Chapter 108: Invitation

"9,997... 9,998..."

Huo Yuhao grunted as he pushed his arms up from the ground, his muscles straining with effort. Sweat glistened on his forehead as he pushed through the last few repetitions of his workout.

The black bracelets around his wrists and ankles, red numbers and letters flashed across the screen embedded within them: "10,000 kg", making it clear just how much weight he was lifting.

"9,999... 10,000!" he exclaimed triumphantly as he finally completed his set, his breath coming out in heavy pants. With a satisfied sigh, he forced himself to sit into a meditating position onto the mat, feeling the burn in his muscles.

He closed his eyes and took a deep, steady rhythmatic breathing; a blue aura started emitting around his body. His soul power stirred and began flowing through his body, nourishing him.

After gaining a lot of powers and going through many training practices, Huo Yuhao would never forget to practice using the Mysterious Heaven Skill; it's an extremely useful technique that allows practitioners to resist extreme pressure, toxins, increase regeneration, and enhance stamina.

It also compliments the Eight Gates, as it widens the meridians and eliminates impurities, gradually improving one's physical condition. This technique also helps to increase cultivation speed and compress soul power, leading to higher concentration and potency.

Even though he's read through and memorized almost all of the books available for the outercourtyard students, he's never seen any other techniques comparable to the Mysterious Heaven Skill, even the techniques Fan Yu gave him were comparable either.

It's why it was beneficial for him to get Tang Ya under him, as he would inherited all of the Tang Sect secret techniques without any issues. If she didn't, then he would have stopped using them even with her permission(he had Jutsus after all). Huo Yuhao would have felt guilty for continuing to use the Tang Sect secret techniques without Tang Ya's blessing. He valued their friendship and he didn't like being an asshole.

As he meditated, he focused on the flow of his soul power, feeling it course through his body, his meridians and harmonize with the Mysterious Heaven Skill. He sank deeper into his meditation, allowing his mind to become one with his body and soul. The blue aura surrounding him pulsed with energy, casting a serene glow in the dimly lit room.

A few hours passed by and the sun slowly rises, painting the sky with hues of yellow, orange and purple.

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and stood up, opening the window, he stared straight at the rising sun with purple colored pupils and a mist of purple qi emerged out of the sun and headed towards his eyes.

Wang Dong'er, who had woken up an hour ago, approached him with a bottle of water. She too look towards the sun and started cultivating the Purple Demon Eyes.

Several minutes passed.

"Great job, Yuhao." Wang Dong'er said, handing him the bottle of water. "Diligent as ever, more so than ever, I think. Did you even sleep last night?"

"I slept enough."

"What do you mean enough?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head and smiled. "Don't worry about me, I've been doing this for almost a year now and I still feel like I've had a full eight hours of sleep."

"But still..."

Huo Yuhao sighed and took a small carrot out of his storage belt, "Here." he said, throwing it to Wang Dong'er.

"Huh? A carrot?"

Wang Dong'er looked at it confusion and her eyes went wide in shock, as the carrot exploded into white smoke for a moment and revealed itself to be Xiao Dong.

"Xiao Dong!? Oh my god, that's so cute! But wait, what, how...? Yuhao!"

Wang Dong'er turned to ask how the chubby rabbit turned into a carrot, but found the boy walking out of the room with a white towel over his shoulder.

"Play with him for a while, I'm gonna wash up first."

"Hey!"

A few days has passed since the debacle with both the deans of the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Engineering Department, and things seemed to have settled down. Huo Yuhao focused on his training, finding solace and purpose in the routine of physical exertion and soul cultivation. His current cultivation sits comfortably at rank 43, he was most likely the one with the highest cultivation among the outer courtyard students.

With an Ultimate martial soul, his cultivation speed should have dropped extremely when he reaches rank 40+, but with the Ice Empress' power sealed in his body and the Ice God Legacy slowly changing his physique, his cultivation speed was still above average. By his estimation, within two or three years of constant cultivation, he would reach the Soul King level.

Within at least twenty years, if nothing goes awry, he would become a Titled Douluo!

Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong'er and Xiao Dong in her arms walked out of their dormitory and headed towards the cafeteria. On the way, they met their friends; Xiao Xiao, Wu Feng, Ning Tian, and unexpectedly Tang Ya and Bei Bei.

A couple days ago, they all met up at the cafeteria and Tang Ya had a warm reunion with both Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong'er, even though it was a bit short, but everyone was glad to see her.

As they both approached the cafeteria, they could already smell the enticing aroma of freshly cooked food wafting through the air.

Xiao Xiao waved enthusiastically as they approached. "Hey, Yuhao, Wang Dong'er! Good to see you both!"

Wu Feng grinned. "Are you guys ready for another day of training and studying?"

Ning Tian giggled. "Sister Feng, don't tell me you've become a masochist? Did teacher Zhou really whip you that good?"

"What? No!? I-"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding~ Or am I?"

"Good morning, junior brothers." Bei Bei warmly greeted Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong'er. He stared longer at Huo Yuhao, wanting to say something, but held back for the moment.

Huo Yuhao noticed his gaze and nodded, the two communicated silently with their eyes, like any man can do.

"Hey little Yuhao," Tang Ya said with a smirk, walking up to his side. "Man, even after being back here for a couple days now, I still can't get used to it. Are you sure that I shouldn't call you boss or sect master?"

"Please no, I already have enough strange looks coming my way. Only call me that openly when our sect is acknowledged by the nations." Huo Yuhao replied, sighing when he noticed the looks the people gave him when they entered the cafeteria.

The students looked at him with awe, respect and envy.

The meeting in the Sea God Pavilion had ended, and Huo Yuhao's fate had been settled.

Huo Yuhao received the news from Fan Yu soon afterwards: The academy had decided that Huo Yuhao was now both a core disciple of the Martial Soul Department and the Soul Engineering Department. With this, he'd become the first person in the history of the academy to become the core disciple of both departments.

His schedule now changed as well, he now had to attend class in the Martial Soul Department during the day, then study in the Soul Engineering Department in the evening. Most people would've buckled under such tight schedule but he soaked in everything like a sponge.

And whether it was intentional or not, the news about his special status was spread to the whole school in just a few days. Which expectedly earned him the looks of his peers, whether they be in awe or full of ill-intent.

But the ones who looked at them with good intentions, excluding his friends, were students of the Soul Engineering Department. Their eyes were especially focused on the shiny golden badge with six stars pinned on his chest, right above where his heart is.

It was a badge that signified his rank as a soul engineer, making him a class 6 soul engineer! A phenomenal achievement, making most likely the youngest one in the whole continent!

A day after the meeting in the Sea God Pavilion; Xian Lin'er, Qian Duodou and Fan Yu decided to have Huo Yuhao take the Soul Engineering Department's advancement exam. The exam would have him battle against other students in the department with the soul tools that they have created.

But Huo Yuhao hadn't participate in the exam, especially after he showed them Frostbane. As it was a soul tool at the level of a rank 7! It stunned them speechless, and it took a couple hours of creating a class 6 soul tool, the Godly Shotgun(model 2), to convince them of his skills. But because he was still lacking a bit in both experience and soul power(he had used a leyline to complete Frostbane), they decided to classify him at rank 6.

This... made them act crazy for a while, making Huo Yuhao stop heading to their classes until they got their act together.

'Well, it's great news nonetheless. If I keep this up for a while, it wouldn't take me long before I can finally get a stable funding and a mass of useful subordinates for the Akatsuki.' He thought as he went and got himself his usual breakfast.

Still though, it was kinda boring and he wondered if something interesting would happen soon.

"By the way, did you guys get the invites?"

"Huh? What invites?" Huo Yuhao asked, confused.

Wang Dong'er shook her head. "I forgot to tell you about it, but it's something called the Treasure Appreciating Auction."

....

"Y-Young master, please, this task is..."

"Don't worry. I filed for a week absence due to a family incident, so they won't suspect me of anything since I'll be out of the academy for a while. Now, there will be an auction coming up tonight and I'm sure he'll be going there. That would be the time for you all to strike."

"..."

"And remember, do not leave a single trace that connects any of you to the family. Got it?"

"... As you wish, young master."

Dai Huabin's blue eyes blazed with murderous intent.

"Huo Yuhao, for this humiliation, you will pay for your life!"

...

AN: Yesterday was an unfortunate day for me(in-game), I got an early in Honkai Star Rail(10 pity) for Archeron but I lost my 50/50 and got Bailu instead. Dangit. At least be a light cone dammit!

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