Gu Yuena stood outside the airport, glancing towards the terminal several times, waiting for Huo Yuhao to emerge. When she saw him, she took a few steps forward and spoke softly.
"Yuhao, my teacher is currently in East Sea. I need to go back and see her. I've already mentioned it to Teacher Zhenhua today, so I can't stay here to accompany you."
"I won't be staying here for long either. When Teacher Muye was instructing me today, he mentioned that the second awakening and the body secret technique will take some time to master, and they require a lot of rare resources. I suggested using some of the resources from the Spirit Pagoda, and he agreed. He plans to accompany me to East Sea City to provide guidance."
Huo Yuhao shook his head and smiled, "We can go back together. Plus, we'll have an extra bodyguard."
There hadn't been any flights to East Sea City recently, so they would have to take the spirit train. Having a four-word battle armor master with them would be a good thing.
After all, spirit trains in this era were prone to disasters...
Though that usually happened when Tang Wulin was on board, earning him the nickname "Spirit Train Killer." They probably wouldn't encounter such a situation, right?
Gu Yuena's eyes lit up, and she smiled knowingly.
The Body Sect's leader had found a disciple and forgotten about Teacher Zhenhua.
But after smiling, Gu Yuena thought about her conversation with Leng Yaoju yesterday, and her smile gradually faded, replaced by a sense of unease.
What should she do when she got back?
Huo Yuhao noticed Gu Yuena's expression and spoke softly, "Na'er, what's wrong?"
Gu Yuena looked at Huo Yuhao for a moment, hesitating before saying, "Yuhao, Teacher Leng might ask you some questions..."
Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow, then nodded thoughtfully, "I understand."
As Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena prepared to return to East Sea City, Leng Yulai was on a mission for the Execution Department, searching for a base of evil soul masters.
Due to the treatment she had received recently, she was in a bad mood and wanted to vent her frustrations on some evil soul masters.
But... why were they always this weak?
Looking at the evil soul master, a Soul Sage, inside the base, Leng Yulai's eyes turned cold.
"Do you have any information on other evil soul masters? Where are they hiding?"
Where were the higher-ups of the evil soul masters?
She wanted to fight one of them!
The evil soul master, seeing the dark aura emanating from Leng Yulai, was terrified and on the verge of tears.
What had he, a mere Soul Sage, done to deserve facing a Super Douluo? Just because he was an evil soul master?
That couldn't be it...
After some interrogation, Leng Yulai learned something unexpected from the evil soul master. His mission was to keep an eye on the Divine Craftsman.
The evil soul masters were targeting the Divine Craftsman? With the efficiency of the Shadow Department, they hadn't discovered this evil soul master?
Thinking this, Leng Yulai suddenly realized.
She had probably, possibly, most likely... ruined a mission of her colleagues.
"Ahem—"
A sigh echoed.
A beautiful girl who looked about eighteen or nineteen stepped out of the void, "I was planning to fish, but now it's complicated."
"..." Leng Yulai averted her gaze, "I didn't know about your Shadow Department's mission. Couldn't you have shared the information beforehand? We used to cooperate well."
The Shadow Department was the highest authority under the Federation overseeing soul masters with evil soul master potential. Its members were primarily tasked with protecting key figures of the Federation and important talents like Zhenhua. Their strength was on par with the Execution Department, making them a crucial part of the Federation's power.
Moreover, the Shadow Department's establishment originated from concessions made by the Spirit Pagoda, so the relationship between the Execution Department and the Shadow Department was quite good.
"Take that up with the minister. He's nowhere to be found right now. I'm just a temporary worker who took over recently and can't make decisions. Besides, who would have thought a Super Douluo would trouble a Soul Sage? I didn't have time to stop you."
Leng Yulai turned back, giving the girl a strange look.
Aren't you a Super Douluo?
The girl: "..."
She pouted, "Don't try to change the subject. The evil soul master planning to attack the Divine Craftsman is at least a 95th-ranked three-word battle armor master. That's a big fish, and now we can't catch it. You owe me compensation."
"...Fine, what do you want?" Leng Yulai rolled her eyes.
The girl's eyes flashed with triumph as she smiled, "Switch shifts with me sometime."
As the two conversed, the evil soul master stared at the girl who had emerged from the void, dumbfounded.
What had he done to deserve the attention of two Super Douluo?
He swore he'd never be an evil soul master in his next life!
...
In front of the Blacksmith Association, Gu Yuena and Huo Yuhao arrived to meet up with Muye and bid farewell to Zhenhua.
Facing the fact that his new disciple was leaving Heaven Dou City after only half a day of learning, Zhenhua actually felt relieved.
Gu Yuena was full of energy, highly talented, and her self-created forging method was too novel. Teaching her for a while had already proven quite challenging.
All he could provide her were experience and theoretical knowledge. He couldn't demonstrate the actual techniques himself.
After all, he couldn't use Heaven Forging to perform Spirit Forging...
It was better for Gu Yuena to leave for now, at least to avoid a situation where he had nothing left to teach. He wanted to maintain some dignity in front of his disciple.
"This is my experience with forging techniques and my research on various alloys."
Zhenhua took out a thick notebook and, just as Gu Yuena reached for it, handed it to... Huo Yuhao.
Gu Yuena: "???"
While giving it to Yuhao is fine, I'm your disciple, right?
Huo Yuhao also looked at Zhenhua in surprise.
The latter glanced at Gu Yuena and sent a voice transmission, "Yuhao, you want to research alloys, right? These materials will be useful to you. Na'er is a bit naive. Take good care of her in the future."
Nearby, sensing the voice transmission, Muye roughly guessed what Zhenhua had said and smiled faintly, also sending a voice transmission:
"That's right, Yuhao, take good care of her."
Huo Yuhao: "..."
He had sensed it before. The people around this "Big Sister Teacher" were incredibly protective of her. Whether it was Luoyang Road, the members of the Mecha Association, or now these two who had only spent half a day with Gu Yuena, they had all fallen under her spell.
Or was there another layer of meaning?
Before Huo Yuhao could respond, in his spiritual sea, Bingdi's voice sounded, "Yuhao, you know what I want to say, right? Take good care of Xue'er."
"Exactly."
Tianmeng Iceworm chimed in, "You're from the Far North. Don't forget your roots."
Elder Yi also smiled, "Yuhao, don't let down your eternal confidante."
Yuhao's situation was much better than his own back in the day. He should seize the opportunity.
"..."
Wait, this isn't right, is it? Are you all trying to force a marriage here?
Huo Yuhao's eye twitched, but he still replied in a gentle tone, "Alright."
His response echoed both in the outside world and within his spiritual sea.
Upon hearing Huo Yuhao's reply, a gentle laugh that shouldn't have been in the spiritual sea rang out, "Yuhao, there's no need for this. Bing'er, you all shouldn't push him like this. Otherwise, I won't know how to handle myself."