Huo Yuhao's Late Arrival

Once a rescue team entered the arena, the assessment was a failure. The student would receive only the base score.

When Dai Huabin was carried out of the Beast Arena, his face was ashen. He kept his eyes shut and looked at no one.

"Brother Gu, now that kid knows what a real gap looks like," Zhou Sichen murmured, unable to hide his glee.

"If anything, he should thank me. Otherwise, a low score wouldn't be his only problem," Gu Mingyuan replied, seemingly out of the blue.

The assessments continued for several days.

Gu Mingyuan held first place in the year with a perfect score. Cao Jinxuan and Zhou Sichen also completed their assessments. Meanwhile, Wang Dong had broken through to three Soul Rings and displayed impressive aerial dominance in the Beast Arena.

But her excellent results did nothing to lift her spirits. Even after second-year classes had officially resumed, Huo Yuhao still had not returned.

The academy's academic affairs office could no longer ignore his absence. Huo Yuhao had enrolled through one of the Tang Sect's last remaining exam exemptions, so the academy summoned Bei Bei and Tang Ya for a routine inquiry.

Tang Ya was frantic but could offer no clues. Bei Bei thought back to Huo Yuhao's cultivation before he left, then considered how long he had been out of contact. His expression grew graver.

In the end, the academic affairs office could only announce that if Huo Yuhao did not return within three days, and no proof or credible news of his whereabouts emerged, his enrollment would be revoked under academy rules.

It was nothing personal. Shrek Academy could not let a student miss classes without cause and do nothing about it.

Zhou Yi seemed cold on the surface, but behind the scenes, she had learned that Huo Yuhao had bought a great deal of cold-weather supplies before leaving. Fan Yu had his own concerns: Huo Yuhao was a rare prospect for the Soul Tool Department, and he hated to lose him like this. But with no sign of him, there was nothing Fan Yu could do.

At dusk on the seventh day of the term, outside Shrek Academy's south gate, a small, thin figure staggered out of the sunset.

Huo Yuhao wore a ragged cloak and looked like a refugee. Yet his eyes shone with an unsettling excitement.

The student on duty did not recognize the beggar-like boy at first. Once he confirmed Huo Yuhao's identity, he took him straight to the academic affairs office.

Word spread quickly.

Wang Dong rushed out of the classroom at once. She had been stewing for days, and the sight of Huo Yuhao returning alive finally eased her taut nerves. Then she punched him square in the right shoulder.

"So you do know the way back!" Wang Dong's eyes were faintly red.

Huo Yuhao grunted in pain but did not dodge. He only lowered his head and said softly, "I'm sorry I made you worry."

Xiao Xiao arrived soon after. Seeing Huo Yuhao in such a wretched state, she said nothing more.

She looked at Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong standing together and felt an inexplicable pang. She had stayed in Class One, but some things would never be as close as they had been during the freshman assessment.

At the far end of the corridor, Dai Huabin raised his eyebrows in surprise. "He actually survived?"

Inside the academic affairs office, Du Weilun sat at the head of the room, with Zhou Yi and Fan Yu on either side.

"Huo Yuhao, you vanished without explanation for seven days. The process of expelling you has already begun. Even if you can explain your late return today, missing the promotion assessment means you've lost the right to remain enrolled," Du Weilun said, following procedure.

Zhou Yi immediately cut in. "What do you think Shrek is, an inn? You leave whenever you please and come back whenever you please! If you died out there, were you expecting the academy to collect your body?"

Huo Yuhao lowered his head and admitted his mistake. Then, following the story Yu Xiaogang had taught him, he explained how a change in his Spirit Eyes had guided him north to the Far North. There, he had fallen unconscious and unexpectedly fused with an Ice Jade Scorpion Martial Soul and a Torso Bone. On his way back, he had hunted a spirit-attribute ice silkworm.

Du Weilun clearly did not believe him. "A one-ring soul master went into the Far North alone, fell unconscious, and woke up with a Soul Bone and a second Martial Soul? How much of that do you expect me to believe?"

Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth. He knew words alone would not let him stay.

He stepped back half a pace and said firmly, "I can prove it."

He activated his Spirit Eyes. A white Soul Ring and a purple one rose from beneath his feet.

Then Huo Yuhao withdrew his Spirit Eyes, and the look in his eyes changed.

The comfortable warmth of the office vanished in an instant! A layer of translucent, diamond-like ice armor formed over Huo Yuhao's hands, and the faint silhouette of a jade-green scorpion appeared behind him.

At the same time, a Thousand Year Soul Ring disguised as purple by Simulation slowly rose.

The aura of Ultimate Ice swept through the room.

Zhou Yi and Fan Yu's pupils contracted. Du Weilun shot to his feet and stared at the diamond-like ice armor.

What they saw was not a four-hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring, but Twin Martial Souls with an Ultimate Ice attribute and a purple Thousand Year Soul Ring.

Fan Yu reacted first. He turned to Du Weilun. "Director Du, Huo Yuhao was carrying out a secret test for my Soul Tool Department. That's why his return was delayed. I formally confirm to the academy that he is the core disciple our department has chosen."

Du Weilun fell silent. He did not agree at once—not out of leniency, but because he was considering how to bring Huo Yuhao back to the Martial Soul Department for training.

More importantly, this was Ultimate Ice. Its value might be far greater than it first appeared.

At last, they reached a decision.

Huo Yuhao would not be expelled, but his late return would earn him a major demerit. He had to take a make-up promotion assessment within three days despite his injuries; if he failed, his enrollment would still be revoked. Information about his second Martial Soul was classified and could not be shared beyond the three people present. From then on, he also had to report any departure from the academy to the academic affairs office in advance.

Huo Yuhao dragged his injured body out of the office.

On the surface, he had escaped a crisis. But he knew better than anyone that he had only won a chance to stay. He had received none of the acclaim a genius should have.

Besides, the Ice Empress and Tian Meng were still asleep. For now, he was nowhere near as formidable as his Martial Soul made him seem.

Yu Xiaogang's voice sounded in his mind at just the right moment.

"Hmph! A pack of shortsighted fools. One day, I'll show myself and make every last one of them kneel!"

Huo Yuhao said nothing. He raised his head toward the imposing Great Beast Arena in the distance. In his eyes was a trace of relief—and resentment he kept hidden.

After classes that evening, Gu Mingyuan returned to the quiet street in the south of the city.

The door of Spring Return Apothecary stood half open. Behind the counter, the hollow-eyed assistant asked no questions, as usual. He mechanically turned, shut the door, hung up the "Closed" sign, and led Gu Mingyuan down to the third underground floor.

A dagger sliced across his palm, and blood dripped into the statue's groove.

Crimson light filled the secret chamber, and Vice Leader Feng Ling's spectral projection took shape once more.

"The three-person team sent by the Far North Branch Altar to track Huo Yuhao—one Soul Saint and two Soul Kings—has vanished without a trace. Do you know anything about it?"

Gu Mingyuan's expression did not change. With a flick of his wrist, he took the faintly glowing Thousand Year Leg Bone and the Soul-Tracking Disk from his storage belt and placed them on the edge of the stone platform.

"I do. By the time I got there after absorbing my third Soul Ring, they had become three ice sculptures."