Could There Really Be Such a Coincidence in This World...?

Qiangu Zhangting's gaze locked tightly onto the boy's figure on the screen. Emotions surged through his chest like waves, and several words uncontrollably sprang into his mind.

Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao!

This name belonged to the Founder of the Spirit Pagoda, an immortal legend of the Soul Master world, a great being who had become a god Ten Thousand Years Ago!

Every member of the Spirit Pagoda knew the statue standing in the square outside the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters by heart, but that was Huo Yuhao as an adult!

Yet the Tower Core's database also contained relatively complete records of this Founder, including images that could be traced back to when he was twelve years old.

As Qiangu Dongfeng's direct grandson, Qiangu Zhangting had been exposed to the highest level of secrets since childhood.

He had seen the records' portrait of Spirit Ice Douluo at twelve. The contours of that face, the spirit in those brows and eyes...

The eight-year-old Huo Yuhao on the screen might have been several years younger, but the proportions of his features, the calmness and sharpness beginning to emerge between his brows—they looked as though they had been cast from the same mold as the twelve-year-old Spirit Ice Douluo in that portrait!

"Could there really be such a coincidence in this world...?"

Qiangu Zhangting could not help but think so.

They were both named "Huo Yuhao," both possessed the Spirit Type Body Martial Soul, Spirit Eyes, and now there was this astonishing resemblance in appearance!

Why had Leng Yaozhu suddenly brought back a child like this?

Why was she pouring resources into raising him, while protecting him so tightly?

What, exactly, was this child's connection to the legend from Ten Thousand Years Ago?

Was he a blood descendant?

Was he the reappearance of some inconceivable inheritance?

Or was it... something even harder to imagine?

Countless questions instantly filled Qiangu Zhangting's mind, making his breath catch.

It was precisely because of these countless "coincidences" that Huo Yuhao had already been listed as a key subject of "attention" in the eyes of the Qiangu Clan!

Inside the Spirit Ascension Platform!

Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea Realm Mental Power spread soundlessly like spilled mercury.

Every rustle of wind and grass, every faint ripple of energy within several hundred meters, lay entirely within his grasp.

Suddenly, his brow twitched slightly, and his gaze shot like lightning toward the front left.

Found them.

With a silent thought, Soul Power burst lightly from beneath his feet, and he shot forward like an arrow released from its bow, stirring a breeze as he merged into the dense shadows of the forest.

His movements were light and swift, yet strangely attuned to the rhythm of his surroundings, as though he had always been part of this forest.

After racing onward for roughly fifteen minutes, the woods gradually thinned.

In a relatively open clearing, more than a dozen Wind Chasing Wolves with blue-gray fur and vicious eyes were tearing into a huge elk-like Soul Beast that had fallen to the ground. A thick stench of blood spread through the air.

Huo Yuhao stopped in the shadows, and silver light flickered over his shoulder.

Xiao Yin silently appeared. Its originally sinister body, three meters in diameter, had now shrunk to no larger than a palm and floated beside his shoulder.

Its signature enormous single eye was now round and wide, while its Spiritual Tentacles swayed leisurely. It had lost some of its ferocity and somehow even seemed strangely "cute."

Without needing a word, Xiao Yin narrowed its single eye. Several Spiritual Tentacles rose elegantly and gave a faint tremor toward the wolf pack.

Bzzzz!!!

Invisible and formless, yet incomparably sharp, waves of Mental Shock surged through space like several transparent whips, lashing precisely against the spiritual cores of every Wind Chasing Wolf!

"Awooo!!"

Piercing howls erupted from more than a dozen wolf maws almost simultaneously, carrying the agony of souls being torn apart.

At the same time, every Wind Chasing Wolf abruptly stiffened. The viciousness in their eyes was replaced by vast emptiness and pain. Their limbs trembled beyond their control, as though they had instantly lost command of their bodies, making even the simple act of standing difficult.

Huo Yuhao's First Soul Skill, Mental Lash, plunged their minds into a chaotic agony.

Just as the wolves' consciousness scattered and their defenses collapsed in that fatal opening...

Huo Yuhao moved.

At some point, he had already gripped a dagger Soul Tool the length of his forearm, its entire surface dark and dull.

His foot merely seemed to take a simple step, yet his body suddenly blurred and sliced into the wolf pack in an instant!

There was no dazzling glow of Soul Skills, only the faint, nearly inaudible yet bone-chilling hiss of the dagger cutting through the air.

"Shhk!" "Shhk!" "Shhk!"

The sounds were brief and rapid, nearly merging into one.

Huo Yuhao's figure flashed and weaved through the gaps between the wolves. His movements were simple to the extreme, and precise to the extreme.

Each flash of cold dagger light was inevitably followed by a spray of blood.

When Huo Yuhao finally stopped, standing in the clearing not far from the wolf pack—

"Thud!" "Thud!" "Thud..."

Dull sounds of bodies hitting the ground rang out in succession.

More than a dozen Wind Chasing Wolves toppled to the ground in unison, the ferocity and pain in their eyes completely extinguished.

Only blood continued to gush from the bone-deep wounds on their necks, soaking the grass beneath them and rapidly spreading into a glaring dark red patch.

From the Mental Lash to the complete annihilation of the wolf pack, the entire process had taken no more than three breaths.

Huo Yuhao gave his wrist a slight flick, shaking the blood droplets from his dagger before putting the Soul Tool away.

Yellow halos appeared over the corpses of the dead Wind Chasing Wolf Soul Beasts on the ground.

These halos rose into the air and gathered toward Xiao Yin on Huo Yuhao's shoulder.

Xiao Yin narrowed its eyes, sensing the energy within its body rising. It was getting closer and closer to ten thousand years of cultivation.

But then... an unexpected change suddenly occurred!

The stream of energy that had steadily been flowing toward Xiao Yin abruptly veered off.

More than sixty percent of the yellow energy halos traced strange arcs through the air, bypassing Xiao Yin entirely and silently pouring into Huo Yuhao's brow like countless rivers returning to the sea!

"?!"

Xiao Yin's contentedly narrowed eyes instantly flew wide in shock, disbelief flashing through its silver pupil.

Whoosh!

With a flash of silver light, Xiao Yin unhesitatingly retreated into Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea.

Its furious, startled thoughts crashed forth like exploding waves. "Tianmeng! Was this your doing, you damn ice silkworm?! Give me back my energy!"

It immediately locked onto the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, but the sight before it left it stunned.

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's pearly-white body was obediently curled up in a corner of the Spirit Sea, looking blankly at Xiao Yin, which had suddenly come to accuse him.

"What? Steal your energy?"

"I've got a million years' worth of origin essence. Why would I care about such a trifling amount?"

As he spoke, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm glanced upward. "See for yourself!"

Xiao Yin's gaze slowly shifted upward, finally settling on the grey bead that had always floated silently in the sky above the spiritual world...

Streams of pure yellow energy, like weary birds returning to their nests, circled the bead wreathed in deathly aura several times.

Then they were silently devoured by that profound greyness, without stirring the slightest ripple.

Xiao Yin still hovered some distance from the Grey Bead, sulking. Its silver eye was wide open, and several Spiritual Tentacles stretched out again stubbornly, cautiously touching the streams of surrounding energy.

But those energies seemed to have recognized the Grey Bead as their sole master. They completely ignored Xiao Yin's "efforts," their trajectories unchanged in the slightest.

"This is outrageous!"

Xiao Yin's tone was clearly filled with frustration and anger.

As a proud member of the Evil Eye Clan—and Lord Yuhao's First Soul Spirit—it could not even protect its own "spoils of war." This mysterious bead filled with deathly aura had snatched food from its jaws. It truly could not keep its pride intact.

The expression in Big Eye shifted from shock and rage to exasperation, with even a trace of grievance.

Just then, Huo Yuhao's mental incarnation descended into the center of the Spirit Sea.

He first glanced at Xiao Yin, which was still "trying" in vain, then turned his deep gaze toward the Grey Bead.

The bead remained silent, saturated with deathly stillness.

But Huo Yuhao keenly sensed that after devouring that energy, the aura emanating from the Grey Bead seemed to have grown somewhat stronger.

As expected, it isn't an inanimate object. It's asleep—or rather... extremely weakened.

The energy produced by the Spirit Ascension Platform is "nourishment" that it can absorb.

Huo Yuhao pondered inwardly. Perhaps this was also a way to let the bead "recover" quickly.

With that thought, he looked at Xiao Yin, which was still stubbornly fighting the air, and smiled. "Xiao Yin, come back."

Xiao Yin's tentacles paused. It cast one last unwilling glance at the Grey Bead, but still obediently floated back to Huo Yuhao's side and said dejectedly, "Lord Yuhao, it stole my energy..."

"I saw." Huo Yuhao smiled. "But if you can't take it back, there's no need to force the issue."

"In the Spirit Ascension Platform, these kinds of energy are what we lack least."

"Since it needs it, let it absorb it. As for the energy you need to advance to ten thousand years..."

"We just need to hunt more Soul Beasts!"