Chapter 157: Twin Martial Souls Are Really Worthless Now
Xiao Xiao turned her face to look at Wang Dong's utterly distracted expression. She didn't read too much into it, simply assuming he'd been spacing out earlier and hadn't caught her words, so she repeated herself:
"I said, weren't Furina and the others just talking about becoming gods? Didn't you also say you wanted to become a god? Why aren't you sharing your lofty insights?"
Wang Dong finally snapped back to his senses and secretly exhaled in relief—so that's what it was about. That inexplicable flutter of panic just now had truly been his own imagination scaring itself.
He cleared his throat lightly, and his tone immediately reverted to its usual "this lord is number one under heaven" swagger:
"Oh, that. Is there even any need to ask? This lord is supremely gifted—becoming a god will be a piece of cake."
He paused, lifting his chin slightly, his voice taking on a hint of mysterious, show-off bragging: "And I'll have you know, aside from the Goddess of Light Butterfly, I have other martial souls too."
Hearing this, a trace of surprise flickered through Xiao Xiao's eyes. She hadn't expected that someone as loudly ostentatious as Wang Dong would have kept the matter of twin martial souls hidden until now.
Her tone was flat as she responded: "So you also have twin martial souls? What a coincidence—I share a dorm with Furina, and she mentioned once in conversation that Huo Yuhao also has twin martial souls."
Wang Dong froze for a second, then his eyes flew wide open, his voice rising a full pitch:
"WHAT?! You already knew?!"
"Well, yeah. You didn't?"
"...Furina really wasn't kidding—twin martial souls are seriously worthless these days!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, and he couldn't help but grumble: "And you guys were all hiding it from me! All I knew was that Furina and you, Xiao Xiao, had twin martial souls. If it weren't for cultivating the Hao Dong Power with Huo Yuhao later and accidentally discovering he's just like me—twin martial souls—I'd still be completely in the dark!"
Xiao Xiao stuck out her tongue and winked mischievously: "You can't really blame me for that—you never asked. Besides, you and Huo Yuhao share a dorm, you're so close—if you wanted to know something, couldn't you have just asked directly?"
Hearing this, Wang Dong found himself at a loss for words.
It seemed... it really was because he hadn't asked. If he'd just thrown out a casual question earlier, he might have learned Huo Yuhao's secret long ago.
He scratched his head, his tone softening: "Alright, alright, that's on me. Not asking was my fault."
Then, immediately, a touch of smugness returned to his expression. He lifted his chin and declared: "That being the case, the four of us becoming gods should be no problem, right? Ten thousand years ago, the Thousand-Hand Douluo Tang San had twin martial souls, and the Spirit Hall Pope Bibi Dong also had twin martial souls—both of them became gods. Are the four of us supposed to be worse than them?"
Xiao Xiao, however, gently shook her head, her voice lowering a bit:
"I think... you three shouldn't have any problems. As for me, I'll have to rely on you all."
She dropped her eyes, a bit embarrassed: "My talent, compared to yours, still falls short."
This was the honest truth. If not for Furina opening her eyes in time and giving her cultivation arts, she would originally have settled for placing mere hundred-year soul rings on her second martial soul, wasting its talent completely.
Now, with Furina's help, she had the confidence to reach Hyper Douluo within her lifetime. But Limit Douluo and godhood—to her, those still remained an impassable, unreachable chasm.
Talent was what it was. Some gaps couldn't be closed by effort alone.
Wang Dong, however, carelessly clapped her on the shoulder, his grin both brash and sincere: "Relax, Xiao Xiao! Once this lord becomes a god, I definitely won't leave you behind. And besides, which of Huo Yuhao and Furina doesn't have tremendous ability? When they become gods, there's no way they'll forget you either. We'll all reunite in the Divine Realm—how great would that be!"
Xiao Xiao was tickled by his larger-than-life bravado, her eyes curving into crescent moons. She added with a giggle: "And then we can all go with Senior Brother Bei Bei to deliver a slap to the Sea God, Tang San!"
"Uh..."
Wang Dong's smile froze on his face. For a moment, he had absolutely no idea how to respond.
Instinctively, he wanted to echo, "Exactly, that's exactly what we should do."
But the very moment that thought surfaced, a powerful wave of resistance inexplicably surged up from the depths of his mind, as if something was desperately suppressing the notion, refusing to let him utter even a single word.
The sensation came swiftly and left just as fast, yet it left a strange, indescribable unease skimming across the bottom of Wang Dong's heart.
Xiao Xiao didn't notice his odd reaction and went on, her voice bubbling with enthusiasm: "And after that, we'll get Huo Yuhao to make a huge feast! The ingredients in the Divine Realm are bound to be even more delicious than those on the Douluo Continent, right? Letting Chef Huo Yuhao take the helm—that would be a banquet unlike anything in this world!"
Wang Dong hurriedly gathered his wits and picked up her thread, forcing his voice to sound as normal as possible: "Well said."
Not far away, Tang Ya's sharp ears picked up the conversation from this side. She immediately scurried over, clasping her hands together and fixing Huo Yuhao with a pleading, hopeful gaze: "It's lunch break right now, and we still have plenty of time to chat, don't we? Could we possibly... take the chance to... sample Yuhao's cooking?"
She rubbed her small hands together, her eyes bright with eager anticipation.
Bei Bei shook his head with a helpless smile.
Huo Yuhao gave a resigned laugh and answered warmly: "Alright, alright. Senior Sister Tang Ya, rest assured—I'll definitely make sure you're satisfied."
Jiang Nannan hesitated for a moment, then she too spoke up:
"Huo Yuhao... could you teach me how to cook?"
Her voice carried a touch of self-consciousness, but also genuine earnestness: "I'd like to learn your skills. In my spare time, maybe I could set up a small stall and earn a bit of pocket money."
Although Furina had given her a good amount of financial support, in her heart she had always felt that what truly belonged to her—what was earned through her own two hands—was the only thing that could give her true peace of mind.
Furina didn't say anything. Inwardly, she was well aware that Jiang Nannan's little stall probably wouldn't last long.
The moment Xu Sanshi found out she was setting up a stall, he'd surely show up to patronize it. But as far as Jiang Nannan was concerned, "patronizing" was less the word for it than outright harassment. After being infuriated a few times, Jiang Nannan herself would abandon the idea of running a stall.
Huo Yuhao, for his part, nodded readily and agreed without hesitation: "No problem at all, Senior Sister Jiang Nannan. Whenever you're free, come find me anytime. I'll definitely teach you properly."
He was never stingy about teaching culinary skills. As long as the other party wasn't an enemy and genuinely wanted to learn, he was always happy to share everything he knew.
A faint, soft smile surfaced on Jiang Nannan's face: "Then... I'll be troubling you."
Watching this scene, Wang Dong felt an inexplicable, sour pang well up from somewhere inside him. As if driven by some strange compulsion, he wedged himself right between the two: "Huo Yuhao! I want to learn too! You have to teach me as well!"
Huo Yuhao blinked, looking at him with a touch of surprise. Wang Dong—a person who on ordinary days even found cleaning too dirty and too tiring, who was meticulously precious about himself—was now actually volunteering to learn to cook?
But he didn't overthink it and simply smiled: "Sure, no problem. The condition is that you have to stick with it. Don't come crying to me later about how tiring, how dirty, how troublesome it is."
Wang Dong's eyebrows shot up: "Do I look like that kind of person?! A word once spoken is like water spilled—you can't take it back! This lord's word is worth nine sacred tripods—I mean what I say and I'll do what I've promised!"
Seeing how earnestly riled up he'd gotten, Huo Yuhao couldn't hold back a laugh: "Alright, alright, I was just joking. Don't be mad."
Furina clapped her hands and called out: "Alright, alright, enough chatter, everyone. Let's go—if we dawdle any longer, lunch break really will be over."
"Mm!" The group answered in chorus and headed toward the dining hall, still laughing and chattering.
...
Once the crowd had gone far into the distance, a figure poked its head out from the shadows of a corner.
It was none other than Xu Sanshi.
He gazed at the retreating silhouettes of that group, his eyes involuntarily following Jiang Nannan. He murmured to himself: "Nannan's going to set up a stall... This is a once-in-a-lifetime golden opportunity. Maybe I can use this to close the distance between us..."
But soon he furrowed his brow again and scratched his head in frustration: "No... I can't be so reckless. If I just rush right over, Nannan might get so angry that she drops the idea of a stall entirely. That would be ruining everything by trying to be too clever."
His hand, still scratching his head, suddenly froze. His gaze settled upon Furina's figure amidst the crowd: "Wait..."
"That girl Tang Ya mentioned—she and Bei Bei brought the entire Tang Sect and joined the Church of the Water God. And later, Nannan was also invited in. So should I... should I give joining the Church of the Water God a try too?"
His eyes gradually lit up: "Maybe if I join the Church of the Water God, I'll have more opportunities to get close to Nannan... I've got to find some way to make contact with that Furina and have a talk."
Having made up his mind, Xu Sanshi gazed once more in the direction the crowd had disappeared. A foolish yet hopeful smile appeared at the corner of his lips.
"Nannan, just you wait for me..."