Someone Looking for Trouble

Before long, the plate in front of Dong'er had been wiped clean—not even a drop of soup remained.

Huo Yuhao was now sure. Besides Wang Dong, he couldn't think of another girl who could eat so cleanly without leaving a trace on her face.

They chatted about the day's classes as they slowly made their way toward the teaching building. Just then, Huo Yuhao suddenly sensed someone watching him.

He didn't turn around. Instead, he silently activated his first Spirit Skill. But even after searching every corner within range, he still couldn't figure out where that strange gaze was coming from.

His Spirit Detection currently covered a sphere with a radius of a hundred meters, centered on himself. Even if that person were hiding underground, he could pinpoint them with precision. The problem was, he couldn't find the slightest clue.

Yet the moment they stepped into the teaching building, the feeling brought on by that gaze suddenly vanished. He badly wanted to find out where it had come from, but Zhou Yi was already waiting in the classroom for evening study. He couldn't very well ask for leave on such a flimsy excuse, so he had to push the matter aside for now.

Meanwhile, hundreds of meters above the ground, a man with strange markings drawn across his forehead stroked his chin, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

"Just as I thought—a Body Martial Soul of excellent quality. To think you could sense me with spiritual power alone..."

"What kind of Martial Soul do you have... your brain? Your eyes? Or a combination of both?"

"Heh, whichever it is, I'm sure the sect master will find it very interesting."

The man couldn't help grinning. He'd only gone out for a stroll to kill some time after dinner, and before he knew it, he'd wandered over to Spirit Soul Academy. He never expected to find such a promising talent there!

Just then, an old man dressed in black suddenly appeared behind him and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Young Lang Ya, flying around freely in Spirit Hall's airspace... don't you think that's a little inappropriate?"

"I seem to recall the Martial Soul Law says that flying without authorization means you'll be fined Gold Soul Coins."

Lang Ya's smile froze. He stiffly turned his head to look behind him, only to find Long Xiaoyao gazing at him kindly. But the words "Gold Soul Coins" practically seemed to be spilling out of his eyes.

"E-Elder Long, have you eaten...?"

"Pork rice. It was pretty good." With one hand still resting on Lang Ya's shoulder, Long Xiaoyao slowly moved around to face him, then continued, "Let's not change the subject, young Lang Ya. You know that as the second-seat elder of Spirit Hall, I do have a little authority to enforce the law."

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

"Under the Martial Soul Law, your fine would be one hundred Gold Soul Coins. But if you settle this with me privately right now, I'll only ask for fifty. How does that sound?"

"Elder Long, I don't think the fine is that high... You've added at least a digit!"

"Mm, that's true. But you were just thinking about poaching a student from Spirit Soul Academy, weren't you? And you even used Soul Power to spy on him. Under the Martial Soul Law... that doesn't come cheap."

"And if those two surnamed Du find out and come to snatch him, a few teaching buildings might collapse. If that gets the academy shut down, you'll be footing the bill for the students' makeup classes and the damaged facilities."

"Do you understand what I mean, young Lang Ya?"

Lang Ya coughed a few times, then hurriedly took a yellow card from his Soul Tool and respectfully placed it in Long Xiaoyao's hand.

"Remember to keep your mouth shut. Off you go."

"This junior will take his leave!"

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

"That fluctuation just now... was that a Flying Soul Tool made by us?"

"Heh, who would've thought those two old geezers had started using Soul Tools too." Long Xiaoyao weighed the money pouch in his hand. His guess had been right: the people of the Body Sect knew the general outline of the Martial Soul Law at most. When it came to the exact figures, they just guessed.

This reclusive sect had only been discovered by Spirit Hall a thousand years ago, and at first, it had rejected all Spirit Hall products without exception.

But one thing had never changed. Ever since they'd been discovered, those people had always looked for ways to poach students from the academy. He remembered that ten years ago, they'd poached someone whose Martial Soul was skin. What was his name again? Long Aotian, maybe? At first glance, it sounded a lot like his own name.

He looked toward the teaching building. That child named Huo Yuhao had registered his Martial Soul as Spirit Eye, but if Lang Ya had made that kind of guess, then the child's Martial Soul had to be more than just a pair of eyes.

"Dry great-grandpa, I made a new friend today. His name is Huo Yuhao, and Wang Hong thinks his Spirit Skill is really powerful!"

This wasn't the first time he'd heard Huo Yuhao's name. He'd already known that the Crafting Bureau had taken in someone with Innate Full Soul Power and a Body Martial Soul. He hadn't been interested at all, but the child had become friends with Bei Bei, which made him decide to pay a little more attention.

Now it seemed Huo Yuhao's value might be more than just "Bei Bei's friend." With talent like his, a Body Martial Soul might be just the thing to develop within Spirit Hall.

And in his student card, although it stated on the surface that he was a commoner who had applied for residency in the Martial Soul Community, there was another piece of confidential information that could only be seen through special means. It had been added by his old friend, Zhang Peng.

Huo Yuhao was from the White Tiger Duke Mansion in the Star Luo Empire—and he was an illegitimate child whose existence had to be kept hidden.

Evening study finally came to an end. Around seventy percent of the students had their heads on their desks and their eyes closed. Zhou Yi knew that none of them would be used to this on the first day, so she hadn't even rapped on the desks to remind them to stay awake.

Of course, if things were still like this a couple of days later, she wouldn't go easy on them.

"Class is over. Go back and get some rest over the next couple of days. After your cultivation class in a few days, you won't have so many chances to sleep."

After saying that, Zhou Yi left the classroom. The students all woke at the sound of the dismissal bell and slowly dragged themselves off to their dorms to sleep.

But Huo Yuhao and Dong'er were different. They were the only two who had made it through the entire evening study without falling asleep.

Huo Yuhao even felt a little reluctant to stop. He liked being able to complete a small number of assigned tasks and then study at his own pace. In those three hours, he'd already learned most of the material on History of Douluo.

Although much of the content had changed, the obscure terms were all explained in notes at the bottom of the page.

Huo Yuhao's guess had been right: the origins and development of Spirit Hall were more or less the same as what he remembered from his previous life. But on page thirty-seven—the point in time corresponding to ten thousand years ago—the name "Chen Mo" appeared, a name that had turned almost all his memories upside down.