Battling Flender

When Ma Hongjun returned, a middle-aged man appeared beside him.

The middle-aged man was around fifty and had a sturdy build.

His face was distinctive, with a slightly protruding chin, broad cheekbones, a flat face, and a somewhat hooked nose. He wore square, black-framed crystal glasses, which made him look thoroughly cunning. This was Flender, the dean of Shrek Academy. He was also Ma Hongjun's teacher.

At that moment, Flender and Ma Hongjun, one old and one young, stared blankly at the scene, too shocked to speak.

They could not help feeling somewhat horrified.

They both knew Dai Mubai's talent and strength well. He was a rank thirty-seven Soul Elder, and with a top-tier Beast Martial Soul like the White Tiger, he was far from weak even among Soul Elders. Yet now he had been beaten so badly, his body covered in blood, with skin and flesh even sliced away in several places.

They could no longer remain calm at the sight.

After all, Dai Mubai also had extensive practical combat experience. Having spent so long Soul Fighting in the Great Soul Arena, he was certainly no crooked melon or cracked date.

Just how terrifying was the person who had injured him like this?

Flender gave Xu Ran a long, searching look. The wounds on Dai Mubai's body had clearly been inflicted by an extremely sharp sword. And Xu Ran happened to be holding a pitch-black longsword.

Putting this together with Ma Hongjun's report, he roughly understood what had happened.

"Take Dai Mubai to Zhao Wuji and have his wounds bandaged," Flender said after glancing at Dai Mubai. Although Dai Mubai's wounds looked shocking, they were not actually deep, so he was not worried about his safety.

"Yes, Teacher." Ma Hongjun nodded. He looked at Dai Mubai's wounds, then gave Xu Ran another long look, unable to suppress a shudder. Fortunately, he had been quick-witted enough not to join Dai Mubai in bullying the newcomers. Otherwise, he might have ended up even worse off. Even Dai Mubai had been injured like this, while he was only a Soul Grandmaster. If he offended Xu Ran, would he not be a lamb to the slaughter, utterly powerless to fight back?

With these thoughts, Ma Hongjun could not help raising Xu Ran and Xiao Wu's standing in his mind without limit. He knew these two were not people he could afford to provoke. That woman in particular-no matter how lustful he was, he could not entertain any designs on her. Dai Mubai had ended up like this precisely because he had spoken frivolously and tried to provoke that girl.

Ma Hongjun hoisted Dai Mubai onto his back and took to his heels. He wanted to get Dai Mubai settled quickly, then return to watch the show.

Flender stared straight at Xu Ran and Xiao Wu before finally resting his gaze on Xu Ran. A sharp light flashed in his eyes, and he could not help marveling.

He could sense that Xu Ran's cultivation was at rank thirty-two. Yet he seemed very young.

"With only rank thirty-two cultivation, how did he defeat Dai Mubai? Mubai is already rank thirty-seven, and his combat experience is nothing to scoff at," Flender murmured to himself.

A powerful presence suddenly erupted from him and pressed down on Xu Ran.

Seven enormous Soul Rings spiraled up around him, two yellow, two purple, and three black-the cultivation of a Soul Saint.

Flender was a rank seventy-eight Soul Saint.

"Win me over with your strength, and you can enter Shrek Academy," Flender said, looking at Xu Ran with undisguised fervor in his eyes. He knew he had truly stumbled upon a treasure this time. Perhaps he had encountered an unparalleled genius.

At rank thirty-two, his strength had overwhelmed the rank thirty-seven Dai Mubai. No one but a true genius could have accomplished that. Flender had examined the wounds carefully just now. The sword wounds on Dai Mubai's body were all extremely direct, the cuts smooth, without the slightest deviation. Had Dai Mubai possessed even the slightest ability to resist, his opponent could never have inflicted wounds like those.

All of this could only mean that Dai Mubai had been like a plaything before him, without the slightest power to resist.

After releasing his Martial Soul, Flender kept his gaze fixed on Xu Ran. He was in no hurry to attack, because he only wanted to test Xu Ran's strength, not defeat him.

As a Soul Saint, why would he have any desire to compete with a Soul Elder?

"My strength?" Xu Ran nodded, his right hand closing around his sword hilt once more.

He remembered that in the original story, the Shrek Seven Devils had been required to last the time it took an incense stick to burn against Zhao Wuji before entering the academy. Thus, Shrek Academy's admission requirements were much stricter than those of other academies.

He did not necessarily have to defeat Flender to enter the academy, either.

He only needed to display his greatest strength before Flender. That would be enough.

Xu Ran stood firmly in place, gripping his sword hilt. Flender, meanwhile, waited intently for Xu Ran to strike. He was rather curious. Xu Ran's Sword Martial Soul had to be extraordinary. If properly nurtured, perhaps their Shrek Academy could produce someone like Sword Douluo.

A gust of wind swept past, stirring their clothes.

It was at that very moment that Xu Ran struck.

Xu Ran immediately released his Martial Soul, and three purple Soul Rings spiraled upward, shining with violet light. At the same time, the first and second Soul Rings beneath him lit up, and he instantly vanished from where he stood.

Star Concealment granted temporary invisibility, blending him into his surroundings while greatly increasing his speed.

Bloodshed, meanwhile, was Xu Ran's strongest single-target attack Soul Skill.

Using the two Soul Skills together might produce an unexpected effect.

"Three Thousand-Year Soul Rings. They're actually all Thousand-Year Soul Rings. To think such a monstrous genius exists in this world," Flender murmured. But the moment Xu Ran released his Martial Soul, he had already accepted him. If a genius like Xu Ran could not join the academy, then there was no point in keeping Shrek Academy open.

Shrek Academy claimed to be an academy that accepted only monsters. In truth, however, whether Oscar, Ma Hongjun, or Dai Mubai, they were merely students with somewhat better talent. They could hardly be called monsters, but today, he had truly witnessed one.

His first Soul Ring was already a thousand-year ring. If that was not a monster, what was?

How old was a Soul Master at rank ten, six or seven? He could already absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring at that age? And Flender could see very clearly that this first Soul Ring was damn well over three thousand years old. A Soul Ring that had only just passed a thousand years would not have such a deep purple hue.

While Flender was in a daze, an icy chill instantly brought him back to his senses. Xu Ran had already launched an attack on him.

His heart tightened, and he looked around, trying to locate Xu Ran. To his horror, he could no longer sense Xu Ran's presence at all.

Flender knew Xu Ran might have used some kind of invisibility Soul Skill. Not daring to be careless, he immediately sent his Soul Power spreading outward in successive waves, trying to detect Xu Ran's location.