So, drinking coffee really is addictive.

"So that was it."

Ma Xiaotao: Was it just a special insulating material?

As Ma Xiaotao spoke, she opened the lid of the Iced Americano, took out two ice cubes, and popped them into her mouth.

"This was the feeling."

Ma Xiaotao closed her eyes for a moment and silently felt that chill, which was close to the attribute of Ultimate Ice.

In the inner courtyard, among the disciples of Ma Xiaotao's generation, only Ling Luochen possessed the rare ice-element martial soul.

However, in terms of its ice attribute, Ling Luochen's ice-element martial soul was still far from Ultimate Ice. Ever since Ma Xiaotao had broken through to Soul Emperor, the help Ling Luochen, who only had the cultivation of a Soul King, could give her had already become negligible.

Besides, because of the differences in their personalities, the two of them had a terrible relationship.

Ma Xiaotao: Even if I, Ma Xiaotao, suffered qi deviation and burned to death from evil fire, there was no way I'd go begging Ling Luochen for help.

"Uh, little brother, can you make me a cup of coffee with only ice cubes?"

Ma Xiaotao suddenly opened her eyes and frowned slightly.

Even with only a faint trace of the classic Americano aroma, it was still hard to accept, especially for Ma Xiaotao, who absolutely adored sweet desserts.

"Nope."

Bai Ran shook his head.

Asking for extra coffee in the notes was still reasonable, but extra ice?

One part coffee and nine parts ice—if he added even more ice, his martial soul might as well stop being called Luckin Coffee and just be called an ice cup.

Hey, add whatever you wanted to drink yourself.

"Then can I pour out the black liquid inside?"

"Big sister, you're surprisingly polite."

Of course, Ma Xiaotao did not actually pour it away. Instead, she flipped her hand and took a container out of her storage ring to store it first. When she saw her teacher next time, she would tell him this was Pu'er Tea that had just arrived this year.

Yan Shaozhe: Six six six, there's a Demon Pill in the family. (Not that kindhearted.)

Ma Xiaotao also put away the remaining ice cubes, preparing to use them when she went back to cultivate.

Compared to the pitch-black Iced Americano, the other cup of Raw Coconut Latte suited her tastes much better.

The lower half was a rich milky-white liquid, while the upper half, which should originally have shown the black color of espresso, had turned brown after mixing with the coconut milk. It looked just like the edge of a little cake. Just looking at it made one's appetite stir.

"Slurp."

As Ma Xiaotao took a mouthful of Luckin Raw Coconut Latte, light immediately shone in her eyes.

Was... was this really that bitter coffee from just now?

It was way too delicious.

The fragrance of coconut was mixed with the taste of milk, and the sweetness was just right. Had the child in front of her really made this himself?

Ma Xiaotao had reason to suspect that Master Ye had prepared it in advance, and then little brother Bai Ran had taken it to the outer courtyard to sell.

Hmph, was Master Ye underestimating the spending power of their inner courtyard disciples by doing this?

If the outer courtyard disciples saw this, they might think their inner courtyard disciples couldn't afford it. Another cup—one cup each!

"Little brother, another cup."

"Another cup."

When Ma Xiaotao had drunk two Luckin Lattes in a row and was still not fully satisfied, preparing to have another cup...

Bai Ran merely stood in front of the counter and pointed at the notice beside him: Each person is limited to three cups of coffee.

His current soul-power level was too low, and he could not make many coffees in a short period of time, so purchase limits were very necessary.

Of course, compared with when he was inside Shrek Academy, after he went to Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy...

Only then did Bai Ran understand what despair was, and what it meant to make 33,550,336 orders on the first day, then step right back into the cycle of reincarnation the next day. (Stop rushing me, I really don't have a single drop of soul power left.)

"In that case, big sister will come again next time."

Although the Luckin Raw Coconut Latte was delicious, Ma Xiaotao could still tell the difference between being full for one meal and being full for every meal.

If worse came to worst, she could just find a few junior brothers from the inner courtyard to help her buy two cups.

Which inner courtyard disciple would dare refuse the Flame Maniac's request?

The last one who had been that stubborn was said to have had his underpants scorched by Senior Sister Xiaotao's evil fire, and he even said, "Thank you, Senior Sister."

After that, Tang Ya and Beibei each bought a cup of Luckin Raw Coconut Latte.

Huo Yuhao bought one Luckin Iced Americano and one Luckin Raw Coconut Latte.

With a good brother backing him up, for the next few months, Huo Yuhao could basically freeload a cup of Luckin Coffee every day.

However, if he wanted to completely achieve Luckin Coffee freedom, he would still have to wait until Huo Yuhao obtained his second martial soul and officially advanced to become a core disciple of the outer courtyard.

Drink, drink up! Brother Tianmeng, you have a cup too.

Speaking of which, Huo Yuhao's first turning point was the Freshman Competition two months later.

Only this time, with Bai Ran's interference, could Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong still take first place in the Freshman Competition?

Bai Ran: "I'm just a guy selling coffee. How could I possibly affect the direction of the plot? I don't get it. I really don't get it."

As for Ma Xiaotao, ever since she drank the Raw Coconut Latte, she had almost never suffered backlash from her evil fire while cultivating again.

Of course, in Ma Xiaotao's view, it was probably mainly because the ice cubes in the coffee were so effective.

Every time she cultivated, she would stuff a few pieces into her mouth.

Her soul power, which had shown almost no progress for an entire month, began rising again.

From that day on, whenever Bai Ran came to the shore of Sea God Lake each day, planning to head to the inner courtyard, he could always see a red figure already waiting there for a long time.

Once could be called a coincidence, but after two straight months of this, Bai Ran came to a conclusion: so drinking coffee really was addictive.

That said, Bai Ran did not dare go anywhere near her, afraid that Ma Xiaotao might suddenly go berserk and kill him with one punch.

Bai Ran did not dare gamble with his own little life. What if the evil fire inside her suddenly erupted?

In the blink of an eye, it was almost time for Shrek Academy's annual Freshman Competition, one of the liveliest events in the outer courtyard.

It was held every year three months after the freshmen enrolled. On one hand, it was a test of the new students' strength. If someone's individual ability was too poor, they might very well be held back by the academy, or simply expelled outright.

After all, Shrek Academy's motto had always been: accept only monsters, not ordinary people.

On the other hand, students who achieved good results in the Freshman Competition would also be promoted to core disciples and enjoy better treatment than other disciples of the same age, such as a monthly Gold Soul Coin allowance from the academy, powerful soul masters sent by the academy to help them hunt for the most suitable soul rings, or even precious soul bones.

And over these two months, Bai Ran had successfully sold more than four hundred cups of coffee. After making the final cup of coffee tonight, his soul power level successfully broke through to Rank 20.

According to his previous agreement with Elder Xuan, that old man had already gone to the Star Dou Great Forest a few days ago to catch a fruit-type soul beast for him, with the age requirement set at over five hundred years and under two thousand years.

To be honest, Bai Ran had almost forgotten about that agreement. If that old man Xuan Zi had not come looking for him, Bai Ran truly would not have remembered.

You ask what Xuan Zi came to Bai Ran for?

Mainly because the shelf life of Luckin Coffee was a little absurd.

For ordinary food-type martial souls, being able to last twenty-four hours already counted as durable. But Bai Ran's coffee martial soul could remain intact as long as the ice cubes in the coffee cup had not completely melted.

In the end, the time Xuan Zi tested came out to ninety-nine hours.

Room-temperature coffee was horse piss, so once the ice cubes melted completely, it was only reasonable for the coffee to disappear along with them, right?