Chapter 1.4: The Youth with the Spirit Eyes
The girl ran towards Huo Yuhao in high spirits. A greedy, hungry look appeared on her face as she said, “Little brother, are you selling this roasted fish? It smells so good! How did you make it?”
It wasn’t that Huo Yuhao hadn’t ever seen beautiful girls before. While he was in the Duke’s Mansion, many of the servant girls had been very pretty, however none of them had ever come as close as the girl in front of him before. Furthermore, none of the girls in the Duke’s Mansion were comparable to the girl in front of him either. She wasn’t an absolute beauty that was perfectly flawless, but she had a sort of outstanding temperament.
Huo Yuhao’s face turned somewhat red as he replied, “I-I’ll treat you both to a meal.”
The girl giggled in response. “Little brother, you’ve even become embarrassed. Then, I won’t be polite.” As she talked, she stretched her hand out to take the roasted fish that Huo Yuhao had passed over. She didn’t seem to care about what she looked like as she carefully ate the roasted fish, then let out a loud cry of “Hot!”.
At that moment, the youth that had been following the girl walked over. He had a helpless look on his face as he raised his hand and greeted Huo Yuhao. Then he said to the girl, “Xiao Ya, this little brother hasn’t even eaten yet, yet you’ve already started eating.”
Xiao Ya’s beautiful eyes widened as she angrily retorted, “What did you just call me?”
The youth immediately raised his hands in surrender, “Fine, Teacher Xiao Ya, that should be fine, right?”
Xiao Ya stared at him coldly and said, “That’s the way that it should be. You should pay attention to your status.” Although she wasn’t that old, her gaze was filled with a charming look. The onlooking youth couldn’t help but have his expression turned blank. Huo Yuhao, who was to the side, didn’t dare to continue looking. He passed the other fish that he’d roasted to the youth and said, “Big brother, this is for you.”
The youth smiled and said, “Gentlemen shouldn’t take good things that belong to others. Little brother, you still haven’t eaten. Did you catch these fish in the river?”
Huo Yuhao nodded his head and said, “It’s not a problem, I can still roast more.” While he spoke, he handed the roasted fish to the youth. Then, he skillfully took two of the fish that he’d set aside, so that he could roast them on the wooden rack.
The youth gently smiled and said, “I’m Bei Bei and she’s Tang Ya. Little brother, what’s your name?”
“I’m Huo Yuhao.” He replied whilst carefully roasting the fish. During his journey, he’d met many travellers while sleeping outdoors, and had also received a lot of help from them. Thus, he hadn’t hesitated to give Tang Ya one of the fish he’d roasted when she asked. The past few days had taught him the fact that people had to mutually help each other while they were outdoors.
Bei Bei sat next to Tang Ya. The way he ate the roasted fish was much more graceful than Tang Ya’s. At the very least, his hands weren’t fully stained with oil.
By the time Huo Yuhao had finished roasting the second batch of fish, Tang Ya was already impatiently waiting. Under Bei Bei’s helpless gaze, she snatched another roasted fish.
However, Bei Bei was unwilling to eat another fish, thus he motioned for Huo Yuhao to eat first. Huo Yuhao was already hungry, so he ate the other fish while continuing to roast more.
Although the seasonings used on the roasted fish were only salt and purple basil, the roasted fish’s taste was extremely delicious. And although the ten fish weren’t that big, their size together was still quite large. All of the fish were eaten by the three.
“This is simply too tasty. I’ve never eaten such a delicious roasted fish before. Little brother Huo Yuhao, how about I hire you as a chef, okay?” Tang Ya laid down on the grass, and stretched in satisfaction. Her curves were completely exposed, but she didn’t seem to mind at all. Bei Bei scratched his head whilst looking at her, but didn’t do anything about it.
“Do you have any money? Teacher Xiao Ya?” Bei Bei asked, splashing cold water on her idea.
“Eh… I’ll have money in the future.” Tang Ya was slightly embarrassed as she sat up. She glared at Bei Bei, seemingly unhappy at him for ruining her plans.
Huo Yuhao stood up and said, “Brother Bei, Sister Tang, I’ll have to leave first.”
Bei Bei said, “Little brother Huo, this is the desolate countryside, and isn’t that far away from the Great Star Dou Forest where soul beasts wander. Just where do you intend to go?”
Huo Yuhao shook his head, then grabbed his clothes that had already dried from the tree branch. He smiled and waved goodbye to the two after he’d packed his clothes into his bag. Afterwards, he turned around and left under Tang Ya’s slightly astonished gaze.
“He couldn’t really want to go into the Great Star Dou Forest, could he?” Tang Ya gazed at Huo Yuhao’s shrinking back as she pondered.
Bei Bei shook his head and said, “I can’t be sure. I can vaguely sense that he possesses soulforce, but it’s very weak. It also seems that he’s alone. This is truly somewhat strange.”
Tang Ya stuck her tongue out and said, “Since he has soulforce, why don’t we recruit him into our Tang Sect?”
Bei Bei unhappily replied, “You can’t be wanting to recruit someone into the sect, simply because they cooked you some delicious fish?”
Tang Ya’s face reddened when her intentions were found out, and she stuck her tongue out at Bei Bei.
Bei Bei said, “This Little brother Huo has definitely experienced something in his life. I can see that his maturity exceeds his peers from his gaze alone. However, I don’t know what his talent is like.”
A happy expression suffused on Tang Ya’s face as she replied, “Since you’re putting it like this, does that mean that you’ve agreed?”
Bei Bei bitterly smiled, “Sect leader of the great Tang Sect, Miss Tang. Before you took me in as a disciple, the Tang Sect only had you, and you alone, as its leader. Therefore, since your ambition is to strengthen the Tang Sect, it’s only natural that we recruit suitable people. This Little brother Huo looks like a rather steady and calm person. If his talent is passable, he’s a suitable choice. And from the clothes that he’s wearing, his family circumstances shouldn’t be too good. Thus, our Tang Sect can recruit this kind of disciple now.”
Tang Ya looked at Bei Bei with a slightly curious gaze as she said, “You’re actually quite crafty. I couldn’t tell that at all.”
Bei Bei stood up and brushed the dust off of his clothes as he replied, “This is simply called being astute, but calling me wise is fine too. Let’s go. Since we’ve eaten so many of his roasted fish, we should at least protect him for a segment of his journey, just in case he gets in danger when he encounters some soul beasts, no matter whether we recruit him into the Tang Sect or not.
Tang Ya also stood up and giggled. “You’re indeed quite smart this time, because your thoughts are actually identical to mine. Let’s go after I clean up a bit.”
Huo Yuhao was naturally unaware of the conversion between Bei Bei and Tang Ya. He’d originally planned to bring some roasted fish with him, but that plan couldn’t be realised, as he hadn’t wanted to expose his identity as a Soul Scholar, which was why he hadn’t caught any more fish. His mother had taught him to talk with reservation when dealing with strangers. Although he had a good impression of Bei Bei and Tang Ya, he still decided to separate from them after he finished eating.
Even though Huo Yuhao was young, he still thought a lot about things. He could tell that Tang Ya and Bei Bei weren’t ordinary people. Bei Bei had said that this was the desolate countryside, yet they both didn’t even have any bags on them. Thus, he believed that it would be better for him to separate from the two.
After eating the meal, he’d already recovered from his prior exhaustion. He marked the position of the small stream on his map. Who knew, he might have a use for it when he returned.
After walking forward for a short time, a wooden signboard on the roadside caught his attention.
“You will enter the territory of the Great Star Dou Forest in 50 metres. There are soul beasts roaming around, so please be careful.”
Sure enough, he hadn’t gotten lost. He was finally about to reach his destination. In addition to his current feeling of excitement, Huo Yuhao also felt a trace of nervousness. He touched the White Tiger Dagger on his lower back and suppressed the uneasiness in his heart. Then, he took determined strides as he advanced forward.
Becoming a soul master was the only way out for him. This was the conviction that he held in his heart, and he’d never regretted his decision.
The air gradually turned cool and refreshing, and an extraordinarily serious feeling seemed to exist within it. The Great Star Dou Forest was like a soul beast that had its mouth wide open for young creatures. He would either have an opportunity…or be swallowed!