Tiger Mask, Capturing Tang Ya

With Xu Sanshi's miserable defeat, Huo Yuhao's name spread throughout the entire Shrek Outer Court.

The Strongest One-Ring Soul Master.

This somewhat absurd-sounding title became a universally acknowledged fact.

Quite a few busybodies even declared with a straight face that the true monster of the Shrek Outer Court was actually a freshman with only one ring.

This sense of deja vu was extremely reminiscent of "the strongest in Konoha is a genin."

However, Huo Yuhao, who was at the epicenter of public opinion, cared not at all about this.

It was merely a hollow reputation.

Before true strength, this flattery was worth less than nothing.

Upon returning to the dormitory, he immediately took the first Mysterious Water Pill won from Xu Sanshi.

The medicinal power transformed into a rolling torrent of heat, scouring his limbs and bones.

After a single night.

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Nineteenth rank.

He was only a step away from becoming a second-ring Soul Grandmaster.

He did not rush to take the second pill.

An unstable foundation was a major taboo, so he prepared to continue high-intensity weight-bearing training, water treading, and tree climbing.

Only until this rank of soul power was thoroughly consolidated would he assault the bottleneck.

Nighttime, dormitory.

Beneath the gentle lighting of the Soul Guidance Lamp, Huo Yuhao was thinking about and deducing ninjutsu.

On the opposite bed, Wang Dong was flipping through a book about Martial Soul Fusion Skills and, after hesitating for a long time, finally couldn't help speaking up:

"Hey, Huo Yuhao."

"That... the freshman assessment is starting in two months."

Wang Dong sat up straight. "We are in a team, after all. Although you are strong, teamwork is also very important. Let's plan some team training together tomorrow?"

Huo Yuhao did not turn his head, merely saying coldly:

"No need."

"For a competition of this level, me alone is sufficient."

Having spoken, he grabbed his coat and pushed the door open to walk right out.

"Bang!"

The dormitory door closed, leaving only a dumbfounded Wang Dong sitting on the bed.

A few seconds later, an angry roar erupted within the dormitory.

"Huo Yuhao! You are too arrogant!!"

Wang Dong was so angry that he grabbed a pillow and fiercely smashed it toward the door.

"Just wait until you get beaten by a strong enemy and you'll calm down! By then, even if you come back and beg me, I won't team up with you anymore, jerk!"

Huo Yuhao did not go to the training grounds.

His figure shuttled through the shadows of the campus like a ghost, finally arriving deep within an uninhabited dense forest at the back mountain.

Confirming there was no one around.

He retrieved a few items from his Storage Ring.

A wide black robe, a thick and heavy black chain.

And an orange-yellow tiger mask that exposed only the right eye.

Huo Yuhao put on the black robe, donned the mask, and wrapped the chains around his wrists.

At this moment, an icy, mysterious, and dangerous aura emanated from his entire body.

It was just like that mysterious masked man who had single-handedly invaded Konoha and controlled the Nine-Tails on the night of the Nine-Tails' attack.

Next, it was time to close the net.

Tang Ya.

By the shores of Sea God Lake.

Aside from Tang Ya's lonely figure, the surroundings were completely empty.

Tang Ya hugged her knees, burying her face in the crook of her arm.

Just half an hour ago, she had finally been unable to hold back from questioning Beibei about the issue that had weighed on her heart all this time.

"Beibei, back when the Tang Sect was wiped out by the Iron Blood Sect, why did Shrek Academy remain indifferent?"

She waited with full of hope for a reasonable explanation.

However, what she saw was Beibei's evasive gaze and ugly expression.

"Xiaoya, the academy has the academy's difficulties..."

"The situation was complicated back then..."

"Helping out with emergencies rather than poverty is the rule..."

It was all prevarication. It was all circular talk.

Not a single sentence gave a direct answer.

At that moment, Tang Ya felt the sky fall.

The academy she had always been proud of and the lover she had always trusted had actually appeared so cold and hypocritical in the face of the Tang Sect's blood feud.

Tang Ya ultimately shook off Beibei's hand and ran here in a distraught daze.

Liars... they were all liars...

What top academy on the continent, what embodiment of justice...

When our entire family was killed, you were all standing by and watching coldly!

Just as she was immersed in grief and anger.

"Little girl."

A low, hoarse voice abruptly sounded above her head.

"You seem... very lost?"

Tang Ya shivered all over, instantly jumping up with alertness as her martial soul possessed her in a flash.

"Who?!"

She raised her head, looking toward the source of the voice.

She saw that on a treetop not far away stood a mysterious person clad in a black robe.

Under the moonlight, only a single right eye was exposed beneath the tiger mask on his face; within that eye, three scythe-like patterns were slowly rotating inside a scarlet pupil.

Tang Ya felt a jolt in her heart.

Huo Yuhao had used the Transformation Technique to fine-tune his figure and used voice-disguising techniques to alter his vocal pitch.

Coupled with the Sharingan that specifically imitated the pattern of Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyou, at this moment, he was a completely different person from the usual Huo Yuhao.

Just as Minato Namikaze, who had been a teacher back then, failed to recognize Obito.

Tang Ya, who was a teacher, was even less likely to recognize that the mysterious person exuding a terrifying aura right before her eyes was that well-behaved "little Yu Hao".

"Who I am is not important."

The robed figure looked down at her from above, his tone carrying a trace of bewitchment.

"What's important is... the doubts in your heart."

"Do you want to know why Shrek didn't make a move? Do you want to know the truth behind the decline of the Tang Sect?"

"I can answer you... everything concerning Shrek and the Tang Sect."

Tang Ya's pupils violently contracted, and she looked at him in shock:

"How do you know what I'm thinking?!"

Immediately after, she gritted her teeth and snapped: "No matter who you are, this matter has nothing to do with you! Leave this place!"

"Nothing to do with me?"

The robed figure chuckled softly, his laughter filled with mockery.

"The sorrow of the weak is not even daring to face the truth."

With that, he pulled hard with both hands.

Swish!

The chains hidden beneath the black robe instantly tightened, crossing behind his back.

The next second, the tips of his toes touched down, and his entire body lunged fiercely toward Tang Ya like a black falcon.

"Since you refuse to listen, then come with me on a trip."

"Dream on!"

Tang Ya was also a three-ring Soul Elder with extremely swift reactions.

A ring of yellow soul power lit up.

"First Soul Skill: Blue Silver Bind!"

She flipped her palms, and several thick strands of Blue Silver Grass transformed into long whips, fiercely lashing toward the black-robed figure in midair.

Facing this fierce blow, the robed figure actually did not dodge or evade at all.

Was he seeking death?

Just as this thought flashed through Tang Ya's mind.

The next moment, a scene that terrified her to the core occurred.

Slash!

The Blue Silver Grass vines passed straight through the robed figure's body without any obstruction, just like passing through a phantom shadow.

What kind of move was this? A spatial soul skill?

"Kamui."

Huo Yuhao silently chanted in his heart.

This was one of his greatest trump cards right now—intangibility.

In this state, no physical attacks could touch him.

In his current state, he could only use it for ten seconds each day, but facing an opponent of Tang Ya's caliber, it was already more than enough!

"What?!" Tang Ya gasped in alarm.

The moment she was stunned, the robed figure had already crossed her Blue Silver Grass defense line, and even... passed right through her body.

The two of them brushed past each other.

Yet at this very instant.

Clatter!

The chains in the robed figure's hands had not become intangible!

That heavy black chain instantly tightened like a python, firmly binding Tang Ya's entire body and pinning her arms tightly against her sides.

"Caught you."

With his back to Tang Ya, Huo Yuhao gave the chains a fierce tug, pulling her back to stagger.

"You have nowhere left to run!"

Tang Ya struggled desperately, but those chains seemed to be specially made, tightening all the more the harder she struggled.

Fear finally crept into her heart.

This was Shrek Academy!

"Let me go!"

Tang Ya shrieked shrilly, "You actually dare to make a move against me inside Shrek Academy! There are powerhouses everywhere here; you won't come to a good end!"

Huo Yuhao turned around, a hint of disdain flashing through his solitary eye.

A good end?

They couldn't even keep an eye on a rampaging Ma Xiaotao—what could this bunch of so-called powerhouses possibly keep an eye on?

"Sleep."

Huo Yuhao stared into Tang Ya's terrified eyes.

The red light of the Sharingan flashed.

Geninstu activated.

Tang Ya only felt a wave of intense dizziness wash over her, her eyelids instantly becoming incomparably heavy, and her entire body went limp as she collapsed downward.

Huo Yuhao supported the unconscious Tang Ya with one hand.

"Kamui."

A spatial vortex appeared once more, swallowing up the bodies of both him and Tang Ya together.

By the shores of Sea God Lake, dead silence returned once more.

As if no one had ever come here at all.