Soul Spirit

The two people blocking Huo Yuhao and the others were Xu Xingyu and Xu Yanxue, the Snow Empress's human name. Neither side dared move, each waiting for the other to make a move. If the enemy did not move, neither would they.

Normally, when Bei Bei encountered this sort of obstruction, he would first offer a courteous greeting, then use Shrek Academy's name to frighten the enemy away.

The problem was that the two before him belonged to the Spirit Contract Pagoda, a top-tier power no weaker than Shrek. Strictly speaking, the Spirit Contract Pagoda's overall strength might even surpass that of Shrek Academy. In particular, it was said to have around three to five experts at the Limit Douluo level.

On Shrek Academy's side, only Bei Bei's great-great-grandfather, Dragon God Douluo Mu En, was a Limit Douluo. If the two sides truly went to war, Shrek would inevitably be defeated!

Still, common sense said that neither the Spirit Contract Pagoda nor Shrek would go to war with another power over a dispute involving a mere thousand-year Soul Beast. That would only let someone waiting in the wings reap the fisherman's profit. Therefore, Bei Bei and the others could only return empty-handed this time.

It was not as though Bei Bei had never considered driving Xu Xingyu and Xu Yanxue back by force. After all, with Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection Sharing, he was confident he could take down any opponent at his level, or even any opponent who had not reached the Soul Ancestor level.

But when the thought of forcibly seizing the Hui Snake rose in Bei Bei's mind again, he could feel the true dragon bloodline he took such pride in being fiercely suppressed.

This shocked him greatly. His true dragon bloodline was not a pure Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon bloodline; it had already begun mutating into a Golden Sacred Dragon bloodline.

This was the genuine bloodline of a divine beast, yet it was suppressed in Xu Xingyu's presence, unable to muster even a thought of resistance? Just what kind of bloodline did he have?!

Xu Xingyu, meanwhile, watched Huo Yuhao's group coldly. He wanted to see what they intended to do next, but he was also taking the opportunity to get a good look at Huo Yuhao, the original story's protagonist. To his surprise, he sensed a powerful Soul Beast bloodline in Huo Yuhao.

Xu Xingyu had already snatched Electrolux and half of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's origin from him, yet Huo Yuhao had somehow found another fortuitous encounter to supplement his abilities!

Is this the so-called self-correction of the timeline? I can only hope I won't be forced to become Huo Yuhao's enemy in the future.

Still, the two of them should have had no reason to become enemies. After all, he had already dealt with the matter of Wang Dong'er over the past few years, so Huo Yuhao had no reason to be Tang San's lackey.

As for the Hui Snake, it was not technically his pet. He had come across it by chance when Gu Yuena sent him to train in wilderness survival alone on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest. Back then, the Hui Snake had still been an ordinary Mandala Snake. It had sensed Xu Xingyu's presence while he was cultivating nearby and used the presence he gave off to awaken the faint dragon bloodline within its body. After Xu Xingyu discovered it, he used it as a mount for a while, but left it in Star Dou when he departed.

Just then, Xu Xingyu sensed something on Tang Ya. He waved his hand, and a golden card flew out from her person.

Tang Ya shouted angrily, "Hey! My best friend gave me that! Give it back!"

But Xu Xingyu looked at the card and asked, "Is the best friend you're talking about Nannan?"

"What's that got to do with you... Wait, you know her?"

"She's something like my secretary. Since she gave you this card, it seems the two of you are good friends. How about this? I can suggest a solution that will satisfy everyone. What do you think?"

"What sort of compromise?" Tang Ya asked warily.

"Turn this Hui Snake into a Soul Spirit, and have the person among you who needs its Soul Ring become its master." Xu Xingyu continued, "The reason you went to all this trouble was for its Soul Ring, right? After all these years, I imagine top students of Shrek Academy should know what a Soul Spirit is. So you should also know you won't be losing out on this deal."

"Can we really do that?" Tang Ya asked, puzzled. "Didn't you say this Hui Snake was your pet?"

Xu Xingyu sighed softly. "During your fight just now, you broke my Hui Snake's dragon horn. I imagine you know that a Hui Snake's dragon horn is where the essence of its awakened dragon bloodline is concentrated. Now that it's broken, my dragon snake's strength has fallen greatly. Even if it receives treatment, it will probably die within a few months."

"So becoming a Soul Spirit is its only chance of survival. And I'm giving you this opportunity purely for Nannan's sake."

"Otherwise, under normal circumstances, I'd give you a thorough beating and might even consider killing you outright."

Hearing Xu Xingyu's icy words, Huo Yuhao and the others broke into a cold sweat. Although they were confident in their own strength, the power radiating from the boy before them exceeded that of Bei Bei, the strongest cultivator among them. On top of that, the girl beside him had yet to make a move.

As for whose hands the deer would die in, Huo Yuhao and the other two had no advantage. Since the other party had already given them a way to back down, they might as well accept it.

After all, they had been in the wrong to begin with, so it was only natural for him to be hostile toward them.

At the same time, Bei Bei and Tang Ya silently thanked Jiang Nannan. They had never expected a card she had given them earlier to help them now.

The card Xu Xingyu had taken from Tang Ya was a Spirit Contract Pagoda premium membership card. Its holder could purchase Soul Spirits at a twenty percent discount and reserve the Soul Spirit they needed a month in advance.

At present, only Spirit Contract Pagoda employees and certain great clans had these premium membership cards.

Bei Bei's family belonged to Shrek Academy, so he could not possibly be a member of one of those great clans.

What was more, Shrek Academy was overly hidebound and strongly opposed the Spirit Contract Pagoda's Soul Spirit System. It would not deliberately target Soul Masters who had fused with Soul Spirits, but in its eyes, those Soul Masters were not orthodox.

Tang Ya did not fall into that category, so the only way she could have obtained the membership card was if a senior employee of the Spirit Contract Pagoda had arranged it for her.

And the only senior member of the Spirit Contract Pagoda at Shrek Academy was his beautiful secretary, Jiang Nannan.

Thinking of Jiang Nannan, Xu Xingyu began to recall the young lady who had always liked to follow him around.

I wonder how she's been at Shrek Academy these past few years. I hope no one has bullied her.

Once both sides had agreed, Xu Xingyu began the Soul Spirit ritual. In the end, under the laws of the Soul Spirit Contract, Tang Ya became the Hui Snake's host.

Feeling the boost the Hui Snake Soul Spirit gave her, Tang Ya finally understood why the Soul Spirit Method was regarded as an epoch-making creation.

She could clearly sense the changes in her Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. Not only had it gained the Hui Snake's paralytic venom and remarkable toughness, but it had also acquired an extremely powerful corrosive energy. This had to be the new type of poison the Hui Snake had created using its own dragon blood and venom. The reason it had not used the poison in battle was that Bei Bei had broken its dragon horn, which contained the essence of its dragon blood, so it had not dared to use the Dragon Blood Poison rashly against Bei Bei and the others.

The Soul Skill the Hui Snake Soul Spirit had granted her, Saluo Dragon Snake Web, could immobilize enemies and subject them to the corrosion of the Hui Snake's Dragon Blood Poison. Moreover, as long as the Hui Snake was willing, it could possess her Soul Skill and make the move's restraining power even stronger.

The boost this Soul Spirit gave her was truly incredible! She simply could not understand why the teachers in the Martial Soul Department were so opposed to the Soul Spirit Method. It was plainly a new cultivation method that was beneficial and harmless!

After confirming that Tang Ya and the Hui Snake were all right, Xu Xingyu bid the Hui Snake farewell and instructed her to take good care of it, or he would come looking for trouble afterward.

But just as Xu Xingyu and Xu Yanxue were about to leave, Bei Bei and the others saw that he appeared to be heading to Shrek Academy to apply as well. They asked if he wanted to travel together, as a token of thanks for his generosity.

Although Xu Xingyu did not want to get too involved with the original story's protagonist group, they were heading the same way, so he had no reason to refuse.

And so the five of them set off toward Shrek Academy. It was there that a new chapter of the Douluo Continent was about to unfold!