Huo Yuhao Hadn't Started Cheating Yet

After treating their wounds, neither of them felt the slightest attachment to Duke White Tiger's Mansion. They raced along the main road without stopping.

Half an hour later, Xu Jie and Huo Yuhao finally stopped after leaving the Duke's sphere of influence. They sat down where they were to rest.

"Are you okay, Yuhao?" Xu Jie saw that Huo Yuhao's eyes were still slightly red and gently patted him on the shoulder.

Huo Yun'er had already passed away. That was an established fact, something neither Xu Jie nor Huo Yuhao could change—at least, not yet.

And regarding the grief of Huo Yun'er's death, Xu Jie felt more worry than sorrow. He worried that, at the moment of Huo Yun'er's death, some god in the heavens who was forbidden from interfering with the lower realm had taken her soul to the God Realm.

"I'm fine." Huo Yuhao shook his head, indicating that he was all right. Seeing that he did not want to talk much, Xu Jie said nothing more.

After resting for a while longer, the two got up and headed northwest.

They planned to go to Shrek Academy. They needed shelter while they were still weak. Other academies would do as well, but first, having barely ever left Duke White Tiger's Mansion, they had no idea what other academies existed on the continent.

Second, Shrek Academy was undoubtedly the best academy on the continent in this era, ten thousand years later.

Their small figures stretched longer and longer beneath the pull of the sunlight. Their steps were weak, yet resolute.

Before heading to Shrek Academy, however, they first planned to enter the Star Dou Great Forest and hunt a Soul Beast for a Soul Ring.

There was actually a fairly large Soul Beast forest near Star Luo City as well, but the forest around Star Luo City was absolutely not a good place for them.

For one thing, that forest did not have as many varieties of Soul Beasts as the Star Dou Great Forest. Soul Beasts suited to Xu Jie's Martial Soul were easy enough to find, but those suited to Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul were much harder to come by. Compared to the forest around Star Luo City, Huo Yuhao would rather try his luck in the Star Dou Forest.

For another, that forest was controlled by the Star Luo Imperial Family and Duke White Tiger's Mansion. Entering and leaving required payment. Xu Jie could not take Huo Yuhao there to hunt Soul Beasts while risking being discovered, let alone when they had no money for the entrance fee.

More importantly, Xu Jie knew that the Star Dou Great Forest held an important opportunity for Huo Yuhao.

As for his own Soul Ring, Xu Jie wanted to first see how strong the Soul Beasts of this world were. If they were not too powerful, then with all his martial arts, he might have a chance to hunt one himself.

If that truly proved impossible, he could only think of another way.

Over the past eleven years, because of the Duchess, the two had learned very little of the continent's basic knowledge. Under the Duchess's control, there was no way she would hire teachers to provide them with general education. Even reading and writing had been taught by Huo Yun'er.

Huo Yun'er, who possessed no Soul Power, knew even less about Soul Masters than Xu Jie did. Most of Huo Yuhao's knowledge about Soul Masters and Martial Souls had come from Xu Jie.

Fortunately, the setting of the Douluo Continent series was novel enough that Xu Jie still remembered the details of Martial Souls and Soul Masters quite clearly.

A Martial Soul was an ability possessed by every person on this continent. At the age of six, one could undergo Martial Soul Awakening. A Martial Soul could be anything—an object, an animal, a Soul Beast, and so on. Those who awakened animal or Soul Beast Martial Souls were generally called Beast Soul Masters, while the rest were generally called Tool Soul Masters. There were also some special Mutated Soul Masters.

Although everyone possessed a Martial Soul, not everyone had Soul Power. Only a small number of people possessed Soul Power, and only they could become the most noble of all professions on the continent: Soul Masters.

From lowest to highest, Soul Masters were ranked Soul Master, Soul Master, Soul Grandmaster, Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Sage, Soul Douluo, and Titled Douluo.

The higher a Soul Master's rank, the stronger they were. That was inevitable.

Each rank was further divided into ten levels. Huo Yuhao and Xu Jie were both currently level ten, at the peak of the Soul Master rank. To advance further, they needed to absorb Soul Rings.

Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul was the Spiritual Eye, a spiritual-attribute Martial Soul. Xu Jie's Martial Soul, meanwhile, was the sun. Yes, an actual sun.

During their Martial Soul Awakening, the Duchess had clearly shown killing intent toward Xu Jie. Yet after seeing that Huo Yuhao had not inherited the Duke's powerful Martial Soul, her killing intent lessened considerably.

Later, when their Soul Power was tested, Xu Jie had half a level while Huo Yuhao had one level. Upon seeing those results, the Duchess's killing intent vanished entirely, and a faint smile even appeared on her face.

That made sense. One had half a level, the other one level. They were merely two useless wretches, practically incapable of threatening her son. From then on, the Duchess paid them far less attention. That was also part of why Xu Jie and Huo Yuhao could flee Duke White Tiger's Mansion without anyone stopping them.

But Huo Yuhao truly had only one level of Soul Power. Xu Jie, however, did not truly have merely half a level.

He had estimated that his Innate Soul Power was at least level seven. As for why the test had shown half a level, it was because he had used the Soul Power he had cultivated the day before to treat Huo Yun'er's injuries.

If the Nine Yang Divine Skill had not been miraculous enough to circulate on its own and produce a trace of Soul Power, his test result that day would likely have shown him to be a useless person with no Soul Power at all.

Huo Yuhao was clearly filled with worry and fear over this journey, but the steadily growing strength within his body gradually eased his anxious heart.

Brother Jie's cultivation method really was miraculous. I had only completed the first level, yet strength already filled my entire body.

The two hurried onward without resting. Only after a full two hours had passed did Xu Jie lead Huo Yuhao to sit down and take a break. He looked up at Huo Yuhao, whose forehead was beaded with fine sweat.

The Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill truly deserved to be called a divine art no weaker than the Nine Yang Divine Skill. Along the way, Xu Jie could sense that Huo Yuhao had not mobilized the Soul Power within his body, relying entirely on pure physical strength to travel.

In this different world, the original martial arts manuals seemed to have produced slightly different effects. The benefits gained from completing the first level of the original Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill were not as impressive as those Huo Yuhao displayed.

Of course, that might also have been because the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill suited Huo Yuhao exceptionally well. When Huo Yuhao had first cultivated it, Xu Jie had already sensed that the balanced, peaceful Soul Power produced by the technique was extremely compatible with Huo Yuhao.

Now, it seemed that he had indeed given Huo Yuhao the right cultivation method. At first, Xu Jie had actually wanted to teach him the Nine Yang Divine Skill, but he had overlooked one thing: some cultivation methods required aptitude.

Although the Nine Yang Divine Skill could eventually cleanse one's marrow and improve one's aptitude, there was still a threshold to learning it.

In his previous life, Xu Jie had only barely managed to learn the Nine Yang Divine Skill because he had first built a foundation with the Pure Yang Wuji Art, which Zhang Sanfeng had created by incorporating part of the Nine Yang Divine Skill.

How could he compare to Zhang Wuji, that child of destiny? Without having cultivated any martial arts beforehand, Zhang Wuji had spent only five years bringing the Nine Yang Divine Skill to mastery.

That was certainly due in part to Zhang Wuji being exposed to all kinds of martial arts from childhood, as well as Zhang Sanfeng constantly sending Internal Energy into his body after he was afflicted with cold poison.

Yet even with those reasons, mastering a divine art in five years still showed from another angle that Zhang Wuji's talent was truly exceptional.

Not to mention his terrifying speed later, when he took only a few hours to cultivate the Cosmic Shift to its highest level.

And now, Huo Yuhao, another world's child of destiny, could not cultivate the Nine Yang Divine Skill through his own aptitude alone before receiving his cheat.

That was why Xu Jie had taught him the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill. After all, it progressed step by step. Even a fool, as long as someone taught him, could cultivate the first level in one or two years. The further one went, the harder it became, and the cultivation time would double again and again.

Judging by the two years Huo Yuhao had needed for the first level, he would already be twelve hundred years old by the time he reached Titled Douluo. It was a long time, but Xu Jie was not worried.