Chapter 27 – The Extreme North Has No Lilies, But Shrek Does
The following weeks passed in intense cultivation.
Almost every day, Huo Yuhao soaked in medicinal baths, tempering his body under the combined effects of whale glue and other rare materials. Each session left his muscles denser, his bones harder, and his physique taking another solid step forward.
He was beginning to believe that once he fused with the Ice Empress's soul bone, his physical foundation would be strong enough to withstand the absorption of a ten-thousand-year soul ring. Of course, his spiritual power was another limiting factor—without a way to raise his spiritual realm in the short term, obtaining a ten-thousand-year second ring was simply unrealistic.
In truth, obsessing over the ring's age wasn't that important for now. His Spiritual Sea still held Tianmeng's nine strands of spiritual origin. He could always use them later to raise a ring's age.
What he valued most was building an unshakable foundation early on. The stronger his base, the less resistance he would face when attaching rings to his second martial soul in the future. Besides, the quality of the first few soul rings didn't just determine his immediate combat power—it also affected how much of Tianmeng's spiritual origin he could save. Any surplus could be poured into his seventh ring, greatly boosting his Martial Soul True Body. After all, the strength of that ultimate state was, to a certain extent, tied directly to the seventh ring's age.
Since their last meeting, and for several weeks before the holiday, Meng Hongchen had somehow learned where Huo Yuhao lived. Every time he finished cultivating, she would appear with a tray of exquisitely prepared snacks.
Xiao Hongchen always tagged along, standing behind his sister, gnawing on his envy as he watched.
What was the meaning of this? Since when did looking handsome grant you special privileges? She had never cooked for her brother—not even once! This infatuated sister of his had fallen right into Yuhao's trap…
"Yuhao, what are your plans for the holiday?"
It was the day before the break.
Xiao Hongchen, shamelessly mooching off the feast his sister had made for Yuhao, asked between mouthfuls of precious soul beast meat, nearly choking in the process.
"My soul power has reached rank twenty," Yuhao replied. "I plan to head out and hunt my second soul ring. The entire month will be devoted to that."
"Is that so? What a pity—I'm only rank forty-eight, and Meng's at forty-seven. Not quite time for our fifth soul rings yet."
Meng Hongchen propped her chin in her palm and smiled playfully.
"In that case, since we don't have much to do this holiday, why don't we come along and help you hunt?"
Xiao Hongchen nearly choked again.
"Are you kidding me, Meng? Have you forgotten what Grandfather said? We're supposed to spend the holiday working on our level 5 soul guidance devices. When school starts, we have to pass the Level 5 Soul Engineer assessment."
Meng Hongchen's smile faltered. Right — she was only one step away from becoming a Level 5 Soul Engineer, and their grandfather had personally told them he would be testing their soul guidance device crafting over the break.
"…Well, I was planning to hunt alone this time anyway," Yuhao said with a polite smile. "But thank you for the offer."
Apart from a certain infatuated girl who seemed a bit disappointed, their parting was warm and cheerful. Yuhao was the host, the siblings the guests—and after these weeks of interaction, they had become much closer, even friends.
Of course, Xiao and Meng still didn't know Yuhao was Kong Deming's personal disciple. They did, however, know some things about his background and family, due to Jing Hongchen.
The next day, Yuhao left the academy. With excitement in his heart, he turned for one last look at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy before heading toward the Extreme North.
His destination: Dongyang City, on the border between the Sun Moon Empire and the extreme north.
Tianmeng, who had been asleep until now, woke up brimming with excitement.
"Yesss, finally! We're heading to my hometown. Yuhao, I promise—after this trip, you'll be the undisputed number-one genius on the continent!"
"I'm already the number-one genius of the Sun Moon Empire," Yuhao said with a straight face.
"Oh, getting cocky, are you? Do you have any idea how much weight my title carries? I'm the only million-year soul beast on the entire continent!"
"Yeah, one who slept her way there," Yuhao said dryly.
"I don't care! This time, I'll convince Bingbing to survive her four-hundred-thousand-year tribulation, and then we can be together forever! My Bingbing… hehe~"
Sigh… Tianmeng, stop drooling. The lilies in the Extreme North are about to bloom.
Oh, wait. The Extreme North doesn't have lilies.
---
Meanwhile, at Shrek Academy…
Because the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy's term structure differed from Shrek's, the Shrek freshmen were still in their probationary period. The three-month freshman tournament had already concluded, but without Huo Yuhao's participation, certain details had played out differently.
For instance, without his "walking cheat code" assistance, the championship went to Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu's team. The runner-up spot went to Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and Nanmen Yuner's squad.
As for third place? That honor went to the team of Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao—which, unbeknownst to most, actually included Tang Wutong's fragmented soul. Disguised as a boy, she possessed twin martial souls and a wealth of resources, but still had only a second ring of thousand-year level and a soul power of rank twenty-one at the start of the term.
Zhou Yi and Mu Jin had still made their bet—but this time, without Yuhao to fall back on, Zhou Yi lost outright, handing over a close-combat soul guidance device to Mu Jin without even consulting her husband, Fan Yu.
She got nothing in return—and a scathing round of mockery from Mu Jin.
From Mu Jin's perspective: 'Zhou Yi, you should be grateful. With your sloppy "eliminate late-round students regardless of type" approach to improve graduation rates, you'd never have won the freshman tournament without Fan Yu propping you up. I've been sick of watching you play the stern old lady for ages. If it weren't for Fan Yu, I would've reported you to the outer court's teaching office long ago.'
That had been three months ago. Now, the matter was old news.
---
At this moment, by Shrek Academy's Sea God Lake…
Sitting in his wheelchair, Mu En looked at the red-clad girl lying on the bed nearby, worry etched deep into his face. Yan Shaozhe stood to the side, equally grim.
"Teacher, Xiao Tao's evil fire is becoming harder and harder to control. If this continues, it won't be long before it starts threatening her life."
"Today, she almost killed two students by the lake—Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao. If the academy hadn't issued a gag order, who knows how far the news would've spread."
(T/N: Shrek Academy: You two almost died, but please forget everything you saw. Otherwise… you're expelled!)
Mu En sighed, waving for Shaozhe to calm down.
"I told you before—without a method to suppress her evil fire, she shouldn't be cultivating at all. But you didn't take it seriously. Now look where we are."
Shaozhe grimaced. It wasn't that he hadn't tried, but Xiao Tao was stubborn. She refused to use the method of their ancestor, Ma Hongjun, to vent the fire, and without an extreme-ice soul master, what could he do?
Mu En pondered for a long moment before speaking, his voice weary.
"I can only temporarily suppress it for her now. Even if she used the ancestor's method, it's too late. There are only two real solutions: One, find an extreme-ice soul master and force them to help her suppress the evil fire, even at the cost of their soul power advancement. Two, find the same kind of heavenly treasure that Ancestor Tang San's group once consumed. That might give us a turning point."
"But whatever happens, she must stop cultivating. If she keeps forcing herself, the evil fire will consume her. Even if she survives, she'll become nothing more than a slaughter-crazed evil soul master."
Shaozhe's face twisted in frustration.
"Teacher, let's be realistic— in the last ten thousand years, Shrek has only produced three extreme-attribute soul masters. As for the heavenly treasure Tang San's group took… It's just a legend. We don't even know if it truly exists."
Mu En shook his head helplessly.
"Then there's nothing else we can do."
—
End of Chapter