Book 2: Academy of Monsters

Chapter 9.4: Radiant Butterfly Goddess

Without directly answering Zhou Yi, Huo Yuhao’s first pure white soul ring slowly rose from his feet. Following that, his pupils were covered in a faintly golden layer. Immediately afterwards, Zhou Yi felt a spiritual undulation emerge before her eyes.

Zhou Yi was naturally different from Bei Bei and Tang Ya; she was a Soul Emperor expert. Although she wasn’t a spiritual-type soul master, she still naturally had a strong level of spiritual power due to her cultivation. If she wanted to reject Huo Yuhao’s spiritual skill, from someone who was only at the eleventh rank, it couldn’t be any easier for her. However, she clearly wouldn’t reject it right now; she immediately chose to accept it.

Once she accepted it, Zhou Yi’s pupils instantly expanded.

Spiritual Detection Sharing immediately appeared within Zhou Yi’s sense of vision, causing everything around her to become much clearer. This clear sense of reality made it seem as if one was walking out from a dense fog. Everything became clear and orderly, so much so that she was able to completely describe everything using numbers. The precise predictions, almost as if they were coming from a second, separate brain, unceasingly changed along with her line of sight.

After roughly a minute, Huo Yuhao deactivated his skill, and stood conscientiously in front of Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi stood still in a daze for a while, before murmuring to herself, “What a miraculous skill. No wonder the Tang Sect chose you as their specially invited student. With this skill alone, that girl Tang Ya has definitely chosen the right person. I was wondering why that girl, who was extremely smart even though she had ordinary talent, would choose a person who only had a cultivation level of the eleventh rank, and an ordinary level physical fitness. To think that he actually had this secret...”

“Huo Yuhao, follow me.” Whilst speaking, Zhou Yi quickly stood up and took Huo Yuhao with her. She then led him out of the office with quick steps.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao was confused. He could sense that Zhou Yi’s frame of mind had had a huge change after learning about his martial soul and soul skill, but he wasn’t clear about whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Furthermore, he didn’t know where Zhou Yi was taking him, nor what she wanted him to do there.

After leaving the freshman school building, Zhou Yi led Huo Yuhao straight towards the back of the academy, which was to the west. After walking a short distance, Zhou Yi furrowed her brows slightly and said, “This is too slow. I’ll take you with me.” Mid-sentence, she flashed towards Huo Yuhao and grabbed his shoulder with her right hand. The next moment, Huo Yuhao felt like he was soaring through the clouds.

The scenery around him rapidly changed, while a formless barrier seemed to have appeared around him—seemingly to protect him. Only, his surroundings had become blurry.

Zhou Yi was undoubtedly the strongest soul master that Huo Yuhao had ever seen. Just what sort of speed was this!? He hurriedly released his Spiritual Detection. Only after he’d done this was he able to faintly distinguish the direction they were headed in.

After heading westward for quite a while, Zhou Yi changed directions and headed to the north. Huo Yuhao began to feel that they’d left the outer courtyard’s Martial Soul Institute, and that they’d entered the outer courtyard’s Soul Engineering Institute.

Even with her level of speed, Zhou Yi only halted after a few minutes had passed. They’d arrived before an enormous building.

The school buildings that Huo Yuhao had previously seen had already been quite big, but they were still outshone by the grey, rectangular building in front of them. The total surface area of this building might even be able to compare with the Martial Soul Institution’s dorms.

The grey building looked extremely massive. It wasn’t just made of bricks either; its surface had many metallic glints on it. A low, rumbling sound echoed unceasingly from the building, and the ground beneath Huo Yuhao’s feet was even vibrating slightly.

A signboard to the side of the building told him what this place was: “Soul Tool Testing Area”.

Huo Yuhao was filled with doubt. Why would Teacher Zhou bring him to the Soul Tool Testing Area? What did she want to do?

Zhou Yi naturally didn’t explain anything to him. After loosening her grip on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder, she walked towards the entrance of the Soul Tool Testing Area.

Once they’d entered, Huo Yuhao discovered that everything inside the Soul Tool Testing Area was made of metal. Furthermore, he’d never seen the type of metal that had apparently been used to construct everything; it was a somewhat dark brown colour.

After entering, they were greeted by a long horizontal corridor. It looked similar to the corridors from the Martial Soul Institute’s dorms, but there were only doors located on one side of the corridor, and they were all thirty metres apart from one another. The signs on the doors had words like ‘Testing Area One, Testing Area Two...’ along with other words to the same effect.

Zhou Yi seemed to have come here often, as she was already familiar with everything. She took Huo Yuhao with her as she headed northward through a corridor, before stopping at the end of it, in front of a door that had the sign ‘Testing Area 20’ on it.

Zhou Yi turned her wrist over, and a hexagonal silver command medallion appeared in her hand. She then pressed it to the door that said ‘Testing Area 20’.

A magical scene appeared before Huo Yuhao’s eyes; The door split open, revealing a gap that was perfectly fitted to her command medallion. Huo Yuhao thought he sensed a temporary fluctuation of soulforce before the command medallion was released from the gap. Following that, the door to Testing Area 20 opened horizontally, a grating sound echoing out.

When the door had opened a bit, Huo Yuhao discovered, to his astonishment, that the door was made entirely of metal, and was actually two feet thick. There were smooth rails at the bottom and top of the door, which allowed it to slowly open.

After the door opened had fully, Zhou Yi waved her hand towards Huo Yuhao, and walked in before him.

“Boom—” Once Huo Yuhao entered, he was startled by a loud sound. A strong vibration, mixed together with a stream of air, smashed directly into his face, causing his school uniform to flutter.

Zhou Yi seemed to see this as a common occurrence, and continued to walk inside.

After entering Testing Area 20, Huo Yuhao discovered that this place was a completely different world. There were massive metal plates that divided the world into separate areas that were akin to metal boxes. Under Zhou Yi’s guidance, they quickly arrived at the largest area within the world. It was an empty field that was roughly two thousand square metres in size, while its height was around ten metres tall. There were currently a few people that stood along the edges of the field, who seemed to be fiddling with strange things in their hands.

“Fan Yu.” Zhou Yi shouted loudly, causing the group of people beside the field to immediately look towards her, in which there was a tall, middle-aged man, who furrowed his brows slightly, then walked towards Zhou Yi and Huo Yuhao with large strides.

The middle-aged man was roughly 1.8 metres tall, and his shoulders were extremely wide. He wore a simple cloth shirt that exposed his thick and sturdy shoulders, in turn revealing his granite-like muscles. There were distinct lines on his face, and he had a deep gaze. As he stood there, he gave off the feeling of a mountain that had stood there for time immemorial.

“Zhou Yi, why have you come?” Clearly, this middle-aged man was the Fan Yu that Zhou Yi had called out to.

“Do you still remember the words that you said to me last time?” Zhou Yi seemed to be slightly excited as she spoke.

A helpless smile appeared on Fan Yu’s face as he replied, “I’ve talked to you about a lot of things. How am I to know what thing you’re referring to? If it’s not important, head back first. I still have to conduct a few tests here.”