Chapter 38.3: Huo Yuhao, a Class 1.5 Soul Engineer?
During the past eight months, Huo Yuhao had dedicated as much of his energy to cultivating as he could. With his current rank, he could calmly face Dai Huabin. However, this didn’t mean that his hatred had dissolved; on the contrary, he’d buried it even deeper inside of himself. His hatred had already been deeply rooted inside of him, thus how could he erase it so easily?
He wasn’t clear as to just how high Dai Huabin’s soul power was compared to his, but he safely estimated it to be around Rank 33 or so. Although the rate at which a person’s cultivation improved drastically decreased after crossing the Rank 30 threshold, going up three or four ranks in a year wouldn’t be much of a problem with Dai Huabin’s level of talent, plus his previous cultivation. Furthermore, it seemed that he’d cultivated diligently after he was kicked out of Class 1.
Wang Dong smiled, but didn’t say anything, as a large amount of confidence had begun to emanate from his gaze.
The route they’d taken could easily have been taken in around ten minutes, but they purposefully took much longer. Just as they were about to reach their dorm room, Wang Dong suddenly said, “Let’s go sit next to the Sea God’s Lake for a while. It’s not very easy to find you goofing off. It’s also been a long time since I’ve tasted your roasted fish.”
Huo Yuhao was somewhat embarrassed. “I didn’t prepare anything. If I’d known you wanted some, I definitely would’ve roasted some for you.”
Wang Dong smiled devilishly and shoved the umbrella into Huo Yuhao’s hands as he said, “Just wait here.” After saying that, he ran back to their dorm room as fast as he could. A few moments later, he reappeared and gestured with the bright blue bracelet in his left hand towards the Sea God’s Lake. “Let’s go.”
Huo Yuhao’s eyes widened. “You planned this in advance!”
Wang Dong didn’t deny it. “I was originally planning to wait for you to finish at night and drag you out for a little midnight fun, but I didn’t think that you’d finish early. It’s perfect timing; we’re about to go on vacation, and it’s hard to indulge for a bit. In any case, don’t even think of sleeping tonight if you don’t fill me up.”
Huo Yuhao chuckled. “Alright. As long as you have enough ingredients, I’ll keep feeding you until you can’t move.”
Beneath the eaves of the dormitories, the old grandpa who was normally always sleeping couldn’t help his eyes from widening slightly. The corner of his mouth curved slightly as he gazed towards Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, who were running into the distance. He thought aloud, “Back then, how many girls said that to me!? And every time they’d say that, I’d be the one to feed them until they were full… These two fellas sure are interesting.”
After excitedly running towards the Sea God’s Lake, Wang Dong held up the umbrella so that Huo Yuhao could start a fire. The rain wasn’t very strong, thus the umbrella was able to cover the entire area they’d chosen. After only a moment’s worth of work, a fire had been lit. The unique smell of charcoal began to slowly rise into the air, but didn’t disperse due to the rainy weather.
Mist began to appear atop the Sea God’s Lake, and slowly enveloped the distant Sea God’s Island. The misty lake in turn gave off a cool yet damp feeling, while the now-bonfire gave Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong waves of warmth. The two of them looked towards each other at practically the same instant, their cheeks flushed from the reflection of the bonfire. As they smiled towards each other, a warm feeling seemed to bore into their hearts.
After setting up his stove and placing the raw fish on it, Huo Yuhao began to roast them with his full attention. The concentration on his face was no less than when he’d engraved formation arrays onto the cores of soul tools.
Wang Dong stood next to him, holding the umbrella up. However, instead of looking at the fish that were being roasted, he looked at Huo Yuhao’s serious face. The cool air, the hot furnace, and the golden mackerels—which had begun to release a fragrant smell—sketched a moving image as they combined. As Wang Dong gazed at Huo Yuhao, he instinctively knew that he’d never forget this scene. He also quite enjoyed the thought of Huo Yuhao roasting fish for him, and him alone.
Finally, Huo Yuhao finished roasting the first piece of fish. Huo Yuhao immediately handed it to Wang Dong and said, “Eat it while it’s hot.”
“Yup.” Wang Dong took the fish from Huo Yuhao, and ate the fish carefully. The fragrance of Huo Yuhao’s roasted fish, which he hadn’t tasted in such a long time, caused his eyes to turn somewhat red.
As he roasted some more fish, Huo Yuhao said, “Speaking of roasted fish, we should call Teacher Xiao Ya, senior brother, and Xiao Xiao over. They enjoy it as well.”
“No way! You belong to me today!” Wang Dong blurted out.
Astonished, Huo Yuhao raised his head to look towards Wang Dong. When he did, he saw a somewhat stubborn look in Wang Dong’s pinkish-blue eyes.
“I mean that your roasted fish belong to me,” Wang Dong hurriedly interjected. The contrast between the dark sky and the bonfire caused his face to appear extremely flushed.
Afterwards, they continued to eat roasted fish for so long that they didn’t even know how long they’d been eating. Only after they’d gotten full did they return to their dorm room.
Once they got back to their dorm room, Huo Yuhao laid down on his hard, wooden bed. “Ah… it feels so nice to fill myself up. I’ve decided to just be lazy for the entire day tomorrow, and to have a nice sleep tonight. You’re right, we should take a break once in awhile.”
“No, get up and cultivate.” Wang Dong walked over to him and pulled him up as a sarcastic smile appeared on his face.
“You can’t be serious.” Huo Yuhao wailed. “It’s been so hard for me to rest lately!”
Wang Dong replied, “We’re separating the day after tomorrow, thus we should make the most out of the rest of our time left to cultivate together. You can go goof off by yourself when you don’t have the Haodong Power. Come on, get up.”
“Alright….” With a helpless look on his face, Huo Yuhao slowly got up. Just as he was about to sit down in a cross-legged position on his wooden bed, Wang Dong suddenly said, “Come over here. Seeing that we’re about to separate, and that you just roasted so much fish for me, I’ll let you sit over here while you cultivate.”
“Huh?” Huo Yuhao was stunned. Afterwards, he smiled cunningly as he looked towards Wang Dong’s fur-covered mattress, then obediently jumped onto Wang Dong’s his bed without any reservations.
“Who said that you could get up here now? Go change into a clean set of clothes!” Wang Dong hurriedly shouted.
However, Huo Yuhao had already sat down in a cross-legged position. “You need to stop having so many bad habits. Quick, the sun’s gonna come up if we don’t start soon.”
Only after hearing Huo Yuhao say this did Wang Dong sit across from Huo Yuhao, a somewhat unwilling expression present on his face. Afterwards, the two pressed their palms against each other’s and began to circulate the Haodong Power. The moment they closed their eyes, a faint smile appeared on both of their faces.
The morning of the next day.
Once they got up, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong felt that their minds had been completely refreshed, possibly due to the peaceful night they’d had. Today was the last day of their Year 1 classes, as Shrek Academy’s holidays would officially start tomorrow.
After eating breakfast, they headed towards their classroom early. Fan Yu had already begun Huo Yuhao’s vacation, thus he didn’t need to go and train his soul tool creation today. Eleven months had passed since he’d entered Shrek Academy, yet he’d never been as relaxed as today. The relaxing feeling that enveloped his entire body made him feel warm and comfy.
Huo Yuhao decided that he wouldn’t bother with anything else today; he’d have a good rest today.
Zhou Yi and Wang Yan walked into the classroom together. Whenever Zhuo Yi was there, regardless of what time it was, the atmosphere in Class 1 could only be described using the word ‘solemn’. Today was no exception, even if the holidays began tomorrow. At this point in time, nobody dared to provoke the hegemonic flower known as Zhou Yi! In the event that her old mind suddenly blew up, none of them would be able to handle it.
Wang Yan walked up to the stage, while Zhou Yi walked towards the back of the classroom and sat down in an empty chair.
“Students, this will be your last day in Year 1. The academy hasn’t arranged any assignments for you. I’ll be giving you all some parting words, then you can head back and pack up your things.”
Once Wang Yan said this, the entire class immediately erupted into cheers. They didn’t even care that Zhou Yi was there. Since the holidays were about to start, everyone had their hearts set on going home. After all, who wouldn’t want to go home and see their relatives!? Naturally, those with no relatives were an exception to this.
Wang Yan smiled. “We’ve all worked hard this year. I can say with pride that you’ve been the most outstanding class I’ve ever taught. On behalf of Zhou Yi and myself, we thank you all for working hard. Your hard work will bring glory to those of us in Class 1.”
“However,” Wang Yan said, suddenly shifted the topic of discussion, “unlike the other academies, Shrek Academy doesn’t have any final exams. As to why this is the case, I’m sure that everyone already knows. We’ll be testing whether or not you’re qualified to become a second year student at the start of the next year. Because of that, you can’t relax at all, even when you go back home. You’ll have to work even harder during the next month. This is the only way that you can continue to study in Shrek Academy next year. I’m fond of every single one of you, thus I hope that we don’t have to say farewell to anyone next year.”
“Now then, I’ll tell you all a few of the main points regarding the advancement test. You’ll have to remember this: The first part of the advancement test has no skill requirements. It tests your absolute strength, or in other words, your soul power. If you want to get into Year 2, you’ll have to be Rank 20. If you haven’t gotten two soul rings by the time we take the advancement test, I suggest that you not bother coming next year. Regardless of how well you perform during the other assessments, it won’t be of any use if you haven’t gotten two rings. The academy won’t change its rules for anyone. As such, if you’re a student who hasn’t reached Rank 20 yet, you’ll have to cultivate for your lives. At the same time, you’ll also have to get a second soul ring in order to prove that you’ve reached the Soul Grandmaster level.”
“However, having a two-ringed cultivation doesn’t mean that you’ll definitely pass the advancement test. Even Teacher Zhou and I don’t know the specifics of the advancement test at this point in time. However, I can tell you my advancement test was like. That year, the Year 2 advancement test had every single student challenge a hundred year soul beast under the supervision of a teacher. Remember this—you’ll have to do it alone, without any outside assistance. If the supervising teacher makes a move, the assessment will be over. This test is the academy’s most-often used assessment. You should be happy if you get this test, as it tests your pure, unadulterated strength. However, there’s a chance that they could give you an even more difficult test that requires luck, strength, and intelligence, but these tests normally only appear in upper year tests. At the same time, this advancement test isn’t just related to every single one of you; it’s related to our class, as Class 1 also has to undergo an advancement test. This assessment is an extra one that you’ll have to finish as well.”