Chapter 53: Original Sin - Greed

As time passed, Huo Yuhao's spine and ribs began to emit a jade-green glow. This signaled that the fusion of the soul bone was nearing completion. At that moment, the dark golden orb in his spiritual space finally stirred.

"Hmm?"

The sudden change caught Huo Yuhao's attention. He had fully unlocked the sin of Greed over a month ago but hadn't yet discovered its function.

In the next second, the dark golden orb released a similar-colored energy liquid, which shot out of Huo Yuhao's spiritual space and rushed toward the soul bone that was fusing.

From Snow Empress's perspective, Huo Yuhao's forehead suddenly glowed with a dark golden light, which flowed toward his torso bone at a steady pace.

"Is this... fusion?"

Huo Yuhao frowned. Through his inner sight, he clearly saw that with the involvement of Greed, the previously jade-green Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion torso bone now pulsed, alternately flashing between jade-green and dark gold, as if it was breathing.

During this process, the two lights began to merge slowly, like water blending with milk.

After about a minute, the entire torso bone had turned into a deep green-gold color. Realizing the fusion was complete, Huo Yuhao instinctively used his spiritual power to examine it.

As Huo Yuhao's eyes widened in surprise, the soul beasts beside him couldn't contain their curiosity and asked.

"Yuhao, what happened?"

"It's a bit complicated to explain. Let's start the Spirit Soul Ceremony first. I'll explain everything afterward."

As Huo Yuhao quickly prepared the Spirit Soul Ceremony, he explained that the Snow Empress had already fused her soul bone with him, and delaying it further could pose a danger to her.

Since Huo Yuhao had already successfully endured the soul bone fusion, the Spirit Soul Ceremony posed no significant challenge. After his explanation, everyone finally understood the role of the dark golden energy.

Simply put, thanks to the Greed's essence, the torso bone given by the Ice Empress now had the potential to evolve, just like his ice-type martial soul.

Huo Yuhao could enhance the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion torso bone by absorbing other torso bones or energies to increase its age.

Normally, a person could only attach one soul bone to each part of their body, but the torso bone, which had been transformed by Greed's essence, allowed Huo Yuhao to attach other soul bones to the same location.

However, compared to the martial soul's evolution, the evolution of soul bones only increased their age. From this perspective, the martial soul evolution was still far superior, as it represented a qualitative leap.

"T-then..."

Tian Meng Iceworm hesitated, wanting to voice a bold idea, but Huo Yuhao shook his head first.

"No, I sensed two limitations for the soul bone's evolution. First, the attributes must be the same, and second, the quality of the soul bone being absorbed must be higher than the one already fused, or it won't work."

"Your Greed essence doesn't seem so greedy if it can't even accept low-quality soul bones," Tian Meng Iceworm muttered.

"Be content," Huo Yuhao rolled his eyes. "The effect of this is far greater than you can imagine, Brother Tian Meng."

To evolve the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion torso bone, Huo Yuhao would likely need to absorb a torso bone provided by the Snow Empress. After all, apart from her, there was no ice-attribute soul beast on the continent capable of providing a higher-quality soul bone than the Ice Empress. This meant that evolving the torso bone would be an extremely difficult task.

However, Huo Yuhao didn't think Greed's effect was useless. While higher-quality soul bones were hard to come by, higher-quality energy wasn't necessarily as rare.

Moreover, Greed's essence wouldn't just work on torso bones; it could also evolve any other soul bone he absorbed in the future.

The value of Greed wasn't about maximizing one's power but about compensating for shortcomings. When Huo Yuhao realized this, the first thing he thought of was the Ice Explosion skill linked to his Ice Jade Scorpion left arm bone in his previous life.

The Ice Explosion skill had been so powerful because the Ice Empress had modified it during fusion, granting it the qualities of a 100,000-year soul bone. This greatly enhanced its power.

Without the modification, it would have remained just a 10,000-year soul bone—strong, but not exceptional.

With Greed's essence, Huo Yuhao could make that soul bone even stronger than in his past life. When the time came, the power of the Ice Explosion would be unimaginable.

Shrek Academy, Inner Courtyard

"Hey, look! There's a new mission posted."

As they passed by the notice board, a sharp-eyed disciple from the inner courtyard tugged at his companion. The other's eyes lit up as well.

"Let's go check it out!"

To graduate from the inner courtyard, Shrek disciples were required to complete 30 missions issued by the Shrek Supervisory Committee. These missions were registered daily by assigned teachers on the notice board, allowing inner courtyard disciples to view and accept them.

As a result, whenever inner courtyard disciples passed by, they would instinctively glance at the board to see if there were any suitable missions. After all, besides fulfilling graduation requirements, these missions were a major source of income, so it was hard not to be eager.

Although missions were voluntary and the academy didn't offer payment, the mission targets themselves did!

Especially those involving government officials—they were like goldmines. Such missions often sparked fierce competition among inner courtyard disciples.

Compared to soul masters, many officials were ordinary people. Completing these tasks was easier, and the rewards were often greater.

While Shrek's Supervisory Committee prided itself on protecting the continent, money was still necessary to fund such protection, right?

Plus, these officials usually carried vast wealth. One look was enough to know they had been exploiting the people, earning ill-gotten gains.

Such corrupt money was the perfect reward for righteous actions.

"Recently, several people have gone missing in Ruixue City. There are suspicions of dark soul masters involved. The exact number is unknown, and further investigation is needed. I think it's a small city north of Heaven Dou City, right?"

"Ugh, dark soul masters?"

The disciple grimaced. "Not only is it dangerous, but there's no profit... Should we take it?"

His companion pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.

"I think it's worth considering. Judging by the description, the missing people are all ordinary citizens, and the number isn't large. So, even if there are dark soul masters, their strength probably isn't too high. We need to complete thirty missions eventually, and this one seems simple."

"Sigh, guess we don't have a choice. How come Dai Yueheng always gets the good missions? We camp out here all the time and never see any missions involving officials. That guy's last two missions were both with officials! I even heard he found over a hundred thousand gold soul coins in an official's ring during his last mission."

"Enough complaining. Let's just accept the task and register."

Just as the two disciples were talking, a voice came from behind them.

"Excuse me, could you let me have that mission?"

They instinctively turned around, and when they saw who it was, they were startled.

"Senior Sister!"

"Hello," Zhang Lexuan nodded slightly, her face calm, as if she hadn't heard their conversation. She gestured to the paper in their hands.

"May I take that mission?"

(End of Chapter)