Big Eater

Xu Mengqing froze on the spot, his little face caught between laughter and tears. After a long while, he could only force out one sentence:

"Dad, Mom... you two are way too mean!"

For that instant just now, he had truly panicked. He had even thrown a transmigrator's composure to the wind, terrified that Na'er would be sent to an orphanage the moment he looked away. If that happened, all his previous efforts would have been for nothing.

Seeing the thoroughly played expression on his son's face, Xu Zhan burst into laughter and reached out to ruffle his hair.

"Who told you to be so protective of your wife? If we didn't tease you, we wouldn't have known you cared this much."

Holding Na'er in her arms, Meng Ling'er gently smoothed the loose strands of hair from her forehead, her eyes full of tenderness.

"Na'er is such a good girl. We liked her the moment we saw her. The administrator has made an exception as well. For now, she's registered under our family, and we'll slowly help her look for her relatives. From now on, she's part of our family."

Leaning against Meng Ling'er's embrace, Na'er secretly raised her eyes to look at Xu Mengqing. A faint, timid yet incomparably pure smile appeared on her little face.

That one glance instantly swept away all the frustration in Xu Mengqing's heart.

Fine. So what if they had played him?

As long as Na'er could stay, it was all worth it.

He cleared his throat, put on the air of a little adult, and solemnly said to Na'er:

"Na'er, from today onward, you're my real little sister. If anyone dares bully you, I won't stand for it."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something important. His expression turned serious as he looked at his parents.

"By the way, Dad, Mom, there's something important I want to discuss with you."

Xu Zhan raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Does our little Qing have some major announcement to make?"

"I want to turn the entire backyard into a cultivation ground for Blue Silver Grass." Xu Mengqing's tone was serious, without the slightest hint of a joke. "My Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass. Meditating in places with lots of Blue Silver Grass will make my cultivation much faster. I want to fill this place with Blue Silver Grass and turn it into a Mimicry Cultivation Field."

Meng Ling'er was slightly startled, then nodded gently.

"So that's how it is. Cultivation is important, of course your father and I will support you. Just tell us what you need."

Xu Zhan readily agreed as well. "No problem! Tomorrow, I'll buy some grass seeds, and we'll fill our backyard with Blue Silver Grass together!"

Warmth rose in Xu Mengqing's heart.

It was dinnertime.

To celebrate the arrival of a new family member, Meng Ling'er had specially prepared a huge spread of dishes.

At first, Na'er seemed somewhat reserved and only dared to pick food from the dishes directly in front of her.

But under Meng Ling'er's gentle encouragement and Xu Mengqing's enthusiastic food-serving assault, Na'er finally let go.

The moment she did, Xu Zhan and Meng Ling'er were dumbfounded.

Na'er's cherry-like little mouth opened and closed at an astonishing speed, and the food in front of her vanished at a rate visible to the naked eye.

"Gulp..." Xu Zhan had just extended his chopsticks toward a piece of braised pork when it vanished without a trace, making him swallow hard.

One bowl of rice, two bowls of rice, three bowls of rice...

That slender and delicate little belly, flat without even a trace of excess flesh, seemed like a bottomless pit.

The plates on the table emptied one after another, and even the rice cooker was scraped completely clean. "Th-this..."

Holding a rice ladle, Meng Ling'er stared blankly at Na'er, who was contentedly drinking soup. Her whole body had gone stiff.

"Where did all that food go in such a tiny person? Why hasn't her stomach puffed up at all?"

Xu Zhan joked, "My dear wife, we didn't pick up a daughter. We picked up a big eater! At this rate, I'll have to apply for overtime pay!"

Unlike his stunned parents, Xu Mengqing remained perfectly calm.

He secretly laughed. Come on, this is the Silver Dragon King. How could a dragon's appetite possibly be small?

This amount of food was probably only enough to fill the gaps between her teeth and replenish some of the energy needed for her transformation.

After dinner, since there were only two rooms in the house, Na'er could only stay with Xu Mengqing after remaining with them. Xu Zhan and Xu Mengqing used wooden boards to put together another bed in the room, while Meng Ling'er brought clean bedding and made it up as Na'er's temporary little bed.

Na'er seemed very tired. Lying on the soft little bed, she quickly fell asleep.

"Dad, Mom, I'm going to meditate in the backyard." After saying goodbye to the couple, Xu Mengqing returned to the place where he had meditated before and began meditating once more.

It was not until late at night that he quietly returned to the room to sleep.

Early the next morning, Xu Mengqing got up early and finished washing up.

At the dining table, his mother, Meng Ling'er, had already prepared a steaming hot breakfast for Xu Mengqing and Na'er, while Xu Zhan had gone to work early.

After breakfast, Xu Mengqing said goodbye to Meng Ling'er and Na'er and headed alone for Red Mountain Academy.

Meng Ling'er took Na'er out to buy some daily necessities and a change of clothes.

The Spirit Master class at Red Mountain Academy did not teach Spirit Master knowledge every day. It alternated between a day of Spirit Master knowledge and a day of cultural subjects.

And today, Xu Mengqing's classes happened to be cultural subjects.

When Xu Mengqing entered the classroom, he saw that Tang Wulin was already at his seat.

"Wulin, morning." Xu Mengqing walked to the seat beside Tang Wulin and casually pulled out the chair before sitting down.

Tang Wulin looked up and revealed a gentle smile. "Meng Qing, morning."

After greeting each other, the two began cultivating on their own.

After a full day of cultural classes, Xu Mengqing finally endured until school was over.

Xu Mengqing left the classroom with Tang Wulin. The moment they stepped out of the school gate, Xu Mengqing saw a woman walking toward them.

"Mom, why did you come to pick me up?" Tang Wulin asked the woman in surprise.

"Linlin, did you forget? Today, I'm taking you to see Uncle Mang Tian."

"Hello, Auntie." Xu Mengqing politely greeted her from the side.

Lang Yue gave Xu Mengqing an apologetic expression. "You're Xu Mengqing, right? Sorry, Auntie has to take Linlin somewhere today."

Xu Mengqing smiled at Lang Yue. "In that case, I'll head off first. Goodbye, Auntie. See you tomorrow, Tang Wulin."

Xu Mengqing left alone with his schoolbag on his back.

During lunch, through his conversation with Tang Wulin, Xu Mengqing had learned that Tang Wulin was going to Mang Tian Workshop to learn Forging in order to save money to buy a Spirit Soul.

At first, he had thought that without Na'er, Tang Wulin would not begin learning Forging so early.

Of course, Xu Mengqing had no intention of using Tang Wulin's connection to learn Forging from Mang Tian.

On one hand, Tang Wulin had not invited him along. As a university student in his previous life, Xu Mengqing was neither as innocent as a child nor as shamelessly pushy as an adult hardened by society.

On the other hand, he did not possess Tang Wulin's Acquired Divine Strength. Ever since childhood, Tang Wulin had continuously grown stronger under the influence of the Golden Dragon King's God Core's leaking power. At six, his strength was already comparable to an adult's. At nine, he had the strength of a thousand jin, surpassing even ordinary strength-type Soul Grandmasters, while his physical endurance exceeded even Wu Zhangkong's.

Moreover, during Forging, the Golden Dragon King's God Core would continuously restore Tang Wulin's stamina. Xu Mengqing simply could not compare to that kind of body made for hammering iron.

Xu Mengqing estimated that while his strength truly far surpassed Tang Wulin's when he used Martial Soul Possession with his Holy Dragon Lizard Martial Soul, it consumed Soul Power. Xu Mengqing's physical condition was only at the level of an ordinary Soul Scholar, while a single Forging session generally lasted at least one or two hours.

Xu Mengqing was afraid that if he kept hammering away, he might not even know whose head the hammer would fly into.

As for his own second profession, he would figure something out later.