The Pact

"These two types of immortal herbs can be considered worth a fortune in the normal market, and for Spirit Masters with specific Martial Souls, they could even be called priceless treasures."

"Take the Aromatic Silk Beauty, for example. In terms of efficacy alone, it might just be a simple marrow-cleansing and bone-refining agent, but if consumed by a Spirit Master with a Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul, it has the chance to evolve their Martial Soul into a Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda!"

"As for this Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, while it may not be as significant to a Spirit Master with a mental-type Martial Soul as the Aromatic Silk Beauty is to the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, it is equally precious."

"It not only significantly strengthens mental power but also carries the possibility of evolving a mental-type Martial Soul, though the probability is lower than that of the Aromatic Silk Beauty."

Wang Hong leaned slightly closer to Huo Yuhao and continued:

"The effects of the Aromatic Silk Beauty might not be of much use to you, Huo Yuhao, but its inherent value... according to what the Director said, it could be exchanged for a massive amount of startup capital for you."

With Wang Hong dropping such a hint, how could Huo Yuhao fail to understand?

As the Director of the Crafting Bureau under Martial Soul Hall, Tang You would certainly know the true identity of the young master of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect—none other than Ning Tian, who happened to be in the same class as Huo Yuhao. Given the effect of evolving the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda, Ning Tian would undoubtedly be willing to pay a high price to take this priceless treasure off Huo Yuhao's hands.

Compared to the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, this Aromatic Silk Beauty, which allowed Huo Yuhao to squeeze a fortune out of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect's young master, was the true gift Tang You had sent him.

Huo Yuhao looked deeply at Wang Hong, then bowed:

"Please convey my thanks to the Director..."

Watching this scene, Wang Yan chuckled softly:

"Don't get too happy yet; the specific details of the mission are still unknown. However, it seems the Director has quite a bit of confidence in you, Yuhao." Wang Yan walked over to Huo Yuhao and patted his shoulder gently:

"Go back for now. There's still some time before the winter break; just make sure to get through these next two days steadily."

Huo Yuhao nodded, bid the two farewell, and left the office.

Once he was certain Huo Yuhao had completely departed, Wang Yan sat down beside Wang Hong:

"This mission was actually prepared for Yuhao from the start, wasn't it? The Aromatic Silk Beauty and the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew... Huo Yuhao might not know, but you and I are both clear that those were immortal herbs used by the Sea God and the Nine-Colored Goddess ten thousand years ago."

"The efficacy of the Aromatic Silk Beauty is far beyond just a 'possibility.' Your Director has really spared no expense. The Crafting Bureau must have spent a lot of Gold Soul Coins to snatch this immortal herb from the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, right?"

"Haha, Cousin is indeed sharp."

"However, you guessed one thing wrong. It wasn't the Crafting Bureau that put up the money and effort this time, but Martial Soul Hall itself." Wang Hong's expression turned serious as he handed a research report to Wang Yan.

"Take a look at the research report on that Dream Silkworm Huo Yuhao encountered."

Wang Yan immediately realized something was wrong. Sure enough, when he opened the first page of the report, a line of text was clearly written:

"Age determination result: No less than thirty thousand years."

Wang Yan felt his hands holding the report trembling. He looked at Wang Hong in disbelief:

"Have your devices evolved to this point now? I remember you saying in your letter back then that the Dream Silkworm had been reduced to nothing but a pile of ash?"

"Heh... heaven knows what those lunatics in the research department are up to every day. The technology to determine age from a corpse has existed for a long time, but the technology to determine age from a pile of ash was only recently developed. This is just enough to judge the approximate age."

"Hiss... you mean?"

Wang Yan seemed to have realized something, and Wang Hong nodded:

"It might be more than thirty thousand years, or perhaps... even more ancient than that."

Wang Hong finally waved his hand: "I don't know any more than that. Regardless, both the Crafting Bureau and the headquarters of Martial Soul Hall are quite interested in this child, Huo Yuhao."

"Perhaps when he reaches the right age, Huo Yuhao will be able to represent Martial Soul Hall in the competition directly."

Returning to the classroom, Huo Yuhao immediately saw Dong'er sitting at the podium keeping watch over discipline, with Ning Tian in the back row using her spirit power to assist her.

As soon as Dong'er saw Huo Yuhao return, she wanted to vacate the seat at the podium, but Huo Yuhao waved his hand, signaling her to wait until after class, as changing places now would be too noisy.

He sat back down in his seat and began to study. Once class ended, Dong'er didn't even wait to tidy her desk before running to Huo Yuhao's side to ask what Teacher Wang Yan had said to him.

Huo Yuhao didn't reveal the specific content, only telling Dong'er that he had to carry out a work-study mission during the winter break.

"Ah..." Dong'er sat back in her seat, looking unhappy:

"I was planning to go visit your home during the winter break..." Her little face fell instantly. The workload at the Spirit Soul Academy was heavy, and it had been difficult to finally get a long break to properly relax.

As it turned out... she had calculated everything but forgotten that Huo Yuhao was a work-study student.

"Is that mission very important?" Although she was unhappy, she knew that with Huo Yuhao's personality, if it weren't a very important mission, he would definitely choose to go home to accompany his mother.

"Mm... it's very important." Huo Yuhao nodded, but then placed his hand on Dong'er's head and rubbed it gently.

"Don't be unhappy. It's only a month after the winter break until the spring break; I'll definitely take you to my home then, I promise."

Huo Yuhao extended his pinky finger, and seeing this, Dong'er followed suit, hooking her pinky with his.

"Tsk tsk tsk... what a lovely relationship..." Wu Feng watched their interaction from the back row, shaking her head and clicking her tongue in wonder.

"What's wrong? Isn't that just a common trope of a promise between friends?" Ning Tian was holding a novel that Wu Feng had strongly recommended she read, and she happened to be reading a scene where two characters were making a pinky promise.

"Sigh... Young Master, you don't understand. This is... the spark of emotion!"

"The spark of emotion...?" Ning Tian looked at Wu Feng, confused. She had absolutely no concept of these things in her mind yet, so she naturally couldn't understand Wu Feng's implication, feeling only that her mind was a tangled mess of yarn waiting to be unraveled.

"Forget it, Young Master. You're not at the age to know these things yet." Wu Feng shook her head and turned her gaze back to Ning Tian:

"By the way, Young Master, weren't you planning to invite Huo Yuhao to the sect during the winter break? Could the reward for that mission possibly be more precious than the treasures in our sect?"

Hearing this, Ning Tian looked toward Huo Yuhao's direction, but then shook her head:

"Since Huo Yuhao already has an agreement with Dong'er, it would be too intrusive for us to break it. There will be plenty of other opportunities to bring Huo Yuhao to the sect; one time won't make a difference."

"Hmph... the Young Master is quite clever when it comes to these things." Wu Feng sighed helplessly and began reading the novel with Ning Tian.

Several days later, at the entrance of the Spirit Soul Academy.