Once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they went their separate ways. Only Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao remained at the grilled fish stall, one cleaning up the grill and the other putting away the bowls and chopsticks.
Suddenly, Huo Yuhao felt someone pat her shoulder. Wang Dong held out a porcelain bottle.
"I didn't pay for your grilled fish. This will cover it."
Huo Yuhao froze for a moment, then looked down. It was that Mystic Water Pill. Startled, she waved her hands repeatedly.
"No, no! This is too valuable! A Mystic Water Pill is worth ten thousand gold! I... I can't accept it!"
Ten thousand Gold Soul Coins! Huo Yuhao had never spent that many Gold Soul Coins in her life. She had never even seen that many.
Wang Dong pressed the porcelain bottle into her hand. "Take it. Your soul power is too weak right now. It'll affect the rate of our Martial Soul Fusion. If you get stronger, I'll benefit too, so this isn't a gift. It's an investment."
Those words were half true and half false!
Huo Yuhao really was too weak right now. Without a second ring or the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion as her second martial soul, she could barely help him at all.
If he left Huo Yuhao to cultivate slowly on her own, her progress in the early stages would be too slow.
Besides, he would have the Clear Sky Sect send over some more Mystic Water Pills later.
Huo Yuhao gripped the porcelain bottle, a jumble of feelings stirring in her heart. Of course she knew how precious a Mystic Water Pill was. It was a treasure that could increase soul power and improve one's constitution. Out in the world, countless people would fight until their heads split open and still fail to buy one.
Yet Wang Dong had given it to her so casually, even finding an excuse about an "investment."
She bit her lip, her eyes stinging a little, but finally nodded. "Then... then I'll absorb it tonight. I'll break through as soon as I can. I promise I won't hold you back."
Wang Dong smiled in satisfaction. "That's more like it. All right, head back and get some rest."
Huo Yuhao nodded, clutching the porcelain bottle, and turned toward the dormitory building. When she reached the stairs, she glanced back. Wang Dong was still standing there,
and waved to her. Warmth filled her heart, and she hurried upstairs.
Back at her dormitory, Huo Yuhao pushed open the door and found her roommate already there. The green-haired girl sat cross-legged on her bed with her eyes closed, soul power rippling faintly around her as she meditated and cultivated.
It was Xiao Xiao, who also had twin martial souls.
Although the school term had only just begun, the two got along quite well and had already become friends.
Huo Yuhao closed the door softly without disturbing her. Instead, she sat on her own bed, took out the Mystic Water Pill, drew a deep breath, and began absorbing it.
Once the pill entered her stomach, its gentle medicinal power slowly spread, flowing through her body like a warm current. The process was not painful; instead, it brought an indescribable comfort, as though her whole body were soaking in a hot spring.
She could feel the medicinal power gradually improving her constitution and raising her innate soul power.
In her mind, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's rich voice rang out. "Good stuff! This Mystic Water Pill will do you a lot of good. Not only can it increase your soul power, it can also improve your constitution. Little Yuhao, that classmate of yours really treats you well. Not just anyone would be willing to give something like this away."
Warmth filled Huo Yuhao's heart. She said nothing and focused on absorbing the medicinal power.
After an unknown amount of time, she slowly opened her eyes and sensed the fluctuations of soul power inside her. She froze.
Rank fourteen? She had actually risen straight to rank fourteen? A single Mystic Water Pill had raised her by three whole ranks!
Moreover, she could clearly feel that her soul power cultivation was much faster than before.
She almost cried out in delight, but the next second, her nose twitched as she caught a strange smell.
"What's going on? Why does the dormitory stink so much?!"
Xiao Xiao had finished meditating at some point and was holding her nose, looking at her with disgust.
Huo Yuhao looked down. Only then did she discover that a layer of black grime had seeped out over her body at some point, giving off a pungent stench.
She understood at once. The Mystic Water Pill was helping her expel the impurities from her body. Her face flushed, and she hurriedly jumped off the bed. "I... I'm going to take a bath!"
She rushed into the bathroom and spent well over half a double-hour scrubbing herself clean from head to toe. By the time she emerged, drying her hair, she looked completely refreshed.
Her originally somewhat dull skin had become fair and luminous, and even her features seemed a little more delicate. Her eyes in particular were moist and bright, as though they held two pools of clear spring water.
Xiao Xiao was leaning against the head of her bed, reading. At the sound, she looked up, and her eyes instantly lit up. "Yuhao! You look even prettier! What happened?"
A little embarrassed by her gaze, Huo Yuhao sat on the edge of her bed with a flushed face and explained quietly, "It... it was a Mystic Water Pill Wang Dong gave me. After I absorbed it, I seemed to expel the impurities from my body..."
"A Mystic Water Pill?" Xiao Xiao's eyes widened. "That's really expensive! He gave you a Mystic Water Pill? That pill is worth ten thousand gold! He treats you so well. You two aren't dating already, are you?"
It was hardly surprising that Xiao Xiao would think that way.
Huo Yuhao's face instantly turned scarlet, and she waved her hands repeatedly. "No, no! We've only known each other for two days. How could we..."
"Then why is he so nice to you?" Xiao Xiao tilted her head, looking suspicious. "Treating you to meals, giving you a quilt, and now a Mystic Water Pill? Isn't that a little too much special treatment?"
Huo Yuhao opened her mouth, but she did not know how to explain. She knew very well that Wang Dong might only be treating her kindly out of goodwill.
She was a useless girl with only rank-eleven soul power. What right did she have to make him see her in a different light? She dared not ask for too much, and she felt she did not deserve it.
She lowered her head, her voice muffled. "He... he's just a good person... Besides, we have Martial Soul Fusion. Once I get stronger, I can help his cultivation in return."
Watching her, Xiao Xiao rolled her eyes thoughtfully, then suddenly chuckled. "Since you're not dating, let me pursue the class monitor! He's so handsome. He's exactly my type!"
Huo Yuhao jerked her head up and blurted out, "No!"
Xiao Xiao blinked. "Why not?"
Huo Yuhao froze. She opened her mouth, only to discover that she could not give a reason at all. After struggling for a long while, she finally squeezed out, "Anyway... anyway, you just can't..."
Seeing how anxious and flustered she looked, Xiao Xiao could not help bursting into laughter. "All right, all right, I was teasing you! Look how worked up you got."
Only then did Huo Yuhao realize she had been tricked. Both embarrassed and annoyed, she grabbed a pillow and swung it at her. "You're awful!"
Xiao Xiao's eyes flickered as she laughed and dodged, and the two tussled on the bed. They kept at it for quite a while before finally stopping, breathless, and lying side by side on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
Xiao Xiao suddenly said, "Yuhao, that class monitor of yours really is a good person. But if you don't hurry, someone else might actually snatch him away."
Huo Yuhao said nothing. She rolled over and buried her face in her pillow, but Wang Dong's smiling face surfaced unbidden in her mind.
She tightened her grip on the pillow, her heart a tangled mess, like a ball of threads knotted together that she could not unravel no matter what she did.
Before you continue