Miss Meng was clever indeed

The morning light shone through the window onto Huo Yuhao as he slowly opened his eyes.

Just then, someone knocked on the door.

Knock, knock!

Huo Yuhao opened the door to find a boy with short white hair leaning against the wall, looking exceedingly debonair.

The girl had silver hair and blue eyes, a natural grace and beauty, and her simple white dress further accentuated her pure, ethereal air.

As soon as Xiao Hongchen saw Huo Yuhao open the door, he slowly straightened up and stared fixedly at him.

"Yuhao, did you absorb a ten-thousand-year Silver Ying Beast for your third soul ring?"

"What did the Soul Shock from a ten-thousand-year soul beast feel like?"

To keep Xiao Hongchen from disturbing Huo Yuhao during his advancement, Jing Hongchen had only told him afterward.

When Xiao Hongchen learned about it, his whole world came crashing down.

Ever since he was little, he had painstakingly devoted himself to studying soul tool knowledge, all so he could make a spectacular debut after enrolling.

He had pushed Ma Rulong off one ranking after another.

It had taken three full years for him to earn his reputation as the Sun Moon Empire Royal Soul Engineer Academy's number one genius.

Once Huo Yuhao revealed his third soul ring, it would seriously shake his standing as the number one genius!

Huo Yuhao had achieved his advancement goal and felt considerably more relaxed. Seeing this, he suddenly felt mischievous.

He feigned indifference.

"Yes, my third soul ring really is a black, ten-thousand-year soul ring."

"As for the Soul Shock? I didn't feel much. After all, my spiritual power was already just a hair away from the Soul Emperor level at the time."

"Senior Brother Xiao, don't be too surprised."

"Perhaps it's because I have a little talent."

With that, Huo Yuhao casually used Psychological Suggestion, planting a suggestion of excessive shock in Xiao Hongchen.

"Is that sweat?" Xiao Hongchen felt his thigh in disbelief, then relaxed.

"Oh, it's urine. I was wondering how talent on this level could possibly make me sweat."

Then he felt his backside in disbelief.

"Wait! How did I get so scared I even shit myself?!"

Was Psychological Suggestion really this potent? The corner of Huo Yuhao's eye twitched slightly.

He felt that the chaos water droplets fed back into his Sea of Consciousness enhanced it dozens of times more effectively than Chaos Qi.

"Pfft! Hahaha!"

Meng Hongchen shook with laughter like a flowering branch trembling in the breeze. Only after some difficulty did she straighten up and say,

"Sorry, Brother, it's just too funny."

"Honestly, after studying with you for all those years, I feel like I gained less than I did from two days of discussions with Junior Brother!"

The urine and feces were, of course, illusions. Xiao Hongchen pressed a hand to his forehead, looked up at the sky, and sighed deeply.

"Xiao Meng, you're already siding with an outsider? Ah!"

"If the heavens gave birth to Xiao, why did they also give birth to Huo?"

"It's not that I'm not strong enough. Yuhao is just too unreasonable."

Huo Yuhao withdrew his gaze and shrugged.

"Senior Sister Meng, Senior Brother Xiao, what brings you to my dorm?"

"Is something urgent?"

Meng Hongchen composed herself and suppressed her lingering laughter, then chided him.

"You're treating us like strangers. Why didn't you tell us when you broke through to Soul Elder at Quiet Heart Studio yesterday?"

Huo Yuhao chuckled. "Haven't you two been busy practicing tactics these past couple of days?"

"Senior Ma said this year is our most promising year."

"Everyone on both the reserve team and the main team is rubbing their hands in anticipation. The tactical drills are several times more intense than in previous tournaments."

Xiao Hongchen had been without Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection these past few days.

On top of that, after defeating Ma Rulong previously, he had made some outrageous boasts and had Feng Tingting publicize them heavily. As a result, Ma Rulong had given him some very special attention during tactical drills.

He poured out his complaints.

"Yuhao, without you, that Ma Rulong has been tormenting me!"

"He chases me from one end of the soul fighting arena to the other all day."

"He even says things like, 'Can't you turn your Soul Guidance Rays red? Go on, show me!' I really can't take it anymore!"

"After more than a month, Tingting still hasn't managed to find any suitable publicity material!"

Huo Yuhao gave Xiao Hongchen a reassuring look, then turned to Meng Hongchen, feeling somewhat hesitant.

He felt that the Sequence 9 potion called Assassin actually suited Meng Hongchen very well.

Not only could it transform the body within a short time, granting featherlike lightness, it also provided powerful eyesight and Darkvision.

It made one adept at hiding in shadows, with nimble footwork, agile movements, and the ability to unleash all one's strength in a single strike.

Physical enhancement, increased flexibility, explosive power, and stealth.

Wasn't that perfectly suited to the close-combat soul engineer path Meng Hongchen primarily pursued?

Moreover, this was only Sequence 9, leaving plenty of room for advancement.

Once Meng Hongchen finished digesting it, whenever he managed to fish a potion of a subsequent sequence out of his Sea of Consciousness,

She could advance further.

Since he had enrolled, Meng Hongchen had helped him more times than he could count.

Huo Yuhao was, after all, a young boy now. Toward this senior sister, who was close to him in age and known as Mingdu's most dazzling jewel,

He really did feel a touch of youthful attraction, and he could not lie to himself about that.

There were so many reasons to give it to Meng Hongchen, but the reason not to was a powerful one:

He could not actually guarantee the potion's complete safety.

After all, it was not something from this world, and he did not know whether there might be some conspiracy behind it.

"Junior Brother, why are you looking at me like that?" Meng Hongchen touched her pretty face in puzzlement.

"There aren't any flowers on my face. What are you thinking about?"

Huo Yuhao looked a little hesitant, but still asked,

"Senior Sister Meng, I mean hypothetically."

"Suppose there was an item that was neither a soul ring nor a soul bone."

"Not only could it systematically improve someone's abilities, its effects might even surpass a soul ring's, and it would also have good potential for further advancement."

"But there's one drawback: you can never completely rule out whether it might bring danger."

"Senior Sister Meng, what do you think?"

"Can't completely rule it out? Meaning it's largely controllable?" Seeing Huo Yuhao nod, Meng Hongchen said exasperatedly,

"Junior Brother, do you even understand what an independent multiplier is?"

"The closer a powerful soul master gets to the pinnacle, the closer their soul bones and soul rings are to saturation."

"There's also a limit to how many soul tools a soul engineer can use at once."

"If, at that point, there were an item independent of the soul master system,"

"Then that soul master's upper limit would be a whole level above other soul masters', comparable to having twin martial souls!"

"Now do you understand what I mean?" Meng Hongchen reached out and poked Huo Yuhao.

"Never mind the danger being largely controllable. Even if it were tremendously dangerous, not a single soul master could resist the temptation."

Xiao Hongchen nodded repeatedly as well and remarked casually,

"If you gave me something like that, I'd be willing even if it turned me into a woman!"

Whenever something involved those close to him, Huo Yuhao was not quite so decisive.

There was no rush anyway. He rubbed his temples and said,

"Senior Sister Meng, you didn't come looking for me just to congratulate me, did you?"

"Take a guess?" Meng Hongchen said with a faint smile.

A thought stirred in Huo Yuhao's mind, and he blurted out, "The Level Six Live Ammunition Soul Guidance Sniper Rifle is finished?"

Xiao Hongchen chuckled. "Yes! The most powerful killing weapon of this tournament-we rushed and rushed, and finally finished it."

Today was a day off.

After the three of them picked up the finished Level Six Live Ammunition Soul Guidance Sniper Rifle, they sought out Feng Tingting and gathered again at the restaurant they had visited during their previous break.

After feasting to their hearts' content, Meng Hongchen invited Feng Tingting to go shopping, and the two left arm in arm.

That left only Huo Yuhao and Xiao Hongchen in the restaurant, chatting about anything and everything.

As Meng Hongchen and Feng Tingting browsed the shops, they spotted several girls in academy uniforms ahead of them, holding copies of Soul Engineer Genius and discussing something.

Meng Hongchen moved closer without drawing attention and listened.

It turned out that after Huo Yuhao had made his name in a single battle before the term began, he had gained quite a number of female fans at the academy.

As she listened, the female students' discussion gradually grew bolder.

"Huo Yuhao looks so pure. Just looking at him is making this big sister ovulate."

"None of you fight me for him. I've already set my sights on him, and I'm gathering his daily routes. Just watch me ambush him!"

"A beauty trap. I refuse to believe I can't land Huo Yuhao!"

"The give-myself-away strategy! I'm going with the give-myself-away strategy! I've found out where his dorm is!"

Their brazen joking made Meng Hongchen, who was eavesdropping nearby, laugh in anger.

But what sort of person was Meng Hongchen?

Clever as she was, she naturally knew that personally stepping in to tear into these female fans was the worst possible strategy.

With her standing, she naturally had her own way of helping Huo Yuhao manage his reputation both inside and outside the academy.

Once she and Feng Tingting had walked a little farther away,

Meng Hongchen weighed her words briefly, then put on a stern, entirely serious expression.

"Sister Tingting, I've noticed some frenzied bees and wanton butterflies in the academy eyeing Junior Brother like hungry tigers."

"Junior Brother is in a period of rapid growth in both cultivation and technical skill. They mustn't disturb him."

"Oh! I'll rein in the content Soul Engineer Genius puts out." Feng Tingting teased her with a knowing look.

"We can't let certain little hussies at the academy keep Yuhao from shining and giving his all to the soul tool profession."

That still was not enough. The other, less widely read periodicals would have to be contacted too.

Meng Hongchen's lips curved upward, and she felt a little proud.

I'm clever indeed!