The Beginning of Cheating

The stream water was clear, and the lakebed was covered in jagged strange rocks.

Huo Yuhao was in no hurry as he traveled. He unfolded the map Dai Li had given him, which marked the location of the Star Dou Great Forest with a red cross.

"At this pace, I should be able to arrive before dark." Huo Yuhao rolled up the map and stowed it in his backpack.

The White Tiger Dagger was a relic of Huo Yun'er, something Dai Hao had given her. Before she died, Huo Yun'er had passed it on to Huo Yuhao.

Though he was reluctant to wield the White Tiger Dagger, for Huo Yuhao, who currently had nothing to his name, there was no other choice.

Huo Yuhao took off his shoes and stepped barefoot into the icy stream water. At the same time, a faint fluorescent glow lit up in his eyes, a gray light sweeping across them.

His pupils turned a deathly gray, and the ticking sound of an hour hand echoed in his ears. A miraculous scene unfolded.

The babbling stream slowed down, and the swimming fish in the water wagged their tails at an increasingly sluggish pace. If one were to describe this situation at normal speed, then within a thirty-meter radius centered on Huo Yuhao, everything in motion was now "playing" at half speed.

Huo Yuhao reached into the water to catch fish, pulling them out one after another.

Before his transmigration, Huo Yuhao hadn't known how to cook. Faced with the original owner's grilled fish special skill, for a time, Huo Yuhao found himself at a complete loss.

Huo Yuhao stared at the lively, jumping fish and felt difficulty for the first time in his life.

"Let me think. First step is to scale them, then gut them, take out the gills, remove the internal organs, and wash them clean. That should be the process."

Huo Yuhao scooped out five green fish, each about twenty to thirty centimeters long. The sharp White Tiger Dagger stripped the scales in a single pass, and he managed to chop firewood and start a fire without missing a beat.

Soon, cooking smoke curled upward. Five completely cleaned fish were stuck around the fire. Huo Yuhao clumsily turned them, occasionally coughing uncontrollably from the thick smoke.

"I told you! Where there's cooking smoke, there are people!"

Huo Yuhao turned his head in alarm. From the woods and bushes emerged a man and a woman. The man was tall and refined, while the woman had a slender figure and looked about fifteen or sixteen, her long ponytail brimming with youthful vitality.

The moment Huo Yuhao saw them, he immediately understood who they were.

Bei Bei and Tang Ya—the guides who would lead Huo Yuhao into Shrek Academy.

"Little younger brother, are your grilled fish for sale? They look pretty rough, but I bet they taste good enough." Tang Ya's lively eyes blinked as she stared intently at Huo Yuhao.

In both his previous life and this life, Huo Yuhao had never been in love, and for a moment, he actually blushed.

"A little younger brother who knows how to be shy? How interesting." Tang Ya covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

"Well... I have plenty of fish. Let me treat you." Huo Yuhao stared at the slightly charred grilled fish and chose Tang Ya as his first taste tester.

Tang Ya's eyes lit up. Her right hand moved like a blur, stirring up a gust of wind as she snatched one of the blackened fish into her grasp.

Huo Yuhao's martial soul was not the Spirit Eyes, but the Time Eye with a Time Attribute. Ever since his intelligence had awakened, his soul power had shot straight up to level ten.

For Huo Yuhao, who had been slow-witted since childhood, this surge to level nine soul power wasn't just the system holding back. If the Duchess ever found out that Huo Yuhao had Innate Full Soul Power, things would get serious.

A layer of gray covered Huo Yuhao's eyes. In his perspective, Tang Ya's hands slowed down, her movements appearing frame by frame. A strange suction force emerged out of nowhere, pulling the grilled fish stuck by the fire into her hand.

Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon—used to eat grilled fish?

A hint of amusement flashed in Bei Bei's eyes. With Tang Ya's carefree personality, this was exactly the kind of thing she would do.

"Xiao Ya, this little brother hasn't eaten yet, and you're already digging in." Bei Bei walked over to greet Huo Yuhao, looking somewhat helplessly at Tang Ya.

"So rude! What should you call me?" Tang Ya gripped the wooden stick of the grilled fish and started whacking Bei Bei with it.

"Alright, alright, Teacher Xiao Ya." Bei Bei raised both hands high, constantly dodging.

"That's more like it." Tang Ya smiled contentedly. She parted her red lips, and the moment her teeth touched the fish meat and she bit down...

Tang Ya's originally cheerful expression instantly turned complicated. Seeing this, Bei Bei tore off a small piece of fish meat, put it in his mouth, and chewed for a moment.

"Little brother, did you forget to add salt?" Bei Bei barely managed to swallow. On top of that, the fish was a bit burnt, though he didn't mention it.

Huo Yuhao said, "This is my first time out, and my first time grilling fish. If the taste is lacking in any way, please forgive me."

"My name is Bei Bei, and she's Tang Ya. We're also out traveling like you. May I ask what little brother's name is?" Bei Bei asked warmly.

"My name is Huo Yuhao." Huo Yuhao took a bite of his own grilled fish, and his whole face immediately tensed up.

This Huo Yuhao really couldn't grill fish.

Before grilling the fish, Huo Yuhao had already eaten a meal. This time, he grilled fish partly to try his hand at it, and partly to see if he could attract Bei Bei and Tang Ya.

"Brother Bei Bei, Miss Tang Ya, it's nice to meet you." Huo Yuhao shouldered his backpack and stood up, preparing to leave.

"Huo little brother, this place is very close to the Star Dou Great Forest, and there might be danger. You're alone..."

Huo Yuhao smiled and shook his head. His destination was exactly the Star Dou Great Forest. After waving goodbye to the two, his gaze turned resolute as he tucked the White Tiger Dagger into his belt.

Watching Huo Yuhao's departing figure, Tang Ya's beautiful eyes narrowed slightly. "Judging by his look, he's not heading to the Star Dou Great Forest, is he?"

Bei Bei shook his head. "I can sense he has soul power, but it's relatively weak. Traveling alone, and heading toward the Star Dou Great Forest—it seems he's definitely going to hunt soul beasts."

"He has soul power, and he's a young man who's run away from home. Someone like that is perfect for our Tang Sect."

Bei Bei looked at Tang Ya, who seemed eager to jump in, and couldn't help but laugh. "How do you know he ran away from home?"

"Woman's intuition." Tang Ya smiled proudly.

"Fifty meters ahead is the Star Dou Great Forest. Soul beasts are active there. Stay alert."

Huo Yuhao held the White Tiger Dagger and slowly drew it from its sheath. A cold light flashed across the blade. He was excited, but also a little nervous.

This was the seventh day since Huo Yuhao had crossed over to the Douluo Continent, and also the first time he set foot in the Star Dou Great Forest. Amid this forest teeming with soul beasts, Huo Yuhao's figure gradually disappeared into its depths.

The woods were deep and silent, towering trees visible everywhere. Huo Yuhao channeled soul power into his eyes, and a gray hue instantly occupied the center of his pupils. Everything around him seemed to slow down, the flow of time becoming extremely sluggish.

Just then, a black shadow flashed past from the left.

Huo Yuhao's martial soul, Time Eye, possessed dual attributes of time and spirit. Through his research and use along the way, the stronger his mental power grew, the more the flow of time within a thirty-meter radius around him would slow.

Gradually, the figure drew closer.

It was a baboon nearly a meter tall, covered in brownish-yellow fur, with overly long arms and sharp claws that gleamed with a pitch-black cold light. Its canine teeth jutted out, giving it a ferocious, menacing appearance.

God Slayer Wind Baboon!

Huo Yuhao felt his breathing quicken and his heartbeat race. His palms were slick with sweat, and the grip on his White Tiger Dagger felt slippery.

"Ten Year Wind Baboon, so you're the Wind Baboon!" Huo Yuhao suddenly burst into laughter, leaving the Wind Baboon, which had been preparing to attack, utterly bewildered, not knowing what this human was laughing about.

Suddenly, Huo Yuhao charged forward on his own initiative. The moment he closed in on the Wind Baboon, White Tiger Dagger in hand, he frantically poured soul power into the space between his eyes.

Within the thirty-meter radius, the flow of time instantly slowed. The Wind Baboon felt an invisible pressure suddenly bearing down on it.

The Wind Baboon's greatest pride was its speed, yet caught within Huo Yuhao's Time Slow, every movement and object could only function at half its normal speed.

The White Tiger Dagger flashed with cold light, carving a wound deep enough to see bone across the Wind Baboon's back. The baboon immediately howled in pain, leaping and thrashing wildly.

Enraged, the Wind Baboon bared its fangs and opened its massive mouth, spitting out a ball of white light.

Huo Yuhao's expression was cold and stern. As the white light approached, he swung the White Tiger Dagger, absorbing the light into it, then hurled it fiercely back in the direction the Wind Baboon had attacked from.

At the same time, Huo Yuhao closed in proactively. Once he brought the Wind Baboon within the range of his Time Slow "domain," the White Tiger Dagger pierced unerringly into the Wind Baboon's chest. Accompanied by a blast of white light, the Wind Baboon's body exploded completely, chunks of flesh and blood flying everywhere.

Huo Yuhao pulled out the pristine White Tiger Dagger, looked at the scattered gore and the successfully condensed white Ten Year Soul Ring before him, and smiled slightly. "Wind Baboon killed successfully. Next is... waiting."

Soon, an unfamiliar voice abruptly rang out in Huo Yuhao's mind.

"Ah! Look what I've found!"

"A soul master with time and spirit dual attributes. Too bad Ge can't shed tears, or I'd be crying rivers right now."

Huo Yuhao heard this unfamiliar voice and a knowing smile spread across his face.

Without warning, a crack split open in the ground. A chubby, white, plump thing burrowed out, releasing a wave of cold air that sharply lowered the surrounding temperature.

Huo Yuhao tightened his clothes and looked at the silkworm before him, a full seven meters long. Its body was a translucent, jade-like white, and its most striking feature was ten golden rings running from head to tail.

"Don't be afraid, young one. Ge won't hurt you."

"Who are you? Are you the one talking to me?" Huo Yuhao asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Since you've sincerely asked, then listen well. I am the Incarnation of Justice and Wisdom, the first soul beast on the Douluo Continent to break through a million years, the King of Soul Beasts—Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm raised his little head and looked down at Huo Yuhao with pride.

Huo Yuhao met Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's gaze, and for a moment, the surroundings fell silent.

"Young one, you've got to show me some surprise!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's dissatisfied voice rang out.

"Ah! You're a Million Year Soul Beast! You... what are you going to do?"

Huo Yuhao's reaction pleased Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, who, without further explanation, transformed into a ball of white light and charged straight at Huo Yuhao.