vncnus Chapter 125 Big Shopping Spree
Chapter 125 Big Shopping Spree
Chapter 125 Big Shopping Spree
Following the young girl, we entered the Treasure Pavilion, where an atmosphere of extreme luxury greeted us. The golden hall was brimming with extravagance, illuminated by crystal chandeliers hanging high in the ceiling, creating a sense of light pollution.
Two rows of young girls also stood on either side of the hall. Compared to the eight girls at the entrance of Jubaoge, these girls were younger, their short skirts revealing very little fabric and exposing their fair, slender legs. Each of them was remarkably beautiful and had an excellent figure.
Seeing this, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt unsure where to look, so he simply closed his eyes. The group of girls around him then instinctively surrounded him to prevent him from seeing anything he shouldn't.
"Welcome, distinguished guests." The girls on both sides bowed and greeted the group as they entered.
Aside from Huo Yuhao, who possesses the soul of an adult, only Ning Tian, a worldly-wise young master from a top-tier aristocratic family like the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School, remained composed. Everyone else was startled by the girls' sudden actions. Looking at these girls bowing at a ninety-degree angle, their cleavage fully exposed, they couldn't help but feel somewhat at a loss.
Ning Tian smiled and nodded without saying a word. She walked at the front, leading the group quickly through the long corridor. Then, a girl in a white dress led them to the second floor.
The second floor was much quieter than the first. The seemingly haphazard arrangement of the booths actually placed each one in the most suitable location. Each booth was covered by a large crystal glass dome, displaying various exhibits for visitors to carefully observe.
The girl in the white dress stopped in her tracks. "Welcome, esteemed guests, to the Treasure Pavilion's Treasure Appreciation Event. The event will be held on the second floor, and you are welcome to browse freely. If you find any items you like, please register to purchase them on the west side. If you need to pay on credit, you can also have them appraised there. The appraisal result will determine the discount you receive and the amount you can pay on credit."
As soon as the girl finished speaking, everyone exchanged glances. Huo Yuhao then asked, "What's the explanation for these evaluation standards and credit limits?"
The girl in the white dress smiled slightly and said, "It seems that this is your first time here. Here's the thing: our Treasure Pavilion will tailor different credit eligibility criteria for each distinguished guest attending the Treasure Appreciation Gathering. This assessment method mainly considers your current cultivation level, age, and Soul Master type, among other factors. Please rest assured that the Treasure Pavilion will strictly maintain secrecy and will never disclose your information or inquire about your background. We have a complete set of detailed confidentiality measures in place, so please feel at ease."
"Since this is your first time here, I suggest you make an assessment first. This will help determine your credit limit and make your spending easier. If you wish, I can take you there now."
Huo Yuhao and Ning Tian exchanged glances, then exchanged looks with the others. Ning Tian then took two steps to the side with Wu Feng and said, "Yuhao, take the sisters with you. Feng Mei and I will go see the exhibits directly."
Huo Yuhao, Xiao Xiao, and the others nodded to Ning Tian and the other two, then said to the girl in the white dress, "Then we'll trouble you. Please take us to the qualification assessment."
The girl in the white dress led Huo Yuhao and the other four towards the west. As they walked, Huo Yuhao and the others' eyes were constantly drawn to the exhibits on the surrounding booths.
Perhaps because the academy's higher-ups knew about Huo Yuhao's situation in advance, the soul bone that was suitable for Wang Dong'er in the original timeline did not appear. Instead, an ice-attribute right leg bone appeared. Right in front of Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao immediately turned around and looked at him, their eyes clearly asking, "Do you think this is suitable for you?"
Huo Yuhao examined it closely. It was a very complete and extremely slender right leg bone, with slightly longer metatarsals, and an ice-blue color throughout. Not only did the five of them notice it, but almost anyone passing by would find it hard to miss. Moreover, the display stand for this soul bone was much larger than the other exhibits, and a huge crystal dome refracted its ice-blue aura, making it shine brilliantly.
Upon seeing the soul bone, Huo Yuhao immediately awakened the sleeping Ice Emperor. Whether it was suitable or not, he could simply ask her, and the answer would be clear immediately, after all, it was the soul of his second martial soul. Well, one of them.
Using Huo Yuhao's senses, Bingdi carefully examined the leg bone and said, "The right leg bone of a 70,000-year-old Icefield Wolf King. It's very complete and of good quality, but your martial soul wouldn't be interested in it."
Huo Yuhao was taken aback. "You mean you think this soul bone isn't good enough?"
Ice Emperor rolled his eyes in his mind's eye and complained, "I meant your martial soul doesn't like it! I think it's alright, but it seems your martial soul has been spoiled by the power of that 100,000-year-old snow lotus, me, and the Ice Phoenix. It really disdains anything without an ultimate attribute or a special bloodline. Next time something like this happens, just release your martial soul's aura and sense it; you don't need to call me. Alright, you can go now. I want to sleep."
"I feel like you guys are becoming more and more like Tianmeng."
"Tsk! Don't mention that guy to me!" As if she had touched a sore spot, this caused Hyotei to roar.
However, her loss of composure was only momentary. The little girl with twin ponytails and dark green hair continued to complain, "Isn't it because your Star Palace's soul transformation requires too much energy! If we couldn't accelerate this process by absorbing the power of the stars, you wouldn't have been able to wake us up! Hurry up and improve your cultivation! The sooner you become stronger, Yuhao, the sooner we can provide you with greater assistance."
"Okay, I understand. I won't bother you any longer, go to sleep. Bye."
After a brief inquiry with Ice Emperor, Huo Yuhao and the others followed the girl in white to the counter on the west side where the assessment qualifications were being determined. A young woman inside the counter immediately stood up upon seeing Huo Yuhao and the others arrive and respectfully said, "Greetings, fellow Soul Masters. Please fill out an assessment form. We will calculate the amount you can owe in a few minutes."
Five forms, along with a beautiful fountain pen, were pushed over from the girl. The information to be filled in was very simple.
It only lists six items: name, gender, age, soul power, martial soul, and past honors; it doesn't even include the age of the soul rings.
I filled out the form briefly and submitted it. The results came out quickly.
The girl in charge of registering and calculating the credit limit was slightly stunned. The girl standing next to Huo Yuhao and the others urged in a low voice, "Xiao Hong, hurry up."
The girl behind the counter had a round, chubby face and was very cute; she looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old. Hearing the urging, she quickly stood up and stared intently at Huo Yuhao, her gaze unusually intense. It wasn't the usual way of looking at a handsome man; it was as if she were looking at some rare treasure.
She spoke in an extremely respectful and gentle tone, "Dear Mr. Huo, welcome to Jubao Pavilion. It's like this, I just checked, and you don't have any credit limit with us."
Huo Yuhao said calmly, "Go on."
Seeing Huo Yuhao's composure, the girl named Xiao Hong's eyes burned even brighter. She continued, "According to your current VIP privileges, you can choose any item from the Treasure Appreciation Event each year to take home without paying any fees."
Upon hearing this, apart from Huo Yuhao, the other four women were stunned. What was going on? The four women all looked at Huo Yuhao, and seeing that he seemed completely unaffected, they became even more puzzled.
The girl in the white dress who had led them over also looked surprised, but Xiao Hong ignored her and instead whispered a few words to another girl, who immediately got up and walked away.
Xiao Hong had already placed five cards on the counter: one red and four purple.
She handed the four purple cards to Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, and the Lan sisters in turn. "Miss Wang, Miss Xiao, and the two Miss Lans, each of you has a credit limit of 100,000 gold soul coins, which can only be used once a year and will need to be reassessed the following year. At your age, the purple rating is already the highest, and you will receive a 10% discount on any purchase. The prices we list here are lower than those outside, and we will definitely not let you suffer any losses."
The four women accepted the purple cards one by one, nodded in acknowledgment, and then looked at Huo Yuhao. Although they all knew he was monstrous, that the academy's higher-ups valued him highly, and that Huo Yuhao had the dean of the Soul Guidance Department as his godfather and godmother, they couldn't help but feel a little uneasy seeing his outrageous level of authority.
Huo Yuhao took a red card from Xiao Hong's hand. The moment he touched it, a faint warmth emanated from it, making it exceptionally comfortable to hold. Huo Yuhao immediately recognized the material of the card; it was a very rare type of jade—Crimson Spirit Warm Jade.
This gemstone is extremely stable, making it exceptionally suitable for inscribing core magic arrays. Its strength is sufficient to withstand the impact of soul power from soul tools below level six, making it a rare and invaluable material for core magic arrays. Even this thin card in Huo Yuhao's hand is worth a fortune!
Xiao Hong looked enviously at the card in Huo Yuhao's hand and whispered, "Your top-tier VIP card offers a 40% discount on purchases at this pavilion. That's the lowest discount available. You can also use this card to redeem any item at our Treasure Hunt."
Wang Dong'er asked with some curiosity, "How many of these VIP cards does your Jubao Pavilion have?"
Xiao Hong shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know either, because every VIP is our most honored guest."
Just then, a gentle voice reached the ears of all five, "No need to be surprised, just go and find what you need. Jubaoge is an academy property, so naturally they know your situation. Yuhao's treatment is a collective decision made by the academy. However, you must keep this a secret and not disclose the relationship between Jubaoge and the academy, or your respective VIP levels, to outsiders. Otherwise, you will be deprived of the opportunity to enter Jubaoge."
This was the first time anyone had heard this voice, but the sound alone made them feel immense pressure. The five of them looked at each other, not daring to ask any more questions, and quickly turned and left the counter.
Shortly after they left, an elderly woman with white hair and a youthful face slowly walked out from behind the counter. All the staff bowed respectfully upon seeing her.
This is Elder Lin, who appeared at the previous Sea God Pavilion meeting and is also the master of the Treasure Pavilion.
The decision regarding Huo Yuhao's qualifications was made after multiple meetings of the Sea God Pavilion. Leaving aside the possibility of a god-level martial soul, just considering his twin martial souls, ultimate attributes, and top-tier talent as a soul master, this investment was absolutely justified.
Moreover, Huo Yuhao's background is impeccable; he's even an orphan and has adopted Qian Duoduo and Xian Lin'er as his godparents. Under these circumstances, Huo Yuhao can already be considered a direct descendant of the academy, so Shrek Academy naturally wouldn't hesitate to invest in him.
However, it's clear the academy doesn't want other students to know about this special treatment, hence Elder Lin's warning. After all, even disregarding the core disciples of the outer academy, very few inner academy disciples enjoy such privileges. If the news leaks out, it could easily cause dissatisfaction among the students, which is not a good thing.
Huo Yuhao hesitated. While the ice-attribute soul bone wasn't suitable for him, it was perfect for Ling Luochen. However, he didn't know whether Ling Luochen possessed a right leg soul bone.
If Ling Luochen has already absorbed the right leg soul bone, then there's little point in him bringing it back.
After thinking for a long time without any results, he decided to walk around and see if there was anything more valuable than this right leg bone. If so, he would simply use his authority to take the soul bone away.
After making up his mind, Huo Yuhao looked at the girls around him and smiled slightly, "What do you want? Swipe my card. If you feel bad about it, you can pay me back later."
Xiao Xiao and the others naturally understood Huo Yuhao's meaning: a 40% discount! Not taking advantage of this would be the act of a complete bastard!
Without the slightest hesitation, Xiao Xiao, Wang Dong'er, and the Lan sisters all nodded in unison.
As the group of five was wandering around, two teenagers greeted Huo Yuhao, "Yuhao!"
Huo Yuhao and the others looked closely and saw that it was Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi, whom they had dinner with a few days ago.
"Senior Bei, Senior Xu, it's been a long time." Huo Yuhao greeted the two with a smile.
Wang Dong'er's eyes darted away, and her face flushed as she whispered, "Hello, Senior Brother Bei, hello, Senior Brother Xu."
Beibei smiled faintly, but deliberately said, "Hello, Junior Brother."
Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but chuckle, recalling Wang Dong'er's cross-dressing incident last semester.
Wang Dong'er, embarrassed and annoyed, hid behind Huo Yuhao and complained, "Why did Senior Brother Bei expose my shortcomings! I'm going to tell the sect leader!"
Beibei smiled and said, "Not my junior brother anymore?"
No, that's not it!
Hearing Wang Dong'er's somewhat exasperated reaction, everyone couldn't help but burst into laughter.
However, because it was a treasure appreciation event, everyone remained relatively restrained, so the disturbance didn't last long. At this time, Huo Yuhao was tied up and taken aside by Xu Sanshi.
Xu Sanshi, with a resentful look on his face, hugged Huo Yuhao's neck, leaned down and pressed him against him, whispering menacingly in his ear, "Huo Yuhao! Tell me, how do you manage to have so many women surrounding you without ever having a problem? I'm facing so many obstacles just trying to get Nannan, and I have absolutely no chance!"
Huo Yuhao replied with a wry smile in a low voice, "How could Senior Xu know about my troubles? If I had shown even the slightest favoritism, I'd be soaking in Seagod Lake right now."
"You're definitely showing off! Give me some experience now! Otherwise, you can forget about going home today!"
Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao immediately raised his hands in surrender, saying, "Senior Xu has to be selective about who he serves!"
"What do you mean?"
"Do you know what Senior Jiang cares about most?"
Xu Sanshi's expression froze for a moment before he said in a deep voice, "Nannan cares most about her mother. Her mother is seriously ill and in poor health."
"Then you should win over your future mother-in-law first. With her help, how could you not get Jiang Xuejie?"
Xu Sanshi was taken aback, scratched his head, and said, "Actually, I've been doing it all along, I just haven't let Nannan know."
Huo Yuhao rolled his eyes, annoyed by his son's lack of self-confidence, and said, "That's where you're wrong! You have to let people know what you've done! Otherwise, you're just being self-righteous. How can Senior Jiang change her opinion of you if she doesn't know? You have to let Senior Jiang know what you've done!"
Xu Sanshi was stunned by Huo Yuhao's words, then asked in a low voice, "Then can you give me some advice?"
"Bring Senior Jiang's mother to Shrek City to take care of her. That way, you won't need to deliberately tell them; you can just check on her occasionally, and you'll inevitably run into Senior Jiang sooner or later. That way..."
"Holy crap! Bro! You're a master at love! That was brilliant!" Xu Sanshi exclaimed immediately.
"Senior, just do it this way, you're sure to win the heart of your sweetheart!"
"Thank you for your kind words! I'll take care of it tomorrow! After it's done, I'll treat you to dinner!"
"It's a deal!"
"A promise is a promise! Just listen to my word!" The two whispered amongst themselves, then Bei Bei grabbed Xu Sanshi by the back of his collar, saying irritably, "Alright! Just let Huo Xuedi go! The female students are getting impatient!"
Xu Sanshi hugged Huo Yuhao tightly with gratitude and said, "If this plan succeeds, Yuhao, you'll be my brother!"
Seeing that Xu Sanshi was about to kiss him, Huo Yuhao pressed his head down and quickly pushed him towards Bei Bei. His forehead veins bulged, but he said with a bright smile, "Senior Xu, hurry up and figure out how to do it yourself. I won't play along!"
After saying that, he quickly slipped back to the main group. At this time, Ning Tian and Wu Feng had also reunited, and the group of five became a group of seven again.
Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi smiled and waved goodbye to Huo Yuhao and his group before wandering off to other places.
"Did you see anything you liked just now?" Huo Yuhao watched the two men leave, then turned to the girls and asked.
Ning Tian and Wu Feng, who had just returned, exchanged glances. Ning Tian said, "It wasn't much. We chose a few medicinal herbs and pills to aid cultivation. They weren't too expensive."
The items chosen by Xiao Xiao and the others were similar to those chosen by Ning Tian and his companion; they were all related to cultivation.
Huo Yuhao rubbed his chin, looking relaxed.
"Put them all in my name, let's save some money if we can. You can come to me to collect them later."
Ning Tian and Wu Feng were somewhat puzzled. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile School was not short of money. They had just learned from Xiao Xiao and the others that a 10% discount on purple cards was already quite good. Huo Yuhao's words left them completely bewildered. When they looked at the others, they saw that everyone remained silent.
"What's going on? Why aren't you all saying anything?"
Huo Yuhao suddenly raised his hand and touched Ning Tian's head, which made Wu Feng, who was standing to the side, snort angrily.
Ning Tian blushed slightly and was at a loss for words at his action, then whispered coquettishly, "What are you doing? Why don't you explain yourself clearly? You're flirting with me in public again!"
"Don't ask, it's a secret. Just hand it over to me when the time comes. If you want to return it later, we'll talk about it then."
Ning Tian blushed and glared at him before immediately averting her gaze, muttering softly, "Alright, I won't ask! I'll do as you say!"
Seeing that Ning Tian and the other two were no longer investigating, Huo Yuhao and the others circled around the various booths twice more. After obtaining the hidden ten-thousand-year-old whale glue, Huo Yuhao picked out a few items for Cui Yajie and Nanmen Yun'er. He also used his authority to take the right leg bone of the seventy-thousand-year-old Icefield Wolf King. After all, good things are free, and who knows who might need them in the future!
After paying for everyone's belongings together, Huo Yuhao had received less than half of the pocket money he had previously received from Qian Duoduo and Xian Lin'er. However, he didn't have many expenses to begin with, and the girls would return the discounted amount to him afterward, so he actually didn't spend much money.
Aside from the 70,000-year-old Icefield Wolf King's right leg bone being too conspicuous, which Jubaoge would later send to Huo Yuhao, the rest of the items would return to their respective owners after Huo Yuhao settled his accounts.
The group's shopping spree finally came to an end. As they left the Treasure Pavilion, Ning Tian was slightly taken aback by the endless stream of people. Huo Yuhao's outrageous 60% discount had really shocked her, but everyone else had a knowing look on their faces, so she naturally didn't ask too many questions. The fact that they hadn't kept it from her and Wu Feng was enough to prove that everyone treated them as one of their own, and that was enough.
After thinking it through, she stroked her elegant platinum blonde short hair, looked at her group of sisters, smiled sweetly at Huo Yuhao, and said, "Want to come with me to Jiubao Pavilion for the night? It's getting late, and it will take more than half an hour to get back now."
(End of this chapter)