"Do you believe this old lady will take you down with me?" Ma Xiaotao said, seeing Huo Yuhao sizing her up with a lecherous look. She couldn't help but grit her silver teeth and threaten him.
"Whatever," Huo Yuhao shrugged. "If you can do it, you might as well give it a try."
Seeing this guy was completely impervious to persuasion, Ma Xiaotao really wanted to bite him to death. Towards Huo Yuhao, she always held an extremely complex emotion. Firstly, it was because of this guy that she had fallen into the hands of the Holy Ghost Cult. However, this guy had not taken the opportunity to possess her, but had instead used his strange ability to awaken her martial soul without regard for the cost. Afterward, he had even reminded her that she would be released by the Holy Ghost Cult, preventing her, with her fiery temper, from perishing in the evil soul masters' lair.
To call him a benefactor, he had completely solved the problem of her evil fire for her. From this life onwards, her path was smooth.
To call him an enemy, he had made her a woman in the illusion of her martial soul awakening. And clearly, he knew that the Holy Ghost Cult would release her under the pressure of the Light and Dark twin dragons, yet he had planted a spiritual brand on her. Even a Limit Douluo like Mu En couldn't discover the existence of the brand in her body.
"Sister Xiaotao, you've come at the right time. I have something I need your help with," Huo Yuhao stopped teasing her. The reason he had planted the brand on Ma Xiaotao in the first place was in the hope of having a bargaining chip of equal standing when he came to Shrek Academy in the future. "I need a soul bone. A spatial-attribute soul bone of over ten thousand years."
"You wish. How can a ten-thousand-year spatial-attribute soul bone be so easy to find?" Ma Xiaotao thought for a moment, then shook her head. Not to mention that spatial-attribute soul bones were expensive, their existence itself was quite rare.
"I believe the inner court will have one in its collection. And I'm not in a hurry either," Huo Yuhao grinned, but Ma Xiaotao understood that as long as she couldn't find that so-called spatial-attribute soul bone, he would not let her escape his control.
Ma Xiaotao shot him an annoyed glare. That expression was full of charm, and coupled with her current wet-look temptation, it almost made Huo Yuhao's nose bleed.
"By the way, how dare you come to our Shrek? Aren't you afraid I'll leak the news of you being the Holy Son of the Holy Ghost Cult and have you arrested?" Ma Xiaotao threatened hatefully.
"Damn! Am I not just like you, having fallen into the hands of the Holy Ghost Cult?" Huo Yuhao rarely swore, saying without his face flushing or his breath catching, "You have no idea how much torture I suffered in the Holy Ghost Cult this past year! How much effort did I spend to run out and come to the glorious Shrek to seek asylum!"
Of course, it was impossible for Ma Xiaotao to know what kind of "torture" Huo Yuhao was talking about. Although that kind of torture was something any man would want.
"They don't value you that much? They just let you run to the academy without even a guard?" Ma Xiaotao looked at Huo Yuhao's eyes suspiciously, as if trying to confirm if he was lying.
"Ahem, they did send one..." Huo Yuhao touched his nose in embarrassment. "A situation came up, and I shook her off." Mmm, if I'm lucky, she should be gestating back in the Holy Ghost Cult...
Although Ma Xiaotao didn't completely believe this guy's nonsense, she indeed had a weakness in his hands right now. As the direct disciple of the martial soul department's dean, Yan Shaozhe, she still had the qualification to choose some things from the inner court's treasure pavilion and take them away.
"Class Nine, right? I'll come find you again in a while with the soul bone."
Ma Xiaotao flew away without looking back. She was a fire-attribute soul master; a small matter like wet clothes was no trouble for her. In contrast, Huo Yuhao had a lot more trouble. It was already time for class; he could only return to his residence the way he came to change his clothes.
...
When Wu Feng and the other two girls returned to the villa, Huo Yuhao, who hadn't gone to class all day, was on the first floor, fiddling with the Purple Cloud Eagle carcass he had bought from the Bone-Gambling Hall that day.
Although Bibi Dong could sense a strange energy fluctuation coming from the carcass, the energy was too weak, so Huo Yuhao hadn't paid much attention to it. To him, the biggest gain that day was instead Xie Huanyue's friendship.
"What are you doing? Why didn't you go to class all day?" The moment Wu Feng came back, she flopped onto the sofa without any regard for her image, her explosive curves extremely eye-catching.
"Hehe, isn't this to prepare for the upcoming new student assessment?" Huo Yuhao smiled mysteriously and beckoned to the three girls. "I have a big baby to give you. Come and see who is more suitable."
"What good thing?" Ning Tian immediately became interested. After spending a few days together, they all knew that this Huo Yuhao had very high standards. Something that could be called a good thing by him was definitely not an ordinary item.
The three girls gathered around and saw Huo Yuhao forcefully break off a pair of wings from a soul beast carcass. A faint energy was flowing on them.
"This is... a soul bone?" Ning Tian immediately exclaimed in surprise. The importance of a soul bone to a soul master was self-evident. To use the words of a great wet-master from ten thousand years ago, when facing an enemy, if you have many rings and many bones, you unleash a wave of skills. If you have few rings and few bones, you turn tail and run.
Another difference between a soul bone and a soul ring was that it didn't need to be used by the one who killed the soul beast. After obtaining a soul bone, it could even be sold, and one could buy the required soul bone in some special places. Any soul bone, no matter how ordinary, was priceless, and the supply could not meet the demand.
Generally speaking, only a soul beast that was extremely powerful and experienced some special circumstances at the time of death could possibly produce a soul bone after death. It was not like every soul beast would produce a soul ring. Therefore, soul bones became extremely rare and extremely precious.
A soul bone was almost entirely a soul beast's soul core. After death, it would become the most characteristic part of its former life. For example, for a spiritual-type soul beast, it would most likely be the head; for a power-type, it would most likely be the arms; for a speed-type, it would most likely be the legs; and for one with strong comprehensive strength, it would be the torso bone. Generally speaking, it was very difficult for a soul beast without a soul core to provide a soul bone. Of course, if it was a soul beast with a slightly higher bloodline level, it was possible for it to produce a soul bone without having cultivated to become a ten-thousand-year soul beast.
"Heavens, it's a flying-type external soul bone!" Nanmen Yun'er also saw what this pair of wings was. If an ordinary soul bone's upper limit was determined by the soul beast's age, then this external soul bone could be said to continuously grow as the soul master became stronger! This was the most special and also the rarest type of soul bone, a special existence besides the six major types of soul bones. Its preciousness was almost comparable to a top-tier soul bone. In the world of soul masters, it was second only to a hundred-thousand-year soul ring for a soul master.
The most special thing about an external soul bone was that it would evolve along with the improvement of its owner's soul power. Therefore, the earlier one absorbed an external soul bone, the better. If the probability of an ordinary soul bone appearing from a soul beast was one in a thousand, then the probability of an external soul bone appearing was not even one in ten thousand.
As a flying-type beast martial soul soul master, she knew very well what the ability to fly meant for a soul master below the Titled Douluo level who could not fly.
"This is too precious!"
"It's a mere external soul bone," Huo Yuhao waved his hand. Seeing the three girls all looking like they wanted it but were too embarrassed to say so, he felt very amused. There was only one pair of Purple Cloud Wings. If given to Wu Feng, it could solve her problem of poor mobility due to being unable to fly. If given to Ning Tian, with the ability to fly, she could protect herself well in a chaotic battle. If given to Nanmen Yun'er, her speed could go up another level.
"Yuhao, you decide," because of her excitement, Ning Tian's little face became extremely rosy, but she knew this was Huo Yuhao's thing. Rather than them making a decision, it was better to let him decide for them. At the same time, it could also show who he cared about more in his heart...
"You are all my girlfriends. Just distribute it according to your abilities. When I have the chance in the future, I'll give you a few more soul bones," Huo Yuhao waved his hand, looking like a rich man who didn't care about money.
"Pah, who's your girlfriend!" The three girls all blushed and spat lightly in unison.
"Do you think soul bones are cabbages on the street?"
"Hahaha, I'm going to sleep. You guys figure it out," Huo Yuhao didn't like to make the choice himself. That would be unfair to the other two girls.
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao put his arms behind his head and walked towards the second floor.
The three girls looked at each other in dismay. A flying-type external soul bone that was even rarer than a ten-thousand-year soul bone, this guy just gave it to the three of them like that? Thinking of him saying the three of them were his girlfriends, the three girls' pretty faces couldn't help but turn even redder.
That night, Huo Yuhao felt that his land of softness was even more beautiful. Ning Tian and Nanmen Yun'er both cast aside their reserve and pounced into his arms before he had even fallen asleep. The direct Wu Feng even came over wearing only a piece of lingerie and hugged him. Through the thin fabric, he could completely feel the delicate skin hidden behind it. No wonder the emperors of successive dynasties didn't like to attend morning court. So this was the reason.
...
Three months passed.
Unlike the development in the original work, Huo Yuhao did not get two Xuan Water Pills from Xu Sanshi, nor did he get a Soul Ascension Pill from the elders of the Sea God Pavilion. The reason was that he believed that forcibly increasing his soul power or squeezing his potential with external objects was nothing but a dead end.
There were no so-called alchemists in this world, so those pills that were just a crude mixture of medicinal herbs, Huo Yuhao was determined not to eat.
Unless the legendary Senior Xiao Huohuo from the Treasure Gathering Pavilion, who was famous for his alchemy, was still alive, Huo Yuhao wouldn't mind learning the art of alchemy from him.
Under Mu Jin's targeted guidance, the overall strength of Class Nine could be said to have advanced by leaps and bounds.
If one were to say who was the student in Class Nine who had changed the least in these three months, then, without a doubt, it was Huo Yuhao.
When he had just enrolled, his soul power was already as high as level twenty-nine, at the forefront of the class, and his spiritual power was undoubtedly the best in the entire class.
However, three months later today, Huo Yuhao had completely changed. He looked idle all day long, only listening to half of the class before his mind would wander off. And because his soul power had not improved, he had already been surpassed by several classmates.
This made Mu Jin extremely disappointed. Even Ning Tian and the other two girls who lived with him were surprised at the speed of his improvement. They clearly felt that Huo Yuhao, who slept every day, was absorbing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth and life energy. How could his soul power not have improved at all?
And unlike the Huo Yuhao in the original work who joined the soul tool department to study, the Huo Yuhao of this life didn't even have the intention of stepping into the soul tool department's gate, let alone becoming an outstanding soul tool master.
However, even so, Mu Jin could still feel that Huo Yuhao was becoming more and more unfathomable. Especially in his foundation, the degree of condensation of Huo Yuhao's soul power was something that even she, a Soul King-level teacher, could not compare to.
On the other side, Huo Yuhao learned that because Wang Dong had joined the Tang Sect, she often gathered with Bei Bei and Tang Ya, and incidentally brought along a Xiao Xiao who was infatuated with her. And Xu Sanshi, who was influenced by the Tang Buddha's divine sense, would also occasionally gather with the few of them to eat, drink, and have fun.
Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, these two twin martial soul genius new students, were highly appreciated by Zhou Yi. Therefore, the few of them also got to know He Caitou, a disciple of Zhou Yi's husband, Fan Yu, from the soul tool department. Although Jiang Nannan still maintained a cool and indifferent attitude towards Xu Sanshi, her relationship with Tang Ya was still extremely good. If you included Tang Ya, the seven monsters of this generation from the original work could be considered to be all gathered.
After class this day, Huo Yuhao finally received the news about Ma Xiaotao that he had been longing for.