Illaoi

After attending the graduation ceremony, the school returned their Soul Master Certificates. Once they had those certificates, it was equivalent to receiving their diplomas. This time, they could truly go wherever they wanted.

Finally graduated!

Some of you might know about Soul Master Certificates—they were basically like identity cards. They served roughly the same purpose. A Soul Master Certificate recorded your identity information, martial soul, Innate Soul Power, and Soul Master Title—whether you were a Soul Master, a Soul Grandmaster, or a Soul Elder.

Many people received Soul Master subsidies from Spirit Hall, but that required testing your Soul Power Level. Once the test was complete, the information on your Soul Master Certificate would be updated. Otherwise, if you did not go to Spirit Hall, there was naturally no way to update it.

The two first went to the main branch of Little Grass Dessert Shop in Nuoding City. They might soon head to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt Spirit Rings, which meant leaving for a while. They needed to inform the manager and have her keep an eye on the shop.

This shop could now earn around one hundred Gold Soul Coins a day. That came to three thousand Gold Soul Coins a month, or thirty-six thousand Gold Soul Coins a year. The twelve branch stores had roughly similar business. In other words, he could finally earn enough in a year to buy a spirit bone. Well, perhaps still not quite enough.

How could he not take it seriously? Although he did not care much about money, without it, there really were many things he could not accomplish.

A long queue stretched outside Little Grass Dessert Shop, a rather spectacular sight. Still, it was nothing unusual, since it was like this every day. They had originally sold only Candied Hawthorn, Cotton Candy, and Shaved Ice, relying on novelty. Now they had added quite a few new products, along with many common desserts found across the continent. It was all for making money, after all.

Both the manager and the clerk were women, so the two of them could handle everything in the shop perfectly well.

The manager of the main store was named Li Qing. She was a good mother, but unfortunately, her husband had died in an accident years ago, leaving behind only the mother and child. She needed both to make a living and raise her child, so she had accepted the position of store manager.

Her martial soul was rather unusual and unsuitable for joining Soul Master teams. Why was that?

Her martial soul was a Teddy Bear, an auxiliary-type martial soul. Unfortunately, her soul skills were not particularly strong. Her First Soul Skill made people forget their troubles, her Second Soul Skill lifted their mood, and her Third Soul Skill removed a person's sense of pain—making them unable to feel pain. The effects were decent, but those were soul skills she had acquired only after becoming the manager.

Her soul skills were suited to being the manager of a dessert shop, not to joining a Soul Master team.

The line at the front entrance was immense, so they circled around to the back door and entered through there.

"Big Sister Li Qing," the two greeted her.

"Oh, who do we have here? So it's the little boss and the boss lady," manager Li Qing teased. Beside her, the clerk Zheng Yue was busy packing orders and taking payments from customers while secretly giggling.

Zheng Yue was also a Soul Master, a two-ring Food System Soul Master. She truly had an affinity with Little Grass Dessert Shop—her martial soul was candy, specifically a lollipop, one of the new products the shop had introduced years ago.

Most of the other branches had a handsome young man paired with a considerate older sister, winning over both girls and children alike. They were all Soul Masters as well. This could already be considered quite a substantial force. Some had decent talent and could go far on the path of Soul Masters. Once Chen Huang opened other businesses in the future, he could directly bring these employees over to work for him.

The employees' wages were not low. A manager earned one hundred Gold Soul Coins a month, which was quite generous. Clerks received half that amount. With high wages, it was only natural that people would stay.

When Xiao Shan heard Li Qing's teasing, her little face turned as red as an apple.

Because he constantly tempered his body and trained in Taijutsu, Chen Huang had developed very well. His nutrient solution had kept up, after all. At twelve years old, he was already one meter seventy tall and no longer looked like a child. He was strikingly heroic and robust. Girls naturally matured early as well, and Xiao Shan did not look particularly young either. That was why Li Qing had made such a joke.

Chen Huang shook his head and laughed. "Stop teasing us. We came to let you know that in a couple of days, we'll be going to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt Spirit Rings. We'll have to trouble you with the shop."

"What are you saying? I take a salary, so I ought to do my job. Even if you didn't tell me, little boss, I'd still take good care of this shop," Li Qing said with a smile.

"Alright, then we'll have to trouble you two. We'll head home first," Chen Huang said.

"Alright."

Chen Huang had money now, so he had bought a large courtyard in the city. His original intention had been to bring his parents over so they could live in the city, but they had not been willing. They were attached to their old home and enjoyed farming for themselves, so they continued living in Sacred Soul Village.

The courtyard was large and happened to serve as a base. Li Qing and Zheng Yue had dormitories arranged here as well. Even if all the employees from the other branches came for the annual gathering, there would still be enough room for everyone.

The courtyard contained every kind of training equipment imaginable, as well as a small training field. Tang Hao also stayed here for a couple of days every so often, though he spent most of his time in Sacred Soul Village. Aside from occasionally forging iron, he had basically entered the stage of being supported by his children ahead of schedule.

Chen Huang had never mentioned profit-sharing to Xiao Shan. He truly treated her as family. If she wanted spending money, how could there not be any? It could also count as her dividend, since she was one of the founders of Little Grass Dessert Shop.

Seeing the two return, Tang Hao asked, "The graduation ceremony is over?"

"Yeah, teacher. This school's graduation ceremony was truly boring. It's the same every year. It felt like even the principal used the same speech every time—he had it memorized inside out," Chen Huang said with a grin.

Tang Hao rolled his eyes at him. It was only a junior Soul Master Academy, and one in a small place like Nuoding City at that. Everyone on the continent knew what such places were like. They could not retain students anyway; sooner or later, all of them would become students at other intermediate or advanced Soul Master Academies. Why would the principal put in so much effort? Wasn't it enough just to go through the motions?

Xiao Shan chuckled as well. "That principal really relied on one trick for everything. It seemed like his tone and expression were exactly the same every year. He had truly mastered that speech."

"Since you've graduated, good. Make your preparations. We leave for the Star Dou Great Forest early tomorrow morning," Tang Hao said calmly.

The two nodded, indicating that they understood.

Chen Huang had previously gone to the Star Dou Great Forest with Tang Hao and Xiao Shan. It had also been a chance for him to broaden his horizons under their guidance. The main purpose had been to help Xiao Shan obtain her second Spirit Ring. All the knowledge he had painstakingly learned had proven useful in the Star Dou Great Forest. He could identify all sorts of animals and plants with ease.

Xiao Shan's second Spirit Ring, like Tang San's, came from an eight-hundred-year-old Ghost Vine. This soul skill was very useful: Parasitism. It could be considered the core soul skill for her type of martial soul during the early stages, so there was no need to make any changes.

Moreover, if this Parasitism soul skill was used well, the field would be covered in split Blue Silver Vines. If Xiao Shan controlled all those vines at once and used them to lash a single target, how terrifying would that power be? It would be just like Illaoi from LOL.

Thanks to boss Little Disciple of Jie Sect for the three hundred Qidian Coin reward! You're so generous, boss! Thank you, boss!

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