Someone's Looking for Trouble

Before long, the plate in front of Dong'er had been licked clean, not even a drop of sauce remaining.

Huo Yuhao was now certain that, aside from Wang Dong, he had never met another girl who could finish a meal so thoroughly without leaving a single trace on her face.

The two chatted about the day's lessons as they strolled toward the teaching building. Just then, however, Huo Yuhao suddenly sensed a gaze upon him.

He did not turn his head, instead silently activating his first soul skill. Yet, even after scanning every corner within his range, he could not discover the source of that strange gaze.

His Spirit Detection currently covered a spherical radius of one hundred meters centered on himself; even if someone were hiding underground, he could pinpoint them. The problem was that he could find no clues whatsoever.

However, the moment they stepped into the teaching building, the sensation of that gaze suddenly vanished. Although he was eager to find out where it had come from, Zhou Yi was already waiting in the classroom for the evening self-study session, and he could hardly use such a reason to ask for leave, so he had to suppress his curiosity for now.

Meanwhile, hundreds of meters up in the air, a man with strange markings drawn on his forehead pinched his chin, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

"As expected, it is a Body Martial Soul of excellent quality. To think he could detect me relying solely on spiritual power..."

"What could your martial soul be... A brain? Or eyes? Or perhaps a combination of both?"

"Heh, no matter which it is, I imagine the Sect Master will be quite interested."

The man couldn't help but grin. He had only come out for a stroll after dinner and had wandered to the Spirit Soul Academy without realizing it. He never expected to find such a promising seedling here!

But just then, an old man in black suddenly appeared behind him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Little friend Lang Ya, flying at will in the airspace of the Martial Soul Hall... is that really appropriate?"

"This old man recalls that the Martial Soul Law states that flying without authorization requires a fine in Gold Soul Coins."

Lang Ya's smile froze instantly, and he turned his head stiffly to look behind him: Long Xiaoyao was watching him with a kindly expression, though the words "Gold Soul Coin" seemed to be practically overflowing from his eyes.

"Long... Elder Long, have you eaten yet?"

"Pork trotter rice, the taste is quite good." Resting his hand on Lang Ya's shoulder, Long Xiaoyao slowly moved to stand in front of him and continued:

"Don't change the subject, little friend Lang Ya. After all, you know that as the second-ranked elder of the Martial Soul Hall, I hold a fair amount of law enforcement power."

He rubbed two fingers together, a faint smile on his face.

"According to the Martial Soul Law, you owe a fine of one hundred Gold Soul Coins, but if you settle this with me privately right now, I only need fifty. How about it?"

"Elder Long, I recall the fine shouldn't be that high... That's at least one digit too many!"

"Hmm, that's true, but you were just thinking about poaching talent from the Spirit Soul Academy, weren't you? And you used soul power to monitor them. Under the Martial Soul Law, that offense... is not cheap."

"Besides, if those two surnamed Du find out about this and come to snatch the boy, and a few teaching buildings collapse, causing the academy to suspend classes... the cost of make-up lessons and compensation for the facilities will all be charged to you."

"Do you understand this old man's meaning, little friend Lang Ya?"

Lang Ya coughed a few times and hurriedly took a yellow card from his soul tool, placing it respectfully into Long Xiaoyao's hand.

"Keep your mouth shut. Go."

"This junior takes his leave!"

Lang Ya vanished almost instantly, but Long Xiaoyao noticed something slightly off.

"That fluctuation just now... it was a flight soul tool of our own manufacture."

"Heh, to think those two old fogies have actually started using soul tools." Long Xiaoyao weighed the money bag in his hand. His guess was correct: the people of the Body Sect only knew the gist of the Martial Soul Law, and the specific figures were entirely based on his own fabrication.

This reclusive sect, only unearthed by the Martial Soul Hall a thousand years ago, had initially boycotted all Martial Soul Hall products unconditionally.

But one thing had never changed: ever since they were unearthed, these fellows had always been trying to poach people from the academy. He remembered ten years ago when they poached someone with a skin-type martial soul—he seemed to be called Long Aotian, a name that sounded quite similar to his own at first glance.

He looked toward the teaching building. The child named Huo Yuhao had registered his martial soul as Spirit Eye, but for Lang Ya to make such a conjecture, that child's martial soul was certainly more than just eyes.

"Great-grand-uncle, I made a new friend today named Huo Yuhao. Wang Hong also thinks his soul skills are very impressive!"

In truth, this was not the first time he had heard the name Huo Yuhao. He had long known that the Crafting Bureau had taken in a Body Martial Soul with Innate Full Soul Power. He hadn't been interested at all, but the fact that the boy had become Bei Bei's friend was what made him decide to pay more attention.

Looking at it now, Huo Yuhao's value might be more than just being "Bei Bei's friend." A Body Martial Soul with this kind of talent might be worth developing for the Martial Soul Hall.

Furthermore, although his student file stated he was a commoner applying for residency in the Martial Soul Community, there was a hidden piece of information visible only through special methods, written by his old friend Zhang Peng.

Huo Yuhao, from the White Tiger Duke Mansion of the Star Luo Empire, and an illegitimate son at that.

The evening self-study session finally ended. About seventy percent of the students were already slumped over their desks with their eyes closed. Zhou Yi knew these students wouldn't be accustomed to the first day, so she didn't even bother with reminders like tapping the desk.

Of course, if this were still the case in two days, she would not show any mercy.

"Class dismissed. Go back and get some rest these next two days. After the cultivation class in two days, you won't have so many opportunities to sleep."

With that, Zhou Yi left the classroom. The students woke up to the sound of the dismissal bell, dragging their bodies one by one as they prepared to return to their dorms.

However, Huo Yuhao and Dong'er were different; they were the only two who had persisted through the entire self-study session without falling asleep.

Huo Yuhao even felt a bit unsatisfied. He liked the feeling of having only a few specific tasks to complete, allowing him to study at his own pace. In those three hours, he had basically finished the section on the History of Douluo.

Although the content had changed significantly, the obscure and difficult terms all had annotations at the bottom of the pages.

Huo Yuhao's guess was correct: the initial founding and development of the Martial Soul Hall were much the same as what he knew from his previous life, but on page thirty-seven—the point in time ten thousand years ago—the name "Chen Mo" appeared, a name that had almost completely rewritten his memories into something unrecognizable.