"So you needed the young mistress's help, and this is how you treated her-making her stand while she ate?"
In the Shrek Academy cafeteria, Wu Feng, already guarding her food because Lu Yu had invited Ning Tian, saw him humiliating their young mistress like this and immediately bared her teeth.
"Who could have guessed Shrek's cafeteria wouldn't have any stools?"
Lu Yu scratched his head awkwardly. Who could have guessed?
"That's just how Shrek is. And you can't take the food out, either."
Tang Ya couldn't help chiming in from beside them. She had no idea which bastard had come up with that rule.
Wu Feng wasn't having it and kept snapping at him.
"You invited someone to dinner, and you brought her to the school cafeteria?"
"Isn't that because the cafeteria has the best value for money in Shrek City? Look, thousand-year soul beast meat for fifteen gold a plate! That's practically cost price. No wonder they have the confidence to make people eat standing up."
Lu Yu did some mental calculations. They were taking a straight loss here. Although Shrek Academy made four hundred people fight over one toilet and provided no seats in its cafeteria, he still had to give the academy a thumbs-up for this meal.
"Do you think our young mistress needs your little helping of thousand-year soul beast meat? Just fifteen gold! If word got out, people would think the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had fallen on hard times."
"Wu Feng, why do you still have that backward, feudal soul master mentality of keeping up with the neighbors? We soul masters of the new era should be practical. It's delicious, improves your strength, and offers great value. If we don't eat this, what should we eat?"
"Come, Young Mistress Ning Tian, sit!"
Lu Yu took several camping stools out of his Storage Soul Tool. He couldn't make someone stand when he had invited her to dinner.
"You're making the young mistress sit on a stoo-"
"That's enough, Wu Feng. This food is quite nice. He's right. We soul masters should be a little more practical."
With her mistress having spoken, Wu Feng shut her mouth and obediently sat beside Ning Tian.
Lu Yu sat down first as well, then looked at the others still standing nearby.
"Sit down. Why are you all standing?"
Tang Ya sat down cautiously. "We're allowed to do this?"
"I don't know. You're the veteran, and you're asking me? We'll deal with it if someone comes."
Everyone sat down and began eating. Seeing Ning Tian look satisfied after a few bites, Lu Yu rubbed his hands together.
"Young Mistress Ning Tian, I invited you to dinner because I'd like a small favor. We're all from commoner backgrounds, so we can't get hold of those pills without side effects."
"I hope you can help us buy some. Name your price."
Lu Yu stated his request.
"Grandmaster Lu, you're treating me like an outsider. We're classmates. It's only a small favor; there's no need to be so polite."
"The market price will do. There are actually some people in my sect who need soul ring configurations. I'd also like to ask Grandmaster Lu for his advice."
Ning Tian handed him a notebook. With the various academies starting their terms recently, their sect had also promptly recruited some talented commoners.
Many lacked the money and connections to obtain soul rings, so their soul ring slots were still empty.
Their martial souls came in all varieties, and even the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect couldn't claim to devise suitable configurations for all of them. She had therefore brought them to Lu Yu to test his abilities.
"Oh, so many high-grade martial souls. The Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's new disciples are quite impressive this year." Lu Yu took the notebook, pulled out a pen, and began writing in it. There were a dozen or so people in total, and he soon filled everything in.
"All done."
Ning Tian took the notebook and opened it curiously.
"Martial soul: Ironhide Rhinoceros. Recommended soul beast for the first soul ring: Steel Rhino. Predicted soul skill, Steel Protection: increases defense and attack by 50%."
"Martial soul: Gale Feather Eagle. Recommended soul beast for the first soul ring: Lightning Falcon. Predicted soul skill, Lightning Dash: increases attack, speed, and impact force by 50%."
"Martial soul: Flame Tiger. Existing soul ring, Flame Enhancement: increases fire attribute by 50%. Recommended soul beast for the second soul ring: Everflaming Earth Dragon. Predicted soul skill, Undying Flame: wherever the flames burn, they will not go out as long as soul power is supplied. Used together with the first soul ring, it can increase fire attribute by 150%. Recommended third soul ring pairing: Flame Explosion Technique, to detonate the undying flame..."
He had actually finished writing soul ring configurations for more than a dozen soul masters in just a few minutes. The soul beasts, their predicted soul skills, and even the fallback choices if those couldn't be found were all clearly recorded in the notebook!
And many were extremely rare enhancement skills!
The mainstream development approach among the major powers now was to follow the White Tiger martial soul's model of enhancement skills plus powerful soul skills.
But the chance of obtaining such skills was too low. Aside from the White Tiger's five-ring configuration, there really weren't many that could reliably achieve three consecutive enhancement skills.
If Lu Yu really could reliably obtain enhancement-type soul skills, his value might exceed that of all the new students the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect had currently recruited combined.
I have to verify this quickly... Ning Tian recalled that one of those soul beasts could be found in the small artificial soul beast forest not far from Shrek City. If she hurried, she could have definite information tonight!
Ning Tian sprang to her feet.
"My apologies, Grandmaster Lu. I need to send this information to my family first. Wu Feng, let's go."
With that, she strode out of the cafeteria.
"Huh? Young mistress!"
Wu Feng glanced at the food Ning Tian hadn't touched, then pounced like a ravenous dog and licked the plate spotless.
"Mmph... Young mistress, wait for me."
"Ah, guarding her food."
Once the two had left, Lu Yu began taking big mouthfuls of the thousand-year soul beast meat.
"This tastes pretty good, but it feels like something's missing."
Tang Ya, who had been busy eating beside him all along, frowned too. After thinking for a while, she blurted out, "It doesn't feel as good as grilled fish."
Damn, she's having withdrawal symptoms!
Lu Yu was speechless. If this had been ten thousand years ago, Huo Yutong's cooking skills would surely have earned her a position as the Food God.
"Master, would you like some?"
Seeing the tears at the corner of Lu Yu's mouth, Huo Yutong immediately spoke.
"Sorry for the trouble, then, Yutong."
"What are you talking about? Could grilled fish taste better than these dishes?"
Xiao Xiao was tiny, but her appetite certainly wasn't. In no time, she had polished off a plate costing fifteen Gold Soul Coins. Looking at her generously flat chest, it was hard to tell where all that food went.
"Children shouldn't touch this stuff."
"Oh, right, Xiao Xiao, come to my dorm tonight. I'll teach you my Mysterious Heaven Skill and the force-generation techniques of the Disorder Splitting Wind Hammer."
Tang Ya, who was eating beside them, sprayed out her food.
"What do you mean, yours? Those are clearly my Tang Sect's secret arts."
"I don't know anything about that. I found them. Besides, haven't I just notified you?"
"You think notifying me makes it all right?"
Tang Ya could only turn her grief and indignation into appetite and eat, eat, eat.
"Grandmaster Lu, wouldn't your roommate mind?"
"I have a single room."
After hearing Lu Yu's answer, Xiao Xiao flushed bright red and buried her head in her second plate. A single room-didn't that mean there was only one bed?
"Master, can I come sleep on the floor in your room?"
"Come if you want."
Looking at the red-faced Xiao Xiao and the excited Huo Yutong, Lu Yu wondered whether something was wrong with this Douluo Continent.
Cultivation! Cultivation! This is a fantasy world. Shouldn't your heads be filled with cultivation?
Why does it look like you're all lovestruck instead?
After finishing dinner, the group didn't immediately go off to cultivate.
Tang Ya procured a barbecue grill from somewhere and even fished a dozen or so fish out of the kitchen.
"Yutong, hurry up and grill them. I can't take it anymore."
For once, Lu Yu wholeheartedly agreed with Tang Ya's idea. Truly worthy of being Spirit "Ice" Douluo.
A rich aroma drifted through the surroundings. The golden fish were crisp outside and tender within, and a poke with an iron skewer released golden juices.
The students passing nearby couldn't help swallowing.
"I got the grill, so I eat first."
As soon as Yutong finished the first fish, Tang Ya pounced like a starving dog.
Xiao Xiao couldn't resist the temptation either and took the second.
"Master, these are for you."
"You eat first. I'll train my self-control."
Lu Yu swallowed. Now was the time to temper his will. Once the remaining half was left, he would make Tang Ya and Xiao Xiao watch him and Yutong eat.
Huo Yutong understood Lu Yu's intention. After finishing those two women's portions, she put all the remaining fish on the grill at once. To preserve their taste, she even used Spiritual Prison to lock fish that were about to burn inside her Sea of Consciousness.
Just as she finished grilling all the remaining fish, a figure had appeared before her at some point.
"That smells wonderful. Could you sell me some grilled fish?"
A pretty black-haired girl stood before the grill. Although she wasn't as beautiful as Yutong and the other two, she was still a natural beauty.
"Sorry, these grilled fish aren't for sale."
Huo Yutong refused outright. These fish were for her private time with her master. Every fish lost meant a little less time alone together.
"You actually refused to sell to Jiang Jiang."
Before Huo Yutong could react, the person vanished from the spot in the next instant.
A burly young man in a black school uniform grabbed all the remaining grilled fish... then separated out half and handed them to the girl opposite him.
Tang Ya immediately grabbed Lu Yu's arm.
"Lu Yu, he's Xu Sanshi, one of the Outer Court Twin Stars, a Four-Ring Soul Ancestor with the top-tier martial soul Xuanming Shield. He can even evolve his martial soul into the Black Tortoise Shield for a short time."
"Hmph, good that you know." Xu Sanshi snorted coldly, then turned to the girl beside him with a fawning expression. "Jiang Jiang, let's eat grilled fish together."
"Thank you, Brother Sanshi." Jiang Jiang picked up a grilled fish and was just about to take a bite when a blue silver whip shot out of the ground and lashed her across the face.
Before you continue