Chapter 24: Zhuge Lan Arranges a Meeting with Ma Xiaotao! Junior Sister Huo Yuhao?

"Wh-what do you mean 'dual cultivation'?" Wang Dong raised his voice to correct him. "It's just meditation!"

"Is there a difference? Aren't both just two people cultivating together?" Huo Yuhao scratched his head.

"Don't worry about it! It's just cultivation!"

"Oh."

Huo Yuhao was not a man of many words. After arriving at the bathhouse and glancing around, he found no suitable spot in the crowded, labyrinthine layout. Deciding against it, he flew up to the rooftop to begin his dual cultivation with Wang Dong.

Without the giant cocoon of the Skydream Iceworm this time, the amplification efficiency had dropped, but it still hovered around 70 percent.

An hour and a half of the lunch break passed, and Huo Yuhao ended up looking like a "dalmatian," his skin covered in black spots and emitting a pungent, stinging odor. Disgusted, Wang Dong scrubbed at his own skin and hurriedly flew back to the dormitory to wash off.

Huo Yuhao looked down at the bathhouse, then back at Wang Dong’s departing silhouette. He remembered how embarrassed and angry Wang Dong had become just from seeing him bathe; he surely wasn't used to open-air bathhouses.

"You guessed wrong!" Zhuge Lan chuckled. "It's because Wang Dong can only enter the men's bathhouse—of course he wouldn't come!"

"This blockhead is so slow on the uptake," the Skydream Iceworm remarked snidely. "If he were any smarter, he would have figured out Wang Dong was a girl by now, right?"

"He's only eleven, after all. He’s still quite oblivious to the boundaries between boys and girls," Zhuge Lan replied.

As they spoke, Huo Yuhao finished his own bath and headed toward the classroom, looking as fresh as a lotus emerging from the water.

A fiery red figure descended from the sky—it was Ma Xiaotao, her hair styled in buns.

"Little Yuhao, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you," Ma Xiaotao said, arching an eyebrow. "You look even prettier after a bath. Why aren't you a little junior sister instead?"

Huo Yuhao’s face turned awkward, and he was left speechless.

"Alright, alright, I'm just teasing you." Ma Xiaotao raised a hand, and a pile of fruits as tall as a person appeared before them. Their skins were gray-brown, and they emitted a faint, grassy scent. "Here, these are century-grade Diamond Arhat Fruits, the best in Shrek’s inventory. I’ll share a portion with you."

"My teacher has already sent people to collect even better ones, and I'll give you another share when they arrive."

"That’s all for now. I’m off to cultivate!" She flapped her fiery wings and flew away.

"Wait, hold on!" Huo Yuhao called out. "I want to recruit all the classmates into the Holy Fire Cult. Teacher Zhou told me to talk to you about it."

Ma Xiaotao hovered in mid-air, looking down at Huo Yuhao. Her posture made Huo Yuhao blush, and he lowered his head, afraid to look too closely—from this angle, he could catch a glimpse of the safety shorts beneath her short skirt. Even with the safety shorts, those long, fair legs were equally dazzling.

"Yo, little Yuhao is growing up," Ma Xiaotao teased. "Recruiting so many people at once—did the Holy Fire Cult give you a quota?"

"Not exactly," Huo Yuhao said earnestly. "It’s just that the classmates' physical foundations are too weak. I want to teach them the Yi Jin Jing, and that requires them to join the cult."

A question mark slowly appeared over Ma Xiaotao’s head.

Wasn't it because she had extraordinary talent that she was able to learn the Yi Jin Jing upon joining? Could this thing really be distributed like wholesale goods?

"Are you sure it can be spread so widely?" Ma Xiaotao confirmed again.

"Yeah, that's right!" Huo Yuhao affirmed. "I’ve already received Brother Lan’s... permission."

"Brother Lan?" Ma Xiaotao seized on the key detail. "Is that your superior who brought you into the Holy Fire Cult? Has he been to Shrek Academy? Did he mention wanting to meet me?"

Huo Yuhao wanted to kick himself—why had he let that slip so quickly? Just as he was searching for an excuse:

"Agree to her," Zhuge Lan said. "Tell her that in the next few days, I will have you summon her, and you can leave her with direct contact information."

Huo Yuhao relayed the message exactly as instructed. Ma Xiaotao pulled out a fiery red stone.

"Inject your soul power into this and throw it into the sky. I’ll be there within three minutes." She paused. "As for your plan to spread the Yi Jin Jing, I'll go ask my teacher."

"Anything else?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head.

Ma Xiaotao turned and flew away. Only when she was far off did Huo Yuhao dare to lift his head. He packed away the Diamond Arhat Fruits, but before he had walked many steps, he was intercepted by Zhou Yi.

"You don't need to come to class for the next few days..."

"Ah? Why?" Huo Yuhao asked anxiously. "Did I do something wrong? I can fix it!"

Zhou Yi really hadn't expected Huo Yuhao to react so strongly.

"Don't worry, you haven't done anything wrong."

"I’m telling you this so you can absorb the soul bone Ma Xiaotao gave you first."

"By the way, tell Wang Dong he doesn't need to come either. Since you two have fused soul power, it can help accelerate your absorption and improve your compatibility."

Huo Yuhao exhaled in relief, but then he frowned again. "Teacher Zhou, this soul bone is..."

"Rest assured and absorb it; there won't be any problems," Zhou Yi guaranteed. "Come find me once you’ve finished absorbing it. I have a surprise for you."

Huo Yuhao still felt uneasy. After all, this was a soul bone! And a 50,000-year-old head bone at that—incredibly precious! To just absorb it like this...

Seeing his hesitation, Zhou Yi immediately straightened her face. "What? You won't even listen to your teacher's words?"

"It’s not that..."

"I told you to go back and absorb it, so go back and absorb it. Do you think your teacher would harm you?" Zhou Yi lectured. "Caution is a good thing, but you cannot lose the ability to make a decisive choice when the time comes!"

Seeing Zhou Yi’s firm attitude, Huo Yuhao had to swallow his worries.

"I understand, Teacher Zhou..."

"Good. Go."

"Oh, by the way, Teacher Zhou, I’ve already spoken to Sister Xiaotao about the cultivation technique."

"Understood."

After bidding farewell to Zhou Yi, Huo Yuhao turned toward the dormitory, still conflicted in his mental world.

"Brother Lan, Brother Skydream..."

"Keep it inside," Zhuge Lan cut him off. "Do you know how much Luck Value it costs me to manifest a 50,000-year-old soul bone?"

"This... 100,000?" Huo Yuhao ventured a bold guess.

"It's 50,000 Luck Value." Zhuge Lan opened his palm. "One point of Luck Value represents one year of age. It can be used to create soul bones and soul rings equally. So, if this Bi-Spirit Phantom Pupil skull is absorbed, let it be. If that Yan Shaozhe actually dares to come and demand it back, I’ll just give him a new one."

Huo Yuhao’s mouth hung open.

Ah? Was it really that little? He knew that when he and Zhuge Lan awakened their spiritual consciousness, it had cost a total of 200,000 Luck Value. Did that not mean...

"Little Yuhao, you don't think 50,000 Luck Value is a small amount, do you?" the Skydream Iceworm slanted his eyes at him. "The Yi Jin Jing that changed both your and Ma Xiaotao’s fates was only worth 5,000 Luck Value."

Huo Yuhao massaged his temples. That’s right! The first stage of the Yi Jin Jing was only 5,000 Luck Value. His current balance was barely over 2,000. Why had he thought 50,000 was simple? It was because the recent influx of large amounts of Luck Value had made him complacent...

"I understand," Huo Yuhao said earnestly. He exited his mental world and activated his Spiritual Detection to head toward the dormitory.

"Don't just spread your spiritual power out evenly like a fool," Zhuge Lan instructed. "Spiritual consciousness itself has a built-in scan. Combining it with soul skills is like adding wings to a tiger. Narrow it down into a fan or a single-line scan to increase your range and intensity."

Huo Yuhao obeyed. He discovered that once he narrowed his focus, his detectable radius instantly surged tenfold, shooting past two hundred meters.

"Eh?"