So, you're here to buy coffee?

"Huh? It's that woman!"

Bai Ran had just arrived at his stall and was about to open for business selling coffee when he spotted a red figure walking toward him from afar.

Bai Ran was so frightened that he immediately ducked under the counter.

Bai Ran: Crap, is she coming for me? You can't see me, you can't see me...

In the original story, even after Huo Yuhao had obtained the Ultimate Ice martial soul, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, he had nearly been roasted to death while helping Ma Xiaotao suppress her evil fire.

Bai Ran did not think he could do better than Huo Yuhao.

More importantly, he was a food-type soul master. His body was even more fragile, his HP bar even thinner, and he died even more easily. He simply could not withstand that kind of torment.

"Little brother~"

The voice of a mature older sister rang beside Bai Ran's ear. Just from the sound of it, he knew she started at a C cup.

But Bai Ran did not want to hear that voice at all.

"Um, big sister, do you need something?"

Seeing that he could not hide, Bai Ran helplessly stood up.

Fortunately, Ma Xiaotao was not currently suffering from backlash from the evil fire. With a clear head, Ma Xiaotao probably would not do anything outrageous in front of such a crowd.

"Little brother, I'm really sorry about what happened this morning."

"It's fine, it's fine."

Bai Ran waved his hands repeatedly, not wanting to get involved with Ma Xiaotao in the slightest. He was afraid she might grab him in the next second and refine him into a "pill" to help her suppress her evil fire.

"Little brother, I still haven't asked your name."

At this moment, Ma Xiaotao was so gentle she looked like the kindly older girl next door.

If someone who knew her saw this scene, their jaw would probably hit the floor in shock.

The sheer oddity of it was practically on par with a female tyrannosaur from Sichuan and Chongqing pretending to be a sweet girl.

"Bai... Bai Ran."

For a moment, Bai Ran could not quite figure out what was going on.

What did Ma Xiaotao mean by this?

Had she simply come to apologize to him? That felt completely unnecessary.

No, wait. Pay me back for my level-seven defensive barrier, damn it!

Thankfully, Yan Shaozhe had already compensated him on behalf of his disciple, and it was a defensive soul tool that had reached level eight. Only then did Bai Ran decide not to keep pursuing the matter.

However, since it had been made by a soul engineer from Shrek Academy, its soul-tool level automatically dropped by one, so its actual effect was about the same as the level-seven defensive barrier his uncle had given him earlier.

After all, the soul tools on Ye Tian were basically all made by a certain instructor from Sun Moon Royal Academy.

According to his uncle, that person was his close friend.

But because they belonged to different factions, the highest-level soul tool Ye Tian possessed was only level eight.

There was no helping it. The soul-engineering technology contained within level-nine soul tools was one of the Sun Moon Empire's trump cards. There was no way they would sell it to any other force on Douluo Continent.

Even obtaining a set of level-eight soul tools had taken tremendous effort.

"Little brother Bai Ran, can you give big sister some of those ice cubes from this morning?"

Ma Xiaotao had come to the outer courtyard to look for Bai Ran partly because she was somewhat interested in this little brother, and partly because she planned to ask him for some of the ice cubes from the morning to store in her storage soul tool in case of emergencies.

With those ice cubes, which were close to the Ultimate Ice attribute, assisting her, the chance of her suffering qi deviation during her next cultivation session would be reduced by quite a bit.

Of course, the best method would definitely be to just capture this little brother directly and have him assist her, Ma Xiaotao, with her cultivation.

But if she did that, Ma Xiaotao probably would not even be allowed into the inner courtyard cafeteria ever again.

After weighing things up, Ma Xiaotao came up with this plan—every few days, she would come and ask little brother Bai Ran for some ice cubes.

Hmph, this plan was practically on par with Zhongli faking his death.

Xiaotao, oh Xiaotao, you really are a genius.

"So you're here to buy coffee?"

Hearing this, Bai Ran immediately straightened his back.

You should've said that earlier. You scared me half to death.

As long as she was not here to drain his yin energy, that was fine.

"Coffee?"

This was the first time Ma Xiaotao had heard the name of this drink.

At the same time, she began sizing up this newly opened stall.

"Luckin Coffee Shop. Little brother Bai Ran, could this be a shop you opened?"

"Doesn't it look like one?"

Ma Xiaotao did not doubt Master Ye's ability. As the person in charge of the inner court cafeteria, getting his family member a stall in the outer court cafeteria would only take a casual word from him.

But the little boy in front of her was so young. Could he cook?

Ma Xiaotao: At the very least, I'm already this old, and I still don't know how to cook.

She was busy cultivating every day. Where would she find the time to learn cooking? How else did they think a Soul Emperor under twenty came about?

It was all effort and sweat. Not a trace of talent could be seen.

"Little Brother Bai Ran, which coffee did you splash on me this morning?"

Ma Xiaotao glanced at the menu and saw that it listed "Luckin Classic Americano" and "Luckin Raw Coconut Latte Coffee."

As for the prices, they were both 9.9 Gold Soul Coins.

Not expensive at all. Setting the coffee aside, just the ice cubes inside, at temperatures dozens of degrees below zero, were worth far more than 9.9 Gold Soul Coins.

To obtain ice cubes at that temperature, one either needed a powerful ice-attribute soul master, or had to go deep into the Far North to dig them out. But either way, it was not something a mere 9.9 Gold Soul Coins could buy outright.

"Luckin Iced Americano."

"Then get me a cup of Luckin Iced Americano. Mm, and a cup of Luckin Raw Coconut Latte Coffee while you're at it."

Ma Xiaotao had tasted the flavor of the iced Americano after having it poured all over her.

Had she ever soaked in a medicinal bath after finishing cultivation?

It tasted even worse than that.

But Raw Coconut Latte Coffee, just from the name, seemed pretty decent.

If it really did not work, she could just treat it as coconut-flavored ice cubes and hold them in her mouth. Perhaps that would have its own unique charm.

"Please wait a moment."

After taking the Gold Soul Coins Ma Xiaotao had placed on the counter, Bai Ran got up and went to the back kitchen to make the coffee.

Meanwhile, Tang Ya and the others, who were preparing to come to Luckin Coffee Shop to buy coffee.

When they saw the red figure standing in front of the coffee stall, they hurriedly stopped walking forward.

"Xiaoya, let's come back later."

"That's exactly what I was thinking too. How about we go eat Braised Chicken Rice first? If we go late, we'll only be able to eat what the previous table left behind."

Huo Yuhao: What the previous table left behind? Wouldn't that make it saliva chicken? Makes sense.

Because a "plague god" like Ma Xiaotao was standing in front of the shop, even some students who were interested in this newly opened coffee shop did not dare approach at all.

They were afraid the senior sister's anger would burn them too.

As for the unpleasantness that had happened in front of the coffee shop last night?

Onlookers had no memory, and besides, it was not as if certain things in the outer court cafeteria had only been awful for a day or two.

"Big Sister, your coffee."

Bai Ran came out of the back kitchen carrying two cups of coffee and placed both on the counter.

"Huh? Little Brother Bai Ran, the temperature of this coffee isn't right, is it?"

Ma Xiaotao reached out and picked up a cup of Luckin coffee. Though the cup felt cold overall, it was nowhere near the temperature of Ultimate Ice. At most, it was only a few degrees below zero.

"Our coffee cups use insulating material."

If Luckin coffee cups did not insulate against temperature, the ice cubes inside, which were close to the temperature of Ultimate Ice, would have frozen the customers' hands long ago.