Accepting Xue Ye, Spirit Hall's Visit

Huo Lei looked at Xue Ye and said, "I feel Your Majesty's sincerity, and I am honored to have your appreciation. However, I do have a concern, or rather, a worry."

Xue Ye's face lit up with joy, and he asked confidently, "What is there to worry about? Tell me, and I will share your burdens."

Huo Lei paused for a moment, then said, "Your Majesty, I have a question for you. If I agree to your request, and soon another genius with Twin Martial Souls emerges who is also willing to serve the empire, what will you do? Will you divide the resources in two? Or will you favor whoever is more outstanding? This is my concern. Of course, the probability of this is very low, but I still want a clear answer."

Xue Ye's eyes suddenly widened in surprise as he stared at Huo Lei. "This..."

After a moment, Xue Ye spoke firmly, "Huo Lei, rest assured, as long as you agree to my request today, even if another genius with Twin Martial Souls appears tomorrow, the resources and focus of the Heaven Dou Empire will be entirely on you. I absolutely keep my word. To show my sincerity, if you agree now, I will give you the empire's most prized national treasure."

"A national treasure? Isn't that the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud? Damn! With that treasure, agreeing to his request isn't out of the question." A glint of light flashed deep in Huo Lei's eyes.

Huo Lei asked Xue Ye for confirmation, "Is Your Majesty truly telling the truth?"

The Xue Ye stroked his beard, a smile playing on his lips, and said, "A ruler's word is his bond."

Huo Lei's lips curled up, and he readily agreed, "Alright! I agree."

Xue Ye smiled with satisfaction. "Huo Lei, although you agreed to my request, now is not the best time to officially confer a title upon you. If the matter becomes public, it may be detrimental to you. For your smooth completion of the Soul Master Tournament and for your better growth, it's best to postpone the conferment and keep a low profile for now. The most important thing right now is to protect your safety. The Spirit Hall should find you soon and try to recruit you. Have you thought about how to deal with it?"

Huo Lei blurted out, "I'll find an excuse to delay them first. After the Soul Master Tournament is over, I'll have them come and talk to me. What do you think?"

Xue Ye nodded. "Well, that's all we can do for now. Just try to stall for time, the longer the better. The Spirit Hall should send someone to find you tomorrow, so I'll come back to you tomorrow night. It'll be the same place. I'll bring you the national treasure then."

Huo Lei replied, "Thank you, Your Majesty. It's a deal then."

Xue Ye patted Huo Lei on the shoulder with a smile, "Our conversation must not be leaked. Only Heaven, Earth, you, and I know. Do not let a third person know. You are a smart man, and I believe you can do well. I'll be going now. Take care."

Huo Lei raised his right hand, three fingers pointing to the sky, making a vow gesture, and solemnly said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I will definitely keep this a secret."

Xie Chong and Lin Yin did not return, but waited in the corridor. After bidding farewell to Xue Ye together with Huo Lei, they returned to the living room arranged for the Blazing Fire Academy at the hotel.

As soon as Huo Lei and his companions returned to their room, the waiting members of the Blazing Fire Academy surrounded them, asking who the mysterious person was and what their purpose was.

Huo Lei raised his hands, pleading, "Everyone, please be quiet. Please sit down first, let the three of us have some water and calm down, and then I'll talk to you."

Everyone dispersed from their surroundings and sat back down on the sofa. Only then were Huo Lei and his two companions able to sit down comfortably and drink some tea from the table.

Huo Lei looked at the teacher in charge and asked, "Teacher Xie Chong, shall we speak or not?"

Xie Chong put down his teacup and said, "Go ahead and tell me! You spent the most time in the room, and Lin Yin and I are curious about what you two talked about."

Huo Lei looked at everyone, cleared his throat, and said, "Let me first tell you who the mysterious people who came to us are. They are actually two shrewd businessmen who want to cooperate with our Blazing Fire Academy to make clothes and dolls to sell. Teacher Xie Chong and I have already refused them, right, Teacher Xie Chong?"

Xie Chong reacted quickly, echoing, "That's right! We refused. We can't let others interfere with such a profitable business. It's impossible for them to take a share of the profits from the Blazing Fire Academy."

Huo Lei looked at Xie Chong with admiration, thinking to himself, "This Teacher Xie Chong is quite something! He's got a sharp mind and he's very perceptive."

Huo Wu questioned, "You all went together, so why did you stay for different lengths of time? Huo Lei, Teacher Xie Chong just said you stayed in the room the longest. What did they say?"

Xie Chong chimed in smugly, "That's right! What did they say to you inside?"

"This Xie Chong is really into his role, he's acting so well. I feel like he should be given a Best Newcomer Award instead of the Glory Earl Medal." Huo Lei thought to himself, complaining about Xie Chong.

Huo Lei glanced at Xie Chong almost imperceptibly and smiled, "That's easy to understand! I performed so well in the Preliminary Round, they wanted to get on my good side, so they tried to win me over with Gold Soul Coin and beautiful women, but I didn't care for what they offered, so I politely declined and came back."

"So that's how it is. I didn't expect this businessman to have such a good eye," Huo Wu exclaimed.

At this moment, Xie Chong spoke up, "I have something to tell everyone. We need to change our itinerary and return to the academy the day after tomorrow."

Huo Wushuang asked in confusion, "Teacher Xie Chong, why did you change the time again?"

Xie Chong vaguely made up an excuse, "Oh! I suddenly remembered I have some things to take care of, so let's all stay at the hotel for another day! Anyway, everything at the hotel is free."

The students from the Blazing Fire Academy didn't have anything urgent to attend to. They could cultivate back at the academy anyway, and they could also cultivate at the hotel, which was free. The hotel wouldn't object to them staying a couple more days, so no one had any complaints and they all followed Xie Chong's arrangements.

The next morning, as expected, the Spirit Hall sent someone to the hotel to visit Blazing Fire Academy, their target naturally being Huo Lei. It was still the general manager's office on the sixth floor of the hotel, and the main character was still Huo Lei, but this time the person opposite them was the Platinum Bishop Salas.

At this moment, in the spacious room, Platinum Bishop Salas sat in the main seat, looking Huo Lei up and down as he sat on the sofa.

Platinum Bishop Salas stroked his goatee, a slight smile appearing on his face. "Huo Lei, I've come on behalf of the Spirit Hall to extend a special invitation to you, hoping you will join Spirit Hall. If you agree to the Spirit Hall, you'll receive high-quality Soul Ring and Soul Bone, and we'll even arrange for Soul Douluo or even Titled Douluo- level expert to personally instruct you. The Spirit Hall is a sacred place that Soul Master aspire to, and a cradle for cultivating the strong. If you agree to the Spirit Hall now, I can apply to His Holiness the Pope for the Purple Record Medal, the highest honor, on your behalf. Although you're only in your fifties now, we can still make an exception and appoint you as Black Bishop. You should know that to become Black Bishop of the Spirit Hall, one must be at least Level 60."

"Is Salas taking a kickback? The Spirit Hall is so powerful, and they think they can recruit me with this little bit of treatment? It's completely insincere and falls far short of Xue Ye's promise. People who know the situation will think you're here to invite me, but people who don't will think you're here to mock me." Huo Lei felt a trace of disdain and dissatisfaction.