Douluo Continent: Heavenly Pill Demon Tiger

Chapter 21 A Surprise Intervention: A Bet on the Soul Bone

Dai Huabin's face instantly turned extremely ugly. He stared at Dai Youheng, his tone filled with anger and incomprehension, "Dai Youheng! What kind of bewitching potion has Huo Yuhao given you? It's one thing for you to fawn over him at home for so long, but here you're fawning over Huo Yuhao like this? Do you feel uncomfortable if you don't fawn over someone for a day? We are the true members of the Dai family!"

He simply couldn't understand why this illegitimate son always sided with outsiders, showing extra care and protection for Huo Yuhao since last year.

Faced with his questioning, Dai Youheng simply smiled faintly and repeated, "Why are you asking so many questions? Just tell me, are you going to gamble or not?"

"Bet! Why not gamble?" Dai Huabin was completely enraged by his attitude, gritting his teeth as he said, "You just wait! It's just a soul bone, I, Dai Huabin, can afford to gamble!"

After saying that, he snorted coldly and stormed out of the cafeteria, accompanied by a worried Zhu Lu and a complicated-looking Cui Yajie.

The storm has temporarily subsided.

Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao immediately surrounded them.

"Brother, thank you so much just now!" Huo Yuhao said sincerely, his face filled with gratitude. Although he could sense that his brother might have ulterior motives for being kind to him, Dai Youheng was indeed one of the few people in the Duke's mansion who had ever shown him warmth since childhood.

In his heart, only his older brother Dai Youheng and younger brother Dai Luoli in the Dai family still gave him some sense of belonging. Moreover, thanks to Dai Youheng's meddling, his bet had become incredibly worthwhile.

He has achieved two words—no loss!

If he loses, it's not his soul bone he'll lose anyway. If he wins, even if he doesn't get the soul bone, he can at least trick Dai Huabin out of one. Dai Huabin's misfortune is his happiness.

Either way, you're guaranteed to make a profit.

Dai Youheng smiled slightly, trying to imitate the habits of a sycophant, and patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder, "Then compete well, don't disappoint me."

His tone carried a hint of encouragement, but deep in his eyes lay a calm calculation.

"Don't worry, brother! I'll definitely win you a new soul bone!" Huo Yuhao assured him confidently.

"Hmph!" Wang Dong, standing nearby, snorted in dissatisfaction and began to complain, "Yuhao, don't be too happy yet. Your brother has changed. He hasn't brought breakfast for me and Xiaoxiao these past few days, and he said he won't bring it anymore! What a stingy guy!" She was clearly still upset about the breakfast incident.

"It's okay, Wang Dong, it's just breakfast. Now that we're in the second year of school, the workload is even heavier, so it's normal that I don't have time. If you want to eat, I'll take care of it from now on," Huo Yuhao said.

At this time, he had not yet been disciplined by Tang San, and his character was not bad. At most, he had a bad habit of cheating on exams, but there were no other problems with his personality. He wouldn't overthink something as trivial as breakfast.

At this moment, Xiao Xiao stepped forward and bowed solemnly to Dai Youheng, "Youheng, thank you so much for helping us out of that predicament."

She felt a wave of fear when she thought about how, if Dai Youheng hadn't taken out the soul bone, the bet might have fallen on her leg bone.

"Hmm." Dai Youheng simply nodded in response. He had absolutely no interest in the three people's gratitude or complaints.

His real purpose in making this move was simply to get something for nothing, to obtain a free soul bone.

If Dai Huabin is the one who is sure to win this competition, he will not hesitate to stand on Dai Huabin's side.

In a sense, Dai Youheng is still a "sycophant." However, he's no longer sycophantic towards a specific person, but rather towards naked self-interest. All his actions are guided by the principle of maximizing his own benefit.

The Ice Arrow Boar Soul Bone in his hand was of good quality, around 30,000 years old, but its attributes were completely incompatible with his, so he had no intention of absorbing it.

But soul bones are always a form of hard currency. If you don't need them, you can exchange them for suitable ones, or sell them directly for a huge sum of money, which you can then use to buy the resources you need. For example, top-tier soul bones or rare metals that might appear at future auctions that are more suitable for him!

Anyway, no one will ever have too many soul bones.

In the shadows, Zhou Yi smiled slightly and quietly left.

In the original story, she actually came out to stop the bet, because the bet was on Xiao Xiao's leg.

But this time, she was just watching the show.

Her thoughts were exactly the same as Huo Yuhao's; in any case, Huo Yuhao wouldn't lose out on this bet, regardless of whether he won or lost.

As for Dai Youheng, although he was also a student in her class, she didn't care much about him. In her opinion, someone whose martial soul couldn't even be compatible with himself was destined to have little future.

The assessment day arrived as scheduled, and the atmosphere in Shrek Academy's Beast Fighting Area was solemn. The students lined up according to their class order, and the air was filled with a mix of tension and anticipation.

Before entering the examination hall, Huo Yuhao and Dai Huabin, these two sworn enemies, met again. Huo Yuhao had learned a sure-win technique from Tianmeng Ice Silkworm, and he surprisingly offered to increase the stakes.

In addition to the soul bone that Dai Youheng took out, three more kowtows will be added! Whoever loses will kowtow three times to the other in front of everyone!

Dai Huabin was a proud and arrogant man, how could he be provoked like this? Without thinking, he agreed with a cold smile, as if he could already see Huo Yuhao kneeling in front of him.

Dai Youheng didn't care about such things at all. It was none of his business who kowtowed to whom; as long as his soul bone was in place by then, that was all that mattered.

Upon arriving at the assessment venue, Dai Youheng's gaze swept over the viewing platform, a barely perceptible hint of surprise flashing in his eyes. Seated in the main seat were not the Dean of Studies, Du Weilun, mentioned in the original work, but two even more important figures.

A man in a white robe, with a refined and scholarly appearance, stood before him. He was Yan Shaozhe, the dean of the Martial Soul Department at Shrek Academy, a level 95 Super Douluo, whose Martial Soul was the Bright Phoenix.

The other was tall and robust, with a ruddy complexion and shrewd, calculating eyes. He was Qian Duoduo, the dean of the Soul Guidance Department at Shrek Academy, a level 94 Title Douluo, and his Martial Soul was the Black Dragon Shield.

"It's actually the two deans of Shrek Academy personally presiding over this? It seems that the direction of this world is leaning more towards the setting of the anime." Dai Youheng understood in his heart, but didn't care too much. To him, whether it was the original work or the anime, the general plot and character relationships were similar, only a few characters were missing, and some minor differences were insignificant.

The person in charge of the specific assessment was a burly, dark-skinned old man exuding a fierce aura. His voice boomed as he announced the assessment rules. He was none other than the head of Shrek Academy's arena, a level 92 Title Douluo, Beast King Bow Longlong.