After awakening his martial soul, Bai Ran went to Shrek Academy.
Given his current age and Soul Power Level, he could not enter Shrek Academy.
According to Shrek Academy's admission requirements, one had to reach level twenty in Soul Power before the age of twelve to take the entrance examination.
However, Bai Ran was not there to study at Shrek Academy.
After all, even Dragon God Douluo Mu En had only successfully enrolled at Shrek after reaching level twenty in Soul Power at the age of eight.
Bai Ran's level was currently insufficient. Even if he wanted to enroll, no teacher would be willing to take him in.
What was more, even the academy's new students were eleven- or twelve-year-old boys and girls. Bai Ran, a child who had just awakened his martial soul, was no different from a tiny little turnip among them. Not to mention that Soul Masters naturally developed faster than ordinary people; by the age of twelve or thirteen, they already looked no different from ordinary sixteen- or seventeen-year-olds.
The main reason Bai Ran had come to Shrek Academy was to tell his uncle Ye Tian, who worked in the academy cafeteria, the good news that he had awakened a food-type martial soul and possessed Innate Soul Power close to level ten.
In fact, even if Ye Tian were not a staff member of Shrek Academy, given that both Bai Ran's parents had once been members of Shrek Academy and that he had displayed considerable talent, he would naturally be able to enroll there once the time was right.
Come to think of it, this was Bai Ran's second visit to Shrek Academy.
When he had come to the academy to find his uncle at the age of four, he had gotten lost and been surrounded by a group of older girls. Later, an academy teacher had even taken him back to the office, and his uncle had not picked him up until school let out.
Since then, Bai Ran had never returned to the academy.
There was no special reason. He was simply afraid of those older female students. Perhaps they had been repressed from cultivating for too long, but they had no sense of restraint when they got their hands on him. If not for the snacks used to coax him—and the adult soul living inside his young body—Bai Ran would really have wanted to burst into tears on the spot.
Now, on this second visit, Bai Ran was no longer rushing around recklessly. He only needed to head straight to the academy cafeteria to find someone.
Shrek Academy's Inner Academy Cafeteria
"Master Ye's cooking is as good as ever."
"Indeed. This Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Dragon Meat is not only rich in flavor, but almost none of its effects have been lost."
"Everything about Master Ye is excellent, except he cooks personally less and less often. Even ordinary Title Douluo elders can hardly invite him to cook."
At a dining table, two old men each held a bowl of Earth Dragon Meat stew as they chatted idly.
"I heard Master Ye has a nephew who reached the age to awaken his martial soul this year. I wonder how it went."
"Have you forgotten? Master Ye also has an older sister."
"Little Ye?"
"Professors, how is the food?"
Just as the two old men were deep in conversation, Ye Tian emerged from the kitchen.
The Inner Academy Cafeteria differed from the Outer Academy Cafeteria.
The Inner Academy Cafeteria served only Inner Academy disciples and Inner Academy teachers.
Moreover, not only did the Inner Academy Cafeteria possess more precious ingredients, but even the chefs who worked there were food-type Soul Masters, with cultivation no lower than Soul Elder.
After all, those they served were Inner Academy disciples whose Soul Power Levels were all at least fifty. Besides ensuring that the food tasted good, the more important task was preserving the energy within precious ingredients.
The "dietary supplements" provided by the Inner Academy Cafeteria were also an important resource. Those who were not Inner Academy disciples found it difficult to enjoy them, even if they were core disciples of the Outer Academy.
"Little Tian, your cooking has improved again. Are you about to break through?"
Five years ago, Ye Tian had already broken through to Soul Douluo, becoming one of the few—and perhaps even the only—high-level food-type Soul Masters currently at Shrek Academy.
"No. Breaking through to Title Douluo is not that easy, especially since I am a food-type Soul Master."
Ye Tian shook his head helplessly.
"Were you two just talking about my sister?"
"Little Tian, us two old men had a little too much to drink. You..."
"It is all right, Professors. I have already let it go."
Upon hearing that, the two professors both thought, Who would believe that nonsense?
If he had truly let it go, why was the mission to eradicate Evil Soul Masters he had posted in the Inner Academy still there?
As a staff member of Shrek Academy, Ye Tian could post missions on the academy's task board. And as a high-level food-type Soul Master, the rewards he offered were extremely generous.
It could be said that over the years, Inner Academy disciples had brought quite a few Evil Soul Master heads to Ye Tian in exchange for extra "dietary supplements."
It was said that the Inner Academy's eldest senior sister especially loved the dishes cooked by Master Ye.
In order to make Master Ye bring out his treasured dishes, after completing one mission, she had returned with no fewer than three Evil Soul Master heads at the Soul Douluo level.
Ye Tian: Who said a big foodie girl was bad? This big foodie girl was fantastic.
"By the way, Little Tian, your nephew awakened his martial soul today. Aren't you going to watch over him in person?"
One of the two professors suddenly asked, riding the effects of the alcohol.
"Didn't I still have to cook for you two? For this Earth Dragon Soup, I did not rest the entire night."
The two old professors exchanged glances, and the atmosphere became awkward for a moment.
Ah, well, look at the mess this turned into.
"Hey, it is nothing. The academy has specially assigned Soul Masters there, so no accidents will happen."
There was a hint of guilt in Ye Tian's tone.
All right, Ye Tian simply did not dare go.
He was somewhat afraid of seeing the martial soul his nephew would awaken. According to the theory of martial soul inheritance, a child's martial soul was inherited from either parent.
Whether the child inherited his sister's martial soul or his brother-in-law's, Ye Tian feared that seeing it would make him remember his sister and brother-in-law, who had died miserably at the hands of Evil Soul Masters. He also hated himself for being a food-type Soul Master. As he watched his sister desperately hold back the Evil Soul Masters, he could only flee desperately and do nothing.
In that mission, he had been the only member of the entire team to survive. Because his sister and brother-in-law had left behind a child less than a year old, Ye Tian took on the responsibility of raising the little one.
In the blink of an eye, his little nephew had awakened his martial soul. Time truly passed quickly.
What happened back then had still affected Ye Tian's state of mind, leaving him stuck at the bottleneck of level seventy-nine for quite some time.
But when he looked at the child who called him "Dad." (There was no helping it; at the time, he was the only man who appeared repeatedly in Bai Ran's sight. It was corrected later.)
Hope for life returned to Ye Tian's heart. The feeling of having family again gave Ye Tian the motivation to cultivate once more.
He broke through to Soul Douluo in less than a year. Now, he was an eighty-seventh-level Soul Douluo, the highest-level food-type Soul Master in all of Shrek Academy.
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