Huo Yuhao also breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly nodded like a pecking chicken.
"Okay, okay! I won't move! I absolutely won't!"
Ma Xiaotao buried her face in Huo Yuhao's shoulder, feeling the clean, youthful scent and faint chill emanating from him. Her cheeks grew hotter and hotter, and her heartbeat quickened.
She secretly raised her head and glanced at Huo Yuhao's tightly pressed lips and long eyelashes. A strange ripple suddenly stirred in her heart.
Ma Xiaotao stared at his cleanly defined jaw and slightly reddened ears. Her head grew increasingly dizzy as the Ultimate Fire surged through her body, sending her temperature soaring until her reason began to blur.
Huo Yuhao really was so handsome.
As if possessed, she raised her head slightly and leaned toward him.
The instant a soft, warm sensation touched his lips, Huo Yuhao froze as if struck by lightning.
His eyes flew wide as he stared at Ma Xiaotao, so close to him. His mind went blank, and he even forgot to breathe.
"Mmm..."
Several seconds passed before he finally reacted. He shoved Ma Xiaotao away and stammered, "S-Senior Sister! W-what are you doing?"
Ma Xiaotao rocked backward from the shove. The heat of the Ultimate Fire had long since evaporated every last trace of her reason.
All she could think was that what they'd just done had made their Soul Power merge even more smoothly.
She mumbled incoherently, "Don't move around... This way... this way, we can cultivate better... Our Soul Power's circulating faster..."
Though Ma Xiaotao said that, she was using cultivation as an excuse to relieve her pent-up desires!
Before she could finish speaking, Ma Xiaotao lunged forward again and sealed his lips with hers once more.
"Mmm!"
Huo Yuhao's mind was instantly thrown into turmoil.
The heat had blurred not only Ma Xiaotao's reason, but Huo Yuhao's as well.
His whole body burned, his arms and legs went weak, and the hands he'd meant to use to push her away somehow ended up circling her waist.
"Master! Master! What should I do?"
Huo Yuhao asked Zhao Ze inside the Sea of Consciousness.
"It's simple. Follow your instincts, then circulate your Soul Power," Zhao Ze said from his soft cushion.
Follow his instincts?
When Huo Yuhao heard that, he felt his reason catch fire in an instant.
Charge!
Charge again!
At that moment, the charge was the main event!
After some time, Huo Yuhao stopped charging into battle and leaned against a nearby stone wall, recovering his Soul Power.
Just then, he suddenly felt a complicated gaze settle on him.
He turned around and saw Ma Xiaotao standing at the entrance to the secret chamber, her cheeks still tinged with lingering blush.
Her eyes were filled with resentment, embarrassment, and a hint of an indescribable emotion as she stared fixedly at him.
"S-Senior Sister Xiaotao."
Huo Yuhao scratched his head, his cheeks turning red again. Remembering everything that had happened in the secret chamber, he stood there at a loss, unsure what to say.
Ma Xiaotao stared at him for a long while. Her lips moved, but in the end, she only let out a heavy sigh and turned her face away.
"Forget it... Let's pretend what happened just now never happened."
Her voice carried a hint of awkwardness that was hard to detect.
"Go to Sea God Pavilion. Elder Mu came back this morning and said he'd brought you your third Soul Beast."
Without waiting for Huo Yuhao to respond, she turned and hurried away, her fiery red skirt sweeping through the air and leaving behind a faint scent of gardenias.
Huo Yuhao stood where he was, watching her retreating figure. He touched his still-burning lips and asked in bewilderment, "Is Senior Sister still angry?"
"Yuhao, don't think about it. Go take care of what you need to," Zhao Ze said from the Sea of Consciousness.
Actually, this might not be a bad thing for Huo Yuhao. After all, if things followed the original story, Huo Yuhao still wouldn't have been able to undo the seal that the bastard had left on Tang Wutong by the end.
Only then did Huo Yuhao snap back to his senses at Zhao Ze's reminder. He slapped his cheeks and hurried toward Sea God Pavilion.
When he reached the main hall of Sea God Pavilion, Mu En and Xuan Zi were seated in the places of honor. In the open space at the center of the hall lay a massive Soul Beast.
It was black all over, with a huge vertical eye and dozens of thick tentacles encircling it. It was a thirty-thousand-year-old Evil Eye Tyrant.
Mu En had already beaten it badly. It lay on the ground, on its last breath, its enormous eye filled with terror.
"Yuhao, you're here."
Mu En smiled at him and pointed to the Evil Eye Tyrant on the ground.
"This is the thirty-thousand-year-old Evil Eye Tyrant you wanted. Its Mental Attribute is pure, making it the best fit for your Spirit Eye Martial Soul. I've sealed its Soul Power. Go ahead."
"Thank you, Elder Mu!"
Huo Yuhao bowed respectfully, then walked over to the Evil Eye Tyrant.
A flash of purple light passed through his eyes. A concentrated mental slash pierced directly into the Evil Eye Tyrant's eye, ending its suffering.
A deep purple Soul Ring rose from the Evil Eye Tyrant's corpse, radiating immense energy.
Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged and guided the Soul Ring as it slowly merged into his body.
His physique had been tempered twice over by the Life Crystal and Ice and Fire Source, and was already incredibly strong.
The thirty-thousand-year-old Soul Ring put no pressure on him at all. In only half an hour, he had completely absorbed it.
When he opened his eyes again, a third, deep-black Soul Ring shone brightly beneath his feet.
"Master! Elder Yi! I've reached level thirty-three!"
Huo Yuhao shouted excitedly inside the Sea of Consciousness.
"Not bad, not bad. You're making quick progress."
Electrolux stroked his beard and nodded in satisfaction, then asked curiously, "Yuhao, what Soul Skill did you get this time?"
A strange glint flashed through Huo Yuhao's eyes as he said softly, "Soul Interference.
"It can directly invade a target's mental world, alter their memories for a short time, and forcibly affect their mental state, making them hallucinate or become paralyzed."
"Oh? A Soul Skill like that?"
Electrolux looked surprised.
"What a strange ability! If I'm not mistaken, is this also the Evil Eye Tyrant's innate ability?"
"That's right."
Zhao Ze's voice sounded at just the right moment. Leaning against the soft couch, he said calmly, "When a Soul Master absorbs a Soul Ring, they are essentially absorbing the Soul Beast's source power and inheriting its innate abilities. That has been an unchanging rule of Douluo Continent for tens of thousands of years."
Electrolux nodded thoughtfully.
"Source power... If you could preserve more of a Soul Beast's source power, would the Soul Skills you inherited be stronger? Could you even gain multiple Soul Skills?"
"In theory, yes."
Zhao Ze smiled and continued, "What if we tried a different approach? Instead of killing a Soul Beast, what if we made a pact with one while it was still alive, letting it willingly share its source power with you so you could fight using its strength directly?
"That way, you could not only gain stronger Soul Skills, but even wield the power of several Soul Beasts at the same time, breaking through the limit on the number of Soul Rings."
Before you continue