Stepped Out and Hit the Jackpot

The food in the outer courtyard cafeteria really was not that good, so after making a round, Bai Ran prepared to head to the inner courtyard and find his uncle to make him something tasty.

Bai Ran: Middle-aged guy, I want fried rice noodles. Add an extra egg and a sausage for me.

After circling around the freshman teaching building and heading east along the south side of Shrek Square, Bai Ran soon arrived at the lakeside path.

Passing through the woods beside the path, the shimmering Sea God Lake lay ahead.

Compared with yesterday afternoon, the scenery of Sea God Lake was even more beautiful this morning.

In particular, a faint mist had risen over the lake's surface, as if draping a veil over Sea God Island in the middle of the lake.

"Huh? What's that?"

Just as Bai Ran took a communication talisman out of his storage ring and contacted his uncle Ye Tian to have him come pick him up...

He suddenly saw a red dot on the distant lake surface charging toward the shore at an extremely fast speed.

"Aminos, why is it coming toward me!"

It gave Bai Ran no time to react. In the next second, a figure completely wrapped in flames charged straight at him, clearly treating Haji Bai like a speed bump.

At that moment, aside from using intangibility, Bai Ran could not think of any way to dodge it.

After all, by the time he saw that red dot, the distance between the two sides was already less than a hundred meters. In almost the blink of an eye, it had slammed into him.

The tremendous impact made Bai Ran feel as if he had been sent flying by a heavy-duty Dayun truck.

Fortunately, after what had happened last time in the Star Dou Great Forest, Ye Tian, afraid that his precious nephew might run into trouble again, had given him a defensive barrier that reached the seventh rank, saying it could withstand three full-power attacks from soul masters below the Soul Sage level.

The instant Bai Ran suffered fatal damage, the seventh-rank defensive barrier activated and enveloped him.

If not for this barrier, Bai Ran would not have merely been knocked flying right now. He would have been smashed into pieces, one chunk here and another there.

Bai Ran: I walk out the door and get hit by a Dayun? If I'd known, I might as well have stayed under the covers and slept. Haji Bai, oh Haji Bai, why did your mouth have to be so greedy?

Before Bai Ran could recover, in the next second, a fist wrapped in flames slammed heavily into the defensive barrier in front of him.

Looking at the woman in red before him, even if Bai Ran guessed with his toes, he could tell she was Ma Xiaotao, known as the "Flame Maniac."

But in the original work, weren't the ones Ma Xiaotao attacked supposed to be Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong?

Could it be that because he, a transmigrator, had arrived, the plot had shifted slightly, causing Ma Xiaotao's target to become him instead?

Uh, this...

For a moment, Bai Ran did not even know whether to say he was unlucky, or just unlucky.

In the original work, the main reason Huo Yuhao was not burned to death by the berserk Ma Xiaotao was because Sky Dream Iceworm had intervened.

But now it was Bai Ran's turn?

All he could do was pray that before the defensive barrier was shattered, the academy's experts would hurry over.

You ask why Bai Ran did not run?

There was no helping it. The defensive barrier enveloped the surrounding area. The moment Bai Ran left the barrier's protection range, he would be swallowed by Ma Xiaotao's flames in the next second.

Bang, bang, bang...

Every punch Ma Xiaotao landed on the defensive barrier felt like a hammer striking Bai Ran's heart.

"Where are the academy's teachers? Hurry up and come! I'm not going to hold out much longer."

Bai Ran began praying, hoping someone would hurry over and stop this crazy woman, Ma Xiaotao.

Crack~

Before long, the sound of something breaking came from the defensive barrier.

Was my life over?

"Damn it, I'll go down blasting with you."

Seeing that Ma Xiaotao was about to shatter the defensive barrier in front of him, Bai Ran directly took out a cup of Luckin Iced Americano, then splashed it straight at Ma Xiaotao.

With Bai Ran's current soul power level, aside from protective-type soul tools that activated passively, he basically could not use attack-type soul tools. Even the ones he could use would not cause any harm to a Soul Emperor.

So his only method seemed to be splashing Ma Xiaotao all over with Luckin Coffee.

Using his first soul skill still required him to chant a spell, so it was not as fast to start as an iced Americano. Besides, if he splashed her with Raw Coconut Latte, wouldn't that be letting Ma Xiaotao get a taste of something sweet?

Sizzle~

The defensive barrier was completely shattered.

Seeing this, Bai Ran silently closed his eyes. Maybe this way, it would not hurt too much.

However, the anticipated fist did not land on his body.

Instead, a burst of panting sounded beside Bai Ran's ear. "So... so comfortable. Little brother, splash... splash big sister again..."

Ma Xiaotao was actually a masochist?

Now Bai Ran was the one who did not know what to do.

Wait. Bai Ran suddenly remembered that when he awakened his martial soul, the teacher in charge of the awakening had given it the evaluation of "close to ultimate ice attribute."

The coffee in the cup only had the effect of refreshing the mind, but the ice cubes inside all possessed extremely low temperatures.

The instant the ice cubes came into contact with Ma Xiaotao's body, they suppressed the flames on her, allowing her consciousness to briefly clear.

However, the gap between their soul power levels was simply too great, so the ice from one cup of Luckin Coffee was not enough to fully suppress it.

"Y-yes, okay."

If you could live, who would want to die?

Bai Ran hurriedly did as told, condensing two cups of Luckin Iced Americano at the same time and attacking from both sides, drenching Ma Xiaotao from "head" to toe.

For a child who could only reach the other person's knees even if he jumped, managing to splash iced Americano onto Ma Xiaotao's upper body had already taken everything he had.

Just as Ma Xiaotao's emotions were slowly stabilizing under the cooling effect of the ice cubes...

The next second, a middle-aged man dressed in white suddenly appeared at the scene.

(Only showing up after everything was over—Bai Ran had reason to suspect he'd been set up.)

This person was none other than Ma Xiaotao's master, the dean of Shrek Academy's Martial Soul Department—Yan Shaozhe.

"It seems I came at a bad time."

Seeing Ma Xiaotao drenched all over, Yan Shaozhe could not help coughing twice to cover up his embarrassment.

Speaking of which, this had also been his negligence. As Ma Xiaotao's master, he had failed to keep watch over her when her evil fire erupted, nearly causing a terrible disaster.

If this had happened in the inner courtyard, where experts were as common as clouds among the inner courtyard disciples, any random person who stepped out might not have been able to subdue Ma Xiaotao, but they could at least have held her off.

Who could have imagined that this little girl would actually run off to the outer courtyard to cut loose? Facing a group of outer courtyard disciples whose average level was only in the thirties, it was basically a wolf among sheep.

"You did well, child. Which class are you from? I'll send someone to take you back to class."

Although Bai Ran looked like a tiny little thing, in Yan Shaozhe's understanding, since he was in the outer courtyard, he should have been an outer courtyard disciple of the academy, perhaps some exceptionally gifted new student, and the force behind him had to be quite powerful as well.

A junior who could take out a Class 7 defensive soul tool was ninety-nine percent certain to come from some great clan, and one who was very doted on within that clan at that.

"I'm not a student of the academy, Grandpa."

Yan Shaozhe's real age was around ninety, so there was absolutely nothing wrong with Bai Ran calling him that.

"If you're not an outer courtyard disciple, don't tell me you're an inner courtyard disciple?"

No sooner had Yan Shaozhe finished speaking than he heard a familiar voice come from behind him.

"Dean Yan, why are you here?"