Meng: Xiao, Exploding Gold Coins

Xiao Hongchen bristled after being secretly photographed by Meng Hongchen again. He had merely been speaking normally, yet Meng Hongchen could somehow associate it with all sorts of nonsense. He seriously suspected that she had fabricated plenty of rumors about him over the years.

"Don't be mad, big bro. I was just filming normally."

"What you said didn't sound like normal filming."

Meng Hongchen stuck out her tongue and put on an adorable expression. "Ehehe!"

"Quit playing dumb!"

The two chased each other around for quite a while. In the end, Meng Hongchen's photo was not deleted. After they had been fooling around for a long time, Elder Ma called a halt, and things returned to normal.

Mental Probe and Mental Share were practically the perfect match for soul engineers. In terms of offensive power, soul engineers surpassed soul masters. However, because the accuracy of Soul Cannons was what it was, soul engineers did not hold an absolute advantage over soul masters.

But with the emergence of Xiao Qiang's soul skill, the situation had completely changed. Once soul engineers could achieve perfect accuracy, even comparatively powerful soul masters would almost be unable to defeat them within the same rank.

Under the effects of this soul skill, Xiao Qiang quickly became the team's favorite. In particular, with Xiao Qiang's assistance, Xiao Hongchen defeated every soul engineer apart from Ma Rulong, and even fought Ma Rulong to a draw. Everyone experienced firsthand just how powerful Xiao Qiang's soul skill was, and they soon became friendly with him.

"With this soul skill, our chances of defeating Shrek Academy this time have increased significantly."

As Elder Ma analyzed the situation, Xiao Qiang remained silent, quietly calculating the strength of Xuan Zi, the Holy Spirit Cult's Supreme Elder.

Although Electrolux was still with Huo Yuhao, without Tian Meng and the Ice Empress, even if Huo Yuhao could still rely on Electrolux to warn Ma Xiaotao and the others, Huo Yuhao's side would not be able to hold on in the battles ahead. With that incomplete team, whether they could even make it into the top eight was questionable.

"In that case, Xiao Qiang, you and Xiao and Meng will serve as one of our trump cards for defeating Shrek in the end. Originally, I did not have particularly high hopes for this tournament, but with the three of you here, perhaps this time we can change something."

"I understand."

Xiao Qiang nodded. Once Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen reached the fifth ring, their Martial Soul Fusion Skill, Red Dust's Affection, would be enough to add a Seven-Ring Soul Sage-level soul engineer to the field. Combined with Xiao Qiang's shared Mental Probe, the three of them would be enough to defeat a crippled team like Shrek's.

After arranging several more plans for dealing with Shrek and practicing them a few times, everyone ate something and returned to rest.

However, with the enhanced digestive system Tian Meng had given Xiao Qiang, the small amount of food he casually ate was clearly not enough to fill him up. Thus, once training ended, Xiao Qiang swiftly ran to a barbecue restaurant for an extra meal.

"Boss, fifty beef skewers and fifty lamb skewers, ten heart tubes, five fatty edge skewers, one kidney, grilled chives, grilled green beans, and one serving each of oysters and scallops."

"Coming right up."

"So you ran off that fast just to eat barbecue?" Xiao Hongchen, who had caught up with him, watched Xiao Qiang order with such familiarity. He suspected Xiao Qiang had been thinking about food throughout training.

"I really wasn't full. Want to eat together? My treat."

Xiao Hongchen looked over the barbecue restaurant. Although it was located near Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, the food it sold was merely ordinary meat, without any soul beast meat mixed in.

As a result, the prices here were not high. Xiao Hongchen estimated that even if he ate himself to death, it would not cost much. But...

"Boss, add more food!"

Xiao Hongchen still sat down with Meng Hongchen. Last time, he had paid to buy himself a beating. This time, after Xiao Qiang got beaten up, he was even treating them to a meal. Although the meal would not cost much, it at least made Xiao Hongchen feel a little more balanced.

The barbecue was quickly served. Xiao Qiang took out some seasonings and sprinkled them over the food before beginning to eat.

"What did you put on that?"

"Just some seasoning, but you probably can't eat it."

"Hmph, what a joke. Is there anything I, Xiao Hongchen, can't eat? Give me some."

Xiao Qiang fell silent for a moment, then handed Xiao Hongchen some of his specially made seasoning powder. "Just use a tiny bit. You really won't be able to handle it if you use too much."

"Hmph. If you can handle it, why can't I?" Xiao Hongchen snatched the seasoning Xiao Qiang had made and, ignoring Xiao Qiang's warning, sprinkled it over his share of the barbecue.

When the skewers coated in Xiao Qiang's secret seasoning entered Xiao Hongchen's mouth, Xiao Hongchen remained calm for only a second. The next moment, he felt as though his entire attention had caught fire.

"Water! Give me water!"

After pouring so much water into himself that his stomach was about to swell, Xiao Hongchen finally got through the worst of the pain.

"What the hell is that stuff made of? Why is it so spicy?!"

"It's a kind of chili pepper from Eastsea City called Devil's Pepper. It's something that could even kill ordinary people from the heat, though it can't kill soul masters." As Xiao Qiang spoke, he expressionlessly ate the grilled meat in his hand that was coated in chili powder.

"Why would you mess around with something like that?!" At that moment, Xiao Hongchen's mouth felt like it was at war.

"I didn't make it for no reason. Back when I was in Eastsea City, there were not many resources, and I couldn't get my hands on much either. If I wanted to raise my Soul Power quickly under those circumstances, I needed some special methods."

"I'm a Mental Type soul master. When I'm stimulated, my spiritual power can more easily drive the growth of my Soul Power. So I needed to find things that could stimulate me. Joy, anger, sorrow, or pleasure—it didn't matter, as long as the emotional stimulation was strong enough."

"Pain was the easiest to obtain and had the lowest cost. If I chose to directly injure my body, I would also have to consider medical expenses and other problems. But if I ate spicy food instead, the ingredients for this seasoning could be bought with just Bronze Soul Coins."

"Didn't you have any better medicine?" Meng Hongchen asked.

"I did, but I couldn't afford it back then. I didn't have parents. Fortunately, I knew an uncle who treated me quite well. He helped me as much as he could and gave me some cultivation resources, but he was ultimately only a four-ring soul engineer. His assets weren't enough to support buying too many good medicines. Under those circumstances, I had to consider costs and maximize the benefits as much as possible."

"Even though I'm not short of money now, either out of habit, or because my palate got used to the sensation of spicy food, I became accustomed to eating extremely spicy things."

"So you're an orphan?" Xiao Hongchen looked at Xiao Qiang in surprise.

"Not exactly, but my situation wasn't much better. In any case, there was no family above me protecting me before."

Meng Hongchen placed a hand on Xiao Hongchen's shoulder. "Xiao, I remember you still have quite a few three-ring to four-ring pills you haven't taken, right? Aren't you ashamed of bullying someone who's practically an orphan?"

Xiao Hongchen: "..."