The Shady Dealer Flender

"Not expensive. One hundred Gold Soul Coins." Flender slightly opened his eyes and spoke calmly.

After speaking, he withdrew his sidelong glance, closed his eyes, and lay still.

What a rip-off. Yang Yunhai shook his head, turned around, and nodded. "Zhuqing, let's go."

Yet this time, Zhu Zhuqing unusually did not nod and say yes. Instead, she glanced at the crystal and said softly, "If you really want to buy it, I can cover it for now. Just consider it a loan from me."

Yang Yunhai, who had originally wanted to haggle a little, thought for a moment and nodded slightly. "That works. Thanks."

Zhu Zhuqing nodded faintly, stepped up to Flender, brushed a hand past her ear, and took out a pouch of Gold Soul Coins to hand over.

"Boss, here—" Before she could finish, Flender's calm voice came first.

"Sorry, you don't have enough money."

"?" Zhu Zhuqing looked puzzled. She lifted the money pouch to confirm its weight before replying, "Boss, there's no mistake. There are exactly one hundred Gold Soul Coins here, not one less."

"But my crystal is now selling for two hundred Gold Soul Coins." Flender did not even open his eyes, his tone calm.

Raising the price on the spot! Crooked merchant! These two phrases immediately flashed through Zhu Zhuqing's mind, and her delicate brows furrowed.

Heh, trying to fleece me! I may be no good at flirting, but I know a thing or two about business. Who isn't a crooked merchant these days... Yang Yunhai's expression remained unchanged as he called out, "Zhuqing, since this boss isn't willing to sell, then forget it."

Zhu Zhuqing did not hesitate. She immediately put away the money pouch, turned, and walked toward Yang Yunhai.

Although they had not known each other long, she could tell from his voice that Yang Yunhai was probably angry.

"Let's go." When Zhu Zhuqing reached him, Yang Yunhai smiled slightly and said something rather inexplicable:

"Zhuqing, I originally wanted to take you to have a look at Shrek Academy in the south of Suotuo City, the one that claims to accept only monsters. But now that I think about it, forget it."

"Sigh, I never really understood it before, but now I know that money always seems scarce when you need it."

"I heard Shrek Academy is poor as dirt. When the time comes, we'll have to pay registration fees and tuition, and even cover our own living expenses. I just broke through, so I don't have much saved up. I don't even have enough money for skincare and hair care, let alone all that. I'm afraid I can't afford it."

"So I'm thinking, why don't we go to Heaven Dou City and find an advanced Soul Master Academy instead? I heard that at the advanced Soul Master Academies there, students don't even have to pay for meals. Those with good talent can even get their lodging fees waived. I think it's worth a try."

"If it works out, we could save a huge amount of money."

"We've come so far from home this time, and we don't know when we'll return. There are still plenty of places we'll need money, so we should spend carefully."

Could this person be from Shrek Academy? Listening to Yang Yunhai's inexplicable words, and his deliberate mention of Shrek Academy, Zhu Zhuqing could not help but speculate. She did not look at Flender, merely nodding with a cool expression. "That's fine."

With that, she followed closely behind Yang Yunhai toward the exit.

Fuck, I screwed this up! These two little monsters had actually come to Suotuo City for my Shrek Academy. On the other side, Flender felt his heart suddenly tighten.

He had thought he was fleecing two inexperienced youngsters, only to realize that the trouble had landed right on his own head.

Others might not have been able to sense the cultivation and age of the two before him, but he had gotten a rough read on both.

As a Soul Sage with the Cat Eagle martial soul, his eyesight was a major advantage. With a single glance at the softness and tenderness of their skin, he could roughly guess their ages.

As for their cultivation, his Cat Eagle martial soul's unique talent, Echo Sense, could use sound reverberations to touch the flesh of a target Soul Master or Soul Beast, sensing the minute fluctuations of Soul Power within their bodies and thereby judging their approximate strength.

This was his specialty.

Aside from certain powerhouses whose control over Soul Power was absurdly strong, allowing them to completely conceal it, he could not sense them. But for ordinary Soul Masters, his readings were extremely accurate.

It was precisely because of this skill that he had dared to travel the continent alone in his youth and escaped danger time and again.

Avoiding danger and running away was his profession.

Of course, none of that was the key point.

The key was that the two little fellows before him were both around the same age as his own disciple, Ma Hongjun.

The girl's Soul Power was definitely above Rank 25, and her talent was not much worse than his disciple's. As for the boy, that was a little ridiculous—his Soul Power had definitely reached Rank 30.

A complete monster!

Who knew which great family's genius offspring they had run away from.

If they had merely been passing through Suotuo City, then since he could not afford to offend them anyway, he could fleece them and let them go.

But if they had come specifically for his Shrek Academy, then he absolutely could not let them slip away.

Honestly, one had two Storage Soul Tools hanging from her ears, while the other dressed so plainly. Were they playing at being pigs to eat tigers? And if they had run away from home, why hadn't they brought more money? Who could have guessed that two hundred Gold Soul Coins would make them feel such pain? With these thoughts in mind, he hurriedly coughed, put on a pained expression, and spoke impatiently. "Fine, fine. One hundred Gold Soul Coins it is. Pay up and take it."

Zhu Zhuqing, who had already followed Yang Yunhai to the entrance, immediately stopped. She looked up at Yang Yunhai, then ran back on her own. She took out a pouch of Gold Soul Coins from her Soul Tool and placed it beside Flender, then quickly walked to the crystal, picked it up, and directly stored it in her Soul Tool.

Tap, tap, tap. She soon returned to Yang Yunhai's side and said softly, "I'll keep it with me for now."

"Thanks." Yang Yunhai nodded slightly.

Zhu Zhuqing nodded lightly without saying anything.

"Let's go." Yang Yunhai turned back. As he started walking forward, he raised his head to glance at the darkening sky. "It's getting late. Let's find a hotel and check in first. I can rest up for the night, then we'll set off tomorrow morning."

"..." Zhu Zhuqing's fists nearly clenched instinctively. She silently followed Yang Yunhai.

"You too. It won't be too late to go to Shrek Academy tomorrow." Yang Yunhai continued, "Also, just so you know, the owner of that shop was Flender, the headmaster of Shrek Academy. And if I'm not mistaken, he's probably already seen through our cultivation."

Although he did not know why, based on the original description, Flender seemed to have easily seen through Tang San's cultivation when he entered the shop. Therefore, Yang Yunhai guessed that Flender might have also seen through theirs just now.

That crooked merchant who had raised the price on the spot was actually the headmaster of Shrek Academy? Zhu Zhuqing's body stiffened at once, and she lightly bit her silver teeth.

So Yang Yunhai had deliberately taken me there, using himself to test Flender and let me see what kind of person he was?

After all, that crystal was clearly not worth 100 Gold Soul Coins.

Besides, Flender's sudden decision to lower the price back to its original amount had neither been because he feared the crystal would not sell nor because he had suddenly grown a conscience.

It was because he had seen through Yang Yunhai's and my cultivation, and knew that our talent and strength far exceeded the admission requirements.

That was why Yang Yunhai had said those seemingly nonsensical things—to hint at something to Flender.

He was hinting that they had originally intended to register and join Shrek Academy, but since Shrek Academy's conditions were poor to begin with and they had not brought enough money, they had suddenly changed their minds and no longer wanted to go.

So Flender had suddenly changed his mind because he was afraid they would really leave and not go to Shrek Academy?

For a moment, Zhu Zhuqing thought of many things.