Chapter 34.1. Taking on an Impossible Challenge

Huo Yuhao shook his head, a determined expression on his face. “I’m not afraid of such a thing.” Fan Yu’s attitude had completely won over Huo Yuhao’s heart. It only took him a few seconds to get over the regret he’d had from not being able to become a core disciple of the Martial Soul Department. This was because he wasn’t alone; he also had Brother Skydream within his body! The greatest advantage of joining the Martial Soul Department was that it would help its students obtain suitable soul rings. However, the Skydream Iceworm had already promised to obtain a soul ring for him. If he didn’t factor this in, the Soul Tool Department could practically give him everything that the Martial Soul Department could. Furthermore, he would still be able to temporarily enjoy the treatment of a core disciple from the Martial Soul Department.

Fan Yu continued, “If you’re not afraid of hardship, I’ll do all that I can to teach you. Our Soul Tool Department also has more resources than the Martial Soul Department.” He walked towards Huo Yuhao and placed a black necklace on his neck. The necklace was adorned with a tiny, dark-gold medallion made of some unknown metal, and there were a few complicated patterns on its surface.

“With this medallion, you can enter any of the areas within the Soul Tool Department’s outer courtyard as you wish. Now then, we’re done here for today, but you’ll need to come here every day from tomorrow onwards. You’ve just been put into your new class, so you should head back first.”

“Yes. Thank you, Teacher Fan Yu.”

As Zhou Yi led Huo Yuhao away, a satisfied smile appeared on Fan Yu’s face. On the other hand, He Caitou’s excitement hadn’t diminished in the least. “This is too good, I have a junior brother now. Now Teacher can’t keep tormenting me by myself!”

Fan Yu grumpily hit He Caitou on his dark, bald head. “I’ve been tormenting you? Go do some work.”

With a downcast expression on his face, He Caitou obediently walked away. The instant he left, a tall figure suddenly appeared and walked towards Fan Yu. Unexpectedly, this figure was the Vice-Dean of the Soul Tool Department—Qian Duoduo.

“Not bad, it went quite smoothly. This Huo Yuhao has quite a sincere temperament; he’s a good seedling. I was quite happy when they won the finals with their fusion skill, but now that I think about it, I can’t help but regret it greatly. Fortunately, Old Yan wasn’t even able to recognise such a precious treasure, which allowed us to snatch him up a large bargain. Fan Yu, how confident are you that you’ll be able to successfully implementing our Ultimate Soldier plan on him?”

Fan Yu replied solemnly, “I’m 40% confident if we use it on Caitou, but our chances of successfully implementing it with Huo Yuhao increase to 70%, at the very least. If the two of them work together, I’m 100% confident that I can produce a prototype of the Ultimate Soldier in ten to fifteen years. Once they’ve cultivated to my age, we’ll have reached our true objective.”

“Good!” Qian Duoduo slapped his sturdy chest. “With this, the Soul Tool Department will dedicate all of its resources to you from now on. As long as we complete the Ultimate Soldier plan, I can guarantee that you’ll be the next Dean of the Soul Tool Department.”

A feverish gaze appeared in Fan Yu’s eyes, and he hurriedly replied, “Dean Qian, you should know that I’m not trying to complete the Ultimate Soldier plan simply for the sake of a higher position.”

Qian Duoduo smiled. “Of course I know that, as this is a common dream we share. The moment we complete our objective, the Douluo Continent will turn a new page in its history.”

Fan Yu smiled. “If Huo Yuhao’s martial soul continues to grow at the same rate it’s currently growing, we’ll definitely succeed. The Martial Soul Department might not want someone with a Body Soul, but we do. Does it really matter if he has a ten year soul ring? So what if he’s had a late start? In my opinion, Huo Yuhao has a ten year soul ring that’s better than any hundred year soul ring. Furthermore, Zhou Yi told me that he’s increased his soul power from Rank 13 to Rank 18 in a mere three months. I’ve asked Zhou Yi to conceal this fact, but is it really possible for him to be trash with a growth speed like that? Fortunately, only class teachers have access to a student’s registration forms.”

Qian Duoduo said, “Your Zhou Yi is too strange; she insists on making herself look like an old woman. Don’t you care about that?”

Fan Yu was somewhat helpless as he replied, “With a temper like hers, do you think I can really control her? According to her, the only way for her to appear imposing in front of her students is to disguise herself. Whatever, it’s fine as long as she doesn’t look like that in the house at night.”

After leading Huo Yuhao out of the Soul Tool Department’s Testing Area, Zhou Yi quickly returned to the Martial Soul Department with him. However, she didn’t bring him to the first year’s school buildings.

After reaching the Martial Soul Department’s Assessment Area, Zhou Yi stopped and asked him, “Yuhao, when you saw Director Du Weilun earlier, did you ask him what effect your fusion skill had?”

“Nope.” Huo Yuhao replied.

Zhou Yi furrowed her brows slightly. “That won’t do. If you don’t even know what your fusion skill does, how would you be able to use it in a fight next time? Let’s do it this way. After you head back, ask Wang Dong to ask Director Du for you.”

Ask Wang Dong to? Huo Yuhao was stunned.

Zhou Yi smiled. “You still don’t understand? You’ve already become a core disciple of the Soul Tool Department, so you should do your best to show your face around Director Du as little as possible. Also, Teacher Wang Yan seems to think quite highly of you, so you should try to keep a lower profile when you’re normally cultivating. I know that you have a lot of doubts in your heart right now, but I promise you that Teacher Fan Yu wholeheartedly wants to raise you into an outstanding talent. I do as well. You might be wondering why I’m inclined towards the Soul Tool Department, even though I’m clearly a teacher from the Martial Soul Department. Let me tell you a secret: A woman should always go along with what her husband does, and Fan Yu is my husband. Thus, I have to support him.”

After she’d finished speaking, Zhou Yi raised her right hand and gently pulled something off of her face from the left side of her cheek. She slowly pulled of an elaborate face mask, revealing an extremely beautiful face that also seemed extremely youthful. Her eyebrows were as beautiful as the scenery in the spring, while her complexion was both graceful and touching.

Huo Yuhao was dumbstruck. Even in his wildest dreams, he’d never thought that the ‘Perverted Old Grandma’ Zhou Yi would actually be a beauty. Furthermore, how could her true appearance even look strict at all?

Zhou Yi quickly pulled the face mask back over her face and said helplessly, “Now you’ve seen what I look like. My original appearance can’t deter anyone at all, so I had to put on a disguise because of my philosophy of teaching. Now then, head back to Class 1. It’s still in our original classroom. Remember, you have to keep everything you’ve seen and heard a secret, especially the fact that you’ve become a direct disciple of Fan Yu. Also, I’ve heard that you’ve been selling roasted fish at night. You should stop, as you won’t have any time to in the future. Don’t worry though, the Soul Tool Department will take care of all of your expenses from now on. In the future, you’ll see just how well core disciples of the Soul Tool Department are treated.”

“Yes, Teacher Zhou.” Huo Yuhao had received too much information during this short hour, to the extent that he was even somewhat muddle-headed. However, there was no doubt that the injustice he’d felt from not being chosen as a core disciple of the Martial Soul Department had thoroughly vanished due to how highly the Soul Tool Deparment thought of him, as well as the encouragement that Teacher Fan Yu had given him in addition to taking him in as a disciple.

The moment he got back to Class 1, Huo Yuhao shouted from outside the classroom, “Reporting in!”

“Enter,” Wang Yan’s voice rang out. After Huo Yuhao had entered the classroom, all of the students in the classroom’s gazes immediately gathered on him.

Of the four classes in Year 1, Class 1 was undoubtedly the strongest. Yet, they weren’t the largest class; that title belonged to the diverse Class 4. This was because the total number of assault-type and control-type soul masters amongst the freshmen didn’t exceed sixty.

The instant Huo Yuhao entered, he’d immediately attracted the attention of every student present. Wang Yan smiled. “Yuhao, you came at just the right time. We’re about to begin the selection of the class monitor. Come in and take a seat first.”

Although their classes had been re-divided, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’s seating arrangements hadn’t changed. On the contrary, Xiao Xiao now sat to Huo Yuhao’s left, which allowed the three to be seated in a single row.

Huo Yuhao noticed that Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, and Cui Yajie were seated two rows behind them. The moment he’d entered the classroom, Dai Huabin had glared at him coldly.

As he stood behind the podium, Wang Yan said, “Next up, we’ll be electing the class monitor and assistant class monitor of our class. Our class consists of assault-type and control-type soul masters, so each monitor will be in charge of a single System. We’ll be re-electing both monitors each month. Now then, I’ll nominate a few people, then let everyone cast their votes into a ballot.”

With that, he turned towards the blackboard and wrote two rows of names on it. The first row was titled ‘Assault System’, and the names below it were: Wang Dong, Dai Huabin, Zhou Sichen, Huang Chutian, and Wu Feng.

The second row was titled ‘Control System’, and the first name he wrote down was Huo Yuhao’s. Afterwards, he wrote down Cao Jinxuan, Lan Susu, and Lan Luoluo’s names.

A total of nine names had appeared on the blackboard, and one could tell what Wang Yan was thinking from the order he’d written the names down. Nobody objected to Wang Dong’s name being written at the top of the Assault System list; after all, his team had just become champions of the freshmen assessment, and Wang Dong had been the main force of his team. Even though he didn’t have a three-ringed cultivation, everyone had seen the power of his Radiant Butterfly Goddess.

However, Huo Yuhao’s name being at the top of the Control System list sparked a flurry of whispers. The students who were originally from Class 1 were fine with it, as Huo Yuhao had been their class monitor in the first place. Moreover, they’d seen how hard he worked. However, the students who’d come from other classes all had disdainful expressions on their faces.

Huo Yuhao had been one of the members of the freshmen assessment’s champion team along with Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, but many students had secretly talked about him behind his back, calling him the luckiest person amongst this year’s freshmen. The fact that a mere Soul Master—one with only a ten year soul ring—had been able to mingle his way into the champion team, and was even able to enjoy the treatment of a core disciple, had aroused the envy and hate of several people.

“Teacher Wang, I have an objection to this.” Wu Feng, who was sitting near Dai Huabin, raised her hand.

Unlike Zhou Yi, Wang Yan had a warm personality. He smiled. “Wu Feng, do you have any problems with this?”

With a disdainful expression on her face, Wu Feng replied, “I don’t think that Huo Yuhao has the qualifications to be nominated as a candidate for the position of class monitor. He’s only a one-ringed Soul Master, and his soul ring’s even a ten year one. Even if he was one of the champions of the freshmen assessment, he only did that by tagging along with Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao. Why should he be nominated in this class monitor election?”