Heading North

Most of those who traveled with such large merchant caravans were small-scale merchants.

Huo Yuhao was the only one traveling alone.

The squad leader who had taken him in did not make things difficult for him for the sake of the money. He ate and slept alongside them.

Lei Ao had originally thought that such a refined-looking young man, who seemed never to have suffered much, would not be used to dry rations. He had been ready to give him a few words of warning, but to his surprise, Huo Yuhao ate quite happily.

When they set up camp at night, everyone naturally got busy preparing dinner. Meals were eaten by squad, and as the only outsider, Huo Yuhao was naturally not allowed near the stove by the squad leader.

Everyone had a large bowl of plain noodles in water. The dozen or so burly men all took out their own pickled vegetables. Squad leader Lei Ao had originally wanted to share some of his meat sauce with Huo Yuhao, but then he saw him take two small jars and two cucumbers from his bundle.

"I made these myself earlier. Would you all like to try some?" As he spoke, Huo Yuhao opened one of the jars. The moment the lid came off, an overpowering aroma of meat spread through the air.

With a flick of his chopsticks, he picked up a large clump of meat sauce. The sauce was rich and fragrant, its color glossy with oil, while the shreds of meat were translucent and springy.

Holding a cucumber in his palm, he did not even need a cutting board. He sliced it again and again into thin shreds no thicker than toothpicks, adding them to his bowl. The other jar contained fried peanuts. With those colors combined, a simple bowl of plain noodles was instantly elevated by several levels.

"Kid, you've got some skills." Looking at the noodles in Huo Yuhao's bowl, one of the accompanying men could not help salivating as he spoke enviously.

"My teacher said I still need more practice." Recalling the first time he had entered the kitchen with his teacher, Rong Nianbing, only to be driven out, Huo Yuhao's smile deepened.

At first, he had possessed no particular talent for the culinary path. The only thing that had caught his teacher's eye was grilled fish. As for everything else, he had basically just reproduced his teacher's dishes exactly. In his teacher's words, they were full of craftsmanship but utterly soulless.

It was only later, when matters in the Far North and the soul beasts had troubled his mind, that he began to develop a feel for it.

What he had in hand was stock left over from Slaughter City. In a place like that, nothing but food he made himself was edible. Because it had tasted too good, he had even been hunted down by those people.

The man had originally wanted to refuse. After all, Huo Yuhao had only temporarily joined their group, and a certain degree of vigilance was necessary.

But seeing that even his boss looked as though he were holding himself back, his eyes immediately shifted. Fine, I'll just consider it testing the food for the boss.

As he spoke, he scooped a large spoonful from the jar. Huo Yuhao glanced at the amount in his bowl, then sliced some cucumber shreds for him as well.

The moment the man took his first bite, he could not stop.

After a while, when they saw him nimbly reaching for a second bowl, the others immediately joined in as well.

"Kid, with your skill, you could probably even serve as an imperial chef," Lei Ao said with a sigh. Of course, he had never eaten palace food, but he had once mooched a meal at a major restaurant under the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect with the third-in-command of the merchant caravan. If the food really had been made by this youth, he could at least work there as a head chef.

"You flatter me, Captain. How could my cooking compare to that of the royal imperial chefs?" Huo Yuhao shook his head. When it came to cooking, even his teacher Rong Nianbing would not dare claim that he was definitely better than every cook in the world. He merely had limitless time to study it.

"You're too modest, kid. At your age, with skills like these, your future will surely be limitless. Since I've eaten your food today, and since I'm a few years older than you, you can call me Brother Lei without worrying that I'll take offense. Let me ask something presumptuously: at your age, you should be following a teacher from a junior academy to obtain a soul ring. Why are you heading alone to somewhere as far away as Heaven Dou City?" Lei Ao asked, feigning hesitation.

Anyone who could remain with such a large merchant caravan for over a decade was naturally not a careless person. He knew the proper limits when taking people along.

The contradictions surrounding this youth were too strong. At first, Lei Ao had thought he was some young master who had run away from home. Yet although his conduct was as polite as that of a noble, he lacked the fussy airs of one. Combined with those culinary skills, which could not have been developed in a day or two and must have required long, arduous training, what family would let a young master learn cooking from childhood?

"You're joking, Brother Lei. Bringing me north with you has already been a great kindness."

"You should be able to sense that I'm already level ten. It is simply that my martial soul is too unusual, and none of the nearby soul beast forests have suitable soul beasts for me. That is why I have chosen the farther route instead of the nearer one."

"In fact, even after reaching Heaven Dou City, I'll have to continue north. The attribute I need for my soul ring can only be found in the Far North." Huo Yuhao smiled, looking like someone who had not yet experienced the ways of the world.

"The Far North?! That place is a forbidden zone for humans. They say the vicious beasts there are even fiercer than those in the Star Dou Great Forest. What kind of martial soul do you have that you need to go to that man-eating place?"

Lei Ao could not help becoming even more curious about the youth. Not to mention ordinary people, even some soul masters might never hear of the Far North in their entire lives. He only knew of it because he had spent so many years traveling as a merchant. Yet this youth knew of it, and was even certain that the soul beast he needed was there. That was anything but ordinary.

"Other soul beasts would work too, but I mainly want to take a chance."

"My martial soul is my eyes, and it is also the rare spiritual attribute. Soul beasts with spiritual attributes are uncommon, and even when they can be found, their locations are too dangerous. Ice Silkworms in the Far North are different. Even on the outskirts, they can be found everywhere. For my first soul ring, I plan to find an Ice Silkworm of suitable age." Huo Yuhao smiled as he spoke, nine parts truth and one part lie.

For the first soul ring of his Spirit Eyes, he still intended to choose Brother Sky Dream. For no other reason than that, at this point in time, Brother Sky Dream was the only one suffering.

The sooner he brought him out, the less he would suffer.

"Eyes, huh? Choosing an Ice Silkworm is not a bad idea." When Lei Ao heard that Huo Yuhao's martial soul was actually his eyes, he immediately relaxed. There were all kinds of martial souls on Douluo Continent, but he could not imagine how eyes could attack.

Moreover, the first soul ring this kid wanted was merely an Ice Silkworm, something found everywhere in the Far North, so the issue was even less significant. Ice Silkworms held about the same status as Blue Silver Grass.

It was normal for a young man full of ambition to want to take a chance.

Thinking about it, Lei Ao had been much the same at that age. The only difference was that he had not taken that chance, while Huo Yuhao had. With that thought, Lei Ao reassuringly patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder.

"Not bad. Young people should have ideas. Once you obtain your first soul ring, are you planning to come back?" Lei Ao asked casually.

If the timing worked out, perhaps he could make another profit. Ah, even soul masters had it hard when they were middle-aged men supporting families...