Huo Yuhao?

"Brother Yanli, good brother, I beg you." The golden-haired girl pleaded in a soft, adorable tone.

"Guyi, stay at the academy and be good. Forget it, just come with me, but you aren't allowed to follow me when I go to Shrek Academy." Xu Yanli said, ruffling Ye Guyi's small head.

Xu Yanli had originally intended to leave Ye Guyi behind, but the thought of her Holy Angel Martial Soul easily attracting assassination attempts from Evil Soul Masters, especially within the Sun Moon Empire, made him reconsider.

It would be better to keep her by his side, which might make the Evil Soul Masters hesitate to act.

"Alright, I will definitely listen to my brother obediently." Ye Guyi said with a giggle, then trotted off to her room, presumably to pack her things.

This little girl had been sent to him by Xu Tianran, who claimed to have saved her from a small mountain village. The main reason was that she looked somewhat similar to Xu Yanli, so he brought her back; he hadn't expected her to awaken an Angel Martial Soul.

Xu Tianran had then sent the little girl to Xu Yanli's estate.

Xu Yanli had grown quite fond of this little girl with the Holy Angel, so he kept her.

The next morning, the group gathered on the outskirts of the city and departed using their respective methods.

"Teacher, Guyi, and Shadow Douluo, the four of us will travel together; the others will take the Xiaoyao Pavilion route," Xu Yanli arranged.

Xu Yanli took a stack of identification documents from his usual storage Soul Tool and handed them out one by one: "These are identification papers for the Heaven Spirit Empire. Remember, you are now people from the Heaven Spirit Empire. They contain your respective aliases; memorize them. Until we return to the Sun Moon Empire, these are your identities and names."

After Xu Yanli distributed the items, they departed using their separate methods. Regardless of anything else, the priority was to reach the original three empires safely.

About a week later, Xu Yanli was already standing on the outskirts of Star Luo City.

"That looks like it should be the Duke's Mansion over there," Xu Yanli said, pointing toward the very prosperous-looking estate.

"Indeed." Kong Deming let out a cold snort, "Perhaps the Duke of White Tiger can still be considered formidable."

"A pity the household is in turmoil," Xu Yanli said with a smile. The next moment, a young boy stumbled out from the back gate, his eyes filled with hatred as he looked toward the entire Duke's Mansion.

"Mother, watch from heaven. No matter how much effort it takes, one day I will return and trample everything here under my feet. From now on, I will take your surname and change mine to Huo, Huo Yuhao," the boy muttered to himself.

"It seems this fellow has a grudge against the Duke of White Tiger of the Star Luo Empire. How about we bring him with us?" Kong Deming seemed to sense the unusual spiritual power in the little guy and nudged Xu Yanli beside him.

Xu Yanli was stunned for a moment; he hadn't expected such a coincidence, seeing Huo Yuhao fleeing the Duke of White Tiger's mansion the moment he arrived in the Star Luo Empire.

Xu Yanli walked slowly to the side of Huo Yuhao, who was preparing to leave, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Who? Did the Duchess of White Tiger send you?" Huo Yuhao looked like an exceptionally nervous little beast, as if he were ready to bite at any moment.

Xu Yanli looked at the Huo Yuhao before him, then thought of the later Huo Yuhao—ah, no, Dai Yuhao—and sighed.

The current Huo Yuhao should still be salvageable; should he just pack him up and take him away?

Xu Yanli's eyes flickered, and he said in a gentle, soft voice: "I am not one of the Duchess of White Tiger's people, just a passerby. Seeing that you are injured, I wanted to ask if you need any help?"

Huo Yuhao looked up at the person in front of him. At a glance, he was a nobleman raised in luxury, completely different from his own thin, small self.

"Don't you dare try to..." Huo Yuhao lowered his head, his tone filled with vigilance.

After Xu Yanli sighed, he slowly released his Martial Soul.

"First Soul Skill, Holy Prayer Sun Moon Light Heal." Xu Yanli whispered.

A holy angel became clearly visible behind him; the angel clearly bore Xu Yanli's likeness, and the radiance of the sun and moon appeared on both sides.

White light slowly poured into Huo Yuhao's body.

Huo Yuhao felt his body warm up instantly, just as if he were in his mother's embrace.

"Mother..." Huo Yuhao murmured.

"Are you willing to come with me? I will train you to become a Soul Master," Xu Yanli said with a smile.

Huo Yuhao bit his lower lip, looking at them with some fear, yet also looking at Xu Yanli and Ye Guyi with a hint of envy.

"Ah, I want to take revenge on the Duke of White Tiger. Are you willing to help me with that too?" Huo Yuhao asked.

"Of course, but don't you dare say halfway through that you won't take this revenge anymore," Xu Yanli said with a cold snort.

Hearing this, Huo Yuhao's eyes filled with a trace of anger as he said: "If I don't take this revenge, I am unworthy of being a son. How could I possibly not take this revenge? Unless I die, I will definitely level the Duke of White Tiger's mansion one day."

Xu Yanli patted his head: "Let's go, get far away from the Duke of White Tiger's mansion."

Xu Yanli looked at the current Huo Yuhao and sighed inwardly, feeling that if the current Huo Yuhao knew of his future actions in the original story, he might very well slit his own throat right now rather than let the future Huo Yuhao grow up.

Ye Guyi, meanwhile, curiously ran over to Huo Yuhao, poked his somewhat pale face, then looked at his tattered clothes and said with some disdain: "Brother Yanli, shouldn't we buy him a new set of clothes? These are too dirty and too ragged."

"Mm." Xu Yanli nodded.

Kong Deming looked at the Huo Yuhao in front of him, suddenly thought of something, sighed, and patted Xu Yanli on the head.

"It's all in the past," Kong Deming said, "It's all in the past. As for what happened back then... sigh, it's hard for me to say. Let's talk about it later."

Seeing Kong Deming's reaction, Xu Yanli understood that Kong Deming was overthinking it; he likely assumed Xu Yanli was helping Huo Yuhao out of empathy.

He remembered that when he first met Kong Deming, he was only two years old, wearing clothes worse than the servants and being bullied by a maid.

But after meeting Kong Deming that day, he was adopted by Xu Tianran the very next day; it seemed that must have been Kong Deming's doing.

Xu Yanli raised his head and said with a smile: "I've long since forgotten. Big Brother was more of a father than Father ever was at the time, and besides, after my Martial Soul awakened, I didn't exactly lose out, did I?"

"You, oh you." Kong Deming laughed.

Xu Tianran was actually quite grateful for Xu Yanli's existence; if not for this little guy, he might have already gone down the path of a madman, never to return.

There was even a moment when he regarded Xu Yanli as his own son.

Huo Yuhao and Ye Guyi were both completely bewildered, clearly not understanding what the two of them meant.

Huo Yuhao, however, had some guesses.