The Role of Indra Chakra

The Soul Fighting Arena was deathly silent. The referee swallowed hard, then broke the silence with a trembling voice:

"Th-the winner has been decided!"

"Huo Yuhao's team wins!"

Every student and teacher present stared wide-eyed at the boy standing in the center of the arena, one hand tucked into his pocket, as though they were looking at a monster.

At that moment, Huo Yuhao's right foot was planted on Dai Huabin's head, pinning the White Tiger Duke's legitimate son firmly against the stone floor.

"Heavens..."

"Is he really a one-ring Soul Master? He actually defeated Dai Huabin, a Soul Elder with the White Tiger Martial Soul, head-on?"

"That was the Hell White Tiger! Even ordinary Soul Kings would gain no advantage against that Martial Soul Fusion Skill! Yet he crushed it with one hand...?"

After the shock came hushed whispers of schadenfreude.

"Tsk, tsk. Dai Huabin has completely lost all dignity this time. He was humiliated with someone's foot on his head. Let's see how he keeps showing his face around the academy now!"

"He deserved it! He always threw his weight around because he was the White Tiger Duke's son, acting arrogant every day with his nose in the air. Someone finally put him in his place!"

Listening to the discussion around him and feeling Dai Huabin tremble beneath his foot from overwhelming humiliation, Huo Yuhao felt boundless satisfaction rise within him.

So this was what revenge tasted like?

No, it was not enough.

Huo Yuhao lowered his head and looked down at the face smeared with blood and dust. There was not a trace of pity in those Sharingan eyes, only cold mockery.

"Trash, just as I thought."

He slowly lifted his foot, his tone full of disgust, as if he had just stepped in something filthy.

"An eyesore."

Before his words had even faded.

Bang!

Huo Yuhao's raised right foot suddenly turned into an afterimage. This time, he did not stomp down. Instead, he delivered a vicious kick straight into Dai Huabin's left cheek.

"Pfft—!"

Dai Huabin could not even scream before his entire body was sent flying sideways.

Several bloodied teeth arced miserably through the air.

"Stop!"

"That's enough!"

Only then did the senior teachers responsible for maintaining order in the arena react.

Their figures flickered as they caught Dai Huabin in time. At the same time, several strands of Soul Power locked onto Huo Yuhao, afraid that he would strike again and kill him.

Huo Yuhao slowly lowered his leg, straightened his slightly rumpled clothes, and remained calm.

Kill him?

If I had wanted to, he would already be dead!

Such a quick death was far too merciful for him.

Huo Yuhao looked at Dai Huabin, who was protected behind the teachers, his face covered in blood while he still glared venomously at Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao sneered inwardly.

Dai Huabin, this was only the beginning.

A crueler hell was still waiting for him.

Would a dragon care about the anger of an ant?

No. A dragon would only find it amusing.

Huo Yuhao recalled the unlock condition for the [Tiger Mask] template on the system panel—guide two key figures toward different fates.

Tang Ya was the first.

Hehe, Dai Huabin.

The second slot would be reserved for him.

He could live on, ugly and wretched, carrying this monstrous hatred and his hatred for Huo Yuhao for now!

When he resorted to any means necessary for revenge, when he sold his soul for power...

Once the time was right, neither he nor the other surviving members of the White Tiger Family, not even the Spirit Cat Clan... would escape!

"Hm?"

At that moment, Huo Yuhao's brows suddenly furrowed.

He abruptly sensed the purple energy that had remained dormant ever since he obtained it—Indra Chakra—begin to circulate violently.

As though nourished by some emotion, that cold and noble energy was madly feeding his ocular power.

In his vision, the once-clear world began to blur with afterimages. An even more powerful ocular strength seemed ready to break from its cocoon and give birth to a new power.

Was this... the evolution of the Mangekyou? Or...

Huo Yuhao was startled.

No, not yet!

There were too many people here, and that old fox Yan Shaozhe was still watching from above.

He absolutely could not reveal this trump card before these Shrek powerhouses yet!

With that thought, Huo Yuhao drew a deep breath and forcibly mobilized his spiritual power, suppressing the restless Indra Chakra.

The red glow in his eyes gradually faded, returning them to their original heterochromatic state.

He turned around and walked back to the Waiting Zone amid countless awed gazes.

At the highest point of the Spectator Stand, in a shadowed corner.

An old man dressed in ragged cloth, with a wild mess of hair, was gnawing on a greasy chicken leg without the slightest concern for appearances while watching Huo Yuhao below with great interest.

He was Xuan Zi, an elder of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, the Taotie Douluo.

"This little fellow... is interesting!"

Xuan Zi tossed aside a bone, and a sharp gleam flashed through his murky old eyes.

"Seeing him deliberately allow that boy from the Dai Clan to use the Martial Soul Fusion Skill just now, even giving him a push, I thought the kid was simply arrogant."

"But..."

Xuan Zi recalled the scene from earlier.

The look in Huo Yuhao's eyes as he stepped on Dai Huabin's head.

It was neither the pride of a young man after defeating an opponent nor simple anger.

It was a darkness that regarded all living beings as mere grass and ants.

"I have seen the darkness in his heart..."

Xuan Zi took another vicious bite of his chicken leg and mumbled indistinctly, though his tone carried barely concealed excitement.

"This darkness, this ruthlessness, and that willingness to do anything to achieve his goals..."

"He is simply too suitable!"

"Pretentious people like Yan Shaozhe and Mu En would only raise him into some 'guardian of justice.' What a waste of talent."

"After I observe him a little longer, I must take him from Mu En and make him my personal disciple!"

Xuan Zi wiped his mouth with an oil-smeared hand and watched Huo Yuhao's departing figure as if he were admiring a perfect work of art.

"I will raise him into... a Root buried beneath the Golden Tree."

"Let him take my place and forever protect my Shrek in the darkness!"

After the healing Soul Masters did everything they could to treat him, Dai Huabin finally regained consciousness with difficulty.

His entire body was wrapped in bandages, especially his face, which was so swollen that it was nearly unrecognizable.

Even the slightest movement sent searing pain through his entire body.

"Huo Yuhao..."

Dai Huabin stared blankly toward the Soul Fighting Zone in the distance, his eyes filled with venom.

"I will definitely make you... pay the price!"

Humiliation.

This was humiliation unlike anything he had ever experienced.

He had been trampled beneath the feet of someone he regarded as a lowborn commoner and publicly humiliated.

If he did not kill him, this thorn would remain lodged in his heart forever and become his Inner Demon.

Although the Duke Mansion had been annihilated by that mysterious powerhouse...

The White Tiger Family and the Duke Mansion were two different matters.

The Duke Mansion was merely his father's private residence. The clan elders and the family's core strength had not been there.

A starving camel was still bigger than a horse.

His father had long anticipated that danger might arise and had specifically dispatched a family guard responsible for protecting him to hide in Shrek City.

That was a six-ring Soul Emperor!

Huo Yuhao, no matter how talented you are, no matter if you possess that strange Self-Created Soul Skill...

Could you handle the secret assassination of a Soul Emperor-level powerhouse?

If there was anyone to blame, it was him for provoking me!