Uh-oh, Have I Become Brother Fly?

As for Huo Yuhao, You Jie's idea was simple.

First, he'd cut the two dog leashes binding him to the Tang Sect and Wang Dong'er. Then he'd see whether Huo Yuhao could become his teammate.

Or rather, You Jie wanted to find out what it would be like to have Huo Yuhao as a teammate without those dog leashes getting in the way.

Would it be like being Fudo Yusei, for example, or Yuki Judai?

Although You Jie had already sampled all kinds of possibilities in his previous life, on message boards and in various fanfics.

Whether it was Prisoner Huo, even more of a clown than Yu Xiaogang, as depicted by some noble of the Sun Moon Empire, or the highly reliable teammate Huo Yuhao in the autobiography he'd read not long ago, Huo Yuhao's potential was just like that of a certain Rabbit: truly infinite.

So You Jie was really looking forward to seeing what kind of powerhouse his Huo Yuhao would become.

After all, You Jie's own Martial Souls were Stardust Dragon and Tamashi. Reliable friends were just as important to him.

Without reliable friends to form strong bonds with, Fudo Yusei could at most use Delta Accel to summon Cosmic Blazar Dragon against ZONE, then stare down the Timelord helplessly. Neither could do a thing to the other.

If You Jie's Martial Soul were Elemental HERO Ultraman—crossed out—Elemental HERO Neos, then he could go in for some heartless path or heavenly martial slaughter path, never forming bonds with anyone and taking heartlessness to the extreme.

So You Jie didn't mind using Huo Yuhao's First Soul Ring as an opportunity to try and build a bond with him.

"A white Ten-Year Soul Ring... That might be hard to explain. Bei Bei isn't stupid. With you and me here, it won't be easy to fool him into believing that we only helped him find a Ten-Year Soul Beast to absorb."

Zhang Lexuan had also seen the white Soul Ring marked with golden patterns. A thoughtful look crossed her beautiful eyes.

"Let's see what that big bug says first. Since it can speak, it must have at least the intelligence of a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Maybe it can come up with a plausible excuse.

"By the way, Sister Lexuan, sorry for the trouble, but could you keep Bei Bei and Sister Tang Ya occupied? If they're about to wake up, let them sleep a little longer."

You Jie stretched his body and glanced around. That mental wave had put Bei Bei and Tang Ya into a peaceful slumber, so it had surely lulled plenty of Soul Beasts into a deep sleep as well.

Maybe there were some Mental Attribute Soul Beasts around here...

However, after the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm officially became Huo Yuhao's First Soul Ring, the excuse it gave left You Jie and Zhang Lexuan utterly stunned.

"I don't know why an extra Ten-Year Soul Ring appeared... Whatever. As long as you're happy."

After hearing the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's excuse, You Jie and Zhang Lexuan exchanged a glance, then sighed in unison.

The explanation did sound pretty stupid, but it seemed good enough to fool Bei Bei and Tang Ya.

As for whether it would tarnish the reputation of Zhang Lexuan, a Soul Douluo...

As long as the few people present didn't spread it around, it didn't seem like a problem.

Sometimes, a stupid excuse was more believable, because reality was often even more absurd.

"By the way, Huo Yuhao, what First Soul Skill did that bug give you?"

You Jie seemed to remember something and continued asking.

Huo Yuhao "honestly" told them about the Spiritual Detection Sharing skill, then demonstrated it for You Jie and Zhang Lexuan.

"What an incredible support skill..."

Feeling the powerful effects of Spiritual Detection Sharing, Zhang Lexuan couldn't help exclaiming.

Its ability to detect things in such detail, and the possibility that its range could grow along with his spiritual power, meant that this skill was far more impressive than it looked.

"Definitely. This skill is excellent. Old Qian's department especially needs talent like this.

"Sister Lexuan, could you do me a favor? I'll recommend Huo Yuhao to the Soul Tool Department. Please help Old Qian handle the paperwork properly.

"Vice Dean Cai is easy to talk to as well, but if we ask her, there's no telling whether a certain someone will find out and try to sabotage things."

You Jie looked at Zhang Lexuan as he made his suggestion. He held back some of what he wanted to say in front of Huo Yuhao.

The "certain someone" he mentioned was usually called the "Evil Soul Master Factory" by You Jie. That was Yan Shaozhe, Bright Phoenix Douluo, the dean of Shrek Academy who'd fired one shot and produced a Holy Spirit Cult vice leader.

Xuan Zi and Yan Shaozhe were Shrek Academy's two smiling tigers, two horned sharks, and the twin stars of its museum.

What's more, Yan Shaozhe was extremely biased, petty, and miserly. If he found out the Soul Tool Department had bypassed Shrek Academy's regular admissions process to recruit a student, he'd definitely find a way to extort a pile of things from them.

Three years ago, Fan Yu had brought back He Caitou, and Yan Shaozhe had come over to run his mouth. In the end, even after the furious Xian Lin'er summoned her Martial Soul Avatar and attacked him head-on, Yan Shaozhe had still managed to snatch plenty of things from the Soul Tool Department.

This time, You Jie didn't want that Evil Soul Master Factory to pull off the same dirty trick again. Aside from some unconventional backroom maneuvers, he planned to make sure their official methods were airtight too.

And Zhang Lexuan, who would take over the Martial Soul Department at Shrek Academy in the future, clearly had the authority to make that happen.

Yan Shaozhe, still planning to find an excuse to extort the Soul Tool Department? Go take it up with Mu En!

"Brother You Jie, is it really possible?! I can really join Shrek Academy?!"

Hearing that he could study at the legendary Shrek Academy, Huo Yuhao immediately perked up.

"Don't worry. If a monster like you can't get into Shrek Academy, then that just means it's about time the academy was destroyed."

Like Shrek Academy ten thousand years later, which was so arrogant and domineering—and eventually got two Level Twelve rockets from the Holy Spirit Cult and the Spirit Pagoda. You Jie thought this silently to himself.

"That's wonderful! Thank you, Brother You Jie! Thank you, Sister Zhang!"

Overjoyed, Huo Yuhao immediately bowed to You Jie and Zhang Lexuan, completely missing the slightly peculiar look on You Jie's face.

Uh-oh, have I become Brother Fly?!

A while later, Bei Bei and Tang Ya woke up one after the other, and You Jie and the others managed to brush aside what had happened with a few simple excuses.

What a terrifying bug. It actually escaped from the hands of Big Sister and Xiao Jie...

Bei Bei thought with lingering fear as he held Tang Ya's hand, which was trembling even harder than before.

A Soul Beast that could escape a Soul Douluo in her normal state and a five-second Soul Douluo clearly wasn't someone Bei Bei and Tang Ya could afford to mess with. What's more, its mental wave alone had been enough to knock them unconscious.

Tang Ya, who'd been skipping and bouncing along the way earlier, was now behaving herself. That made things much easier for Zhang Lexuan.