"Wh-what dual cultivation are you talking about!" Wang Dong loudly corrected: "It's cultivation!"
"What's the difference? Isn't it still two people cultivating together?" Huo Yuhao scratched his head.
"Don't worry about it! It's cultivation, that's all!"
"Oh."
Huo Yuhao was not someone who talked much.
When he arrived at the bathhouse and swept his eyes around, he found that with all the pathways leading everywhere, there wasn't really a suitable place.
So, he simply flew up to the rooftop, and with Wang Dong, began dual cultivation.
This time there was no enormous cocoon from the Skydream Iceworm, so the amplification efficiency had dropped somewhat, but it was still around seventy percent.
After an hour and a half of noon rest, Huo Yuhao had already turned into a "dirty dog," his body surface full of black spots, even giving off a pungent odor.
This made Wang Dong dislike it so much that he kept rubbing his own body, then hurriedly flew back to the dormitory to take a bath.
Huo Yuhao glanced at the bathhouse below, then at Wang Dong's departing figure.
Just thinking about how Wang Dong would get flustered and furious just from him seeing him bathing—it was obvious he was not used to an open-style bathhouse.
"You guessed wrong!" Zhuge Lan chuckled: "It's because Wang Dong can only enter the female bathhouse, so of course she wouldn't come!"
"This blockhead's reactions are really slow." The Skydream Iceworm ridiculed: "If it were someone a little smarter, they would have long realized that Wang Dong was female, right?"
"Well, he's only eleven years old, still very ignorant about the difference of men and women." Zhuge Lan said.
During the conversation, Huo Yuhao finished bathing, and like a lotus emerging fresh from the water, he walked toward the classroom.
A fiery red silhouette descended from the sky.
"Little Yuhao, so you're here. I've been looking all around for you." Ma Xiaotao raised her eyebrows: "After a bath you look even prettier. Why aren't you my little junior sister instead?"
Huo Yuhao's face froze awkwardly, speechless.
"Alright, alright, I won't tease you."
With a lift of her hand, a pile of fruits as tall as a person appeared in front of her.
Their skin was gray-brown, and they gave off a fresh grassy fragrance.
"Here, these are hundred-year grade Vajra Arhat Fruits, the best in Shrek's storage. I'll divide some for you."
"My teacher has already sent people to collect better ones, I'll give you another share when the time comes."
"That's it, I'm off to cultivate!"
With a flap of her fiery red wings, she flew away.
"Ah, wait a moment!" Huo Yuhao called out: "I want to bring my classmates all into the Holy Flame Meow Meow Sect. Teacher Zhou asked me to talk with you about it."
Ma Xiaotao hovered in midair, looking down on Huo Yuhao from above.
This made Huo Yuhao's face turn red, lowering his head, not daring to look—because from this angle, he could see under Ma Xiaotao's short skirt... her safety shorts.
Even though there were safety shorts, those long white legs still dazzled his eyes.
"Oh? Little Yuhao has grown up, huh." Ma Xiaotao teased: "Recruiting so many people at once, did the Holy Flame Sect give you a quota?"
"No, not really." Huo Yuhao said sincerely: "It's just that my classmates' physiques are too weak, and I want to teach them the Muscle Transformation Manual. For that, they must join the sect."
A question mark slowly formed above Ma Xiaotao's head.
Wasn't it because of her special talent, that joining the sect let her learn the Muscle Transformation Manual?
So this thing could be handed out wholesale?
"You're sure this can be spread so widely?" Ma Xiaotao confirmed again.
"Mm, yes!" Huo Yuhao affirmed: "I've already received Brother Lan's... permission."
"Brother Lan?" Ma Xiaotao caught on to the key point: "So that's the superior who brought you into the Holy Flame Sect? Has he been to Shrek Academy? Did he mention wanting to meet me?"
Huo Yuhao felt like slapping his own mouth—why did he let it slip so quickly.
He was just about to find an excuse when—
"Promise her." Zhuge Lan said: "Tell her that in the next few days, I will let you summon her over, and leave direct contact information."
Huo Yuhao relayed this truthfully.
Ma Xiaotao took out a fiery red stone.
"Inject soul power into this and throw it into the sky, and within three minutes I'll arrive. As for your matter of spreading the Muscle Transformation Manual, I'll go ask my teacher about it."
"Anything else?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head.
Ma Xiaotao turned and flew away, and only when she was far did Huo Yuhao dare raise his head again.
He stored away the Vajra Arhat Fruits, but before walking far, he was blocked by Zhou Yi.
"For these few days, don't come to class temporarily..."
"Ah? Why?" Huo Yuhao asked anxiously: "Did I do something wrong? I can change!"
Zhou Yi truly hadn't expected that Huo Yuhao's reaction would be this big.
"Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong. It's just that you should first absorb the soul bone Ma Xiaotao gave you."
"Also tell Wang Dong that he doesn't need to come class temporarily either. Since you two have fusion soul power, it can help you absorb faster, and also increase your compatibility."
Huo Yuhao let out a sigh of relief, but then frowned again.
"Teacher Zhou, this soul bone is..."
"Don't worry, just absorb it, there will be no problem." Zhou Yi guaranteed: "After you finish absorbing, come find me once. I have a surprise for you."
Huo Yuhao still wasn't completely at ease.
After all, that was a soul bone!
And a fifty-thousand-year head soul bone, incomparably precious! To just absorb it like this...
Seeing this, Zhou Yi immediately put on a stern face.
"What, you won't even listen to what your teacher says?"
"No, that's not it..."
"If I tell you to go back and absorb it, then you go back and absorb it. Do you think your teacher would harm you?" Zhou Yi lectured: "Being cautious is good, but you cannot lose the decisiveness you should have!"
Seeing Zhou Yi's firm attitude, Huo Yuhao could only swallow down his worries.
"I understand, Teacher Zhou..."
"Mm, go on."
"Oh right, Teacher Zhou, about the cultivation method, I've already told Sister Xiaotao."
"I know." Zhou Yi replied, and dismissed him.
Huo Yuhao turned and walked toward the dormitory, while in his spiritual world he was still tangled in thought.
"Brother Lan, Brother Tianmeng..."
"Hold it in." Zhuge Lan cut him off: "Do you know how much Fortune Points it costs me to materialize a fifty-thousand-year soul bone?"
"Uh... one hundred thousand?" Huo Yuhao guessed boldly.
"It's fifty thousand Fortune Points." Zhuge Lan opened his palm: "One Fortune Points equals one year of age, and can equally create soul bones and soul rings. So this Emerald Spirit Phantom Eye skull, just absorb it. If that Yan Shaozhe really dares to come ask for it back, worst case I'll make him a new one."
Huo Yuhao's mouth fell open.
Huh?
That little?
One must know, for him and Zhuge Lan to awaken Spiritual Power, it had taken a total of two hundred thousand Fortune Points.
Didn't that mean...
"Little Yuhao, don't tell me you think fifty thousand Fortune Points is very little?" The Skydream Iceworm slanted his eyes at him: "The Muscle Transformation Manual that changed both your and Ma Xiaotao's destinies was only worth five thousand Fortune Points, you know."
Huo Yuhao rubbed his temples.
Right!
The Muscle Transformation Manual · First Stage, was only five thousand Fortune Points.
His current balance was just barely over two thousand Fortune Points. On what basis was he thinking that fifty thousand Fortune Points was small?
It was only because he had recently gotten a string of large Fortune Points deposits, making him relax his guard...
"I understand now." Huo Yuhao said seriously.
He withdrew from his spiritual world, activating Spiritual Detection as he headed toward the dormitory.
"Don't foolishly spread your spiritual power evenly." Zhuge Lan instructed: "Spiritual Power itself comes with scanning ability, and combined with soul skills, it's like adding wings to a tiger. By condensing it into a fan-shape, or a single-line scan, you can increase straight-line distance and intensity."
Huo Yuhao did as he was told.
And immediately discovered that once condensed, his detection radius skyrocketed tenfold, soaring straight past two hundred meters.
"Eh?"