Shrek Inspection Corps

"You're pretty good at this. So accurate."

Huo Yuhao was a Soul Master, after all, and currently a rank-15 one. Even without using his Soul Power or Martial Soul, or even his Spiritual Power, his Martial Soul was still his eyes. This gave him excellent eyesight, particularly strong dynamic vision and hand-foot coordination.

Playing a game like marbles, he could practically hit his target every time. Naturally, to keep the game enjoyable for everyone else, Huo Yuhao had deliberately held something back. Even so, he still earned praise from the little friends around him whom he had met only minutes earlier.

"I'm all right." Huo Yuhao smiled.

"How do you do it?" one of the children couldn't help asking curiously.

"It's simple. You predict where it'll go, watch the general direction you've picked, then judge how far away it is and how much force you should use. Even if your prediction isn't great, as long as the force is about right and your aim is good, you might not hit it every time, but I think you won't end up far from the hole." Huo Yuhao held nothing back and shared his experience directly.

Though the children might have had a little trouble understanding his experience.

Seeing this, Huo Yuhao simply gave them a practical demonstration. He pulled one child down onto the ground beside him and had them flick a marble toward the hole first. Once they determined whether it had gone too far or fallen short, he told them to ease up or use less force next time. It was actually very simple: they just had to keep learning from their failures.

Huo Yuhao taught them one by one, and the children around him learned one by one.

They didn't care at all whether they had met Huo Yuhao before. They simply thought this child they had just met was really impressive.

Huo Yuhao played this ordinary game for a long time. Only when someone called the nearby children home for lunch at noon did he leave and return to Cao's Rice Bowl.

It was the lunchtime rush now. Usually, when Huo Yuhao wanted to help at this hour, Uncle Cao and Aunt Lan refused. In their eyes, at Huo Yuhao's age, what he ought to do was either study or cultivate.

One could say that, were it not for the circumstances when Huo Yuhao first arrived, they would never even have let him work as a grilled-fish cook.

At lunchtime, Huo Yuhao never disturbed anyone. He simply served himself a bowl of rice, got some dishes, and made do with that.

But today, after returning and greeting Sister Lin, he ran into an old friend on his way to the kitchen. Well, not really an old friend-a new friend, rather.

"Oh, it's you, little Yuhao. Where are you off to?"

"Sister Xiaotao, I'm going to the kitchen for lunch." Huo Yuhao greeted her.

It was none other than Ma Xiaotao, who had eaten with Strawberry, Zhang Lexuan, and the others a few days earlier.

Previously, merely sensing the arrogance in her bones had sensitively reminded Huo Yuhao of his past. That had left a deep impression on him.

Though she probably didn't know that the impression she had left was a bad one.

"Perfect. I came here to eat too. Let's eat together. Meals are livelier with more people." Hearing this, Ma Xiaotao proposed it without hesitation.

"Sure." Huo Yuhao didn't refuse. After all, what had happened before had purely been him wearing himself down mentally and overthinking things.

"By the way, do you serve grilled fish at noon?" Ma Xiaotao asked. This also indirectly showed that she had never actually been here before and was a new customer.

"We don't sell grilled fish at noon, only in the evening. But if you want some, Sister Xiaotao, I can grill it for you," Huo Yuhao said.

"You'll grill it? Don't tell me you're the one who makes all the grilled fish here?" Ma Xiaotao asked in surprise, as though something had occurred to her.

"Yes." Huo Yuhao nodded lightly.

"Impressive, little Yuhao." Although she had suspected it, Ma Xiaotao really hadn't expected someone Huo Yuhao's age to make such delicious grilled fish.

"Not really. My Martial Soul is just a little better suited to grilling fish." Huo Yuhao smiled.

"Don't be so modest. Then bend the rules for your big sister. Don't worry, I'll make it worth your while." Ma Xiaotao laughed heartily and patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder.

"There's no need for that. I didn't know what to have for lunch anyway, so this solves both problems." With that, Huo Yuhao headed into the kitchen.

About ten minutes later, he brought out two grilled fish. Since many of the seasonings weren't ready yet, they were simply grilled with a little salt and some sauce brushed over them.

Meanwhile, Ma Xiaotao had also ordered some other dishes.

"Mmm, that's the flavor. I have to say, Yuhao, your grilled fish really is delicious." Ma Xiaotao didn't eat grilled fish like Strawberry, chewing slowly and carefully with graceful movements. As she ate, she kept praising it.

"As long as you like it. But is Shrek Academy on vacation right now?" Huo Yuhao remembered that Shrek's vacation only lasted about a month. Although there were normally breaks in between, if they were on a break, Strawberry ought to have come back too.

"You're wondering why Sister Strawberry hasn't come back if we have the day off?" Hearing Huo Yuhao's question, Ma Xiaotao guessed what he was curious about.

"Yes." Huo Yuhao didn't deny it. He really was curious; normally, Strawberry should have come back.

If he came back, Huo Yuhao would at least have something to do that afternoon. He could chat with him and hear some stories or learn about Soul Masters from him. That wouldn't count as failing to take a break.

"Today isn't a day off for us at Shrek. Besides, Sister Strawberry isn't in Shrek City right now. She went to the Star Dou Great Forest with Sister Lexuan," Ma Xiaotao said.

"They went to the Star Dou Great Forest? To find Soul Rings?" For ordinary people, the Star Dou Great Forest was an extremely dangerous place. Even Soul Masters could easily lose their lives upon entering, even in the outer region, without an expert of Soul King rank or higher leading them.

Most people wouldn't go there. If they did, it was to find Soul Rings.

Ma Xiaotao nodded lightly. "That's right. Sister Lexuan and Sister Strawberry have reached ranks 70 and 60 respectively. Actually, Sister Lexuan reached rank 70 a month ago, but she was waiting for Sister Strawberry. They planned to go find Soul Rings together so they could look out for each other."

"A rank-70 Soul Saint already. That's amazing. I remember Sister Lexuan isn't twenty yet, right?" Hearing this, even Huo Yuhao couldn't help admiring Zhang Lexuan's talent. A rank-70 Soul Saint before twenty-not just at Shrek Academy, but probably across the entire history of the Douluo Continent, she would rank among the notable figures.

"She's not twenty yet. In another six months, it'll be the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Fighting Tournament. The minimum requirement for that tournament is being under twenty. Sister Lexuan is Shrek Academy's team captain this time. And, by the way, barring any surprises, I'll be the next captain," Ma Xiaotao said.

"Then you're really impressive too, Sister Xiaotao," Huo Yuhao said casually. Seeing how confident Ma Xiaotao was, her cultivation was probably already quite high.

But that had little to do with him. The Soul Fighting Tournament took place every five years, and when he entered an advanced academy, it would be time for the next tournament. He would only just be twelve then. One could say that whenever he participated in this tournament, he would be at an inherent disadvantage.

Some others would have cultivated for three years longer than him. He couldn't say what his cultivation would be by then, but in terms of years spent cultivating, he would be at a slight disadvantage. Besides, Strawberry, Zhang Lexuan, and the others had already told him that, when selecting participants for tournaments like this, Shrek directly excluded first- and second-year students.

At twelve, he would be around his second year. It wasn't just Shrek; other schools were much the same. Twelve-year-olds weren't within their consideration. As for seventeen, that went without saying-even less so.

So, after hearing about the Soul Fighting Tournament, Huo Yuhao had long since abandoned the idea of participating. As for now, he had even less interest in it.

"That sounded so halfhearted." Ma Xiaotao complained about Huo Yuhao's perfunctory response.

Huo Yuhao smiled.

"Speaking of which, I heard Sister Strawberry mention these past couple of days that, like Sister Lexin, you're a notorious cultivation maniac. I'm quite curious-how do you usually cultivate? You raised your cultivation by five ranks in six months. Even with innate full Soul Power, if you keep going at this pace, you'll reach rank 20 next year. By the time you're around ten, if your speed stays the same, you might even have reached rank 30." Ma Xiaotao simply didn't dwell on the previous topic. Compared with hearing Huo Yuhao praise her, she was more curious about how he cultivated, because he was far too fast.

"I just cultivate normally. I don't really know the specifics either. After all, I didn't have a Soul Ring six months ago. Only after getting one did I find out what my current cultivation was," Huo Yuhao said. He certainly couldn't reveal his experiences. They were far too inconceivable.

"Mm." Ma Xiaotao nodded, rubbed her chin, and thought for a moment. In her view, even someone with innate full Soul Power couldn't advance so quickly through ordinary cultivation, because she had innate full Soul Power too.

She was confident that her cultivation speed was no worse than anyone else's, and even ranked among the best in the world. If not for the problem with her Martial Soul, she truly believed she could catch up with Zhang Lexuan before she turned twenty.

However, her Martial Soul hadn't had so many problems when she first started cultivating. Even then, her cultivation speed during the first six months hadn't been as fast as Huo Yuhao's; she had gained fewer than three ranks. It was hard to say exactly what was going on, but Huo Yuhao's cultivation had indeed reached rank 15.

If only she could completely resolve the problem with her Martial Soul. Ling Luochеn's Martial Soul was clearly ice-attributed and could help her, yet she didn't want to help. Ma Xiaotao wasn't sure how much longer she could suppress her problem either. She could only take things one step at a time.

The two then chatted for a while longer, mostly about cultivation and recent events in Shrek City, just like ordinary people outside making everyday conversation.

There wasn't much difference. It was just that Soul Masters like them also exchanged their cultivation insights while gossiping.

Compared with Huo Yuhao, Ma Xiaotao was, after all, a top student at Shrek, and she genuinely knew her stuff.

Many of her cultivation insights and ways of using Soul Skills were things Huo Yun hadn't taught him yet.

Of course, that was mainly because Huo Yun's goal for him right now was very clear: build his foundation, and build it well.

Besides that, as they chatted, Huo Yuhao also learned that although Shrek wasn't on a break today, Ma Xiaotao would be leaving on a mission soon, so she had planned to come here for a good lunch.

"What mission? Aren't you a student, Sister Xiaotao?" Hearing that Ma Xiaotao was about to leave Shrek City on a mission, Huo Yuhao was somewhat puzzled. Wasn't she a student?

Did Shrek's students have to carry out all sorts of missions?

"Outer Court students certainly don't, but your big sister here successfully passed the Inner Court entrance exam not long ago. Every student who enters the Inner Court has missions. As for what they are, you'll understand if you enter Shrek Academy's Inner Court someday." Ma Xiaotao only gave a brief explanation without explaining the specific reasons.

"Then that's it for today. Thanks for bending the rules for me, little Yuhao. I'll come back for your grilled fish when I return." Ma Xiaotao then stood up, paid the bill, and left the restaurant.

Huo Yuhao watched her beautiful figure disappear into the distance. Just as he was about to look away, he heard Sister Lin, who had appeared beside him at some point, tease him. "Stop looking. She's already long gone."

"Mm." Huo Yuhao nodded lightly. He knew she had gone far away.

"I never thought that was your type." But Sister Lin's next words left Huo Yuhao looking utterly bewildered and made Huo Yun give two dry coughs.

"You beast! He's only six. Six! And you're saying that to him?"

Could Sister Lin consider his age before making jokes? Had Huo Yuhao reached the age when feelings of love first blossomed? Couldn't she see his bewildered face? Right now, he had no concept whatsoever of relationships between men and women.

"Ignore her. Go." Huo Yun was now genuinely a little afraid Sister Lin would lead Huo Yuhao astray, and hurriedly told him to leave.

Huo Yuhao was very obedient when it came to Huo Yun's words. He casually told Sister Lin that he had something to do and would be leaving, then left.

Before leaving, he cleared the plates from the table. He had wanted to wash them, but the restaurant had an auntie specifically responsible for washing dishes. When Huo Yuhao brought them over, she stopped him and had him leave them there.

By the time Huo Yuhao came back, a server had already cleaned the table. He returned to his earlier state of having nothing to do.

Looking at the sun, which was still directly overhead, Huo Yuhao realized that today's break felt rather long. Just as he had that morning, he would go for another walk in the afternoon.

Wasn't it a break wherever he went? After the novel experiences that morning, Huo Yuhao planned to look around again that afternoon and see whether there was anything else to do.

At the end of the day, he was still a child, full of curiosity about new things.

But as he walked, Huo Yuhao remained especially curious about Ma Xiaotao.

"Mom, does Shrek Academy have a rule requiring students to carry out missions?" Still puzzled, he finally asked Huo Yun. After all, he felt there were very few things in this world that could escape her knowledge.

"Just as she said, the Outer Court doesn't, but the Inner Court does. Entering the Shrek Inner Court is equivalent to automatically joining a group called the Shrek Inspection Corps.

"It's led by Shrek Academy's senior leadership, with Shrek's true decision-maker serving as its commander.

"Its purpose is to monitor Soul Masters across the entire continent. Of course, it mainly deals with those evil Soul Masters who rely on their superior cultivation to commit wicked deeds."

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