Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao who returned from Sekiro

Chapter 490 A Good Hand Was Played Wrong (Daily 10,000 words)

After lunch, Huo Yuhao took Wang Dong for an afternoon stroll around Mingdu, visiting several well-known tourist attractions.

In the evening, Huo Yuhao found an opportunity to call He Caitou out as well.

As members of the Shrek Seven Devils, the three were quite familiar with each other, so there was naturally no awkward situation.

During the meal, Wang Dong also discussed the changes at Shrek Academy over the past year.

"Everything went smoothly this year. It's worth mentioning that the Soul Guidance Department has developed very rapidly, and the changes in the Inner Academy have begun to gradually affect the Outer Academy."

"Many junior students, even those with less than strong soul power talent, have started thinking about cultivating soul tools in order to get higher scores in the inner court assessment and overtake others."

"However, this has made many students with extremely high soul power talent nervous. Although they keep saying that they would rather starve to death, die here, or jump off here than learn soul tools, they have secretly practiced all the combos."

"In short, the first to third year students in the Martial Soul Department mainly focus on Martial Soul cultivation, but once they reach the fourth year, everyone secretly starts learning about Soul Tools, and the students in the Soul Tool Department become highly sought after."

"After all, it's much cheaper for students in our academy's Soul Guidance Department to forge a complete set of Soul Guidance Devices for others than to buy them from outside."

"It can only be said that our academy's decision to treat students who use only martial spirits and those who use soul tools equally is truly a stroke of genius."

"Originally, a score of 600 was enough for the Martial Soul Department to qualify for the assessment. However, due to the emergence of Soul Tools, the admission score has been raised by more than 200 points. Many students can't do without learning Soul Tools, and it's difficult for them to advance to the next grade."

"Although the academy says it's 'we don't expect you to be able to build it, but you should at least know how to avoid getting yourself covered in blood when you press the switch,' everyone has clearly become much better at using soul tools after a year."

"Also, Dean Xian and Teacher Fan Yu both praised the integrated soul tool manufacturing table you sent back. With the blueprints you provided, our academy is already trying to replicate it on a small scale. However, due to the relationship between Jing Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, this matter is currently kept secret."

Upon hearing this, both Huo Yuhao and He Caitou smiled. Huo Yuhao was naturally smiling because Shrek Academy's foundation had been strengthened. As Mu En's last disciple, he would inevitably take over Shrek Academy in the future.

The stronger Shrek Academy's foundation, the greater the benefit to him. He drew all the recorded soul tools into blueprints and had Qian Duoduo send them back to Shrek's soul tool department. This move would at least allow Shrek's soul tool department to catch up with the gap of more than a hundred years.

The reason He Caitou was smiling was quite simple. As a true Soul Master, and a Soul Master who was about to break through to the seventh level, He Caitou was most pleased that Shrek Academy's Soul Guidance Department was developing. He kept smiling as he listened.

After eating for a while, He Caitou asked about the Tang Clan out of curiosity. Wang Dong relayed the story to He Caitou, who frowned deeply.

"Didn't I optimize the Tight-Backed Flower-Piercing Crossbow and the Stomp Silver Blade? These two soul tools are typical examples of being impossible to defend against. They can effectively compensate for the melee capabilities of a single type of soul master, or enhance long-range single-target firepower, right?"

"They... well, how should I put it, a little bit."

Wang Dong had a chopstick in his mouth, looked somewhat troubled, and spoke haltingly.

Under He Caitou's persistent questioning, Wang Dong finally said, "The Tang Clan is severely lacking in manpower. The framework of the Tang Clan has indeed been established, but the manpower is really scarce. Right now, the Tang Clan can only be considered an empty shell with a mere facade."

"The two Tang Sect soul tools that you made are very good, and the classmates are very curious about them. However, whether it is Beibei and Sister Xiaoya, or Brother Sanshi and Sister Nannan who later chose to join the Tang Sect, they are all quite interested."

"However, none of them are Soul Masters. They can only look at the blueprints and parameters you provided. Brother Beibei said that you have already put in a lot of effort, and we can't let you be responsible for the production of the Soul Tool after you have developed it, which would delay your studies. So there is no finished product yet."

"Although many parts can be outsourced, assembly tasks still need to be done by the Tang Clan. Sister Tang Ya has started learning about this, but her soul guidance talent is only average, so her progress is slow."

"Although Brother Beibei, Brother Sanshi, and Xiaoxiao's families are all wealthy, and it wouldn't be a problem for them to provide an advance of tens or hundreds of thousands of yuan, the Tang Clan has strict rules."

"Sister Xiaoya and Senior Brother are very strict about this. Soul Masters who enter the Tang Sect must swear an oath of lifelong loyalty to the Tang Sect. Only in this way can they access the Tang Sect's most core secrets."

"They just want to earn some money from contract manufacturing; they don't intend to sell themselves to the Tang Sect, so naturally no one chooses to do contract manufacturing. As for recruiting sect disciples or anything like that..."

"The Soul Masters in Shrek City are generally of high rank and have excellent abilities. These capable Soul Masters are unwilling to spend their entire lives tied to a small sect that seems to be just doing it for fun."

"Leaving aside Brother Ning Ge, a hidden powerhouse who was accidentally hidden in Shrek City back then, even if he were to be down two levels, his treatment in another sect wouldn't be bad, and he wouldn't have to eat cornbread with a small sect during its early stages."

"Although many average level two and three Soul Masters have considered joining the Tang Sect, valuing the immense potential of the current Shrek Academy inner court disciples, however, however..."

"Although Sister Xiaoya has only studied for a year and is still a Level 1 Soul Master, she doesn't value Level 2 and Level 3 Soul Masters. She believes that Tang Sect disciples must be selected from the best of the best."

"Sister Xiaoya has a stubborn temper, and Brother Beibei unconditionally supports her, so the Tang Clan is now barely alive."

Huo Yuhao: "."

He Caitou: "."

The two brothers exchanged a glance, realizing what it meant to squander a winning hand. Because of the Shrek Seven Devils, the Tang Sect, which originally only had Bei Bei and Xiao Ya, quickly absorbed Xiao Xiao and He Cai Tou.

Later, after Tang Ya and Bei Bei's persistent persuasion, Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan also joined in, thus setting up the initial makeshift team.

However, these two people looked down on the less talented soul masters because the other founders were all exceptionally talented. But the Tang Sect, a small sect with nothing but its name from ten thousand years ago, could not attract any talented soul masters, which led to the situation it is today.

(End of this chapter)