Ninja Eyes

But his destination for this journey was the Star Dou Forest. In that Demon Subduing Land, home to countless Beasts, Hundred-Year and Thousand-Year Soul Beasts were merely ordinary creatures. Even Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts might become food for even more terrifying existences within the Star Dou Forest. Although Huo Yuhao considered himself cautious by nature, accidents could happen in anything. If he truly perished in that Demon Subduing Land, he could only blame his own bad luck.

The main reason Huo Yuhao chose the Star Dou Great Forest was that he had almost no other options. He had heard from some soul masters that there had once been Soul Hunting Forests on the Douluo Continent, inhabited only by Ten-Year and Hundred-Year Soul Beasts and established specifically for low-level soul masters to obtain Soul Rings. However, those forests seemed to have vanished into the river of history at the same time as an organization called Spirit Hall ten thousand years ago.

Aside from the Star Dou Great Forest, Huo Yuhao could choose to go to the Frozen Forest in the Far North Land or the Sunset Forest to hunt Soul Beasts. The average strength of the Soul Beasts in those two regions was ultimately lower than that of the Star Dou Forest, but one of those Soul Beast forests was in the Far North Land and required crossing the entire Heaven Dou Empire, while the other, Sunset Forest, was in the northeastern part of the Heaven Dou Empire and could only be reached by passing through Heaven Dou City. As a native of the Star Luo Empire, it was truly no easy task for him to hunt Soul Beasts in either place.

Not long after heading north, Huo Yuhao saw a vast cluster of connected buildings. It was an enormous palace-like structure, its golden glazed tiles gleaming brilliantly beneath the sunlight. Golden roofs and red gates gave it an antique elegance that naturally inspired a sense of solemnity.

From afar, mist drifted through the air, and tiled roofs spread in every direction as though they had all been cast from the same mold. It covered such a vast area that its end could not be seen at a glance. On the archway above the main gate, which stood five zhang tall, were three large characters: Duke's mansion.

This enormous estate, spanning more than three thousand mu, did not belong to any city. Instead, it had been built alone fifty li northwest of Star Luo City, the capital of the Star Luo Empire. This alone showed just how exalted the estate's master was within the Star Luo Empire.

The sun was directly overhead, and its brilliant rays fell upon the crystalline glazed tiles, shrouding the entire Duke's mansion in a dazzling layer of gold. It could even be faintly seen from the walls of Star Luo City.

Looking at the imposing and magnificent Duke's mansion, Huo Yuhao merely gave a cold laugh. A trace of hatred appeared in his deep blue eyes.

"Once I find a way to cure Mom's illness, your good days will be over. That day won't be far away. Enjoy yourselves while you can."

Huo Yuhao took one more deep look at the Duke's mansion, wanting to carve everything that had happened there into his mind. The disappearance of one Dai Yuhao had not even caused a ripple within the Duke's mansion, but that was fine. It would not be long before Huo Yuhao returned and turned this place upside down.

Heading north, Huo Yuhao soon set foot on the main road. Though he was still young, at the age of six, in order to improve his and his mother's quality of life as quickly as possible, he had resolutely taken on a shady underground commission despite his frail, sickly body and earned his first pot of gold.

After successfully earning that first pot of gold, Huo Yuhao's path of development gradually became smoother. A child who could eat his fill and a child who could not had vastly different amounts of strength, and the gap in physical ability between a child who ate meat every day and one who could barely fill his stomach was equally enormous.

At first, even when going all out, he could only throw a few blades like shuriken. Then he could barely wield a wakizashi, and now he could use a katana with almost no difficulty. Although he still did not possess a single Soul Ring, the strength Huo Yuhao could display was steadily increasing, and naturally, he was also able to steadily take on more difficult commissions.

As his life settled into a virtuous cycle, Huo Yuhao was surprised to discover that he had gone from level-one Innate Soul Power to level ten in just three years. This was thanks to the large amount of highly nutritious food he had eaten over those three years.

If he had not had sufficient nutritious food to supplement him, Huo Yuhao felt that, based on the speed at which he cultivated when his martial soul had first awakened at six, reaching level-ten soul power before the age of twelve would already have been an excellent outcome.

Thus, Huo Yuhao's cultivation speed was now almost twice what it had originally been, and this allowed him to vaguely grasp a few principles.

The better a person's physical condition, the more cultivation progress they could generally gain while meditating.

His innate cultivation talent should not have been poor. The reason his Innate Soul Power had only been level one was most likely because even getting enough to eat had been a problem before he was six. As his meals had improved over the past three years, his cultivation aptitude had gradually recovered.

Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao became even more determined to join Shrek Academy and study there. Although he had spent the past three years gathering common knowledge about the world of soul masters, the information he obtained was always scattered fragments. While he could piece together some basic knowledge after accumulating enough of it, how could that compare to systematic learning?

Just figuring out the order of soul master ranks—from Soul Scholar and Soul Master to Soul Grandmaster, all the way up to Titled Douluo—had taken Huo Yuhao nearly three months.

A Soul Elder, known as a soul master venerable, was merely a level-thirty soul master. A Soul Emperor, known as a soul master emperor, was only level sixty. The strongest soul masters in the world were Soul Douluo and Titled Douluo experts. These were common knowledge to young soul masters from great clans and powerful sects, yet to Huo Yuhao, they were immensely precious knowledge.

The Duke's mansion and Star Luo City were both located in the central northern region of the Star Luo Empire. The place Huo Yuhao had chosen to hunt Soul Beasts was the Star Dou Great Forest in the north of the Star Luo Empire, bordering the Heaven Dou Empire. This forest, which nearly covered the area of an entire province, was home to countless varieties of Soul Beasts, including many supreme existences.

The road stretched straight ahead, and Huo Yuhao quickly made his way forward along its side. Though he was only nine, he was already a level-ten Soul Scholar. Moreover, aside from when carrying out commissions, he had not deprived himself of food over the past three years. As a result, his stamina was far greater than that of an ordinary adult. As he walked, Huo Yuhao gazed into the distance. A careful observer would notice that his deep blue eyes instantly became even clearer, with a faint halo of light flowing within them.

Ever since his Spirit Eyes awakened, Huo Yuhao had discovered that his vision far surpassed that of ordinary people.

Up close, he could see many details that others could not make out.

At a distance, he could see more than twice as far as an ordinary person.

When he discovered that he possessed such a talent, even Huo Yuhao, whose temperament had already been tempered, could not help but exclaim in excitement.

After all, within ninja circles, his Spirit Eyes were practically one of the finest talents. Although many people were called ninjas, most were ugly, short dwarves like the Ranbo Crowd. They had merely been given the name ninja because their small stature made them suitable for gathering intelligence.

In the eyes of true ninjas, to be called a ninja by one's peers, one needed at the very least a pair of well-trained Ninja Eyes. Only then could one easily scout out intelligence from an extreme distance without alerting the enemy. Even in the darkness of night, Ninja Eyes could absorb every trace of ambient light like the eyes of a spirit cat, spying on the beings hidden within the shadows.