Chapter 61: Identity Confirmed, Fitting In with Everyone!

Inside the Holy Son Palace.

At this moment, the banquet hall for receiving guests was already laden with an abundance of sumptuous food and fine red wine.

Xu Yan sat at the seat of honor, with Hu Liena and Xie Yue seated on his left and right.

Yan was absent due to severe injuries.

Among those present were Zhang Ping, Sun Chuantao, Li Kai, Xu Yu, and others.

Zhang Ping, in particular, found her eyes lighting up slightly as she looked at Xu Yan, who was now attired in the vestments of the Holy Son.

However, she still harbored some lingering resentment regarding Xu Yan's brutal beating of Yan.

Xu Yan addressed the assembled group, saying, "Everyone, although I am now the Holy Son, my wish remains to be friends and teammates with you all."

"I hope that any past grievances and misunderstandings will be completely wiped clean after tonight."

"I propose a toast to you all."

When Xu Yan finished these words, he noticed that no one raised their cups.

Zhang Ping, who seemed to be a person easily swayed by good looks—believing that physical appearance was everything—made a move to raise her cup, but seeing that no one else followed suit, she withdrew her fair hand.

Sensing the cold attitude of the group, Hu Liena said coldly, "What are you all doing? This is His Highness the Holy Son toasting you."

"Are you planning to rebel?"

Xu Yan smiled faintly and raised a hand to signal Hu Liena that it was fine.

He put down his wine glass and slowly stood up.

The few individuals present all assumed Xu Yan was about to make a move.

Their expressions immediately grew solemn and tense.

Xu Yan smiled gently and said, "Since you all came, it proves that you still care to give me some face."

With a flick of his hand, he directly released dozens of golden soul rings, condensing them into golden fruits. With a wave of his hand through the air, one golden fruit landed neatly in front of each person.

"Although they are not particularly rare or precious items, they can help you enhance your soul power. Consider this a token of my sincerity," Xu Yan said.

At that moment, Hu Liena spoke up, "These golden soul power fruits are Xu Yan's martial soul. They can assist your cultivation before the tournament. I have already tried them, and the effect is quite obvious."

Hearing this, Zhang Ping finally placed the golden fruit in her palm and looked toward Hu Liena.

Hu Liena nodded at Zhang Ping, signaling that she could try it.

Only then did Zhang Ping nod and ingest the golden fruit.

Originally, the rest of the people wore expressions of disdain, but shortly after seeing Zhang Ping consume the golden fruit, her entire body was suffused with abundant soul power.

Then, her aura seemed to undergo a direct sublimation.

"She's broken through to the forty-eighth rank?" Xu Yu exclaimed in shock.

Feeling the changes within herself, Zhang Ping could not help but exclaim, "You all should quickly try it. The golden fruit given by His Highness the Holy Son is truly powerful."

Xu Yu, Sun Chuantao, Li Kai, and the others subsequently consumed the golden fruits as well.

Witnessing this, Xu Yan thought to himself: How could I possibly fail to win you all over?

A bunch of softies.

Only then did Xu Yan resume his seat.

Beside him, Xie Yue looked at his teammates, who were diligently striving to elevate themselves, and felt a sense of astonishment.

He had not expected the abilities displayed by Xu Yan to be so truly staggering.

During the exchange of blows with Yan, Xie Yue had seen Xu Yan use a tool-type martial soul, and then seemed to witness yet another kind of martial soul.

By now, he realized that Xu Yan apparently possessed a third martial soul.

This was a food-type martial soul.

Could this person possibly be a triple-martial-soul prodigy?

From what was currently understood on the Douluo Continent, twin martial souls were already considered extraordinary, let alone a supreme genius with three martial souls?

It seemed Yan had not suffered his defeat unjustly.

No doubt that was why Her Majesty the Supreme Pontiff treated him so favorably.

Clearly, the man genuinely possessed the capital to back it up.

Why had he never noticed before that Xu Yan possessed such formidable foundational depth?

Xu Yan raised his wine glass, clinked it with Hu Liena, and then turned to clink glasses with Xie Yue.

Although Xie Yue's expression remained cold, he picked up his wine glass and touched it lightly against Xu Yan's.

"Captain... please!"

"Thank you, Your Highness the Holy Son!" Xie Yue had gradually come to acknowledge Xu Yan's identity, and thus showed a certain degree of respect.

Seeing Xie Yue's attitude toward Xu Yan soften, Hu Liena smiled with closed lips and very gracefully sipped her red wine.

Once everyone finished their breakthroughs, they began discussing excitedly among themselves. Evidently, the golden fruits had brought them substantial benefits.

Their soul power had all increased, with everyone advancing by a full rank.

"Everyone, I hope there will be no more misunderstandings between us in the future. We can get along amicably," Xu Yan said with a smile, speaking in a pleasant and amiable tone.

If, after tonight's words, anyone still dared to show him disrespect, he would show no further mercy.

Next time, he would resort to outright annihilation.

The same went for Yan; if pushed too far, death was absolute.

For one does not forgive a third offense!

Zhang Ping was the first to raise her wine glass again, having already assessed the situation clearly.

Since even the captain had begun acknowledging Xu Yan's status, she naturally had to follow suit.

Who knew, if she maintained a favorable attitude toward Xu Yan from now on, he might reward her with more golden fruits to aid her advancement.

While this notion was undeniably somewhat pragmatic and opportunistic, Zhang Ping believed that His Highness the Holy Son was destined for great achievements. Siding with him now would yield even greater rewards in the future.

"Your Highness the Holy Son, I toast to you!" Zhang Ping said with a smile.

Zhang Ping was quite pleasing to the eye; though not quite matching Hu Liena, she was still an attractive young beauty.

Xu Yan was quite satisfied and raised his glass to her from afar.

Thus, the others also began to raise their cups.

Before long, Xu Yan had successfully integrated himself and was on familiar terms with everyone.

Xu Yan even shared some intelligence regarding Shrek Academy.

"Is Shrek Academy really that formidable?" Zhang Ping asked.

Even Hu Liena cast her gaze toward Xu Yan.

"Their Shrek Seven Devils are actually very united," Xu Yan remarked. However, whether they were truly united at present, he could not say for certain.

The duration of the infatuation-inducing fruit's effect should be wearing off soon.

Even so, there would still be some lingering aftereffects. The five beauties of Shrek had each been fondled by him in turn; he wondered how they were holding up now.

Once he had some free time, he would run over to take a look.

If worst came to worst, he could simply use a clone.

"In any case, the rest of you need not worry about that. When the time comes for the matches, just perform at your absolute best. As for that Tang Shan, I will deal with him personally," Xu Yan said with a grave expression.

Xie Yue asked, "Who exactly is this Tang Shan?"

"Regarding that, you can pay attention to the developments in the preliminary matches. Furthermore, Bishop Salas will personally preside over the proceedings, and you can await his news. The moment they take the stage, the most detailed initial intelligence and data will be delivered straight to Teacher," Xu Yan explained.

"Then you won't be accompanying us for the special training?" Hu Liena inquired.

"What is the identity of this Holy Son? Naturally, I must undergo separate training, precisely for the sake of concealment. Just keep it in your hearts. Do not leak any information about me, especially to other academies. I will be making my final appearance, so all of you should just act as you normally would."

Xu Yan stood up and declared, "I belong to the Spirit Hall. I hope you too can bring glory to Spirit Hall, make it grow ever stronger, and unify the continent!"

He spoke these words primarily for Bibi Dong's sake; that was the extent of it. As for someone like Qian Daoliu, he couldn't care less. With Bibi Dong in Spirit Hall, he was a man of Spirit Hall; had Bibi Dong not been part of Spirit Hall, he certainly wouldn't have stayed either!