The Soul Guidance Department Is the One Making a Real Investment

Shrek Academy, Soul Guidance Department experimental area.

Huo Yuhao stood before a rented crafting table, holding an ordinary standard carving knife in his hand.

Red light flowed through his eyes.

Two Tomoe in his left eye, Three Tomoe in his right.

After a month of training, his left eye had finally evolved and formed its second Tomoe.

"This is the so-called Soul Guidance Core Array?"

Huo Yuhao flicked his wrist, and the carving knife turned into an afterimage.

There was not the slightest pause, nor even a trace of trembling.

Swish, swish, swish!

For an ordinary low-level Soul Engineer, engraving a first-level core array required painstaking care and half an hour of work, lest a shaking hand ruin the material.

But in Huo Yuhao's hands, it was as simple as writing on paper with a pen.

Copy, analyze, recreate.

The moment he had entered, he had activated Spirit Detection, recording the movements, Soul Power output, and array structures of several upperclassmen around him into his mind like a scanner.

In just three minutes.

"Buzz—"

As the final stroke fell, the metal disc in his hand emitted a soft white glow.

First-level Soul Guidance Core, complete.

Huo Yuhao did not stop. He casually picked up a higher-grade piece of metal.

Next, he would try a second-level one.

Another ten minutes passed.

The light lit up again, brighter and more stable than before.

Second-level Soul Guidance Core, successful on the first try.

Huo Yuhao casually tossed the still-hot core onto the table, where it rang out with a crisp clang.

He shook his head, his eyes filled with disappointment and disdain.

"This is what a Soul Tool is?"

"Nothing special!"

Still, making this trip had been necessary.

In this world, Soul Tools really were the mainstream.

I can't spend my whole life playing around with shuriken and kunai.

Am I supposed to throw a shuriken from eight hundred li away to ambush the Tang God King?

That would be the real joke.

"Student, what did you say?"

A deep voice tinged with surprise sounded behind him.

Huo Yuhao did not turn around, because Spirit Detection had already locked onto the newcomer.

It was a tall middle-aged man dressed in simple work clothes, his eyes wide as he stared fixedly at the two core arrays on the table.

It was Fan Yu, vice dean of the Soul Guidance Department.

Fan Yu had merely been passing by.

When he heard the commotion, he had originally intended to reprimand whichever student was being so presumptuous.

But what had he just seen?

A first-year freshman who was not from the Soul Guidance Department had engraved a second-level core array as smoothly as flowing clouds and running water without any teacher's guidance?

And those techniques... they were far too steady!

So steady that he did not look like a beginner at all, but rather a high-level Soul Engineer!

"Student."

Fan Yu strode forward and picked up the second-level core for a careful inspection.

The lines were smooth, the nodes flawless, and it was even better than the work of some third-level Soul Engineers.

He abruptly looked up at Huo Yuhao. "I heard just now that you are a student outside the Soul Guidance Department who paid to rent the equipment. Have you... studied Soul Tool crafting before?"

Huo Yuhao turned around, his mismatched eyes meeting Fan Yu's directly.

"No."

"I have never studied the Soul Tool system. Today is my first time."

"F-First time?!"

Fan Yu sucked in a cold breath. He felt as though his worldview had been struck hard.

He had made a second-level core on his first contact?

What kind of genius was this?

This was practically a monster! Even in the Sun Moon Empire, famed for its Soul Tools, there might not be such a freak!

Only then did he clearly see Huo Yuhao's eyes.

A scarlet background, with strange Tomoe.

A flash of realization struck Fan Yu.

A spiritual-type Body Martial Soul?

No wonder!

No wonder he possessed such terrifying fine control and could learn so quickly.

Wait, those traits...

Fan Yu suddenly remembered.

"Student, you are the Huo Yuhao everyone in the Outer Court has been talking about lately... the so-called 'strongest one-ring Soul Master,' aren't you?"

"That's right." Huo Yuhao's expression remained indifferent.

Fan Yu's expression became somewhat complicated.

He looked at Huo Yuhao, then thought of his own wife, Zhou Yi, who had been suspended.

"I heard you and my wife Zhou Yi had quite an unpleasant conflict, and Dean Yan had to step in to settle it."

Fan Yu sighed. Rather than using his status as vice dean to pressure him, he appeared quite magnanimous.

"I heard about that matter. Zhou Yi has an extreme personality, and she was indeed in the wrong. It was her fault. I will apologize to you on her behalf."

Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever."

Huo Yuhao waved a hand, his arrogant temperament fully apparent. "I never care about the barking of a defeated dog."

Fan Yu choked on his words and awkwardly scratched his head.

This kid was even more arrogant than the rumors said.

Still, as he looked at the core arrays on the table, Fan Yu's desire to nurture talent overwhelmed everything else.

He took a deep breath, as though he had made some major decision, and looked solemnly at Huo Yuhao.

"Yu Hao, put those grudges aside for now."

"In my capacity as vice dean of the Soul Guidance Department, I formally invite you to join the Soul Guidance Department!"

"As long as you agree, I will immediately grant you the status of a 'core disciple of the Soul Guidance Department'!"

Fan Yu stepped forward and pulled up his zipper, his voice impassioned.

"Those people from the Martial Soul Department are all just talking big. Only our Soul Guidance Department is making a real investment!"

"As long as you come, you will have all the rare metals you need! You can look through any blueprints you want! I will teach you personally!"

Fan Yu's eyes shone with fervor.

He believed that as long as Huo Yuhao joined them, Shrek's Soul Guidance Department would absolutely surpass the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Master Academy in the future!

Huo Yuhao looked at the excited Fan Yu, but his mind was rapidly calculating.

Join the Soul Guidance Department?

Indeed, Soul Tools were very important. Fixed Soul Cannons, defensive barriers, Flight Soul Tools... all of them were weapons of war.

But...

A person's energy was limited.

Rather than spending a great deal of time researching Soul Tools.

It would be better to... use Kotoamatsukami or Genjutsu to control several top-tier ninth-level Soul Engineers for his own use.

Just as Naruto had chosen to cooperate with Orochimaru.

That was the most rational method.

At that thought, the red light in Huo Yuhao's eyes gradually faded.

"Thank you for your esteem, Vice Dean."

Huo Yuhao calmly declined. "However, this is an important matter. I will make my decision after the freshman assessment ends."

Fan Yu froze for a moment. He clearly had not expected such generous terms to be refused.

Yet he did not get angry. Instead, he admired Huo Yuhao's composure even more.

"Good!"

Fan Yu nodded. "Yu Hao, my promise to you will always stand. The doors of the Soul Guidance Department will always be open to you. I look forward to your correct choice."

Time flew by.

Another month passed.

During that month, Huo Yuhao devoted all his energy to cultivation.

With the help of the second Mysterious Water Pill, the bottleneck that had trapped him at level nineteen finally shattered.

Level twenty.

Soul Power naturally overflowed through his entire body.

Now, he only needed to obtain a soul ring to officially become a two-ring Soul Grandmaster.

Freshman assessment venue, Soul Fighting Zone.

A sea of people filled the area, and the noise was overwhelming.

All the first-year freshmen had gathered here, waiting for roll call in their assigned areas.

Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao stood in the waiting area for Zone 33, as anxious as cats on a hot tin roof.

"Wang Dong! Why isn't Huo Yuhao here yet?!"

Xiao Xiao kept looking toward the distant entrance. "Registration is about to close! If we are late for the first match, we will be declared defeated immediately!"

Wang Dong was equally anxious, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"Don't panic, don't panic..."

She comforted Xiao Xiao aloud, but inwardly she was cursing furiously.

"Yu Hao may be cold all the time, but he is dependable... I believe he will not be late!"

Damn Huo Yuhao!

Who knows where he ran off to for special training again last night!

If you dare stand us up, I'll... I'll bite you to death!

At that moment, the referee teacher responsible for the area glanced at the pocket watch in his hand and frowned.

"Huo Yuhao's team!"

The teacher shouted, "Are you all here? The assessment is about to begin!"

"According to academy rules, if any team member is late, the entire team will be disqualified from the assessment!"

The surrounding students all cast gloating looks their way.

If that rumored "strongest one-ring" could not even make it into the examination grounds, it would truly be a huge joke.

Wang Dong forced herself to step forward with a smile.

"Teacher, one of our team members will be here any moment! Please wait another minute... no, half a minute!"

The referee teacher watched the second hand move with a blank expression.

"Time is up."

The teacher closed his pocket watch and coldly announced.

"Huo Yuhao's team, because your member Huo Yuhao did not arrive on time..."

Before the word "late" could leave his mouth.

Rumble—!!

A thunderclap suddenly exploded across the previously clear sky without warning.

Everyone jumped in fright and instinctively looked up.

A dazzling blue-violet bolt of lightning seemed to descend from the heavens above, carrying a shrieking howl that tore through the air as it instantly struck the Soul Fighting Platform in Zone 33.

Crackle, crackle!

Electric arcs scattered in every direction, and dust filled the air.

After the blinding lightning faded.

A young man was crouched on one knee in the center of the arena.

That was... Lightning Style combined with the Body Flicker Technique.

Huo Yuhao slowly rose to his feet. He glanced at the stunned referee teacher, then at Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, whose faces were filled with both surprise and delight.

The corner of his mouth curled slightly, his tone calm.

"Just in time."

"I was not late."