How many dishes?
If it can be called a ‘feast,’ then it’s definitely not just ‘a few.’ The preserved menu alone consists of 58 different dishes!
Since it’s a banquet, the dishes are well-arranged—there’s meat and vegetables, snacks and porridge, all cooked in various styles. Eating the full set is absolutely an enjoyable experience.
Hearing Tian Qi describe it, Zhou Mu almost lost interest in his snacks. “Team Leader, I totally support you! I think having ambition is a great thing, and they shouldn’t pour cold water on you. Besides, you’re still growing! When I was your age, I also loved feasts!”
Tian Qi was deeply moved and felt that Zhou Mu truly understood him. “Do you really think so?”
Zhou Mu replied firmly, “What’s wrong with wanting to have a Burning Tail Feast?!”
“Exactly! What’s wrong with wanting to hold a Burning Tail Feast?!” Tian Qi’s voice wavered with emotion. “Besides, I had other plans too! But they didn’t even let me finish explaining. I thought, since our class alone wouldn’t be able to finish all the food, we could invite some alumni and teachers and turn it into a charity fundraiser, with the proceeds going to support young, weak, and small demon clans.”
Zhou Mu was on the verge of tears. “Team Leader, I’m also from a minority demon clan!”
Tian Qi sniffled. “Really? Well, regardless, with your support, I have confidence again! I’ve been saving money, so I can make this happen myself. I’ll hire an outside chef!”
Zhou Mu thought for a moment. “Team Leader, maybe I can help you. Let me go talk to the Director.”
Tian Qi hurriedly stopped him. “No! Xiaomu, you must not bring Senior You Qi to threaten Director Cui!”
Zhou Mu: “……”
Tian Qi still vividly remembered that day—Zhou Mu holding one fierce junior in his left hand and You Qi in his right, looking absolutely domineering.
“Team Leader, you’ve misunderstood. I absolutely won’t let You Qi threaten any school officials.” Zhou Mu vowed. “I’ll just help you secure the cafeteria space and settle the venue issue. How about that?”
“Xiao Mu, you’re the best. I must thank you, not just for myself, but for the demon clans that might receive help.” Tian Qi was extremely touched—what a deep bond of friendship! Truly worthy of the Vice Leader he personally appointed back then.
Both of them were moved to tears. Then Zhou Mu asked, “Team Leader, repeat the menu for me again—are you sure there are only 58 dishes? What about the ones that got lost to history?”
When You Qi returned, he saw Zhou Mu and Tian Qi deep in discussion about banquet dishes.
He placed a tea egg in Zhou Mu’s hand. Zhou Mu sniffed it and immediately told Tian Qi, “It’ll take a few days to prepare the feast. Good food is worth the wait. Team Leader, take your time—your studies are important. Have you practiced your pinyin yet? Okay, go do your homework first. Bye!”
Zhou Mu hung up the call, then looked at the tea egg. The shell was perfectly cracked, allowing the marinade to seep in, creating delicate marble-like patterns. The aroma was just right.
Peeling it open, the egg white had an elegant brown tinge, smooth and tender, while the yolk was firm but not dry, infused with a savory, tea-infused fragrance.
Zhou Mu took two bites and finished it, savoring the lingering taste. “Delicious! Oh, by the way, Team Leader was elected Class President and is planning a charity Burning Tail Feast.”
“A Burning Tail Feast?” You Qi was familiar with the concept, but hearing that charity was involved, he commented casually, “He just became Class President, and he’s already planning this? Is he a Sìjiào?”
Some students’ backgrounds were impossible for the school to conceal, no matter how much they tried—their nature was too obvious.
—”No matter the size of a mountain, it has its spirits. If the mountain is great, the spirit is great; if the mountain is small, the spirit is small… Among the mountains and rivers, there are those called Sìjiào, whose name brings good fortune when spoken.”
Zhou Mu recalled how Tian Qi effortlessly navigated the mountain trails during their training. Yeah, You Qi probably guessed right.
Sìjiào are a kind of mountain spirit—essentially mountain gods. The word jiào means to patrol, so it made sense that Team Leader Tian Qi not only loved holding power but also loved getting things done. Wherever he was, he just couldn’t sit still.
You Qi initially thought this event wasn’t worth the trouble, but Zhou Mu was already deep in thought.
“When attending a feast, it’s proper etiquette to bring a gift, right? What should we give? I went to human schools growing up, so I don’t know if demon elementary schoolers are competitive. Should we give study materials or toys?”
You Qi hesitated. “We?”
Zhou Mu, always thinking about saving money, nodded. “Yeah, wouldn’t it make sense for roommates to chip in and give a single gift?”
That was reasonable. You Qi suggested, “Let’s gift a few kilos of study materials. Demons these days study really hard.”
A few kilos? Zhou Mu was horrified. “That’s not a bit much?”
The two began discussing their plan in detail.
……
A Few Days Later
Zhou Mu was sitting in the front row of the lecture hall. Today’s class was <Marine Cultivation Resource Evaluation>, a large lecture course. The classroom was 90% full, but the teacher had yet to arrive.
Most of the faculty in their program were aquatic demons, which gave them an edge in teaching, but the same wasn’t necessarily true for the students. In the new era, demon students freely chose subjects that interested them.
For example, the two classmates sitting on Zhou Mu’s left and right—their demon auras and original forms were quite obvious.
The girl on the left was feline, her tail curling lazily around the armrest. The student on the right had a strong, musky scent, but not the slightest trace of a water demon’s fishy smell.
Zhou Mu calmly opened his laptop, ready to take notes. He even brought along Senior Yan Xingke’s notes for reference.
The cat girl next to him tore open a bag of potato chips and sighed deliberately. “Zhou Mu, why is it that even though you’re wearing a concealment talisman, I still feel so hungry sitting next to you?”
She’d smelled Zhou Mu before. Even if she didn’t dare steal You Qi’s ‘prey,’ teasing him a little while You Qi wasn’t around was still fun. Besides, sitting near him really did increase her appetite—it felt great.
Zhou Mu didn’t respond.
The student on the right drawled lazily, “Don’t mind her. All cats have itchy paws—even if it kills them, they have to mess with stuff.” Unlike him. After witnessing Gui Youqi’s fate in the cafeteria, he only dared to tease with words, not actions.
He stared directly at Zhou Mu, his eyes glowing red.
Zhou Mu instinctively leaned closer to him—
The cat girl cursed: “Damn weasel.”
It was a weasel demon’s natural skill—hypnosis.
She thought she had itchy paws, but this weasel was even worse! Does he have a death wish?
Zhou Mu’s eyes glazed over, looking just like anyone else under hypnosis. But for some reason, as he drew closer, the weasel demon’s heartbeat accelerated, an eerie sense of fear creeping in.
At that very moment— A white blur shot out at lightning speed, leaping high into the air and smashing a paw down onto the weasel’s head. The sudden, ferocious attack made him instantly break his hypnosis, screaming, “Holy crap! Who the hell?!”
Fixing my gaze, I saw that it was actually Senior Little Howl.
He shoved the weasel aside, slowly sat down next to Zhou Mu, sighed, and even stuck out his tongue.
“…Senior, why aren’t you staying in Chuanfang Tower? What brings you here to attend class?” The weasel student sullenly changed seats. No wonder he had felt uneasy just now—turns out, the senior had his eyes on him.
The cat girl also subtly shifted over and chuckled awkwardly, “Hehehe, Senior is so enthusiastic.”
With You Qi not around, they didn’t dare mess with Senior Little Howl either. Everyone knew the senior had lost one tooth, but the remaining one was still sharp.
“Of course,” Zhou Mu glanced at the upright Little Howl, who wasn’t even making eye contact with him, and praised, “Wow, Senior has really grown into a big dog now—knows how to protect the juniors.”
Little Howl: “……”
As they spoke, the teacher for the course had already arrived without a sound. No one even noticed when he had entered. He turned on the projector and introduced himself.
As expected, he was of the aquatic race—a scallop spirit from Zhangzi Island.
“<Marine Cultivation Resource Assessment> is a highly specialized course. Let’s start with a famous example of a resource-rich location—Wanling Island. Many demons know that this island is home to a unique species of turtle, the Sanku Turtle. About 300 years ago, it was discovered that while these turtles rarely develop intelligence, consuming them significantly enhances one’s cultivation.”
Teacher Bei adjusted his glasses and asked, “Does anyone know why?”
A student beside Zhou Mu immediately raised their hand: “Originally, Wanling Island was inhabited by spiritual turtles. According to legend, ‘From the pools arise the first dragons, who birth the Mysterious Tortoise, which then births the Spiritual Turtle, and from it come the common turtles—indeed, all shelled creatures descend from the common turtle.’ However, aside from the common turtles, the Spiritual Turtles also mated with ordinary fish, producing the Sanku Turtle—though this was never recorded in official history. This is why their lineage carries a special power.”
Teacher Bei nodded. “Good answer. Now, let’s analyze the resources of this region.”
“Teacher,” another student asked in confusion, “but why would a Spiritual Turtle give birth to such offspring? Its common turtle descendants are still considered strong, and they share the same bloodline concentration, yet the Sanku Turtle ends up just being a delicacy. Is it because the fish they mated with were too inferior?”
“Ah, that actually involves knowledge from other disciplines… but whatever, I’ll just explain briefly,” Teacher Bei shrugged. “Take plants, for example. There’s a concept called ‘hybrid vigor,’ but also one called ‘hybrid weakness.’ When new species arise from crossbreeding, all kinds of possibilities emerge.
In our demon race, cross-species hybrids work the same way. Some well-known examples include dragons and dholes producing Yazi, or jiao-dragons and fish producing Kunpeng.
These demon hybrids can show advantages or disadvantages, but more often than not, they turn out to be just ordinary. It’s hard to determine whether a hybrid is ‘successful’ or not. Genetics is a very complicated thing and may cause wonderful changes, but it’s still difficult to grasp for the time being.
Even more so, how do we define what is ‘advantageous’? Just based on combat ability?
One thing I do know—regardless of whether a hybrid demon is exceptional, mediocre, or completely talentless, we can’t just treat them like human farmers do when breeding crops, discarding the ‘undesirable products.’ At least in this era, that would be illegal!”
Teacher Bei chuckled. “Alright, I’ll leave it to you all to decide whether the Sanku Turtle is an example of hybrid vigor or weakness. Is being delicious an advantage or a disadvantage? Now, let’s get back to the main topic”
After his explanation, the cat girl beside Zhou Mu couldn’t resist poking him with her claw and teasing, “So, Zhou Mu, what kind of hybrid are you? You smell so good—”
She paused and asked, “Do you consider that an advantage or a disadvantage?”
Zhou Mu flashed an innocent smile. “Of course, it’s an advantage.”
……
As soon as class was dismissed, Teacher Bei vanished faster than anyone else, showing no intention of dragging the lesson on—unlike Zhou Mu’s experiences in human schools when he was younger. He was especially excited today, as he was finally going to Tian Qi’s feast. Stroking Senior Little Howl’s fluffy head, he said, “See you, Senior!”
He returned to the dorm first, met up with You Qi, grabbed the prepared gift, and then headed to the cafeteria.
This charity Burning Tail Feast, organized by first-year student Tian Qi from the elementary division, was being held on the third floor of the first cafeteria at Hualing Academy. Attendees were required to wear uniforms or formal attire and register at the entrance.
Tian Qi’s organizational skills were strong, and the registration desk was manned by his newly formed team—his vice class president.
When Zhou Mu placed the gift on the counter and signed in, the vice class president glanced at it and asked, “An USB drive?”
Zhou Mu replied, “Not just any USB drive—inside, we’ve prepared 9GB of digital study materials.”
You Qi had originally suggested gifting several pounds of textbooks, but Zhou Mu protested—Tian Qi was only 4’7” tall; how could they make him carry all that?
As a compromise, they settled on an USB drive filled with guidebooks and practice exercises.
The vice class president’s heart clenched, and he shakily wrote in a childlike font with a 2B pencil: “Gift from Zhou Mu & You Qi—9GB of study materials.”
Zhou Mu added, “Nine represents longevity, wishing for our class president to serve a long, long time.”
The vice class president: “…”
The two of them proceeded to the third floor, where the venue had been decorated. Although Tian Qi had strong execution skills, given his age and the fact that many attendees were his classmates, the chairs were shaped like race cars, and the tissue boxes featured cartoon characters.
But those details didn’t matter—what mattered was the food. Zhou Mu sat down and eagerly eyed the kitchen. “It’s right on time, why aren’t the dishes being served yet?”
Tian Qi, who was seated at the same table, seemed to have heard Zhou Mu’s concern and stood up at the perfect moment.
Zhou Mu: Alright! Class president! Announce the start of the feast!
Tian Qi raised a glass of milk. “Hello, everyone, I’d like to say a few words—”
Zhou Mu: “…”
The author has something to say:
Mutual suffering.
