Impossible to Repay

Huo Yuhao stared at the scale in his hand, falling silent for a moment. The Silver Dragon King's reverse scale—a Divine Tool imbued with the Silver Dragon King's Power of Creation. Its function was that if the bearer encountered danger, Gu Yuena would sense it and could rush to their side through this item. In terms of utility, it was a near-perfect match for Star's Blessing—a true exchange of courtesies... 'Then again, wasn't Di Tian originally supposed to be the one who gave me a reverse scale?' Huo Yuhao's train of thought derailed for an instant. He gave a quiet shake of his head to dismiss the notion, then looked up toward Gu Yuena, only to find she had already begun fiddling with Star's Blessing with great interest, paying no attention to him at all. Seeing how engrossed she was, returning it seemed virtually impossible now. Wearing a conflicted expression, Huo Yuhao went to put away the reverse scale. He just wanted some peace and quiet—and don't ask him who Quiet was. 'Hm?' Just as he was about to put the reverse scale away, Huo Yuhao suddenly noticed the bloodline vortex within his body fluctuating on account of the scale. Just the aura wafting from the reverse scale caused the Silver Dragon King bloodline within to surge as if coming to a boil. Evidently, the reverse scale infused with the Power of Creation was immensely beneficial to the growth of the bloodline vortex. Raising an eyebrow slightly, Huo Yuhao refrained from studying it further for now and stored the reverse scale directly into the Eye of Life. He was still hesitant about whether to use it, but since it was a gift given from Gu Yuena's heart, he had to take good care of it regardless. Within the Sea of Spirit, watching this new Divine Tool take the place where Star's Blessing had been, the boy form that Tianmeng had assumed gave a twitch of his lips. "It's over. We can never repay this debt." A dragon's reverse scale, of all things... Gu Yuena giving something like this to Yuhao meant Star's Blessing had practically been given away for free. "Tianmeng, tell me—is it possible she's a genius playing the fool?" Ice Empress rubbed her chin, looking rather grave. "How is it that every single time, she manages to hit the nail right on the head?" Outsiders would not know, but having been with Huo Yuhao all this time, they naturally knew how his attitude toward Gu Yuena had shifted on multiple occasions. It was plainly visible in his actions. The first time was when Gu Yuena covered for Huo Yuhao to conceal his Ice Empress Martial Soul. Huo Yuhao had told her to call him Yuhao, treating her as an ordinary acquaintance who required caution. The second time was when Gu Yuena genuinely sought to learn forging and asked whether Huo Yuhao was satisfied with the Spirit Pagoda. When Gu Yuena was asked in turn and answered that she didn't dislike this era, Huo Yuhao had already shifted Gu Yuena from someone requiring caution to a kindred spirit. Any thought of thrusting her in front of him as a shield also vanished, leaving him to do little more than complain internally. After that, Huo Yuhao's attitude toward Gu Yuena became that of a good friend. From Ice Empress's perspective, Yuhao even pampered her quite a bit at times. The third time was yesterday, when Gu Yuena came out of concern for Huo Yuhao's safety. Given Huo Yuhao's character, he didn't care much about what underlying motives she might have had; what mattered was that Gu Yuena had come when he might have been in danger. Those willing to share in hardship were rare and precious, so Gu Yuena's standing in Huo Yuhao's heart naturally rose. Afterward, when Huo Yuhao asked Gu Yuena why she had come, Ice Empress knew that Gu Yuena's intuition had been right: Huo Yuhao really had been angry—angry at himself. And today, Ice Empress suspected, might mark the fourth time. That was a dragon's reverse scale, carrying significance far beyond the ordinary. "In my opinion, the innocent just naturally trumps the schemer," Tianmeng quipped upon hearing her, recalling a phrase he had picked up on the internet recently. ... A moment later, the others from Class Zero arrived at the training grounds. Huo Yuhao walked up to Wang Jinxi and handed him a Soul Tool. "This is a Bloodline Suppressor. It can suppress bloodline growth. Before you've thought through the path ahead, you can wear this to prevent Wulin's bloodline aura from affecting you." This was a Soul Tool he had crafted using the Blood Source Pivot Crystal, based on a design blueprint developed and pioneered by a certain Spirit Pagoda researcher. "Thank you." Wang Jinxi smiled and nodded to Huo Yuhao. He didn't want to abandon his Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Yangzi; it was the symbol of their friendship. "Yuhao, thank you! Wulin, thank you too!" Zhang Yangzi also expressed his gratitude to Huo Yuhao and Tang Wulin beside him. Tang Wulin waved his hands hurriedly. "It was all Yuhao's doing." "Without the bloodline you provided, I wouldn't have been able to make this Soul Tool." Huo Yuhao shook his head, then asked, "Wulin, how is Jinyu?" Tang Wulin smiled. "I followed your advice and visited the Ascension Platform. It's already recovered." While the boys were talking, Xu Xiaoyan approached Gu Yuena on the other side, looking curiously at the bracelet she was fiddling with. Under Gu Yuena's control, Star's Blessing had shed its astral radiance and looked merely like a beautiful accessory, yet Xu Xiaoyan could still sense an aura that felt intimate to her. "Na'er, what is this?" "Yuhao gave it to me." Gu Yuena's eyes were as gentle as water, filled with a smile. Xu Xiaoyan's eyes widened, her expression lighting up as she whispered, "Tell me all the details!" "Ahem." A light cough sounded as Luo Yanglu and Wu Zhangkong walked in, dashing Xu Xiaoyan's hopes of indulging in gossip. "We've reached the end of the term. In three days, the Rioting Ascension Platform will open, which will also be your final exam. You all need to give it your best." Luo Yanglu swept his gaze over the students. "The riot phenomenon in the Ascension Platform initially stemmed from instability in its internal energy. With technological progress, the rioting periods have become controllable. "During a riot, the Soul Beasts within the Ascension Platform become far more active, greater in number, and much more dangerous. For each riot period, each of the Eighteen Heavenly Pillars receives three hundred entry slots. This time, you will be granted five of those three hundred slots." "Five?" Xie Xie asked, puzzled. "That's right, only five. Those entering do not include Yuhao and Gu Yuena." Luo Yanglu looked at Xie Xie with a faint sneer that sent a chill down the boy's spine. "Student Xie Xie, earlier you were hoping to team up with Yuhao to clear the virtual battlefield assessment, weren't you?" "Uh, but Boss Yuhao didn't agree last time anyway..." Blushing, Xie Xie offered an awkward laugh. Once he learned there was a team option, he really had entertained thoughts of teaming up with Huo Yuhao to breeze through the trial and be carried to an effortless victory... but upon learning that team mode factored in a contribution algorithm, he had given up on it. "You shouldn't even have entertained such a thought to begin with," Wu Zhangkong said coolly from the side. "This time, I will not give you any such chance." The Rioting Ascension Platform assessment had been proposed by him. The gap between Gu Yuena and Huo Yuhao and the rest was practically on a different tier altogether; he could not allow the others to rely on the two of them too much. Forming such a habit would be detrimental. "Do you have confidence? The limit for the Rioting Ascension Platform is Rank 39, meaning you might encounter opponents at the peak of Soul Elder," Luo Yanglu asked. The five exchanged glances and broke into smiles. "We do!" Three months had passed. Currently, Xu Xiaoyan was Rank 22, while Xie Xie, Wang Jinxi, and Zhang Yangzi were Rank 23, and Tang Wulin was Rank 16. In just three months, each of them had advanced by around two ranks—something none of them would have dared imagine before joining Class Zero. And this was their growth without taking any medicinal pills; otherwise, the increase would have been even greater. As for combat experience, with Wu Zhangkong's tutelage and months of battling stat monsters in the virtual battlefield, they felt confident in themselves. Leaving aside monsters like Huo Yuhao and Gu Yuena, as for anyone else—even Soul Elders—working together, it wasn't as if they couldn't put up a fight.