Wang Qiu'er could clearly see his frustrated and worried look. A thought crossed her mind as she stomped her right foot on the ground, and her body bolted forward.
Wang Qiu'er was unrivaled amongst others of the same level in terms of explosiveness over short distances. Huo Yuhao's flying-type soul tool still had an acceleration process, and he was only just speeding up before Wang Qiu'er arrived behind him and grabbed his shoulder.
"Don't mess around, Wang Qiu'er. I really have something important to do!" Huo Yuhao exclaimed angrily.
Wang Qiu'er was equally furious. "I'm messing around? Stop finding excuses for yourself. You took advantage of me yesterday. You're going to let it go just like that?"
Huo Yuhao had to drop back to the ground because of her forceful pressure. He shook his body vigorously and broke free from Wang Qiu'er's grip.
"Wang Qiu'er, I really have something very urgent to attend to. I've already said that you can do anything you want to me when I return. Is that not enough?" Huo Yuhao's voice was solemn and intense.
Wang Qiu'er was momentarily stunned. This was the first time she had seen Huo Yuhao like this, and she asked doubtfully, "Even the color of your face has changed. What's up?"
Huo Yuhao's expression was truly discolored. His face was pale and tinged with green - his expression was as dark as it could get.
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, "This has nothing to do with you. There's a place that I have to go to, and I have to go right now. I can't delay for another second. That's it." He turned around and prepared to leave as he spoke.
Wang Qiu'er blocked his path in a flash. "You can't leave unless you explain it to me."
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists, and his next words were squeezed out from between gritted teeth. "My patience has its limits, Wang Qiu'er. Don't think there's nothing I can do against you."
Wang Qiu'er grunted coldly and said, "You have the confidence to defeat me? Come, try it!"
Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned. He knew that he couldn't fight Wang Qiu'er right now, as he had to retain his strength to search for that medicine to help Dong'er. He took a deep breath and suppressed the wrath in his heart, and he tried his best to make his voice gentler. He lowered his voice and said, "Alright, I'll explain. A friend of mine is severely injured, and I need to find an herb to save her life - to save her life, do you understand? I must find this herb, and her life might be in danger for every second that I waste, and if I'm too late... So, I beg you - please step aside and let me go, right now!"
He was close to shouting when he got to the last two words.
Wang Qiu'er was slightly taken aback when she listened to his explanation. She frowned and said, "Will it be dangerous?"
Huo Yuhao said decisively, "I have to go even if I have to venture into the depths of Hell. I've already explained it to you, so please don't stop me any longer. Otherwise, I will no longer treat you as a friend." He began to move once more as he spoke.
"Huo Yuhao!" Wang Qiu'er blocked him yet again with a flash.
Huo Yuhao was truly infuriated this time, and he immediately unleashed his Spirit Eyes, while his Eye of Destiny appeared at almost the same time. He knew that he would have to use his Eye of Destiny to defeat Wang Qiu'er.
"Don't misunderstand me. I'm not trying to stop you from saving her - let me go with you. You will have a greater chance with one more person tagging along. Give me one of those flying things." Wang Qiu'er explained.
Huo Yuhao was almost about to fire off his Spiritual Shock, but he paused as he stared at Wang Qiu'er's eyes, which were full of sincerity. He didn't think too much about it, and said, "Alright then." He took out a reserve flying-type soul tool and passed it to Wang Qiu'er as he spoke.
Wang Qiu'er took the soul tool, then she asked a little embarrassingly, "This… how do I wear this?"
Huo Yuhao was rendered speechless. This girl doesn't know a thing about soul tools! He was far too worried, but he couldn't afford to piss off this girl before him. He had taken advantage of her yesterday, and that gave him a guilty conscience. Furthermore, he wasn't entirely confident of defeating Wang Qiu'er if they actually fought.
He felt a little helpless as he stepped forward and helped Wang Qiu'er put the flying-type soul tool on as he briefed her on how to use it. With that, he soared into the sky and infused as much soul power into his own flying-type soul tool as he could before he raced towards the east as fast as he could.
Huo Yuhao felt a lot better once he was surging through the air. He wasn't that concerned about Wang Qiu'er not being able to catch up - it would actually be better if she couldn't, as that would save him a lot of trouble. Even if she could, she would be of great help with her abilities. The only thing in his mind was to reach his destination as quickly as possible, and he couldn't be bothered with anything else.
This was Wang Qiu'er's first time interacting with soul tools. However, one had to admit that she was very adaptable - she was a little unstable when she first took off, but she quickly mastered the flying-type soul tool's controls. Huo Yuhao had already become a small black dot on the horizon at this point.
Wang Qiu'er was a Soul Emperor after all, and she was a lot stronger than Huo Yuhao in terms of cultivation. She figured out the important parts before she began to speed up as much as she could, and she determined Huo Yuhao's direction of flight as she swiftly pursued him.
There wasn't much cover in the sky, and Huo Yuhao had no intention of concealing his movements. Wang Qiu'er flew through the air for a while before she gradually closed the distance.
"This soul tool is quite interesting - it can actually fly through the air at such rapid speed. Interesting, interesting." Wang Qiu'er's expression was filled with curiosity, and she continuously felt the transformations in her flying-type soul tool as she sped through the air.
Huo Yuhao was flying in front, but he didn't have to turn back to look. He activated Spiritual Detection and immediately sensed Wang Qiu'er, who had already caught up with him.
You're quite adaptable, huh? Follow me, then.
He didn't bother with Wang Qiu'er anymore as he began to study the map.
The map clearly marked out the geographical relationship between Shrek Academy and his destination. The destination was within the Heavenly Soul Empire, and he had to travel east from Shrek Academy all the way to the Heavenly Soul Empire's Heaven Dou City, and then he would have to continue northeast. There was a place there where soul beasts resided, called the Setting Sun Forest.
The Setting Sun Forest paled in comparison to the Great Star Dou Forest, and it was inferior both in reputation and in surface area. However, this was still a forest inhabited by soul beasts. His final destination was located right within this Setting Sun Forest.
Huo Yuhao didn't seem like he had to rest at all. He used a Milk Bottle to replenish his soul power, while he channeled as much as he could. Wang Qiu'er behind him had voluminous soul power, and she relied on her impressive cultivation to finally catch up to Huo Yuhao after two hours.
"Hey, don't you have to rest?" Wang Qiu'er snapped. They were flying at such breakneck speed that speech was extremely difficult, and they had to release soul power to protect their faces before they could speak.
Huo Yuhao glanced at her and handed her a Milk Bottle. "You can gradually channel soul power inside, and soul power will bounce back to you. You just have to absorb that, and you can replenish your soul power."
Wang Qiu'er had no experience with flying-type soul tools, but neither was she averse to using them. She took the Milk Bottle and attempted to use it in the way Huo Yuhao had described, and she suddenly felt a clean and pure energy flow into her body, and her soul power was swiftly restored.
"This… this can restore soul power? Your soul tool research has reached this level?" Wang Qiu'er asked with a look of astonishment.
Huo Yuhao wasn't in the mood to explain anything else, so he snapped, "Even if you've never tasted pork, I'm sure you've at least seen a pig before. Do you not know about Milk Bottles?"
Wang Qiu'er grunted coldly and said, "All I can see is a pig flying in the sky."
Huo Yuhao extended two fingers and said, "Two pigs."
"You! You're the pig!" Wang Qiu'er's face flushed red.
Huo Yuhao stopped talking because he had to conserve energy and focus on flying; Shrek Academy was quite far away from Heaven Dou City. They continued flying for another two hours, but then began to feel a little fatigued, even though they had Milk Bottles to replenish their soul power.
Wang Qiu'er realized that he was ignoring her and shot him a glare. She grunted coldly and said, "Who is it exactly that you're trying to save?"
Huo Yuhao didn't respond.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Wang Qiu'er nudged him.
They were flying rapidly through the air, and Huo Yuhao was startled and almost lost his balance. He glared at her and said, "Just do it if you want to kill me. Can you stop spouting nonsense? I'm getting frustrated!"
"You…" Wang Qiu'er was just about to erupt, but she held herself back for some reason. She grunted again, but said nothing more.
------
The sky was already bright at this moment. It was a new day, and two very important people were suddenly missing from Shrek Academy's inner courtyard.
"Yuhao? I haven't seen him. Didn't you send him back last night?" Bei Bei stared in confusion at the frustrated Wang Dong'er before him.
Wang Dong'er had woken up early in the morning, and gone to Huo Yuhao's room to see how he was recovering, while she also hoped to listen to his explanation about what had happened the previous day.
But to her surprise, Huo Yuhao's room was empty when she arrived. His bed was messy, while he himself was nowhere to be seen.
"He's not in his room, eldest senior brother. I've already searched around the inner courtyard, he's nowhere to be seen." Wang Dong'er was worried. She was sad, but she was more concerned with Huo Yuhao's safety. Huo Yuhao had disappeared without a trace, and he didn't leave a note or anything behind - how could she not be worried?
Xu Sanshi said lazily, "Perhaps Huo Yuhao feels like there's no way he can account to you for what happened yesterday, and so he ran away. Could he have eloped with Wang Qiu'er? Hehe."
Wang Dong'er was infuriated. "If you spout any more nonsense, third senior brother, our friendship is over."
Bei Bei glared at Xu Sanshi and said, "Stop making things worse. Little junior brother should have said something to Dong'er even if he's out on official business. He has left without a trace, and that's quite problematic. Don't worry, Dong'er. How about this: I'll look for Elder Xuan, and I'll ask him if he's assigned Yuhao anything, and then we'll search carefully inside the academy for him. It's still very early in the morning, so he can't have gotten far."