Xiao Qi announced that all classes the following day were cancelled, and the first-years were free to rest.
The flight to the Elven Planet was scheduled in half a month. Though the number of participants had grown considerably, for Shrek Academy this posed no difficulty whatsoever.
After the match, the first-year class dispersed. The past month had been grueling for everyone — especially those who had fought. Body and spirit both needed time to recover.
Qian Lei went into closed seclusion almost immediately. During the battle he had expended far too much blood essence, and he required prolonged recovery and deep cultivation — no less than a hundred days.
But according to Nana, it was worth it.
Using his own blood essence to stimulate the Golden Fatty's bloodline had deepened the bond between them, significantly raising both his potential and his future strength.
The Golden Bi-Beast clan was known for its ferocity, but it possessed one exceptional quality — absolute cohesion and loyalty to its own. That very quality had allowed them, in ancient times, to stand against the dragon race as equals.
Dragons were formidable individually, but rarely acted as a unified whole, preferring independence above all else. The Bi-Beasts had formed something closer to a true army. It was precisely this that had, in the end, alarmed the dragons enough to move against them and force them into submission.
The bloodline awakening had triggered an evolution that would affect not only the Golden Fatty, but Qian Lei himself. His body, his potential, and his cultivation path would all undergo profound transformation.
But his seclusion made one thing clear — Qian Lei would not be making the trip to the Elven Planet.
Fan Yue didn't even bother washing up after the match. He simply lay down on his bed and didn't open his eyes again until the following evening.
"Mmmh…"
He stretched, swung his legs off the bed, and stood.
"Good. Fully recovered."
After a shower and a change into his Shrek Academy uniform, he headed to the Exchange Center to collect his winnings. He hadn't needed the emblems particularly, which was why he had staked everything on the first class's victory without a second thought.
The odds had been genuinely insane — one hundred and fifty to one. He stepped up to a free window and confirmed the payout.
The result was staggering. The sum was so enormous that he had to convert all his white emblems into purple ones. In the end, he walked away with 1,340 purple emblems. The student processing the payout stared at him with barely concealed envy.
Fan Yue didn't react. He quietly stored everything in his spatial ring and turned the question over in his mind.
Where do I even spend these? Heavenly and Earthly Treasures are off the table for now — I need to wait at least a year. Any sooner and my cultivation foundation will become unstable.
He glanced at his spirit communicator. A message from Lan Xuanyu had appeared in the group chat.
[Lan Xuanyu]: We need to celebrate. How about meeting at the academy gates in half an hour and heading into Shrek City?
[Yuanen Huihui]: I'm in! Something like this has to be celebrated!
[Liu Feng]: +
[Dong Qianqiu]: Mengqin and I are in.
[Fan Yue]: 👍
[Tang Yuge]: I'll be there.
Fan Yue had no objection to unwinding a little. His body and spirit power had fully recovered, but his mental energy still felt faintly drained.
[Lan Xuanyu]: Perfect! Then we're going to the most expensive restaurant in the city!
Fan Yue smiled, put his communicator away, and headed for the academy gates. He decided to arrive early and enjoy the scenery at his own pace.
He found an empty bench, sat down, and drew in a slow breath of fresh air. Flowers bloomed along the path, leaves rustling softly in a gentle wind.
"One of the things I love about Shrek — it's beautiful, and the air is remarkably clean."
"It really is," came a calm female voice from behind him.
Fan Yue startled slightly and turned.
"Oh — Tang Yuge. I thought some stranger had decided to strike up a conversation."
Tang Yuge sat down on the bench.
"You should get used to it. You and Lan Xuanyu are at the center of attention across the entire Outer Court now. It won't be strange at all if girls start taking an interest in you."
Fan Yue nodded and turned his gaze back to the path ahead. He had only known Tang Yuge for a matter of days, but there was something remarkably easy about being around her. She wasn't talkative, but she knew how to hold a conversation.
"Why did you come so early?" he asked.
"I was nearby. It seemed better to wait here than go back to the dormitory and waste the time anyway."
"Fair enough," Fan Yue agreed.
"How did you rest?" Tang Yuge asked.
"Well. That fight did me good — I finally had somewhere to put all that built-up energy."
A quiet, easy conversation unfolded between them.
Half an hour later, the rest of the group arrived — Lan Xuanyu, Liu Feng, Dong Qianqiu, Lan Mengqin, and Yuanen Huihui.
"Well, well," Lan Xuanyu said with a smirk. "Already flirting, are we?"
Tang Yuge gave him a flat look.
"Don't say stupid things."
Lan Mengqin jogged up and clapped Fan Yue on the back.
"Yue! You absolutely shocked me! Who would have thought you had a second Battle Soul!"
Fan Yue smiled slightly.
"Well… I do have to keep surprising you somehow."
"Surprising is one word for it," Lan Mengqin snorted.
With that, the group set off toward Shrek City without further ceremony.
Shrek City was the city that had grown up around the Academy. It operated almost independently of the Federation, under the complete authority of the Academy itself. While Federation currency circulated freely here, Shrek emblems were accepted everywhere and valued even more highly.
The city wasn't vast, but it was alive. Spirit Masters walked the streets openly, and every district had its own character — the architecture and atmosphere shifting from block to block, austere working quarters giving way to bustling commercial streets and places built purely for leisure.
The group made for one of the most popular stretches in the city — Gourmet Street.
Meat sizzling over spirit-flame. Rich sauces. Fresh seafood. The fragrance of spirit herbs blended with steam and oil. The air was thick, layered, almost something you could touch.
"That smell is something else," Fan Yue noted, licking his lips without thinking. He couldn't actually remember the last time he had eaten properly — life energy had long since replaced ordinary food for him.
Gourmet Street was lined with countless stalls and restaurants. Dozens of aromas layered over one another, pulling at the appetite whether you invited them to or not. This was a street that felt genuinely, messily alive.
Yuanen Huihui glanced at Fan Yue in surprise.
"Don't tell me this is your first time here?"
"It is. I never felt like coming alone, so I just spent the time training and studying."
Lan Mengqin immediately cut in with a disgruntled look.
"You should have said something! I would have happily come with you!"
Fan Yue's eyebrow twitched almost imperceptibly. The memory of a particular burning sensation arrived, unbidden.
"No," he said flatly. "You would have tried to feed me something aggressively spicy again."
"Tch!" Lan Mengqin crossed her arms. "You just don't appreciate spicy food."
Despite her ice and snow attribute, Lan Mengqin had a fierce love of anything that set your mouth on fire.
"Mengqin, the food you eat isn't just spicy," Dong Qianqiu said, in the same tone she might use to correct a minor factual error. "Your dishes look like they're about to spontaneously combust."
"I like spicy food!" Lan Xuanyu said cheerfully. "That burning feeling — like a fire igniting inside you. It's satisfying."
"Xuanyu, you like anything that qualifies as edible," Yuanen Huihui said.
Laughing and bickering, they came to a stop in front of the grandest restaurant on the street.
The Golden Horse.
Even from outside, a rich, layered fragrance drifted outward — the kind that bypassed thought entirely and went straight to the appetite.
"Alright, let's go in!" Yuanen Huihui announced with energy. Of all of them, he seemed the most genuinely delighted by the outing.
Inside, a middle-aged woman in a neat uniform met them. The moment she saw the group, she smiled warmly.
"Wonderful to have you with us again. The VIP room is available. Please, follow me."
After the victory over the third years, Lan Xuanyu's group had become extraordinarily well-known. Their match had been broadcast across the entire Federation, and restaurants were genuinely glad to welcome them. In Shrek City, Academy students were treated accordingly — the best tables, discounts, priority — it was simply expected.
The VIP room was quietly elegant. No ostentatious luxury — walls of rare spirit wood, landscape paintings, soft lighting. Everything looked understated, but every detail had clearly cost a significant amount of money.
"Not bad," Fan Yue said.
Tang Yuge nodded in quiet agreement.
The group settled in. A server appeared at their side, ready to take their order.
"Flame Chicken," Lan Mengqin said without a moment's hesitation.
"Sweet and sour ribs," Tang Yuge said calmly.
"Dragon tendon and heart," Liu Feng added.
"Jade salad and spirit-chicken rice," Yuanen Huihui chose.
"Cold Rain Soup," said Dong Qianqiu.
Fan Yue scanned the menu.
As expected. Spirit beast meat, rare spirit plants — there are hardly any ordinary ingredients here at all.
"Crystal Sea Soup," he said aloud.
Lan Xuanyu, meanwhile, had been quietly turning pages. Then he simply ran his finger down two of them.
"From here. And from here. All of it."
Fan Yue and Tang Yuge both looked up at the same time. Tang Yuge couldn't help herself.
"Xuanyu… are you certain you can eat all of that?"
Lan Xuanyu smiled broadly.
"I enjoy eating."
The others just shook their heads with a quiet smile. They had long since made their peace with their leader's appetite.
Barely thirty minutes later, the doors opened softly, and a line of servers entered the room in near-perfect formation. The aromas preceded them. Plates descended one after another onto the table, and before long, every inch of surface was occupied.
Steam, spice, the deep fragrance of spirit beast meat and rare plants — it all blended into a rich, almost tangible haze.
Lan Mengqin was already fully engaged with the Flame Chicken. Her eyes were bright, a satisfied smile on her lips.
"This is excellent! This restaurant actually knows how to do spicy properly!"
Fan Yue cast a suspicious look at her dish and quietly shifted his soup to the far side of his place setting.
"Let me say this now," he said evenly. "If a single drop of sauce from that chicken ends up in my soup, I make no guarantees about what happens next."
Lan Mengqin grinned, leaned in slightly, and murmured,
"And what exactly is my dear little brother going to do about it?"
Fan Yue snorted, picked up his spoon, and started eating.
"Hehe." Lan Mengqin giggled to herself.
Lan Xuanyu, unbothered by all of this, was already eating — pulling dishes from both sides of the table simultaneously. His movements were quick and methodical, as though he were engaged not in a meal but in a particularly demanding campaign.
"Do you even taste any of it?" Dong Qianqiu asked.
"Of course," he said, nodding. "But if I eat slowly, the food disappears before I get enough."
Dong Qianqiu simply sighed and turned to her own meal.
The room filled with the steady sound of clinking dishes, short exchanges, laughter. The tension of everything that had come before dissolved completely. Here, surrounded by warmth, good smells, and ordinary human noise, they felt like students again. Nothing more.
When the meal finally wound down, the mood around the table had lifted noticeably. Still talking and laughing, the group left the restaurant, walked together as far as the dormitory district, and went their separate ways.
Back in the dormitory, Fan Yue went directly to his meditation room and sank into cultivation.
The atmosphere among the first-years in the days that followed was something none of them had experienced before. The victory had acted as a catalyst — they had beaten the entire Outer Court, and that was not a small thing. The awareness of their own strength, and of the responsibility that came with it, pushed every one of them harder. They trained with a doubled intensity, as though afraid to fall even a single step behind.
Before anyone quite noticed, it was time to leave.