"My name is Gu Yuejin, and this is my... well, I suppose you could call him my disciple, Huo Yuhao."
Gu Yuejin returned her greeting with a polite, charming smile. Only then did he turn toward a pile of snow not far away, as if he'd just remembered something.
Under Meng Hongchen's puzzled gaze, he reached out and "dug" a stiff, frost-covered boy out of the snow like he was pulling up a radish.
"Pfft—"
Huo Yuhao spat out a mouthful of snow mixed with ice chips. Shivering like a leaf, he stared at his master with a deeply aggrieved expression.
"Ma-Master, if you'd taken any longer to remember me, your disciple would've really turned into an ice sculpture..."
He'd been following right behind Gu Yuejin when a fight suddenly broke out ahead. Before he knew it, he'd been caught in the crossfire and buried in the snow.
If he hadn't already fused with the Ice and Snow Empresses, he might've been done for.
Sigh.
He was utterly exhausted, body and soul.
"Ahem, this is called 'extreme-environment endurance training.'"
Gu Yuejin made up a story with a perfectly straight face, feeling not the slightest bit guilty about using his disciple as a tool. He casually brushed the snow off Huo Yuhao's head. "Young people should endure a little hardship. It's good for the body."
"Disciple?"
Meng Hongchen's beautiful, wine-red eyes widened, and her mouth fell open slightly. Her gaze darted back and forth between Gu Yuejin and Huo Yuhao.
"But... Brother Gu Yue, you look only eighteen or nineteen!"
"To take on a disciple at that age? That's just..."
Absolutely ridiculous.
In the Soul Master World, eighteen was the golden age for cultivation. Soul Masters wished they could split every minute in half just to spend more time meditating.
Who had the free time to look after a deadweight disciple?
Unless they were some old monster who'd hit a bottleneck or was so powerful they no longer needed to cultivate in seclusion.
But Gu Yuejin clearly wasn't the latter. As for the former... what bottleneck could someone so young possibly have?
Gu Yuejin saw her confusion but didn't explain.
He knew perfectly well that without his cheat, even with Innate Full Soul Power, he could only advance about three levels a year at most—and the farther he got, the slower he'd progress.
At that rate, he'd have to grind away for at least another eight or ten years before reaching the level of a Titled Douluo.
That sluggish pace clearly didn't fit the image of a Transmigrator.
To speed things up, his only options were his cheat or a divine inheritance.
But the Divine Realm in the second Douluo novel... well, everyone knew how that went.
The Sea God's so-called "divine position" was nothing more than a back door reserved for the Tang Family. An outsider like him didn't stand a chance.
Besides, he had no interest in being someone's puppet.
So training disciples and completing missions was the quickest, surest shortcut to leveling up.
"I just took a liking to the kid and decided to bring him along."
Gu Yuejin casually made up an excuse. "We came to the Extreme North mainly to hunt his second Soul Ring."
"His second Soul Ring?"
Meng Hongchen turned her gaze back to Huo Yuhao, sizing him up.
The boy looked a little disheveled from the cold and had dark circles under his eyes, but he had neat, delicate features and a determination in his gaze that belied his age.
He was nowhere near as devastatingly handsome as Brother Gu Yue—not by a long shot—but he was still a cute little guy.
"He looks only eleven or twelve, yet he's already a Soul Grandmaster?"
Meng Hongchen sensed the fluctuations of Soul Power around Huo Yuhao and was quietly startled. She nodded to herself.
"His talent really is excellent. He'd be one of the top students at our academy. With proper training, he could at least become a Soul Douluo someday."
"Hi there, little brother."
Meng Hongchen greeted him with a bright smile. Though she was speaking to Huo Yuhao, her gaze kept drifting toward Gu Yuejin.
Huo Yuhao: "..."
He keenly noticed the difference in how this pretty older sister treated him and his master. All he could do was force an awkward but polite smile. "H-Hello, big sister."
After a little small talk, Gu Yuejin smoothly shifted the topic to Meng Hongchen.
"By the way, Miss Meng."
"The Extreme North is full of dangers, especially the Mixed Zone, where Ten Thousand Year Soul Beasts are everywhere."
"You're a Soul Grandmaster. Why are you here all alone? Where are your family?"
At that, the lingering shyness on Meng Hongchen's face gave way to fear and lingering dread. Even her lovestruck gaze cleared considerably.
"Actually... I came with my grandfather."
"We were just looking around the outskirts while he searched for a Soul Ring for me. But we were unlucky and ran into a terrifying Soul Beast."
Meng Hongchen took a deep breath, seemingly trying to calm herself.
"It was a huge white bear, radiating a pressure comparable to that of a Titled Douluo. It was like a moving snow-capped mountain!"
"The hundred-thousand-year-old Ice Bear King, Xiao Bai!"
Gu Yuejin's thoughts stirred, and he immediately guessed who she meant. He glanced at Huo Yuhao. Sky Dream Ice Silkworm must have told him Xiao Bai's identity too. They exchanged strange looks.
"That bear was completely insane!"
Meng Hongchen patted her chest, still shaken. "The moment it saw us, its eyes turned red. It kept shouting things like 'Damn humans,' 'What have you done to the Snow Empress?' and 'Give her back—no, give my godmother back!'"
"Then it attacked without a word. The whole scene was earth-shattering."
"To protect me, my grandfather had to fight it. He took the opportunity to send me over here with a Flight Soul Tool."
"I meant to hide here for a while, but then I found this Magic Ice Flood Dragon. Its Soul Ring seemed like a perfect fit for me, so I..."
Gu Yuejin already knew what had happened after that.
So that was it.
Gu Yuejin understood. The corner of his mouth lifted in a faint smile.
It seemed that because the Snow Empress had fused with Huo Yuhao, the Aura of the former ruler of the Extreme North had completely vanished.
The loyal Ice Bear King, who thought of the Snow Empress as its mother, assumed humans had killed her, and went berserk.
In a sense, he was partly responsible for this mess.
But for Gu Yuejin, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He'd already accomplished most of what he'd come for. He'd secured the Snow Empress and Tian Meng; all that remained was the Ice Empress, who was still sulking.
And he'd already worked out what to do next.
Shrek Academy?
He couldn't stand a place so steeped in double standards and a stale, rotten atmosphere.
Besides, he still had to complete the "contrarian mission." Sending Huo Yuhao to Shrek would be asking for trouble—it'd be like serving him up to Great God King Tang on a platter.
And the Body Sect?
Although the Body Martial Soul was their specialty, the only thing there worth coveting was the inherited "Seed of the Body."
Besides, most of those people weren't very bright. They were all reckless and erratic, either fighting or on their way to a fight. A place like that wasn't suitable for a "civilized man" like him.
By comparison, the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy was unquestionably the best choice.
First, joining the Sun Moon Empire would naturally steer him away from the Original Work's plotline, which would greatly increase his mission progress.
Second, the high-end Soul Tool Technology mastered by Mingde Hall held an irresistible appeal for an ambitious young man from the twenty-first century, raised in a technological civilization.
Who could resist the temptation of piloting a giant robot and launching a nuclear bomb?
If that was the case, then the beloved granddaughter of the Hall Master of Mingde Hall standing before him was the perfect ticket in.
"Since your grandfather is tied up with the Ice Bear King, he probably won't be able to get away anytime soon."
Gu Yuejin looked at Meng Hongchen, his voice warm and reassuring. His Golden Eyes seemed to brim with starlight.
"This place is too dangerous. If you stay here alone, you might not last until he gets back."
"Why don't you... come with us?"
At those words, Meng Hongchen felt her heart skip a beat. Happiness had come far too suddenly.
"Okay! I'll go with you!"
She blurted it out almost at once, afraid Gu Yuejin might change his mind.
As for her grandfather?
Oh, her grandfather was a Titled Douluo and a Rank 9 Soul Master. He'd definitely be fine.
Besides, her grandfather would surely be delighted if she found him such a good grandson-in-law.
Before you continue