The Drinking Ban

"Xuan Zi, you're right."

Gao Ren turned toward the voice and saw Mu En, whom Xuan Zi had just mentioned.

"M-Mu En, what brings you here?" Xuan Zi sprang straight off the bed and stood at attention.

Mu En did not answer. Instead, he continued what he had been saying.

"You really aren't afraid of me."

At those words, Xuan Zi felt a mountain of pressure descend on him.

"Mu En, that's not what I meant..."

"Not what you meant?" Mu En smiled kindly. "Then what did you mean?"

Xuan Zi was a warrior at heart. Caught red-handed, he had no idea how to talk his way out of it.

"Well... that..."

Watching Xuan Zi stammer helplessly, Gao Ren nearly hurt himself trying not to laugh.

If he had not been tempered by the Haodong Three Supreme Techniques, he would have burst out laughing already.

Mu En glanced over. Worried that Gao Ren might hurt himself holding it in, he smiled and said:

"A-Ren, laugh if you want. Your teacher isn't that petty."

With Mu En's permission, Gao Ren finally laughed to his heart's content.

Xuan Zi: Warning! Warning!

"Xuan Zi, if you make life difficult for A-Ren, you know what will happen."

At Mu En's warning, Xuan Zi hurriedly waved his hands.

"Mu En, how could you say that? I can't dote on the little fellow enough. Why would I make life difficult for him?"

"You'd better not." Mu En looked at Gao Ren kindly. "A-Ren, if your teacher bullies you, come find your granduncle-master. I'll set things right."

"I trust my teacher." Gao Ren chose not to take Mu En up on it, giving Xuan Zi a way out.

Xuan Zi: A-Ren, all my care for you wasn't wasted!

Seeing Xuan Zi grin smugly, Mu En took him by the shoulder. He left Gao Ren with a quick "I'm borrowing your teacher for a moment," and the two vanished without a trace.

Gao Ren did not know what happened afterward. All he knew was that Mu En had put Xuan Zi under a drinking ban.

From then on, Xuan Zi was forbidden to drink Gao Ren's wine while out on missions.

Even within Shrek Academy, he could drink only enough to get mildly tipsy, ensuring he could still be of some use if enemies attacked.

Even so, Xuan Zi could drink more than two hundred jin of it. When it came to eating and drinking, the Godly Taotie Bull Martial Soul was in a class of its own.

After that incident, the wine produced by Gao Ren's Second Martial Soul was named Immortal's Drunk. One whole vat of Immortal's Drunk!

Soul Power could not dispel its effects. Even an immortal would get drunk after downing a vat!

One day after breakfast, in the Outer Court cafeteria kitchen.

Gao Ren stood before a pot of hot oil, wearing an apron several sizes too big. Expressionless, he slowly lowered starch-coated Overlord Drumsticks into it one by one.

Yes, he was frying chicken drumsticks.

Shouldn't Gao Ren have been studying at Shrek Academy? Why was he frying drumsticks in the Outer Court cafeteria kitchen?

To explain that, one had to start with the two requirements for admission to Shrek Academy's Outer Court.

The first was to be no older than twelve.

The second was to have a Soul Power Level of at least fifteen.

Gao Ren met only the first requirement.

Of course, if he insisted on enrolling, he could simply ignore the second requirement.

After all, he was Xuan Zi's disciple. At Shrek Academy, that put him among the privileged.

The Sea God Pavilion had actually decided long ago when Gao Ren would enroll.

Mu En had held the position of Sea God Pavilion Master for a long time. He planned to step down in a year or two and have Xuan Zi succeed him as the next Sea God Pavilion Master.

As the disciple of the future Sea God Pavilion Master, Gao Ren could hardly fare poorly once he became a Shrek Academy student. Ideally, he would lead his year.

But Gao Ren was a Food-type Soul Master. Even with Twin Martial Souls, that put him at a disadvantage.

Setting aside various "outside factors," support-type Soul Masters had always had the least say among Soul Masters.

So he would likely enroll at Shrek Academy when he was twelve.

By then, even as a support-type Soul Master, his advantage of Innate Full Soul Power should give him the highest Soul Power Level in his year.

That way, the others would accept him as their leader.

As for why Gao Ren was in the Outer Court cafeteria kitchen frying drumsticks, his teacher Xuan Zi had told him to do it.

It was an excellent Mimicry Cultivation Environment for Gao Ren's Food-type Martial Soul.

A Mimicry Cultivation Environment could provide a considerable boost to a Soul Master's cultivation.

The exact benefit depended on the quality of the Soul Master's Martial Soul.

The stronger a Martial Soul and the greater its potential, the more its owner gained from cultivating in a mimicry environment.

As for frying the drumsticks, Xuan Zi was simply hungry for a new way to eat Overlord Drumsticks. It also gave Gao Ren a chance to improve his cooking.

As Xuan Zi put it, a Food-type Soul Master who could not cook was no good Food-type Soul Master.

Once the batch was done, Gao Ren piled the drumsticks into an iron basin and brought them out to the cafeteria, where Xuan Zi was waiting.

The greedy old man was not afraid of burning himself. He grabbed one with his bare hand, stuffed it into his mouth, and started devouring it.

"A-Ren, your fried drumsticks just keep getting better!" Xuan Zi said around a mouthful of food. "You could sell these with skills like that!"

Gao Wei, who had followed Gao Ren out of the kitchen, picked up the thread. "Xuan Zi, you think A-Ren's drumsticks are ready to sell too? What would be a fair price?"

"A regular Overlord Drumstick is far more effective than a meat dish made from a thousand-year Soul Beast. It doesn't quite match two such dishes, but it isn't far off," Xuan Zi analyzed seriously. "A thousand-year Soul Beast meat dish averages fifteen Gold Soul Coins in your Outer Court cafeteria.

"An Overlord Drumstick should fetch twenty-five Gold Soul Coins. For a fried one, you have to factor in A-Ren's labor. Set the price at twenty-six Gold Soul Coins each."

Gao Ren: So my damn drumsticks are worth that much!

Seeing his nephew's eyes light up, Gao Wei smiled and asked, "Well? Want to work with the cafeteria? We'll take ten Gold Soul Coins from each drumstick sold. The rest is yours."

"Uncle, that's a bit steep..."

"What? Not happy with it?" Gao Wei flexed the authority of a head chef. "Or would you rather set up a stall outside the academy gates?"

Gao Ren shook his head. At twenty-five Gold Soul Coins, his drumstick would be among the priciest items even at the cafeteria's most expensive counter.

Few people buying food from a roadside stall would be willing to spend more than twenty Gold Soul Coins on one of his drumsticks.

So even with the cafeteria taking ten Gold Soul Coins, he chose to cooperate.

The Overlord Drumsticks were set to go on sale that very noon.

After Shrek Academy's morning classes ended, students soon began filing into the cafeteria.

But instead of buying food, the first thing they did was go out of their way to greet Xuan Zi, who sat in a corner eating with gusto.

What was going on?