Xu Sanshi

Hearing that, Yue fed Xiao Ka as he said, "Let's not worry about my three just yet. Help the other students grill theirs first."

"Okay." Huo Yuhao nodded.

After collecting money from the first thirteen customers, he continued grilling fish.

Yue sat off to the side, waiting patiently.

"How is it?"

Xiao Ka smiled. "It's pretty good, though it'd be even better with different ingredients. I can tolerate it."

She glanced at Huo Yuhao, then continued, "We can come by and support his business now and then, but I want the smallest grilled fish."

"Sure." Yue gave her a fond smile. "But if you really don't like it, you don't have to eat it. I'll take care of your portion."

"Eating it now and then is fine. He prepared it well, and there's none of the flavor I dislike."

Before long, an uproar rose from the crowd.

Yue looked up and saw a beautiful young woman with rabbit ears bargaining with Huo Yuhao at the stall.

It had to be Jiang Nannan.

"Sorry, senior sister," Huo Yuhao said apologetically. "I don't haggle over the price of my grilled fish, and I've sold out for today. The rest have already been reserved. Please come back tomorrow."

"Sorry, I was just calculating out of habit. In that case, I'll come back tomorrow." With that, Jiang Nannan turned to leave.

Just as Huo Yuhao focused on grilling, a deep, resonant voice filled with anger rang out. "You brat, you dare refuse to sell to me?"

A flash of golden light shot toward Huo Yuhao's stall. A Gold Soul Coin embedded itself firmly in the counter.

Then a figure appeared in front of the stall and reached out to grab a grilled fish.

Fortunately, Huo Yuhao had his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul activated. Just as the hand was about to reach the fish, he lifted it away from the stall. The hand grabbed a fistful of burning charcoal instead.

"Brat, are you looking to die?"

The man seemed enraged. He reached out to grab Huo Yuhao.

Just as he was about to seize Huo Yuhao, Yue stepped in front of him and blocked his hand.

Two voices rang out at the same time.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop!"

The first was the stunning young woman, Jiang Nannan. The second was also a woman's voice.

Yue turned to look. It was the person who had been with Huo Yuhao on the day of registration. They had to be Beibei and Tang Ya.

Beibei and Tang Ya had already hurried over to Huo Yuhao to check whether he was hurt.

Jiang Nannan, who had already left, returned and looked coldly at the man before her. "Xu Sanshi, I've told you before: there's no chance of anything between us. Please stop bothering me." With that, she turned and walked away.

"Nannan!" Xu Sanshi reached out as if to stop her, but Jiang Nannan left without looking back.

After she left, Xu Sanshi turned his gaze back to Yue. "Brat, you dare get in my way? If you've got the guts, meet me in the Soul Fighting Area for a match!"

Before Yue could reply, Beibei stepped in front of him. "Sanshi, Yuhao is my junior fellow disciple. What do you mean by attacking him?"

At that, Xu Sanshi glanced at Huo Yuhao, who was lying in Tang Ya's arms. "That guy's your junior fellow disciple? Since when did the Tang Sect get a new member?"

He waved a hand. "We'll talk about that later. Right now, this is between me and this brat."

Seeing this, Beibei once again stood in front of Yue. He knew this man; he'd been there on the day Huo Yuhao registered, and was probably a new student too. Xu Sanshi had targeted him because of Huo Yuhao. Beibei couldn't just leave him to fend for himself.

"No need, senior. If senior Xu Sanshi wants a match, I'll oblige." As Yue spoke, the Blood Oath Pact appeared in his hand, and three blue-and-white Soul Rings emerged behind him.

"You're a first-year, right? And you already have three rings?" Xu Sanshi stared at Yue in shock. His white uniform was unmistakably that of a first-year student.

And setting aside his Soul Rings, his Martial Soul felt anything but ordinary.

"I'm a new student, of course." Yue didn't deny it. Instead, he put a finger on his Storage Soul Guiding Ring. "I remember Soul Fighting allows Soul Tools, right?"

Beibei nodded. "It does, but with talent like yours, why would you want to become a Soul Engineer?"

"I never said I was a Soul Engineer." Yue shook his head. A Level 3 Fixed Soul Cannon appeared beside him. "Allow me to introduce myself: Yue Hongchen. I may lack many things, but I'm never short on Soul Tools."

Seeing the Soul Tool Yue had taken out, Xu Sanshi nearly jumped out of his skin.

Could he withstand a Level 3 Fixed Soul Cannon? Once they started fighting, as a defensive-system Soul Elder, he had no confidence he could stop an offensive-system Soul Elder of the same rank from charging it.

"Ahem, well, we're all students. There's no need to start fighting, is there?" Xu Sanshi instantly demonstrated how a wise man knew when to yield. "We could say we've become friends through a fight. I'm Xu Sanshi, and this guy here is Beibei."

Yue had never seen anyone so shameless, but he had no intention of actually going to the Soul Fighting Area with him. He dispersed his Soul Power and put away his Martial Soul and Soul Tool.

"Then I look forward to your guidance, senior Xu."

Xu Sanshi hurriedly nodded.

Beibei looked at Yue warmly. "Hello, junior Yue. I'm Beibei. Progenitor Xuan has mentioned you. If you run into any problems at the academy, you can come to me."

Yue returned his smile with a nod. After exchanging pleasantries with the two, he took the grilled fish from Huo Yuhao and left.

He still had a task to finish.

After he left, Beibei draped an arm over Xu Sanshi's shoulder with a mischievous look. It seemed those two were headed to the Soul Fighting Area after all.

After leaving Huo Yuhao's stall, Yue accompanied the two girls around the food festival from one end to the other, stopping at practically every stall.

He only bought two portions of each item, though. The reason was...

"Brother, this is delicious!"

"Yiren, this one's delicious too!"

They took a few bites of each treat before passing it to him. By the time they finished walking around, his stomach was nearly full. If he hadn't used his Soul Power to speed up digestion, he wouldn't have made it out of the food street.

That evening, after returning to the small courtyard and washing up, Yue prepared to head back to his room and rest.

Meng saw Xiao Ka and Yue heading into the same room and hurriedly asked, "Big sister, are you sleeping with big brother?"

She couldn't hide the displeasure on her face.

"I won't be here for long. I'll return to his Sea of Consciousness soon, so what's wrong with sleeping together?" Katyusha said matter-of-factly.

Yue nodded too. Ever since Xiao Ka's first "night raid," when she crawled into his arms and slept there for the night, he'd held her as he slept every night. It had become a habit.

Meng glared at them—or rather, at Yue. "You don't even want me to keep you company, big brother..."

"We're siblings." Yue tried to reason with her patiently.

"We're not related by blood!" Meng turned her head away, upset.

"But in name..."

"We're not related by blood!"

"But people can't..."

In the end, he couldn't win against the little girl. Yue had no choice but to let her in.

A smile immediately appeared on Meng's face.

That night, after the lights were turned off, Xiao Ka lay on his left and Meng on his right. Both his arms were pinned beneath them. Yue didn't know whether that was a good thing or a bad thing; all he knew was that it was genuinely uncomfortable to sleep like that.

To get a good night's sleep, Yue shifted his trapped arms and pulled the two of them into his embrace. He was instantly much more comfortable.