Fatty Xie's Friendship

Huo Yuhao was filled with helplessness. How did I go bad? I'm the Holy Spirit Cult's Holy Son—I was bad to begin with, okay?

Bibi Dong had been acting a little strange lately. Could it be that she was raising him as a son? Naturally, Huo Yuhao's inner voice could not escape Bibi Dong's Divine Sense connection, and he was immediately blasted out of the Sea of Spirit.

"Get lost. You think you're worthy of being this Empress's son?"

As they spoke, they had already passed through the corridor of beauties. The girl in the white dress led them up the golden stairs and onto the second floor of the Gathering Treasure Pavilion.

Compared to the first floor, the second floor was much quieter. It appeared scattered and disorderly, yet every display stand had been placed in the most suitable and eye-catching position. Each stand was covered by an enormous crystal glass case, with different items displayed inside.

The girl in white stopped. "Welcome, honored guests, to the Gathering Treasure Pavilion's Treasure Appraisal Fair. The fair is held on the second floor, and you may browse freely. If you find an item you like, please register and purchase it on the west side. If you require credit, you may also have an appraisal conducted there. The appraisal result will determine the discount you receive and the amount of credit available to you."

At this point, Huo Yuhao was merely a new student. He was not like in the original story, when he had first come here as a dual-core disciple. One misstep that offended the higher-ups could get him expelled, so there was naturally no chance he would have any credit limit.

"I'll take a look at the soul bones first." Huo Yuhao had plenty of money himself and had no need to owe Shrek any favors. With that, he began browsing the second floor. The main purpose of this visit was to find a soul bone with a spatial attribute.

Compared to ten thousand years ago, the number of soul bones produced on the continent had multiplied several times over. Many large auction houses openly sold soul bones, and of course, these did not come solely from hunting soul beasts.

As everyone knew, even a Limit Douluo could only live for a few hundred years at most. Before their deaths, most Titled Douluo would choose to remove their soul bones to benefit future generations. Naturally, some miserly experts were visited by grave robbers after death. After all, every powerful soul master with soul bones had displayed their abilities to some extent in life, making their graves easy targets for covetous tomb raiders.

There was another possibility as well. When two sides held a grudge, the loser might die, and cases of killing someone and taking their bones were hardly rare.

Thus, auction houses in the obscenely wealthy Shrek City had even set up soul bone displays, exhibiting countless soul bones of various grades.

Most of these were hundred-year soul bones, while thousand-year soul bones were quite rare. Presumably, the high-grade ones had mostly been snapped up by Shrek Academy students.

Naturally, Huo Yuhao had no interest in these hundred-year soul bones. After casually looking around, he shook his head and walked away.

Seeing that Huo Yuhao had no interest whatsoever in the low-grade soul bones, the girl in white hurried over. "Honored Lord Soul Master, if there truly are no suitable soul bones here, perhaps you could try your luck at the Bone Gambling Arena."

"The Bone Gambling Arena?" Huo Yuhao had never heard of such a place in the original story.

"Yes. After hunting soul beasts, some soul masters choose to transport the corpses to auction houses for sale. Intact soul beast flesh is also a precious supplement for members of great families and sects. Sometimes, soul bones may even be hidden within the corpses without having been discovered by the hunters, so it tests the participants' luck greatly."

Oh, so it was basically paying a huge sum to buy back a soul beast corpse that was otherwise useless. If you were lucky, you could find a soul bone inside. If you were unlucky, you had merely paid hundreds of times the normal price for a nourishing meal.

"Then let's have a look." Huo Yuhao nodded. Not only did he have Spiritual Detection as a cheat, but there were also two appraisal masters in his Sea of Spirit. Perhaps he could dig up some treasure.

"Please follow me." The girl in white led the way. As her slender waist swayed, glimpses of snow-white skin appeared and disappeared, making Huo Yuhao feel thoroughly entertained.

Soon, the two passed through a corridor and arrived in a quiet side chamber. Soul beast corpses that had met miserable ends were laid out on tables of varying sizes.

The girl in white whispered something to a staff member beside her, then had him take her place in guiding Huo Yuhao inside. Clearly, she did not have the qualifications to enter this place.

Huo Yuhao noticed that several soul masters were wandering around as well. A few of them even wore Shrek Academy's shit-green uniforms.

A male student in a Shrek uniform noticed Huo Yuhao. Although Huo Yuhao wore a Shrek Academy badge, he was not wearing that disgusting uniform.

"Hello, classmate. Are you a new student too?" The boy was fat, with a head of messy black short hair. He was at least 1.7 meters tall, more than a head taller than Huo Yuhao. More importantly, his waistline was probably close to 1.7 meters as well...

Just standing there, he looked like a miniature mountain of flesh.

"Hello, I'm Huo Yuhao." Huo Yuhao instantly recognized who the newcomer was. With that body type, there was only one such person among the new students.

"Xie Huanyue." The fat boy grinned. "You're here to gamble on bones too? How about we buy a corpse together and give it a try?"

Huo Yuhao could not help laughing. In the original story, this fatty was someone who seemed foolish but was actually wise. His Martial Soul was a particularly rare Beast Martial Soul called the Rubber Elephant. This Martial Soul possessed extremely powerful defense by nature. Ordinary attacks were simply incapable of breaking through his ball-like defenses. There were only two methods: an extreme attribute attack, such as high-temperature flames or ultra-low-temperature ice, or extreme sharpness.

Although the original story had not provided much background on Xie Huanyue, he had reached Level 30 Soul Power at the age of twelve, even surpassing Ning Tian, heir to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, in cultivation. Either abundant resources had been poured into him, or he was exceptionally gifted.

"You're being too formal, Brother Xie. Let's call it making a friend. Pick whichever one you like, and I'll give it to you." Huo Yuhao patted Xie Huanyue on the back with a wealthy flourish, acting as though they were already the closest of friends.

Even the most expensive soul beast corpse here cost only a little over a hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins. To Huo Yuhao, whose wealth exceeded a hundred million, it was nothing.

At those words, Xie Huanyue's tiny eyes widened. After a brief daze, he burst into laughter and grabbed Huo Yuhao's hand. "Fine! We're friends from now on. If any new student gives you trouble, just tell them my name!"

"Then I'll have to rely on you more from now on, Brother Xie." Huo Yuhao smiled on the surface, but inwardly he shuddered. With the fatty gripping his hand, it felt as though his hand had sunk into a pool of grease.

"One of us, one of us!" Xie Huanyue happily patted his large belly.

This guy did not stand on ceremony at all. He immediately picked out the largest giant ape corpse, whose starting price was as high as two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins.

Seeing the way he stared at that corpse with shining eyes, Huo Yuhao had achieved the purpose of his test. It seemed this favored child of heaven did not possess the vast background Ning Tian did.

It would be a terrible waste not to draw such a talented person onto his own ship.

Just as Huo Yuhao was thinking this, Bibi Dong's urgent voice rang out in his mind.

"Quick, Yuhao, choose that Purple Cloud Eagle!"

Following Bibi Dong's spiritual guidance, Huo Yuhao walked forward. On one of the tables lay a bird corpse with a wingspan of 2.5 meters.

"This Purple Cloud Eagle corpse was discovered by chance in the Star Dou Great Forest by one of our pavilion's seniors, Xiao Huohuo. Battle armor woven from its feathers is not only lightweight, but also exceptionally durable," the staff member kindly explained.

"Then add this one to the bill as well." Huo Yuhao casually spoke to the staff member with the air of someone who had money to burn. Compared to the giant ape Xie Huanyue had chosen, which cost two hundred thousand Gold Soul Coins, this bird's starting price was less than fifty thousand.

The staff member did not ask further questions. Most soul masters who dared enter the Bone Gambling Arena were suckers. Out of ten thousand soul beast corpses, one might not even yield a hidden soul bone. After all, soul bones could generally be discovered the instant a soul beast was killed. Even if one was concealed, the hunting teams were experienced soul masters, and they had already inspected these corpses from top to bottom.

"Hello, will you two be paying together?" After having someone pack the soul beast corpses for Huo Yuhao and Xie Huanyue, the staff member asked.

"Together." Huo Yuhao naturally stepped forward. Being overly affected at a time like this would only prevent him from gaining Xie Huanyue's friendship.

As he watched Huo Yuhao keep his word and purchase the expensive soul beast corpse for him, Xie Huanyue's expression finally began to change slightly.

"Let's go, Brother Xie." Huo Yuhao casually handed the large bag containing the giant ape corpse to Xie Huanyue and prepared to leave.

"Young Master Huo, calling me Brother Xie is too much. If you don't mind, you can call me Fatty Xie from now on." Xie Huanyue carried the large bag in wild delight and spoke sincerely to Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao's thoughts stirred. Presumably, because of his financial circumstances in the original plot, this fatty had been unable to obtain this corpse, which was why his strength had fallen further and further behind the protagonist's group afterward.

Could this unintentional act of his count as another change to the Worldline?

He had never heard that the remains of a giant ape could bring any change to a Rubber Elephant Martial Soul.

I already have a different idea in mind for Xie Huanyue's Martial Soul. I believe it will give all you readers a different experience!

I'll stockpile a few more chapters, then there'll be a huge release later!