Chapter 4: The Battle

But before long, Wang Sheng regained his composure and barked at Mo Hui, “No. You have to fight me!”

He had a reason for picking a fight. If he did not make this kid understand how strong he was, how could he unite the work-study students into one solid force? Otherwise, they would only be bullied even worse.

With that, he strode forward and rushed straight at Mo Hui.

Seeing this, Mo Hui sighed. While backing away from his bed to keep his belongings from being caught in the crossfire, he summoned Bo Bo once more.

“Bo Bo, take him down!”

“Bo bo~”

At Mo Hui’s command, Bo Bo immediately shot toward Wang Sheng.

“What kind of sparrow is this? Get out of my way!”

When Wang Sheng saw Bo Bo charging at him, he was startled. A pale yellow glow rose around him, and his tiger claws lashed out at Bo Bo at once, clearly using the power of his spirit.

Yet birds were swift to begin with, and Bo Bo was even faster.

Bo Bo easily dodged Wang Sheng’s attack and pecked him lightly on the head.

“Ow! Get down!”

Wang Sheng cried out in pain, both hands swiping frantically at his own head.

But Bo Bo was not so easy to hit. It pecked Wang Sheng several times in a row, while Wang Sheng failed to land a single blow on it.

Even Mo Hui was somewhat surprised. It seemed Bo Bo was stronger than he had thought.

“Stop pecking, stop pecking! Mo Hui, I’m not the boss anymore. I’ll give it to you!”

After a while, unable to endure Bo Bo’s relentless pecks, Wang Sheng finally surrendered helplessly to Mo Hui.

“Bo Bo, come back.”

Seeing this, Mo Hui beckoned, and Bo Bo returned.

“Bo bo~”

Bo Bo cast Wang Sheng, its defeated opponent, a proud glance, then flew back to perch on Mo Hui’s shoulder.

Once Bo Bo had flown off, Wang Sheng touched the slightly abraded skin on his head and hissed in pain.

Mo Hui watched him quietly. If Wang Sheng had not had spirit power protecting him, and if Bo Bo had not shown restraint, those pecks would have been far more than a little scraped skin.

After rubbing his head for a while and feeling a little better, Wang Sheng came up to Mo Hui and asked with excitement, “Boss, is that big sparrow your spirit? It’s amazing, but why can your spirit leave your body?”

“Bo Bo is a mutated spirit, so it’s a little special.”

As he said this, Bo Bo looked at Wang Sheng, its defeated underling, and lifted its head proudly.

“And don’t call me boss. If you really want, you can call me the dorm leader.”

With that, Mo Hui returned to his bed.

“Yes, dorm leader!”

Mo Hui had just beaten him, so of course the other man was now the boss. Since he had acknowledged him as boss, he naturally had to listen.

After speaking, Wang Sheng immediately walked up to Mo Hui and said, “Dorm leader, it’s about time for dinner. Want to go eat?”

Hearing this, Mo Hui froze slightly. He knew he had been cultivating for quite some time, but he had not expected it to already be time for dinner.

“No wonder cultivators always say that time passes unnoticed in the mountains, and a thousand years go by in the blink of an eye,” Mo Hui thought with a sigh.

That feeling of constantly improving, constantly growing stronger, was truly intoxicating, so much so that one could forget the passage of time.

...

On the first floor of the cafeteria, Mo Hui frowned as he looked at the food in the serving window.

It was cheap enough, only a few copper coins for a meal, but it clearly had little nutrition. In particular, it lacked meat, which was obviously not ideal for Mo Hui, who was still growing.

Then Mo Hui shifted his gaze to the second floor.

“Dorm leader, you’re not planning to eat upstairs, are you? It’s very expensive there. We can’t afford it.”

Seeing that Mo Hui seemed inclined to go upstairs for dinner, Wang Sheng hurriedly reminded him.

A meal on the first floor cost only a few copper coins, at most not more than ten. But upstairs, it would cost dozens of copper coins at the very least.

Hearing this, Mo Hui patted Wang Sheng on the shoulder and said, “It’s fine. I have some savings. Eating on the second floor won’t be a problem.”

With that, he headed upstairs.

Behind him, Wang Sheng opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something more, but after thinking it over, he held back.

After all, he had seen Mo Hui’s situation. Mo Hui’s bedding was not especially expensive, but it was clean and tidy, and his living conditions were clearly much better than theirs.

The dishes on the second floor were clearly much more plentiful than those on the first. Mo Hui spent nearly twenty copper soul coins on two braised duck legs and three meat buns, then began eating.

After finishing one braised duck leg, a question suddenly flashed through Mo Hui’s mind: could Bo Bo eat?

It should be able to. After all, Luo San Pao could even eat white radishes.

So Mo Hui summoned Bo Bo and held the remaining braised duck leg to its beak.

“Bo bo~”

When Bo Bo saw the braised duck leg being offered to it, its eyes lit up. It promptly tore off a piece of meat with its beak and swallowed it.

“Hm? This is...”

After Bo Bo swallowed the duck meat, Mo Hui suddenly felt that as Bo Bo digested it, the meat turned into a stream of energy and was absorbed by Bo Bo.

Because of that energy, the cost of summoning Bo Bo even dropped noticeably. Mo Hui had originally felt he could only summon Bo Bo for half an hour, but now it seemed he could hold on for several more minutes.

“Ptooey!”

Yet just as Mo Hui was pondering this, Bo Bo spat the duck meat onto the table.

“Bo Bo, what’s wrong?”

Bo Bo’s behavior naturally drew Mo Hui’s attention. But when he looked at the duck meat on the table, he found that the energy in it had already been absorbed by Bo Bo, and what Bo Bo had spat out was only food residue.

So when a spirit beast that exists outside the body eats, does it need to spit out the impurities after absorbing the energy?

A trace of realization flashed in Mo Hui’s eyes, but then new doubts arose.

If it needed to expel food residue, then why had he never seen Luo San Pao do so?

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Mo Hui, and he understood.

Luo San Pao had already expelled the impurities—it was just that the process had been a little disgusting.

“Bo bo~”

After eating a few bites of the braised duck leg, Bo Bo turned its attention to the meat bun in Mo Hui’s other hand.

Seeing Bo Bo staring at the bun in his hand, Mo Hui laughed softly and, with a touch of indulgence, held the bun up to Bo Bo’s beak.

“Bo Bo, eat.”

“Bo bo~”

At that, Bo Bo beamed and quickly started eating.

Seeing how much Bo Bo liked the meat bun, Mo Hui was also very happy.

But he soon noticed something was off. When Bo Bo ate the braised duck leg earlier, it had to expel food residue. So why was it already more than half done with this bun, yet not a speck of residue had appeared, as if it had all been fully digested?

Could it be...

Suddenly, Mo Hui thought of a possibility and grabbed another meat bun, taking a bite.