Bei Bei and Tang Ya

After waiting for a while, Ning Tian, whose Spiritual Power had recovered relatively well, was the first to wake up.

"What happened?"

Rubbing her still groggy head, Ning Tian looked at Chen Yuan, who was standing to one side.

"It was probably the work of a powerful Soul Beast with spiritual attributes. It looked like it had at least ten thousand years of cultivation."

"Our luck really is terrible, to run into something like this."

Soul Beasts with spiritual attributes were extremely rare, and ten-thousand-year ones were even rarer. Yet they had encountered one on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest.

It was hard to say whether that luck was good or bad.

After Wu Feng woke up, Ning Tian took a silver metal card from her Storage Soul Tool and handed it to Chen Yuan.

Since the mission was complete, Ning Tian naturally had no intention of delaying the payment. That would only worsen Chen Yuan's impression of them.

"Senior, there are fifty thousand Gold Soul Coins on this card. This is your payment for this soul hunt."

"As for the reward for protecting us while we were unconscious, please give me some time. I will definitely give you a satisfactory answer."

In Ning Tian's view, even if there were surely protectors sent by the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect nearby, Chen Yuan had still protected them.

Besides, this was a good opportunity to draw closer to him. Whether out of emotion or reason, Ning Tian felt that she should show some gratitude.

And as the Young Sect Master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, her life was worth quite a lot. Chen Yuan deserved a decent reward.

Chen Yuan did not stand on ceremony and accepted the Gold Soul Card without hesitation. Thirty thousand Gold Soul Coins were what he had earned, while the remaining twenty thousand could be considered a tip from the little rich girl.

Once the dizziness in their heads had faded, Chen Yuan led the two girls away from the Star Dou Great Forest toward Shrek City.

There was still some distance to Shrek City. Chen Yuan could make it there in a day with his speed, but Ning Tian and Wu Feng were behind him.

They had tipped him twenty thousand Gold Soul Coins! As their senior, Chen Yuan naturally had the responsibility to get them back safely.

After walking roughly a hundred li, the three of them finally left the Star Dou Great Forest. From this point onward, Soul Beasts generally would not appear, aside from the occasional brainless ten-year Soul Beast with a death wish.

After following a river outside the forest for most of the day, the three of them spotted another group of people.

Looking closely, Chen Yuan recognized two of them.

"Well, well! Bei Bei!"

Chen Yuan had just been wondering whether he would run into them around this time, and here they were.

Bei Bei had short purple hair. He stood tall and straight, with an elegant temperament, though he also looked somewhat lazy.

"Why aren't you staying properly at the academy? What are you doing in the Star Dou Great Forest?"

"Did you come to hunt a soul ring for your Xiao Ya?"

Hearing Chen Yuan's voice, Bei Bei turned around and saw the familiar figure, a gentle smile appearing on his face.

"Yes, I'm hunting Xiao Ya's third Soul Ring." Only after they drew closer did Bei Bei clearly see Ning Tian and Wu Feng behind Chen Yuan.

"Did you take on a soul-hunting mission?"

As Chen Yuan's roommate, Bei Bei naturally knew that Chen Yuan's family circumstances were not particularly good.

"Yeah. I can't tell you the details of the mission. I have professional ethics, after all. I can't reveal client information."

"By the way, who's this kid?"

Beside Bei Bei and Tang Ya stood a skinny little boy in plain clothes, clearly malnourished.

"Perfect timing, let me introduce him. This is my junior brother, Huo Yuhao. He has already joined the Tang Sect and will be a new student this year."

"Congratulations. Your Tang Sect has finally recruited someone."

Chen Yuan stepped aside so Ning Tian and Wu Feng could see the three people opposite them.

"This is Bei Bei, and that is Tang Ya. They're both my classmates."

"Bei Bei, these two are new students enrolling this year. They're both from the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect."

Hearing Chen Yuan's words, Ning Tian smiled and nodded, acknowledging the introduction.

According to the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect's intelligence, among the top three students in Shrek's Outer Court, only Chen Yuan was worth recruiting. Both Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi had people behind them, so it was enough to treat them normally.

The moment Tang Ya heard that Ning Tian and Wu Feng were from the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect, her expression immediately soured. She had not forgotten how those sects that had once been close to the Tang Sect stood by and watched when the Tang Sect fell.

Seeing this, Ning Tian did not even bother greeting Tang Ya.

During the Tang Sect's glory days, the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had often been treated like a sucker by the Tang Sect. Since four thousand years ago, the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect had grown increasingly distant from forces that refused to accept Soul Tools, including sect-based powers like the Tang Sect and the Heavenly Dragon Sect.

Besides, the Tang Sect's people could even betray members of their affiliated Four Great Clans. How could the Nine Treasures Glazed Sect maintain a good relationship with them? Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda soul masters feared betrayal the most.

It was getting late. At Bei Bei's invitation, everyone decided to head to Shrek City together the next day.

By the campfire, Huo Yuhao acted as the chef, grilling skewer after skewer of fish.

By the stream, Bei Bei had possessed the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon and was illegally electrofishing. Of course, no one on Douluo Continent cared about that.

"Bei Bei, after the promotion assessment, you'll be a fourth-year student. Why are you still a Soul Elder? Are you really planning to keep wasting your talent like this?"

Bei Bei smiled bitterly but still shook his head.

"Right now, I only want to help Xiao Ya rebuild the Tang Sect and make it better and better. Everything else is secondary."

"Besides, isn't my strength normal enough? I'm only one rank below Sanshi. At most, by the end of this semester, I'll definitely reach Soul Ancestor."

As the great-grandson of Dragon God Douluo Mu En, Bei Bei had never lacked talent or resources. If he cultivated normally, there was no way he would still be a Soul Elder at this point.

But ever since Chen Yuan had known him, Bei Bei had always been lazy and unmotivated.

In the end, Tang Ya's Dragon Binding Rope had really done its work.

Maybe it also had something to do with Bei Bei losing both parents when he was young?

Xu Sanshi clung to Jiang Nannan all day like an adhesive plaster, while Bei Bei played romance games with Tang Ya every day.

"With the two of you as roommates, I look completely out of place."

"Tch, go find Xu Sanshi, then. If it weren't for him, that wall wouldn't have been smashed through."

The dormitory conditions in Shrek's Outer Court were truly terrible, but at least they were double rooms. The academy had not gone so far as to cram sixteen people into one room, which was already pretty good.

Originally, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi had shared one dorm, while Chen Yuan had shared another with someone who had since been expelled.

No one knew what had been wrong with Xu Sanshi that day, but he had angered Ma Xiaotao, and then the wall between their dormitories had been smashed through.

Chen Yuan had been a little stunned at first, but he did not find it surprising in the slightest.

For some reason, the academy had gone mad. Since the damaged wall was not load-bearing, they were told either to leave it as it was or find the culprit to pay for repairs.

Unless they admitted that they had damaged the wall themselves. Deliberately damaging academy property would not only earn them disciplinary action, but would also require them to pay three times the repair cost.

Xu Sanshi did not dare go looking for Ma Xiaotao, and they could not possibly take the blame themselves.

And so, Chen Yuan, Bei Bei, and Xu Sanshi became roommates. Chen Yuan's luxurious single room had turned into a miserable room for three.

If he got the chance, Chen Yuan truly wanted to beat that crazy woman Ma Xiaotao to death.

After handing the electrocuted fish to Huo Yuhao, Chen Yuan glanced at the two people who had just obtained their Soul Rings and were seizing the time to consolidate their cultivation.

Tang Ya, the future Blue Silver Saintess. If she dared become an Evil Soul Master, Chen Yuan would open with the Sky Wing Lion King Demon-Breaking Fist.

Chen Yuan despised Evil Soul Masters beyond measure. To him, whether they had fallen willingly or been forced into it only made the process different. The outcome was still death.

If he showed mercy to Evil Soul Masters, would the villagers of Small Lake Village not have died for nothing?

"Brother Chen, here. Your grilled fish."

"Thanks, little brother Huo."

Taking the grilled fish, Chen Yuan was quite curious about what these grilled fish, which countless people in the original story had praised as delicious, actually tasted like.

After taking a bite, Chen Yuan did not initially find anything special about it. It was just ordinary fish and seasoning.

But the next second, an unusual and exquisite flavor spread from the fish.

Damn! He drugged it! He definitely drugged it!!

After slowly finishing the grilled fish, Chen Yuan quietly kept watch beside the campfire.

There were three girls here, two of whom were his patrons. Tang Ya had just broken through and needed to consolidate her cultivation, while Bei Bei needed to open Huo Yuhao's meridians. That left only him to keep watch during the first half of the night.

Hopefully Bei Bei would finish quickly. Otherwise, Chen Yuan would have to keep watch alone all night.