Hunt

"How did we end up in the Star Dou Great Forest?" Wang Dong'er asked curiously.

Wang Qiu'er looked equally confused. Huo Yuhao explained, "Since we're going to settle who's better, why not hunt soul beasts here? We can gain real combat experience and build team coordination. The elders of the sect told me that there'll be an assessment three months after new students enroll. It tests exactly those two things."

Huo Yuhao explained in a reciting tone, as though Tang Ya had truly instructed him to do this. He had several reasons for bringing the two girls here to hunt soul beasts. Wang Qiu'er's arrival had been an unexpected delight. If the three of them could cultivate together, their cultivation speed would greatly increase, and fighting together could strengthen their bond. Besides, the materials obtained from hunting soul beasts could be sold for income. That was far more profitable than selling grilled fish!

Lastly, just as he had said, he truly needed real combat to verify his cultivation.

"Come to think of it, are you really not blood relatives?" Huo Yuhao naturally knew why they looked alike, but they resembled each other too much. If no one asked, it would definitely arouse suspicion.

"Of course not!"

"Definitely not."

The two exchanged a glance and snorted at the same time.

Wang Qiu'er's true form was the Auspicious Beast of the Star Dou Great Forest. In the original timeline, Huo Yuhao had bestowed his destiny attribute upon her. After witnessing the prosperity of the human world, she had taken on Wang Dong'er's appearance and come to Shrek. But her arrival at this point in time was because, like several others, she was also a transmigrator from another world.

Knowing the plot, Wang Qiu'er certainly would not repeat the same mistakes. Not only that, she had always felt indignant for the Wang Qiu'er of the original story. How had such a remarkable woman, daring to love and hate, lost to Wang Dong'er and her awful temperament? Wang Dong'er had even bullied Huo Yuhao before! Wang Qiu'er had gritted her teeth in hatred when she read that part in her previous life. Thus, in this life, she had intended to seize the chance during Wang Dong'er's duel with Huo Yuhao to teach that ill-tempered young lady a harsh lesson. Who would have thought that Wang Dong'er was also a transmigrator? She could only let it go.

Though the two of them still ended up fighting anyway...

"Yu Tong, what is your martial soul? Is it lightning-attributed?"

It was no wonder Wang Qiu'er asked. Even Wang Dong'er was quite curious. After all, in the original story, Huo Yuhao's martial soul had been the spiritually attributed Spirit Eyes, while the martial soul brought by the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was ice-attributed. Neither of the techniques Huo Yuhao had used to stop them just now resembled either one.

"No, my martial soul is spiritually attributed." As Huo Yuhao spoke, he raised a hand and pointed at his eyes. "But my soul skill—Imprint—can copy soul skills I see. That lightning came from my senior brother."

"Imprint? The Silver Hero Beast?"

"So that unusual soul beast was called a Silver Hero Beast. But this skill has some limitations. Once an Imprinted soul skill is used up, it's gone. And I can only continue Imprinting after the previous soul skill has finished activating. However, if I multitask and control it properly, preventing the Imprinted soul skill from ending, I can keep using it continuously. Like... this!"

A green sphere of light condensed in Huo Yuhao's hand and rapidly swelled. Blades of wind shot from it one after another, speeding into the bushes and producing the sounds of colliding energy.

"Careful! A soul beast is attacking us!"

Wang Qiu'er and Wang Dong'er reacted as well, each releasing her martial soul. Both were secretly startled. Even without Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao's senses were still so sharp. They had not noticed anything at all.

Huo Yuhao, however, was secretly delighted. He had developed another use for Imprint. It could detect nearby soul skills that could be Imprinted. Though it was not as effective as the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's Spiritual Detection, it suited him well enough for now.

Relying on the high speed of the Light Goddess Butterfly, Wang Dong'er was the first to fly into the brush. There, she saw a massive green snake over ten meters long, as thick around as a bowl. Unlike ordinary snakes, its body was flattened, and a pair of transparent wings grew from its back.

Wang Dong'er's butterfly wings were wrapped in golden light as she swooped down to slash. The green snake twisted its body and nimbly dodged. It had been about to counterattack when clusters of tiny light exploded against it, making it shriek repeatedly. Wang Qiu'er rushed forward at that moment, spun her Dragon Spear around the green snake, then covered her hand in golden scales and smashed her fist down at the snake's vital point, ending its life.

"So it was a Windwing Snake. Good thing we killed it quickly. With its ability to control wind, it would have been quite troublesome if it fought us through hit-and-run tactics in the forest." Wang Qiu'er pulled the green snake off her spear and waved away the yellow soul ring. "I heard its meat tastes pretty good. Want to try it?"

The two who had just been at each other's throats now looked at Huo Yuhao in perfect unspoken agreement. Huo Yuhao's cooking skills were exceptional in the book. Now that they had such fine ingredients, how could they not have a taste? At the thought of delicious food, both instantly threw their earlier conflict out of their minds.

"Sure. Leave it to me." Huo Yuhao did not refuse. He casually took the Windwing Snake's corpse and pulled out the White Tiger Dagger, removing the valuable-looking parts and internal organs, leaving only clean snake meat.

"We can take these materials back to Shrek City. Someone should buy them."

"There are buyers. I know a merchant who collects this kind of thing. I'll take you there later." Hearing Wang Qiu'er's words, Huo Yuhao gave her a surprised look, only to find that she and Wang Dong'er were simply staring eagerly at the snake meat. But Huo Yuhao quickly understood. Wang Qiu'er had taken human form from a soul beast. Where would she get money for tuition? She must have earned it by hunting soul beasts, so knowing a merchant or two was nothing strange.

Setting aside his doubts, Huo Yuhao focused on preparing the snake meat. He still had some wild vegetables used as seasonings in his Storage Soul Tool. He had gathered them casually while traveling to Shrek with Tang Ya and the others, and they came in handy today.

Huo Yuhao had once eaten snake meat in a small southern city in his previous life. Ever since then, he had never forgotten its flavor. Today, he intended to recreate that delicacy with this Windwing Snake, as a small remembrance of his past life. He carefully selected several suitable wild vegetables, turned them into seasoning, and rubbed them over the snake meat. Out in the wilderness, with no other cooking utensils, he could only grill it. Under the scorching charcoal fire, the snake meat gradually turned golden, releasing an irresistible aroma.

"It's ready. Give it a try."

The two girls had long been unable to hold themselves back. At his words, they eagerly tore off several pieces of golden snake meat and put them into their mouths. Wang Dong'er was stopped by the heat and kept blowing on it with, "Huff, huff." Wang Qiu'er, meanwhile, relied on the Golden Dragon Martial Soul's formidable strength and ignored the temperature entirely. Huo Yuhao's cooking truly lived up to its reputation. The heat was perfect, and the snake meat was tender and springy, allowing them to feast to their hearts' content.

Before long, they had eaten more than half of the entire Windwing Snake. Only when they truly could not eat another bite did they stop.

"That was so good... Yu Tong, Yu Tong, can we come here every day from now on?" Wang Dong'er asked expectantly.

Eh? Wait, what had they come here to do in the first place?

"Well... we can definitely come again when we have the chance. After all, we can gain some combat experience." Huo Yuhao considered it. Real combat experience was certainly important, but if it slowed their Soul Power cultivation too much, the losses would outweigh the gains. As for safety, with Wang Qiu'er, the Auspicious Beast, there should surely be nothing to worry about.

"Right!" Wang Dong'er finally remembered why they had come today. She had originally only wanted to use the sparring match as an excuse to achieve Martial Soul Fusion with Huo Yuhao, but one unexpected incident after another had occurred, and she still had not found an opportunity.

"Um... Yu Tong, just now I felt the aura around you..."

"Now isn't the time to talk about that. This is the Star Dou Great Forest, after all. The academy is safer." Though Wang Qiu'er was the one who interrupted her, Wang Dong'er merely tilted her head in thought, found it reasonable, and nodded.

"Then let's go back first."

Huo Yuhao looked somewhat puzzled, but he knew exactly what they were talking about. He did not ask further and simply returned to the academy with them.

The Martial Soul Fusion Skill was finally coming.