Inside Shrek Academy's Inner Academy Cafeteria.
Bai Ran followed his uncle, Ye Tian, into the cafeteria's back kitchen.
The moment they entered, they saw the corpse of a massive Soul Beast. It looked like a snake-type Soul Beast with dragon bloodline.
Even in death, it still radiated pressure. It was clearly a Soul Beast over ten thousand years old, and very likely no less than fifty thousand years old.
"Uncle?"
"Huh?"
Seeing the eighty-thousand-year Purple Lightning Python-Snake, Ye Tian was utterly bewildered.
That thing had not been there just moments ago. Who had delivered it?
"Hey, Master Ye."
Just as Ye Tian was about to ask who had sent over this Soul Beast, a familiar figure emerged.
It was none other than Xuan Zi.
Clearly, this Purple Lightning Python-Snake had something to do with him.
Xuan Zi's martial soul, the "Godly Taotie Bull," possessed dragon bloodline, so eating Soul Beasts containing dragon bloodline was greatly beneficial to him.
The dietary supplements Ye Tian made could preserve almost perfectly the energy contained within a Soul Beast's flesh.
Therefore, whenever Xuan Zi acquired good ingredients, he would bring them to Master Ye for processing.
However, the ingredients he had brought before had all been Soul Beasts around thirty thousand years old, with none exceeding fifty thousand years. This eighty-thousand-year Purple Lightning Python-Snake was enough to serve as the ninth Soul Ring of some Title Douluo.
And in order to obtain such a Soul Beast, Xuan Zi had paid quite a price, nearly exhausting all his funds for this month and the next two.
(You ask about his previous funds? With the way Xuan Zi ate, he was absolutely the type to spend every last coin each month.)
Under normal circumstances, the corpse of a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast was not worth much.
But as the era developed, important parts of Soul Beasts could be used to make pills, Soul Tools, or all sorts of other things. The older and rarer the Soul Beast, the higher the price of its corpse.
The lavish practice from ten thousand years ago—hunting high-level Soul Beasts, absorbing their Soul Rings, then casually discarding their corpses after finding no Soul Bones—had long since disappeared.
To a certain extent, that was also closely related to how the number of Soul Beasts had dwindled after ten thousand years of hunting.
In another ten thousand years, even thousand-year or hundred-year Soul Beasts might become "ninety-nine percent rare treasures."
Huo Yuhao: Don't worry, kids. I'll make my move.
"Elder Xuan, are you planning to have me process this Purple Lightning Python-Snake for you?"
Counting the days, it did seem to be his turn.
Since it was within the rules, Ye Tian truly had no way to refuse, even if he had already blacklisted the man.
"That's right. Little Ye, just stew the whole snake into one pot for me."
One snake prepared several ways might taste better, but true food connoisseurs knew that only stewing it into soup could lock in the essence of the meat to the greatest extent.
Moreover, besides getting a whole pot of meat, he would also get a whole pot of soup. For Xuan Zi, an old glutton who spent nearly all his money on food and drink, this was the most cost-effective choice.
"No problem, Elder Xuan. Please come back in three days."
"Sorry to trouble you, Master Ye."
Ye Tian did not charge any processing fees to members of the academy.
Naturally, Xuan Zi would not begrudge him a word of thanks.
"Wait, Elder Xuan."
"What is it, Master Ye?"
Hearing Ye Tian call out to him, Xuan Zi hurriedly stopped walking toward the exit.
Xuan Zi: Could the processing difficulty be too high? Is Master Ye planning to charge me? Damn it, all my money has already been spent on this Purple Lightning Python-Snake. Do I have to use something else to settle the bill?
"Elder Xuan, could I trouble you to look after my nephew? Around five o'clock, could you take him to the Outer Academy Cafeteria?"
Since he needed to handle this eighty-thousand-year Purple Lightning Python-Snake next, Ye Tian would have almost no energy to take care of Bai Ran.
The Inner Academy was not the Outer Academy. If Bai Ran ran around recklessly here and happened to offend someone, Ye Tian would have a headache too.
"Oh, I thought it was something serious. Leave it to me."
Xuan Zi could not help letting out a sigh of relief.
So he merely needed to watch a child.
As it happened, he was free this afternoon.
If Bai Ran had been going out with Xuan Zi, he would have been scared half to death. But within Shrek Academy, Xuan Zi should have been fairly reliable.
Getting killed by friendly forces at the base?
That would not be an undercover agent—it would be an openly obvious traitor.
Since the back kitchen was busy handling the Purple Lightning Python-Snake.
Bai Ran was led by Xuan Zi to sit in the cafeteria's main hall.
Perhaps it was influenced by his martial soul, or perhaps it was simply a habit.
The moment Xuan Zi sat down, he somehow pulled out two steamed buns from nowhere.
"Kid, want one?"
Seeing the child in front of him staring at him, Xuan Zi felt too embarrassed to eat alone. As he spoke, he handed over one steamed bun.
"Elder Xuan, have you become so poor that you're surviving on steamed buns?"
Rather than reaching out to take it, Bai Ran asked a question that left Xuan Zi unsure how to answer.
"Kid Bai, don't underestimate these steamed buns. They're freshly made steamed buns from Dongbao, and each one costs a full twenty-one Gold Soul Coins."
Bai Ran: Dongbao steamed buns, freshly made, twenty-one Gold Soul Coins? I have reason to suspect you're implying something.
"You should eat it, Elder Xuan. I'm not hungry."
Bai Ran waved his hand. Forget twenty-one Gold Soul Coins—even if they cost two hundred and ten, he would not have been interested.
After all, compared with his uncle's cooking, any food sold outside seemed rather bland.
"You little brat..."
Xuan Zi helplessly shook his head.
While Xuan Zi was chewing on his steamed bun, Bai Ran suddenly caught a sour, foul smell. He was not sure whether it was just his imagination.
After looking around carefully, he discovered that Xuan Zi had actually taken off his shoes.
Although such behavior was utterly uncivilized, it was equally unhygienic.
Yet what Bai Ran had not expected was that, while chewing his steamed bun, Xuan Zi suddenly reached down and scratched between his toes twice, not forgetting to sniff his fingers afterward.
"Elder Xuan, what are you doing?"
He had thought taking off his shoes while eating was already unrivaled in the world. He had never expected there to be someone even worse!
In the middle of eating, the man had suddenly started picking at his feet. That was just sinister beyond belief.
"Oh, this old man..."
Xuan Zi looked a little embarrassed. Clearly, this wretched old man was usually far too uninhibited.
At that moment, Bai Ran could only be grateful that he had not eaten the steamed bun Xuan Zi had offered him.
Otherwise, he estimated that he would have already been unable to stop himself from throwing up.
Bai Ran: Haji-Xuan, you bastard, do you have even the slightest human decency left?
"By the way, Kid Bai, your martial soul seems to be a food-type martial soul too, right? Make something for this old man to taste."
Although Xuan Zi had gone to the Star Dou Great Forest with them last time, an accident had occurred before it was Bai Ran's turn to absorb his martial soul.
As a result, Xuan Zi had not even seen what Bai Ran's martial soul actually was.
"Fine."
Bai Ran did not hesitate in the slightest. He took out a cup of Luckin Iced Americano and placed it on the table.
Coffee was coffee. It would do.
"Huh?"
A black drink was certainly uncommon.
Xuan Zi remembered that the last time he had drunk something black, it seemed to have been a specialty drink called "Cuttlefish Ink" that he had encountered in a coastal town in the south.
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