Treasure Appraisal Pavilion Gold Card

Shrek City during the winter break

was quite lively. With the New Year approaching, many people chose this time to hold banquets.

The academy, however, was exceptionally quiet. Aside from those whose homes were simply too far away for a round trip, the rest were people with no homes... people with nowhere to go.

"Huo, are you heading out?"

Mu Baobao and Ma Xiaotao had just reached the entrance when they ran into Huo Yuhao, who was coming out with a pack on his back.

"I remember you were an orphan, right? Now that you've joined the Tang Sect, you have a home too. Aren't you spending the New Year with Xiaoya and Beibei?" he asked knowingly. He was perfectly aware of why Huo Yuhao was leaving.

Huo Yuhao froze for a moment and could only offer the excuse he had prepared for them. "I just reached rank twenty, so I need to go obtain a Soul Ring. I probably won't make it back for the New Year. I'll have to celebrate with everyone next year."

Mu Baobao pondered this for a long while. It was not just the New Year he would miss; he would be absent for quite some time after the new term began as well.

Zhou Yi and Fan Yu had both assumed something had happened to him. The second Soul Ring was only one reason; there was also his second Martial Soul, the Ice Empress Scorpion.

At rank twenty, he had one four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring and one million-year Soul Ring. He was truly one of a kind.

He was not an orphan. Like Ma Xiaotao's ancestor, his own ancestor had been one of the First Generation Shrek Seven Devils. Yet even the Duke of White Tiger did not know he existed, keeping silent about it... and Shrek could hardly laugh at his background, either.

"Do you need my help?"

Ma Xiaotao shot him a sideways glance. "We just got back from outside, and you're already running off again."

"But I remember you were rank twelve when you enrolled. You reached rank twenty in a single semester—that's pretty fast!" She glanced at Huo Yuhao. Even some top-tier Martial Souls could not achieve that pace. More importantly, he had awakened his Martial Soul at six but was still only rank twelve at twelve.

It was not hard to imagine just how poor his physical condition had been. He could only answer awkwardly, "My roommate and I discovered that we have a Martial Soul Fusion Skill, so our cultivation speed is quite fast... Besides, Senior Brother got several Mystic Water Pills from Senior Xu Sanshi for me. They cleansed my marrow and strengthened my bones, so my cultivation speed isn't slow."

"Mm." Mu Baobao fell silent. He had not expected that even after he stopped that unfair match, Xu Sanshi had still ended up being the sucker. He observed a few minutes of silence for him.

A Martial Soul Fusion Skill allowed Soul Power to intermingle and greatly accelerated cultivation. That was not much of a secret. Ma Xiaotao was still somewhat surprised, though, because such cases were rare... especially between two people who were not particularly close.

Shrek's teachers had said that everyone possessed a partner whose Martial Soul could fuse with their own. Yet there were simply too many people on the continent; one might never encounter such a person in an entire lifetime. All one could say was that they had absurdly good luck.

Mu Baobao curled his lip. Absurdly good luck? Their compatibility was one hundred percent, and they had four fusion skills.

Later... Huo Yuhao, Tang Wutong, and Wang Qiu'er would even be able to create five Martial Soul fusions among the three of them. Compared to that, his own three-in-one Kyurem did not seem particularly remarkable. All he could say was that Huo Yuhao truly lived up to his reputation as a cheat.

"Then goodbye, Senior Mu and Senior Ma. Don't worry. With my status as a Shrek student, plenty of people will be willing to help me hunt Soul Beasts. Nothing will happen."

After that little interlude, the two slowly headed toward the Inner Court. Having experienced the leisurely, secluded life of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, returning to noisy Shrek made Ma Xiaotao feel as though an age had passed.

"Your heart gets tired too, doesn't it?" Mu Baobao leaned close to her face with a smile. Ma Xiaotao slapped him in irritation. "That's your fault too."

"Experiencing that peaceful life, then returning to a fast-paced campus... it really is tiring."

"Still, you seem rather concerned about that junior. When we enrolled, it looked like you were going to see Beibei and Xiaoya. Why did it feel like you were really going there for him?"

As the continent's number one academy, Shrek Academy found it extremely easy to investigate a student's past. It could always uncover something from the smallest traces.

He was not sure whether Shrek had discovered that Huo Yuhao was also a descendant of the First Generation Shrek Seven Devils. But what difference would that make? The Outer Court had Dai Huabin, who shared Huo Yuhao's lineage, while the Inner Court had Dai Yueheng, who, like Ma Xiaotao, was one of this generation's Shrek Seven Devils. Even if they found out, Huo Yuhao would not be heavily nurtured because of his talent.

"Do you believe he'll bring earth-shaking changes to Shrek, perhaps even to the Douluo Continent?" Mu Baobao asked with absolute certainty.

"Can he compare with you, the creator of Battle Armor?" Ma Xiaotao thought he was talking nonsense. "I've asked about him too. His spiritual-type Martial Soul is indeed extraordinarily gifted, and he's already a first-rank Soul Engineer. But Soul Beasts with that attribute are too hard to find. He won't achieve much."

Mu Baobao, the creator of Battle Armor, possessed two Martial Souls with extreme attributes. His future accomplishments were bound to be extraordinary.

"Just as expected of master and disciple," Mu Baobao muttered.

During the freshman tournament, Huo Yuhao had led Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao to an unexpected championship. They had even defeated many Soul Elders above rank thirty. Wang Dong was a Clear Sky Sect disciple, while Xiao Xiao possessed Twin Martial Souls.

Yan Shaozhe had immediately announced that the two would become core disciples. The reason he rejected Huo Yuhao was the same.

After the winter break, Huo Yuhao revealed his second Martial Soul, the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. An ultimate Martial Soul and a Body Martial Soul appearing in one person—this shameless old man had immediately caused a scene at the Sea God Pavilion meeting. With only one, Huo Yuhao might have been nurtured as a seed. With two, he was simply too heaven-defying.

They had been willing to pour every resource into him, even promising him Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bones and Soul Rings. Yet he had not been disappointed in the least. He already had a four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring and Soul Bone, as well as a million-year intelligent Soul Ring.

"Then just take it as me talking nonsense." He shrugged. Time would prove everything.

Soul Guidance Department, Inner Court.

Ma Xiaotao naturally went to the Spirit Department to report to Yan Shaozhe, while Mu Baobao did not return to his residence either.

"You're back?" Tie Wuji, Qian Duoduo, and Xian Lin'er rushed over the moment they received the news. After all, this was the benefactor of the Soul Guidance Department.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Mu Baobao received two pieces of news. With the spiritual power boost provided by a Two-Word Battle Armor helmet, Tie Wuji had successfully forged Soul Refined metal and officially become a seventh-rank blacksmith...

Soul Refinement fusion forging was still beyond him, and Qian Duoduo was the same. However, they could now engrave seventh-rank miniature Soul Guidance formations, meaning Three-Word Battle Armor had officially entered the world.

But... this was already their limit. Huo Yuhao had yet to create the Soul Spirit System, so their spiritual power could not undergo a qualitative transformation. Still, they had forged black Ten Thousand Year Three-Word Battle Armor comparable to a full set of six major Soul Bones and numerous External Soul Bones.

It even had a chance of evolving to the Hundred Thousand Year level. This was utterly epoch-making. The drawback was that it consumed terrifying amounts of spiritual power. It took an entire semester to produce a single set, which showed just how difficult it was.

Every forging attempt was life-draining, but with Shrek Academy directing resources toward the field, blacksmiths had gained recognition. The number of Thousand Refinement and Spirit Refinement blacksmiths had increased considerably.

If this had been the era of the Douluo Continent, there would have been Divine Craftsmen everywhere. The first components produced were Two-Word Battle Armor helmets, which enhanced the spiritual power of blacksmiths and Soul Engineers, ensuring they could make Two-Word Battle Armor. Quite a few teachers had already tasted the benefits.

Spiritual-type Soul Masters, once overlooked, immediately became highly sought after, and the Soul Guidance Department flourished.

"This is from Lin Lao." Xian Lin'er took out a golden card and handed it to Mu Baobao. He was still wondering what it was when he saw the monster head carved onto it.

Three large characters read: Treasure Appraisal Pavilion.

He immediately understood. Lin Lao was the master of the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion, and this grand event was quite famous in Shrek.

The Treasure Appraisal Fair was a grand event organized by several major merchants in Shrek City. Because Shrek City sat at the center of the continent, it had naturally become a renowned commercial hub. Merchants from every nation often came here to trade, and Shrek Academy was the continent's number one academy, so there was no shortage of people looking to curry favor with it.

Shrek Academy was not merely the continent's number one academy; it was also one of the Douluo Continent's three great powers, possessing formidable military strength. Maintaining a good relationship with the academy brought far too many benefits.

Anyone who graduated from Shrek Academy could almost be considered a rare talent. Otherwise, why would merchants come here to do charity? They had even considered that not every student was wealthy and introduced a credit system.

As long as the debt was repaid within the specified time, it was fine. Outer Court students paid some interest, while Inner Court students and teachers only paid the principal, with various discounts available as well.

Put simply, it was a membership system and buy-now-pay-later. These merchants were shrewd indeed.

Still, the gold card made Mu Baobao sink into thought. Huo Yuhao was a dual core disciple of both the Soul Guidance Department and Spirit Department, and he had received a red card.

Each year, it allowed its holder to take one item for free. Black cards had a limit of one million, purple cards one hundred thousand, yellow cards ten thousand, and white cards several thousand. Wang Dong had initially received only a purple card.

"What privileges does this gold card have?" Mu Baobao asked. The Treasure Appraisal Fair undoubtedly contained fine items. On Huo Yuhao's first visit, he had obtained a Ten Thousand Year light-attribute Soul Bone for Wang Dong, an impressive piece of equipment.

Soul Bones, rare metals, blueprints, even Self-Created Soul Skills and fusion-forged metal formulas—

all of them could be found at the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion. The gold card was likely held only by Sea God Pavilion members, and some of them might possess only red cards. All three teachers were extremely envious.

"Like the red card, it lets you take items from the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion every year. But the number increases to three, and it also has a credit limit that red cards do not: one hundred million Gold Soul Coins!" Xian Lin'er said after taking a sip of tea. "Within Shrek, only Sea God Pavilion members like us possess them. Several of us only have red cards."

If red cards had a credit limit, it was likely around ten million. That really was about the value of a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone. When Snow Empress failed her tribulation and was captured as a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, she had sold for only one hundred million Gold Soul Coins.

More likely, she had not had a Soul Bone. Otherwise, she would have been worth at least three hundred million Gold Soul Coins. If people had known her true identity as a beast king more than seven hundred thousand years old, Shrek might have bankrupted itself to buy her—though perhaps no one would have dared to.

She was equivalent to a rank ninety-seven or ninety-eight Super Douluo. Who would dare set their sights on her unless they were tired of living?

"Don't worry. As the creator of Battle Armor, you absolutely qualify for this!" Tie Wuji and Qian Duoduo said. Yet Mu Baobao muttered inwardly, This thing doesn't seem all that useful!

To hunt a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, a Super Douluo had to preside over the hunt. As for the other Ten Thousand Year items, he definitely had no interest in them.

He did not intend to pursue Soul Engineering further, so blueprints were even more useless to him. Only rare metals had some value, allowing him to continue as a blacksmith... As for his future Soul Bones and Soul Rings, he had set his sights

on those Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts, even beast kings. Several in the Star Dou Forest suited his Three Dragons of Dao Martial Soul quite well.

Ultimate Evil, Goodness, ice, fire, and lightning.

The Demon Eye Demon Tree, Emerald Swan, Hell Demon Dragon King, Three-Headed Red Demon Mastiff, Evil Eye Tyrant Sovereign... seven or eight of the Ten Great Beast Kings suited him.

As for the Heavenly Snow Woman and the Ice Empress Scorpion, he truly had no way to deal with them. Setting aside the issue of strength,

they were all equivalent to Super Douluos. He would be instantly killed... Ice Empress had been deceived by Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, while Snow Empress had been saved by them.

Tang Buddha Ancestor had watched Huo Yuhao's growth every step of the way. Would Mu Baobao dare act without fearing Blue Silver Entanglement?

Still... there were quite a few Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. The Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, Blazing Apricot Glue Spider, Titan Snow Demon King... all were possible targets. In the sea, there were also Demon Soul Great White Sharks, Evil Orca Kings, Deep Sea Demonic Whale Kings... and at the Ten Thousand Year level, Dark Demon Evil God Tigers and Thunder Prison Vines... all made excellent Soul Rings.

None of them were easy to provoke. Even Super Douluos would not dare offend them, and the Treasure Appraisal Pavilion definitely could not obtain them.

A gold card with supreme privileges? What the hell was it good for?

All he could say was that the road ahead was long, and he would have plenty to do. Humans lived less than a hundred years, so if he wanted to become a god, he naturally had to strive for it. This was an irresistible temptation to those beast kings as well; they could not become gods.

After becoming gods, they could return to being independent entities. Sky Azure Bull Python, Titan Giant Ape... and Huo Yuhao's seven Soul Spirits were all essentially stowaways.

As long as they could be convinced that godhood was possible, success was certain... Huo Yuhao had scammed a whole group of beast kings without giving them the slightest warning.

After speaking with the three teachers for a while longer, Mu Baobao returned to his detached Inner Court residence and found two female visitors there. Mu Beibei was entertaining them: the lively Tang Ya and the sorrowful Jiang Nannan. The sight made his heart ache.

Many people said that Tang Ya bore the heavy responsibility of reviving the Tang Sect, yet she still played around so carefree.

He felt she should be that way. She had merely been chosen as sect master because her Martial Soul was Blue Silver Grass, then burdened with an undeserved responsibility... In the end, she even became an Evil Soul Master and nearly died young. How painful was that?

As for Jiang Nannan... stop pretending. Tang Ya and Huo Yuhao both knew to work and earn money when they had none.

Yet she insisted on posing as a refined young lady. Her behavior was truly unbelievable. After entering Shrek, she had not even returned home to see her elderly mother. Still, her situation was rather tragic.

At such a young age, she had been forced to sell herself to Xu Sanshi. That would undoubtedly be humiliating for anyone, so naturally she felt too ashamed to return home... What Mu Baobao could not understand was why Xu Sanshi insisted on being a Double-Faced Turtle when it was a consensual arrangement. With his identity and background, if Jiang Nannan brought him home, her mother would probably feel as though incense had been burning in their favor.

"Beibei, I want that one!"

Tang Ya, the little foodie, was ordering Beibei to bring her snacks. He also asked Jiang Nannan if she needed anything else, then went to get it... Jiang Nannan sat properly on the sofa. When she saw someone enter,

she immediately rose and bowed. Tang Ya, meanwhile, made an amusing expression that said, I was wrong, please don't hit me.

"Senior Mu!" Tang Ya said stiffly and awkwardly.

Mu Baobao was amused by her. He pulled over a stool, sat down, and pretended to be angry.

"Hehe!" The two smiled nervously.

"Relax. I don't eat people." If not for Beibei, the two of them probably would not have been allowed into the Inner Court.

"Winter break is here. Anyone who can't go home is a pitiful child!" he said meaningfully. One had no home, while the other had a home but could not return because she was too ashamed.

"So eat and drink as you please. If nothing unexpected happens, you'll become my sister-in-law someday. You'll have to call me Big Brother then. You can have Beibei show you around the Inner Court. If anything happens, I'll handle it..." he said with a smile.

Tang Ya immediately blushed. "Senior Mu, what nonsense are you saying? Beibei and I are master and disciple."

Jiang Nannan thought that if Xu Sanshi were as dependable as this senior, perhaps she could reluctantly accept him. Beibei happened to emerge carrying many snacks and placed them on the table.

"Brother, you're back!" How could he fail to see what his older brother was thinking? He was creating an opportunity for him. So he gave him a look that said... You really are my dear brother.