Flender the Profiteer
After voicing his disappointment, Su Tianyu lifted his foot to leave the shop. Suddenly, his vision blurred, and a shoehorn-shaped face loomed before his eyes.
"You're going to apply to Shrek Academy? What level is your Soul Power? I was wrong to treat you like that just now, so this crystal is yours," Flender said, looking at Su Tianyu with pleasant surprise as he hurriedly apologized.
Su Tianyu was used to seeing this profiteer change his face so quickly. His lips curved slightly, and he chuckled. "I'm nine and a half, a level twenty-three control-type Soul Grandmaster."
"Martial Soul Possession!"
His eyes turned into a pair of golden pupils, and two Yellow Soul Rings rose beneath his feet as he looked calmly at Flender.
"Good, good, good! You're already a Soul Grandmaster at such a young age. Kid, you've got talent."
Flender's shoehorn-shaped face was wreathed in smiles, and his eyes shone as he stared at Su Tianyu. He was already thinking about how to swindle-ptui, invite Su Tianyu to Shrek.
"Little brother, leaving everything else aside, Shrek Academy has an excellent teaching staff. The teachers alone are all Soul Emperors or stronger. There are two Soul Emperors and three Soul Saints among them. When your Soul Power reaches a breakthrough, a teacher can personally lead a team to help you hunt for a Soul Ring. All you have to do is absorb the Soul Ring and raise your Soul Power Level."
Pride appeared on Flender's face as he thought of Shrek Academy, which he had founded. He naturally didn't believe any intermediate Soul Master Academy on Douluo Continent could compare to Shrek, nor did he believe he couldn't swindle this kid into taking the bait. Once Su Tianyu entered Shrek, everything would be up to him, Flender.
"Speaking of which, boss, you know Shrek Academy so well. Does that mean you're a teacher there? Otherwise, how could you know so much about its teaching staff?"
Su Tianyu pretended not to know that the man before him was Flender, the dean of Shrek Academy. He laughed and played along with Flender. Since he was putting so much effort into acting, he was naturally doing it to fleece Flender's little shop for a bit more.
Hearing this, Flender's eyes darted around. He waved his hands repeatedly and spun his tale. "I'm no teacher at Shrek Academy. I'm just a businessman with a shop in Suotuo City. Shrek students often come here to buy things, and sometimes I hear them say the teachers at Shrek Academy are all very good. After hearing it often enough, I naturally picked up a little information about the academy."
"All right, then. Hearing you praise Shrek so highly, boss, I'll go and apply when the academy recruits students next February and see how it goes. You said you'd give me this crystal, so how about I pick out a few more Soul Tools?"
With that, Su Tianyu tossed the crystal in his hand and looked eagerly at the Soul Tools on the shelves along three walls. Only a few of the Soul Tools on those shelves had any value. The rest were worthless scraps of copper and iron used as decorations, there to swindle unsuspecting Soul Masters into paying through the nose.
When Flender heard this, he put on an unconcerned expression and waved a hand, signaling for Su Tianyu to take his pick of whatever caught his eye.
Seeing how generous Flender was, Su Tianyu laughed inwardly and, without the slightest hesitation, began sweeping the Soul Tools off the shelves.
With a grand sweep of his hand, he pocketed the valuable Soul Tools from the shelves along all three walls. Finally, he put the crystal in his hand into a Soul Tool and walked out of the shop, pleased as could be.
After Su Tianyu left, Flender looked as though he wanted to cry but had no tears. A wail rang out through the little shop as he gazed at the goods on the shelves in anguish. "I've really taken a massive loss this time! That kid has such a sharp eye-he took all the most valuable Soul Tools! My Soul Tools, my gleaming Gold Soul Coins!"
After leaving Flender's shop, Su Tianyu found a hotel and settled in. He planned to try his luck at the Great Soul Arena in Suotuo City that night. He had no intention of taking part in Soul Fighting, and he certainly wasn't short of Gold Soul Coins now.
What he intended to do was watch every Soul Master's fight at the Great Soul Arena, then review the strengths and weaknesses of each Soul Master's Martial Soul afterward. This would be of some help on his upcoming travels across Douluo Continent. Only by learning more about Martial Souls could he find ways to defeat his enemies.
Before long, evening arrived. Su Tianyu hurried through dinner at the hotel and headed quickly toward the Great Soul Arena in Suotuo City.
As he walked through the streets of Suotuo City, snack stalls lined the road all the way to the Great Soul Arena. Under the bright glow of Soul Guidance Lamps, the stalls displayed all kinds of food, including Soul Beast meat hot pot, fried skewers, noodle soup, and more.
Looking at the crowded street, he saw that most people had come for the Soul Masters' fights in the Great Soul Arena. Many ordinary people without Soul Power were deeply drawn to the power of Soul Masters. Whenever they saw the dazzling Soul Skills on the fighting platform, the sight lingered in their minds. That was also why so many people in Douluo enjoyed watching life-and-death battles where every punch struck flesh.
Before long, Su Tianyu arrived at the entrance to the Great Soul Arena. He raised his head and studied the building before him. It was oval in shape, resembling the Colosseum of ancient Rome from his previous life, and stood 120 meters tall. Rows of lit Soul Guidance Lamps surrounded its outer walls, making the entire arena look even more magnificent and glittering.
"It really is the most profitable Soul Fighting Arena on Douluo Continent. Just from the Soul Masters and ordinary people coming and going through the entrance, it must earn countless Gold Soul Coins every day. Only an auction house could compare."
Su Tianyu strode into the Great Soul Arena and found the hall packed with people. Some were Soul Masters who had come to fight or ordinary people who had come to watch them, but more were like him, there to place bets on fights and earn Gold Soul Coins.
Just then, a commotion came from the entrance to the Great Soul Arena. Su Tianyu turned toward the noise and saw a woman with long, fiery red hair. The fiery red qipao she wore outlined her voluptuous, fiery figure. Her oval face was filled with anger, and her cherry lips fired off a stream of colorful language at the man opposite her like a machine gun.
Beside the woman stood a man also dressed in a close-fitting red outfit. He held her arm and apologized to the man opposite them, his face full of remorse.
Seeing their clothes and their matching fiery red hair, Su Tianyu's face lit up with realization. These two might be the siblings Huo Wu and Huo Wushuang.
"You bastard, do you even have eyes when you walk? Didn't you see you were blocking the way just now? You bumped into my shoulder, and not only did you not apologize, you even dared to walk away. Do you really think I, Huo Wu, am someone you can push around?"
Huo Wu's fiery temper was like a fire fed with oil. She furiously unleashed a torrent of curses at the man opposite her as her Soul Power burst forth, and two Yellow Soul Rings rose beneath her feet.
"Little sister, don't be like this. We're not at home. You need to rein in that temper of yours and stop getting angry at the drop of a hat," Huo Wushuang advised Huo Wu. He knew his own little sister's temper well.