Paradise City of the Heaven Soul Sect

At her words, a deep warmth suddenly welled up in Huo Yuhao's insecure heart.

Though he was young, he had seen plenty of the coldness of the world.

He could tell that the sincerity in Lin Wan'er's eyes as she spoke was anything but an act. The scenes of her taking out the grilled fish equipment without hesitation, giving him seasonings for free, and even helping him withstand a Soul King's Soul Power once again rose in his mind.

"Sister Wan'er, I..."

In his impulse, Huo Yuhao nearly blurted out the matter of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm.

But at that moment, a cough sounded in his mind. A thread of cool aura struck him, making him swallow the rest of his words.

Lin Wan'er knew that this meant Huo Yuhao had intended to tell her the truth. Even though fate had deviated in its early stages, the Child of Destiny of this era was still clean and pure.

Thinking that she was actually the one deceiving Huo Yuhao, Lin Wan'er put away her smile and said, "All right, enough about you. But now that you've obtained your Soul Ring, what are you planning to do next?"

Huo Yuhao was stunned by her question. That was right! What was he planning to do?

Before coming to the Star Dou Great Forest, his goal had always been to become a Soul Master and obtain his first Soul Ring.

A Soul Master and a Soul Scholar were worlds apart! Becoming a Soul Master meant stepping through another door, with boundless horizons ahead.

But he truly had not considered what he would do afterward. After all, he was only eleven years old, and this was also his first time leaving home.

Seeing the confusion in his eyes, Lin Wan'er sighed and resignedly said, "Do you want to come with me to take a look at a branch of the Heaven Soul Sect? It's not far from here. We'll be there soon."

"Sister Wan'er, aren't you planning to have me join the Heaven Soul Sect?"

Lin Wan'er said in surprise, "Yuhao, why would you think that? Joining a sect or academy isn't something that can be forced. You're already a Soul Master, so you should have your own judgment. I won't forcibly invite you into the Heaven Soul Sect."

There was not a shred of falsehood in those words. She had helped Huo Yuhao only because she did not want him to become Tang God King's dog and turn against Soul Masters and the continent's soul beasts.

As for which sect or academy Huo Yuhao chose, she had no intention of interfering.

Her earlier help in confronting Tang Ya had merely been because she could not stand Tang Ya's attitude.

A perfectly good child had opened his heart and spoken of his mother's death and being left alone. It would have been one thing if the older Soul Master had not comforted him, but what sort of person blurted out, "That's really great"?

Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze somewhat disappointedly, nodded, and said, "I want to go with Sister Wan'er to the Heaven Soul Sect branch to broaden my horizons, then head to Shrek Academy to register. I just don't know whether they'll be willing to accept me..."

Judging by the enrollment time in the original story, you probably wouldn't make it in time to register. But fortunately, this Sect Holy Maiden has connections everywhere—just the thing to deal with Shrek Academy, renowned for its ever-changing geniuses and unchanging connections.

Of course, Lin Wan'er only thought those words to herself. On the surface, she remained a kind and approachable elder.

Seeing that Huo Yuhao wanted to visit the Heaven Soul Sect branch, she casually took a one-use positioning teleportation Soul Tool from her ring. After pouring immense Soul Power into it, a gate resembling a black hole appeared out of thin air in the clearing.

"Enter this, and we'll arrive at the branch safely."

Huo Yuhao looked at the completely unfamiliar teleportation device before him, something he had never even heard of, and felt a little afraid. But he trusted Lin Wan'er, as well as Brother Sky Dream, who kept muttering in his mind that a positioning teleportation device could buy a great many things, and knew they would not harm him.

After stepping into the Soul Tool, they arrived shortly afterward at the Heaven Soul Sect branch, located at the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Dou Great Forest, not far from the Dou Ling Empire, amid a wave of distorted fluctuations.

The buildings here were filled everywhere with the ultimate colors of red and black. Soul Masters passing through for trade called it Paradise City.

Though it was not like the City of Slaughter, filled everywhere with lawless chaos, as long as it did not violate the rules established by the Heaven Soul Sect centuries ago, the people living here would think of every possible way to obtain anything you desired.

The prerequisite was that you possessed enough money, information, or rare treasures to exchange.

Thus, Paradise City also had another nickname: the pawnshop where one could pawn one's soul.

It was said that on a rainy night not long after Paradise City was established, a Titled Douluo came here and was willing to offer his life and soul as stakes in exchange for restoring his beloved to normal—freeing her from madness and foolishness, from becoming a pawn on another's chessboard.

"And how did that story end?"

Huo Yuhao looked hesitantly at Lin Wan'er's smiling face, afraid that this was some tale made up to fool children.

"The ending, naturally, was that the Titled Douluo became Paradise City's guardian and lived here happily ever after with his wife and son."

Lin Wan'er winked at Huo Yuhao and gave him a mischievous smile.

Huo Yuhao: ...Give me back my feelings, you bastard! "I'm teasing you. The real ending was that Paradise City's founder, the Spider Queen, carefully assessed the Titled Douluo's strength and value, then spent a tremendous price to hire a top-tier healing-type Titled Douluo to save his wife for seven days and seven nights."

"Once his wife woke up and was considered restored to normal, the two Titled Douluo bathed the sect that had plotted against them in blood. Even to this day, that sect's remaining lackeys did not dare show their faces."

"From then on, Paradise City's fame resounded across the continent. But the Empire's Titled Douluo considered Paradise City an absolutely neutral city of amusement. If word reached ordinary Soul Masters, it could easily cause unrest across the continent, so they sealed off information related to Paradise City. Only certain Soul Masters were able to learn its location."

"So Paradise City actually belongs to the Heaven Soul Sect? Is it really all right to tell me that?"

"Yes, Paradise City belonging to the Heaven Soul Sect is insider information. I normally wouldn't tell just anyone. Even my identity as the Sect Holy Maiden is absolutely confidential to the outside world."

"It's just that those Shrek students from earlier, Bei Bei and Tang Ya, have rather special identities. Even if I didn't tell them, they would learn this sooner or later from someone else, so I stated it openly and naturally hooked a Soul King-level fish."

Huo Yuhao nodded thoughtfully. When it came to interpersonal relationships, he truly needed to learn from Lin Wan'er. He could not be like before, telling his mother everything.

Upon arriving at Paradise City's entrance, the Soul Master guarding the gate raised his head to look at the visitors. When he realized that it was the Sect Holy Maiden, someone whom even non-Core Disciples could not meet, he immediately froze in place.

That irreplaceable head of green hair, those eyes like the waters of Emerald Lake, that one-of-a-kind natural aura—it was indeed the Holy Maiden!

"H-Holy Maiden."

The stammering made Lin Wan'er frown. She swept her gaze over the Soul King guarding the gate, an unfamiliar face with whom no soul beast had been willing to form a contract and become a Soul Spirit.

His aptitude was ordinary, but he had a pure heart willing to strive upward.

"What kind of behavior is this, stammering like that? Is this how Paradise City receives its guests?"