Who Said These Beans Were Tough?

Aside from their regular cultivation every day, this pack of beasts had appetites bigger than the last—especially Little Gold. One meal of meat for him was at least dozens of times what Su Wen ate. If they kept going to Aunt Lu for every meal, the Inner Courtyard cafeteria would probably be emptied out in a few more days.

And although Su Wen had five million Gold Soul Coins in his pocket, at the rate these three cubs ate, they would probably clean him out in half a year at most.

He did not go to Mu En for help.

Instead, he simply went to find the person in charge of the Beast Fighting Zone.

It was, in a sense, a form of fostering.

He would foster the Spirit Beasts here, and this side would be responsible for sanitation, food, and lodging. The Beast Fighting Zone had received a large investment from the academy and occupied a large area. They even gave special care to high-level Spirit Beasts by simulating their original living environments—for example, they had specifically provided a venue environment modeled after the Land of Extreme North for several Ice Jade Scorpions.

And these Spirit Beasts could also help them deal with students who came to challenge them, increasing the place's reputation.

As it happened, there was still one year before the main plot began. While acting as "sparring partners," they could also gain practical combat experience. They had originally been wild Spirit Beasts and only possessed the innate instincts of hunting, but they had relatively few combat techniques aimed at humans.

It was a mutual arrangement.

Of course, once he left the academy, or if there was a battle, Su Wen would take them back. Because it was his Martial Soul, once he had captured a Spirit Beast, the Pokeball would form a link with it. And since the Pokeball existed in Su Wen's Sea of Consciousness, as long as Su Wen willed it, no matter where the Pokémon was, he could summon it through the Pokeball.

Seeing Old Gong agree with a beaming smile, Su Wen yawned.

"Sister Tao, if you want my life, you can just say so. Why go in circles..."

Su Wen's throat bobbed.

He looked at the stewed rhino horn and beans on the table before him, and the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily. The pitch-black rhino horn had been boiled to mush. It was the horn of a Food Rhino, a common "great tonic" ingredient, but the soup was thick and black, and he had no idea what had been added to it.

As for the beans bubbling on top, they were clearly a little "tender"—to put it plainly, they were undercooked. They had probably been forgotten during cooking and then casually tossed in at the end.

White mist rose.

An indescribable smell drilled into his nostrils.

Su Wen's face turned green.

"How could Sister Tao hurt you?" Ma Xiaotao rolled her beautiful eyes. "Trust me. I carefully brewed this Ten-Complete Tonic Soup, and it took me a whole day. Hurry and try it..."

"Where did you learn this?" Su Wen narrowed his eyes, trying to stall for time.

"Don't worry about that. Just tell me whether you're eating it or not!" Ma Xiaotao turned her head away, looking slightly guilty.

"I'll try it."

Su Wen said flatly. The hand hidden beneath the table clenched tight, while his other hand picked up the spoon. Under Ma Xiaotao's expectant gaze, he scooped up one of the "tender" beans. From the looks of it, this was the only thing on the scene that was edible. Its full name was Earth Crystal Bean, a plant-type Spirit Beast that was relatively widespread in a certain eastern province of the Heaven Dou Empire.

"Crunch, crunch~"

As Su Wen chewed and swallowed expressionlessly, Ma Xiaotao's heart rose into her throat.

"Is it good?" she asked cautiously.

"You made it very well." Su Wen nodded.

"That's good..." Ma Xiaotao broke into a delighted smile and prepared to turn around and go back to the kitchen to serve Su Wen a huge bowl.

"Don't make it next time." Su Wen stirred the black, mushy food in the basin with a face that had lost all will to live.

Ma Xiaotao: "???"

"..."

"Then eat more~"

Ma Xiaotao sat beside the table, propped up her chin, and blinked at him, her eyelashes almost brushing Su Wen's face.

"Ah, Xiao Wen, there's news about what you asked me to look into." Yan Shaozhe strode in in a rush.

"Jiang Nannan is indeed..."

The moment he caught sight of the Ten-Complete Tonic Soup on the table, his expression turned stunned. "Is this for feeding Spirit Beasts?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Ma Xiaotao in surprise. "I didn't expect you, girl, to be this reliable..." He moved a little closer, dipped his chopsticks into the soup, and sniffed it at the tip of his nose, only to suddenly frown. "Better not serve it to the Spirit Beasts after all. This whole pot of mixed slop is too poisonous. Little Gold and the others are only Thousand Year Spirit Beasts, and their bodies aren't strong enough. They might not be able to withstand this pot of yours."

Su Wen: "..."

Ma Xiaotao: "..."

Su Wen stared hard at Ma Xiaotao, his eyes carrying a powerless feeling of having survived a disaster. "Look into my eyes!"

Ma Xiaotao, guilty, picked up the basin and slipped away in a flash. "I'm going to clean up the back kitchen. You two talk~"

"You ate it?" Yan Shaozhe secretly leaned over.

"I ate one bean," Su Wen said expressionlessly.

"Then it probably won't poison you to death... no, wait, there shouldn't be anything seriously wrong." Yan Shaozhe smiled like a sly old fox.

Su Wen: "..."

"You said there's news about Jiang Nannan?"

"That's right. I recently asked Du Weilun to look into it. That child's father died early, and she depended on her birth mother for survival. Now her mother is critically ill. These past few months, she took leave and returned to the Heaven Dou Empire to help her mother seek treatment."

Su Wen saw a flash of anger pass through Yan Shaozhe's eyes.

Most likely, a teacher at Shrek Academy had kept the matter quiet. Though "kept it quiet" was not quite right—they had simply not taken it seriously at all, let alone reported it to Du Weilun or to him.

"Zhou Yi?" Su Wen raised an eyebrow.

"Hm? How do you know her?" Yan Shaozhe asked, his expression startled.

The corner of Su Wen's mouth twitched.

So it really was that one...

She could be considered infamous in the Original Work, too.

"Not her. It was another homeroom teacher from Grade 2 Class 3, Yang He." But Yan Shaozhe immediately shook his head. "Zhou Yi's reputation may not be very good, but she does care quite a bit about outstanding students. After all, that's part of her assessment criteria." Yan Shaozhe shook his head, then shot Su Wen a meaningful glance.

"Yang He? Never heard of him." Su Wen shrugged.

"You don't know until you investigate. That beast relied on skimming student funds, and his family assets have already reached over ten million Gold Soul Coins," Yan Shaozhe said coldly, his voice full of anger.

"The students of Shrek Academy really are rich..." Su Wen clicked his tongue in amazement.

But he understood as well.

If Yang He had not been so extremely greedy—using his status as a teacher to wildly extort money from students while also suppressing Jiang Nannan's letter of appeal to the academy, leaving Yan Shaozhe, Du Weilun, and the others completely unaware—Dean Yan probably would not have been this furious.

Students were the roots of a school. If you were already digging up those roots, did you still expect to keep hanging around the Outer Court?

In a few days at most, he would probably be dismissed, or perhaps... disappear.

"There are always experts..."

That was all Su Wen could sigh.

Yan Shaozhe's expression also became a little strained.

After all, the Martial Soul Department was under his full management, and now such a lapse had occurred... right in front of Su Wen, no less.

"Your old self can worry about managing the academy in the future. The urgent matter right now is not letting Jiang Nannan take the wrong path," Su Wen reminded him.

"A helpless girl, forced onto an evil road—that would all be thanks to your Martial Soul Department."

"You brat..."

Yan Shaozhe glared at Su Wen, feeling somewhat exasperated.

"Forget it. Then I'll make a trip to the Xuanming Sect."

Clearly, as an old fox, after putting everything together, he had naturally seen through the Xuanming Sect's scheme at a glance...