[Nothing tastes better than dumplings]

The Elephant Armor Sect.

"Grandpa, are you going to do anything about Wei Fan or not?"

"He keeps treating us to meals!"

Huyan Li was miserable.

He had had enough of these torturous days.

"He treats you little brats to meals, and you're still unhappy?"

"Sure, he makes you eat a little too much, but he's made you stronger too, hasn't he?"

"Look how sturdy you've all become!"

"The first requirement for a powerful disciple of our Elephant Armor Sect is a sturdy build!"

"Besides, who is Wei Fan?"

"He is..."

Huyan Zhen launched into a torrent of words, beginning another lecture for his grandson.

"He's a top genius of the Douluo Continent. Two years ago, at the age of twelve, he led our previous Elephant Armor Academy team to victory in the Soul Master Elite Tournament..."

Huyan Li listlessly took over, reciting lines he knew well enough to say backward.

He had heard these words eight hundred times. Whenever his grandfather chatted with anyone, he bragged about their Elephant Armor Academy's championship.

His ears had practically grown calluses!

"This was the first time our Elephant Armor Academy won the Soul Master Elite Tournament since its founding. It was a historic achievement..."

"Do you think winning the championship among all the continent's soul master academies is easy?"

Huyan Zhen was displeased.

"Grandpa, I know all that!"

"But his records already showed him at rank thirty-nine two years ago. Now two years have passed, and he's still a three-ring Soul Elder..."

"If he really is a genius, would he have spent these two years running in place?"

Huyan Li was confident that he would catch up to Wei Fan's rank before long.

"That's precisely what makes him so incredible. At rank thirty-nine, he led our previous Elephant Armor Team to the championship."

"Even if he's still rank thirty-nine now, beating you up would be child's play for him."

Wei Fan's strength baffled Huyan Zhen most of all. His rank had not changed at all in two years, yet his fists had only grown harder.

"Grandpa, are you scared of him?"

"Me, scared of him?"

Huyan Zhen slapped his large hand down.

To think his grandson claimed he was scared of Wei Fan!

What a joke!

"Sect Master, Wei Fan is here."

A clansman hurried into the hall.

"Burp~"

At the mention of Wei Fan's name, Huyan Zhen instantly felt full.

"Li, tell him Grandpa isn't here!"

Huyan Zhen left his grandson to cover for him while he prepared to slip away.

Nothing good ever came of that brat's visits!

Huyan Li: "..."

Look at him chickening out, and he still says he isn't scared.

"Brother Wei Fan, my grandpa ran out the back door."

"I'll take you after him!"

Before Wei Fan even entered, Li had already confessed everything.

His grandfather used him as a shield every time, and this time he really was done with it.

"That old man actually thinks he can slip away?"

Wei Fan followed him in pursuit.

"Brother Wei Fan, you go this way."

"I'll circle around and cut him off!"

With that, Huyan Li charged away like a war chariot.

Half a cup of tea later...

"You little brat! You're actually helping Wei Fan gang up on your grandpa."

Huyan Zhen's beard bristled and his eyes bulged with anger. Looking at his grandson, he wanted nothing more than to kick him.

"Grandpa, you threw me under the cart first!"

Every time Wei Fan came, his grandfather made him cover for him. He could barely hold out himself.

"Old man, what are you running for?"

"I came to discuss something with you."

Wei Fan strolled over at his leisure.

"We can talk, but let's get one thing straight first."

"No eating out!"

Huyan Zhen spoke with utmost solemnity.

"Absolutely not!"

Hearing that they would not be eating out, Huyan Zhen let out a great sigh of relief.

"I brought the food this time."

Huyan Zhen: "..."

Motherfucker!

He knew it!

"How did that matter I asked you to handle last time go?"

Huyan Zhen lowered his voice.

"Let's talk while we eat!"

Wei Fan smiled faintly.

The two sat down in the Elephant Armor Sect. No one else dared approach, terrified that Wei Fan would drag them over to eat.

"Come on, dig in!"

Watching Wei Fan pull a portion of boiled dumplings from his Soul Tool, Huyan Zhen felt that he faced quite a challenge.

"As the saying goes: nothing tastes better than dumplings, and nothing's more fun than a sister-in-law!"

"And there's another saying: nothing tastes better than seafood, and nothing's more fun than a younger female cousin!"

"So these seafood dumplings...?"

As he spoke, more than a dozen portions of dumplings covered the entire table.

"Gulp~"

Huyan Zhen's throat bobbed.

Damn, that actually made him hungry!

He picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a dumpling, and popped it into his mouth.

"Mmm~ Whoa~~ Tastes like sister-in-law!"

In a flash, an entire portion of dumplings had gone down his stomach, leaving his mouth fragrant and glistening with grease.

"What about that matter I asked you to handle?"

With the dumplings in his belly, Huyan Zhen began discussing business.

"Relax, I took care of it!"

"I made time to come tell you, and treat you to a home-cooked meal while I was at it."

As they talked, Wei Fan discreetly took another two portions of dumplings from his Soul Tool and set them on the table.

"Hey, wait."

"I asked you for a favor, and now I'm freeloading a meal off you too."

"Isn't there something wrong with that logic?"

Huyan Zhen asked.

"That's my personal truth in life!"

"Quit talking nonsense and eat!"

"There's more if it isn't enough!"

Wei Fan began urging him on. Seven or eight portions of dumplings had gone down, yet he still had not heard that long-awaited "ding~."

"Here, have some coffee too!"

"Nothing tastes better than a latte, and nothing's more fun than an older female cousin!"

Wei Fan pushed his hand through the air, and a huge bucket of coffee slid over to Huyan Zhen.

"Let me taste this older cou... latte."

"This isn't a latte!"

Huyan Zhen frowned.

The taste was wrong!

"You don't have an older female cousin either!"

After several courses...

[Ding~ Treating Huyan Zhen to boiled dumplings granted 300 years of Soul Ring age.]

[Ding~ Treating Huyan Zhen to coffee increased spiritual power. Current spiritual rank: fifty-five.]

After the long-awaited "ding" rang out, the meal came to a successful conclusion.

The most interesting thing about this system was that treating others to different foods granted increases to different attributes.

For example, treating someone to flour-based foods granted Soul Ring age, treating them to meat increased defense, and treating them to coffee increased spiritual power...

"I have two thousand-year-old wild ginseng roots here..."

"Coming to visit is enough. You even brought me wild ginseng?"

"You're making me feel embarrassed!"

He had asked Wei Fan for help, then let him pay for a meal, and now he was taking his wild ginseng too.

This really...

Even his thick skin could not withstand that!

"They're for sale!"

Wei Fan placed the wild ginseng on the table. Eating this stuff did him no good at all. Trading it for money to treat others to meals was much more practical.

Huyan Zhen: "..."

He knew this brat would never let him get the slightest advantage.

"Can I refuse?"

Huyan Zhen did not want it.

"That matter you asked me to handle hasn't even gotten its first brushstroke yet..."

"Butler, bring the money!"

Huyan Zhen felt as though he had been kidnapped.

Yet he had no choice but to pay!

"Where did you get this ginseng?"

Huyan Zhen opened it for a look. The quality really was excellent.

"The Blazing Fire Academy gave it to me."

"They wanted to recruit me!"

Wei Fan did not hide anything. The whole reason he had accepted these two ginseng roots was to trade them to Huyan Zhen.

"What? The Blazing Fire Academy is trying to recruit you?!"

"Wei Fan, you didn't agree, did you?"

"Don't worry. Whatever terms the Blazing Fire Academy offered you, our Elephant Armor Academy will match every single one."

"If those little brats on the Elephant Armor Team ever dare refuse your meals again, tell me. I'll break their damn legs."

"But you can't leave!"

Huyan Zhen was panicking badly.

He was still hoping Wei Fan would lead their Elephant Armor Academy team to a second consecutive championship.

If this brat left, they would be screwed!

Besides, Wei Fan had more than just strength. His identity was also extremely special.

Just as Li had said, he really could not afford to offend him!

"That's exactly what I was waiting to hear!"

Two days later...

News that the Blazing Fire Academy wanted to recruit Wei Fan spread like wildfire among the Five Elemental Academies.

The other four academies all condemned the Blazing Fire Academy's shameless maneuver.

The Godwind Academy, meeting hall.

"How can that old hothead be so shameless?"

"Their academy is full of fire-attribute Soul Masters, and now they're actually setting their sights on a water-attribute one?"

"Even Skywater Academy hasn't made a move yet."

"You think Skywater Academy doesn't want to?"

"Their school rules only allow female students. Otherwise, they'd have pulled Wei Fan over to their side long ago."

"Why don't we try winning him over too?"

"That old rascal Huyan Zhen is clinging to Wei Fan. He must be planning to take the championship twice in a row."

"If he really pulls it off, Elephant Armor Academy will be riding roughshod over all of us from then on."

"No, we have to give it a shot too!"

"..."