Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao who returned from Sekiro

Chapter 177 Jing Hongchen has arrived too? (Daily 10,000 words)

To Huo Yuhao's surprise, Xilu Town, a small town with a small area, had actually set aside a fairly large space specifically for Soul Masters to dock their airships.

"Surprised? You'll understand once you attend more academic conferences. Soul-guided airships are the favorites of top-tier soul masters. High-level airships have almost no war significance; they're slow, large targets, and have no use other than comfort."

"But that's precisely why having the money to maintain an airship truly demonstrates strength and depth."

Huo Yuhao nodded thoughtfully. Ning Ge's words made a lot of sense. Putting everything else aside, Huo Yuhao still remembered the snap of Ning Ge's fingers when he boarded the airship. With just one snap, waiters brought over all kinds of drinks. An airship, including cleaning staff, waiters, chefs, and the power supply team, would need at least two hundred people.

Even without considering other costs, just maintaining these people every day is a considerable expense, not to mention the maintenance costs of the airship, which is the real bulk of the expense.

In the entire Shrek Academy, there is probably only one giant airship, which is used specifically to show off. It is usually kept in the hands of Elder Song's Treasure Pavilion, which helps the Treasure Pavilion to show off its status and also helps to share some of the maintenance costs.

Airships, these soul-guided devices, cannot be built at will. Every faction that wants to build an airship must first pass the review of the four nations' aviation authorities and be assessed for a series of qualifications.

This thing has a truly impressive carrying capacity for transport. If an airship of unknown type and not on the record list appears in the skies above the Empire, the Empire can shoot it down directly after issuing three advance warnings.

But it is precisely because of this that airships are so favored by top-tier Soul Masters. Soul Masters are also human, and as such, they naturally have vanity. The idea of ​​having what others don't have works not only among ordinary people, but also among Soul Masters.

As soon as Huo Yuhao stepped off the airship, he turned his head and saw an airship of similar size to Elder Song's "Qingying" airship slowly come to a stop and land at the docking point. Although the two airships were not close, Huo Yuhao had better eyesight and could see them clearly even from a distance.

In his view, a young girl cheered and then jumped off the boat.

The girl had a beautiful face and looked to be about the same age as Jiang Nannan and Tang Ya. Her long hair was an unusual wine red, darker than Ma Xiaotao's hair color, like a fine wine, shimmering with a faint luster, and she had a pair of blue eyes.

The moment she landed on the ground, the girl activated her martial soul. Her originally wine-red hair turned snow-white, and her originally ice-blue eyes turned blood-red in an instant. A phantom ice toad with red eyes appeared behind the girl.

With the help of her martial soul power, she landed lightly, and the girl's martial soul phantom quickly dissipated. Her eyes, which had turned blood red, turned back to blue, and her hair color also returned to normal, which amazed Huo Yuhao.

He had never actually seen a girl's martial spirit before, not even in textbooks, but fortunately, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm was awake at this moment and spoke:

"Her martial soul is the Crimson Ice Toad, a highly poisonous ice-attribute soul beast. In the far north, it is known as the king of the crevices. Its greatest strength lies in its own poison, which is cultivated by absorbing the coldest energy of heaven and earth."

"Although this kind of soul beast is entirely ice-attribute, its eyes are fire-attribute. It is not very adapted to the extreme cold, so when you really go deep into the far north, you can't find any trace of this kind of soul beast. The poison it produces is also generated by alternating between its own ice and fire abilities."

Upon hearing Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's explanation, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but feel amazed. Its eyes were a fire-attribute ice-attribute martial soul?

Just then, the soul-guided telescopic ladder on the airship finally unfolded, and a handsome man stepped down. The man had a faint air of pride and confidence on his face, and his snow-white hair danced in the wind, just like its owner. His eyes were different colors, which reminded Huo Yuhao of the evil eyes of the White Tiger lineage.

"Jump, jump, all you do is jump. You'll only behave when you hurt your leg."

A slightly indulgent scolding voice rang out as the man stepped down the escalator, stroking the girl's wine-red hair with a hint of helplessness.

Then Huo Yuhao shifted his gaze to the top of the retractable ladder, where a thin old man wearing a long robe slowly walked out of the cabin.

The old man was tall and thin, but in good spirits. When he got off the boat, he looked around and even nodded at Huo Yuhao when he saw Huo Yuhao looking in their direction.

"Grandpa Jing actually brought his two grandchildren. It seems that the Sun and Moon Sect has indeed gotten wind of this. Otherwise, this pillar of strength shouldn't have come in person."

Ning Ge also came out and, after seeing the giant airship of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Guidance Academy, said with some emotion.

"Is that old man Jing Hongchen?"

Huo Yuhao was somewhat surprised. As a Soul Master, how could he not have heard of Jing Hongchen's great name? A renowned Level 9 Soul Master, Dean of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, and Head of the Mingde Hall, his specialty was instantaneous activated defensive Soul Tools, making him the absolute leader in this field.

"Yes," Ning Ge nodded, "The young man next to him is his grandson Xiao Hongchen, and the young girl is his granddaughter Meng Hongchen. These two are among the most promising young people in the field of Soul Masters. The reason they cannot be considered leading figures is simply because they are still a bit too young."

"If these two were four or five years older and reached the Soul King level, their Soul Guidance talent would truly be considered the leading figures among the young Soul Guidance experts of the four countries. Even Cai Tou and I might not be able to compare to them. It's up to you, Yu Hao."

Huo Yuhao was taken aback by Ning Ge's words. Why did he always seem to have an extra burden on his shoulders for no apparent reason?

Seeing Huo Yuhao standing there, looking a little dazed, Ning Ge laughed and patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder: "The report meeting doesn't start until the day after tomorrow. We can take a few more days to explore this area and enjoy ourselves."

At first, Huo Yuhao didn't quite understand Ning Ge's meaning. It wasn't until the two of them followed Qian Duoduo into the luxury hotel in Xilu Town, which was specially prepared for the Soul Masters attending the academic conference, that Huo Yuhao barely understood Ning Ge's meaning.

Why would such a remote border town have such a luxurious hotel?

While eating the buffet mainly consisting of fruit and grilled meat, Huo Yuhao's head was still a little dizzy.

After taking a few sips of seafood cream soup, Ning Ge shrugged.

"The academic conferences held in Xilu Town every April and May are among the most prestigious academic conferences, but that doesn't mean that Xilu Town won't hold other conferences outside of April and May. Soul Masters are not short of money. At least for Soul Master research, the money spent on improving their quality of life is just a small amount."

Ning Ge patiently explained to Huo Yuhao, "But what's just a small amount of money for a Soul Master is a huge fortune for an ordinary person. That's why they're willing to build a luxury hotel in such a remote town, isn't it?"

(End of this chapter)