"Brittle Demon Bird"

After receiving Long Yao's final, unquestionable command, Huo Yuhao's heart, which had been pounding wildly with immense surprise and gratitude, finally settled completely. He knew that any unnecessary words at this moment would be a desecration of this weighty trust. Only success would be the best repayment.

He gave Long Yao a deep, exceedingly solemn nod. His ink-blue eyes shone with a resolute, steadfast light, as though he were making a military pledge. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he turned and walked to the center of the battle-ravaged clearing. Finding a relatively dry, flat patch of ground, he slowly sat down cross-legged. He closed his eyes and formed a strange hand seal before him. Within seconds, his breathing became long and steady, and he entered a meditative state where he forgot both himself and the world.

Seeing that Huo Yuhao had begun preparing, the four companions around him sprang into action instantly without exchanging a single word, their absolute tacit understanding seeming as though it had been drilled into them a thousand times over!

The magnificent, dazzling Goddess of Light Butterfly wings on Wang Dong's back gave a gentle flap, and her slender figure drifted silently down like a weightless feather, landing three meters in front of Huo Yuhao. Facing outward, her exquisite pretty face, usually adorned with a sweet smile, was now filled with cold, inviolable killing intent. Like the noblest and most powerful guardian deity, she used her seemingly delicate shoulders to raise the strongest and deadliest first line of defense for her companion behind her.

Xiao Xiao appeared at Huo Yuhao's left like a ghost. Kneeling on one knee, she gently planted the end of her Nine Phoenixes Come to Ceremony Flute into the soil before her. Her pitch-black eyes, like two bottomless cold ponds, calmly swept over the shadow-filled forest on the left flank. Her entire being seemed to blend with the surroundings in a cool, harmonious aura, as if the seemingly fragile jade flute could play a deathly melody the instant anything stirred.

Ning Xue stood opposite Xiao Xiao, responding to her position. She heavily struck her Ice Crystal Staff against the ground, and a circle of fine, visible ice blue frost rings quietly spread from her into the forest on the right. The frost contained her spiritually charged Soul Power; the moment any creature stepped into it, she would sense it immediately. Her valiant face was filled with seriousness and focus. Since joining this team, this was the first time she had undertaken such an important guarding duty, and she would not allow herself the slightest mistake.

Meanwhile, the most powerfully built He Caitou stood steadily behind Huo Yuhao like an immovable steel fortress, bringing the entire rear of the team under the protection of his broad, sturdy arms. Rather than setting up that savage-looking Soul Tool Cannon, he simply rested its barrel on his shoulder. With his other hand, he pulled out a huge round metal shield the size of a dinner plate from his waist and held it before himself. Like the most loyal and dependable heavy infantryman, he used his flesh and blood to build the final, most reassuring barrier for the entire team.

A flawless diamond-shaped defensive formation, centered absolutely around Huo Yuhao as he absorbed his Spirit Ring, took shape in mere seconds.

[Livestream Bullet Comments]

[Absolute Trump Card's Master]: My god! This protective formation! It's so professional! Are these really a bunch of twelve- or thirteen-year-old First Year new students?!

[Detail Emperor Is Here]: Look! Wang Dong guards the front because she's the assault fighter and can handle the most direct threats; Xiao Xiao and Ning Xue guard the sides because they're Control System and can maintain the widest possible surveillance and restraint; He Caitou guards the rear because he's heavy firepower and can stop them from getting surrounded! This positioning is straight out of a textbook!

[Mother Fan in Tears]: Sob, sob, sob! Yuhao is finally getting his second Spirit Ring! And it's Thousand-Year! The kid has made it! This old mother is shedding tears of relief! Go, Yuhao! You have to succeed!

[Top Rank Big Brother 'Godly Magnate Brother'] tipped [Top-Grade Soul Power Recovery Potion (Military Special Supply Version)] x5 (worth ¥8,000): Streamer, keep these for your teammates! Guarding is exhausting work too! Don't let them wear themselves out!

At the center of the battlefield, Huo Yuhao had completely shut out every disturbance from the outside world. His tightly closed eyes suddenly flew open! This time, what shot from them was no longer pale golden light, but a pure white radiance filled with Spiritual Power, so concentrated it seemed tangible!

Come!

He gave a low roar in his heart.

At that moment, his unique Spirit Eyes Martial Soul seemed to transform into an invisible vortex of consciousness, filled with powerful attraction!

The Thousand-Year Spirit Ring floating quietly in midair, radiating an eerie purple glow, seemed to receive an irresistible summons. It trembled slightly, then trailed a long streak of purple light as it flew slowly yet unwaveringly toward Huo Yuhao's brow, like a weary bird returning to its nest.

The instant the Spirit Ring touched his body, an unimaginably violent and savage aura, full of chaos, resentment, venom, and unwillingness, erupted like a burst dike!

"Croak—!!!"

That horrifying frog croak, capable of tearing apart a soul, frantically exploded again and again within his Sea of Consciousness! Though the Jade-Eyed Phantom Toad was dead, its Thousand-Year residual soul, packed with resentment, dwelled within this Spirit Ring. It tried to unleash its final and most vicious backlash against this weak human who dared steal its power!

Huo Yuhao's body began trembling violently in an instant! His already pale face turned completely bloodless, and veins bulged from his temples and neck like twisted earthworms! Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down from his hair tips like raindrops, soaking the ground beneath him in moments. Dense purple mist, nearly solid in substance, completely enveloped his body. It flickered violently and unstably, as though it might explode at any time!

"Not good!" Wang Dong's heart clenched. She could clearly feel the energy within that purple mist becoming increasingly violent and uncontrollable!

Yet, at that critical moment, an unexpected change suddenly occurred!

Within the violently churning purple mist, filled with savage energy, two entirely different but equally terrifyingly powerful lights flashed without warning and vanished in an instant!

One was a warm, brilliant pure gold, like the rising sun, filled with sacred and majestic life aura!

Though that light appeared only briefly, it was like the noblest king in the world passing down an unquestionable judgment! The originally violent and unruly purple mist, the instant it touched that light, became like lowly ants before their natural enemy. All of its brutality and ferocity were instantly crushed, purified, and erased!

The violent flickering, which had seemed ready to explode at any moment, came to an abrupt stop.

In its place was a gentle, stable surge of energy, like a babbling stream.

Huo Yuhao's facial features, twisted by extreme pain, slowly relaxed. His tightly furrowed brows gradually eased, and his rapid, ragged breathing became steady and long once more. The purple mist enveloping him was no longer a threatening mass of energy. Instead, it transformed into the purest, mildest nourishment, steadily and endlessly flowing into his limbs and bones like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, nurturing his meridians and strengthening his Martial Soul.

No one knew that, in those brief dozen or so seconds, Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness had already undergone a terrifying battle. The Jade-Eyed Phantom Toad's vicious residual soul had nearly torn his still somewhat fragile Spiritual Origin apart. But just as it was about to succeed, the "super cheat" within his body—the Million-Year Soul Beast Sky Dream Ice Silkworm—finally acted.

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm used his vast, ocean-like Spiritual Power to build an impassable golden barrier around Huo Yuhao's soul. Then, with that boundless Spiritual Power, he effortlessly crushed the residual soul like an ant and scattered it into the purest fragments of spiritual energy.

From the very beginning, this absorption had been destined to be a one-sided "bullying" with no suspense whatsoever.

About another hour passed. As the forest light began to slant and the sun gradually sank westward, the purple mist surrounding Huo Yuhao finally, completely merged into his body.

He slowly opened his eyes.

At that instant, two dazzling purple rays more than a foot long, as tangible as substance and like two indestructible sharp blades, shot from his eyes and directly pierced two bottomless holes through a massive tree more than ten meters ahead of him!

A Soul Power fluctuation several times stronger than before, filled with spirituality and pressure, swept outward from him!

Soul Power Level: Level 24!

And beneath his feet, two Spirit Rings floated quietly.

The first was a unique Million-Year Spirit Ring that radiated brilliant golden light! (Disguised as a white Ten-Year Soul Ring.)

The second was a purple Spirit Ring, radiating profound and eerie light, representing Thousand-Year cultivation!

Success!

"Not bad, not bad. You rose three levels in a row." Long Yao smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Rest for a while, then we'll continue onward."

Those words, full of praise and affirmation, were like the strongest stimulant, instantly pouring into Huo Yuhao's heart after he had just undergone a rebirth-like transformation.

He stood up from the ground, feeling the surging Soul Power within him, like a rushing river and several times more vigorous than before, as well as the extremely clear new Spirit Skill in his mind that felt as though he had been born with it. An indescribable sense of heroic spirit and gratitude instantly filled his chest.

Three levels in a row! He had leapt from Level 21 to a Level 24 Soul Grandmaster! Though such a thing was not entirely unprecedented in the history of Soul Master cultivation, it was undoubtedly exceptionally rare! This was not only due to the immense energy contained within a Thousand-Year Spirit Ring. More importantly, during the absorption process, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm within his body had subtly transformed and widened his meridians with its ocean-like origin power, giving him a rebirth-like reconstruction!

"Brother Long Yao!" Unable to suppress his excitement any longer, he hurried to Long Yao's side. The eyes that had just released terrifying purple light were now filled with bright, burning gratitude like starlight. "I... I succeeded! My second Spirit Skill is... is Soul Impact! A pure spiritual attack Spirit Skill!"

As he spoke, he subconsciously looked toward a massive boulder over half a person tall in the distance. With a thought, the Second Soul Skill he had just obtained activated instinctively!

An invisible spiritual spike, utterly unseen by the naked eye yet condensed as though tangible, instantly shot from his eyes and struck the huge, solid boulder with incomparable precision!

A bizarre scene unfolded!

No cracks or damage appeared on the rock's surface. Yet, after just one second, there came a soft "puff." That incomparably hard granite, weathered by countless years of wind and rain, began to collapse inch by inch from within without any warning, turning into a heap of extremely fine gray powder that scattered in the wind!

This silent attack, yet one filled with eerie and lethal intent, left Ning Xue staring wide-eyed. Her valiant little face was full of shock and a barely perceptible trace of wariness. She subconsciously touched her forehead, imagining how horrifying it would be if that attack landed on someone's head.

"Good! Good! Good!" He Caitou excitedly slapped his thigh, his heartfelt praise booming like thunder. "Brother Yuhao, that move of yours is way too sneaky! No, it's way too powerful! From now on, whoever dares provoke you, give them one of those! Killing without anyone knowing—this is practically a divine skill essential for murder, robbery, home defense, and travel!"

Wang Dong walked to Huo Yuhao's side with a smile and affectionately patted his shoulder. Her pink-blue beautiful eyes were full of relief and pride. "Very good, Yuhao! The stronger you are, the safer our team will be. From now on, we'll have to rely even more on those magical eyes of yours to keep everyone safe!"

Xiao Xiao also came over. Her black eyes, usually cool and calm as water, were now touched by a rare hint of a smile. She gave Huo Yuhao a gentle nod. Though she said nothing, the recognition and joy in her gaze at her companion's growth in strength were more sincere than any words.

After the brief rest, Long Yao's calm yet powerful voice rang out again, pulling everyone from their joy back to reality.

"If you're done resting, continue forward!"

The entire team set off again, advancing deeper into the forest with greater confidence and greater caution. With Huo Yuhao, whose strength had surged, acting as a "super radar," their efficiency naturally rose another level. He could not only detect physical threats but also vaguely sense faint residual energy fluctuations and emotional imprints in certain areas.

Time passed quietly amid the tedious yet tense march.

By the time the sun crossed noon and began slowly slanting westward, they had already penetrated into a true Mixed Zone, one not even marked in detail on the map.

The environment here was more primitive and even stranger than in the outer regions.

The humid, oppressive air had grown so thick that it was nearly suffocating. Huge, twisted trees stretched from the ground toward a sky entirely covered by an ink-green sky curtain, like savage ghost claws. Their trunks were covered in strange gray-white moss resembling an old man's beard. Beneath the thick layer of rotting leaves, small black swamps bubbling with foam began to appear, releasing a faint, nauseating stench heavy with sulfur.

The silence around them had also reached an absolute, hair-raising degree. There were no longer any insects chirping or birds calling. Even the sound of wind blowing through leaves had vanished. The entire world seemed to have fallen into deathly stillness, an absolute silence full of ill omen and death aura.

"Stop!"

This time, Long Yao's calm voice sounded before Huo Yuhao could speak. His usually tranquil eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at an unremarkable stretch of forest ahead, overgrown with withered yellow vines.

Everyone stopped at once. They followed Long Yao's gaze but discovered nothing.

"Brother Long Yao, what is it?" Huo Yuhao asked in confusion. Within the range of his Spirit Detection, there was likewise only deathly stillness—no signs of life whatsoever, and even the energy fluctuations were so weak they could be ignored. "There... seems to be nothing ahead?"

"No." Xiao Xiao's cool voice suddenly sounded. Her normally placid black eyes were fixed tightly upon the scattered, seemingly ordinary white stones on the ground ahead. Her face instantly turned somewhat pale. "Those... aren't stones. They're... bones! Spirit Beast remains!"

At her reminder, everyone finally realized in horror that the area beneath their feet was like a massive graveyard buried by time! Beneath the thick layer of decaying leaves, weathered beast bones, fragile beyond measure, could be seen everywhere! There were huge ribs like small hills and tiny phalanges like needles. The variety and density of them made their scalps go numb!

This was clearly a death zone!

"Yuhao," Long Yao's voice came again, carrying an unquestionable command, "shrink your Spirit Detection range. Condense all your Spiritual Power to its limit and scan the fifty-meter area ahead of us! I want you to see every movement of every speck of dust!"

"Yes!" Huo Yuhao did not dare delay in the slightest. Following the order immediately, he crazily compressed the vast Spiritual Power that had originally covered a radius of fifteen hundred meters inward! This operation demanded an almost abnormal degree of control over Spiritual Power! His already bloodless face instantly became as pale and translucent as white paper!

But the result was remarkable as well!

Under his "extreme micro-control," the area that had seemed "completely empty" to his senses finally revealed its savage, deadly true form!

Those were not withered yellow vines at all! They were strange plants, each as thin as hair yet incomparably tough, glimmering with an eerie emerald green sheen! Like living things, they trembled faintly and silently in the air. At the ends of these "vines," within the dense canopy shadows that admitted almost no light, were dark green, hive-like nests no larger than fists!

And within those nests, pairs of tiny ruby-like eyes, filled with cold and cruel killing intent, watched without blinking as the six "delicious meals" below stepped into their death trap!

"Up... up there! They're... Emerald Demon Birds!!" Huo Yuhao's voice turned sharp and warped with extreme shock and fear!

Emerald Demon Birds!

That name was like a death curse from hell. Everyone except Long Yao turned deathly pale in an instant!

Shrek Academy's Spirit Beast Illustration had only a brief sentence describing this Spirit Beast, but it was enough to send chills down any Soul Master's spine—one of the Star Dou Forest's most terrifying predators; extremely small in body, faster than the speed of sound, capable of ignoring physical defenses, and living by sucking the brains of intelligent creatures! A Hundred-Year Emerald Demon Bird was enough to pose a lethal threat to a Soul Elder-level strong person!

And now, above their heads lurked a complete Emerald Demon Bird Flock, numbering at least thirty!

"Chirp—!!!"

The moment Huo Yuhao called out their name, a shrill, mournful bird cry, sharp enough to pierce eardrums and filled with violence and excitement, suddenly rang out from the darkness above! It was like the signal for an all-out assault!

The next second, over thirty tiny emerald green streaks of light, so fast they could not even be caught by the naked eye, descended like more than thirty tracking sniper rounds fired from their chambers. Accompanied by teeth-grinding shrieks as they tore through the air, they launched an indiscriminate, saturated barrage of death at the six people below!

This was an attack of utter despair! Their targets were not their bodies, but everyone's heads! Their speed was so fast that every evasive move seemed feeble and useless!

"Defend!!"

He Caitou let out the loudest and most desperate roar of his life! Without a second thought, he raised the huge, heavy metal shield in his hand over his head!

"Soul Guide Shield Formation!"

Countless Soul Power patterns on the shield activated in an instant. A thick earth yellow light screen, like a turtle shell, instantly enveloped him, Ning Xue, and Xiao Xiao beside him!

"Clang clang clang clang clang—!!!"

A series of crisp impacts, as dense as rain striking banana leaves and enough to make one's scalp tingle, exploded crazily against the earth yellow light screen! Every Emerald Demon Bird's impact contained terrifying penetrating power comparable to the full-force strike of a Soul Elder! The Soul Tool Shield light screen, said to be capable of blocking attacks from a Soul Ancestor, became covered in dense spiderweb-like cracks in less than a second. Its glow rapidly dimmed at a visible rate!

He Caitou's sturdy body was driven by that immense impact until both his legs sank deeply into the humus beneath him! A trace of bright red blood had already seeped from the corner of his mouth!

Meanwhile, Wang Dong's magnificent butterfly wings snapped shut in an instant, becoming the sturdiest and most sacred golden shield, tightly protecting the space above both herself and Long Yao!

"Puff puff puff puff!"

Several Emerald Demon Birds slammed viciously into the wings of light formed by the Goddess of Light Butterfly Martial Soul, producing dull sounds like sharp blades piercing rotten leather. Their sharp beaks, capable of piercing steel, met wings filled with sacred light aura and were instantly dissolved and purified as though encountering their nemesis, turning into wisps of green smoke!

But even more Emerald Demon Birds bypassed their defenses, stabbing fiercely from the flanks at more vicious and deadly angles toward their temples, the backs of their heads, and other vital points!

This was a certain-death predicament!

"Now, Yuhao!!"

Long Yao's calm voice cut through the chaos filled with death aura like the most precise surgical blade!

"Soul Impact!! Area release!!"

Huo Yuhao, who had long been waiting for the command, forcefully widened his eyes, which were wracked with severe pain from overuse! No longer locking onto individual targets, he unleashed the immensely powerful spiritual attack Spirit Skill he had just obtained in an extravagantly unrestricted manner, blasting it toward every enemy in all directions that he could sense!

Buzz—!!!

An invisible spiritual shockwave, impossible to see with the naked eye yet as vast and majestic as a tsunami, burst outward from him in a perfect sphere!

"Chirp... chirp?"

The Emerald Demon Bird Flock, filled with bloodlust as they dove at high speed, were swept by the spiritual shockwave. In their tiny ruby-like eyes, all cruelty and brutality froze in an instant. Their weak, simple souls were like fragile candle flames in a gale before this sudden, heaven-mighty Mental Storm, easily and completely snuffed out!

Their rigid bodies, still locked in diving postures, lost all momentum and life aura. Like rainfall, they fell helplessly from the air with a series of crackling sounds, striking the ground and becoming beautiful but cold corpses, their feathers still brilliantly emerald green.

And in that brief pause in the Emerald Demon Bird Flock's attack, a moment not even one-tenth of a second long—

Long Yao moved.

He did not even look at the ordinary Emerald Demon Birds that had become live targets. His profound eyes had long since locked onto the darkest, densest canopy shadow—the Emerald Demon Bird King that had not moved from beginning to end, a full circle larger than the others, its feathers a deep emerald green like Ink Jade!

"First Soul Skill: Swift Shadow Stab!"

His figure left behind an afterimage so solid it nearly became tangible. His true body, meanwhile, transformed into a black flowing light that the naked eye could not catch, faster than lightning. Following a trajectory that utterly defied physical laws, he appeared before the Thousand-Year Emerald Demon Bird King in an instant!

The Emerald Demon Bird King did not even have time to show an expression of shock.

The last thing it saw was an Ancient Spear wreathed in faint Black Mist, filled with endless sharpness and destructive aura, rapidly enlarging in its terrified Ink Jade-like pupils.

"Pfft."

A nearly inaudible sound, like a sharp blade cutting through tofu.

The Soul Breaking Spear pierced its head with lethal precision.

The battle ended the instant it began.

Time: Douluo Calendar Year 2030, Autumn, Day 8, 4:20 PM

Location: Star Dou Forest, Outer and Mixed Zone Border Swamp

Viewers: 74,681

Equipment: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Student Emblem x1, Inspector's Token x1, Soul Dissolving Token x1, Lightweight Combat Uniform x1, Distress Jade Talisman x1

Items: Shrek Academy Uniform x1, Student Emblem x1, Dormitory Key x1, [Ancestor's Relic - Handwritten Copy] x1, Gold Soul Coin x1, 003,870, Thousand-Year Soul Bone (Jade-Eyed Phantom Toad Left Leg Bone) x1

First Martial Soul: Soul Breaking Spear [Traits: Armor Breaking, Soul Devouring, Penetration]

Second Martial Soul: Chaos Holy Dragon (Hidden) [Traits: Strength, Time, Space]

Soul Power: Level 45 (Soul Ancestor) [Status: True Vast Sea Ring Shielding, externally perceived as Level 24]

Spirit Rings: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Ring (Yellow Hundred-Year), Second Spirit Ring (Purple Thousand-Year), Third Spirit Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year), Fourth Spirit Ring (Black Ten-Thousand-Year)

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Ring (Black Thirteen-Thousand-Year), Second Spirit Ring (Black Twenty-Eight-Thousand-Year), Third Spirit Ring (Black Forty-Six-Thousand-Year), Fourth Spirit Ring (Rose Gold Hundred-Thousand-Year)

Spirit Skills: [Soul Breaking Spear] First Spirit Skill: Swift Shadow Stab, Second Spirit Skill: Whirlwind Spear, Third Spirit Skill: Armor Breaking Spiral, Fourth Spirit Skill: Thousand Spirit Spear Rain

[Chaos Holy Dragon] First Spirit Skill: Star Ring, Second Spirit Skill: Holy Dragon Claw, Third Spirit Skill: Void Claw, Fourth Spirit Skill: Time and Space Roar

Soul Bones: None

Soul Spirits: None

Temporary Storage: [Million-Year Soul Beast Inverse Scale] x1, [God-Bestowed Soul Ring (Hundred-Thousand-Year)] x1, [Spring of Life (Concentrated Liquid)] x1, [Dragon Blood Body Tempering Pill] x10, [God King Godhead (Incomplete)] x1, [Couples' Limited Edition Flowing Light Wing Flight Soul Device] x1, [Sparkling Diamond] x10, [Top-Grade Soul Power Recovery Potion (Military Special Supply Version)] x5