Huo Yuhao from The Peerless Tang Sect is incredibly talented.

Evening, at the entrance of Shrek Academy.

After receiving a message from Tang Ya, Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao practiced until evening before gathering together. Huo Yuhao gave Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao some pointers before leaving to set up a food stall at the school gate.

As Tang Ya came out of the academy to pick up her package from Tian Dou City, she saw Huo Yuhao placing a plate of braised pork on top of rice and handing it to the students in line, casually asking, "Has anything been happening outside the city lately?"

The student replied, "Hey, let me tell you, a bunch of rich guys have recently come to the outskirts of the city. They're incredibly generous. They don't care about high-age spirit beasts, they only want low-age ones. Junior, if you're really short on money, you can go to the outer reaches of Star Dou and catch a few ten-year spirit beasts. If you catch one or two, you'll have enough for your tuition this year. You can't earn as much as you do selling a hundred or eighty bowls of food by catching a ten-year spirit beast."

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao nodded and replied with a smile, "Senior, I'll give it a try when I have time."

The senior nodded, then picked up his rice bowl and walked to the table set up by Huo Yuhao to start eating.

"Not smiling?" Tang Ya approached the stall, leaning against a tree trunk with her arms crossed. Her gaze swept back and forth between the steaming iron pot and her face, her expression subtle. "Why are you still selling food here?"

"Serving food." Huo Yuhao didn't even look up, his iron ladle swirling in the pot. "Green pepper and shredded pork rice bowl, ten copper soul coins a serving. Tang Ya, would you like one?"

"That's not what I was asking." Tang Ya rubbed her temples, looking like she didn't know where to begin complaining.

"I mean—with your strength, you're a hundred-win in the Arena, yet you're setting up a stall selling rice bowls at the school gate?" She lowered her voice, but the confusion in her tone was almost overflowing. "Are you short of money? Didn't I post in the group that the mutual aid society's supplies arrived today? You're still a poor student, so just focus on training. Don't worry about resources; the mutual aid society will take care of everything."

"Although I come from a poor background, with my achievements in Tiandou City, I'm not short of money if I tutor those noble children for a few lessons," Huo Yuhao said in a low voice. "I'm short of intelligence."

To maintain this identity, Huo Buxiao actually did this, and even sent most of the money he earned back to his village.

The purpose was to make a better impression on Moon when Moon conducted the background check after they came into his sight.

"Intelligence?" Tang Ya blinked.

"The school gate is where Shrek Academy has the highest flow of people. Students from various departments, lecturers from other academies, and even occasionally senior students from the inner academies pass by and stop for a hot meal." Huo Yuhao tapped the edge of the pot with an iron spoon, making a crisp sound. "When they sit down to eat, they talk about the dynamics of the Soul Arena, unintentionally revealing a lot of information."

Tang Ya was silent for two seconds, then her lips twitched slightly: "Are you... really that serious?"

"When a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses its full strength."

"Weakness is not an obstacle to survival; arrogance is. The more information you have, the less likely you are to capsize—I have proven this principle in every single one of the hundred matches I won in the Heaven Dou City Arena."

Tang Ya opened her mouth, wanting to say something in rebuttal. She wanted to say, "You're just a twelve-year-old student, where do you get all this old-fashioned wisdom?"

But looking into Huo Yuhao's calm eyes, which were unlike those of someone his age, he swallowed back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

The children of the poor are in charge early.

She remembered what Beibei had said: this kid's hundred wins weren't achieved through fighting, but through calculation—before each match, he spent far more time gathering intelligence on his opponents than on the actual battle itself.

Just then, a figure emerged from the street corner at the academy gate and silently landed in front of the stall. The person was a young man in his early twenties, with a slender build.

He carried a flat metal letter box on his back, the box sealed tightly with a soul-guided lock, and the miniature magic circle in the center of the lock was still slowly rotating.

"Tian Dou City Official Post Station, urgent delivery." The young man's voice was crisp and clear. His gaze swept over the stall, and he called out loudly, "Ms. Tang Ya?"

"It's me." Tang Ya stepped forward.

The young man untied the metal mailbox from his back with one hand and handed it to Tang Ya.

Tang Ya knew the rules of the Heavenly Dou City Mutual Aid Association for donating resources, so she stretched out her hand and released a wisp of soul power.

After all, to become the president of a mutual aid association, one must not only be from Tiandou City, but also pass an examination.

The mutual aid association's material transportation and receipt are handled by personnel organized by the Tiandou City Lord's Mansion, in addition to sending the delivery address to the virtual realm.

The local mutual aid association president must be present in person to receive the goods and hand them over; no one else may take them on his behalf. The goods must be stored at a designated location.

As for how to confirm the identity, the Heavenly Dou City side collects the soul power of the local mutual aid association president during the Heavenly Dou City training, and then has the Void Realm verify the identity by checking the characteristics of the soul power.

Even if the person's strength breaks through or their martial soul mutates, causing a drastic change in their soul power characteristics, the Heaven Dou City can still use the Void Realm to determine whether it is the person in question through their soul power characteristics.

As Tang Ya inputted her soul power, the miniature magic array unlocked.

With a click, a small box was revealed.

"Yes, it's definitely her." The deliveryman nodded, handed the package to Tang Ya, and ran off.

The speed was so fast that even Tang Ya could only catch a fleeting afterimage.

In addition to the supplies for Shrek Academy's mutual aid society, the deliveryman also had supplies to deliver to several other mutual aid societies in other locations.

After receiving the package, Tang Ya smiled slightly, looked at Huo Yuhao, and waved the small box in her hand: "Come to the meeting as soon as you're done packing. I've sent the address to the group chat. You're the teacher today, after all."

Huo Yuhao nodded.

The small box is actually a small space teleportation array base, used to send supplies from Tiandou City to mutual aid associations in various places.

meeting room.

Huo Yuhao glanced around; by this time, all the members of the mutual aid society had already arrived in the conference room.

The meeting room was borrowed by Beibei through connections.

After scanning everyone, Huo Yuhao walked to the front of the long table and took out three things from his pocket: a piece of dry, cracked black bread, a copper soul coin, and a simple map of the villages and towns surrounding Shrek City.

He hung the map on the wall, placed the bread and copper soul coins on the table, then turned around and scanned everyone present.

Everyone present felt a strange sense of pressure.

offstage.

Tang Ya whispered to Bei Bei, "Hey, Bei Bei, don't you feel that her aura when she's not smiling is so similar to that of the teachers in Tian Dou City?"

The newly built schools and newly opened subject teachers in Tiandou City are all teachers of extraordinary wisdom, who personally educate students by projecting their teachings through the virtual realm, creating countless projections.

Beibei looked very weak and said weakly, "It does look a bit like him, but it's normal. After all, given Buxiao's background, the highest level of teacher he could imitate is probably the City Lord of Tiandou City."

The projection of the world-shaking wisdom revealed Huo Yuhao's true appearance.

On stage, Huo Yuhao began his speech.

"I won't talk about anything today. I'd like to ask everyone a question: What is the meaning of the mutual aid association? President Tang Ya and Senior Bei Bei, please don't say anything yet. I want to hear everyone's opinions."

Xu Sanshi, who was sitting in the corner, spoke first.

"I think the mutual aid association is essentially Heaven Dou City recruiting people. But to be precise, it's the Heavenly Soul Empire behind Heaven Dou City that's recruiting people. Giving out scholarships, running mutual aid associations, and providing resources to impoverished students are, to put it bluntly, exchanging resources for talent."

Xu Sanshi, after all, came from a prominent family and had a broad perspective. He saw through Tian Dou City's idea of ​​recruiting poor soul masters at a glance.

As soon as he finished speaking, Jiang Nannan, who was sitting far away from him, frowned.

Her voice wasn't loud, but her tone was firm: "Xu Sanshi, what you're saying is too harsh. The Mutual Aid Association is Tiandou City spending real money to help people. Have you ever seen a place that's purely trying to recruit people, and the tasks they give you involve helping even commoners without soul power?"

"Huo Yuhao, the city lord of Tiandou City, is a good person."

After joining the mutual aid association, Jiang Nannan checked the association's regular missions, but the missions indicated that the equipment had not yet been delivered and that she should wait to start them.

"A good person?" A male member who joined the mutual aid group offered a completely new perspective.

"Jiang Nannan, you're oversimplifying things. The City Lord of Tiandou City went to such great lengths to establish this mutual aid system, just because he's a good person? Do you think this is a fairy tale?"

This man came from a wealthy merchant family, and his family had taken him to deal with city lords and nobles quite often.

He scoffed at Jiang Nannan's opinion, thinking it was laughable. How could someone of commoner origin understand the city lord as well as I do?

"Have you ever considered this possibility—that the Lord of Heavenly Dou City intends to emulate the ancient sages, gather faith, create his own divine position, and attain godhood?"

"If a city lord doesn't think about how to expand his territory and increase tax revenue, but instead throws money at the common people, I simply don't believe he doesn't have some bigger scheme in mind!"

These words immediately caused an uproar in the conference room.

"Becoming a god? That's way too far-fetched!"

"But think about it carefully, there are indeed similar precedents in the legends. Didn't the first Sea God become a god by collecting faith?"

"Legend? What's the credibility of that?"

"Hiss, but if he really is a god, is he undergoing a divine test? Don't forget that miracles have occurred in Heaven Dou City."

Upon hearing this, everyone stopped arguing.

That seems to make some sense, since miracles have indeed occurred in Tiandou City.

"Alright, let me speak. After all, none of you have investigated Tiandou City, so let me tell you."

Huo Yuhao spoke up.

"Long ago, there was a story. There were four blind men who had never seen an elephant. One day, someone brought an elephant to them and let them touch it. The first blind man touched the elephant's leg and said it looked like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant's ear and said no, the elephant looked like a big fan. The third blind man touched the elephant's belly and said you were all wrong, the elephant looked like a wall. The fourth blind man touched the elephant's tail and said you three were all talking nonsense, the elephant was just a rope."

Huo Yuhao paused, picked up the water glass on the table, took a sip, and then continued speaking.

"The four men were arguing fiercely, each convinced that the part they touched was the whole elephant. But in reality, they were all touching the elephant—just different parts of it."

Huo Yuhao's gaze swept across everyone's faces.

"Xu Sanshi, you said the Mutual Aid Association is Heaven Dou City recruiting people. Is that right? Yes. Heaven Dou City is indeed recruiting people, but not in the traditional sense of exchanging resources for combat power."

"The establishment of the Mutual Aid Association in Tiandou City is not only aimed at you, but also at using you to integrate the scattered forces that were originally scattered across the continent, monopolized by major families, and ignored by traditional sects through a sound system."

"What are these scattered forces? They are craftsmen among the common people, low-level Soul Masters who have lost their way due to lack of resources, and potential talents buried because they lack the ability to awaken their Martial Soul. The Mutual Aid Association is the first hand that Heaven Dou City extends to these places."

"The establishment of the mutual aid association in Tiandou City is an investment in the future."

Xu Sanshi said, "No, where in this world would there be someone who hasn't awakened their martial spirit?"

Upon hearing this, everyone except Bei Bei, Tang Ya, and Huo Yuhao echoed his sentiments.

"Yes, is there anyone in this world who hasn't had their martial soul awakened?"

"You're kidding, there are still people who haven't awakened their martial soul."

Huo Yuhao remained silent. The world's diversity was on full display, reminding him of the diversity beyond the heavens.

The story begins abruptly on Zhihu, with the protagonist not even reaching the level of a poverty alleviation recipient. At the same age, one dreams of owning a new pair of shoes, while the other dreams of buying a large airplane.

Alas, no one is created equal.

Even Jiang Nannan was shocked by these people.

After all, Jiang Nannan was born under the rule of the Xuanming Sect, and the Xuanming Sect had special needs, which is why it allowed the commoners under its jurisdiction to awaken their martial souls.

Otherwise, other forces with innate level seven or eight soul power are basically high-level, and even though the Xuanming Sect is powerful, it can't afford to pay that price to have the ritual performed for them.

After everyone finished discussing, Huo Yuhao spoke up: "Hey, it's normal that you guys who came to Shrek Academy don't understand life at the bottom, but I can tell you that these things really exist, and you'll find out in a bit."

"Jiang Nannan said that the City Lord of Tiandou City is a good person. That's true."

"As for the claim that the Lord of Tiandou City wants to emulate the ancient sages, collect faith, and create his own divine position—is that right? To some extent, yes."

"But his desires go beyond that."

"It's the old method of gathering faith by making people kneel and pray. But what the Lord of Tiandou City does is not about making anyone kneel before him. Since you joined the mutual aid association, has anyone asked you to bow in the direction of Tiandou City every day? Has anyone asked you to recite prayers praising the Lord? No. What he does is not to collect faith, but to build trust among the masses."

Huo Yuhao's tone rose slightly, as if he had suddenly become excited about something interesting.

"A commoner trusts that the school in Heaven Dou City can teach his child to read, a low-level Soul Master trusts that the Mutual Aid Association can provide subsidies and security, and a hunter in a remote village trusts that the caravans in Heaven Dou City will trade fairly. This trust is stronger than faith. Faith may make people grateful for a moment, but this trust will connect millions of people. The direction of all living beings is so great that even the gods tremble before it."

"Each of you has only touched a part of the elephant," Huo Yuhao lowered his voice, as if making a summary. "Xu Sanshi has touched the methods, Jiang Nannan has touched the original intention, and he has touched the far-reaching destination. But looking at any one part alone, it is not the complete elephant. The City Lord of Tiandou City's plan is far more than what you have seen so far."

Xiao Xiao raised her hand, her green eyes full of curiosity: "Huo Yuhao, where did you get all this knowledge from? The story of the blind men and the elephant you just told me—I've never even heard of that story before. Do the schools in Tiandou City teach that?"

Huo Yuhao glanced at her, a faint smile appearing on his lips.

“You all have the answer,” he said, “you just haven’t turned to that page.”

"Come, I'll teach you."