Xing Yueyao

"Brother!" A smile appeared on her face, and Meng Hongchen, forgetting to even retract her Martial Soul, ran towards Yue Hongchen and threw herself into his embrace.

Feeling the soft body press against him, Yue Hongchen also reached out and hugged Meng Hongchen. This was the first time he had hugged Meng Hongchen while her Martial Soul Avatar was active.

He couldn't feel any warmth from her body, but he could feel it in his heart.

"My little Meng is so strong. From now on, Brother will rely on you for protection." Yue Hongchen ruffled the head of the girl in his arms. "But you should retract your Martial Soul after the competition."

Meng softly replied with an "Oh," retracted her Martial Soul, and felt the familiar warmth once more.

"Cough, cough." Mu Jin, not wanting to be a third wheel, coughed lightly.

Only then did Meng Hongchen notice that Mu Jin, Ning Tian, and the others had walked over.

A blush quickly spread across her cheeks, and she hurriedly pulled away from Yue Hongchen's embrace.

Seeing her incredibly cute expression, Mu Jin smiled helplessly. "Your arrangement just now wasn't too problematic. When facing less powerful opponents, let Wu Feng and Ning Tian showcase their talents as much as possible. However, against stronger teams, you can't do that."

Meng quickly nodded. "Understood, Teacher Mu."

"Alright, I won't nag anymore. I believe the champion of this competition will be among you. After lunch, get some good rest. There's another round of 32 into 16 elimination matches this afternoon."

With that, Mu Jin turned and left.

"Brother, what are we having for lunch?" Hearing Mu Jin mention food, Meng Hongchen's stomach rumbled uncontrollably.

"We'll talk about lunch later. Let me go poach someone first." With that, Yue quickly ran towards the departing chess girl.

Meng and Ning Tian, along with the others, curiously followed.

"Hello, classmate. Can we get acquainted?" Yue ran up to the chess girl and extended his hand. "My name is Yue Hongchen!" The girl had a sweet demeanor, looking like a flawless white snow lotus, neither rejecting those around her nor letting her guard down.

The chess girl looked up at Yue Hongchen's radiant smile, and her heart instantly warmed. She hadn't seen such a pure, unadulterated smile in so long.

"My name is Xing Yueyao." Xing Yueyao didn't shake Yue's hand; instead, she directly patted his hand.

"So, what do you need from me, Yue Hongchen, the biggest dark horse among the freshmen?"

Yue was standing behind Meng and the others at the time. They hadn't known Yue had arrived, but she had known for a while. However, she hadn't expected Yue to approach her after the match.

Yue Hongchen retracted his hand apologetically. "I don't like beating around the bush, so I'll be direct. Are you interested in joining Mingde Hall after graduation?"

Xing Yueyao was stunned by Yue Hongchen's words. She certainly knew what Mingde Hall was. Joining Mingde Hall after graduation was equivalent to being directly admitted to the Sea God's Pavilion.

But she didn't agree immediately. She didn't believe Yue Hongchen would invite her for no reason. "Why?"

"Because your talent is worth it. Your Martial Soul is very suitable for becoming a Soul Engineer."

She understood Soul Engineers. Her Martial Soul was indeed suitable for developing into a Soul Engineer, but...

"Graduation is still some time away. I'll give you my answer before then."

Yue Hongchen nodded. He hadn't expected to poach her on their first meeting.

"Then I won't disturb you further. I wish you a pleasant campus life."

"Thank you."

After bidding farewell, Yue Hongchen led the three girls towards the cafeteria.

"You scoundrel, you're openly poaching people at Shrek like this?" Ning Tian couldn't help but tease on the way. She hadn't expected Yue Hongchen's talk of poaching to be literal.

"You should have felt her Martial Soul, right?" Yue Hongchen countered with a question instead of answering.

Ning Tian nodded. "I don't know the effect of the red chess piece, but when a black chess piece landed on me, my Soul Power circulation speed slowed down, and so did my Soul Skill release speed and my own movement speed."

"That's why I said she's suitable to be a Soul Engineer. She can give buffs to teammates and debuffs to enemies. Combined with her Martial Soul being chess, what can you imagine?"

Ning Tian pondered for a moment and her eyes widened.

Yue Hongchen nodded. "Exactly. Imagine if she were cultivated into a Titled Douluo and became a Level Nine Soul Engineer. Then, with each black chess piece accurately landing on an enemy, they would be weakened and locked down."

Yue Hongchen didn't say the rest, but Ning Tian could already imagine it.

Level Nine Soul Tool tracking; even a Titled Douluo would find it hard to escape death.

As they talked, they arrived at the cafeteria. Shrek's cafeteria had three floors. The first floor used the most ordinary ingredients, allowing students from less affluent families to afford meals. The second floor used very good ingredients, though the price was not cheap. The third floor was for the truly wealthy or core disciples. A single meal there could cost tens or even hundreds of Gold Soul Coins, using only top-tier ingredients.

Yue had only been to the second floor once or twice. Since he lived outside, he usually ate elsewhere. But today was different; he wanted to see what was on the third floor.

"Let's go to the third floor to eat. I haven't been there since school started," he said, taking Meng Hongchen's small hand and heading upstairs.

Ning Tian nodded to Wu Feng, and the two quickly followed.

The third floor of the cafeteria was incomparable to the floors below in terms of decoration, and it was entirely composed of private rooms.

Yue chose a nearby private room and walked in. Soon, a waitress brought over the menu.

"Any dietary restrictions?" Yue asked Ning Tian and the others.

"No."

Yue nodded and scanned the menu. The cheapest items on the menu were at least hundred-year-old ingredients, with many from the deep sea.

Yue directly set aside the land-based ingredients and focused entirely on seafood, eager to taste what the deep-sea delicacies were like.

"Red Shrimp, Crystal Crab Emperor, Demonic Tiger..."

"Wait, classmate." The waitress quickly stopped Yue Hongchen, who was about to order more.

Yue Hongchen looked up and asked, "What's wrong?"

"It's like this, student. You might not be very familiar with some of the ingredients from the deep sea." The waitress hadn't expected him to try and pretend he knew what he was talking about. In her opinion, Yue Hongchen seemed unfamiliar with the deep sea, but his demeanor suggested he wasn't an ordinary person.

"Red Shrimp and Crystal Crab Emperor are particularly rare ingredients that contain considerable natural energy. So, my suggestion is to order the Red Shrimp and Crystal Crab Emperor first. If that's not enough, you can order more. These ingredients are very precious, so let's avoid waste."

Yue Hongchen listened to the waitress's patient explanation. Understanding the reason, he nodded and returned the menu to her.

"Then bring those two first. Three portions of each."

The waitress nodded and continued, "What year would you like?"

"Thousand-year," Yue Hongchen blurted out without thinking.

"Mm, okay, thousand-year... thousand-year!" The surprise came too suddenly. Red Shrimp and Crystal Crab Emperor could be considered rare treasures from the deep sea, exceptionally scarce. He hadn't expected Yue Hongchen to order two portions of Red Shrimp and two portions of Crystal Crab Emperor at once.

"Certainly, sir. For the third floor, payment is required upfront. It will be eighty thousand Gold Soul Coins in total. How would you like to pay?" The waitress was so excited that she started using honorifics. The person in front of her wasn't just a student; he was a godsend.

The only pity was that their cultivation seemed to be around the two to three-ring level, so they wouldn't be able to absorb the energy contained within a ten-thousand-year ingredient. Otherwise, if he had ordered a ten-thousand-year one, she wouldn't have to work hard for the rest of her life.

"Charge it to my card." Yue Hongchen took out his black card and handed it to the waitress.

Taking the black card from Yue Hongchen, she successfully charged ten thousand Gold Soul Coins.

"Please wait a moment."