Chapter 22: A Debt to Furina That Can Never Be Repaid!
Huo Yuhao's days at the Church of the Water God were both fulfilling and more than a little dizzying.
He was up before dawn every morning, and it was straight into soul power cultivation—no exceptions. The Profound Water Pill and Foundation-Building Spirit Liquid Furina had given him were working with astonishing effect. He could feel his soul power growing steadily day by day, his body feeling lighter and more agile. He'd already reached rank ten.
Sister Furina had told him to keep training—to build deep reserves and wait for the breakthrough. Soul power, once it hit the corresponding rank, might seem to stop advancing, but in truth it kept accumulating beneath the surface, ready to burst forth the moment the bottleneck gave way. At the same time, she'd told him to strengthen his physical training, to take care of his body and build it up. He was still far too thin and frail. Once the church's affairs weren't quite so hectic, she'd personally take him out to hunt for a soul ring.
His afternoons were mostly spent in the kitchen—either experimenting with new dishes or coaching Aunties Zhang and Li, Head Chef Wang, and the other cooks on various culinary techniques. Sister Furina had told him not to bury himself in the work, to train up more helpers, and to put his real energy into cultivation. He'd taken it to heart and had genuinely followed through.
But days upon days of high-intensity study and training had still left his head feeling swollen—like it was stuffed with damp cotton.
That afternoon, after instructing the aunties on how to control the flame just right to let a stew's flavors deepen, Huo Yuhao looked out the window at the warm, golden sunlight and decided he needed some air. He let Auntie Zhang know, wiped his hands, and slipped out the kitchen's back door.
The Water God Church's grounds were far larger now than when he'd first arrived. The rear court connected to that newly allocated patch of wasteland. Though large-scale construction hadn't yet begun, several small paths had been leveled out and lined with hardy trees and flowers. It had the look of a garden just beginning to take shape. Compared to the bustling commotion of the front courtyard, it was quiet here—peaceful.
Huo Yuhao wandered aimlessly down a gravel path, breathing deep lungfuls of the fresh, earth-and-grass-scented air. He felt the tension in his nerves loosen a notch. He was just considering whether to find a spot to sit and meditate for a while when his gaze was caught by the scene unfolding near the pond up ahead.
The pond was newly dug, the water still shallow and crystal clear. And there, right beside it, were three... well, how to put it? Three very peculiar creatures.
One was a seahorse-shaped being, its entire body a deep, vivid blue as if formed from water itself. It floated elegantly above the pond's surface, wreathed in a constellation of tiny bubbles that refracted the sunlight into a shifting, iridescent halo.
One was a creature of no small size, clad in heavy plating and brandishing a pair of formidable-looking claws—a crab in form. It was slowly, methodically using its pincers to pick up gravel from the pond bed, as if... cleaning the pond?
And the last was a round, almost ball-like octopus-shaped creature, stuffed into a rather comical miniature suit. It was using several dexterous tentacles to... adjust its bow tie while gazing at its reflection in the water? Though the bow tie appeared to be made of water as well.
Huo Yuhao stopped dead in his tracks. These three creatures... they seemed familiar somehow, though their appearance didn't quite match that of normal soul beasts. They radiated a gentle yet unmistakable water-elemental fluctuation. They seemed... entirely harmless, even carrying a strange, inexplicable sense of familiarity.
As he stood there in a daze, an elderly believer who had been watering a newly planted sapling nearby noticed him and walked over with a smile. "Little Yuhao! Out getting some fresh air too? What's caught your eye so thoroughly?"
Huo Yuhao pointed toward the three by the pond and asked quietly, "Grandpa Liu, what... What are those? Are they new soul beasts that the Lady Pope tamed?"
It was the only explanation he could think of.
The old believer followed his finger, then broke into a knowing grin. "Oh, you mean those three! They're not soul beasts, no, no. That's Mademoiselle Chevaleyda, Madame Hevmayer, and Lord Usher—members of the Lady Pope's second martial soul, the 'Salon Solitaire'! They're founding elders and honored contributors to our Water God Church!"
"A second martial soul? The Salon Solitaire?" Huo Yuhao was even more baffled now. A martial soul could look like this? And it could have multiple members?
"That's right!" The old believer, clearly a chatty sort, seeing Huo Yuhao's interest, happily opened the floodgates. "Her Holiness is a genius blessed by heaven—a twin martial soul! These three lords don't often appear all together, but they've helped the church tremendously. Back when the church was still small and unestablished, they were the ones helping the Lady Pope hand out the holy relic cakes and keep order!"
The old man's face took on a reminiscent look, and he lowered his voice. "Come to think of it... about half a year ago, give or take, the church was still very small, very humble. I heard the Lady Pope sent the three of them out on a secret mission. It seemed they were helping a mother and son who'd fallen on desperate times... I don't know the specifics, but when they returned, the Lady Pope was in wonderfully good spirits for a long while afterward."
Huo Yuhao could barely hear the old man's words anymore.
"Half a year ago... secret mission... helping a mother and son..."
These words were like a key, suddenly unlocking a dusty corner deep in his memory—a corner sealed away by confusion and gratitude.
He remembered that desperate night in the servants' quarters of the White Tiger Duke's Manor! He remembered his mother gravely ill, at death's door, and the three strange creatures that had burst in without warning, tossed down the money pouch and the letter, and vanished in haste!
A floating creature wreathed in bubble-light... a creature raising a huge claw... a round, suit-clad creature!
At the time, the situation had been urgent. He'd been terrified, his memory blurred by shock. He'd only thought the three soul beasts were bizarre and frightening. But now, looking at the three leisurely members of the "Salon Solitaire" by the pond, the images in his memory snapped into sharp, crystal-clear focus—and aligned perfectly!
It was them! It was them!
The pouch of gold soul coins! The letter that read: "Saw injustice. Travel money. Head south..."
Then... then the one who had given them charcoal in the snow, who had saved his mother's life, who had given mother and son a single thread of hope... it had been Sister Furina all along! The Church of the Water God!
A tremendous, earthshaking shock—and a surging tide of gratitude as vast as the sea—engulfed Huo Yuhao in an instant. He stood there, frozen, eyes fixed unblinking on Mademoiselle Chevaleyda, Madame Hevmayer, and Lord Usher beside the pond. His chest felt clogged with something heavy, unbearably aching. A fierce, burning heat rushed to his eyes, reddening them before he could even think to stop it.
He'd always assumed the benefactor was some mysterious stranger who'd stepped in to right a wrong, someone who'd long since vanished into the vast sea of humanity. He'd clung desperately to that debt, thinking that one day, if he ever made something of himself, he would repay it. But never—never—had he imagined that his benefactor had been right beside him all along! And had been so impossibly good to him! Giving him work, advancing his wages, gifting him precious pills, fretting over his training, even telling him to call her "Sis"...
So none of this kindness and care had come from nowhere. Long before, in the darkest, most helpless moments of his life, Sister Furina and her Church of the Water God had already been like a faint glimmer in the pitch-black night—illuminating and saving both him and his mother.
"Little Yuhao? What's wrong? Why are your eyes red?" The old believer noticed his distress, his voice full of concern.
Huo Yuhao snapped back to reality and hurriedly scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his hand, forcing a stiff smile. "N-nothing, Grandpa Liu. Just got some sand in my eyes. I... I should head back!"
He turned and fled—nearly at a run—toward the kitchen. He needed time to digest this staggering truth.
His heart pounded wildly in his chest. An indescribable, tangled knot of emotion churned within—shock at the revelation, profound gratitude for the kindness shown back then, and something more... a feeling of safety and warmth, as if he'd finally found a place he truly belonged.
So he hadn't been struggling alone all this time. So the threads of fate had bound them together long before they'd ever met.
Returning to the kitchen, Huo Yuhao looked at the familiar surroundings, at the aunties who treated him with such warmth and kindness, and the whole world seemed different now. He picked up the cleaver and began prepping ingredients with even greater focus, even greater care—as if every stroke of the blade were laden with a silent vow.
Sister Furina... no—his benefactor, and the sister who had given him a new life and new hope. This debt was too heavy. He didn't know if he could ever possibly repay it in this lifetime.
But he knew one thing for certain. From this day forward, the Church of the Water God was his home. And Sister Furina was the person he would protect and repay with his very life. He had to become stronger—strong enough to be her strength, not her burden.
And at that very moment, Furina, curled up contentedly in her own room studying the Water God Tome and gleefully planning how to distribute the Mysterious Heaven Technique tomorrow, had no idea whatsoever that a casual move she'd once made (alright—a move prompted by a system mission) had now stirred a storm of cataclysmic proportions in a young boy's heart. And that she was about to reap a harvest of loyalty so absolute, so unshakable, it surpassed anything she could have ever anticipated.