Bei Bei

Huo Yuhao opened the door, a travel pack prepared for him by Huo Yun'er slung over his back.

Psychic Soul Beasts were rare to begin with. Finding one compatible with Huo Yuhao would undoubtedly take quite some time.

It was possible he might simply run into the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, but that was a low-probability event. He had to be prepared for a long hunt.

The man knocking wore a purple robe, with a strange emblem printed on his chest:

A circle formed by the sun and moon, surrounded by three pairs of wings.

He recognized the emblem. It had appeared on both his student ID and at the Crafting Bureau. If he was right, it represented Spirit Hall.

The three pairs of wings were easy enough to understand. In his memories of his past life, Spirit Hall's emblem featured the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul. But as for the circular design in the middle, honestly, his first thought had been the Sun Moon Empire.

However, over the past two days, he had often gone to chat with Li Ye at the office, and learned quite a bit about this era.

There was no Sun Moon Empire in this era, only a continent called the Sun Moon Continent, far across the ocean. Spirit Hall had absolutely nothing to do with the Sun Moon Continent; it was an organization of Soul Masters belonging entirely to Douluo Continent.

In that case, the design in the middle most likely represented the legendary Pope, Chen Mo.

"You're Huo Yuhao, right? I'm Wang Hong, a Purple-Robed Martial Soul Envoy from Spirit Hall." As he spoke, Wang Hong had already taken the travel pack from Huo Yuhao.

"By Director's orders, you'll be traveling with us to Star Dou Forest to hunt for your First Soul Ring. We'll do our best to keep you safe along the way."

As he spoke, Wang Hong led Huo Yuhao toward a carriage.

Before climbing aboard, Huo Yuhao noticed an even more luxurious carriage ahead of theirs.

The person sitting inside must be the big shot Tang Shan and Tang You had mentioned, an "old acquaintance" like Zhang Peng and Tang Ya who had set out on a different path: Bei Bei.

Honestly, he was quite curious about what Bei Bei looked like now. Zhang Peng and Tang Ya hadn't changed much in appearance, aside from their identities; Zhang Peng's cultivation was just a little lower than before.

Lost in thought, Huo Yuhao climbed into the carriage. The next moment, he saw a smiling face staring right at him.

The man wore a gentle, warm smile and had short, deep-blue hair.

Apart from his golden eyes, he looked exactly like the Bei Bei in Huo Yuhao's memories.

"Hey, little brother Huo Yuhao. Hope I didn't startle you."

Bei Bei waved, though he was a little disappointed not to see any amusing reaction on the other boy's face.

Huo Yuhao looked a little surprised, but there wasn't the slightest trace of confusion or alarm.

"Aren't you surprised?" Bei Bei asked, puzzled. He had imagined Huo Yuhao would first be confused, then realize something and grow alarmed. That was always how it went when he used the same trick in Spirit Hall.

"A little, but your identity wasn't hard to guess. You're the big shot Director and that Miss Tang Ya kept talking about, right?" Huo Yuhao shook his head. This was indeed Bei Bei, but his personality was very different from the one in Huo Yuhao's memories.

From their first interaction, this Bei Bei seemed to enjoy playing pranks.

"Fair enough. You seem a little smarter than everyone at the academy." Bei Bei chuckled, then leaned closer to Huo Yuhao.

His identity wasn't actually public knowledge at Spirit Soul Academy. Revealing it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble.

Huo Yuhao claimed to have guessed who he was, but probably only figured out that "the person in front of me holds a high position in Spirit Hall."

"I heard you're a genius the Crafting Bureau just discovered... An Innate Full Soul Power Body Martial Soul. You really are a rare and promising talent."

"Spirit Hall has no shortage of geniuses, but someone like you... You're rare outside the Body Sect."

"And you're much calmer now than you were two days ago, when you met Uncle Tang You. Is this what the teacher meant by... 'the poor man's child matures early'?"

"Oh, don't mind that. It's just a saying from a textbook. I didn't mean any offense about your background."

Bei Bei held out his hand to Huo Yuhao. "I'm Bei Bei. It's nice to meet you."

Huo Yuhao took his hand, then asked:

"Then... can I call you Big Brother Bei Bei from now on?"

Bei Bei nodded. "Of course. If you genuinely want to be friends, I'd be happy to."

Hearing that, Huo Yuhao's previously tense expression relaxed, and he smiled at Bei Bei.

"Then I'll be in your care for the next little while, Big Brother Bei Bei."

"Haha, sure thing. Then I'll call you little brother Yuhao." Bei Bei stopped sitting across from Huo Yuhao and moved to the soft seat beside him.

"Looks like I'll leave with a new friend as well as a Third Soul Ring this time. What a pleasant surprise." Bei Bei spoke cheerfully, but the information in his words made Huo Yuhao's eyes widen before he could stop himself.

"T-Third Soul Ring?!"

Huo Yuhao quickly did the math. The first time he'd met Bei Bei in his previous life, Bei Bei had been around fourteen. Now, at most, he was only ten...

And yet he already had thirty levels of Soul Power?

Seeing Huo Yuhao's astonished expression, Bei Bei nodded again and again. Now that was the sort of reaction he wanted to see.

"Well? Your Big Brother Bei Bei's pretty impressive, huh?" he said proudly. Huo Yuhao obligingly nodded over and over.

"To be honest, my Martial Soul is rather special. The Innate Soul Power I awakened with... was this much." Bei Bei pointed with the index finger of one hand and spread the palm of his other hand.

"Fifteen levels of Innate Soul Power..." Huo Yuhao quickly understood the gesture. But how was that possible? He remembered Bei Bei's Martial Soul was the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon, with the bloodline of the Golden Sacred Dragon mixed into it.

Even so, the Bei Bei in his memories had only had Innate Full Soul Power.

Innate Soul Power of fifteen levels... Huo Yuhao could think of only one possibility:

The Bei Bei sitting beside him hadn't merely awakened a Martial Soul mixed with the bloodline of a divine beast. Like his great-grandfather, he had awakened the genuine Golden Sacred Dragon Martial Soul!

"Ha ha, surprised, aren't you? Honestly, I was surprised the first time I awakened it, too. In ten thousand years, I'm the only person in the world to have had Innate Soul Power above level ten. My talent is second only to the prodigies of that era ten thousand years ago."

Bei Bei gazed out the window, as though recalling the past.

"History textbooks say that ten thousand years ago, Spirit Hall was filled with outstanding talents."

"Back then, Spirit Hall's hereditary Martial Soul was the Six-Winged Angel, a divine Martial Soul that always came with Innate Soul Power of level twenty. I'm sure you've heard of it, little brother Yuhao."

Huo Yuhao nodded. In his previous life, he had learned about that Martial Soul while chatting with his ancestor in the Divine Realm. By his era, it had gone completely extinct, leaving behind only a few incomplete branches.

But... hearing Bei Bei bring this up now, he had a feeling that he was about to hear some even more astounding history.

"Ten thousand years ago, in the era when the gods ascended, the Pope of Spirit Hall wasn't Qian Renxue, the inheritor of the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul. It was her husband, the only legend in the history of Douluo Continent."

Bei Bei turned to look at Huo Yuhao and spoke slowly:

"Pope Chen Mo. They say his Innate Soul Power..."

"Was level thirty."