Yan Shaozhe frowned deeply, caught in a dilemma.
Just then—
A deep, resonant voice rang out.
"These are three Thousand-Year Soul Bones, including the wood- and water-attributed ones you wanted. How about we let this matter end here?"
The voice was not loud, yet it was like a boulder dropped into a still lake, sending ripples spreading in every direction.
Everyone turned at once, looking toward the sound.
A middle-aged man had appeared there at some point. He now stood behind Zhou Yi.
The man stood about six feet tall, with broad shoulders that looked strong enough to carry a thousand pounds.
He wore simple cloth clothes. His thick, sturdy arms were bare, revealing sharply defined muscles like granite.
His skin was slightly dark, the burnished bronze of someone who had spent years working with flames and metal.
His face was sharply defined, his features resolute. His eyes were deep and steady, like ancient wells with no bottom.
He simply stood there, doing nothing, yet gave the impression of a mountain—solid, composed, immovable.
Fan Yu.
A Level 8 Soul Engineer, a pillar of the Soul Guidance Department, and the youngest genius in Shrek Academy to reach Level 8.
He was also Zhou Yi's husband.
A low murmur of astonishment rose around them—
"Teacher Fan Yu!"
"It's Teacher Fan Yu from the Soul Guidance Department!"
"Shouldn't he be in the Soul Guidance Department? What's he doing here?"
The students whispered among themselves, their gazes shifting back and forth between Fan Yu and Zhou Yi.
The moment Zhou Yi saw Fan Yu arrive, her face brightened. The panic and unease in her eyes faded away almost completely.
She instinctively edged closer to Fan Yu, as though she had found her anchor.
Fan Yu did not look at her. He simply stood there, his eyes fixed on Huo Yuhao.
He gave a slight wave of his right hand and took three objects from the Storage Soul Tool at his waist.
They were three bones.
One was a left arm bone, its entire surface gleaming white, with faint pale-green patterns flowing across it and a gentle wind-attributed aura radiating from it.
One was a left leg bone, faintly blue, like a frozen ripple on the water. A sound like the tide could almost be heard from within it.
The last was a right arm bone, entirely jade green, like fine jade, radiating a rich aura of life.
The three Soul Bones floated before Huo Yuhao, slowly rotating as they gave off a gentle glow.
Over a thousand years old.
Wood, water, and wind attributes—one of each.
A wave of sharp breaths swept through the crowd.
Soul Bones!
And three of them at once!
All over a thousand years old!
What a fortune!
"T-These are Soul Bones? Three Soul Bones?"
"Oh my god, I've never seen a real Soul Bone in my entire life!"
"Teacher Fan Yu really is a Level 8 Soul Engineer. He just brought out three Thousand-Year Soul Bones like that!"
"Huo Yuhao's set for life! Three Thousand-Year Soul Bones! Plenty of people never see even one in their entire lives!"
Amid the chatter, Fan Yu remained completely composed, quietly watching Huo Yuhao.
His voice was steady and weighty, carrying a hint of unquestionable authority:
"Student Huo Yuhao, how about we let this matter end here?"
It was phrased as a question, but there was a note of certainty in his voice.
Three Thousand-Year Soul Bones in exchange for Zhou Yi not having to kneel.
In anyone's eyes, Huo Yuhao had struck a fantastic deal.
Huo Yuhao's gaze fell on the three floating Soul Bones.
Deep in his eyes, a pale-white gleam quietly shifted—the Spirit Eye Martial Soul was still active, and Spirit Detection had never stopped.
The quality of the three Soul Bones was crystal clear to him.
The wood-attributed right arm bone was around three thousand years old, well-preserved, and brimming with Soul Power.
The water-attributed left leg bone was around two thousand five hundred years old and of excellent quality.
The wind-attributed left arm bone was over one thousand eight hundred years old.
They were all genuine Thousand-Year Soul Bones.
And just as Fan Yu had said, two of them were the wood- and water-attributed ones he needed.
A hint of satisfaction flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind.
He had achieved his goal.
From the moment he made the bet with Zhou Yi, he had already calculated this step.
He knew Zhou Yi would never kneel in public, given her temperament.
He also knew that Fan Yu stood behind her—a Level 8 Soul Engineer and a pillar of the Soul Guidance Department.
When Zhou Yi was driven into a corner, Fan Yu was bound to step in.
And to protect Zhou Yi, Fan Yu would have to offer something valuable enough in exchange.
Soul Bones were the best choice.
Because Huo Yuhao really did need Soul Bones.
He wanted to refine a certain pill, whose ingredients required a wood- or water-attributed Soul Bone as its medicinal catalyst.
He had been fretting over where to find such a precious ingredient, and Zhou Yi had practically delivered it to his door.
So he had gone along with it and made the bet.
First, he wanted to vent his anger and show Zhou Yi that not every new student was there for her to push around.
Second, he wanted to take advantage of Zhou Yi's unwillingness to honor her promise and extort a hefty price.
Two birds with one stone.
As for whether Zhou Yi would make things difficult for him or give him a hard time in the future—
Huo Yuhao smiled faintly to himself.
There was a long road ahead.
He had plenty of ways to deal with Zhou Yi.
At that moment, Huo Yuhao shifted his gaze from the Soul Bones to Fan Yu.
This was his first time meeting Fan Yu.
But the fragments of the original novel's memories, inherited from "Wang Teng," had already given him a clear picture of the man.
Fan Yu.
In the original story, he was Huo Yuhao's nominal teacher at Shrek Academy, and the one who guided him onto the path of Soul Engineering.
A Level 8 Soul Engineer of exceptional talent, he was steady and dependable, with an almost obsessive love for Soul Tools.
But he was also Zhou Yi's husband.
In the original story, Fan Yu was not ignorant of Zhou Yi's harsh conduct.
But he chose to stay silent and indulge her, even cleaning up after her whenever she caused trouble.
Without Fan Yu backing her, Zhou Yi would never have dared expel students so casually.
To say Fan Yu had no idea what Zhou Yi was doing, and that it was all her own doing—
How could that be?
A trace of indifference passed through Huo Yuhao's mind.
But none of that had anything to do with him.
Fan Yu might have been his teacher in the original story, but so what?
That was the original story.
The Huo Yuhao standing here had lived another life.
He would walk his own path.
He would settle his own scores.
Now, Fan Yu had brought out three Thousand-Year Soul Bones in exchange for Zhou Yi not having to kneel.
Huo Yuhao accepted the deal.
Not because he wanted to do Fan Yu a favor, but because he had already achieved his goal.
Zhou Yi's reputation in the Outer Courtyard was already in tatters.
It would not take long for what happened today to spread throughout the entire first year, and perhaps even the whole Outer Courtyard.
Everyone would know that Zhou Yi had made a bet with a student, lost, and then had to rely on her husband to settle things with Soul Bones.
Whether she knelt or not was just a matter of venting his anger.
Losing her reputation would hurt her more than kneeling.
And Huo Yuhao had gotten the Soul Bones he wanted, while also getting to vent his anger.
A huge win.
Huo Yuhao raised his head and met Fan Yu's gaze.
His face showed no expression. He simply gave a faint nod.
"Fine."
One word.
Simple and decisive.
No unnecessary chatter.
Fan Yu was slightly taken aback, surprise flashing in his eyes.
He had thought the boy would bargain, or seize the opportunity to make some other demand.
After all, three Thousand-Year Soul Bones in exchange for Zhou Yi not having to kneel was already a tremendous offer. But given the shrewdness and skill this boy had just shown, he might not have been satisfied with it.
Yet he had agreed just like that.
His decisiveness was unexpected.
Looking at the boy before him, Fan Yu felt a complicated mix of emotions.
Of course he knew what Zhou Yi had done—putting seventy-one students through a gauntlet, making Wang Gang swallow a Blood Soul Pill. He knew about all of it.
But he had chosen to stay silent and step in to clean up after her.
Because Zhou Yi was his wife.
He loved her.
Even knowing she was in the wrong, he could not stand by and watch her kneel.
So he had agreed to Huo Yuhao's demand on Zhou Yi's behalf.
Three Thousand-Year Soul Bones were easy for him to obtain. Some inner-court students from the Martial Soul Department would come to the Soul Guidance Department to trade for Soul Tools to protect themselves during missions.
And these Thousand-Year Soul Bones, which had dropped from Evil Soul Masters and meant little to them, became items for trade.
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