Douluo Continent: The Peerless Hunting Heavenly Lord, Huo Yuhao!

Qian Duoduo watched Yan Shaozhe's retreating figure, grinning from ear to ear. She turned to Huo Yuhao and winked, "Kid, it's time to get down to business."

"Okay, thank you, teacher." Huo Yuhao's pale face broke into a bright smile as he stepped forward and walked to the very front of the awards stage.

His gaze swept over the thousands of students below the stage, and his clear voice, amplified by his soul power, resounded throughout the entire plaza:

"Hello everyone, Shrek Academy students, I am Huo Yuhao."

"Today, I am here to formally extend an invitation to all students of the college—the Lionheart Society is officially recruiting!"

"The Lionheart Society only accepts students who are of good character, have a moral compass, and are willing to do their part to protect the continent and eradicate evil soul masters. Here, we can cultivate together, research soul tools together, and forge our own path together at Shrek Academy."

"I await your arrival at the Lionheart Society."

After he finished speaking, there was a three-second silence in the audience, followed by an even louder cheer than before!

The freshman champion, who defied the dean's refusal to accept a core disciple, a direct disciple of the Soul Guidance Department, whose guiding principle is to eradicate evil soul masters.

These labels, when put together, instantly ignited the enthusiasm of all the new students!

On the awards stage, Huo Yuhao looked at the jubilant crowd below, with Gu Yue and Ning Tian standing beside him. Facing the rising sun, his eyes were full of light.

The Lionheart Society has taken its first step.

But his legend has only just begun.

……

The Dean's Office is located on the top floor of the main teaching building of Shrek Academy.

The heavy sandalwood door was tightly shut, isolating it from all the noise of the outside world.

Sunlight streamed through the carved window lattice, falling on the walls covered with medals and ancient books. What should have been a solemn and dignified atmosphere was shattered by the raging anger raging inside.

Yan Shaozhe stood in front of his desk, took a deep breath, his chest heaving violently, trying to suppress the anger in his heart that was about to break through his reason.

But as soon as he closed his eyes, all he could see was Qian Duoduo's irritating smile, and the scene of Huo Yuhao and his two companions refusing the core disciple position in the Martial Soul Department in front of the entire academy and turning to join the Soul Guidance Department.

"boom!"

With a loud bang, his calloused hand slammed hard onto the hard rosewood desk.

The fine wood instantly cracked with a spiderweb-like pattern, causing the white jade teacup on the table to tremble and fly into the air, spilling scalding tea all over the table.

A shadow crept across his refined face, and anger surged in his eyes.

But a moment later, he suddenly chuckled, the laughter growing louder and louder, turning from a low murmur into a hearty laugh, but there was no warmth in his eyes, only a calculating cold light.

"Huo Yuhao, oh Huo Yuhao..." He murmured to himself, his fingertips tracing the table. "If it weren't for Xiao Tao's evil fire, which only your ultimate light could completely eradicate, you would be nothing more than an ant I could crush with a flick of my wrist. That old bastard Qian Duoduo really thought he had won just by snatching someone into the Soul Guidance Department?"

His eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had thought of a brilliant idea, and he clapped his hands and laughed: "Wait! Xiao Tao! That's right! How could I forget about that!"

"Qian Duoduo, you old fool, so what if he's your personal disciple? Huo Yuhao is still a young man, no matter how steady he is. I'll just put Xiao Tao next to him. With Xiao Tao's looks, talent, and the natural attraction of his extreme light to the Evil Fire Phoenix, I don't believe he won't be tempted!"

"Once he falls in love with Xiao Tao and becomes half one of my own in the Spirit Department, whether he goes to the Spirit Department or is completely at my mercy will be up to me. As for the Soul Guidance Department? Once he becomes my nephew-in-law, let's see if you, Qian Duoduo, will still be able to laugh!"

The more Yan Shaozhe thought about it, the more flawless the plan seemed. The gloom on his face vanished, and he put on his confident and refined smile again, as if he had never been the one who was furious just moments before.

……

Meanwhile, on the tree-lined path outside the teaching building.

Huo Yuhao was walking side by side with Gu Yue and Ning Tian, ​​preparing to go to the Soul Guidance Department to find Fan Yu and discuss the application for the Lionheart Society's activity venue.

Suddenly, he shivered for no reason, a chill running up his spine, as if he were being stared at by something with ill intentions, making him feel uneasy all over.

Chapter 23 Gift of Soul Bones

"What's wrong?" Gu Yue noticed his unusual behavior immediately. A hint of wariness flashed in her purple eyes, and she instinctively stepped in front of him. "Is someone following you?"

Ning Tian immediately stopped, his brows furrowed: "Is Dai Huabin's side unwilling to give up and is hiring someone to do something underhanded?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Huo Yuhao waved his hand with a smile, throwing the inexplicable chill to the back of his mind. He looked around and scanned the area within a hundred meters with his spiritual power, not even missing a fly. "I guess it was a bit chilly from the wind on the podium just now. Let's go, let's go to Teacher Fanyu's place first. If we don't solve the venue problem, the Lionheart Club can't keep recruiting students in the open in the square."

Huo Yuhao smiled, but a vague feeling of unease lingered in his heart.

With his Heavenly Eye's perception, he could detect even the slightest trace of a Title Douluo's spying. But the chill just now seemed more like a causal calculation than a direct spying.

He shook his head and didn't think about it anymore.

He'll meet force with force and water with earth. He even dared to refuse Yan Shaozhe's core disciple spot, so what else is there to be afraid of?

……

The next morning, the three of them were summoned to the dean's office by the academic affairs office, who said that the final prize for the freshman competition champion was to be awarded.

Pushing open the door, Yan Shaozhe was sitting behind his desk, a gentle and refined smile on his face, as if the person who had stormed off the awards stage a few days ago was not him at all.

He pointed to the sofa opposite him, gesturing for the three of them to sit down: "Sit down, Huo Yuhao, Gu Yue, Ning Tian. Congratulations on winning the overall championship of the freshman competition. You deserve it."

Huo Yuhao and the other two exchanged glances, then sat down without any sense of arrogance or servility.

Yan Shaozhe didn't beat around the bush. He took out a pure white jade box from his soul tool, placed it on the coffee table in front of the three of them, and pushed it over: "This is your team's championship core reward - a piece of the right arm bone of a thousand-year-old soft bone rabbit."

One sentence instantly silenced the three people who had been calm.

Huo Yuhao looked at the jade box, his lips twitching involuntarily, his eyes filled with undisguised disdain.

Ning Tian frowned, finding it impossible for the young master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School to be interested in this thing.

In the Douluo Continent, everyone knows that the Soft Bone Rabbit, a type of soul beast, has almost no outstanding features other than its tender meat, strong reproductive ability (it can give birth to more than a dozen offspring in one litter).

Its combat strength is weak. Even with a thousand years of cultivation, it can't defeat a hundred-year-old soul beast. Apart from being cute, it is useless.

If it weren't for Xiao Wu, the Soft Bone Douluo from the Shrek Seven Devils ten thousand years ago, who used the Soft Bone Rabbit as her martial soul and ascended to the God Realm with the Sea God, this clan would probably still be at the bottom of the soul beast world.

Even though the Soft Bone Douluo led his entire clan to victory, his glory lasted only a few decades.

Later, hunting Soft Bone Rabbits suddenly became a trend among Soul Masters across the entire continent, solely due to the three incredibly powerful Soul Skills of the Soft Bone Douluo.

Invincible Golden Body, Emptiness, Teleportation!

To be honest, these three skills are fucking overpowered!

The invincible golden body is immune to attacks, the void is immune to energy attacks, and the teleportation is a top-notch skill for pulling and saving lives. All of these are trump cards that can turn the tables on those of higher levels. No wonder all the soul masters on the continent are going crazy hunting the Soft Bone Rabbit, hoping to gamble on whether they can get one of these three skills.

"I know what you're thinking." Yan Shaozhe looked at the disgust on the three people's faces, but instead of getting angry, he laughed and reached out to open the jade box.

A soft pink glow emanated from the jade box, inside which lay a palm-sized, smooth, and rabbit-leg-shaped soul bone. Its soul power fluctuations were gentle yet pure, making it a standard thousand-year-old soul bone.

"Don't be so quick to dismiss it." Yan Shaozhe tapped the soul bone with his fingertip, his tone carrying a hint of barely perceptible pride, infatuation, and regret. "The soul skill attached to this Soft Bone Rabbit's right arm bone is Void. It is one of the three core soul skills that the Soft Bone Douluo relied on to make a name for himself and to establish great achievements for the Sea God Ancestor ten thousand years ago!"

"Unfortunately, the Soft Bone Rabbit that produced this soul bone only had a thousand-year cultivation, and its Void skill only lasted for three seconds. If it were a ten-thousand-year level, it would be completely immune to even the full-force attack of a Title Douluo."

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao and Ning Tian, ​​who had been looking disgusted, froze instantly, their pupils shrinking, their faces filled with disbelief.

Gu Yue also raised her eyebrows slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in her purple eyes.

Huo Yuhao was dumbfounded.

nothingness?!

He even doubted whether he had heard correctly!

It's important to know that over the past ten thousand years, there have been at least eight or ten thousand, if not a hundred thousand, soft-boned rabbits hunted. The chance of one of them possessing these three divine skills is extremely slim.

Especially Void, which is the rarest of the three skills!

A thousand years is a bit too short, lasting only three seconds.

Three seconds of invincibility and immunity is already an incredible life-saving trump card for Soul Masters of their level!

In a life-or-death duel, let alone three seconds, even one second can decide the outcome!

Huo Yuhao stared at the soul bone in the jade box, his mind still reeling.

He even began to doubt whether he had really wronged Yan Shaozhe.

In the original novel, what did the Spirit System give Huo Yuhao when he won the freshman championship?

A piece of the left leg bone of the Void Demon Leopard only adds a little speed and comes with a useless stealth skill; it's just a scrap.

But now, Yan Shaozhe is giving us the Soft Bone Rabbit Soul Bone, which comes with the Void skill! The value of these two is worlds apart!

"Dean, this..." Ning Tian was the first to come to his senses, his tone filled with disbelief.

As the young master of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School, she had seen countless rare and precious materials, but even within the sect, a rare soul bone of this level would be locked away as a core treasure and would never be easily given to a freshman.

Yan Shaozhe smiled and waved his hand, then took out a black animal skin bag from his soul tool and placed it next to the jade box: "This bag is made of the hide of a thousand-year-old Shadow Demon Rhinoceros. It can completely isolate the aura of the soul bone and prevent it from being coveted by others. I'm giving it to you. How the soul bone is distributed is a matter between your team. I won't interfere."

Huo Yuhao picked up the animal skin bag, and the moment his fingertips touched the leather, he sensed the concealment array attached to it; it was indeed a top-tier concealment item.

Looking at Yan Shaozhe's gentle and harmless smile, his doubts deepened.

Offering unsolicited favors is either a sign of malice or theft.

Just a few days ago, I was so angry that I stormed off because they joined the Soul Guidance Department, and today they're offering such a precious treasure as a reward?

What exactly is Yan Shaozhe up to?

Little did he know, Yan Shaozhe was secretly overjoyed as he watched him accept the soul bone.

It's just a thousand-year-old soul bone. No matter how rare its skills are, it's nothing compared to Ma Xiaotao's safety.

This small taste of success is just a long-term strategy to reel in bigger fish.

Once Huo Yuhao is completely bound to Ma Xiaotao, Yan Shaozhe will make Huo Yuhao return everything he's taken, with interest...