Yuhao the wanderer

Arriving at his mother's grave, Huo Yuhao lowered his head and silently murmured once more. Then he looked up and glanced again at the distant Duke's Mansion.

"Wait for me, Mother. And the Duke's Mansion too. I will definitely return."

With that, Huo Yuhao left, his figure disappearing into the woods. No one at the Duke's Mansion knew where he had gone, nor did they care where he would go.

Near Shrek City stood a small city. Though it could not compare to Shrek City's prosperity, shops lined its streets, giving it quite a lively atmosphere.

Occasionally, a few lavishly dressed young nobles appeared on the streets, looking around and pointing things out, followed by several servants nodding and bowing.

At that moment, Huo Yuhao wore a wanderer's wide-brimmed bamboo hat, with a black half-face veil fastened inside it and hanging down to his neck.

He wore a light purple short kimono jacket with a wavy hem, his entire appearance giving off the air of a solitary wanderer.

More than a month had passed since Huo Yuhao left the Duke's Mansion and came here.

During that time, Huo Yuhao had roamed the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. Relying on his Spirit Eyes, Azure Ruins Eye, and the White Tiger Dagger tucked at his waist, he could safely avoid even soul beasts and soul masters stronger than himself.

After his Spirit Eyes awakened, Huo Yuhao's vision and perception underwent a qualitative improvement.

With the Azure Ruins Eye's help as well, Huo Yuhao could recover his stamina even while expending it.

Although the amount was not great, it was enough for his current needs.

As for the Eye of Annihilation, Huo Yuhao had only used it a few times so far.

Although its offensive power was formidable, there was no helping it: activating it easily left him drained and even locked him in place.

Sigh, when will I be able to raise my soul power by a huge chunk?

His main purpose in coming to this city was to find opportunities to earn more money.

When drifting through the world, one always needed some money in one's pockets. Otherwise, even dressed like this, he would have shopkeepers questioning whether he could pay.

During his wandering, Huo Yuhao had only wanted to learn to read, but he unexpectedly picked up a few martial adventure novels.

Having received little proper education to begin with, Huo Yuhao found his worldview straying further and further off course with the novels' help.

That was why he had deliberately changed into his current outfit along the way, making himself appear more mysterious and unfathomable.

As for food...

Although he could grill fish himself, he always wanted to buy something new to try, not to mention the cultivation resources he would need later...

"If I'd known, I would've stolen a few things from the Duke's Mansion before leaving. That would've counted as robbing the rich to help the poor."

Huo Yuhao had little money to begin with. After scouting around, he ultimately rented only a small shop beside an alley and opened a medical clinic.

Its name was-"Cures All Illnesses."

Despite that, Huo Yuhao's medical knowledge was not actually all that extensive.

Much of it came from consulting medical books as he went.

When treating more serious conditions, Huo Yuhao also claimed that the secret technique passed down by his master could not be revealed to outsiders, anesthetizing his patients until they were unconscious before treating them.

He called it a secret technique, but he was actually treating them with the Azure Ruins Eye, and he could only do that once every several days.

Still, this let him earn money while honing his skills. At the same time, his low fees won unanimous praise from the nearby residents.

It truly was taking three birds with one stone.

"Doctor, Doctor! My husband accidentally got bitten on the calf by a venomous snake today! What should we do? I heard anyone bitten by this kind of snake has to have the limb amputated!"

"We just run a little business to get by! How could something like this happen to us?"

As she spoke, the middle-aged woman before him dropped to her knees and began wailing.

Huo Yuhao looked at the middle-aged man lying on the stretcher. His face was turning purple.

He looked to be in agony, but he was too weak to speak and could only groan incessantly.

"There's no need to amputate. Hurry and carry him inside. If we're too slow, it'll be too late."

"Really?! Xiaotian, come help me carry your father inside!"

The woman immediately pulled herself together and called over her son nearby.

"Oh, okay!"

Xiaotian, who had been crouching on the ground with his head lowered, doing who knew what, instantly jumped up when he heard her.

A while later, a somewhat drained Huo Yuhao emerged from the back room and looked at the anxious mother and son before him.

"He's all right now. You two can go in."

"Really?! Wonderful! Your miraculous hands truly bring people back to life, Doctor Huo!"

"You're too kind."

"Doctor, lately my waist and back have been aching, my head's been fuzzy, my vision's been blurry, and I haven't quite been able to perform. Could you take a look and tell me why?"

Huo Yuhao checked his pulse, feeling that the medical books seemed to call this...

"You have kidney deficiency."

"Nonsense! You quack! Just watch me smash up this clinic!"

"I can treat it."

"Divine physician, please accept my bow!"

At the clinic entrance, Huo Yuhao handed the man some medicine he had prepared.

"Three portions a day, one each in the morning, at noon, and in the evening."

"Of course, of course!"

Just then, a group of people entered Huo Yuhao's field of vision. They wore cloaks bearing the image of a large tortoise, its head resembling a dragon yet not quite, with a fierce snake coiled around its shell.

"The Xuanming Sect."

"The Xuanming Sect?"

"That's right, the sect based around here. For some reason, a group of them have been coming and going frequently lately. Seems like there's something important going on."

"I see-"

"Enough chatting, divine physician. I'm heading home to try the medicine."

With that, the man left the clinic with a spring in his step.

The Xuanming Sect had come here for certain reasons. Thanks to its formidable strength, it had gradually become the greatest authority in this town.

From collecting rent on shops to charging fees for children to awaken their martial souls, everything was handled by its subordinates.

For families without money, even awakening a martial soul was a luxury.

He had heard that Spirit Hall ten thousand years ago even had dedicated personnel going door to door to help people awaken their martial souls. Had this era truly progressed?

Huo Yuhao did not dwell on it, merely sighing inwardly over it a little. Given his current circumstances, improving himself was what mattered most. Otherwise, everything was just hot air.

Chen Wen was feeling troubled. The second young master Xu Sanshi's birthday was fast approaching.

As Xu Sanshi's personal study attendant, Chen Wen naturally knew about that matter the Xuanming Sect kept so closely guarded.

After all, martial soul evolution was something that really could not be brought out into the open.

As the person in this generation most likely to awaken the Black Tortoise Martial Soul, Xu Sanshi was also the leading candidate to become the family head.

To select a suitable girl for him, she had to be not only a virgin but also a soul master, and she could not be older than Xu Sanshi.

Not only that, the girl also had to be refined in appearance and intelligent within, with beautiful looks...

More importantly, she had to be willing of her own accord.

Though it was a difficult assignment, if he truly managed to find such an exceptional girl, then with his relationship with Xu Sanshi, he would leap onto a branch and become a phoenix, basking in boundless glory.

Moreover, he had recently happened to learn something: in that commoners' neighborhood lived a young girl named Jiang Nannan, who had innate full soul power and had successfully gained admission to Shrek Academy.

Not only was she extraordinarily gifted, but her beauty was also one in ten thousand. When she went home, even the roadside vendors would steal a few extra glances at her.