A Trail of Suspicions

Wang Dong roared and lunged at Huo Yuhao.

A small, entirely black hammer appeared in her hands. Gripping it with both hands, she brought it down on Huo Yuhao.

The instant Wang Dong's hammer descended, blue light flashed across Huo Yuhao's arm. A layer of frost encased it.

Clang!

The sound of metal striking metal rang out.

"Ow!"

Wang Dong clutched her hand, its webbing numbed by the recoil from Huo Yuhao's Ice Emperor Bodyguard. Her hammer fell to the floor and dissipated.

"A Clear Sky Hammer?"

Huo Yuhao's eyes narrowed as he stared at Wang Dong's black hammer.

He was about to speak when he noticed the crowd gathering around them.

He could only put away the Recording Soul Tool. He nodded to Mu En at the entrance, then pulled Wang Dong toward their dorm room.

Watching them disappear, Mu En muttered, "Ah, to be young." Then he closed his eyes and resumed his nap.

Bang!

The closing door shut the noise outside their dorm room.

Wang Dong sat dazed on her bed. Huo Yuhao waved a hand in front of her face.

"Hey, young master. You lost!"

Wang Dong glared at him with her large pink-and-blue eyes, her cheeks puffed out.

"You... you cheated! Who says I lost? Fight me head-on if you've got the guts."

"Oh? You don't accept it?"

As Huo Yuhao spoke, three purple Spirit Rings slowly rose beneath his feet.

An oppressive pressure filled the little room.

"How about now?"

Wang Dong stared at his three Spirit Rings in astonishment. With her level-twenty-one Soul Power, there was no way she could beat him.

The haughty look drained from her face like air from a punctured balloon. Crestfallen, she said:

"Fine, you win. Tell me your rules. I'll follow them."

"Leave. This isn't where you belong."

Huo Yuhao's words left Wang Dong dumbfounded.

"What's that supposed to mean? We spar, and then you kick me out? You called me arrogant and overbearing, but you're no better."

"I mean your dorm should be on the fourth floor. This is the boys' dorm."

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm a guy!"

Huo Yuhao said nothing. He took a book from the Star Luo Royal Library out of his Storage Soul Tool. It documented most of the Martial Souls on the Douluo Continent.

He opened it to the page on the Light Goddess Butterfly and held it out to Wang Dong.

Wang Dong snatched the book and skimmed its contents at a glance.

Then she snapped it shut in a fluster and fixed Huo Yuhao with a stare.

"Who else knows?"

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment before answering:

"Probably most of the academy's senior staff."

Wang Dong's face flushed scarlet. She hid behind the book Huo Yuhao had handed her.

A voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz came from behind it:

"This is so embarrassing. Why did my eldest and second fathers make me dress as a boy to come to school?"

"Come on. There's still time to move."

Huo Yuhao handed Wang Dong her luggage.

He took back the book while he was at it and wiped it clean with a tissue. This was the Star Luo Royal Library's only copy. The curator had let him borrow it only out of regard for the emperor and Sister Jiujiu.

If that old Soul Douluo, nearly a hundred and fifty years old, found out he had dirtied it, the man would come after him with a vengeance.

Wang Dong said nothing as she took her luggage. She looked up at Huo Yuhao with her pink-and-blue eyes.

"Huo Yuhao, why is your cultivation so high? And how is your First Soul Ring a thousand-year one? I ate Whale Rubber like it was food at home, and even I couldn't withstand a Spirit Ring that old."

"High? What's high about a mere thirty-something levels of Soul Power? Maybe you should ask yourself whether you've been slacking off in your cultivation and whether you've practiced properly."

At Huo Yuhao's words, Wang Dong's face, which had finally returned to normal, flushed red again.

"When did I slack off? Can you even call it slacking when a Soul Master does it?"

Then came a string of protests about how Soul Masters needed to balance work and rest too.

The whole dorm room filled with a cheerful air.

Huo Yuhao silently watched Wang Dong leave. He had released his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul not just to intimidate her. More than that, he had wanted to take a closer look at her.

For one thing, even with mental strength comparable to a Soul Emperor's, he had been completely unable to see through Wang Dong's disguise.

For another, while watching Wang Dong spar with the ice figure, he had noticed that many of her movements were slightly uncoordinated.

Finally, there was what Wang Dong had said before leaving. If she had eaten Whale Rubber like food since childhood, her body could not possibly have been unable to bear a Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

The old man at the entrance was wary of whoever stood behind Wang Dong. That, together with her Martial Soul, made it clear she was a core disciple of the Clear Sky Sect.

He refused to believe the Clear Sky Sect lacked the means to provide one of its core disciples with a suitable Thousand-Year Soul Ring.

No matter how he turned it over in his mind, he could not make sense of it.

"Teacher, Elder Yi, did you notice anything about her?"

Jiang Ziya and Electrolux exchanged a glance and said in unison, "Tang San!"

Huo Yuhao's fists clenched at the name.

"Teacher, are you saying Wang Dong is a move Tang San prepared in advance?"

Ever since Jiang Ziya had told him he was a Child of Destiny, Huo Yuhao had suspected Tang San would keep coming after him. He had not expected it to happen so soon.

"Possibly. We sensed a trace of Tang San's aura on that girl. I never thought that bastard could be so vicious."

Huo Yuhao froze.

"Teacher, Elder Yi, what do you mean?"

In the Sea of Consciousness, Electrolux watched Wang Dong's retreating figure with anger on his face.

"That girl's soul was forcibly torn apart. If not for that trace of Divine Power, she would probably be dead."

Jiang Ziya added, "And judging by her aura, the girl is probably Tang San's direct descendant."

Electrolux gritted his teeth. Tang San's actions had brought back unpleasant memories from long ago. The brute's methods were cut from the same cloth as that woman's.

Jiang Ziya's words left Huo Yuhao rooted to the spot. Suddenly, it all made sense: no wonder so much had felt wrong when he sparred with Wang Dong.

Her soul had been forcibly torn apart. At the thought, an almost absurd sense of relief rose in him.

He was relieved that Dai Hao, his father in blood alone, had merely abandoned him and his mother rather than splitting his soul in two.

The relief came quickly and vanished just as fast. Measuring one evil against another was no way to think. Dai Hao was no good man either.