White Tiger Duke's Estate, Huo Yuhao

Ye An did not have many ideas about where to travel next. After all, the original story had not described the three great empires in much detail, and its descriptions of the Star Luo Empire had been almost entirely focused on Star Luo City and the White Tiger Duke's Estate. So, Ye An merely took Zhang Lexuan around Star Luo City for a while.

People said that when in doubt, one should go have a round at the Soul Battle Arena, but after thinking it over, Ye An gave up on the idea.

With his and Zhang Lexuan's lineup, going to the Soul Battle Arena would be nothing but a crushing advantage. Aside from exposing their absurd Soul Ring configurations, it would offer virtually no training value.

Rather than spending time on that, they might as well attend a few more auctions and see whether they could acquire anything useful.

Unfortunately, none of the auctions Ye An and Zhang Lexuan attended afterward featured any particularly valuable treasures. They were all Soul Tools or materials for crafting Soul Tools.

That made sense.

Although the Starlight Auction House could be considered the most prestigious auction house on the entire continent, rare treasures were not something they could simply produce whenever they wanted.

Of course, Ye An had not forgotten to sell that thousand-year Silvermoon Mad Lion Soul Bone.

Though the quality of a thousand-year Soul Bone was somewhat lacking, such Soul Bones still had quite a market among low-level Soul Masters with few resources. In the end, that 3,500-year Silvermoon Mad Lion Soul Bone sold for a little over one million Gold Soul Coins.

Even after deducting the Starlight Auction House's consignment fee, he still made a full one million Gold Soul Coins.

The White Tiger Duke's Estate, which covered more than three thousand mu, had been built alone fifty li northwest of Star Luo City. Such exceptional favor represented the White Tiger Duke's incomparably exalted status within the Star Luo Empire.

Looking at the imposing White Tiger Duke's Estate, Ye An's feelings were quite complicated.

Yes, Ye An had initially had no plans to visit the White Tiger Duke's Estate, nor did he intend to change Huo Yuhao's miserable childhood for the time being. But what Zhang Lexuan had said to him earlier had awakened him.

Because of his miserable childhood, Huo Yuhao was like a little puppy starved of affection.

Although many people believed Huo Yuhao was hypocritical, scummy, and had been trained by Tang San into a watchdog, Ye An felt that Huo Yuhao's greatest trait was his reckless spirit of devotion. As long as someone treated him well, even if only a little, he would wholeheartedly repay them, even willingly offering up everything he had.

So... he did not actually need to change Huo Yuhao's life.

As long as Huo Yuhao could taste even the slightest sweetness in life at this stage, he would naturally see Ye An as a ray of light in his dark existence. If Ye An truly wanted to bring Huo Yuhao back to the Body Sect in the future, Huo Yuhao would definitely follow him without hesitation.

Moreover, what made him feel conflicted was not the White Tiger Duke's Estate itself, but the White Tiger Duke, Dai Hao. As the master of the White Tiger Duke's Estate, Dai Hao spent all year guarding the borderlands and had virtually no control over the estate.

He did not even know when Huo Yuhao's mother had died, much less that he had a son named Huo Yuhao.

It was honestly hard to stomach.

Just as Ye An was pondering this, a noisy commotion rose from the street not far away.

"Yo! Look who this is! Isn't this our Dai Yuhao? Just thinking about your name annoys me! You think you deserve the surname Dai? Tsk, tsk, tsk. What's with that look? Not convinced?"

The somewhat childish voice had initially been full of mockery and disdain, but it quickly seemed to become enraged as it directly ordered, "Beat him! He actually dares look at me like that? Beat him to death! I'll take responsibility if anything happens!"

Following the sound, Ye An soon noticed several figures in the distance.

One of them wore luxurious clothes and looked no more than five or six years old, yet his build resembled that of a little calf. Before him lay a small, thin figure dressed only in coarse cloth, looking a full two sizes smaller than the richly dressed child.

Three guards from the White Tiger Duke's Estate stood beside the two children, but they were clearly the guards of that richly dressed child. At that moment, the three guards had formed a circle around the small figure, raining punches and kicks on him without pause.

Ye An's eyes narrowed slightly at the sight.

That small figure was clearly Huo Yuhao, only four and a half years old. Yet due to prolonged malnutrition, Huo Yuhao looked no older than a three-year-old child. His clothes were ragged, and his complexion was poor. Only his eyes appeared exceptionally bright.

As for that other richly dressed child... he was likely Dai Huabin, Huo Yuhao's half-brother from the same father.

Ye An noticed that Huo Yuhao had curled up as tightly as possible. No matter how the guards beat him, his hands remained firmly pressed against his chest, as though he were protecting something important.

Dai Huabin soon noticed Huo Yuhao's actions as well, and excitement appeared on his face. "See what he's got on his chest! Search him!"

As soon as he spoke, the guards immediately pried apart Huo Yuhao's hands protecting his chest.

But this seemed to enrage Huo Yuhao. He had silently endured the guards' beating before, but now he began to struggle violently.

But how could a child of only four and a half possibly contend against strong, able-bodied adults?

Very quickly, the thing he had been protecting against his chest was exposed to Dai Huabin's sight.

Seeing the few still-warm flatbreads, disappointment flashed through Dai Huabin's eyes. "What is this? Just a few flatbreads? I thought you stole something from the White Tiger Duke's Estate!"

As he spoke, Dai Huabin gestured for the guards to throw the flatbreads away.

At that moment, a savage glint suddenly appeared in Huo Yuhao's eyes. He lunged forward and viciously bit the hand the guard had reached out with.

The guard cried out in pain and immediately kicked Huo Yuhao, cursing, "This brat thinks he's a dog! He actually dared bite me!"

As he spoke, the guard threw the flatbreads onto the ground and even ground them hard beneath his foot twice.

At the sight, Huo Yuhao's expression instantly went blank.

His and his mother's food... had been ruined.

Ever since they had moved into the servants' quarters, life for him and his mother had grown harder and harder. The estate often withheld their food, and his mother could only take on the servants' heaviest work in exchange for meager wages. They relied on those wages to buy cheap, filling food and barely survive.

Those few flatbreads were his mother's wages for an entire day.