Chapter 7

First Soul Ring · Red

Sunset Forest.

A gray, desolate aura spread from behind the Spirit Hall Soul Masters, effortlessly neutralizing the tiger roar's wide-range sonic assault.

"Holding the Sun and Moon, plucking the stars—there was no one else like me in this world." A hoarse voice drifted from the void.

The Hell White Tiger stared at the black figure standing in the air before it. The heavy aura of death and decay emanating from him made its fur stand on end.

Below, Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan were equally stunned by the sight.

"Th-This... could it be Ghost Elder?"

Huo Yuhao, cloaked in black, glanced at the people below.

Were these people brain-damaged? Instead of standing there in shock, shouldn't they be running?

"Will you be alright?" Electrolux's weak voice sounded.

His strength would not last much longer. If he took control of the boy's body and fought, he could crush a ninth-rank magical beast with minimal effort.

"Don't worry, Old Yi," Huo Yuhao communicated through his divine sense.

The Hell White Tiger clearly realized that the figure in midair posed a threat. It immediately opened its jaws, gathering a dazzling sphere of white energy before blasting out a white rainbow of light toward Huo Yuhao in the void.

Huo Yuhao abruptly opened his Spirit Eyes. The sky darkened at once, and the void behind him seemed to split open along a seam. Within that hollow rift, a Blood Moon suddenly opened, like a crimson, blood-red eye gazing down upon all living beings.

The Hell White Tiger discovered that its surroundings were rapidly changing. In the blink of an eye, it found itself in a reddish-yellow wilderness, surrounded by heaps of bones. A river formed from gathered blood surged across the land, while a scarlet Blood Moon hung high in the sky.

The black-robed figure stood above the Blood Moon, revealing his true face.

He was actually a young teenager, his eyes glimmering with mysterious multicolored light. His expression was stern, and he radiated the majesty of a god.

The Hell White Tiger trembled inwardly, unable to suppress the fear in its heart as it shrank backward.

Like a supreme Deity, the black-robed youth raised his hand. A long, blood-colored Heavenly Blade condensed in his palm, which he gripped firmly.

The Hell White Tiger immediately sensed impending disaster, only to discover that its body could no longer move.

The crimson blade descended like judgment from the heavens, directly tearing apart the Hell White Tiger's soul. It instantly scattered into countless mottled flecks of light.

Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes could not withstand the divine might. Blood seeped from beneath his eyelids, and the domain barrier dissipated along with it.

The real world.

Huo Yuhao's consciousness returned. Two trails of blood slid from his eyelids, and his pupils trembled.

"Old Yi, can you help me open the Gate of the Undead?"

"...Alright." Electrolux had grown numb to such requests.

This boy knew his background remarkably well. It seemed that he truly had once walked alongside him.

The real world.

A Bronze Gate twelve zhang tall emerged behind Huo Yuhao, its surface carved with countless incomprehensible patterns and symbols.

He immediately sensed a familiar aura of authority and could feel its presence.

The heavy Bronze Gate slowly opened, leaking an eerie, gray and frigid aura, as though the gates of hell had opened.

The Hell White Tiger's pupils were unfocused as gray mist spilling from the Bronze Gate drew it in and pulled it deep inside.

At last, Huo Yuhao glanced back at the stunned Spirit Hall crowd below. With a casual wave, he scattered pale gray specks of light that entered their bodies and dissolved, erasing everything they had seen earlier.

After finishing all this, Huo Yuhao turned and stepped through the Gate of the Undead.

The Bronze Gate slowly shut, closing completely before vanishing into the void.

Land of the Undead.

The moment Huo Yuhao arrived in this pure land of death, he could no longer hold back and vomited blood. His body crumpled to the ground like a pile of mud.

"Old Yi, help me drive away the undead creatures nearby." Huo Yuhao forced himself up from the ground.

He understood very clearly that when facing a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, his level-ten body could not endure a head-on clash, even with power poured into it.

The best method was to defeat the enemy directly at the level of the soul.

That was how Spirit Eyes World Creation came to be.

Dragging his limp body, Huo Yuhao made his way step by step toward the Hell White Tiger.

The Hell White Tiger's body was like a small mountain. It lay sprawled on the ground, with a crimson blood-red soul ring condensed above its head. Its right foreclaw glimmered with crystalline treasure-light, becoming the only other source of light in this gray, desolate Land of the Undead.

Huo Yuhao immediately smiled at the sight.

A level-ten Soul Scholar hunting a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast—if this happened in the outside world, no one would even dare dream of it.

"Adjust your condition, then begin absorbing this soul ring. I'll help you seal away the excess power and release it gradually," Electrolux's hoarse voice echoed through the Land of the Undead.

"Thank you, Old Yi." Huo Yuhao thanked him sincerely, but received no response.

He immediately entered a meditative state and began adjusting his condition.

Half an hour later.

Huo Yuhao woke from meditation. His soul power had already recovered to its peak, though his body remained frail.

"Old Yi, are you still there?" Huo Yuhao called out tentatively.

"...Mm, begin." Electrolux agreed in a voice as weak as a thread.

Huo Yuhao immediately sat cross-legged before the Hell White Tiger's head and began drawing down the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring above it.

Threads of crimson power were drawn in and slowly descended into Huo Yuhao's body. The pain made him grit his teeth, but he was still able to endure it. A grayish-brown power controlled the outpouring energy of the soul ring.

An unknown amount of time passed.

Huo Yuhao cracked his eyes open. Blood and impurities seeping from his body had stained his clothes, while a massive red soul ring slowly rose around him, reflecting a scarlet glow.

At the sight, the corners of his mouth twitched upward slightly.

Absorbing just one soul ring had sent his Soul Power Level soaring directly to the peak of level twenty. Were it not for the soul ring bottleneck, his soul power would have risen even more terrifyingly.

More importantly, this Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring had granted him two soul skills.

First Spirit Skill: White Emperor Sword

Effect: Condenses Spiritual Power into blades and swords, capable of harming the soul

A spiritual attack with no physical form—impossible to guard against.

First Spirit Skill: Eye of Insight

Effect: Activates elemental vision, allowing one to see through illusions, resist charm effects, and sense elemental traces within a radius of three hundred meters

Huo Yuhao was stunned as well.

Eye of Insight?

Was this an innate ability of the Hell White Tiger, or had it resonated with his own Spiritual Eye Martial Soul and undergone some special evolution?

No, my Spiritual Eye Martial Soul came from my mother. It has nothing to do with the Dai Family's White Tiger Martial Soul!

Thinking of the Dai Family, he could not help but shake his head and stop dwelling on it.

Most of the Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring's power had been sealed by Old Yi. Once it was fully unlocked later on, its power would definitely undergo a qualitative leap.

Whether it was fate or coincidence, he did not know.

In his previous life, he had obtained a million-year soul ring right from the start.

And today, he had obtained a hundred-thousand-year soul ring right from the start.

"Are you adapting well?" Electrolux's weak voice rang out.

"Thank you for your help, Old Yi." Huo Yuhao immediately bowed in thanks.

A crystalline forearm bone floated out of the void and appeared before Huo Yuhao. It descended into his cupped hands, radiating a dazzling crystal-like brilliance and exerting an immense pull on his right arm.

"I have sealed most of its power. You may fuse with it first. I am about to fall into slumber. Unless it is a matter of life and death, I will not awaken again. The rest... can only depend on you." Electrolux's voice was barely audible.

"I have opened a portion of the authority for you. Should you encounter a life-or-death crisis, you may enter this place to take refuge. At the same time, you must beware of the undead creatures in this world..."

Huo Yuhao's gaze grew increasingly resolute. "Old Yi, rest assured. I won't make you wait too long."

The soul ring and soul bone skills have been adjusted and swapped.