w.a.n.g Qiu"er!
Huo Yuhao could vividly remember that the handkerchief was embroidered with those three words.
Can it be that she is… He didn"t hesitate any longer as he applied strength beneath his feet. His body flickered as he pursued the shadow in the distance – this young girl was heading towards Shrek City, wasn"t she?
The young girl was extremely quick, as if she were a startled little bird. Huo Yuhao had been momentarily stunned before this, and now could only barely see the young girl"s silhouette in the distance.
She"s so fast – she must be a five-ringed Soul King, at least. She might be a six-ringed Soul Emperor.
w.a.n.g Qiu"er? w.a.n.g Dong! Can she be the twin sister that w.a.n.g Dong spoke of?
Huo Yuhao wasn"t slow, but there was still a bit of anxiety in his heart, as he wasn"t sure if he should just chase her like that. He knew who she was, but she didn"t know him – wouldn"t that be a little brash?
However, he could clearly feel the palpitations in his heart after just one glance at her elegance and gracefulness. This feeling was identical to when he had first used the Raiment of Light with w.a.n.g Dong, and he had seen the G.o.ddess of Light.
w.a.n.g Dong didn"t lie to me – his sister actually looks identical to the G.o.ddess of Light! Too beautiful, simply too beautiful! I can"t give up. It should be alright to at least catch up to her and ask her if she"s w.a.n.g Dong sister. It won"t be so brash, given my relationship with w.a.n.g Dong...
Huo Yuhao convinced himself with that, and gave all he had in this pursuit, with no further hesitation on his part.
The distance between Shrek Academy"s gate and Shrek City"s gate wasn"t that far, and it took a lot of effort for him to close the distance between himself and her shadow. She slowed down and entered the city.
Huo Yuhao arrived at the gate ten seconds later, and had no choice but to slow down here. This was Shrek Academy"s territory, but most of the people that lived here were ultimately normal citizens, and travelling with the speed of a Soul King was inappropriate.
He stepped briskly into Shrek City. Throngs of people flooded the streets, and life was bustling as usual. He looked around, but could no longer see the girl anymore.
Huo Yuhao"s forehead creased. Even if he activated his Spiritual Detection within the throngs of people, it would be difficult to find just one person in the crowd, as his Spiritual Detection was not normal vision. He couldn"t see faces through Spiritual Detection, and he hadn"t locked onto the girl"s aura before this.
Huo Yuhao scratched his head, and felt extremely frustrated and disappointed – perhaps they just weren"t fated. However, he wasn"t that dejected, as he was about to see his buddies very soon.
More than two years had gone by, and he didn"t know how everyone was doing now. I wonder if eldest senior brother and third senior brother are alright? And fourth senior sister, fifth senior sister. Is w.a.n.g Dong at the academy, or at the Tang Sect? I"ll return to the Tang Sect before anything else.
He retrieved a map from his Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges. Bei Bei had given it to him, and there were detailed directions to the Tang Sect within Shrek City drawn on it.
The Tang Sect took up quite a lot of s.p.a.ce. Even though they were in a relatively isolated area inside the city, Shrek City"s land was extremely valuable, and the fact that they could own a patch of land like that represented the academy"s special treatment towards them.
He lengthened his strides and wove his way through the city. He hadn"t been back here for a long time, and Shrek City appeared as thriving and flourishing as it had always been. There were many people walking around in the city, and the shops and stores by the street seemed exceptionally popular. Shrek City was an important trade center within the Douluo Continent, and Shrek City"s prosperity had always been Shrek Academy"s most important source of wealth. Otherwise, how could Shrek Academy support the Soul Tool Department"s research?
---
Huo Yuhao was moving towards the Tang Sect while a pair of pretty eyes gazed at him from a shop not too far away. This pair of eyes watched him as he disappeared at the end of the street, before the person stepped out from the shop.
She patted herself on her firm and supple chest, as if she were congratulating herself on avoiding him successfully. The young girl"s eyes flowed with mysterious amus.e.m.e.nt as she walked towards another street.
---
This would be Huo Yuhao"s first time at the Tang Sect, and he could only follow the lines on the map, so he wasted a lot of time looking for it. It took an entire hour before Huo Yuhao found the Tang Sect.
He could see the Tang Sect"s outer walls in the distance. The vermilion walls were more than twenty feet tall, and they extended at least a hundred meters down the street.
The Tang Sect"s main gate was thirty feet tall. There was a giant inscribed board hanging from the top, with “Tang Sect” stamped boldly upon it. When Huo Yuhao saw the signature beneath the inscribed board, his emotions surged, and a wave of sentiment washed over him.
Mu En!
Elder Mu was actually the one that had written these two words before he pa.s.sed. Huo Yuhao reminisced about Elder Mu when he saw these two words, and he thought about another teacher that had just pa.s.sed away as deep grief and sorrow welled up in his eyes.
“Teacher,” he whispered under his breath, and Huo Yuhao"s body quivered faintly.
At this moment, the Tang Sect"s main gate opened, and a woman stepped out to face Huo Yuhao directly.
“Na Na?” Huo Yuhao exclaimed in pleasant surprise as he saw this person. The young girl before him was the girl he had saved from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, the girl with a Spectre martial soul, Na Na!
Na Na was also pleasantly surprised when she saw him, and she took two quick steps forward and went down on one knee. “Master!”
Huo Yuhao was astonished, and swiftly stepped to one side so he could avoid her greeting. “What are you doing, Na Na? Get up!”
Na Na refused to get up, and she shook her head vigorously as the rims of her eyes began to turn red.
Huo Yuhao took a step forward as he grabbed her arm and brought her to her feet. “Are you alright, Na Na? Don"t cry!”
Na Na wiped the trickling tears from her face, and gazed deep into Huo Yuhao"s eyes as she said, “I will never forget how you remade me, and how you"ve given me another life. I only discovered what happiness is when I came to the Tang Sect. Master, you helped my parents" spirits rest in peace, and you"ve given me a whole new life. I will be your servant and your slave for the rest of my life to repay you for your grace.”
Na Na"s complexion seemed a lot better than the last time. Her pale skin was tinged with rosy hues, and her body was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with youthful vitality, while her mental state was also drastically different from before.
Huo Yuhao realized what was going on, and he chuckled as he said, “I thought you weren"t happy at the Tang Sect when I saw you cry. Don"t talk about grace and whatnot in the future, alright? You"re actually older than me by a little bit, so you can just address me by my name and I will do the same. You"re a part of the Tang Sect now, and that means we"re friends.”
“How can I do that?” Na Na rejected him decisively, and said, “A servant must respect her master, how can I address my master by his name? I will honor the things that I"ve said. You"re not trying to test me now, are you, master?”
Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and said, “You think too much, Na Na. Listen to me – if you insist on seeing me as your master, that means you will never forget the past. If that"s the case, then you can never be truly happy. Do you understand? I did not help you out back then because I wanted you to be my servant. I helped you because I truly wanted to help someone whose background and life experience were similar to mine! My childhood experiences are similar to yours, I"ve also lost my beloved mother. Our lives are connected, so how can I be your master? Forget what happened – since this is a new beginning, it"s better that you forget about the past! You have joined the Tang Sect, and you have contributed to building it up once more, and that"s already the best you can do for me!”
Na Na wanted to say something else, but she caught Huo Yuhao"s determined eyes and swallowed her words.
“Master…”
“Eh? You"re still calling me that?” Huo Yuhao pulled a long face.
“Yuhao,” Na Na said awkwardly.
Huo Yuhao laughed and said, “That"s more like it. Are you off for some official business? You should go ahead and do your thing. Are my senior brothers and sisters around?”
Na Na nodded and replied, “Mister Bei is here. You should go inside, sir.”
“You don"t have to call me sir!” Huo Yuhao reminded Na Na again and waved goodbye to her before he quickly stepped into the Tang Sect. He was just too eager to meet his buddies.
A sweet smile flashed across Na Na"s face as she walked through the gate. She mumbled under her breath, “You don"t want me to call you that, then I"ll just call you that in my heart. I have recognized you as my master, then you shall be my master. This is something that will never change. You can"t take it away from me.”
She turned around and departed happily after she spoke.
Huo Yuhao didn"t see a sprawling courtyard when he stepped in. The front courtyard was small, and there were rooms on both sides. They were unornamented, and there wasn"t much decoration; the feel of everything was quite different from what he saw outside. Most of the s.p.a.ce was used to build rooms.
Two white-shirted youths came forward when he walked in and blocked his path.
One of the youths, who was about twenty years of age, asked, “What do you want?”
Huo Yuhao chortled and said, “I want to come home.”
“Come home?” The youth was momentarily stunned.
Huo Yuhao replied, “My name is Huo Yuhao, and I"m also a part of our Tang Sect. Bei Bei is my eldest senior brother. Is he around?”
The two white-shirted youths were both pleasantly surprised when they heard his words. The youth that spoke before this said, “So you"re our sixth senior brother! Eldest senior brother is here – let me take you inside.”
Huo Yuhao said humbly, “I"m not as old as you guys are, you don"t have to call me senior brother. Just address me by my name.”
The youth chuckled and said, “It doesn"t work that way, sixth senior brother. Eldest senior brother says we have to follow the chronological hierarchy of seniority after joining the sect. Furthermore, we are only disciples in name, and we will only become official disciples after pa.s.sing the sect"s a.s.sessment.”
Huo Yuhao felt a tingling in his heart. It seems like eldest senior brother has established rules within the sect! That"s a good thing. He didn"t say anything else, and followed the young man into a second courtyard.