Could he possibly be after my Spirit Ring?
"It smells so good!"
"It smells so good!"
Just as Huo Yuhao's roasted fish began to release its enticing aroma, Tang Ya and Xiao Qiang spoke in unison.
Tang Ya had caught the scent of the roasted fish Huo Yuhao was making, and the little foodie in her belly was instantly hooked. Xiao Qiang, too, had caught the scent, and his own cravings were thoroughly stirred.
A love for good food was only human nature. Xiao Qiang wouldn't forget his primary objective just for a bite to eat, but catching the aroma made a reaction from his appetite inevitable.
Tang Ya and Xiao Qiang exchanged a glance. Without a moment's hesitation, Tang Ya immediately raised a hand and pointed straight at Xiao Qiang. "You are not allowed to steal my roasted fish!"
"Little Ya, that roasted fish doesn't seem to be yours, you know."
Beibei walked out from behind Tang Ya, a look of helpless amusement on his face.
Tang Ya turned back to look at Beibei. "Hmph! How many times do I have to tell you, call me Teacher Xiao Ya!"
Beibei immediately raised both hands in a gesture of surrender. "All right, all right, Teacher Xiao Ya. Will that do?"
Tang Ya gave Beibei a sidelong glance. "Hmph, that's more like it. You need to remember your place."
Beibei smiled and remained silent. In a sense, this was their own unique form of playful banter.
While Tang Ya and Beibei were talking, Xiao Qiang had already walked right up to Huo Yuhao. "Are you selling these roasted fish?"
Just as Xiao Qiang finished speaking, Tang Ya realized this wasn't the time to be bickering with Beibei. "Hey! I was here first! You're not allowed to steal my roasted fish!"
Beibei slapped a hand to his forehead. "Teacher Xiao Ya, the roasted fish belongs to this little brother here."
"Hmph, I don't care! Little brother, tell me, are you going to sell your roasted fish to him or to me?"
Caught in the crosshairs of both Xiao Qiang and Tang Ya's intense gazes, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt the pressure mount immensely.
"There's no need for all that. Consider the roasted fish my treat."
"Hehe, then I won't stand on ceremony!"
Without a second thought, Tang Ya snatched the roasted fish right out of Huo Yuhao's hand and began eating it with complete disregard for her image. Meanwhile, Xiao Qiang glanced at the last remaining cooked fish in Huo Yuhao's hand, raised a hand, and shook his head. "I'm not in any particular rush."
"Oh, my dear Teacher Xiao Ya, this little brother hasn't even eaten yet, and you've already started," Beibei said helplessly, before offering Huo Yuhao an apologetic gesture.
Huo Yuhao didn't mind at all. "It's fine. You go ahead and eat. There's plenty more, I can just grill some more."
Huo Yuhao handed a roasted fish to Xiao Qiang, who ate in silence while quietly observing Huo Yuhao.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao looked completely harmless to humans and animals alike. If Xiao Qiang didn't already know how things would turn out, he never would have guessed that this same Huo Yuhao would one day become the first Spirit Master to carry out a large-scale massacre of civilians.
Wars between nations had their own rules, and anyone who used weapons like poison gas bombs would be universally condemned because such weapons affected vast numbers of civilians and resulted in the indiscriminate slaughter of the innocent.
Yet, as the protagonist of the Douluo Continent, despite Huo Yuhao's bombing of Ming Du—an event that shocked the entire Holy Ghost Church and allowed many of their stagnating Spirit Masters to achieve breakthroughs—he remained an agent of justice.
Even the supreme sect leader, Ye Xishui, could not easily obtain the souls that Huo Yuhao acquired with effortless ease, and yet Huo Yuhao was still hailed as a righteous hero.
By Douluo III, people only remembered that he eradicated the Holy Ghost Church; no one recalled the massive explosion he caused in Ming Du.
The villain of Douluo I helped awaken commoners, distributed benefits to commoner Spirit Masters, and was subsequently exterminated for hunting Spirit Beasts, whereas the protagonist slaughtered entire cities indiscriminately in the later stages. Presumably, the members of Spirit Hall who had helped Tang San awaken his Martial Soul hadn't met a very good end either.
The villain of Douluo II specialized in not committing large-scale massacres of civilians, with the sole drawback being that they colluded with the Holy Ghost Church—which essentially put them on equal footing with Huo Yuhao's state of large-scale civilian slaughter.
The protagonist doing things no better than the villain, or the protagonist performing on par with the villain—in a story not meant to be dark fiction—could perhaps be considered a distinct characteristic of the Douluo Continent.
After the group finished eating, Huo Yuhao left first, followed shortly by Xiao Qiang. Beibei and Tang Ya left a step later than Xiao Qiang because Tang Ya needed to clean up after finishing her meal.
Leveraging the advantage of his sharp eyesight, Xiao Qiang quickly caught up to Huo Yuhao.
"Is there something you need, Big Brother Li Feiyu?"
When Xiao Qiang appeared beside him and recognized who it was, Huo Yuhao asked with a measure of caution.
Xiao Qiang, going by the pseudonym Li Feiyu, glanced at Huo Yuhao and then released his Spirit Rings.
"You don't need to be so nervous. Aside from the roasted fish, you probably don't have anything worth my scheming against. Besides, being nervous won't help; if I wanted to do you harm, you wouldn't have any possibility of escape."
"I just felt that since I had your roasted fish without even paying for it, I'd feel a bit guilty if I didn't do something in return."
"Judging by the direction you're heading, you must be trying to go to the Star Dou Great Forest. Coupled with the faint trace of Spirit Power I sense from you, you clearly aren't a Great Soul Master—you look more like a rank 10 Spirit Scholar."
Huo Yuhao fell silent, while Xiao Qiang feigned a look of surprise. "Wait, looking at your expression... did I guess right?"
Xiao Qiang rubbed his forehead. "You may not be old, but you certainly have a lot of nerve. Never mind, come with me. Since I ate your fish, I might as well help you secure a century-old Spirit Ring while I'm at it."
At Xiao Qiang's words, Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up.
He hadn't actually been sure what kind of quality Spirit Ring he could obtain by venturing into the Star Dou Great Forest on his own. In the original trajectory, his first Spirit Ring was aimed squarely at a ten-year beast.
Though Huo Yuhao wasn't a Spirit Master yet, he knew the difference between a ten-year Spirit Ring and a century-old one. He was acutely aware of what a good Spirit Ring meant for his future.
Coupled with how casually Xiao Qiang spoke—as if a century-old Spirit Ring was no trouble at all, practically treating it as something equivalent to a single meal of roasted fish—Huo Yuhao weighed his options.
In Huo Yuhao's eyes, Xiao Qiang's motives seemed sound, his strength was unquestionable, and as for danger...
Just as Xiao Qiang had said, he didn't possess anything worth coveting. If Xiao Qiang truly had designs on him, given his own level of strength, he wouldn't have any capability to escape anyway.
Besides, his entire worldly possessions couldn't even scrape together half a Soul Gold Coin. There genuinely wasn't anything about him that a second-ring Great Soul Master would drool over. If others didn't know his poverty, he certainly did.
Thinking it over and over, the only thing he had that could remotely be considered valuable was the Spirit Ring he was about to acquire. Yet Xiao Qiang was already a Great Soul Master with two century-old Spirit Rings; surely he wouldn't stoop to plotting for a mere first Spirit Ring?
His own first Spirit Ring wasn't even a sure thing yet, and someone who required Spirit Rings would at least be aiming for a thousand-year level; clearly, such a person wouldn't be interested in a century-old ring.
With this thought in mind, Huo Yuhao bowed deeply to Xiao Qiang. "I'll have to trouble you, Big Brother Li Feiyu."
"It's nothing, just a casual favor. No need for all that."
Xiao Qiang helped the bowing Huo Yuhao back to his feet, inwardly marveling that his choice of the psychological suggestion for his first Spirit Ability and simulation for his second had indeed proven correct.