The grilled fish stall.
Tang Ya, Tang Yin, Bei Bei, and Xu Sanshi sat around the little table. Xu Sanshi called out to Huo Yuhao:
"Little Huo, four more grilled fish!"
"Coming!" Huo Yuhao glanced at the four of them, put four fish on the grill, sprinkled on various spices, then lowered his head and got to work.
"Ah, I never thought Little Brother Huo would end up like this." Watching Huo Yuhao's busy figure from behind, Tang Ya sighed. "Back then, Bei Bei and I invited him to join the Tang Sect and help look after our base, but he wouldn't even agree."
"Even fish can't keep your mouth shut." Bei Bei helplessly poured her another cup of her drink.
"Then he really did miss a good opportunity," Xu Sanshi said indifferently.
He treated people generously and kindly, but that was predicated on their being friends on an equal footing with him, or capable of reaching an equal footing in the future.
As for someone who couldn't even enroll and could only sell grilled fish, he didn't think they belonged to the same world.
"Just a good opportunity? The Tang Sect will rise again in my hands. The sooner you join, the sooner you benefit." Tang Yin took a bite of grilled fish and said contentedly, "Still, he grills a good fish. We could recruit him into the Tang Sect to grill fish full-time."
Tang Ya said, "Didn't he offend your homeroom teacher when he tried to enroll?"
"Teacher Zhou wouldn't bother holding a grudge against someone like him." Tang Yin waved a hand, then changed the subject. "Teacher Zhou agreed to take me to look around the Soul Tool Department tonight."
"That's wonderful, Little Brother Tang Yin. Although you joined late, you've been progressing rapidly with the Tang Sect's secret arts. The Purple Demon Eye is an excellent auxiliary secret art in the field of soul tools. As long as you have decent talent for soul tools, you'll definitely accomplish something!"
"Of course." Though confident, Tang Yin sounded a little distracted.
A month had passed. He had used a secret method to examine the talented Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and even Dai Huabin, but none of them was the Child of Destiny. Moreover, there still wasn't a Child of Destiny among those who were close to Wang Dong.
That shouldn't be.
Could the main body's earlier interference with the Child of Destiny have stopped working?
Or was the Child of Destiny a girl-that Xiao Xiao who was close to Wang Dong? She had twin martial souls, but weren't both of them a little weak?
Unfortunately, the World Consciousness had already blocked me off, preventing direct contact with my main body. Otherwise, there would be no need for all this trouble.
The four weren't talking loudly, but under Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection, none of their movements was concealed.
From their body language to their undisguised expressions, words, and tones, Huo Yuhao could read a great deal.
Big Brother Bei Bei had looked at my back with a little guilt just now.
When Xu Sanshi mentioned a "good opportunity," he seemed disdainful, even indifferent. Disdain for the Tang Sect, and indifference toward my existence?
The corners of Huo Yuhao's mouth lifted. If he hadn't met Feng Bujue and discovered his considerable talent for soul tools, such an attitude might have dealt him a blow.
But now, he didn't care what Xu Sanshi thought.
There was a faint note of showing off and mockery in Tang Ya's tone. When she mentioned Tang Yin, she often glanced my way, usually lifting her chin-a classic little gesture of pride.
Was she trying to prove to me that giving Tang Yin the exam-free admission slot had been the right choice?
Or did seeing me busy making a living, seemingly without time to cultivate, while they were all outstanding soul master students at Shrek Academy, powerful soul masters who would one day make their names across the continent, give her a sense of superiority by comparison?
Tang Yin responded to Tang Ya very perfunctorily. His gaze often lost focus, and his fingers rubbed together unconsciously.
He had something on his mind, something he found very difficult to resolve?
What could be troubling a genius among Shrek Academy's new students?
Huo Yuhao shook his head and turned the fish on the grill over.
Big Brother Bei Bei was still as caught up in the affection between teacher and student as ever. His eyes had barely left Tang Ya.
Huh?
Why did Tang Ya look at Tang Yin more often than she looked at Bei Bei?
Huo Yuhao's hand paused as he picked up the seasoning bottle. Not only that, her gaze seemed gentler when she looked at Tang Yin, and she said his name more affectionately.
If that was the case, her sitting posture was even more interesting. Big Brother Bei Bei was sitting right opposite her, yet her legs seemed angled a little more toward Tang Yin.
Judging by the feedback from the Chaos Qi continually condensing in his Sea of Consciousness, his deductions were essentially correct.
Of course, the thoughts and attitudes read from such details weren't necessarily things someone had already settled on and held firmly in their heart. They couldn't fully encompass a person's true thoughts.
But naturally revealed details could certainly express certain subconscious thoughts, even if many people wouldn't admit to them when pointed out.
Sure enough, being a spectator and observing others while selling grilled fish had honed his powers of observation.
Huo Yuhao sprinkled seasoning over the fish, then carried them over to the four seated customers and said with a smile:
"Your grilled fish is ready, soul master geniuses of Shrek."
Tang Yin came back to himself, his gaze focusing on Huo Yuhao's clothes as he asked hesitantly:
"Why do you have metal shavings on you?"
Such sharp eyes. Was this the Tang Sect's Purple Demon Eye? But why hadn't Bei Bei and Tang Ya noticed?
Huo Yuhao's smile remained unchanged as he said:
"After I finish selling fish, I usually help out the trading company's soul engineers inside and pick up some soul tool knowledge on the sly."
"Secretly learning other people's things isn't a good habit." Tang Yin frowned, then added as something occurred to him, "Of course, it's another matter if you're interested."
"But soul tools are external things, after all. They don't help improve your own strength. Studying them is putting the branches before the roots."
Huo Yuhao set down the fish, his smile fading slightly.
"As far as I know, your Tang Sect has hidden weapons too, doesn't it?"
Tang Yin frowned slightly. "How is that the same?"
What kind of logic was that? Soul tools, no. Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, yes?
Huo Yuhao shook his head.
"They're different. Soul tools have creative potential. Their power isn't limited to destruction. They have the potential to change the world."
Tang Yin said disdainfully, "A martial soul is a soul master's foundation. Only soul masters have become gods, never soul engineers."
Huo Yuhao said, "But no one has become a god in ten thousand years. All those powerful soul masters failed to become gods. Doesn't that suggest the soul master's path isn't so easy to walk anymore?"
Tang Yin: "..."
Tang Yin knew the reason, of course, but he couldn't say it.
Could he say that, over these ten thousand years, ever since his main body took control of the Divine Realm's center, no god had been able to sense the situation on Planet Douluo, resulting in no one becoming a god?
He couldn't.
"I don't think soul tools amount to much either," Xu Sanshi said with unruffled composure. "The Sun Moon Empire claims to have the continent's best soul tools, but didn't Shrek Academy lead the Douluo Three Kingdoms in beating them into the ground anyway? What use were they?"
"Little Huo, your Brother Sanshi and Bei Bei are the Outer Court Twin Stars, already earmarked for the next Shrek Seven Devils. Don't go praising soul tools in front of us."
"Just grill your fish properly. You don't understand soul masters' business."
He curled a finger and flicked out two silver coins, which bounced across the table with crisp clinks.
"This is what you should be paying attention to."
That night, in the fourth-year boys' dormitory at Shrek Academy.
Bei Bei looked at Xu Sanshi and said seriously, "Sanshi, Little Brother Huo didn't mean any harm. He's just selling grilled fish. Don't go causing trouble for him."
Xu Sanshi said speechlessly:
"Why would I pick a fight with him? Someone like him won't get any further than this in his whole life. The next time he hears our names might well be when Shrek City is publicizing our victory in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament."
The Soul Tool Department.
"Brother He, what's so difficult about repairing a soul tool gun barrel?"
After flattening the gun barrel with one hammer blow, Tang Yin kept hammering, hammering with loud bangs, hammering until it glowed. Then he rolled the sheet of metal into a cylindrical iron tube, and the soul tool gun barrel was repaired.
He Caitou was so angry he laughed. "That's not how you make a soul tool gun barrel. I'll teach you."
Tang Yin's expression instantly darkened. You're teaching me how to do things?
I called you Brother He, and you really started thinking you were somebody?
Before you continue