Fighting for a Meal

They had made do with a meal beside Blue Fish Stream near the Poisonous Insect Woodland. Only then did the three of them set out toward Shrek City.

They were currently in the western part of the Outer Region of Star Dou Forest, while Shrek City lay near the forest's northwestern edge.

The three did not travel recklessly. They did not choose to cut straight through the great forest just because their strength had improved—not even through the Outer Region.

This was a point that every Soul Master Academy teacher would repeatedly drill into their students, a piece of knowledge they absolutely had to remember.

If it was unnecessary, never cut straight through a Soul Beast Forest.

Chen Ping might not have had a teacher constantly warning him about it, but he knew how to cherish his life.

The three tacitly agreed to leave the Outer Region first, then follow the Official Road around toward Shrek City.

By the time they had traveled until evening, the trees on both sides had grown increasingly sparse, replaced by a wide, open plain.

Are we almost there?

After following the main road out of a stretch of forest, they saw the towering city walls in the distance, extending far to the left and right across the plain.

The immense city walls were shocking not only because of their massive size, but also because of the dignity and solemnity they exuded.

Looking into the distance, they could already see Shrek Academy—or rather, Shrek City.

After all, Shrek Academy had been built on the Limali Plain. It occupied an extremely vast area and was itself a city, with more than two million people living within it.

Shrek Academy was not located in the center of Shrek City, but in its eastern region, facing Star Dou Great Forest from afar.

The reason was simple. Shrek had replaced Spirit Hall's former position on the Douluo Continent, so it naturally had to shoulder the responsibilities Spirit Hall had once carried.

Just as every Great Enshrined of Spirit Hall had carried the responsibility of suppressing any Beast Tide that might appear and being prepared to perish together with the Soul Beast Emperor of Star Dou Forest.

Shrek Academy had moved from its original location in Heaven Dou City, the former site of Blue Tyrant Academy, to the ruins of Spirit City. As a result, it had no choice but to bear everything Spirit Hall had once borne.

There were major roads leading east, south, west, and north from Shrek City, making its transportation network extremely convenient.

This was not only the location of Shrek Academy, but also the most important commercial city at the junction of the Three Great Empires that once belonged to the Douluo Continent.

The southern, western, and northern gates of Shrek City could be entered and exited freely. Only the eastern gate was reserved exclusively for Shrek Academy.

It was already evening. The Divine Beasts of Shrek had been released from their cages, having finished a hard day of studying, and were roaming the streets in search of food.

"Mm, right. Shrek doesn't seem to have evening self-study. Getting out of school at this hour makes sense."

After entering through the city gate and seeing students in colorful School Uniforms representing different grades enjoying delicious food along the streets, Chen Ping nodded and muttered to himself.

"Evening self-study?"

Tang Ya abruptly turned her head. She seemed to have heard the most evil phrase imaginable. She had never thought words could be combined in such a way.

"No, it's nothing."

Chen Ping found it rather amusing. The students at Shrek clearly faced much less academic pressure than the students on Blue Star—but that was a good thing.

Chen Ping took a deep breath and felt that even the air in Shrek City carried a hint of savory fragrance—then he realized he was simply too close to a Grilled Squid stall.

But the Grilled Squid in this other world really was enormous!

Looking at the Stall Owner beside him grilling a squid as large as a human face on an Iron Plate, Chen Ping instinctively swallowed.

But then he glanced at the price displayed on the stall: "Ten-Year Thick Fog Squid, three gold coins each." Chen Ping hurriedly shook his head.

Did he really deserve to eat something that expensive?

Speaking of which, no wonder Huo Yuhao dared to sell his Grilled Fish for one Silver Coin each. Compared with the vendors selling Soul Beast Meat Food in Shrek City, one Silver Coin for a Grilled Green Fish really was not expensive.

What a damnable cost of living.

Chen Ping shook his head. If he remembered correctly, Shrek Academy had only one good point.

One Ten Thousand Years ago, Flender's cafeteria had Millet Porridge, Steamed Buns, and Pickles.

One Ten Thousand Years later, the Number One Academy on the Continent still sold Millet Porridge, Steamed Buns, and Pickles in its cafeteria.

At least that ensured he would not starve to death in Shrek.

However, that could only guarantee that he would not starve. If he wanted to obtain sufficiently nutritious food, there were only two ways to do so in Shrek.

The first was to spend money.

The locations selling ordinary, Cheap Ingredients such as Millet Porridge, Steamed Buns, and Pickles were all at the First Window of Shrek's cafeteria.

Even if he wanted to get a little Cheap Protein, such as Eggs or Chicken Offal, he had to go to the Second Window.

Of the Eight Windows in Shrek Academy's cafeteria, the Last Window's ingredients were even made entirely from Soul Beast Ingredients.

It was truly expensive, but its Nourishing Effect on the body was far beyond what Steamed Buns, Pickles, and Millet Porridge could compare with.

That was extremely important to Chen Ping, who was still in the developmental stage.

For example, the Scaled Armor Demon Crocodile Stew Huo Yuhao had eaten during the New Student Competition possessed the effects of improving physical constitution and strengthening Meridian Toughness.

If Chen Ping could eat two more meals like that, he would no longer need to worry about the excessive impact that the Soul Power Turbulence rapidly circulating during Movement Meditation would have on his Meridians.

The Flying Bird Soup made from an Unknown Flying Soul Beast also possessed the effect of stabilizing the Internal Organ Qi.

After eating this kind of food often, even if someone launched a Sudden Attack and punched him in the stomach, he could immediately counter with a punch that knocked the other person to the ground, instead of being unable to catch his breath for half a day.

The problem was that he did not have that much money.

If Chen Ping remembered correctly, one meal cost more than sixty Gold Soul Coins.

And note, that was the price of a single meal.

It was not something Chen Ping could afford, and even among Shrek's teachers and students, only an extremely small minority could eat it every meal.

Just eating there for a month would cost at least five thousand Gold Soul Coins. How many forces were rich enough to withstand spending like that?

The money for those two months would be enough to buy a Profound Water Pill on the market.

Therefore, Chen Ping could only consider the second method.

That was to obtain a Core Disciple slot.

Chen Ping did not care about the other benefits enjoyed by Core Disciples.

But the monthly food allowance of at least five thousand Gold Soul Coins was absolutely worth risking his life to obtain.

Even if he retained the status of Core Disciple for only one year, eating at the Eighth Window every day would be equivalent to consuming a high-quality hundred-year Soul Bone.

No wonder people said big cities offered more opportunities. It was true on Blue Star, and unexpectedly, the same logic applied after moving to another place.

Chen Ping came back to his senses and shifted his gaze away from the soccer-ball-sized Grilled Squid. Then he continued inward with Bei Bei and Tang Ya.

Although Shrek generally did not allow outsiders to enter the academy, every rule inevitably had loopholes. Tang Ya and Bei Bei had still racked their brains and come up with a way for Chen Ping.

At present, Chen Ping's identity was Bei Bei's younger male cousin.

Shrek allowed students' family members to enter and tour the academy. Although a younger male cousin was a somewhat distant relation, could anyone say that a younger male cousin was not still a relative?

"Come on. I'll take you into the school to look around first. Then we'll go to the library and intercept Teacher Wang Yan."

Bei Bei gave Chen Ping a reassuring look before continuing forward.