Seeing His Heart, Knowing His Nature

At the entrance to Shrek Academy, at the new student registration desk.

"Senior, is there really no way to become a Shrek student without a recommendation letter?"

"Sorry, fellow student. A recommendation letter is required."

The student at the registration desk could not bear the sight of Huo Yuhao's downcast expression, so he offered a kind reminder:

"If you can get a recommendation letter, you'd better bring it before registration closes this afternoon. Today is the last day."

There's only an hour left. Where am I supposed to get a recommendation letter?

Huo Yuhao shook his head with a bitter smile. He was just about to leave when an old woman with an unpleasant expression walked out of the academy.

Her face was cold, her high heels clacking loudly as she headed off campus. Clearly, she was in a foul mood.

Before Huo Yuhao could wonder about her, the volunteers at the registration desk began discussing her in hushed voices.

"That old witch Zhou Yi got banished to teaching first-years. Serves her right!"

"She relies on being Fan Yu's wife to expel students without restraint and inflate her percentage of top students. Absolutely hateful."

"Ugh, who knows which new students will fall into her claws?"

"But her husband is the vice dean of the Soul Tool Department. You could say she's one of the teachers with the strongest backing in the outer court."

Huo Yuhao swept his gaze over them, keenly reading dislike, disgust, hatred, and other such emotions toward this teacher from the volunteers' expressions, eyes, and movements.

If only one or two students felt that way, there might have been an explanation. But when all dozen or so students at the registration desk shared those emotions, that spoke volumes.

He was not someone who liked offering a warm face only to be met with a cold backside, but there was only an hour left before registration closed.

To draw closer to the holy land of Soul Masters his mother had spoken of, he was willing to try seizing every opportunity.

Even if he might be rejected for it.

Huo Yuhao quickly made his decision and called out:

"Teacher Zhou, please wait!"

The male student beside Huo Yuhao looked startled and discreetly edged away, unwilling to attract the attention of this teacher whose reputation among the outer court students was so notorious.

Clack, clack... clack!

Zhou Yi stopped and turned around. Her sharp gaze scraped across everyone present before finally settling on Huo Yuhao's face. Expressionlessly, she said:

"You called me?"

"Yes, Teacher Zhou." Huo Yuhao's tone was neither servile nor overbearing. "I'd like to register."

"Interesting." Zhou Yi sneered, sizing Huo Yuhao up and grasping the situation.

"Those tattered clothes of yours are among the worst of any student who came to register today. Couldn't get a City Lord-level Recommendation Letter?"

Zhou Yi had only guessed one thing wrong: Huo Yuhao did not have any recommendation letter at all.

"Tell me about your martial soul, then show me your soul ring. Let me see what you have to back you up!"

Huo Yuhao drew a deep breath, and a bright yellow soul ring rose from beneath his feet:

"My martial soul is Spirit Eyes. I'm a rank-eleven Soul Master, and my first soul ring is a hundred-year soul ring."

To avoid being looked down on, he told a lie, using Simulation to turn his silvery-white Million-Year Soul Ring yellow.

"Ha!"

A body martial soul? Zhou Yi smiled disdainfully and continued, "Your innate soul power definitely didn't exceed rank three."

"My innate soul power was rank one, Teacher Zhou."

"Then you can leave!" Zhou Yi shook her head coldly, venting all her displeasure. "The students I expelled in the first half of this year had dozens of hundred-year soul rings between them."

"Rank-one innate soul power says enough about the strength of that body martial soul of yours."

"No wonder you couldn't get a recommendation letter. What city lord would dare recommend a trash martial soul like you to Shrek?"

"You dare come register at my Shrek Academy with rank-eleven soul power? Utterly laughable!"

Huo Yuhao frowned, carefully studying Zhou Yi's expression. Combining it with what the students had discussed earlier, he quickly realized that he had become an outlet for Zhou Yi's emotions.

Although he understood the circumstances, that did not mean he could let spit dry on his face without wiping it away. There was no need to tolerate things to that extent here.

However arrogant and spoiled Zhou Yi might be, could she really attack a prospective student in full view of everyone?

"Zhou Yi, my talent may be lacking, but I cultivated every drop of this rank-eleven soul power through my own efforts. And I believe I can become strong through my own efforts!"

"When that day comes, I'll prove your ignorance to you."

Huo Yuhao delivered those words with a calm expression, then turned and left.

The words themselves held little inflection, but that very calmness faintly revealed his confidence.

It was not because, as the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had said, with the support of a Million-Year Soul Ring, even a pig could try soaring into the sky.

Rather, Huo Yuhao's experiences had taught him the power of giving his all.

Who knew the true worth of going from rank-one innate soul power to rank eleven in five years of cultivation entirely on his own?

Every day and night, the pain of squeezing each drop of soul power out of his parched limbs and bones, the tearing sensation as he forced that soul power, gathered into tiny streams, into his narrow meridians...

Among the servants in the White Tiger Duke's Mansion who had awakened their martial souls in the same batch as him, dozens had also possessed rank-one innate soul power.

Every one of them had bowed to the shackles of talent and compromised with the weakness of their martial souls. Even the strongest among them now had only rank-four or rank-five soul power. Most might never gain even a single soul skill in their entire lives.

He had a reason to persevere.

"It's useless! Talent determines everything," Zhou Yi said heavily. "Have you ever seen a Soul Master with rank-one innate soul power break past rank fifty?"

"Even if you give it everything you have, the least talented of my students will leave you behind."

Huo Yuhao strode away from the registration desk, passing a group of people.

Leading them was a burly youth with the Star Luo Dai Family's clan crest pinned to his chest. His expression was haughty and his bearing cold. Glancing at Huo Yuhao's retreating back, he said:

"Another one who failed to register. These bottom-rung people-not only do they lack talent, they refuse to work a little harder. They idle their days away, then when the moment comes, they beg others with those pleading eyes. This must be the base nature of servants Mother spoke of, right?"

Huo Yuhao glanced back at Dai Huabin as he walked away. Base nature?

He snorted coldly and left Shrek Academy.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm comforted him from within his Sea of Consciousness:

"Don't be upset, Yuhao. If this place won't have you, somewhere else will. This academy rejecting you isn't your loss, it's theirs! Once you're strong, give them a vicious lashing for me!"

Huo Yuhao smiled. "Brother Sky Dream, am I really that fragile? I'm just a little regretful, not upset. Not being able to study at Shrek Academy doesn't mean my future is bleak. My talent's just a little lacking. It's not as though I'm dead."

Hard to say. Judging by your memories, you used to be extreme and stubborn. The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm only dared grumble those words inwardly.

Had Huo Yuhao's temperament changed completely?

No, that ability called "Spectator" hadn't just let him clearly discern other people's thoughts. It had also let him understand what he truly wanted.

So something like this, which would once have sent him spiraling into obsession, was now nothing more than a minor interlude after giving it a try.

"Excellent! What spirit! Just what I'd expect from the person I, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, chose. What should we do next?"

Gurgle.

Huo Yuhao rubbed his stomach and glanced into his pocket, where only a few silver soul coins and a dozen or so copper soul coins remained.

Uh, set all those lofty declarations and grand ambitions aside. Better earn some money and fill my stomach first.