Xie Yue, Hu Liena, Yan

Xie Yue, Hu Liena, Yan

Dusk.

When Huo Yuhao returned to Spirit Hall.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the receptionist asked with a gentle smile.

She naturally remembered the plainly dressed boy who had come to register that morning. Though he looked very young, he possessed a rather unique aura that made people feel at ease and unable to resist drawing close.

"Hello, I have something here. Could you help me find an appraiser?" Huo Yuhao took a cloth bag from behind his back, placed it on the counter, and asked politely.

"Certainly, please wait a moment."

As Huo Yuhao waited in the main hall, Spirit Hall promptly sent out a middle-aged man dressed in yellow Spirit Hall robes. He was a Three Rings Soul Elder.

Huo Yuhao exchanged polite greetings with him.

As an appraiser, the Yellow-Clad Man naturally had a discerning eye and had developed a habit of observing people.

The moment he met Huo Yuhao, he could not help but feel puzzled.

This kid looked so young and immature. Why did everything he did exude confidence? His gaze showed neither avoidance nor fear. He did not seem like a child who could have been raised by an ordinary commoner family.

"Hello, what would you like appraised?" The Yellow-Clad Man treated him quite well.

In this day and age, Soul Masters held high status. Anything was possible.

The person you looked down on today might become your colleague tomorrow, then your superior the day after.

Huo Yuhao opened the cloth bag, revealing a pitch-black metal object.

"A crossbow?" The Yellow-Clad Man sounded slightly surprised as he looked at the metal crossbow with three parallel firing slots.

"This crossbow is quite powerful. You can give it a try." Huo Yuhao raised a hand and brushed the tip of his nose.

The Yellow-Clad Man immediately instructed the Maids to prepare testing equipment.

Huo Yuhao waited there and ate a few sweets.

Even the Yellow-Clad Man himself was astonished by the final test results.

This thing could actually penetrate steel plates?

That meant that, at close enough range, it could effectively pierce even the armor of the Elite Knight Legion.

He returned to the main hall and saw the plainly dressed boy setting down the Mung Bean Cake in his hand. The Yellow-Clad Man merely smiled knowingly.

"At what price would you like to sell this crossbow?" The Yellow-Clad Man sat on the sofa, spreading his hands with a smile.

"One hundred Gold Soul Coins," Huo Yuhao said.

For him, earning some money for travel expenses was necessary.

Rather than walking, he preferred taking a carriage. It would be even better if there were Soul Master Teams protecting him along the way.

The Yellow-Clad Man weighed it in his mind. The price for a single item was somewhat high, but if they could disassemble it, study the blueprints, and replicate or modify it, it would absolutely be worth the cost.

"The price is no problem. Little friend, are you interested in joining our Spirit Hall?" the Yellow-Clad Man asked with a smile.

At that moment, three figures walked into Spirit Hall from outside.

Huo Yuhao took the opportunity to look up. When he saw who had arrived, he could not help but feel surprised.

It was them? What a coincidence.

When the Yellow-Clad Man saw the three people entering from outside, he immediately rose and went forward to greet them, his attitude exceedingly respectful.

Huo Yuhao also stood up and moved to the side, his gaze falling on the Black Skirt Girl.

The Black Skirt Girl also noticed the plainly dressed boy behind the Yellow-Clad Man, and a hint of surprise appeared on her face as well.

"Hello." The Black Skirt Girl smiled warmly.

Huo Yuhao smiled and nodded in response.

The Yellow-Clad Man's expression stiffened slightly.

This boy actually knew them?!

Yan, standing beside them, could not help but snort.

"What are you doing here, kid?"

He naturally remembered that this fellow was the boy who had asked Na'er for directions that morning. Even if he needed help with something, there was no way he would have stayed at Spirit Hall from morning until night.

Huo Yuhao turned and glanced at the crossbow on the table, then smiled and shrugged.

Hu Liena's attention was immediately drawn to the black crossbow on the table.

"One hundred Gold Soul Coins? Why don't you just rob people?" After Yan heard the full story, his temper flared at once.

The Yellow-Clad Man felt somewhat embarrassed, but he did not dare argue.

Xie Yue picked up the black metal crossbow beside him and played with it. Discovering that it had no string, he could not help but feel surprised.

He had seen through some of it. He guessed that the hundred Gold Soul Coins were not merely for the item itself, but likely included the blueprints and the value of disassembling it for improvement insights.

"Could you introduce what is special about this crossbow?" Xie Yue looked at Huo Yuhao, his tone quite calm.

Hu Liena took the crossbow from her brother's hand. Her dark eyes looked at Huo Yuhao, flickering with curiosity.

"This thing is a bit more powerful than an ordinary crossbow," Huo Yuhao said.

"Heh, that's it?" Yan practically sneered in his face. To put it simply, he found this kid unpleasant, especially since Na'er seemed rather interested in him.

"This crossbow can penetrate a three-inch steel plate within a hundred paces..." The Yellow-Clad Man carefully observed the expressions of the three important figures before him.

Yan's arrogant tone came to an abrupt halt, and a trace of astonishment appeared on his face.

Xie Yue and Hu Liena were also somewhat shocked.

It was that powerful?

Huo Yuhao remained calm.

The first-generation version of this thing could kill an unguarded Four Ring Soul Elder alone. Please do not take it personally.

"May I ask what you need so many Gold Soul Coins for?" Hu Liena asked.

She saw that this boy had no one to rely on, and his Soul Power had reached a bottleneck. He was likely saving Gold Soul Coins to hire Soul Masters to help him hunt a Soul Ring.

She thought so much of it because she and her brother had gone through something similar when they were young.

Huo Yuhao thought, Judging by how the three of them and the Yellow-Clad Man treated each other, it was not hard to guess that they were elites of Spirit Hall's younger generation. At the very least, they were outstanding figures. They should have some authority, and perhaps they could be useful to me.

"I'm planning to make a trip to Sunset Forest," Huo Yuhao said frankly.

"To hunt a Soul Ring?" Hu Liena pressed.

Xie Yue raised an eyebrow at that.

"Sunset Forest is one of the three greatest Soul Beast gathering grounds in the world, on par with Star Dou Great Forest and Icebound Forest. Are you sure you want to go somewhere so dangerous for your First Soul Ring?"

Huo Yuhao raised a hand and tapped his brow, releasing his Spiritual Eye Martial Soul.

"My Martial Soul is rather special. It is a Body Soul - Eye. Only Spirit-type Soul Beasts are compatible with it."

"A Body Soul?" Yan was somewhat surprised.

"It is a Martial Soul that is one's body, or a certain part of one's body," Huo Yuhao explained.

It seemed that Body Souls were rather rare in this era, and the concept had yet to become widespread.

Upon hearing this, Hu Liena immediately thought of an elder from Spirit Hall.

His Martial Soul was his own soul. It was neither an external tool Martial Soul nor a beast Martial Soul that possessed the body, nor was it something that manipulated external objects like plants or elements.

A Body Soul? That was quite a new concept.

"So, you want to spend money to hire people to take you to Sunset Forest and hunt your First Soul Ring?" Hu Liena asked.

"More or less," Huo Yuhao said.

Xie Yue and Yan both noticed something, and their gazes immediately fell on Hu Liena.

"As it happens, I also need to hunt a Soul Ring. Would you be willing to travel with us? As payment, you will need to give us one hundred Gold Soul Coins." Hu Liena took the initiative to invite him.

Xie Yue found it somewhat abrupt and signaled her with his eyes.

"Hey, hey." Yan could not hold back any longer. What was going on?

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly. "Thank you."

Hu Liena was not yet the Holy Maiden of Spirit Hall.