Little Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged on the ground. The grim green power of the Rakshasa God surged over him like a flood, cleansing his body. Nearby, Zhongli Wu could sense Huo Yuhao's soul power rising frantically—level 31, 32, 33...
"This kid, he's gained quite a lot from this inheritance..." Zhongli Wu muttered quietly. Although Huohao had no true soul rings yet, his pure soul power intensity already rivaled that of the Soul Sect.
"Looks like after this inheritance, we need to find a suitable soul ring for him," Zhongli Wu said, stroking his chin with satisfaction and smiling. The stronger the Holy Son's talent, the greater the benefits for the Holy Spirit Sect's future.
As time passed, the Rakshasa statue ceased overflowing with divine power, indicating that Huo Yuhao had completed the inheritance trial. Zhongli Wu hurried over; the Holy Son's gains this time were critical for the Holy Spirit Sect.
Under Zhongli Wu's expectant gaze, Huo Yuhao exhaled a long breath. His eyes slowly opened—blood-colored pupils with rippling rings, now bearing mysterious magatama marks beyond those of his second awakening.
What kind of eyes were these? Just one glance was enough to overwhelm Zhongli Wu—not by cultivation level, but by sheer energy hierarchy suppression.
He had seen second awakenings of martial souls before but never a third awakening.
"So, besides the increase in soul power, what else did you gain?" Zhongli Wu asked anxiously.
"I need to test it out first," Huo Yuhao said, stretching lazily, his face expressionless but his heart barely able to contain its joy.
His spiritual power, cleansed by the Rakshasa divine energy, had reached the peak of the Lingyuan Realm. One more step and he would successfully enter the Ling Domain Realm.
Huo Yuhao stood up. His bones crackled as three grayish-white soul rings appeared beneath his feet, looking somewhat eerie. This officially marked his soul power reaching the critical level 40.
A ten-year-old Soul Lord at this level—if word got out, how many so-called prodigy soul masters would feel ashamed?
Of course, Huo Yuhao's greatest gain this time was the Rakshasa God Bibi Dong's divine consciousness root successfully settling in his spiritual sea. With a level-one deity's consciousness guarding it, Huo Yuhao no longer needed to worry about mental intrusions in the Douluo world.
At Huo Yuhao's suggestion, Bibi Dong left a small portion of Rakshasa divine energy within the statue—for the Holy Spirit Sect to refine later and to prevent suspicion if the statue ever lost power.
Huo Yuhao found Zhongli Wu's stunned expression amusing. Indeed, for a ten-year-old boy without a single true soul ring to reach level 40 soul power was unprecedented. Even the strongest "slackers" in the original Douluo series wouldn't have attained such a level at ten. Of course, the Douluo world still hadn't surpassed the Dragon God-level martial souls in quality.
Huo Yuhao also understood that such rapid soul power growth risked instability in his foundation. Over the next year, he would focus on stabilizing his soul power. Ideally, before reaching Soul King level, he hoped to form the first soul core that, in the original story, only Ho's "legendary" version achieved at the Soul Saint level.
"Leader, forgive me," Huo Yuhao said, gathering soul power in his eyes and taking an offensive stance.
Zhongli Wu nodded with his hands behind his back. Confident in his own Super Douluo-level power, he wasn't worried about any harm from Huo Yuhao—no one was better suited as a guinea pig to test Huo Yuhao's abilities.
Huo Yuhao closed his left eye and opened his right wide. Zhongli Wu suddenly felt dizzy, as if transported to a bizarre, twisted space—a blood-soaked wasteland with corpses piled high, a landscape soaked in fear.
"An illusion?" Zhongli Wu looked around with curiosity. An illusion skill could be very useful for a spiritual-type soul master.
"Exactly this ability!" Huo Yuhao rejoiced silently. With his current spiritual power, he wouldn't do much damage to a Super Douluo, and without a real soul ring to rely on, the mental strain was considerable.
"Not bad, not bad," Zhongli Wu praised as Huo Yuhao withdrew the ability. "Illusion skills rely on surprise. Once your opponent falls into the illusion and can't escape, they're as good as fish on a chopping board."
"Then try this one, leader!" Huo Yuhao closed his right eye and opened his left. A scorching aura focused from his gaze and aimed at Zhongli Wu.
Boom! Flames erupted, instantly igniting Zhongli Wu. But he quickly unleashed a surge of soul power, forcibly extinguishing the fire.
"What is this? Supreme Evil Fire?" As a leader of evil soul masters, Zhongli Wu was familiar with this fire. Fueled by the soul master's soul power, once entangled, it could only be removed by the skill user recalling it or, at the same level, by cutting off the burning part of the body to escape.
Of course, after using both skills, Huo Yuhao was visibly exhausted. With his current physique, the energy cost was immense.
"Both illusion and Supreme Evil Fire are very powerful. As your spiritual cultivation rises, their strength will become even more impressive," Zhongli Wu said approvingly, placing a hand on Huo Yuhao's back to infuse him with pure soul power.
"Thank you, leader!" Huo Yuhao's complexion improved significantly after receiving Zhongli Wu's energy boost.
"So, these two skills come from the abilities attached to your different eyes in your martial soul?" Zhongli Wu asked curiously.
"Yes. I call them Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi," Huo Yuhao said instinctively, naming the abilities after things he'd seen on TV in a past life. They weren't just similar—they were exactly the same.
"Amaterasu? Tsukuyomi?" Zhongli Wu didn't understand the meaning behind those names. "Whatever. At your current soul lord level, using these skills consumes too much energy. To make them truly practical, you must first get a soul ring and become a real soul master."
"I will heed your advice, leader," Huo Yuhao bowed respectfully.
"Let's go. We've been here for half a day already. Your physique is too weak. Starting tomorrow, I'll arrange physical training for you," Zhongli Wu said, waving his hand and flying back with a satisfied Huo Yuhao.
The Abyss Altar fell silent again. No one noticed that the once dimly glowing grim green surface of the huge Rakshasa statue had now turned completely dull.
Back at his residence, Huo Yuhao immediately dived into his spiritual sea. A beautiful figure had been waiting for him.
"Your Majesty!" Huo Yuhao bounced excitedly toward Bibi Dong.
Bibi Dong smiled wryly at the childish Huo Yuhao. "You have quite the imagination, attaching such abilities to your martial soul."
Huo Yuhao scratched his head. What could he say? A man is a boy at heart. Among eye abilities he'd seen, these two were the best memories—and once his soul power improved, he planned to play Gundam too!
Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi were naturally from Huo Yuhao's previous life and the skills Bibi Dong had crafted for his martial soul according to his requests. Adding these abilities consumed a considerable amount of the leftover Rakshasa divine energy from Bibi Dong's lifetime.
Zhongli Wu's only regret was that Huo Yuhao hadn't received a god-bestowed soul ring during the inheritance. Such rings form from the soul master's maximum years of soul ring absorption. If Huo Yuhao had one, his first soul ring would start at least at a thousand years, and later he could refine the Rakshasa energy to evolve it into a black ten-thousand-year or even a red hundred-thousand-year soul ring.
Just imagine Huo Yuhao at the Title Douluo realm with nine hundred-thousand-year soul rings—Zhongli Wu could only laugh in his dreams. That feat was only achieved by someone millennia ago!
But Huo Yuhao already had his own plans for his soul rings. Regardless of whether his future rings followed the original story, his first soul ring for the Spirit Eye would never be anything less than a million-year Heavenly Dream Brother ring.
In the original story, Huo Yuhao was called "Huo Gua" because the four godlike skills granted by the million-year Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm ring were so absurdly powerful.
"Leaving the Rakshasa statue means the Holy Spirit Sect won't have live sacrifices to consolidate your soul. My divine consciousness will be very fragile and cannot intervene unless absolutely necessary," Bibi Dong warned again. "When you find that million-year beast in the future, perhaps it can help stabilize my consciousness."
"I understand," Huo Yuhao replied seriously. With about a year before he left the Duke's mansion and set off on his journey per the original story, he planned to spend the next year strengthening his body. Without absorbing new soul rings, his focus was purely on physical training—the foundation for true strength.
"Holy Son, the leader has ordered. Please allow us to arrange your rest."
Just as Huo Yuhao prepared to sleep, the voices of the twin maids sounded outside the door.
"Rest arrangements too? What, are these two little girls going to warm my bed? I'm not that age yet!" Huo Yuhao thought with a strange expression.
Curious, he opened the door, and a familiar pretty face immediately appeared.
"Ma Xiaotao?"
I've wanted to give Huo Yuhao these two abilities for a while. Later, he'll even pilot a Gundam in the Douluo world—stay tuned!
(End of chapter)
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