"Where did this brat come from, daring to spout nonsense here!"
Flender frowned and coldly shouted.
"This..." Hearing that the Soul Beast was over two thousand years old, Li Xiang's face clearly showed hesitation.
Seeing this, Flender urged, "Don't mind this guy, just continue absorbing. With me, the dean, protecting you, this kid is just eyeing your Soul Beast."
"Me? Eyeing your Soul Beast?" Gu Feng was almost amused.
"Hmph, kid, don't think I don't know what schemes you nobles have in mind. For someone as young as you, it's already a feat to come alone to the Sunset Forest, let alone walk out alive. Do you really think I can't tell you have someone backing you?"
"You're just coveting the Earth Burst Bear we hunted."
"I advise you to quickly have your backer drop this idea, otherwise..."
At this point, Flender let out a cold snort.
If Gu Feng dared to take another step forward, he would make him and his backer understand the dignity of a Soul Sage.
Gu Feng shrugged indifferently, "Your imagination is truly rich. Forget it, I've said my piece. Young man, if you believe me, don't absorb it. If you don't, then good luck to you."
Pausing, he glanced at Flender and spoke bluntly, "As for you, teacher, you're purely misleading your student. The Earth Burst Bear's physique is clearly much larger than an ordinary thousand-year Soul Beast. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that."
Hearing this, Flender's face instantly turned livid, his eyes wide with anger as he shouted sharply, "Li Xiang, do you believe this outsider or me, your teacher?"
Sweat densely covered Li Xiang's forehead as he clenched his teeth and spoke with difficulty, "Dean Flender, of course, I believe you."
After saying this, he turned to Gu Feng, forcing a gentle smile, "I'm sorry, young man. Thank you for your reminder, but perhaps your judgment is mistaken. I firmly believe my teacher would not be wrong."
As soon as he finished speaking, he decisively plunged the knife in his hand into the Earth Burst Bear's heart, then sat down on the spot to begin absorbing the Soul Ring.
Watching this scene, Gu Feng couldn't help but sigh, murmuring, "Truly misleading the student, what a pity."
Seeing that Li Xiang still followed his instructions, Flender let out a soft snort, his lips curling slightly in a barely noticeable smirk. He then glanced sideways at Gu Feng with a hint of smugness and said,
"Kid, I've walked more bridges than you've walked roads, eaten more salt than you've eaten rice. Learn well, just stay here and watch how my disciple steadily absorbs this Soul Beast."
However, before his words had even fully settled, in less than half a second.
Li Xiang, who was fully absorbing the Soul Ring, suddenly looked extremely unwell.
Veins bulged on his forehead, and his skin rapidly turned red. In just a few short seconds, his entire body was drenched in blood, becoming a terrifying sight.
Clearly, his body was severely overloaded.
If this continued, he would likely explode and die imminently.
Seeing this, Flender's face instantly turned pale, his eyes filled with terror and disbelief, exclaiming, "This can't be!"
Then, as if muttering to himself, he added, "Yu Xiaogang clearly said before that the strength of a Soul Beast's aura can accurately determine its age."
Hearing this, Gu Feng couldn't help but scoff, "Did he never tell you that a Soul Beast's aura can't be generalized?"
"Take the hundred-thousand-year Ice Silkworm, for example. The aura it emits is only about the same as an ordinary hundred-year Dragonkin Soul Beast."
"This Earth Burst Bear has such an obvious bulge in its abdomen, clearly indicating it's a pregnant female. It's perfectly normal for its aura to be weaker."
"What a misleading teacher!"
Gu Feng's last sentence seemed to hit Flender's sore spot.
Flender's face instantly darkened as if it could drip water, his teeth clenched tightly as he spat out through gritted teeth, "Kid, what nonsense are you spouting!"
"Do you even know who Yu Xiaogang is? He's a renowned master in the Soul Master World! Even the current Pope holds him in high regard! Yu Xiaogang's judgment is absolutely infallible."
"It must be that Li Xiang has been slacking off, neglecting his training, and his poor physique couldn't keep up, leading to this result. His self-destruction was predestined, he deserved it! Who told him not to work hard?"
"Speaking so grandly, with your attitude, are you even fit to be a teacher?"
Gu Feng's face was full of mockery. As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped forward and slapped Li Xiang's neck with a "smack," then immediately channeled his Soul Power, swiftly rushing towards Li Xiang's dantian, cutting off the flow of his Soul Power with lightning speed.
In the world of Soul Masters, interrupting the absorption of a Soul Ring has always been a major taboo.
Normally, doing so not only leaves meridians with hard-to-heal damage but also makes it difficult for the Soul Master to break through their cultivation in this lifetime.
But Gu Feng couldn't care less. In his view, the priority was to save Li Xiang's life.
Looking at Li Xiang, who lay on the ground like a dead fish, Flender's lips curled into a cold smile, "Since you insist on saving him, I have nothing more to say. However, he's now a cripple, with no future prospects."
After saying this, a pair of wings appeared behind Flender, and he flew away.
However, what Flender didn't know was that Gu Feng's seemingly risky move actually had another purpose.
For others, such internal injuries would be hard to heal in this lifetime, but let's not forget, Gu Feng had an Immortal Herb in his possession.
Rather than watching such a talent fall and go to waste, it was better to make full use of it.
Adding flowers to brocade is far less valuable than delivering charcoal in the snow.
An Immortal Herb could make a genius pledge their life to him—it was completely worth it!
It was only after a full hour since Flender left that Li Xiang slowly regained consciousness.
His body felt as if it had fallen apart, every muscle aching. It took him a great effort to sit up with difficulty.
Li Xiang instinctively looked around, and all he saw was a flickering campfire and Gu Feng sitting beside it, focused on roasting meat.
In that instant, Li Xiang understood everything.
Li Xiang gritted his teeth, his cheeks puffed up with anger. The respect he once held for Flender now turned into a surging hatred, burning fiercely within him.
"Damn Flender, damn Shrek Academy! If I don't avenge this in this lifetime, I swear I won't be human!"
Memories flooded back as Li Xiang recalled the scene when he first enrolled in the academy.
His elderly father had sold the family's ox and the land they depended on for survival to gather the exorbitant tuition fees. He went door to door borrowing money from relatives, and with the Soul Master subsidies saved up over the years, they barely managed to scrape together enough for one year at Shrek Academy.
Back then, Li Xiang had stepped into the academy with dreams in his heart, filled with the thought that upon graduation, he would become a viscount and receive a small fief. Then, the entire village would no longer have to pay those harsh taxes.
But now, he had b
een heartlessly discarded by Flender because he was no longer of value.
"Flender, you ****!"
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