Let Me Have a Sip of Air!

Su Wen left after only a few sips of tea. The flavor was too strong, too bitter.

Old Lin stood by the window on the top floor of Treasure Pavilion, supported by a maid as she watched Su Wen's back for a while, until he vanished from sight.

"Mu En, that child has a mind of his own..."

After a long while, the old woman gave a soft sigh.

"A ten-year-old child who can withstand the temptation of having everything handed to him, food brought to his mouth and clothes put on his back, is something many adults likely couldn't manage. With that independence, that charisma, that courage, he will indeed be an excellent leader in the future, but... is the academy really not going to help him at all?"

"Heh, isn't the academy already helping?"

In the shadows on the other side.

Mu En sat in a wheelchair, his figure slowly emerging.

He smiled and comforted the old woman. "Hui Qun, I know what you're worried about, but letting him live in the Golden Log Cabin on Sea God Island is treatment even Xiaotao has never received. That child has his own ideas. If he truly runs into a difficulty he can't solve, he definitely won't stubbornly endure it to the end. That means he doesn't reject the academy. Right now, the academy only needs to make its stance clear... and that will be enough."

"I understand." The old woman nodded slightly, a hint of relief appearing in her eyes.

"Flynn Firm."

Su Wen watched as workers removed a signboard, while everything inside was carried out by workers going in and out until nothing remained but the lingering scent of medicinal herbs.

The previous shop owner had been in the medicine trade, buying herbs from villagers living near the Star Dou Great Forest or from Soul Masters, then reselling them in Shrek City. Even if the price doubled, there were still plenty of buyers. The core of it was naturally "traffic." If enough people saw this signboard, it meant there would be more potential customers.

Many of the medicinal herbs in this world carried Soul Power. Although they had not developed intelligence like plant-type Soul Beasts, nor were they as precious as Immortal Herbs, the Spiritual Energy they contained gave them their own unique effects—healing injuries, replenishing Soul Power, and so on.

For example, the Xuanming Sect's Black Tortoise Divine Pill was refined from several kinds of medicinal ingredients using unique Soul Master techniques.

"..."

"A shop totaling several hundred square meters, divided into three attic floors too. Tsk, tsk, the design of these beams really is exquisite and delicate. Combining Eastern aesthetics with Western refinement to this degree could be considered a distinctive feature of this continent." Su Wen sighed with emotion.

Of course, there was no need to renovate it either.

"Xiao Wen, you've got pretty good taste." Ma Xiaotao looked around, her beautiful eyes full of curiosity.

"But what are you planning to sell?" The girl turned sideways and slung an arm around Su Wen in a carefree manner, looking as if she were ready to point out the direction of the world. Of course, her two headlights also shone over brightly.

"Milk tea!" Su Wen grinned.

A few minutes later.

The heart of the kitchen.

The Ice Sovereign held a knife in her pincers with a face of utter despair, chopping ice into pieces. Then, with practiced ease, she tossed them steadily into a cup of milk tea. A faint ripple appeared on the surface, but the entire cup did not move in the slightest. This was not merely precise control of strength, but also skill...

After a month of experimenting, Su Wen had roughly recreated the flavor from his memories of his previous life, then added popular fruits from this world, fresh orange juice, watermelon, and so on. Although the taste was slightly dry, it was original and authentic. Compared with the semi-finished products of his previous life, where the early batches relied on powder and the final product depended entirely on stirring, this was fresher by who knew how many times.

Of course, once milk tea had been made, ice cream naturally came into being as well. Freezing technology in this world was extremely convenient—the Ice Sovereign, this sort of beast labor, was simply far too useful.

"Hm? It's good!"

Ma Xiaotao took a sip of watermelon milk tea, and her beautiful eyes practically turned starry. No matter what, she insisted that Su Wen try some too.

Taking the milk tea, Su Wen tasted the cool watermelon juice as it entered his mouth, mixed with the faint milk tea flavor of his previous life. Although there was still a gap between them, this cup used real ingredients, after all, without the slightest additive.

The mouthfeel was fresher...

"What other flavors are there? Big Sister will help you taste them all." Ma Xiaotao licked her red lips, eager to give it a try.

"Mango, lemon, and..."

Su Wen smacked his lips.

The production process was actually quite simple: milk tea plus the corresponding fruit juice, with at most a little extra ingredient added. He hadn't expected Ma Xiaotao to inhale them like a storm, drinking several cups in a row and praising them nonstop.

The Ice Sovereign was still chopping ice with clacks and cracks, like a machine.

Hurricane, on the other hand, scratched its ears and cheeks nearby. It wanted to earn food money, but it seemed unable to help, so it could only stand to the side in a somewhat fawning manner, handing various tools to the Ice Sovereign like a menial worker.

"..."

"May your opening be prosperous. If Xiaotao hadn't been loudly promoting it in the inner courtyard, we probably wouldn't even have known you'd actually opened a... uh, Milk Tea Shop?" Zhang Yi looked astonished. "Speaking of which, Xiao Wen, what the heck is a Milk Tea Shop?"

"Here, have a taste. Everyone gets one. Big Sis is treating!" Ma Xiaotao handed out several cups of milk tea with an air of great generosity.

"Sister Tao is awesome!"

"Hehe, if someone's treating, we've gotta try it."

The Inner Courtyard Disciples laughed and joked.

Then came a string of exclamations.

Things like milk tea and ice cream were rather similar to instant noodles. The first bite was always the most fragrant, the most stunning. As time went on, that feeling might slowly fade, but there was no denying that this group of Inner Courtyard Disciples had indeed gotten hooked.

"I want five cups! I'll take them back for my girlfriend to try."

"Make it ten cups. I'll store them in my Soul Guidance Ring and have one whenever I'm craving it."

"..."

"One Gold Soul Coin each, okay? Come over here to pay." Ma Xiaotao, having been entrusted by Su Wen as the cashier, called everyone over to collect the fees in her carefree manner.

"One Gold Soul Coin? Damn, that's totally worth it," one Inner Courtyard Disciple sighed.

To ordinary commoners, this one cup of milk tea was a month's household expenses.

But to these rich young masters, and even to Lord Soul Masters, it was nothing more than an utterly ordinary afternoon tea. So this was also Su Wen's main target—he would earn from whoever had money.

As the signboard was hung up, the benefit of foot traffic slowly began to show.

The three-story building was packed with people. At least one cup of milk tea was sold every second. The one thing Shrek City lacked least was "rich people," and quite a few passersby who had come to watch the excitement, though they felt one Gold Soul Coin was rather expensive, saw how booming the business of this Milk Tea Shop was and decided to splurge just once to try something new.

Before long, a group of Inner Courtyard Disciples all consciously began helping out. They were seriously short-handed.

Not to mention that in the back kitchen, the Ice Sovereign was so busy that afterimages were almost appearing.

In the end, Su Wen simply summoned the Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear to help out.

It nearly scared the crowd into scattering in all directions.

Fortunately, several Inner Courtyard Disciples explained things clearly. On top of that, seeing a Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear with such a fearsome reputation obediently doing odd jobs made quite a few passersby's pupils quake. Driven by curiosity, they temporarily forced down the fear in their hearts.

"Roar~"

Little Gold handed a packed milk tea to the young man beside him.

But the latter was a little dazed.

Because just last month, during the Assessment in the Great Spirit Arena, he had been sent flying by a single slap from this very Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear...