Three months passed in the blink of an eye.
The moment the Soul Power surging around Huo Yuhao broke through to level 33, his roommate Wang Dong finally couldn't sit still any longer.
"Huo Yuhao! You'd better come clean!"
Wang Dong grabbed Huo Yuhao by the collar. Her pink-and-blue eyes were full of disbelief and a hint of grievance. "We're both Twin Martial Soul users with Innate Full Soul Power, so why is your cultivation shooting up while mine isn't? I've spent every spare moment over the past three months cultivating, even sacrificing sleep, so how did you still leave me so far behind? And why has Senior Xiaotao been coming to see you every day lately?"
Looking at his puffed-up, tsundere roommate, Huo Yuhao's lips curled with amusement.
He obviously couldn't tell her that he'd been "working overtime" every night with Ma Xiaotao to cultivate through dual cultivation. That was an adult secret.
"Want to know?" Huo Yuhao gently pried Wang Dong's hand away and said mysteriously, "It's because I help Senior Xiaotao suppress her Evil Fire. The Ultimate Ice and the Evil Fire Phoenix resonate with each other somehow, and her Soul Power feeds back into mine. Get it?"
"Resonate? Feed back?" Wang Dong froze, then her eyes lit up. Her competitive streak instantly kicked in. "If it works with her, then it can work with me too! We're both Twin Martial Soul users, and our Martial Souls are both top-tier. Let's try it!"
"You sure?" Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow.
"Quit stalling. Come on!" Wang Dong sat cross-legged and, without waiting for an answer, pressed both palms against Huo Yuhao's.
Huo Yuhao chuckled inwardly and went along with it, activating his Soul Power.
In an instant, the moment their Soul Power made contact, it was as though the two had found long-lost family. Their energies blended together without the slightest resistance.
Golden light intertwined with an icy-blue glow, and an indescribable feeling of bliss swept through them.
The Power of Haodong had arrived at last, even if a little late!
That wasn't all. Illusory figures flickered behind them: a gigantic vertical eye and a dazzling butterfly appeared in the air, meeting in a convergence that gave off an unsettling aura.
A Martial Soul Fusion Skill!
Wang Dong's eyes flew open. Her pretty face was filled with shock and delight. "It really works! And we cultivate several times faster than I do alone! Oh my god, why didn't we discover this sooner?"
She looked at Huo Yuhao with a trace of regret, as though she'd just missed out on a fortune.
However, as they continued cultivating, Wang Dong gradually sensed that something was off.
Within the fused Soul Power, Huo Yuhao's domineering spiritual power and Ultimate Ice held absolute control. Her own Soul Power was like a docile little wife, meekly clinging to his and cooperating.
The imbalance made the proud Wang Dong instinctively want to resist. Yet the comfort of their souls intertwining gradually drew her in, leaving her with a strange sense of dependence.
"From now on, take me with you when you cultivate," Wang Dong said, biting her lip awkwardly.
"Maybe, if I'm in the mood." Huo Yuhao tried to hold back his laughter and replied with feigned nonchalance.
In the days that followed, Huo Yuhao's schedule became increasingly packed.
By day, he was Wang Dong's "cultivation accessory." The two rapidly improved in their dorm through the Power of Haodong. By night, he was Ma Xiaotao's "fire extinguisher," enjoying the pleasures of ice and fire by Sea God Lake.
This life of "sharing the bounty evenly" left Huo Yuhao thoroughly satisfied, but Wang Dong's sense of crisis grew stronger by the day.
Whenever night fell and she watched Huo Yuhao leave with that curvaceous, rosy-cheeked senior in red, only to be gone all night, Wang Dong felt as though she'd swallowed a jar of vinegar. The sour ache was unbearable.
"We're the ones with a Martial Soul Fusion Skill..." Hugging her pillow, Wang Dong stared at the empty bed beside her, feeling a hollow ache inside.
"Are they really just suppressing her Evil Fire?"
That Evil Fire seemed to flare up way too often.
These feelings of uncertainty gradually wore away Wang Dong's usual pride whenever she faced Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao keenly picked up on the change.
So he became even more relentless in his everyday "bullying."
"Wang Dong, go get me some food."
"Wang Dong, wash these socks for me."
"Wang Dong, pay attention while we cultivate. Stop staring at me."
In the past, Wang Dong would have blown her top at Huo Yuhao's high-handed demands. Now, though she muttered "jerk" under her breath, she obediently did as he asked.
She was afraid that if she didn't behave, Huo Yuhao would abandon her completely and choose Ma Xiaotao instead.
This psychological conditioning proved highly effective.
At the same time, the long-silent prompt in Huo Yuhao's mind began appearing more frequently.
[ Ding! Detected Tang San's Anger Points +500! ]
[ Ding! Detected Tang San's Anger Points +800! ]
[ Ding! Detected extreme anger from Tang San. Anger Points +2000! ]
Huo Yuhao sneered inwardly.
He knew all too well what this so-called "one-hundred-percent Martial Soul compatibility" was about.
One of them had the Body Martial Soul Golden Eyes and Ultimate Ice; the other had the Light Goddess Butterfly and the Clear Sky Hammer. Their attributes had nothing in common. How could they possibly be a perfect match?
This was clearly the work of that God King Tang in the Divine Realm.
Tang San had noticed that Huo Yuhao, the "Child of Luck," seemed to be slipping out of his control. So he'd tried to use their Martial Soul compatibility like a dog leash, tying Huo Yuhao to Wang Dong's side and making him her protector—one of the Tang family's dogs.
Unfortunately, Tang San had miscalculated.
Huo Yuhao had used Anger Points to change the rules, establishing a dominant-subordinate relationship within the Martial Soul compatibility that Tang San had created. Not only had he avoided becoming a lovesick lapdog, he'd used that "leash" to turn the tables and tie down the God King's precious daughter.
Seeing the once lofty God King's daughter become dependent on him, even growing anxious as she vied for his attention, gave Huo Yuhao the thrill of "NTRing someone right in front of them." Tang San was so furious in the distant Divine Realm that he could only stamp his feet in frustration.
After all, he'd set up the compatibility himself. Even if it made him weep, he had to watch it play out.
"Where exactly did things go wrong?!" Tang San wondered, baffled.
Time flew by, and first year came to an end amid Huo Yuhao's busy, fulfilling routine.
Thanks to the "double pleasure" provided by two beauties, Huo Yuhao's Soul Power reached an astonishing level 39 by the end of the school year! He was just one step away from level 40 and becoming a Soul Ancestor.
That was a practically mythical rate of progress in the history of Shrek Outer Court, even surpassing the record Ma Xiaotao had set.
Wang Dong lagged slightly behind, but she'd still reached the level 30 bottleneck. All she needed now was to obtain her third Soul Ring during the break.
Ma Xiaotao's transformation was even more dramatic.
Freed from the torment of her Evil Fire, she drew on her accumulated strength and surged all the way to level 69, just one step away from becoming a Spirit Saint.
Now, she was radiant and breathtakingly beautiful, and her gaze toward Huo Yuhao had grown increasingly tender.
It was no joke that spending enough time together could make people fall in love.
Besides his Soul Master cultivation, Huo Yuhao had also dropped a bombshell over at the Soul Guidance Department.
Soul Guidance Department testing area.
Fan Yu stared at the Level 5 Soul Tool in his hands. Its structure was exquisitely precise, and its Core Array was flawless. His hands trembled.
"A... a Level 5 Soul Engineer?!"
Fan Yu jerked his head up and stared at the calm-faced young man before him as if he were a monster. "Yuhao, tell me the truth. Are you actually a Soul Tool god wearing human skin?"
In less than a year, he'd gone from knowing nothing to becoming a Level 5 Soul Engineer.
"Genius" didn't begin to describe it. He was a monster—a being that defied all understanding!
"Teacher Fan Yu, just a basic operation. Don't make a fuss." Huo Yuhao shrugged and pinned the badge marking him as a Level 5 Soul Engineer to his chest. "I told you, the future of Soul Tools won't be decided by the Sun Moon Empire. I'll be the one calling the shots."
Fan Yu took a deep breath. He knew that even setting aside Huo Yuhao's talent for Martial Soul cultivation, his aptitude for Soul Tools alone would be enough to change the balance of power across the continent in just a few years.
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