Seizing Opportunities? Sorry, Not Interested

He suddenly opened his eyes and turned toward the voice. What entered his sight was an incomparably beautiful girl with long pale-golden hair. Huo Yuhao was momentarily dazed, completely forgetting his current predicament.

"So... so beautiful. She's who knows how many times prettier than Sister Xiao Ya."

Looking at the stunning girl in the distance, Huo Yuhao blurted out.

"Hey, little brother, stop staring blankly. Do you want help or not? Seeing how miserable you look, I'll only charge you one gold soul coin."

Seeing Huo Yuhao actually get distracted in the middle of battle, Yao Shi spoke up to remind him.

ROAR—

The Wind Baboon let out another furious roar, jolting Huo Yuhao back to his senses. He was still in grave danger, with his life at risk at any moment. Still, he could tell that anyone appearing here must be quite powerful. Hearing Yao Shi's words, he hurriedly pleaded for help.

"Miss, please save me!"

Yao Shi's expression darkened, but he still controlled the vines and rushed forward, cursing, "Are you blind? I'm a guy!"

"A... a guy?" Huo Yuhao froze. No matter how he looked at the person before him, with that beauty capable of toppling kingdoms, he didn't seem like a man at all!

Yao Shi did not continue arguing. He could not really blame Huo Yuhao. His voice was indeed rather androgynous, neither distinctly male nor female. Anyone who did not know his gender beforehand would mistake him for a girl at first sight. He had been misidentified plenty of times before.

"Kill it."

Yao Shi controlled the vines, strangling the ten-year Wind Baboon until it was on its last breath, then spoke to Huo Yuhao beside him.

Looking at that goddess-like face, Huo Yuhao's heart raced. Hearing Yao Shi's words, he took a deep breath, picked up the dagger that had been knocked away, and drove it heavily into the Wind Baboon's heart.

A faint white glow radiated from the Wind Baboon's body, gradually condensing into a white ring of light.

"Whew... I'm saved."

With the crisis over, Huo Yuhao's tightly strained nerves finally relaxed. Exhaustion robbed his body of strength, and he collapsed to the ground. He let out a long breath, grateful to have escaped death.

Then Yao Shi's voice drifted over.

"Since I helped you, it's time to settle the bill. Like I said before, one gold soul coin."

"Huh? A gold soul coin? What gold soul coin?"

Hearing Yao Shi's words, Huo Yuhao looked confused. Earlier, he had been so mesmerized by Yao Shi's appearance that he only heard the offer of help and completely missed the part about paying a gold soul coin.

"What, trying to skip out on the bill?"

Yao Shi walked over to Huo Yuhao. One stood while the other lay down, and Yao Shi looked down at him from above.

Huo Yuhao hurriedly sat up and waved his hands repeatedly, looking embarrassed. "No, no, no. Miss... no, big brother, I'm not trying to skip out on it. It's just that I don't have any money right now..."

He had run away from the White Tiger Duke's estate. Aside from the clothes on his back and the White Tiger Dagger his mother had left him, he was completely penniless. How could he possibly have a gold soul coin to pay Yao Shi?

Yao Shi glanced at Huo Yuhao, then sat down across from him. "Fine. Looking at your situation, you definitely can't afford it. You can owe me for now."

"Really? Thank you, big brother."

"Oh, right, big brother, I still don't know your name. Mine is Huo Yuhao."

Hearing Yao Shi's words, Huo Yuhao thanked him and introduced himself as well.

"Me? My name is Yao Shi."

Yao Shi's tone was leisurely, but then his expression shifted. "By the way, Yuhao, it looks like your soul power hasn't even broken through the first ring yet. Why did you come here alone?"

Huo Yuhao seemed somewhat at a loss. "I came to hunt a soul beast. I need to add my first soul ring to my martial soul."

"Hunt a soul beast? By yourself?"

Yao Shi feigned surprise.

"Mm..."

Huo Yuhao answered softly, his gaze shifting toward the white soul ring left behind by the Wind Baboon in the distance.

He was considering whether to absorb the soul ring before him. He knew that his Spirit Eyes martial soul needed a spiritual-type soul beast. This Wind Baboon's soul ring definitely was not compatible with him.

Huo Yuhao hesitated. A ten-year soul beast had nearly cost him his life. What if he encountered a hundred-year soul beast? Did he really have no choice but to absorb this incompatible soul ring?

At that moment, he was utterly lost.

Yao Shi naturally understood his concerns and was just about to speak.

Suddenly, the surroundings gradually began to turn cold, and a burst of icy air spread out from the entrance to a patch of woods.

It's here! The Child of Fortune's first opportunity—Skydream Iceworm.

Cold air and pressure descended at the same time. Because Huo Yuhao's cultivation was so weak, he immediately lost consciousness and fainted. Yao Shi, however, was unaffected due to the uniqueness of his martial soul. Still, he followed suit and pretended to be knocked unconscious.

A somewhat excited voice rang out.

"At last, I've encountered humans with spiritual attributes, and there are even two of them! What a pity Brother doesn't cry, or else I'd surely be sobbing my eyes out!"

As the voice fell, cracks began appearing across the surrounding ground, gradually turning into fissures. A gigantic, plump silkworm glowing with golden-white light slowly crawled out from within.

Yao Shi narrowed his eyes and secretly took a look, inwardly exclaiming, Holy shit, what a useless-looking silkworm. Is that stomach as huge as Ryouko's actually for real?

The golden fat silkworm slowly wriggled toward them. It first glanced at Huo Yuhao, its tone somewhat disdainful.

"This one won't do. His martial soul is decent, but his talent is far too poor. No, no."

As it spoke, it crawled over to Yao Shi instead.

"Oh? This little girl's talent is pretty good. It's decided, then. Brother will become your soul ring and become the first intelligent soul ring in the history of the Douluo Continent."

"Don't worry, it won't hurt. Brother will be gentle."

As it spoke, a ball of light condensed from its head and flew into Yao Shi's body.

Hearing this, Yao Shi inwardly complained, Brother, don't do this. The protagonist is over there, go find him! I don't need your intelligent soul ring! And you're the girl! Your whole family is made up of girls!

Yao Shi immediately erected a mental wall within his sea of consciousness. After the ball of light formed by Skydream Iceworm entered his body, it crashed straight into it.

"Strange, why can't I get in?"

Skydream looked puzzled. An invisible wall before him prevented him from merging with Yao Shi, and he refused to accept it.

"Damn it, get in already!"

Skydream struggled desperately to squeeze through while Yao Shi fought hard to resist. After all, this was his own domain, and Yao Shi still held the upper hand.

Seeing that he still could not enter and that his origin energy was beginning to dissipate, Skydream made up his mind, left Yao Shi's body, and flew toward Huo Yuhao instead.

"Forget it. Poor talent is poor talent. I can slowly find ways to improve his aptitude later. It's still better than dying now."

Seeing this, Yao Shi thought with satisfaction, That's more like it. Why come looking for me when there's a perfectly good protagonist right there?

At that exact moment, the previously clear sky suddenly darkened. In an instant, the sun's radiance was completely swallowed by darkness, and an enormous pressure descended from the heavens, so overwhelming it made one unable to breathe.

An aged yet majestic voice echoed through the air.

"With sun and moon in hand, I pluck the stars; in this world, there is none like me. I never expected that this old man would still have a fragment of his soul remain."

Afterward, a stream of gray air followed the ball of light formed by Skydream Iceworm and entered Huo Yuhao's brow.

PS: At this point, some people may ask, "Author, author, it's understandable that you left Skydream Iceworm to Huo Yuhao, but why don't you want Electrolux either?" Here is what the author has to say: there is simply no need. Electrolux only has mere necromancy, while the protagonist's Abundance ability governs life itself, and it far surpasses even the Life God King. Later, he will not only be able to revive people at will, but can even revive someone with only a fragment of a soul remaining, or even without a soul at all. His ability vastly surpasses Electrolux's. Besides, Huo Yuhao will later become the protagonist's underling and eventually something like a believer. (Lastly, this isn't padding, okay? The main text still has over two thousand words!)