"You know me?"
Huo Tian turned and looked questioningly at Tang Ya, who was crouching beside Bei Bei with a grilled fish on a skewer in her hand.
Huo Yutong's hands suddenly froze in midair as she grilled the fish. She looked up at Tang Ya, whose gaze had been fixed on Huo Tian the entire time.
Huo Yutong instantly felt out of sorts. Her entire body tensed, and she gripped the grilled fish so tightly that she bent its skewer out of shape.
"Of course I do! Brother Huo is the head senior brother of Shrek Academy's inner court. He was already a Soul Saint at seventeen..."
Tang Ya immediately grew excited. She tossed her skewer onto the grass and looked at Huo Tian with admiration, while Bei Bei sat silently to one side.
Huo Tian was someone Sea God Tang San had chosen. Sea God Tang San had appeared in Tang Ya's dream and told her to hand over the position of Tang Sect master to Huo Tian. How could she not admire him?
Reviving the Tang Sect was the most important thing in Tang Ya's life. Since the order had come from the Tang Sect's first sect master, she had no choice but to obey.
When Bei Bei first heard about this, he had also been utterly shocked. He had never imagined that Huo Tian would win Lord Sea God's favor.
When Bai Qi and Huo Yutong heard that Huo Tian had become a master at just seventeen, both froze on the spot. They had never expected their master to be so young, though Huo Tian should have been eighteen by now.
As Tang Ya sang his praises, Huo Tian sat to one side, smiling silently. He raised his eyes and saw Huo Yutong's gloomy expression.
Huo Tian stood, went over to Huo Yutong, and crouched beside her. He firmly held her tense arm as she clutched the grilled fish, as though indirectly soothing her heart.
"Master~! Do you want some grilled fish too?"
Flustered by Huo Tian's sudden gesture, Huo Yutong did not know what to do. A blush appeared on her fair little face, and she looked up to meet his eyes.
"Little Yutong, rest to the side for a while! I'll grill the fish!"
"Master, you grill the fish here. I'll catch some more by the stream!"
Huo Yutong stood, picked up the fishing spear from the ground, and headed toward the stream. The fish Bei Bei and Tang Ya had brought that remained were nowhere near enough to eat.
Bei Bei, Tang Ya, Bai Qi, and Huo Tian sat in a circle around the campfire, each holding a grilled fish. Clouds of thick smoke spread through the Star Dou Great Forest.
"Brother Huo! Who are these two with you?"
Bei Bei raised his hand and pointed first at Bai Qi, then at Huo Yutong, who was standing beside the stream, looking puzzled.
"They're both my disciples. This is Bai Qi, my second disciple. The other is Huo Yutong, my first disciple!"
As Huo Tian ate his grilled fish, he pointed his free hand at Bai Qi beside him, then at Huo Yutong. He felt there was nothing to hide. They would find out sooner or later.
Bei Bei had never expected Huo Tian to start taking disciples at such a young age. Huo Tian was only four years older than him. Bei Bei was fourteen now and only a rank 37 Soul Elder. He felt truly ashamed of himself.
Bei Bei began stroking his chin. It seemed he had wasted quite a lot of cultivation time over the past two years.
Bei Bei turned to Tang Ya beside him and let out a long sigh, though his eyes were full of tenderness. He had come to the Star Dou Great Forest with Tang Ya this time to help her obtain her third Soul Ring.
"Brother Huo, have you heard of the Tang Sect?"
Tang Ya immediately put down her grilled fish and looked at Huo Tian. She wanted to see what he thought of the Tang Sect.
"I have. Ten thousand years ago, the Tang Sect could have been called the greatest sect under heaven. Its sect master was Sea God Tang San."
"But after the Sun Moon Continent collided with the original Douluo Continent, the arrival of Soul Tools dealt a devastating blow to the Tang Sect's hidden weapons. From then on, the Tang Sect went from prosperity to decline."
Huo Tian told them everything he knew. All of this existed in the original story; it was essential knowledge for every transmigrator.
"Brother Huo, there's something I have to tell you. You have to believe me!"
Tang Ya looked at Huo Tian solemnly, as though she had something momentous to announce. Huo Tian rubbed the back of his head in confusion, unable to understand what she was up to.
Huo Tian thought Tang Ya wanted to invite him to join the Tang Sect. There was no way he would agree. Playing tricks right under God King Tang's nose would mean he thought he had lived too long.
"I'm the current master of the Tang Sect. Right now, Bei Bei and I are its only members. A few nights ago, Sea God Tang San appeared in my dream!"
"Sea God Tang San told me to transfer the Tang Sect to someone named Huo Tian. The Tang Sect would belong entirely to him."
As Tang Ya spoke, she reluctantly took a Tang Sect master's token from inside her clothes. This token had been passed down for nearly ten thousand years, and now it was about to change hands.
"What?!"
This news threw Huo Tian's mind into chaos. He could not understand why Tang San would do this at all. Has he really taken a liking to me?
Ten thousand Dark Gold Terrorclaw Bears stampeded through Huo Tian's heart. His thoughts were a tangled mess. This bombshell was completely beyond anything he had imagined.
[Ding! System upgrade successful!] [Sect System at your service...] [System quest: Host, please take possession of the Tang Sect and rename it the Azure Cloud Sect.] [System reward: 100 million system points, one Sect Construction Card.]
While Huo Tian was still immersed in shock, the system panel popped up again. This time, it was no longer as crude as before.
Huo Tian stared at the quest rewards on the screen, his finger trembling as he tapped the many zeroes after the points.
Huo Tian wondered whether he had been set up. Why had a system quest appeared just as Tang Ya was about to hand over the Tang Sect, with the system even getting a fucking upgrade? How could such a coincidence exist in this world?
Huo Tian began to wonder whether he was living in The Truman Show, whether the entire Douluo Universe was a deception.
Huo Tian stopped dwelling on it. He would take one step at a time and meet the difficulties head-on.
"Since you've put it that way, I suppose I'll reluctantly take on the role of sect master!"
With a troubled expression, Huo Tian took the Tang Sect token from Tang Ya and crushed it to powder in his hand.
Tang Ya's eyes widened in disbelief, unable to understand what Huo Tian was doing.
"Sect Master, these are the Tang Sect's secret arts, the Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record and the Complete Collection of Tang Sect Hidden Weapons."
Tang Ya took two yellowed books out of her Soul Tool and respectfully handed them to Huo Tian. Without standing on ceremony, Huo Tian put them away in his Soul Tool.
"Little Yutong! Come here for a moment."
Huo Tian called to Huo Yutong by the stream. She was holding a bucket, with fish wriggling and leaping inside.
"Master, I'm coming!"
Huo Yutong tossed her fishing spear aside and immediately strode over to the campfire, setting her bucket down to one side.
With a questioning look, Huo Yutong quietly sat upright beside Huo Tian.
"Since I'm now the master of the Tang Sect, from now on, there will be no Tang Sect on the Douluo Continent. The Tang Sect is officially renamed the Azure Cloud Sect."
Huo Tian spoke solemnly as the other four listened in silence. Tang Ya did not object.
"Bei Bei, Tang Sect, you were already members of the Tang Sect. You two will be the eldest senior brother and second senior sister, respectively!"
"Then Yutong and Bai Qi will be third and fourth!"
With that, Huo Tian finally had his own core team.
"All right! Here's to the official founding of our Azure Cloud Sect!"
All five raised their grilled fish into the air and knocked them together.
Huo Tian kept feeling that something was off. Their sect seemed to be an orphanage; none of them could scrape together a complete pair of parents.