The group bustled about, laying all five wounded together. They waited a long while, but Xuan Zi still didn't show.
"That old geezer! He's probably eaten himself silly and forgotten he brought students along!"
Su Qing furrowed his brow. Zhou Qing and the others' injuries had been kept from worsening, but there was no healing Soul Master here, and simple bandages were nowhere near enough. He had thought there would be plenty of time to tend to all the wounded while they waited for Xuan Zi. Who could have guessed that Zhang Lexuan would nearly finish absorbing her Soul Ring and he still wouldn't have arrived...
Of course, it was also possible the battle had ended early because Su Qing joined in. Judging by how things had gone, if the Magic Flame Lizard had kept using the corpses as bait to lure in reinforcements, they would have had to fight several more rounds. All the students would have died before Zhang Lexuan could finally kill it.
"I owe you my life. Could you tell me your name?"
As Su Qing waited anxiously, Zhou Qing's hoarse voice pulled him from his thoughts. Only then did he remember that he could use this opportunity to get a recommendation letter. A recommendation from an Inner Court student was fundamentally different from one from a city lord, especially when it was written personally by Zhang Lexuan, the Inner Court Senior Sister. It meant he wouldn't have to pay tuition at all!
And the best part was, he'd saved these senior brothers and sisters' lives. At Shrek, he wouldn't have to worry about going hungry! It wasn't that he only cared about food. It was just that ever since he'd started roasting Soul Beast meat himself, he hadn't had a single decent-tasting meal! A person had to have something to look forward to, right? Eating this stuff every day, it was a miracle he'd managed to hang on this long!
No, he couldn't keep thinking about that. He should answer Zhou Qing first.
"My name is Su Qing."
Zhou Qing's face filled with gratitude. Only moments ago, he'd been dragged back from the brink of death. Who knew how horribly he would have died if Su Qing hadn't used a Soul Skill to pull him away? More importantly, their injuries had made them a weakness Zhang Lexuan had to protect, holding back her attacks. If their deaths had distracted her and gotten her killed by a Soul Beast, they would never have forgiven themselves, even as ghosts.
"Su Qing? I'll remember that. I'll repay you with my life someday."
Zhou Qing silently repeated the name, trying to engrave it in his memory.
"If you really want to repay me, then when I get to Shrek, remember to treat me to a meal. And I don't mean just one."
Afraid Zhou Qing might misunderstand, he made a point of emphasizing it. He didn't want Zhou Qing thinking he was the sort of person who did good deeds without expecting anything in return.
Zhou Qing didn't know whether to laugh or cry. His wounds hurt so much he wanted to cry, but Su Qing's words made him want to laugh. Yet he couldn't do either, or the wounds they'd just finished bandaging would split open again.
At the same time, Chen Yao, lying nearby and wrapped up like a mummy, was making muffled sounds that nobody could understand. Su Qing waved at her.
"You can forget about offering yourself to me or working like an ox and horse. You can treat me to a meal too. He'll cover breakfast, and you'll cover lunch."
"You're amazing, benefactor! You can even understand that?"
Zhou Qing shot him an envious look. How on earth had Su Qing managed that? He'd only been able to make out a few muffled sounds.
"Then I'll cover your dinner," Zhang Lexuan said from behind him.
For some reason, this Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast had no Soul Shock or spiritual resentment at all. The strain it put on her mental power was even less than that of a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, which was why she'd absorbed its Soul Ring so quickly.
"That fast?"
Su Qing was secretly astonished. Zhang Lexuan's talent was terrifying. She'd absorbed an eighth Soul Ring from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast faster than most people absorbed a Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. She was practically a monster. But... now all three of his daily meals were covered. That was incredible! In all the fanfiction he'd read, no one had ever said Shrek's cafeteria food was bad!!!
"Thanks to you, I was able to protect my teammates and fight without worrying about them. Without you, even if I'd managed to kill this Flame Demon Lizard, I would have been badly injured, and absorbing its Soul Ring would have been a brush with death."
Zhang Lexuan spoke steadily, her words brimming with sincerity. She knew that without Su Qing, this battle would have shattered her spirit. She would have been consumed by guilt for failing to protect even one of her teammates.
"It's nothing. It was the least I could do. I remember that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts always drop a Soul Bone. Why didn't you absorb it too?"
Su Qing asked in confusion. He remembered that there hadn't been any glowing spot on Zhang Lexuan just now. Could it have produced an External Soul Bone? But what kind of External Soul Bone could a lizard even produce?
"You saved my teammates, so I've decided to give it to you."
She and her teammates had killed the Soul Beast together, so she had every right to decide who would get the Soul Bone. In her eyes, Su Qing's life-saving favor couldn't be repaid just by treating him to meals. So she'd decided to give him the Soul Bone.
"No thanks. It's too ugly. I don't want it."
Su Qing shook his head. The Flame Demon Lizard's Demon Flame was nowhere near as good as his own Ultimate Fire, so why absorb its Soul Bone? To build strength? Wouldn't that just waste two skill slots?
"You..."
Zhang Lexuan stared at him in bewilderment. The kid didn't even want a Soul Bone, and all he could think about was food. Was his Martial Soul the Godly Taotie Bull too? No, that couldn't be right. The abilities he'd just revealed were clearly those of a Martial Soul capable of wielding multiple elements.
"You should absorb it soon. They say Soul Rings and Soul Bones from the same Soul Beast complement each other best."
"That's right, Senior Sister. Absorb it now. I feel like my injuries are almost healed!"
Zhou Qing forced out a forceful voice despite the pain, drawing everyone's attention. Where had the half-dead fellow from when they were bandaging him gone?
"Mmm..."
Chen Yao and the others, unable to speak, also raised their hands with muffled sounds, urging Zhang Lexuan to absorb the Soul Bone as soon as possible. But seeing how badly her teammates were doing, she decided to take them back first and absorb it later.
"Oh, right, Senior Sister. Write Su Qing a recommendation letter first."
When he saw that she wasn't going to absorb the Soul Bone right away, Zhou Qing immediately remembered that Su Qing had said he wanted to go to Shrek. The couple behind them were obviously that little girl's parents and probably had nothing to do with Su Qing. In other words, he'd come to the Star Dou Great Forest alone. As someone with no family to rely on, he had no way to get a recommendation letter, so Zhang Lexuan would have to write one.
"Okay."
Looking into Su Qing's clear eyes, Zhang Lexuan nodded. She rummaged through her Storage Soul Tool for the special paper used by the Inner Court. After thinking it over, she wrote a single sentence: "I recommend this young man for admission to Shrek." Then she signed her name in large characters: Zhang Lexuan.
After signing it, she handed the letter and her Storage Soul Tool to Su Qing.
"Xiao Qing, keep this safe. Don't lose it."
Seeing Su Qing happily accept the silver Storage Ring engraved with a crescent moon, Xiao Xiao puffed out her cheeks again. But when the two of them turned to look at her, she immediately deflated.