As soon as class ended, Wei Xiaofeng and his roommate approached Huo Yuhao. "Yuhao, I wanted to ask more about what we discussed earlier—the key points of the Soul Spirit Symbiosis Meditation Method..."
Over this period, they had gradually grown familiar with Huo Yuhao and had even received his pointers.
A few cultivation tips regarding the new meditation method had benefited them immensely.
They had no idea how someone his age could possibly be so knowledgeable.
Watching Huo Yuhao leave the classroom after finishing his advice, followed shortly by Gu Yuena, Wei Xiaofeng turned to the people beside him and asked, "Come to think of it, I've never seen Yuhao around the dorms. Does he live somewhere else?"
"Huh? You only just realized?" Xie Xie, passing by, remarked speechlessly, "He and Gu Yuena were probably admitted to an advanced academy long ago and are just going through the motions here. Did you really think any academy would turn down talent like theirs?"
Wei Xiaofeng frowned. "Of course I know that. I'm just curious about his relationship with Gu Yuena."
After realizing Gu Yuena was not truly arrogant, some girls had plucked up the courage to approach her, and they had indeed managed to talk to her; however, she was somewhat cold by nature, so they could only be considered casual acquaintances.
Yet Gu Yuena got along quite well with Huo Yuhao. He often saw the two of them heading out of the academy together, which stoked his curiosity and flared his appetite for gossip.
Was this mutual admiration between geniuses, or was there another reason?
"They probably live together, which is why they're on good terms," Wang Jinxi, who had been quiet the whole time, suddenly spoke up.
Wei Xiaofeng and Xie Xie's eyes widened, and they looked at him in disbelief.
Who would have thought? This guy rarely talked, yet the moment he opened his mouth, he dropped such an explosive topic.
Realizing they had misunderstood, Wang Jinxi quickly clarified, "You're misunderstanding. I mean their dorms are in the same building. During my morning runs past the campus greenbelt, I saw a building nearby, and I've seen them go inside."
"Oh, so that's it." Xie Xie nodded thoughtfully. "Still, I don't think their backgrounds are simple. Remember when I asked whether Teacher Luo was from the Spirit Pagoda, and he tacitly admitted it?"
"You mean Yuhao and the others are from the Spirit Pagoda, so they're close?" Wei Xiaofeng furrowed his brow in surprise. "Really?"
"Well, that's what I believe." Xie Xie stroked his chin. "In East Sea City, only people from there could outmatch me by so much."
Wei Xiaofeng's eye twitched, and he curled his lip. "Tch, you're not even better than me."
"If your Soul Spirit isn't upgraded to the Thousand-Year Level through spirit ascension, your cultivation speed will gradually slow down. You know that better than I do." Xie Xie shrugged and smiled. "As for me, once I reach rank 30, that's where my true advantage begins."
His family's Heirloom Soul Spirit was at the thousand-year level. That was when his golden window would truly arrive!
Hearing this, Wei Xiaofeng opened his mouth but found himself unable to refute it. No matter how compatible it was, his Xiao Qing could only accompany him up to two rings. Once he added a new Soul Spirit after reaching three rings, his progress would no longer be as swift as it was now.
Wang Jinxi watched Wei Xiaofeng for a moment before uncharacteristically breaking the silence. "If they're from the Spirit Pagoda, what's their goal in coming to East Sea Academy? They could have studied at better intermediate academies, or even Shrek Academy, couldn't they?"
Xie Xie thought about it and said, "The housing was arranged by the academy, so it's not surprising they get special treatment given their strength. But they've had that since school started, which means the academy knew about them from the very beginning... Heck, maybe the academy brought them in on purpose. Could it be for the Skysea Alliance Tournament a year from now? Our academy president is pretty capable, having managed to pull people from the Spirit Pagoda to help out..."
Listening to Xie Xie rambling to himself, Wei Xiaofeng and Wang Jinxi exchanged bewildered looks.
...
At the Mecha Master Association, Huo Yuhao walked up to a reception room and knocked on the door.
"Come in."
Hearing a familiar female voice from inside, Huo Yuhao's expression turned slightly odd, but he opened the door and walked in anyway.
In the center of the room, a young girl with a golden ponytail turned around and began, "Hello, you must be the Maker the Mecha Master Association arranged to partner with me. I'm rank-2 Forging Master Mu Xi..."
Her voice trailed off midway. Staring at the familiar boy before her, Mu Xi instantly recalled the embarrassment from three years ago...
She desperately wished she could crawl into a hole in the ground!
...
"Miss Mu Xi, there's no need to be so nervous."
Looking at Mu Xi, who kept her head down as if searching for a crack in the floor, Huo Yuhao said with an amused tone, "We didn't have any real conflict back then."
"...You certainly have good composure."
Mu Xi drew a breath and looked up at Huo Yuhao, forcing a natural expression while furiously pummeling an imaginary voodoo doll of Tang Wulin in her mind.
It was all Tang Wulin's fault!
After the Forging Master Association and the Mecha Master Association formally established a partnership, they tilted some resources toward cultivating the younger generation. The Mecha Master Association provided rare metals to the forging masters, who would forge them and hand them over to Mecha Master Association members to design and manufacture, bringing the younger generations of both sides closer together to make progress collectively.
The reason for adopting this collaborative approach was naturally that the Mecha Master Association had far deeper pockets than the Forging Association. After all, one merely supplied materials, while the other manufactured Soul Tool products.
While forging masters were certainly important, aside from anomalies like Divine Craftsmen and Saint Craftsmen, supplying raw materials didn't bring in much money. For lower-ranking forging masters, this was an exceptional opportunity.
With such favorable conditions, Mu Xi—as the number one... well, now number two most outstanding genius of the East Sea Forging Association—had also been sent over by Mu Chen as a representative.
However, over the past few days, she had been too busy challenging Tang Wulin to forging competitions to bother with it. Little did she expect that coming here today would put her face-to-face with Huo Yuhao.
The events of three years ago were still vivid in her memory; she really had not wanted to partner with him!
Paying no heed to Mu Xi's stiff expression, Huo Yuhao produced three pieces of rare metal.
"Let's set that aside. These are the metals I need your help processing—Hundred Refinements purification for all of them. Can you do that?"
Mu Xi furrowed her brow as she took them. After a quick inspection, she nodded. "Of course, no problem."
"I'll leave them in your hands then." Huo Yuhao thanked her, then asked, "Speaking of which, didn't your association recently produce a nine-year-old rank-2 Forging Master? Didn't he come here?"
"No, he's busy trying to make money lately." Mu Xi narrowed her eyes at Huo Yuhao. "By the way, how do you know what goes on in our association?"
"I'm with the Spirit Pagoda."
"..."
She had almost forgotten that Tang Wulin had deep ties with the Spirit Pagoda.
Mu Xi looked at Huo Yuhao thoughtfully. "You actually didn't want to partner with me either, did you? You wanted to work with Tang Wulin?"
Huo Yuhao smiled and shook his head. "You're overthinking it, Miss Mu Xi."
Since Tang San's divine sense had awakened and Tang Wulin was working hard to earn money, it indicated that Tang Wulin was not far from breaking the first seal.
After chatting with Mu Xi a bit longer, Huo Yuhao saw her eyes wandering and took mercy on her, rising to leave the reception room of his own accord.
Just as he was heading toward his maker room to tinker with that piece of Spirit Metal, Huo Yuhao saw Gu Yuena standing outside his door, holding a small hammer.
"..."
Miss Gu Yuena, don't tell me you're planning to knock me over the head?
Chapter 43