The Monstrous Soul Master and the Journey to the Far North

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two months had passed.

During these two months, the life of Huo Yuhao was incredibly fulfilling.

Aside from the necessary cultivation, eating, and sleeping, he had practically nailed himself to the laboratory of the Soul Tool department.

Even the time he spent farming anger points from Wang Dong was squeezed out from bits and pieces of his schedule.

To an ordinary soul master, the core arrays of Soul Tools were obscure and difficult to understand, but in the eyes of Huo Yuhao, they were as transparent as a woman stripped of her clothes, holding no secrets whatsoever.

The Martial Soul Evolution had granted him Spiritual Detection Sharing, allowing him to thoroughly see through the internal structures of Soul Tools, even enabling analysis down to the micron level.

This "cheat-like" learning speed made the eyes of Fan Yu, who had originally only wanted to test the talent of Huo Yuhao, nearly pop out of their sockets.

At this moment, in the twelfth laboratory of the Soul Tool department.

Huo Yuhao was focused, the carving knife in his hand dancing like a dragon or snake as it rapidly etched into a piece of rare metal.

Standing to the side, Fan Yu, Zhou Yi, and He Caitou did not even dare to breathe, staring fixedly at the hands of Huo Yuhao.

"Hum—"

As the final stroke fell, Huo Yuhao let out a long breath and injected his soul power into it. In an instant, the silver-white longsword emitted a clear, crisp chime. On the blade, intricate inscriptions lit up instantly, and a sharp aura of spiritual power swept through the entire laboratory.

"It's done." Huo Yuhao wiped the sweat from his forehead, a confident smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

Fan Yu practically lunged forward, snatching the longsword to examine it closely.

"The core array is functioning perfectly, there is no loss in soul power transmission, and the amplification effect is... thirty percent!"

The hands of Fan Yu were trembling. He looked up abruptly at Huo Yuhao, his eyes looking as if he were staring at a monster. "A level-three Soul Tool! You actually managed to make a level-three Soul Tool?!"

Zhou Yi, standing to the side, did not understand the technical details, but she knew what this meant. She exclaimed, "Level three? Fan Yu, are you mistaken? This kid is only at the first ring! A first-ring soul master creating a level-three Soul Tool? How is this possible? He has only been in contact with Soul Tools for two months!"

There was an iron rule in the Soul Tool department: the level of a soul master was usually limited by their soul power cultivation.

A first-ring soul master had meager soul power and could usually only create level-one Soul Tools; those with exceptional talent might attempt level-two. But they could never guarantee a success rate.

And to skip two levels, creating a level-three Soul Tool with only first-ring cultivation?

This was simply dragging the common sense of the Soul Tool world across the floor!

"A monster... simply an unprecedented monster!" Fan Yu was so excited his face turned red, and he patted the shoulder of Huo Yuhao hard. "Yuhao, you are the future of Soul Tools! I am going to apply to the academy immediately to grant you the status of a core disciple of the Soul Tool department!"

Huo Yuhao had anticipated this long ago and smiled. "Thank you, Teacher Fan Yu. Since the assessment is passed, I would like to ask for leave."

"Leave? What for?"

"My soul power has reached level twenty; it is time to obtain my second soul ring."

Fan Yu was stunned, then suddenly realized. "Right, your cultivation speed is not slow either. Do you need me to accompany you? Hunting soul beasts is dangerous, after all."

"No need, Teacher, I have made arrangements." Huo Yuhao politely declined.

Just kidding; the place he was going to was a forbidden zone for humans. Even if Fan Yu was a Soul Douluo, he might not be able to retreat unscathed, let alone a Titled Douluo.

Fan Yu did not think much of it, knowing that Huo Yuhao possessed abnormal Spiritual Detection abilities and that self-preservation should not be a problem, so he nodded and agreed.

Zhou Yi also expressed her consent.

Returning to the freshman dormitory.

Wang Dong was sitting cross-legged on the bed, cultivating. Hearing the door open, she opened her eyes to see it was Huo Yuhao and snorted. "Yo, the busy man finally decided to come back? I thought you had made the Soul Tool department your home."

"I'm here to say goodbye." Huo Yuhao said casually while packing his luggage.

"Goodbye?" Wang Dong felt a jolt in her heart and stood up abruptly. "Are you dropping out?"

"What are you thinking?" Huo Yuhao rolled his eyes at her. "I'm going to hunt for my second soul ring. I've asked for leave, so I'll be gone for a while."

"Oh... going to hunt for a soul ring." Wang Dong breathed a sigh of relief, then put on an indifferent expression again. "Go if you want, why tell me? It's just as well that you're gone; the air in this dorm will be much fresher without anyone affecting my cultivation."

Huo Yuhao finished packing and walked to the door. He suddenly turned back and winked at Wang Dong. "Wang Dong, although you look cute when you're being stubborn, I know you'll miss me. Don't be too lonely, and if your butt itches, learn to handle it yourself."

"Get lost! Who would miss a jerk like you! Get out of here!" Wang Dong grabbed a pillow and threw it at him.

Huo Yuhao laughed out loud, closed the door, and strode away.

Looking at the tightly shut door, Wang Dong remained in the posture of throwing the pillow, stunned for a long while.

She should have felt happy; the guy who always bullied her and took advantage of her was finally gone. But why... did her heart feel so empty?

No, Wang Dong suddenly realized that she seemed to be becoming strange.

Clearly, she faced a jerk every day who tried every possible way to bully her, and at the beginning, she had wanted to kill him.

But over the past two months, she seemed to have become accustomed to the daily routine of washing feet for Huo Yuhao, passionately bickering, and even being manipulated by him.

Wang Dong shook her head vigorously, thinking in terror, "No, no, if this goes on, I'm going to break..."

After leaving Shrek City, Huo Yuhao did not hire a carriage or walk like an ordinary soul master.

He came to an uninhabited forest and took out the level-three soul longsword he had just made from his storage soul tool.

"Rise!"

Huo Yuhao let out a low shout, and his vast spiritual power surged forth, directly enveloping the longsword. The sword hovered, coming to a steady stop beside his feet.

He leaped, landing firmly upon the blade.

"Let's go!"

Whoosh—!

The longsword transformed into a streak of silver light, carrying Huo Yuhao as he shot into the sky, piercing straight through the clouds!

Flying with a sword via spiritual power!

This was the source of Huo Yuhao's confidence right now.

Although he was only a one-ring Soul Master, his spiritual power was already comparable to that of a Soul Ancestor.

The speed at which he was flying on the sword right now was absolutely no less than any four-ring flying-type Soul Ancestor.

High above, the gale howled, but it was easily blocked outside by Huo Yuhao's spiritual power. Watching the mountains and rivers receding rapidly beneath his feet, a sense of heroic pride welled up in his heart.

Target—the Extreme North!

"Hahahaha! Awesome! This is too awesome!"

Within the Sea of Consciousness, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, who had been sleeping for a long time, finally woke up and rolled around in excitement. "Yuhao, your posture while flying on this sword is too cool! If I had this trick back in the day, I wouldn't have been captured by those fierce beasts to be used as a power bank!"

"Brother Sky Dream, stop joking around." Huo Yuhao responded in his mind, "Are you confident about this trip to the Extreme North?"

"I must be confident!" The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm instantly became serious (though his chubby appearance didn't look serious at all). "Yuhao, I told you before, I didn't just give you a million-year soul ring; I also gave you a slot for a second martial soul."

"This second martial soul is of the ice attribute, but it is currently an empty shell. Its specific form and quality depend on what the first soul ring you attach to it is!"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's voice carried a hint of madness. "The target I've chosen for you is the second-ranked super fierce beast among the Three Great Kings of the Extreme North—the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion! Only it is worthy of my god-making plan! Only it can make your second martial soul the Ultimate Ice!"

Huo Yuhao's gaze was like a torch as he looked at the faintly visible snow-capped peaks on the northern horizon.

The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion had a cultivation of nearly four hundred thousand years, ranked seventh among the ten great fierce beasts of the Douluo Continent, with strength comparable to a level 98 Super Douluo among humans.

This was an opportunity that the original Huo Yuhao had only obtained after a life-and-death struggle.

"We will definitely succeed." Huo Yuhao's gaze was firm.

The silver streak of light tore through the sky, carrying the boy's ambition and arrogance as he plunged headlong into that cold and mysterious world of ice and snow.