Joining the Tang Sect

The brown bear brought Huo Yuxi into a secluded cave. Like a human, it warily surveyed its surroundings before approaching her only after finding nothing unusual.

Huo Yuxi's heart pounded like thunder. No matter how mature the siblings usually seemed, their age was still there. They were eleven-year-old children, and in the face of this, they could not control their panic.

"Spider, what do we do? Are we going to die here?"

The little spider shrank even smaller, crawled out of her sleeve, and reassuringly tapped her hand. Then it climbed down, burrowed into the grass, and disappeared.

Huo Yuxi had already been devastated, but seeing this left her somewhat bewildered. If it had not been her martial soul, she would have thought it was running away for its life.

"Roar."

Sensing something, the brown bear let out an angry roar and suddenly lunged at Huo Yuxi. She reflexively rolled several times to the right, narrowly avoiding it as the bear flashed past where she had been standing and landed beside her. It bared its fangs, its eyes red as it turned to glare at her.

Having failed to strike her, it snarled angrily and pounced again.

"Thump, thump, thump..." Her heartbeat rang in her ears. Huo Yuxi felt as though it would leap from her chest. She really could not dodge this time. If that attack landed, she would definitely die! What was she supposed to do?

In despair, Huo Yuxi squeezed her eyes shut. Crystal tears slid from the corners of her eyes. She only hoped that after she died, her brother would not be sad and would live well...

Boom.

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground rang out beside her. Huo Yuxi waited for a long time, but felt nothing. She cautiously opened her eyes and saw the brown bear lying less than half an inch away from her. The ground was covered in densely packed dark purple spiders, while her little spider stood atop the bear's back.

Although she could not see its expression, Huo Yuxi somehow felt that it was very pleased with itself.

Suddenly, her two soul rings lit up and began spinning violently. After about two minutes, they slowly stopped. Only then did Huo Yuxi realize that her soul rings had changed from white and yellow to yellow and purple.

Seeing this, the little spider crawled onto her shoulder and rubbed against her neck, its desire for praise exceedingly obvious.

In a daze, Huo Yuxi tapped its forehead and asked, "Spider, what's going on? Why did my soul rings increase in age on their own? Am I an Evil Soul Master like Mom mentioned?"

On the Douluo Continent, mutated martial souls were not uncommon, but mutated body martial souls like Huo Yuhao's and mutated physical beast martial souls like Huo Yuxi's were extremely rare. Information about them was likewise scarce.

From the moment she successfully awakened, the little spider had come with a ten-year soul ring. Normally, such a phenomenon only occurred when soul beasts took human form to cultivate, yet Huo Yuxi was undeniably human. It was simply too bizarre.

Later, when she reached Rank 20, another hundred-year soul ring appeared. Mother Huo became even more afraid and repeatedly instructed the two children to keep this secret no matter what.

Huo Yuxi also knew that her martial soul was unusual. This situation left her even more at a loss. Her mother had told the siblings that cultivating through devoured energy was what Evil Soul Masters did. Then wasn't what she was doing now exactly what her mother had described as an Evil Soul Master?

She did not want to become an evil Evil Soul Master, to become someone everyone, including herself, despised...

Seeing her like this, the little spider explained so frantically that its eight legs nearly spun up smoke, indicating that this was its special skill. At the same time, it directed the spider swarm to disperse.

"Really?"

Of course.

With its assurance, Huo Yuxi relaxed. After watching the spiders scatter, she said, "Then let's go find Brother. I wonder how he's doing. That leopard soul beast looked really strong, and Brother still doesn't have a soul ring..."

As she spoke, she hugged the Soul Devouring Spider, which had changed back into a spider doll, and ran toward the direction they had come from, filled with anxiety.

Halfway there, Huo Yuxi saw the bedraggled Huo Yuhao. She rushed over. "Brother, what happened to you? Are you okay?"

Huo Yuhao pulled her tightly into his arms, his eyes full of panic and lingering fear. He did not dare imagine what he would do if something had truly happened to his sister, or how he would explain it to their mother.

It was as if the person who had risked his life fighting the leopard and encountered a stroke of fortune had not been him. Right now, he only cared whether his sister was hurt, paying no attention at all to his own injuries.

"Xixi, are you hurt anywhere?"

"Brother, I'm fine. Are you okay? Why are you so badly hurt? Does it hurt?"

Huo Yuhao wiped the dust from her little face. "Brother's fine. Next time you encounter danger, you must remember to hide behind Brother, understand?"

"I understand." Only then did Huo Yuxi notice the extraordinary-looking young woman and the handsome, refined young man standing beside Huo Yuhao. She immediately became reserved. "Brother, who are this older sister and older brother?"

Seeing her puzzled gaze, Tang Ya quickly introduced herself. "Hello, my name is Tang Ya. You can call me Sister Xiaoya. This is Bei Bei."

"S-Sister Xiaoya, hello. Brother Bei Bei, hello."

Seeing how adorably dazed she looked, Tang Ya could not help reaching out to rub her fluffy head. "Your name is Xixi, right? You're so young. Why did you come to such a dangerous place by yourselves? Aren't your family worried?"

Huo Yuxi's body stiffened. Other than her mother and brother, no one had ever touched her head like that. "I... There are only the two of us left in our family."

"Ah! R-right, I'm sorry. I didn't know." Tang Ya's face immediately filled with guilt as she secretly shot Bei Bei a pleading look.

"Yuhao, what are your plans next?" Bei Bei stepped forward and asked.

Huo Yuhao shook his head blankly. His goal was to become a soul master, protect his sister well, and avenge his mother. He had only thought about coming here to obtain his first soul ring, never considering what he would do after obtaining it.

Huo Yuxi was the same. Her health had always been poor. Before awakening her martial soul, she had been a walking medicine bottle, protected by her brother and mother like a baby chick. They had practically wanted to feed her every meal, and she had never been exposed to the outside world.

To her, it was all extremely unfamiliar.

Seeing their expressions, Tang Ya was overjoyed. "Since neither of you has any plans, why not join our Tang Sect?"

She had observed them. Although Huo Yuhao was young, he had a steady personality and was well suited to joining the Tang Sect. The soul power fluctuations around this little girl were also quite formidable, so it would not be a loss.

The Tang Sect! Hearing those words, both Huo Yuhao and Huo Yuxi were somewhat startled.

Their expressions did not seem like those of people who had never heard of it, so Bei Bei asked, "Yuhao, have you heard of the Tang Sect?"

Of course they had. It had once been the number one sect on the continent. Although it had now declined, everyone knew of its former history. The Tang Sect's hidden weapons had played an especially crucial role in that great war.

"My mother mentioned it before."

"Don't let the Tang Sect's current decline fool you. Bei Bei and I will definitely restore its former glory someday, even though there are only two members right now." Tang Ya's eyes were exceptionally resolute as she spoke.

Huo Yuhao turned to Huo Yuxi. "Xixi, do you want to go?"

Although he himself very much wanted to join, his sister was more important than anything else. If Huo Yuxi was unwilling, he would find somewhere else to go. All roads led to Rome; there would always be one suitable for them.

The hope in his eyes was obvious. Huo Yuxi nodded. "Brother, I'll go wherever you go."

With that settled, the two successfully entered the Tang Sect after performing the disciple ceremony. They also received various cultivation techniques from Tang Ya. Huo Yuhao received an imitation Twenty-Four Moonlit Bridges storage-type Soul Tool.

Huo Yuxi received a ring. Its storage space was somewhat smaller, but it was compact.