"It's time to get up, we've arrived." Back at her residence, Ma Xiaotao placed Huo Yuhao on the sofa, looked down at him with his eyes still closed, and let out a soft laugh.
Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and gave an awkward smile. Suddenly, he touched the sofa beneath him and froze—because the sofa had grown in size. Previously, the sofa was small, barely big enough for one person to lie down.
"Jie, why is the sofa suddenly so big?"
Huo Yuhao asked in confusion.
"For your comfort while sleeping," Ma Xiaotao teased.
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched slightly. Looks like his chance of sleeping in the same bed as Ma Xiaotao was gone.
"By the way, Jie, how long was the seventh soul ring you got this time?" Huo Yuhao changed the topic.
Ma Xiaotao sat on the single sofa, red flames flickering at her fingertips. "Seventy thousand years. The acquisition was smooth, though the searching took some time."
"The teacher said he plans to request the Sea God Pavilion to help hunt two 100,000-year soul beasts at another soul beast gathering site for my eighth soul ring. Then, I'll be able to handle the strength of a 100,000-year soul ring."
"However, getting a 100,000-year soul ring in the future will probably be very difficult."
Shrek Academy, together with the main sect, had signed a contract with the Star Dou Great Forest. Neither side could hunt 100,000-year soul beasts there, which was why Yan Shaozhe didn't have a 100,000-year soul ring, although his ninth soul ring was already extremely close to 100,000 years.
So in the future, Ma Xiaotao would find it quite difficult to locate a 100,000-year soul beast.
During the Peerless Tang Sect era, suitable soul beast gathering sites on land were only the Star Dou Great Forest, the Extreme North, and the Evil Demon Forest.
The Star Dou Great Forest was off-limits. Fire-attribute soul beasts in the Extreme North were scarce—yes, there were some fire-attribute beasts, not everything was ice. As for the Evil Demon Forest, it was the least familiar gathering site to Shrek Academy.
It was within the Sun Moon Empire's territory.
"There will be a chance," Huo Yuhao thought to himself.
"Enough about me. Did you gain anything these past few days? As a core disciple, you should have access to the Treasure Appreciation Pavilion." Ma Xiaotao asked gently. She wasn't in a hurry for her eighth soul ring yet.
"Almost forgot."
At Ma Xiaotao's prompt, Huo Yuhao quickly stood up, retrieved a soul guidance device from his storage ring—similar to Ma Xiaotao's—and placed it before her.
"Jie, I picked this treasure for you. It's called the Invincible Shield."
Ma Xiaotao blinked at the dark-golden shield. "What's the Invincible Shield? Like a soul power shield cast by a soul master?"
"Yes," Huo Yuhao smiled. "It's produced in the Sun Moon Empire, a life-saving soul guidance device. This one is level 5.5. Once triggered, even a high-level Soul Douluo can't break it in three seconds under normal conditions, though resisting stronger opponents consumes more soul power."
"Why are you giving me this?" Ma Xiaotao laughed. "Don't you trust my strength?"
"I do," Huo Yuhao said solemnly. "But I hope with this shield, you can better protect yourself. Soul masters always get injured. No one has an easy life forever. I don't want to see you hurt."
Meeting Huo Yuhao's sincere, oddly colored gaze, Ma Xiaotao's eyes flickered. She lowered her gaze to the Invincible Shield, pursed her lips, then reached out and took it with a light laugh.
"Okay, I'll listen to you."
Seeing Ma Xiaotao carefully put away the Invincible Shield, Huo Yuhao breathed a sigh of relief. "By the way, Jie, I have one more favor to ask."
Huo Yuhao then produced the black Millennium Whale Gel. "This is whale gel. I got it from the Treasure Appreciation Pavilion. You'll need fire to soften it."
"Leave it to me." Ma Xiaotao took the whale gel. Her eyes instantly glowed crimson as terrifying Phoenix flames erupted from her palms, enveloping the whale gel in scorching heat.
Soon, the black surface gradually receded, revealing golden light within. When the last bit of black vanished, the whale gel's true form appeared.
It resembled dark-golden jelly, exuding a faint fragrance.
"Hmm, this whale gel is unusual."
Ma Xiaotao was slightly surprised, watching the gel float in her palm.
"It's a Millennium Whale Gel," Huo Yuhao explained. "But the seller treated it as inferior, so I got a bargain."
Hearing this, Ma Xiaotao couldn't help but laugh. "That person lost big. A Millennium Whale Gel could easily sell for 200,000 gold soul coins."
"This stuff is hot. I'll feed it to you."
A subtle glint appeared in Ma Xiaotao's eyes. Without waiting for Huo Yuhao to react, she tore a small piece of whale gel and held it to his mouth.
Huo Yuhao froze. Ma Xiaotao said, "Eat. Why aren't you eating?"
Facing Ma Xiaotao's stunning beauty, Huo Yuhao instinctively opened his mouth, touching her warm fingers as he did.
The whale gel instantly transformed into exquisite energy upon entering his body. Huo Yuhao felt his body greedily absorbing the energy.
Ma Xiaotao continued to feed him piece by piece, and Huo Yuhao absorbed it all.
By the last bite, Huo Yuhao's body started heating up, his vital energy stirred by the whale gel's energy.
He could clearly feel a sense of comfort, like soaking in a bath after extreme fatigue.
But the sensation didn't last long. Huo Yuhao's vision blurred slightly, and he felt his body behaving unusually.
Clearly, the aphrodisiac effect of the whale gel had taken effect.
"What's wrong?" Ma Xiaotao asked, a sly glint in her eyes.
"Nothing, the whale gel just has side effects. I brought medicine to dispel it." Huo Yuhao took out a medicine to balance excess yang energy.
He wouldn't use the whale gel as an excuse to offend Ma Xiaotao, so he had prepared in advance. Unlike the original story.
"Slap." Just as Huo Yuhao was about to take the medicine, Ma Xiaotao quickly grabbed his hand holding it.
"Jie?"
Huo Yuhao froze. The next moment, his pupils dilated, as if shocked.
Ma Xiaotao's eyes glowed a deep crimson. Her stunning face was close. Before Huo Yuhao could react, Ma Xiaotao leaned down.
In an instant, their lips met.
Huo Yuhao's uncontrolled left hand instinctively wrapped around Ma Xiaotao's soft waist.
Slowly, his hand slid down, but the deep crimson in Ma Xiaotao's eyes gradually faded. She lightly bit Huo Yuhao.
The pain immediately snapped Huo Yuhao awake. Ma Xiaotao lifted her head again.
A blush touched her face, but she feigned calm. "When I refined the whale gel, I accidentally absorbed some of its aura. I fell for it too. Don't worry, this makes us even."
She stepped aside and returned to her bedroom. As the door closed, she said, "Go to sleep early."
The living room fell silent. Huo Yuhao sat there until the unusual sensation intensified. He then sensed a cold energy surge in his body, suppressing the heat, and swallowed the medicine.
The medicine crafted by Elder Zhuang was exceptional; within seconds, Huo Yuhao felt the abnormal sensation subside.
He ran his left thumb over his lips, glanced at the closed door, and smiled lightly.
Inside her bedroom, where Huo Yuhao couldn't see, Ma Xiaotao leaned against the door, breathing heavily. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, cheeks flushed, but she frowned. "Oh no, did I scare Yuhao with my actions just now?"
"Ma Xiaotao, Ma Xiaotao, your courage is too much," she muttered to herself.
This night was destined to be unforgettable. Huo Yuhao couldn't sleep and decided to meditate instead.
By morning, the siblings met again, both appearing calm, as if last night's indulgence had been forgotten.
Their tacit understanding was perfect.
"Jie, I'm heading back to the outer academy." Huo Yuhao finished packing.
"Mm, remember to eat breakfast." Ma Xiaotao adjusted his uniform collar.
At the outer academy,
Huo Yuhao found Wang Dong eating breakfast alone in the cafeteria, seeming upset, cutting meat into pieces as if dealing with an enemy.
"This meat upset you?" Huo Yuhao asked, sitting across from him.
Wang Dong looked up, startled, and his chopsticks missed their mark, stabbing his own left hand.
"Ah!" Wang Dong yelled.
Huo Yuhao: "..."
Shaking his hand, Wang Dong rolled his eyes. "People can scare people to death, didn't you know?"
"Thanks for the reminder. Got it for next time." Huo Yuhao quickly ate breakfast.
Seeing him devour his food, Wang Dong frowned and tentatively asked, "Where did you go last night?"
"Handling some things," Huo Yuhao replied casually.
"Important matters or… not-so-important matters?" Wang Dong continued.
Huo Yuhao paused, then tapped Wang Dong's head lightly with his chopsticks. "Obviously important. What do you think about all day?"
"Why are you hitting me? Ow!" Wang Dong quickly protected his head.
"Wang Dong."
Suddenly, a fierce voice sounded.
Wang Dong turned to see Xiao Xiao standing there.
"Morning, Xiao Xiao." Wang Dong smiled awkwardly.
"Hmph." Xiao Xiao snorted but sat beside him.
"I'm sorry. Forgive me?" Wang Dong quickly apologized.
"If you have the class monitor treat me to a grilled fish, I'll forgive you," Xiao Xiao said playfully.
"Grilled fish?" Wang Dong blinked.
Xiao Xiao's face twisted. "The class monitor's grilled fish was unforgettable, but I didn't want to trouble him, so I never asked."
Huo Yuhao couldn't help but smile. "That's no trouble. I can arrange it."
"Hehe, class monitor is the best." Xiao Xiao's face brightened.
After breakfast, the three went to class. The day passed quietly, and students relaxed after lessons.
At Shrek Academy, it wasn't the abundance of geniuses that was frightening—it was that the geniuses worked harder than you. This left few students willing to slack, everyone racing to keep up.
Wang Yan put down his lesson plan. "Core disciple students stay behind. We'll head to the Dou Soul Area later."
Upon hearing this, everyone in Class One looked at Huo Yuhao and the others.
This batch of core disciples was exceptionally large, nearly a century's record. Class One alone had ten.
Class Two had only Xie Huanyue, Class Three Ning Tian, and Class Four none.
A total of twelve core disciples—almost the combined number of third and fourth grades.
Exiting the classroom, Class One's gaze soon met Classes Two and Three. Compared to Class One's crowd, they seemed isolated.
Class Two's Xie Huanyue, Class Three's Ning Tian—none else.
"Xiao Tian." Wu Feng ran joyfully to Ning Tian, and the sisters immediately hugged.
Wang Yan greeted the homeroom teachers of Classes Two and Three, and the students followed the three teachers toward the Dou Soul Area.
The Dou Soul Area was under Academy control, not yet open for sparring.
Shortly after Huo Yuhao arrived, more students entered.
First, third and fourth grade students he didn't recognize, then fifth graders in black uniforms—only Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan were age-eligible; no sixth graders.
Twenty-five core disciples in total.
Except for Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan, no one was at four rings.
"Yuhao." Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi approached.
"How's it going?" Huo Yuhao asked Xu Sanshi.
Xu Sanshi said helplessly, "Because of the selection match, my leave wasn't approved, but I wrote a letter to arrange things."
Huo Yuhao nodded.
"Want to cooperate later?" Bei Bei asked. He knew what the selection match entailed.
Huo Yuhao considered—were the reserve team members the same as the original story?
It depended on him. If he cooperated with Bei Bei, he'd include Jiang Nannan.
He and Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao were friends; he wouldn't leave them out.
That made six people; still needed one more…
He didn't plan to bring Zhu Lu to the Star Luo Empire; she'd be better in the next competition.
As Huo Yuhao pondered, a male student entered the Dou Soul Area alone—He Caitou.
Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered. This time, he'd work to prevent the main team's heavy losses. The reserve team was probably just filler.
"Cooperate." Huo Yuhao said.
Bei Bei patted his shoulder. "We're three, you're three. You can add one more. You decide."
"Okay." Huo Yuhao nodded.
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi returned to their class team.
He Caitou also noticed Huo Yuhao and nodded with a smile.
He'd helped Huo Yuhao a lot recently, mainly with forging issues.
"Good, everyone's here."
Suddenly, a staggering figure appeared. Left hand holding a big chicken leg, right hand a large wine jug, eating and drinking leisurely.
Who else but "Total Annihilation Engine" Xuan Zi?
Despite his sloppy appearance, his eyes were sharp, scanning all students.
All teachers showed respect to Xuan Zi.
"Follow me inside. The sooner it's done, the sooner it ends." He drank, swaying, and entered the Dou Soul Area.
Few students knew him, staring in surprise.
This drunk is also from Shrek?
Of course, they only dared ask themselves.
All core disciples followed their homeroom teachers into the Dou Soul Area. Huo Yuhao also indicated cooperation to He Caitou.
He Caitou, knowing what the selection match meant, accepted without hesitation.
....
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