Seeing how innocent Xiao Xiao was, Su Qing could only smile helplessly. Had Gu of Great Fortune taken a liking to him when he was reborn? Otherwise, why did life only give him sweet dates? Where were the slaps?
"Of course!"
At Su Qing's praise, Xiao Xiao, who had just been grinning foolishly, bashfully lowered her head again and lightly nudged him with her toe.
"Mm, let's go explore Shrek City."
Seeing how adorable she looked, Su Qing couldn't resist patting her head. He fondly squeezed the two little pale-green buns atop it. After returning to the dorm, the girl had worried that Zhou Yi would make them run again, so she had gone to the trouble of tying her hair into buns to keep it from sticking to her skin with sweat.
"Okay!"
Hearing that he wanted to take her shopping, Xiao Xiao happily agreed and immediately tugged him toward the school gates.
"Slow down. You ran a hundred laps during the day. Aren't you tired?"
Su Qing followed her with a wry smile, marveling that the little girl's stamina was beyond what ordinary people could manage.
"Shopping with you, Xiao Qing, won't tire me out!"
"All right, all right..."
Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao had already set up his barbecue stall and was expertly preparing grilled fish. Before long, a unique aroma wafted from his stall, and soon it was surrounded by a crowd.
Watching the grilled fish sell one after another, Huo Yuhao smiled with satisfaction. At this rate, earning enough money for meals wouldn't be a problem. As the number of fish on the stall dwindled, he picked out the three largest and packed them into the counterfeit Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges that Bei Bei had given him. He planned to grill them for the three of them after he sold the rest.
Those three were specially set aside for Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and Su Qing. He couldn't accidentally sell them.
Soon, the same thing that had happened in the original story unfolded. As a pretty blond girl walked away from his stall in disappointment, a gruff voice rang out.
"Kid, how dare you refuse to sell!"
As the words fell, a golden flash shot straight into the grill and embedded itself in the sheet metal. It was a Gold Soul Coin, and the person who had thrown it was none other than Xu Sanshi.
He grabbed Huo Yuhao by the collar before the boy could react and threw him to the ground. The curious crowd quickly surrounded the scene. The blond girl from earlier was livid and snapped,
"Xu Sanshi, stop sticking your nose where it doesn't belong!"
"Nannan..."
Seeing Jiang Nannan's furious expression, Xu Sanshi's voice faltered. But the bewilderment in his heart soon disappeared, replaced by a thought: As expected of Nannan. Even when she's angry, she's beautiful...
"Nannan, wait a moment. I'll bring your grilled fish over in no time."
As he spoke, Xu Sanshi turned his gaze to the three nearly finished fish Huo Yuhao had just taken out of his Storage Soul Tool.
Huo Yuhao scrambled to his feet and hurriedly shielded the stall with his body. He hadn't even considered the gap between his strength and Xu Sanshi's. All he could think was that these fish were for his senior brother and the others. He absolutely couldn't let this guy take them.
"Oh? You've got some guts, kid. I respect that. But if you don't hand over those grilled fish today, you'd better be ready for a beating!"
Seeing his authority challenged, Xu Sanshi was rather surprised. He did think Huo Yuhao was a man of courage, but to avoid losing face in front of Jiang Nannan, he decided to act and uphold his authority as one of the Twin Stars of the Outer Court.
"Black Tortoise Possession!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, his Xuanming Turtle Martial Soul possessed him, and three Soul Rings—yellow, yellow, and purple—appeared beneath his feet. It was clear he meant business. Before anyone could react, he raised his hand and punched at Huo Yuhao. If the frail boy took that blow, he would surely be badly injured.
But just before his fist struck Huo Yuhao, a gleaming silver spear appeared out of nowhere. The instant it collided with Xu Sanshi's fist, it sent him staggering back.
"What are you doing to my good friend, the grilled-fish specialist?"
After knocking Xu Sanshi back, Su Qing—who had brought Xiao Xiao over to join the crowd—stood firmly in front of Huo Yuhao and stared coldly at Xu Sanshi.
"Class monitor? So you can grill fish too! No wonder Xiao Qing said he was bringing me to eat something delicious."
Xiao Xiao gazed curiously at Huo Yuhao's stall. Catching the lingering aroma in the air, she looked at him with admiration. Just how had the class monitor grilled fish so deliciously?
"Hey, Xiao Xiao, you know Big Brother Su too?"
Huo Yuhao had just managed to make sense of what was happening and was about to thank Su Qing when he was caught off guard by the two of them arriving hand in hand.
"Well, that's a long story. But, class monitor, why were you fighting that senior?"
"Here's what happened."
In response to Xiao Xiao's question, Huo Yuhao briefly explained what had just happened. Once the little girl learned the truth, she glared indignantly at Xu Sanshi and exclaimed,
"Are you really an upperclassman? Why are you acting like a thug?"
"You!"
Xu Sanshi was about to attack, but the gleaming spear in Su Qing's hand made him think twice.
"Kid, if you've got the guts, meet me in the Soul Fighting Arena!"
"Sure! Xiao Qing, knock his butt into a blooming flower!"
Xiao Xiao had seen Su Qing save someone from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast in the Star Dou Great Forest, so she had complete faith in his strength. Before Su Qing could say a word, she retorted to Xu Sanshi on his behalf.
"Nicely said, Xiao Xiao. You're practically my voice."
Su Qing looked at Xiao Xiao with satisfaction. It would've sounded strange coming from him, but with Xiao Xiao saying it, it felt perfectly natural.
"Big Brother Su..."
Huo Yuhao felt somewhat guilty. Because he was weak, Su Qing now had to face a challenge from an upperclassman...
"It's fine, Yuhao. I know those three grilled fish were set aside for us. In that case, what's wrong with teaching this guy a lesson for you?"
Su Qing smiled faintly, his confidence seeming to say that defeating Xu Sanshi would be as easy as drinking water.
To Xu Sanshi, it was an outright provocation.
"Kid, want to make a bet? If I win, you have to kneel and call me Grandpa Sanshi. If I lose, I'll kneel and call you Grandpa."
Su Qing nodded at that.
"Fine, but I'm not interested in being your grandpa. If I win, how about you give me three Mystic Water Pills?"
Xu Sanshi was about to agree, but then he grew suspicious that the other man knew he had Mystic Water Pills. His brow furrowed.
"How do you know I have Mystic Water Pills?"
"Don't worry about that. Just tell me if you're in or not."
Seeing that Su Qing had no intention of explaining, Xu Sanshi looked at the spear in his hand, then at the Black Tortoise Shield in his own. Unless something unexpected happened, he would surely have the advantage in strength. As long as he used his shield well, that spear wouldn't be able to make any waves. With that in mind, he immediately agreed.
"Fine! Today, I'll show you why they call me Eternal Defense!"
With that, he led Su Qing toward the Soul Fighting Arena. After Tang Ya and Bei Bei arrived and heard Xiao Xiao and Huo Yuhao explain what had happened, they were also somewhat angry. But when they learned that Xu Sanshi and Su Qing had agreed to a duel, a relieved smile appeared on Tang Ya's face.
Bei Bei also wore an expression of schadenfreude. The first time he'd heard Su Qing's name had been from Zhang Lexuan. Could someone who could save people from a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast really be any ordinary person? Xu Sanshi was probably in for a nasty surprise this time.
Before long, everyone who arrived at the Soul Fighting Arena began placing bets. They knew nothing about Su Qing, a newcomer to the academy, so most of them put their money on Xu Sanshi.
Tang Ya and the others were delighted. Were these people just giving them money? Shrek really did have plenty of kindhearted people. Just as they busily placed their bets on Su Qing's side, a cool voice rang out of nowhere.
"One thousand Gold Soul Coins. I'm betting on Su Qing."