Through Tang Ya's big eyes, Lu Yu could see her utterly empty head without even using a spiritual scan.
"Of course you can sell it. Apart from the Tang Sect, only top-tier sects and powers close to Shrek, like the Heavenly Dragon Sect, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, and the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, have special admissions quotas."
"Unlike the Tang Sect, those other top-tier sects care about saving face. They definitely wouldn't sell theirs. At most, they'd give them away as favors."
"That makes your Tang Sect's slot the only one on the market, doesn't it?"
"Scarcity makes things precious. Do you know how badly those wealthy merchants want their children to get into Shrek? Even if you charged tens of thousands of gold soul coins, someone would buy it."
Lu Yu looked as though he resented iron for failing to become steel. In other words, the Tang Sect had wasted all its slots over the years. Truly worthy of being that absurd sect that devoted all its efforts to researching blue silver grass.
In his previous life, Lu Yu had researched blue silver grass to attract attention and make money. Combined with the game's ability to reload saves, that was how he had developed a wheelchair build for ordinary blue silver grass.
Even so, blue silver grass had only ranked as the gatekeeper of high-grade martial souls in his previous life.
Like the White Tiger martial soul, which was actually high-grade but could be called the gatekeeper of top-tier martial souls, it had only been pushed that high by its build.
If Tang Ya hadn't had the top-tier martial soul, dark blue silver grass, up her sleeve, he wouldn't have bothered playing with blue silver grass in this life.
"T-tens of thousands of gold soul coins! Doesn't that mean I've lost a fortune all these years?!" Tang Ya's vision darkened, and she pressed a hand to her chest. She felt as though she was going to cough up blood.
"Then this year's slot is yours. I'm counting on you for this soul hunt."
Tang Ya sighed, her eyes fixed firmly on Lu Yu.
Lu Yu was a genius. She had to consider whether this might be the Tang Sect's only chance to rise in her lifetime.
She had to bring Lu Yu into the Tang Sect. Even if she had to date him and give up the position of sect master, she was willing.
"All right, now that you're out, stop pretending to sleep."
Lu Yu patted Huo Yutong's head.
"Sorry, Master. I saw you were having such a lively conversation with... this lady."
Huo Yutong flushed slightly.
After the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's sacrifice, she had been chatting with him in her Sea of Consciousness.
She had learned that the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was a roadside soul beast from the Far North who didn't even qualify as an extra-small fry.
Brother Tian Meng had been lucky enough to fall into a cave filled with ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow while being hunted by his "dear sister," the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion. Ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow was an ice-attribute heavenly treasure. Just one stalk, absorbed by an ice-attribute soul master or an ice-type soul beast, could even evolve an ordinary ice attribute into ultimate ice.
Yet after eating an entire cave's worth of ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's attribute had only approached ultimate ice. He truly was a maggot among maggots.
He had simply eaten and slept, slept and eaten, and by the time he woke up, he had become a nine-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-year soul beast.
After waking, he had gone looking for his "dear sister," the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion, only to be hunted all the way to the Star Dou Great Forest, where the ferocious beasts inside had imprisoned him and used him as a potent tonic.
Only after more than ten thousand years, when his age finally reached the threshold and he evolved into a million-year soul beast, had he managed to escape.
To survive, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had to find a spiritual-type soul master and become her soul ring. The soul master he had now found was Huo Yutong.
He had even told Huo Yutong that, for the sake of eternal life, he would help her become a god.
Tian Meng did indeed have the qualifications, though. His combat strength might have been maggot-tier, but he was still the only million-year soul beast on the Douluo Continent.
After receiving his sacrifice, even a soul master with mediocre aptitude like Huo Yutong truly possessed the potential to become a god.
That was because Tian Meng had not only granted her four soul ring skills, but could also allow every soul ring she absorbed in the future to grow to a hundred thousand years.
He had even granted her a second martial soul slot. As long as she absorbed an ice-type soul beast's soul ring, she could become a twin martial souls soul master with the potential to become a Limit Douluo.
Brother Tian Meng had told her that once she reached rank twenty, he would find her a super martial soul.
With this power, there's hope for my revenge.
Huo Yutong clenched her fists. Once she cultivated to Soul Douluo and avenged her mother, she would tell her master how she felt.
"Master, I have something to tell you."
Huo Yutong decided to tell Lu Yu about the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, and Tian Meng had agreed.
When he had just finished granting skills to her Spirit Eyes, he had been utterly astonished. How had Lu Yu known about Life Reflection Shield, a skill even he himself couldn't use?
After watching Huo Yutong's memories in her Sea of Consciousness, Tian Meng felt that, with Lu Yu nurturing her, Huo Yutong's chances of becoming a god would definitely be greater.
"If it's nothing urgent, leave it until after the soul hunt. There's still an outsider here."
Lu Yu pointed at Tang Ya beside them. It was nothing more than that business about a second martial soul and becoming a god. There wasn't much to say.
"Hey, aren't we friends now? How can you call me an outsider?"
Tang Ya swung her little fists like a windmill and hammered at Lu Yu, but he blocked every blow.
"All right, it's time to look for a split nine-headed snake."
"According to my information, we should be able to find a split nine-headed snake on the outskirts."
Since he ran a soul ring guidance business, Lu Yu had collected information on the distribution of soul beasts in the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, as well as in the Star Luo Empire Forest near Star Luo City.
But with his abilities, gathering information on the outskirts was already his limit. Probably only Shrek or the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, renowned throughout the continent for its wealth, could gather information on the interior.
That was also why he was joining Shrek. After all, ten thousand years had passed compared with the game setting in his previous life. He needed to collect information anew on the distribution of soul beasts and on some newly emerged soul beasts.
The Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect... I wonder whether the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well is still there. I heard the heart of Sunset Forest is covered in poison, and Sunset Forest declined because of it. That should be someone's handiwork to conceal the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
If he could obtain the immortal herb Aromatic Silk Beauty, Lu Yu could gain the full support of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.
As far as he knew, the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect posted a bounty of at least tens of thousands of gold coins every year, asking for no more than the faintest thread of a clue about Aromatic Silk Beauty.
But the Shrek Seven Devils all became gods. Why didn't Ning Rongrong pass down the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda?
Even if she didn't want to leave her children in the lower realm, she could have left a God's Trial and handed out a martial soul.
Surely she couldn't be an ungrateful wolf.
Thinking of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's investment in Tang San in the game, Lu Yu could only describe them as suckers.
He should find Tang Ya's third soul ring first. Lu Yu reined in his wandering thoughts. The martial soul he currently claimed to have was blue silver grass, so he still had to put in some effort to maintain his apparent strength in the future.
A blade of blue silver grass appeared in Lu Yu's hand, then burrowed underground. As Lu Yu continuously fed in soul power, the blue silver grass beneath the earth developed a vast root system that kept spreading.
As its roots connected with those of other blue silver grass, a flat map formed in Lu Yu's mind, dotted with countless blue light points.
These were all the blue silver grass nearby.
"What are you doing? Running low on soul power and starting to absorb it from other blue silver grass?"
Before you continue