Chapter 102: Fateful Reunion

"Kyaaaa!"

Huo Yuhao's eyes snapped opened, an ice dagger appeared in his hand as he jumped out of his bed and turned to the source of that scream-

"Yuhao, who is this? This guy's sooo cute! Hehehehe." Wang Dong'er giggled foolishly as she hugged a chonky ball of white fluff, wasn't that Xiao Dong? The big Snow Rabbit didn't seem to mind being handled by a stranger, it even had a content expression on its adorable face.

"I see you've met Xiao Dong," Huo Yuhao relaxed, crushing the ice dagger in his hand and throwing the pieces in the trashcan. He looked out of the window, unfortunately, the sun hasn't risen yet. "He usually doesn't come out until breakfast time… did I forget to feed him last night?"

"Xiao Dong? What kind of name is that? Why did you give it such a weird name?" Wang Dong'er asked, giggling as she played with Xiao Dong on her bed; raising its tiny arms and wiggling its body.

"Oh, it's because I named it after you." Huo Yuhao casually replied, staring out at the window as the sun finally arose, a purple hue emanated from his eyes. Of course, he continued cultivating Purple Demon Eyes, it augmented his eyes' powers and spiritual power after all.

"…What?" Wang Dong'er paused, turning towards Huo Yuhao.

At first, she felt embarrassed and happy that Huo Yuhao had named something after her; thinking that he had missed her so much that he needed something to remember her by, then realization dawned on her that he had named a rabbit after her.

A rabbit that he certainly kept as a pet.

"Yuhao…" Wang Dong'er drawled, her eyes squinting.

"I had no bad intentions when I decided to name it after you," He replied with a straight expression.

"…Really?"

She stared at him, still hugging Xiao Dong. Even though it felt sorta strange to have a rabbit named after, there was no denying the adorable cuteness it was. It was a crime not to hug it!

He kept absorbing the purple qi from the sun, paying no mind to Wang Dong'er. Even though inwardly he was laughing maniacally, because the latter's expression was a bit similar to Xiao Dong.

Truly, it was the right idea take him in as his pet and companion. The best distraction, scout and pillow! Though it rarely would let itself be a pillow nowadays, especially after he accidently squished it.

Huo Yuhao apologized it to it profusely when it started crying, to the point he served dozens of carrot cakes for it to finally calm down and forgive him.

There are things that almost anyone cannot endure, and one of them was seeing something cute and adorable, bursting into tears.

"Fuuu…" Huo Yuhao exhaled, closing his eyes; soaking up the amount of purple qi he got. As he opened his deep-blue eyes, a mix of golden and purple light flickered for a few blinks before his eyes returned to normal.

"Dong'er, why didn't you cultivate the Purple Demon Eyes? I'm pretty sure I, my Shadow Clone, taught you all of the Tang Sect secret techniques." He said, stretching his body.

Wang Dong'er sighed, resting her chin on top of Xiao Dong. "I have but… I think I hit a bottleneck. I can't seem to progress any further no matter how much I practice."

Huo Yuhao furrowed his brows in concern. "A bottleneck? That's strange. What level are you at the technique?"

"Peak Survey level, probably. I reached the bottleneck a couple weeks ago."

He rolled his eyes, "That's normal, you're just being lazy. Just keep practicing for a week and if there's really no progress, then come talk to me again. I'll help you break through it."

Wang Dong'er huffed, slightly offended. "Hey, I'm not lazy! But fine, I'll take your advice."

Huo Yuhao chuckled. "Good. Now, let's get ready for breakfast. Ah, just because I know you're a girl now doesn't mean you get the shower first."

"Bleh! Fine! Hurry up and clean yourself first, I'll just stay here for a while and play with Xiao Dong."

He smiled and taking a towel and a new set of clothes, not his old school uniform because he hasn't gotten a new one that fit him, and went off to the bathroom to freshen up. After finishing his shower, Wang Dong'er quickly went in after him whilst carrying Xiao Dong.

"What the-! Dong'er, are you planning on cleaning Xiao Dong?! There's no need to do that! Snow Rabbits are self-cleaning creatures," Huo Yuhao exclaimed, slightly surprised as he dried himself off with the towel. "You know how money grubbing this school is, if the water bill in our room is higher than usual than you're paying for it!"

"I know!"

Strangely, even though he hadn't seen Wang Dong'er for many months now, they still interacted intimately as usual. Likely due to the fact that Huo Yuhao left behind a Shadow Clone.

After the they freshened themselves up, the trio, yes, Wang Dong'er is still carrying Xiao Dong in her arms, and went to the cafeteria but before they even reached it, a familiar figure moving like a phantom lunged on Huo Yuhao's back.

Huo Yuhao didn't move, letting Xiao Xiao jump on his back, her arms wrapped around his neck and legs tightly around his waist like a sloth. "Xiao Xiao, you're up early," he remarked, a smile playing on his lips.

Xiao Xiao giggled, her eyes slightly misty. "Hey Yuhao, welcome back!"

"Good to be back, Xiao Xiao," Huo Yuhao replied warmly, patting her hand gently. "Did you miss me?"

"Nope!" Xiao Xiao said cheekily, "Hey, how'd you get so tall? And muscular? For a second there I almost didn't recognize you."

"...Wait, how did you recognize me?"

"Wang Dong." Xiao Xiao simply replied. "He doesn't hang out with any other guys besides you and senior Bei Bei."

Wang Dong'er didn't deny it, rolling her eyes.

"Yuhao!"

Xiao Xiao didn't stay long on his back and jumped off, Huo Yuhao turned around and wasn't surprised to see both Ning Tian and Wu Feng walking up to him with mixed expressions of excitement and curiosity on their faces.

"Morning, Ning Tian, Wu Feng," Huo Yuhao greeted them with a grin, his eyes gazing longer at Wu Feng. "Been a while."

Ning Tian walked up to him, and with a move that stunned everyone, unhesitatingly slapped his face.

"Ning Tian/Sister Tian?!" Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao and Wu Feng all exclaimed in shock.

Huo Yuhao calmly turned his head, facing Ning Tian with a calm expression. The latter stared back at him with an icy glare, her hand that was used to slapped had turned red.

"That was a pretty hard slap, is your hand okay?"

Ning Tian scoffed, "Never better. As expected, you really have a thick face."

Huo Yuhao sighed. "Well, I kinda do deserve that slap for leaving you all hanging like that." he look at Wu Feng, who softly smiled back at him.

Ning Tian's expression softened slightly, her anger giving way to concern. "Your clone disappeared without a word. We were worried sick, you know?"

"Again, how did you know it was me?!"

"Wang Dong."

"Oh come on! I hang out with other guys as well!"

Wu Feng scoffed. "Pfft. Yeah, right. Name one that isn't senior Bei Bei."

"...."

Huo Yuhao nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry for worrying you. Something... happened to my clone."

When the five of them met, things naturally became very lively. The initial tensions caused by Ning Tian dissipated as Huo Yuhao recounted the events of last night again as well as that someone had killed his shadow clone, but didn't say at the moment.

Although he was certain that the Soul King who killed his shadow clone was someone Dai Huabin had sent, there was simply no evidence to back his claims at the moment. And although it would be good to tell his friends about it, he knew it would only cause unnecessary worry and panic.

Besides, Dai Huabin was his to deal with.

After months of meditation to quell his killing intent and refine his spiritual power, Huo Yuhao's rage and thirst for vengeance calmed and realization dawned on him.

While yes, the duke and duchess had a hand for his mother's death; one for abandoning her while the other shunned and bullied her. The real culprit behind his mother's death was Dai Huabin, beating her up and worsening her weak constitution from overworking, leading to her death.

Probably, back then, since the duchess was the whole reason why he and his mother was excommunicated from the mansion, that his hatred towards her overshadowed everything else.

But now, after his slight spiritual enlightenment and deeper understanding of his own emotions, he realized that Dai Huabin was the true instigator of his mother's suffering. It was mostly his doing that caused his mother's condition to worsen!

It made it all the more frustrating that he couldn't kill the bastard in school. Oh well, he'll just go with making his life a living hell while he's in this school.

As they walked, by sheer coincidence, they met three people that they knew.

Dai Huabin seemed to have grown taller, while his original cold demeanor seemed to have become more gloomy. He didn't look like a twelve or thirteen year-old teenager at all anymore. Rather, he seemed far more mature than his fellow peers, but he was still far off from Huo Yuhao.

Next to Dai Huabin was Zhu Lu; her body had begun to mature as well. Girls developed earlier than boys, and she was now almost as tall as Dai Huabin. She possessed the Netherworld Civet beast soul, thus she made no sound when she walked. The third person with them was naturally the young girl who owned the Ninetailed Fox beast soul, Cui Yajie.

Huo Yuhao's group of five saw them, thus Dai Huabin's group naturally also saw them. The eight of them stood facing one another.

When he saw Huo Yuhao, Dai Huabin was at first confused on who this stranger was. But that was until he saw Huo Yuhao's eyes shifted to his Sharingan, causing his expression to sank.

'How is he alive?! Zhang Gu had told me that he died! Did he fake his own death?! But how can he fool the eyes of a Soul King!?' Dai Huabin thought to himself, a mix of shock and anger filling him.

Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie, on the other hand, seemed more curious and intrigued by Huo Yuhao's appearance.

Wang Dong'er and the others noticed the tension and exchanged glances, ready for any potential confrontation between Huo Yuhao and Dai Huabin.

During the time when the real Huo Yuhao went to the Extreme North to train, leaving his shadow clone behind, the shadow clone had done a few things in his stead: he became the class representative of class one, caused the expulsion of Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu to class 2, and spread a few humiliating rumors about his half-brother to the whole outer courtyard.

Zhu Lu's eyes became cold, stepping forward and she mockingly said, "Isn't this Huo Yuhao? Oh wait, I heard that you didn't register yesterday. Have you come to wrong place, or don't you know that the rules of the school state that students who don't register on time will directly be expelled."

She then turned towards Wang Dong, scoffing. "Also, what is that? Bringing pets in school is also prohibited."

Huo Yuhao smiled, his eyes still locked onto Dai Huabin, and replied, "What does this have to do with you?"

Huo Yuhao didn't have to worry about the school's rules, not when both the Martial Soul Department and Soul Engineering Department greatly treasured him. What were rules to the academy's high standing teachers and elders? Since they made them, the higher-ups can choose to bend or break them as they pleased.

"Of course this has something to do with me," Zhu Lu said, "as a student of Shrek Academy, I naturally must defend the rules of the academy. This isn't a place you should be in, so get the hell out of here!"

"You wanna say that again, bitch?!" Wu Feng's demeanor instantly changed, stepping forward with a menacing glare directed at Zhu Lu.

She might not have showed it, but she was incredibly happy to see the real Huo Yuhao again. Although they parted on bad terms, but after several months of hanging out with his clone, the heartache disappeared and her feelings for him continued on. So seeing someone, not from their group, disrespect him like that she immediately became angry.

Plus, she always didn't like Zhu Lu. Something about her just rubs her the wrong way.

Wang Dong'er stepped forward as well, glaring icily at Zhu Lu. "Who do you think you are? What makes you think that you can take the place of the academy in order to uphold its rules? If you two hadn't relied on your statuses as core disciples, you both would've screwed off already."

Wang Dong'er had pricked Dai Huabin's soft spot. An angry glint flashed through his eyes, and he snorted coldly. "You're courting death!"

He took a step forward and sent a palm strike straight towards... Xiao Dong.

He was smart. He knew that attacking them in the open space like this with so many witnesses would only lead to trouble. So instead, he aimed his attack at the seemingly harmless Snow Rabbit in Wang Dong'er's arms, as he could justify his actions of attacking them as upholding the rules of the academy.

'Hm? Why is this thing looking at me like that?' He thought, staring right at Xiao Dong's beady red eyes.

It did not show fear or panic. Instead, its eyes seemed to glow with... hunger.

....

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