You Are Not Worthy (New Book Launch, Please Bookmark!)

"Yes."

Huo Yuhao nodded slightly, but then his tone shifted.

"But I came back, and I stand here once again."

He had been given another chance. This time, everything would be different.

Huo Yuhao met his gaze calmly, studying Yu Ming's hysterical expression as though he were looking at an Evil Soul Master who had merely discovered his hidden strength and thus thought himself superior to everyone else. No matter how polished his outward disguise, it could not conceal the vulgarity of his true nature.

"You are different from Dai Huabin. After seeing your memories, I still cannot understand where that lofty sense of superiority, that urge to judge me, came from."

"Even if I had not been reborn, you could never have walked the path I once did. Your willpower is too weak. Your only ending would have been death during the fusion with the Ice Empress, with even your soul devoured by that agony."

At that, Huo Yuhao tugged lightly at the corner of his mouth before his smile faded.

"But thanks to you, I have found the first purpose of my rebirth—"

His expression turned as cold and stern as iron. Looking down at Yu Ming, he spoke word by word, as though announcing his return.

"To get rid of vermin like you who act with such reckless abandon!"

A cold flash erupted. The White Tiger Dagger silently sank into Yu Ming's left shoulder. Still, not a drop of blood seeped out. Yet as if it had triggered a chain reaction, Yu Ming's body and soul began to disintegrate at a visible rate.

Feeling the life force gradually leaving his body, terror flashed through Yu Ming's eyes. He wailed in agony, but no matter how he struggled, he could not slow the process in the slightest.

"You butcher! You killed so many people. You'll definitely go to hell—"

Huo Yuhao pursed his lips and nodded in agreement.

"Perhaps, just as you say, someone really will come to judge me one day and send me to hell. But that person will not be you."

He slowly bent down and gazed at Yu Ming, whose head was all that remained. As Yu Ming reached the final moment of his life, Huo Yuhao's lips moved, sending a faint voice into his ears.

"Because you are not worthy."

Snap—

As Yu Ming completely turned to ash and scattered between heaven and earth, an ice-blue bead the size of a baby's fist fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

"...Does this count as loot dropping after killing a monster?"

Huo Yuhao's expression was somewhat strange. From Yu Ming's memories, he naturally recognized the bead as that evolvable Ice Attribute Martial Soul. He bent down and picked it up. The bead felt cool in his hand but not piercingly cold, and a deep vortex spun continuously within it.

He tucked it away and considered finding time to absorb it. It was loot, after all—there was no reason to refuse it. Although his fusion with Skydream Iceworm could provide him with a Half-finished Martial Soul, this evolvable one was clearly more powerful.

His Half-finished Martial Soul back then had been unusable before he fused with the Ice Empress. With this bead, however, when he fused with Skydream, he should be able to activate the Ice Attribute Martial Soul directly. After all, this thing could evolve by absorbing ice-attributed power; it did not necessarily need to absorb Soul Rings.

And wasn't the energy Skydream used to construct the Half-finished Martial Soul precisely Ice Attribute Energy?

As for what this Martial Soul would become after fusing with Skydream, he had no idea.

It might become an iceworm, or it might become an Ice Element like Ling Luochen's. In any case, it could continue evolving by absorbing the Ice Empress's power later. Though this Martial Soul would not be as combat-capable as it had been in his previous life before he fused with the Ice Empress, it would at least give him more means to face enemies.

After finishing this, Huo Yuhao glanced at Dai Huabin on the ground. The dark blue glow around him gradually receded, and waves of stabbing pain immediately surged through his limbs and body. An intense sense of weakness made him sway.

This ability came from the Pride Origin he had unlocked in time. As the origin of one of the Seven Original Sins Gods of the Divine Realm, Huo Yuhao had gained a rough understanding of its effects just now.

It had two effects, both of which could be described by one term—breaking through limits.

For example, the power burst ability he had just used, similar to that of the God of Arrogance in the Divine Realm, could greatly enhance both his soul power cultivation and Physical Quality for a short period.

This was an important reason why he had been able to defeat four guards with just one level of soul power. Especially when he used Reign Over the World afterward—without soul power as a medium for fusion, Spiritual Power alone could not unleash it.

Huo Yuhao could not help feeling fortunate. Since the other party had been wandering around the safe area near the Duke's Mansion, the guards they brought were not particularly strong. If they had all been Soul Ancestors or Soul Kings, then even with the power of Arrogance Original Sin, he probably would not have been able to resist.

After all, his soul power was only at level one. Due to malnutrition, his Physical Quality was among the worst of children his age. No matter how extensive his combat experience was, he could not fight enemies who overwhelmed him with raw strength.

If the first effect was explosive, then the other was subtle and gradual.

Simply put, from the moment Arrogance Original Sin was unlocked, it had begun improving Huo Yuhao's body, allowing both the quality and total amount of his soul power to permanently break through their limits.

This improvement was like how, in his previous life, he had condensed a Soul Core at the Soul Saint realm, something only Titled Douluo could normally achieve. It meant that at every major stage from then on, both the quality and quantity of his soul power would far surpass those of people at the same level.

This might not be obvious at lower levels, but as his level rose, the gap between him and others would become increasingly terrifying.

The benefits brought by higher-quality soul power did not end there. Douluo Continent had no proper body-tempering methods. From one-ring Soul Masters to nine-ring Titled Douluo, improvements in Physical Quality all relied on soul power to nourish the body. Since Huo Yuhao's soul power quality surpassed that of others at the same level, he would naturally possess greater Physical Quality as well. The density of his bones and muscles, along with the strength of his internal organs and meridians, would all exceed that of others.

Of course, there were drawbacks as well. First, this power would make a person arrogant in daily life, but that was nothing to Huo Yuhao. As the Emotion God in his previous life, he was practically born to restrain such emotions. Though he did not know what would happen as more Original Sins were unlocked, at least it would not affect him for now.

Second, since his soul power capacity had increased, cultivation would naturally take longer. Compared to the benefits brought by Arrogance Original Sin, that problem was practically negligible. He merely needed to find more ways to increase his cultivation quickly in the future.

The smile on Huo Yuhao's face vanished as he turned toward the woods behind him.

"Have you watched enough? Come out."

Panicked rustling immediately sounded from behind a tree. A moment later, a black-haired figure emerged with her head lowered, her hands nervously clutching the hem of her skirt. Though she looked somewhat different from when she enrolled in his previous life, Huo Yuhao recognized her at once.

Who else could it be but Zhu Lu?

Although she was forcing herself to remain calm, the tears welling continuously in her eyes and her trembling body betrayed her true feelings.

Watching Zhu Lu foolishly come out without even testing whether he was bluffing, Huo Yuhao's eyelid twitched. She was only a six-year-old child. No matter how mature children in this world were, this was still an age of innocence and confusion.

As for why she was here, her elders had probably brought her to meet Dai Huabin. Huo Yuhao knew well about the relationship between the Duke's Mansion and the Zhu Family. The Zhu Family had many internal factions, and judging by Dai Huabin's talent in his previous life, his Innate Soul Power had definitely been high. Naturally, some people wanted to place their bets early.

"All right, stop crying."

Huo Yuhao restrained some of his aura and rubbed his brow, easing the headache caused by excessive Spiritual Power consumption. Since she had not provoked him, he naturally would not attack her.

"Stay here obediently until someone comes looking for you. Can you do that?"

Seeing that Huo Yuhao did not intend to kill her, Zhu Lu froze for a moment. The fear on her face lessened somewhat, and she nodded before asking softly.

"...Are you leaving the Duke's Mansion?"

Given the situation, she naturally guessed that Huo Yuhao wanted to delay the people in the Duke's Mansion from discovering what had happened here so he could take the opportunity to leave.

But Huo Yuhao raised his brow, and his voice suddenly turned cold.

"What are you trying to do?"

"No..."

Zhu Lu waved her hands in panic. Then she removed the Storage Bracelet from her wrist and carefully held it out before Huo Yuhao.

"There's some money inside. It should help you."