Xu Tianxi: Hearing You Put It That Way, Is Shrek Really This Twisted? Could It Be the Evil Soul Masters' Lair?

"These things are fine for relaxing when you're tired. A balance between work and rest is good, but don't indulge too much and delay your cultivation."

Xu Xiaoyun carefully inspected everything Xu Tianxi had handed over, confirming that there were no problems before turning to speak softly to the two juniors.

Xu Tianxi and Xu Sanshi nodded in agreement, declaring that they would firmly cut ties with those drunken, pleasure-seeking soul master bums, cultivate diligently, and become worthy successors to the Xuanming Sect.

"All right, it's mealtime anyway. Let's go eat together. Afterward, you brothers can practice your fists and feet."

"Huh? We're eating? Great! Nobody stop me this time. I'm going to eat until I burst!"

Xu Sanshi, who had been troubled by Xu Tianxi's arrival just moments ago, suddenly leaped up. He shot forward at a speed that even Xu Tianxi found inferior, as though a Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda soul master had cast an acceleration Soul Skill on him.

"The way he talks, you'd think someone was stopping him from eating his fill. Looks like the food we prepare at home really is better than what he eats at the Shrek Outer Courtyard."

Seeing Xu Sanshi's appearance, Xu Xiaoyun could not help laughing heartily as she hurried after him with the bright-eyed Xu Tianxi.

That was certainly true. Shrek had abundant resources, but how much could actually fall to a single Core Disciple? How could it compare with the Xuanming Sect's concentrated support?

Recalling his experience of eating with Xu Xiaoyun since two days ago, Xu Tianxi's lips curved slightly. The pill tycoon was truly generous when it came to Medicinal Meals, and their stock of ingredients was frighteningly abundant.

The Xuanming Sect's Mystic Water Pill required the blood essence of more than a dozen water-attributed soul beasts and dozens of water-attributed plants as ingredients. Many of them were treasures over a hundred years old, and taking out just a few would provide top-grade ingredients.

The higher-grade Black Tortoise Divine Pill even used some thousand-year-old ingredients.

With Xu Xiaoyun's status, eating meals of any grade was nothing unusual. Xu Tianxi and Xu Sanshi benefited as well, finally getting to enjoy such delicacies.

When Xu Xiaoyun brought Xu Tianxi to the special dining hall, she saw that Xu Sanshi had already piled a basin-sized mound of rice onto his plate. With chopsticks in one hand and a spoon in the other, he was devouring the four dishes and one soup before him with an extremely wild appetite.

The four dishes were braised century-old Earth Dragon Tendon, thousand-year Sea Urchin Sashimi, century-old Giant Octopus Meatballs, and thousand-year Tuna Sashimi. The soup was century-old Hawksbill tortoise soup. Every dish was highly nourishing, and most of the ingredients came from water-attributed soul beasts, which also helped nourish the Profound Tortoise Shell Shield Martial Soul.

Beside the tray was a plate of thousand-year Sea Grapes to cleanse the palate. Each one was crystal clear and glistening, exuding a faint fragrance that made anyone's mouth water.

From this single meal, the essence of many soul beasts over a hundred years old had already entered Xu Sanshi's stomach.

If one judged by the reason Mu En had given when he brutally beat Scorpion Tiger Douluo Zhang Peng—"absorbing soul beast blood to cultivate"—then Xu Sanshi was unquestionably a budding Evil Soul Master.

What? You said he was a Core Disciple of the Shrek Outer Courtyard? Then never mind.

As he ate, Xu Sanshi casually hummed a little tune, his expression utterly satisfied. When he saw Xu Tianxi arrive, he hurriedly waved for him to sit down.

"Come, come, Tian Xi. We brothers are benefiting from the Old Ancestor's generosity. I'm telling you, this food is far better than what I ate at the Shrek Outer Courtyard. It's not even on the same level. This is pure enjoyment."

Xu Tianxi took a serving of food of roughly the same size and sat across from Xu Sanshi. He drank some soup and smiled. "What do you mean?"

"At the Shrek Outer Courtyard, the cafeteria doesn't even have tables or chairs. I have no idea where the academy spends all that funding. They're nothing but a bunch of swindlers!"

After angrily cursing the Shrek Outer Courtyard cafeteria for treating people so badly, Xu Sanshi reclined comfortably in a pearwood chair. With a broad smile, he pointed at the food and said:

"I'm a Core Disciple of the Martial Soul Department at the Shrek Outer Courtyard. The meals they give us do contain soul beast Medicinal Meals, but they're all made from ten-year-old ingredients. The benefits are barely worth mentioning. How could they compare with this?"

"I've also heard about the treatment given to Core Disciples of the Soul Tool Department. Their food is even worse than ours in the Martial Soul Department. Compared with what we eat at home, there's simply no comparison."

"Sigh, I've gotten so spoiled by eating at the Old Ancestor's place these past few days. I can hardly imagine what I'll do when I return to Shrek City and can't eat such good food anymore."

Xu Sanshi popped several Sea Grapes into his mouth, his face filled with melancholy.

Xu Tianxi delicately picked up a braised Flower Ball Shrimp and bit into it. His taste buds bloomed, and he smiled with endless aftertaste. "Don't worry. I'll enjoy the Old Ancestor's delicacies properly on your behalf."

"If you don't mind the trouble, I could write you a letter every month and tell you about my experiences. How does that sound? It'll give you a sense of participation."

"Go on, go on. Tian Xi, why are you acting like that fellow Bei Bei? You've started making jokes too."

"Right, I read in a book that Shrek has extremely strict criteria for determining Evil Soul Masters. For example, they're not allowed to absorb soul beast essence for cultivation or anything like that. You're eating so enthusiastically. Won't they mistake you for an Evil Soul Master when you go back?"

Xu Sanshi waved his hand dismissively. "Relax, relax. Shrek also says that soul beasts can't be slaughtered indiscriminately.

"But I heard that fellow Bei Bei say that every year, Inner Courtyard seniors go to the Star Dou Great Forest on missions to capture soul beasts and bring them back. My homeroom teacher and the others even secretly acquire things like Secret Method Soul Bones.

"Oh, right. You may not have heard of Secret Method Soul Bones. They're an extremely cruel way to obtain Soul Bones.

"You have to kill a hundred soul beasts of the same species within half an hour and use a secret method to trigger the fusion of their soul rings. Only then is there a one-in-ten chance of obtaining a Soul Bone, and it'll be a relatively poor-quality one at that. Of course, it's still better than nothing..."

"Hearing you put it that way, why is Shrek so twisted? Is Shrek the Evil Soul Masters' lair?" Xu Tianxi asked sincerely.

Xu Sanshi's expression turned solemn. He raised a finger to his lips and gestured for silence. "Even if that seems to be the truth, you can't say it out loud."

Xu Tianxi nodded as though he understood, then asked in return, "I understand what you mean, but why did you say 'seems'?"

"Because in a certain sense, it really is almost the same as an Evil Soul Masters' lair. You have no idea how unlucky I was at Shrek. Not long after I revealed my talent, I was targeted by a sixth-year senior..."

Xu Sanshi recalled the past with a pained expression and continued, "That senior's Martial Soul is the Evil Fire Phoenix. She's a descendant of Ma Hongjun, one of Shrek's Original Seven Devils. Her name is Ma Xiaotao.

"I don't know what was wrong with her Martial Soul. Not only was her Divine Beast bloodline less pure than mine, but her Evil Fire hadn't been extinguished either. She needed to find someone to suppress it, or it would affect her cultivation.

"Another senior in her year, who had an ice-type Martial Soul, got fed up and refused to help her. So she set her sights on me. I don't know which bastard told her that my Martial Soul possessed powerful water attributes, but the process of suppressing her Evil Fire was simply blissful agony!"

The corner of Xu Tianxi's mouth twitched. He had not expected Xu Sanshi's torturous experiences to have begun so early.

"But to be honest, although the process was painful, it did benefit me somewhat. The problem was that senior was too rough. Whenever she found me, she would drag me away without a word. The first time I saw her, I genuinely thought I'd been attacked by an Evil Soul Master. Afterward, I was completely drained..."

Remembering his painful past, Xu Sanshi turned his grief into an appetite and buried his head in three large bowls of high-quality Crystal Spirit Rice, as though he intended to replenish everything he had lost at Shrek.

"Tian Xi, you're not at the academy, so you don't know how much I suffered. Ma Xiaotao was already a four-ringed Soul Master when she found me, and she was the number-one Master in the Outer Courtyard. I only had two rings. I didn't even have the right to resist her, and even my teacher wouldn't help me... I suffered terribly..."

"Sigh..."

Xu Tianxi sighed at Xu Sanshi's miserable experiences. Ma Xiaotao was Yan Shaozhe's personal disciple. His homeroom teacher probably had neither the courage nor the ability to help him.

"Whoosh—"

Xu Xiaoyun, her expression grave, flashed to Xu Sanshi's side. After taking his pulse and sensing him for a while, her expression finally relaxed. "Fortunately, your source wasn't injured. You've merely expended too much energy. You'll recover after eating some good food."

Xu Xiaoyun knew a little about the so-called "suppression of Evil Fire." It seemed that Ma Xiaotao had merely used Soul Power to suppress it in a relatively normal manner. If Xu Sanshi's source had been injured, or if he had accidentally lost his virginity, his losses would have been too great.

After thinking it over, Xu Xiaoyun still felt it was unsafe. She flipped her right wrist, and something appeared in her palm, releasing bright white light in rippling waves.

Xu Sanshi and Xu Tianxi focused their eyes. They saw that it was unmistakably a miniature human Right Leg Bone. Its entire body was transparent as crystal, like the most precious work of art. Fine golden patterns covered its surface, flowing with a noble radiance that captivated the eye.

Bright white Soul Power light radiated from its surface, outlining the indistinct image of a vicious beast in midair. It seemed to be a colossal shark roaring amid towering waves.

"Is that a Soul Bone?" Xu Sanshi and Xu Tianxi asked in unison.