits his Suotuo City shop 31.
• Glasses: Pushes them up while announcing Tang Xuan’s guild presidency 77.
• Martial soul transformation: Resembles a mighty eagle after Martial Soul Possession, with talons capable of gripping large soul beasts 15.
• Wings: Uses the wings on his back to cover his eyes while witnessing Tang Hao’s beating of Zhao Wuji 38.

Personality

Flender is shrewd, money-conscious, and openly enthusiastic about financial support. His thrift invites ridicule from students and colleagues, particularly when he asks Tang Xuan for funds despite Liu Erlong questioning whether the academy is actually short of money 34 77. However, the narration explicitly distinguishes his behavior from blind greed: his habits developed to sustain Shrek and its educational ideal, and he refuses payment for a favor performed out of friendship 16.

He strongly defends the academy’s autonomy and applies its rules regardless of a student’s family or faction. Ning Rongrong’s privileged background does not excuse defiance, while Oscar’s dishonesty earns additional running punishment. His later speeches emphasize equality and forbid bullying younger or weaker students 31 39 143.

Flender takes visible pride in exceptional students and genuine pleasure in his friends’ progress. Xiaogang’s breakthroughs move him deeply, and Tang Xuan’s unprecedented soul rings leave him shocked before he bursts into delighted laughter 15 31 79. He is also playful with colleagues, repeatedly teasing Zhao Wuji about losing to Tang Xuan 79 111.

Abilities & Skills

Four-Eyed Cat Owl

Flender’s beast martial soul supports his Agility Attack fighting style 10 146.

• Martial Soul Possession: Produces an eagle-like transformation with powerful talons 15.
• Speed: Completely outpaces the Dragon Flame Beast during their encounter 15.
• Close combat: Grips, repeatedly slams, and breaks a beast’s scales; later tears open the Earthflame Tyrant Dragon’s belly with a claw strike 15 16.
• Soul ring configuration: Seven rings are yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black; his eventual nine-ring configuration adds two black rings 15 141.

Golden Iron Triangle Fusion

Flender participates in the Golden Iron Triangle’s Martial Soul Fusion Skill 84.

• Used against Chrysanthemum Douluo during Spirit Hall’s convoy ambush.
• The fusion weakens under sustained attacks; it does not secure a decisive victory in that encounter 84.

Spiritual Perception

Flender can investigate nearby activity through spiritual power 43 74.

• Probes Tang Xuan’s room to determine that the gathering spiritual qi is entering his body 43.
• Detects two powerful spiritual fluctuations and identifies them as Titled Douluo-level activity 74.
• His perception has limits: he fails to detect Tang Xuan hiding nearby during Tang Hao’s confrontation with Zhao Wuji and later cannot sense Tang Xuan’s soul-power level 38 61.

Teaching and Administration

• Support-system survival: Teaches that a support Soul Master’s first response to battlefield danger should be escape and survival 39.
• Training delegation: Assigns Tang Xuan, Xiaogang, and Zhao Wuji responsibilities according to their abilities 39 43 60.
• Academic standards: Announces graduation thresholds of rank 40 and 1,000 credits for Outer Court students; rank 50, 5,000 credits, and the Silver Soul Fighter title for Inner Court students 143.
• Institutional succession: Transfers day-to-day authority to Qin Ming while retaining his standing as founder and dean 143.

Equipment / Items

• Glasses — Worn during his interactions with the Shrek group 77.
• Calamity-Breaking Pills — Accepts Tang Xuan’s gift to support his cultivation; refuses the accompanying water of life and makes Tang Xuan take it back 61.
• Guild affiliation contract — Signs the agreement securing Shrek’s funding and operational autonomy, with a ten-million-gold-coin breach penalty 31.

Relationships

• Yu Xiaogang / Grandmaster — Longtime close friend. Flender celebrates his cultivation breakthroughs and assists with soul-ring hunting; they also argue over Flender assigning Tang Xuan teaching duties 10 15 31 60.
• Liu Erlong — Fellow Golden Iron Triangle member and colleague. She openly reprimands his money-seeking behavior, including kicking him after he asks Tang Xuan for academy funds 77 84.
• Ma Hongjun — Direct disciple whom Flender took under his wing as a child. Their reunion combines an affectionate embrace with teasing and demands to demonstrate his progress 115 133.
• Tang Xuan — Recruited student, teaching assistant, team captain, and principal investor. His funding and cultivation gifts help transform Shrek; Flender eventually describes himself as working for him 11 31 39 60 61 115.
• Tang San — Student whose early soul-ring hunts Flender assists. Flender feels accountable to Tang Hao for his welfare and refuses to surrender him to Spirit Hall 10 15 47 90.
• Zhao Wuji — Vice-dean and longtime colleague; a frequent target of Flender’s teasing. Flender helps him leave after Tang Hao’s beating 38 60 111.
• Qin Ming — First vice-dean and practical successor in academy administration; Flender entrusts him with teaching and day-to-day authority 143.
• Shui Xinrou — Wife. They maintain contact after meeting during the earlier Soul Master Tournament, and her academy later joins Shrek 143.
• Fu Ruilin — Son with Shui Xinrou. Inherits Flender’s Four-Eyed Cat Owl and his mother’s water-controlling ability, producing a martial soul of higher quality than Flender’s 146.

Notable Quotes

“Shrek Academy will never attach itself to any power or submit to anyone’s control.” 31

“Xiao Gang, let’s act. We can’t let them take Xiao Xuan and Xiao San away.” 90

“Your circumstances at school today do not determine your future. As long as you cultivate diligently, every one of you can achieve something.” 143