Sea God's Pavilion Meeting

Xiao Xiao had long since run over to Huo Yuhao, tugging and shaking his sleeve. "Big brother, did you win? I think I just heard someone from District Forty say... someone had been frozen so badly they couldn't use soul power for three days?" As she spoke, she secretly glanced at Wang Dong, her eyes shining with an "I knew you were amazing" look.

Wang Dong's ears twitched, but she merely snorted. "You hit them that hard. Aren't you afraid the referee will penalize you?"

"The referee didn't say anything." Huo Yuhao replied blandly. "The arena isn't a place for polite dinner guests." Seeing the faint flush on Wang Dong's cheeks, he added, "You all fought well too. Your coordination was smoother than it was during last night's training."

That rare praise made Wang Dong's face flare red. She turned and headed for the rest area. "W-Who needs your praise? We're going to collect the number tag for our next match!"

Xiao Xiao stuck out her tongue and whispered to Huo Yuhao, "She's just tsundere. Before you came, she kept asking, 'Has District Forty finished yet?'"

The setting sun cast long, slanting shadows across the arena, while distant battle flags snapped in the wind. Huo Yuhao watched Wang Dong, Zhou Ming, and Xiao Xiao walking toward the registration desk, the blue glow in his Spirit Eye gently flickering.

He knew that Wang Dong's group's coordination carried traces of what he had said during last night's training: "Control the field as the shield, unleash power as the spear." And his actions in District Forty had been meant not only to intimidate his opponents, but also to show the spectators in the stands—Shrek Academy needed freshmen who could fight, but it needed even more freshmen who understood how to be ruthless.

The frozen opponents would make everyone remember the name "Huo Yuhao," remember how troublesome his Ice Martial Soul was, and make the academy's higher-ups realize that he possessed not only the support ability of Spiritual Detection, but also the strength to stand alone as a powerful attacker. That kind of "value" was the foundation for making Shrek Academy regard him as one of its own.

But he could not draw too much attention either. He had deliberately held back just now. His Ice Soul Power had frozen only his opponents' meridians rather than their Martial Soul cores. Three days without being able to use soul power was enough to eliminate them, yet it did not damage their foundations—this left room for the academy, and also kept him within proper bounds.

What Huo Yuhao was doing now was making Shrek Academy see his value, making his companions see him as someone they could rely on, and making his enemies fear his methods.

Only by proceeding step by step like this would he avoid being isolated and helpless when the day came to deal with the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.

He raised his head and looked at the darkening sky, his gaze seeming to pierce through the heavens—perhaps someone was watching them from there.

It didn't matter.

What he had always wanted was never to be controlled by anyone, but to stand high enough to protect those he wanted to protect and settle the debts that needed settling.

That night.

Sea God's Pavilion council chamber.

Eleven people sat around an oval table. At the innermost seat of honor stood a reclining chair. The light around it was exceedingly dim, and one could only barely make out a person lying there.

Yan Shaozhe sat at the far end on the left side. Looking at the first person near the seat of honor on that side, he spoke with some helplessness. "Elder Xuan, this concerns whether Shrek Academy can continue to prosper a hundred years from now. You really need to take this seriously."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Xuan Lao's expression turned serious as well. He set down the chicken leg in his hand.

The shadows around the reclining chair seemed to grow heavier. Xuan Lao wiped the grease from his fingertips, and his perpetually half-lidded old eyes suddenly opened. A frightening sharpness burst from his clouded pupils—Yan Shaozhe had seen that look only when the academy faced a grave crisis.

"You mean this boy's potential could shift the balance of the continent?" Xuan Lao's voice was not loud, yet it fell like a stone into still water, making the hall so quiet that the hum of the luminous pearls could be heard.

Yan Shaozhe drew a deep breath and pushed the Soul Tool jade slip in his hand to the center of the table. The jade slip lit up, projecting a map of the continent's forces. Beside the golden marker representing the White Tiger Duke's Mansion were the territories it had expanded into over the past decade, while the green marker representing Shrek Academy seemed to show faint signs of being squeezed in from all sides.

"It's more than potential." Yan Shaozhe's voice sank. "The Duke's Mansion has recruited three Titled Douluo in recent years, and its influence is already approaching that of the imperial family. More troublesome still, it has secretly supported seven emerging Soul Master clans, all with assault-type Martial Souls. Their intentions are obvious."

His fingertip tapped Huo Yuhao's name on the jade slip. "Ultimate Ice restrains the vast majority of assault-type Martial Souls, while Twin Martial Souls mean his future ceiling is immeasurable. More importantly—his hostility toward the Duke's Mansion is crucial."

At this point, Yan Shaozhe's voice became somewhat heavy. "Once this child grows up, the Duke's Mansion will certainly not escape disaster. Perhaps the Star Luo Imperial Family would be happy to see that happen, but it would not be suitable for the continent's overall situation."

"Using a child as a chess piece?" The tall, thin old man seated at the head of the right side frowned. He was the academy's external affairs elder, responsible for handling disputes among the continent's powers. "That's too risky."

"He is not a chess piece." Xian Lin'er suddenly spoke. She slapped a Soul Tool Core blueprint onto the table. The patterns on it were astonishingly similar to the trajectory of Huo Yuhao's Ice Soul Power fluctuations. "This is a Soul Tool Cannon design I derived from his resonance frequency. If it succeeds, its power will rival the full-force strike of a Titled Douluo. This boy is an uncut gem. What we should do is polish him, not exploit him."

Xuan Lao picked up the jade slip and rubbed Huo Yuhao's name with his fingertip for a moment before suddenly laughing. "You old fools, don't forget Shrek Academy's rules—we never raise puppets. We only pave the road for the capable. This boy wants to deal with the Duke's Mansion? Fine. He has the potential to grow into someone whose word alone can command the continent. The academy can even stand behind him when he settles accounts with the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. But first, he must grow into someone capable of carrying responsibility."

"The Martial Soul Department can provide him with that training. In the future, he will definitely become a Limit Douluo."

Xian Lin'er suddenly slammed the table. "Our Soul Tool Department needs a talent like him too! He is only a Three-Ring Soul Master now, yet according to our investigation, he can already make Fourth-Level Soul Tools. And he learned entirely on his own! What does that mean? It means he has the potential to become a Ninth-Level Soul Engineer!"

The moment Xian Lin'er finished speaking, a subdued stir rose through the council chamber. A Ninth-Level Soul Engineer was someone capable of producing Ninth-Level Fixed-Mount Soul Tool Shells. There were fewer than ten such people alive on the entire continent. For a Three-Ring Soul Master to display such potential, even the normally composed external affairs elder could not help sitting up straighter.

Yan Shaozhe raised an eyebrow slightly, but did not get angry. He merely looked at Xian Lin'er warmly. "Lin'er, when an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul is cultivated to its limit, it can naturally reach the realm of a Limit Douluo. And an ultimate-attribute Limit Douluo would be invincible in the present age. Soul tools are certainly important, but Martial Souls are the foundation of Soul Masters—surely we can't let him delay the accumulation of his ultimate attribute for the sake of soul tools?"

Seeing the approving expressions of the many elders, Xian Lin'er stubbornly retorted, her fingertip stabbing heavily at a resonance node on the blueprint. "Who told you soul tools would delay his Martial Soul? Look at the circulation trajectory of this Ice Soul Power—after amplification through a Soul Tool Core, Ultimate Ice's freezing range can expand by thirty percent, while its freezing speed can increase by nearly half! That isn't interference. They complement each other!"

She suddenly grabbed the Soul Tool jade slip on the table and activated it, bringing up a recording. As Huo Yuhao crafted a Fourth-Level Soul Tool, his spiritual power precisely controlled his Ice Soul Power, condensing it into fine Ice Silk that wound through every pattern of the Soul Tool Core. His movements were so fluid that he did not look like someone who had learned on his own. "His spirit is naturally suited for the precise control required by soul tools. His talent for Soul Tools even surpasses every Soul Engineer I have ever seen, and most importantly, he is entirely self-taught!"