Elder Xuan sat on a chair beside him and looked at Huo Yuhao quietly. He revealed a slight smile on his face.

“Silly kid, even I can’t deal with your stubbornness! It seems like I have to let you know beforehand.”

Three days passed in a flash.

Wang Dong was a little lonely as he sat in his room. Even though he hadn’t become an official inner courtyard disciple, he’d been cultivating on Sea God’s Island the entire time. His guiding teacher had changed from Elder Mu to Elder Xuan, and he now learned alongside Xiao Xiao. Elder Xuan had told him that he could take the inner courtyard test when the next academic year started, then enter the inner courtyard. The same was true for Xiao Xiao. After all, they were both soul ancestors already. If they weren’t able to pass the inner courtyard test even after being guided by Elder Mu and Elder Xuan, they would most certainly be wasting the two elders’ efforts.

Was Yuhao leaving?

Wang Dong felt a tinge of bitterness in his heart. He was the one most affected by Huo Yuhao’s transformation during the past three months. Huo Yuhao had sealed himself up almost completely. Besides the time they spent cultivating together, Wang Dong hadn’t seen Huo Yuhao at all. As the days passed, he’d clearly felt Huo Yuhao’s mental state tensing up. If not for the fact that Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power was so great, he would’ve broken down already. He truly was too tensed up.

Wang Dong tried to speak to him, but Huo Yuhao wouldn’t listen. When he spoke too much, Huo Yuhao would start to tear up and mumble the word ‘teacher’.

Wang Dong had to admit that Huo Yuhao’s abilities had improved by leaps and bounds in these past three months of tireless cultivation. He’d managed to increase his soul power to Rank 40, but his cultivation had been stuck at a bottleneck. He needed to obtain his fourth soul ring to proceed any further. But this hadn’t affected his cultivation. Wang Dong was certain that Huo Yuhao’s abilities had superseded his own completely. Even though this had been the case in the past, he’d been an assault-type soul master then, and Huo Yuhao more of a control-type soul master. However, Huo Yuhao was now very dominant in assault techniques. Wang Dong didn’t even think that he’d have a shot at defeating Huo Yuhao if they were to fight now. Of course, this was based on the condition that Huo Yuhao could use soul tools. In the past year, Wang Dong’s abilities had also improved greatly!

I heard that he’s leaving tomorrow. Elder Xuan has already taken him away for three days. Can he really recover? It’ll be almost three years until we see him again if he leaves! When his thoughts reached this pont, Wang Dong couldn’t help but purse his lips, his pinkish-blue eyes revealing a trace of reluctance.

He was also in pain from Elder Mu’s death. However, he was much more rational than Huo Yuhao. After all, his background was completely different; he didn’t crave kinship as much as Huo Yuhao did. However, he’d developed a very close relationship with Huo Yuhao over these few years.

Wang Dong had even proposed that he go to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy with Huo Yuhao, but he was rejected. The reason was very simple—one of them had to remain in the academy since they were both Elder Mu’s closed-door disciples. This was in case of any emergencies. If something happened to Huo Yuhao, at least Wang Dong would still be in the academy. Although Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao were less innately talented than Huo Yuhao, they still possessed twin martial souls! They could still carry on the fire of the academy even if something happened to Huo Yuhao. Moreover, Wang Dong didn’t work with soul tools!

“Bang, bang, bang.” A knock on the door sounded, causing Wang Dong to regain his awareness.

Wang Dong walked towards the door and asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s me.” A familiar voice sounded. Wang Dong stopped when he heard this voice. Immediately afterwards, he burst towards the door and opened it.

Huo Yuhao was standing outside the door.

His eyes looked clear, and the sense of loss and sorrow had completely disappeared from his eyes.

Precisely because they were so familiar with each other, Wang Dong was able to sense the changes in his body. He was stunned and asked, “Did you come back from the dead?”

Huo Yuhao chortled and said, “I guess so.”

Wang Dong blinked. “How did you do it?”

Huo Yuhao answered naturally, “Of course it was because Elder Xuan who helped me.

“I’ve already thought it through; a dead person can’t be revived. If I continued like I was, I’d collapse before I could fulfil teacher’s hopes. Teacher wouldn’t be able to rest in peace if that happens!”

Wang Dong opened his eyes wide. “Wow, how did you manage to figure it out? I wasn’t able elicit any reaction from you even though I tried persuading you for three months!” He became more frustrated the more he spoke. He couldn’t help but grab Huo Yuhao’s collar and pull him into his room before shutting the door forcefully.

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly and said, “Be gentler, I’m about to leave. Why’re you not leaving me a good last impression of you?”

Wang Dong’s body jerked when he heard the word ‘leave’. Indeed! Huo Yuhao was leaving the next day. He had to leave, especially since his mind had completely recovered.

“Are you here to say goodbye?” Wang Dong’s voice trembled slightly.

Huo Yuhao nodded his head gently and held onto Wang Dong’s shoulders while pushing him further into the room. “I’m leaving tomorrow. This trip to the Sun Moon Imperial Engineering Academy is of the utmost importance. I’ll be leaving on an important mission for two and a half years, and won’t be back during this period of time.”

Wang Dong, feeling a little impulsive, said, “I’ll find Elder Xuan and ask him to let me tag along again. We have four martial soul fusion skills! You’ll be completely safe with me around.”

Huo Yuhao held Wang Dong back and shook his head. “It’s useless; Elder Xuan won’t change his mind. Besides, you don’t even like soul tools. Going there would only affect your future cultivation. Two and a half years will pass in the blink of an eye. Furthermore, even though we’re quite outstanding among others of our same age, we’re nothing outside the academy. While the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy is packed with soul engineers, they shouldn’t have a lack of Titled Douluo. Don’t tell me we’re better than all of them? You’ll only delay your own cultivation if you go there. Staying here is the best choice. Besides, you can monitor Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen if you remain in the academy. In three years time, they’ll be our strongest opponents in the tournament. Luck won’t always be on our side. They already had five soul rings in the previous tournament. If we face them again, they’ll give us even more problems.”

Wang Dong clenched his fists, “But.. two and a half years.. I..”

Huo Yuhao smiled and continued to hold onto his shoulder, “Wang Dong, you’ve become more and more feminine over this past year! You can’t bear to see me go?”

“Scram, you’re the one who’s turned feminine.” Wang Dong pushed his hand away and snorted. “I was just thinking that you’ll lag behind me after your two and a half years in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. Your speed of cultivation is already extremely slow. Without me around, you’ll become even slower.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “Alright, stop acting. Just say it if you can’t bear for me to leave. Stop finding excuses. I’m reluctant to leave you too.”

Huo Yuhao’s words touched Wang Dong in his softest spot. His eyes started to turn red, and he suddenly rushed up to Huo Yuhao and hugged him extremely tightly.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously hugged him back. He was stunned to realize that Wang Dong’s body seemed to be softer than before. The two of them hadn’t unleashed their martial fusion soul skills for some time, thus Huo Yuhao hadn’t hugged Wang Dong for a long time. He felt extremely comfortable as he was hugged by Wang Dong. Weird emotions started to spread in his heart.

“No! I’m into girls!” A petite figure surfaced in Huo Yuhao’s mind. Even though almost two years had passed, he couldn’t forget the surprise that figure had brought him back then. It was the ravishing beauty that Wang Dong had created when they had used the Rainment of Light together.

That lady had looked very similar to Wang Dong, but she was very beautiful. Huo Yuhao couldn’t forget her looks, just like the audience beneath the stage. It wasn’t too far-fetched to claim that she was the dream of all men.

“Yuhao, how long have we known each other?” Wang Dong sounded a little resentful.

Huo Yuhao answered, “Almost three years. If we were still in the outer courtyard, we’d be in the fourth grade once this break ends.”

Wang Dong nodded lightly, but had no intention of hugging less tightly. “Yes, three years! In these three years, I’ve always been with you except for the times that I returned home during the holidays. Yet, you’ll be leaving for two and a half years this time. Will we still be like we are now after two and a half years?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Hugging just like this?”

“You!” Wang Dong suddenly let go of his arms and pushed him away. He snapped, “You know I’m not talking about that!”

Huo Yuhao was jolted when he saw Wang Dong’s teary face, “Wang Dong, our brotherhood won’t change. It could be two and a half years, or it could be twenty years. Once a brother, always a brother. It was our fate to become martial soul fusion skill partners. Our destinies will forever be intertwined.”