"This tea is way too coarse."
Ning Rongrong held her cup, lowered her head to look at the broken tea leaves floating at the bottom, and frowned more deeply.
Oscar pushed his sausage cart past from the side and immediately came over.
"Rongrong, want a Recovery Sausage? It's much better than this lousy tea."
Ning Rongrong looked up at him.
"Stay away from me."
Oscar clutched his chest and stepped back.
"That hurts. That really hurts."
Ma Hongjun had not arrived yet. Dai Mubai was sitting at the cafeteria entrance and chuckled when he heard that.
"Oscar, that mouth of yours is going to get punched to pieces sooner or later."
Oscar refused to accept that.
"I make a living with my skills. Why should I get beaten?"
Ning Rongrong did not want to listen to their bickering, so she endured her distaste and took a sip of tea.
The moment the tea entered her stomach, Ji Yuan activated the hidden Spores he had planted in the well water.
Clear, noble, and distinctly orderly.
The origin aura of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda spread along her meridians like a treasure vault protected layer upon layer, with safeguards left behind by the sect's secret arts hanging around it.
Forcing his way in would cause trouble.
Ji Yuan did not charge in.
He controlled the Spores to travel along the outer edges of Ning Rongrong's meridians, sending over a thread of wood-element vitality to ease the fatigue left by the journey and yesterday's assessment.
Ning Rongrong had been about to put down her teacup, but her movements slowed.
She gently pinched her wrist, and some of the disgust faded from her face.
"This tea... isn't that bad after all."
Oscar's eyes lit up.
"Rongrong, if you like it, I'll boil water for you every day."
Ning Rongrong's face immediately turned cold.
"No need."
Dai Mubai sneered beside them.
"She's the young lady of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Does she need you fawning over her?"
Oscar muttered, "Even a young lady has to eat and drink."
Ji Yuan ignored their nonsense.
Clinging to Ning Rongrong's meridians, he intercepted the natural spiritual essence leaking from her body.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda truly deserved to be called a supreme support Martial Soul. Even the traces it leaked could speed up the energy conversion of the Demon Vine's true body.
Tang San sat on the other side of the cafeteria, his face still pale.
Xiao Wu pushed a bowl of porridge in front of him.
"Eat more. Don't tell me you're not hungry again."
Tang San picked up his spoon.
The porridge had been made with well water.
After he drank it, the Spores already within his body resonated one after another with the Spores in the water source.
Ji Yuan casually siphoned away part of the Mysterious Heaven Skill Inner Force that Tang San was recovering, then fed him a little gentle energy in return, giving him the illusion that he was getting better.
Tang San said quietly, "I do feel more comfortable."
Xiao Wu breathed a sigh of relief.
"That's good."
Hearing this, Ning Rongrong could not help looking toward Tang San.
"What exactly did you use yesterday? Even Teacher Zhao ended up like that."
Tang San shook his head.
"Just hidden weapons and luck."
Ning Rongrong clearly did not believe him.
"Luck can make a Soul Saint bleed from the nose?"
Zhu Zhuqing sat down with a kettle in hand and said coldly, "Winning is all that matters."
Dai Mubai looked at her, wanting to say something, but she avoided his gaze.
The air stiffened.
Seeing that the atmosphere was off, Oscar hurriedly pushed his cart over to Tang San.
"Tang San, have one. You used up too much yesterday. You won't recover without eating."
Tang San looked at the sausage, his expression troubled.
Xiao Wu directly set down her bowl.
"You can keep that incantation to yourself first."
Oscar sighed helplessly.
"If I don't say the incantation, the sausages won't come out."
The moment Ning Rongrong heard the word incantation, she immediately stepped farther away.
"I'm not eating it."
Oscar looked pitifully at Dai Mubai.
Dai Mubai had just opened his mouth when Flender's voice came from the cafeteria entrance.
"Everyone out. Assemble."
They could only put down their bowls and follow him to the training ground.
Flender stood at the front, while Zhao Wuji stood beside him wearing sunglasses, clearly unwilling to let anyone see his bruised eye sockets.
Xiao Wu burst into laughter the moment she saw him.
"Teacher Zhao, what happened to your eyes?"
Zhao Wuji's face darkened.
"Rabbit girl, today's training is doubled."
Xiao Wu immediately shut up.
Flender coughed.
"Starting today, you are students of Shrek Academy."
Ning Rongrong lifted her chin.
"Headmaster, what is our lesson?"
Flender looked at her.
"First lesson: eat Oscar's sausage."
Ning Rongrong's expression changed on the spot.
"What?"
Oscar had been listless, but he immediately straightened up upon hearing that.
"The headmaster is wise!"
Xiao Wu hid behind Tang San.
"I refuse."
Flender adjusted his glasses.
"Then go home. You will understand the role of food-type Soul Masters in battle someday, but for now, learn to trust your companions."
Ning Rongrong bit her lip.
"This has nothing to do with trust. His incantation is just too disgusting."
Oscar said aggrievedly, "I don't want it to be like that either. That's just how my Martial Soul works."
Flender looked at Tang San.
"You go first."
Tang San knew he could not avoid it. He reached out and took the sausage Oscar had just created.
Oscar had just finished the incantation, and Ning Rongrong and Xiao Wu had already gone pale.
Tang San closed his eyes and took a bite.
The sausage dissolved, and restorative life energy entered his body.
Ji Yuan immediately spread open a Spores network and intercepted more than half before the energy could disperse.
This energy was completely different from ordinary Soul Power. It carried a rule of forced restoration—gentle, stable, and ideal for compensating for the Demon Vine's shortcomings in self-healing.
Ji Yuan's true body within the sole's hidden layer stretched slightly. The scorch marks left by the thought of phoenix fire had yet to fully recover, but they were now being filled by this energy.
Tang San opened his eyes and sensed it.
"It works, but it isn't as strong as I expected."
Oscar's face fell.
"That's impossible. My sausages have the strongest recovery effect among those of the same level."
Zhao Wuji snorted from the side. "He overtaxed himself too badly yesterday. Of course one sausage isn't enough."
Ji Yuan swallowed silently.
It was not that it was not enough. It had gone into his stomach.
Flender looked at Xiao Wu.
"Next."
Xiao Wu grabbed Tang San's sleeve, her face full of resistance.
Tang San said softly, "Eat it. It really does work."
Xiao Wu glared at Oscar.
"If you dare chant nonsense in front of me again, I'll beat you up."
Oscar hurriedly nodded.
Xiao Wu gritted her teeth and ate it.
Through the Spores in her body, Ji Yuan intercepted more than half of the restorative energy and smoothed over the injuries she had suffered from the backlash yesterday.
Xiao Wu moved her legs.
"Huh, it really doesn't hurt anymore."
Oscar immediately raised his head.
"See!"
Ning Rongrong looked at the sausage in her hand, her expression changing again and again.
Flender did not urge her, only watched.
Ning Rongrong could not stand that kind of gaze the most.
She closed her eyes and bit down. The moment she swallowed, she covered her mouth and nearly threw up.
Oscar hurriedly said, "Don't spit it out. That would be a waste!"
Ning Rongrong glared fiercely at him.
Taking advantage of her emotional fluctuation, Ji Yuan's Spores rooted themselves more firmly along the outer edge of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile origin.
This time, he harvested not only restorative energy, but also the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda's amplification response toward external energy.
The dark-red patterns on the Demon Vine's surface gradually deepened, and its devouring efficiency rose once more.
Finally, it was Zhu Zhuqing's turn.
Without a word, she took it and ate it, not even moving her brows.
Oscar was touched by the sight.
"Zhu Qing, from now on, you'll be my most respected junior."
Zhu Zhuqing swallowed the remaining half and said coldly, "Don't come near me."
Oscar was hurt once again.
Dai Mubai looked at Zhu Zhuqing, wanting to laugh but unable to.
Flender nodded in satisfaction.
"That is today's lesson. Remember, no one on the battlefield cares about your feelings. Only those who survive have the right to complain."
Suppressing her nausea, Ning Rongrong said quietly, "I'll remember that."
But Ji Yuan had already locked onto Oscar even more tightly.
A food-type Martial Soul was not an ordinary health pack.
It was a living well that continuously produced fragments of the law of life.
As long as Oscar made sausages every day, Ji Yuan could harvest restorative power every day.
Just as Flender was about to announce dismissal, Ning Rongrong suddenly pressed a hand to her chest and looked at her palm in confusion.
"Why is my Soul Power circulating more smoothly than this morning?"
Oscar immediately leaned closer.
"It must be because my sausage is amazing."
Ning Rongrong frowned.
"Shut up."
Ji Yuan withdrew his senses and hid himself even deeper.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile node had stabilized.
Next was the Hell Spirit Cat, the one most sensitive to auras.
And Zhu Zhuqing was carrying a kettle as she headed alone toward the back mountain.
Before you continue