Money-Guzzling Beast

Feifei saw that she was still dazed and had no desire to pay her any attention. With a flick of its tail, it was about to continue inspecting the pile of stones.

But when it looked over, it was so frightened it nearly lost its soul.

"Ah—damn it, stop eating!" Feifei flicked its tail and rushed toward the strange Martial Soul, grabbing the other end of the ore and pulling it hard toward itself.

The shout jolted Shen Ranxi awake. When she recalled what the Great Void Kun had just said, Cold Sweat nearly broke out all over her.

Master, I'm hungry. I want to eat.

Eat? Eat what? It ate ore?!

She hurriedly stopped the farce.

When Feifei saw her approach, it instinctively loosened its grip. The Great Void Kun immediately seized the chance, flicking its tail and straining its palm-sized body with all its might to successfully swallow the ore.

Shen Ranxi pried open the Great Void Kun's mouth in horror and reached in to dig it out. Could a Martial Soul even eat things? And it had eaten a rock!!! Wouldn't it get sick?!

For a moment, the scene was utter chaos. The Great Void Kun used every ounce of strength it had to wrench itself free from its Master's hands.

Its features twisted in terror, and from then on, it developed the habit of eating with its back to Shen Ranxi. No matter how Shen Ranxi explained herself, the Great Void Kun would agree obediently on the surface, only to turn its back on her again the next time.

Seeing the terror in its Bean Eyes, Shen Ranxi hurriedly explained, "I was afraid you'd upset your stomach!"

Seeing the obvious suspicion in the Great Void Kun's expression, Shen Ranxi was at a loss for the first time and stood there awkwardly.

She turned to Feifei. "Feifei, what's going on? Why does a Martial Soul seem to have a mind of its own?"

Feifei said solemnly, "Wait a moment. I'll go back and look through some records."

It vanished the next second. Shen Ranxi knew it had returned to the space.

Seeing the Great Void Kun staring greedily at the pile of stones, Shen Ranxi thought for a moment before taking out several fruits from her Soul Tool. She had picked them in Sunset Forest. Last time, she had seen many Soul Beasts enjoying them, so she had gathered some just in case and stored them in her Soul Tool.

"Want some?" She held the fruits out in her palm.

At the mention of food, the Great Void Kun's eyes lit up. It immediately floated over and looked at Shen Ranxi expectantly.

...It had just been wary of me... But the moment it heard there was food, it came over like a silly little puppy. It really was a glutton... Shen Ranxi grumbled inwardly.

But when she saw it happily spinning in circles after eating the fruit, her gaze softened anyway.

"I found it! There's a case very similar to its situation!" Feifei popped back out excitedly.

Shen Ranxi quickly asked, "What caused it?"

Feifei said seriously, "Where I came from, the Cultivation World, there was also a Great Void Kun clan. However, Great Void Kun cubs were extremely rare, and since they were a long-lived species, they rarely appeared in the world. Great Void Kun cubs were incredibly precious. Once, a man entered their territory and made a little Great Void Kun cub cry. They trapped him and tortured him for many years. Fortunately, that race was peaceful and not bloodthirsty. Otherwise, that man would not merely have been trapped for a few years."

The corner of Shen Ranxi's mouth twitched. This counted as peaceful? Wasn't that more like nuclear peace?! He had only made it cry...

The Great Void Kun she had awakened probably wasn't from the clan Feifei described, right? Otherwise, if those adult Great Void Kuns found out their cub was following a poor, weak human, wouldn't they tear her apart alive...

She suddenly felt like some delinquent riding a flaming motorcycle.

Old Man, I'm taking her away, hear me?!

Feifei continued, "Everything about the Great Void Kun was recorded by that man after he was released, and he even made a small fortune from it."

"Back to the point. The Great Void Kun's growth period is divided into three stages: cub stage, semi-mature stage, and mature stage. Every stage requires massive amounts of Heavenly materials and earthly treasures. Each stage is extremely long. To become a true Great Void Kun, it takes at least several hundred thousand years."

By the end, its voice carried a hint of schadenfreude. It clearly loved watching the drama unfold.

Shen Ranxi's eyes filled with grief. This news was like a bolt from the heavens, reducing her to nothing but ashes.

"If it eats that much, your rations will have to be reduced!" Shen Ranxi did not truly intend to reduce them. She was just annoyed to see it so happy and wanted to scare it a little.

Feifei felt as if it had been struck by lightning. Another expression of sorrow appeared on its face.

One person and one beast propped their heads up with both hands, wearing identical looks of worry.

The only one happy there was the Great Void Kun, floating around above their heads while munching on fruit.

"Ah, I suddenly remembered that man wrote about a piece of uncertain information!" Feifei stood up, its face serious.

Shen Ranxi hurriedly pressed it for details. If the Great Void Kun really ate as much as Feifei said, how could the little money she earned possibly support it?

"Pills can replace Heavenly materials and earthly treasures and speed up its growth period!"

"By how much?!"

"One-third?"

"Only one-third?!" Shen Ranxi let out a long sigh. "Forget it. It's still better than before."

"But Douluo Continent doesn't seem to have any Pill Masters?"

A new problem appeared. Shen Ranxi rubbed the fish head that had drifted closer, stuffed it a few more fruits, and sent it off to play.

Feifei jumped nervously onto Shen Ranxi's shoulder and encouraged her, "Don't give up! What else will you do about your Martial Soul?!"

She absolutely could not give up. This concerned its rations!

Shen Ranxi stood up and stretched, her gaze firm. She would ask the Teachers and look through more records over the next few days. She could not stop it from growing just because of this. Since it had followed her, she had to take responsibility for it!

She put away the remaining two ores and fed all the rest to the Great Void Kun. Seeing its delighted expression, the corner of her mouth curved up. She thought that she could not let the child go hungry.

She also set out a table full of food on the balcony for Feifei to eat.

The corner of Feifei's mouth lifted. It seemed she had not forgotten about it.

Early morning, the Academy library.

Shen Ranxi carefully flipped through the records, trying to find information about Martial Soul Mutation. Unfortunately, there were too few materials, and she found nothing.

Only her Martial Soul, transformed into a large fan, remained beside her, diligently fanning her.

Shen Ranxi left the library in disappointment. Not only had she found no information about Martial Soul Mutation, there was also absolutely nothing about Pill Masters.

On the way, Ma Hongjun saw Little Xi leave the library looking dejected and curiously followed her. "Little Xi, why are you unhappy?"

That was truly rare.

Shen Ranxi said, "I wanted to look for information on Martial Soul Mutation, but there was nothing at all in the Academy library..."

Ma Hongjun wore an expression that said she had looked in the wrong place. "Can the Academy library even be called a library?! It's not even a third the size of other schools' libraries, and those books are all who-knows-how-many-times-hand-me-downs the Teachers picked up. I don't even dare turn the pages. I'm afraid they'll fall apart and the Teachers will make me pay for them! So stingy!"

Shen Ranxi said, "..."

"Aren't you afraid the Dean will hear you and write it down in his little notebook?"

Ma Hongjun said, "Little Xi, you should just ask the Teachers. They must have seen plenty while traveling the continent in their younger days."

Shen Ranxi's eyes lit up. How had she not thought of that? "Thanks, Hong Jun."

She patted his shoulder and ran off happily.

Ma Hongjun was left standing in the wind in utter confusion. Was that worth being so happy about?

The first person Shen Ranxi sought out was Teacher Shao, since he was the closest.

Faced with Little Xi's question, Shao Xin pondered for a long while before saying, "I do know about Martial Soul Mutation. There are two kinds. Oscar's Martial Soul Mutation went in a good direction... But you could ask Flender. One of his friends had a Martial Soul Mutation that went in a bad direction, and it had its own consciousness."

"Alright, thank you, Teacher Shao." Shen Ranxi smiled sweetly.

"Try it and see if it tastes good. I just developed it."

Shao Xin stuffed a piece of dried meat into Shen Ranxi's mouth.

Shen Ranxi chewed it. At the Academy, Feifei most liked hanging around Teacher Shao and Oscar, because they often cooked and it could sample the food for free.

"It's tasty. You could add a little more sugar."

"Ah, right! Let me try again!"

Seeing Teacher Shao bury himself in developing dishes again, Shen Ranxi chewed the dried meat as she headed toward Dean Flender.