Huo Yuhao's figure disappeared into the forest. His pace was unhurried, yet his steps were exceptionally steady. After walking for about fifteen minutes, a battered wooden sign by the roadside caught his eye.
The sign was stuck at an angle in the soil, its surface covered in marks left by wind and rain. The writing was somewhat blurred, but still legible:
"Fifty li ahead, you will enter the Star Dou Great Forest. Soul Beasts roam here. Take care."
Seeing the sign, Huo Yuhao slowed to a brief halt. A complicated glint passed through his deep eyes.
"This is the place."
He thought to himself.
Memories of his past life came surging back like a tide.
It was not far beyond this marker that the course of his life had first been turned upside down—he had encountered the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, reputed to possess a million years of cultivation and hailed as the king of Soul Beasts. He had fused with it, obtained an unprecedented Million-Year Soul Ring, and laid the foundation for becoming a god in the future.
He no longer hesitated. He stepped over the sign and officially crossed into the Star Dou Great Forest's recognized danger zone.
The air around him seemed to grow heavier. The trees stood taller and thicker, and the light dimmed. The chirping of insects and calls of birds grew sparse, replaced by a silence unique to primeval forests, carrying the faint scent of humus.
Huo Yuhao maintained his Spirit Detection over a thirty-meter radius, his senses spreading outward like an invisible web.
He proceeded with greater caution, his keen gaze sweeping over everything around him. His body maintained a subtle balance, ready to erupt into action or evade at any moment.
Sure enough, before he had gone a hundred steps into the forest, a blurry shadow flickered past at the edge of his Spirit Detection, in the bushes to his left, vanishing like a ghost!
It moved so quickly that an ordinary Soul Master would have had no time to react.
But Huo Yuhao's Spirit Detection had already locked onto it. It was a small, swift ape-like Soul Beast, its body covered in short gray-black fur. Its limbs were slender, its fingertips sharp, and its blood-red eyes gleamed with savagery and greed.
A Ten-Year Soul Beast—the Wind Baboon.
In his previous life, he had encountered this little Soul Beast blocking his path, too.
Back then, he had possessed only ten levels of Soul Power and virtually no combat experience. Against this Ten-Year Soul Beast, renowned for its speed, he had been in constant danger, barely managing to kill it after fighting with all his might.
According to Wang Teng's memories, this insignificant Ten-Year Wind Baboon had been dubbed the "God-Slayer" by countless netizens, because it had nearly ended the life of Huo Yuhao, the "future deity."
But everything was different now.
The shadow made a bizarre turn among the bushes, using the spring of a branch to launch itself like a gray bolt of lightning. It sprang silently from Huo Yuhao's left side in a sudden ambush!
Its hook-sharp fingers tore through the air, aiming straight for Huo Yuhao's vulnerable neck!
Huo Yuhao didn't even turn his head.
With Spirit Detection's precise foresight, he had already "seen" every detail of the Wind Baboon's movements.
At the instant its clawing wind reached him, he shifted naturally and ever so slightly to the right and back, just enough for the fatal swipe to graze past his clothes.
The Wind Baboon's attack missed. Its body surged forward with the momentum, leaving a fleeting opening as its old strength ran out and its new strength had yet to rise!
A cold glint flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes. The ambush predator struck in an instant!
His left hand shot toward his lower back, and the White Tiger Dagger, its blade shimmering with emerald light, was already in his grasp. There were no fancy moves, only the simplest, most direct, and deadliest thrust!
"Pfft—!"
A barely audible sound. Fueled by Huo Yuhao's weak but pure eleven levels of Soul Power, the keen edge of the White Tiger Dagger, a Level Five Soul Tool, was unleashed to its limit.
The dagger became a streak of emerald light. With unerring precision, it pierced the Wind Baboon's left temple, passed through its skull, and emerged from the right!
The Wind Baboon's blood-red eyes froze, then went vacant. Its charge came to an abrupt halt. It collapsed to the ground with a thud, twitched twice, and then fell still.
A wisp of pale, almost transparent white Soul Ring slowly floated up from the Wind Baboon's corpse. Its glow was so faint that it seemed ready to vanish at any moment.
Huo Yuhao didn't so much as glance at the Soul Ring. He flicked his wrist, shaking off nonexistent beads of blood from the dagger, and slid it back into the sheath at his lower back.
He didn't break stride. He stepped straight over the Wind Baboon's still-warm corpse and continued deeper into the forest, as though he had merely brushed aside a fallen leaf.
The so-called "God-Slayer" was nothing but an insignificant episode before a true avenger who had returned from a divine war.
After walking on for a while, the temperature around him seemed to drop again, and an inexplicable sense of oppression settled over the area.
Huo Yuhao knew he was drawing closer and closer to his target.
Just then—
A voice rang out without warning, directly in the depths of his mind! It was clear and carried a peculiar springiness, its exaggerated tone brimming with theatrical delight...and a hint of sorrow?
"I've finally met a human with a Mental Attribute. Too bad your big sis can't cry, or I'd be bawling my eyes out!"
Huo Yuhao came to an abrupt halt. For the first time, clear astonishment appeared on his face.
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was still here! He had expected as much—or rather, it was the reason he had come. But...that voice?!
The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm he remembered had clearly called himself "bro," and had a somewhat androgynous, chatterbox voice!
How had it become an existence that called itself "sis," spoke in a more feminine voice, and even sounded a little sweet and silly after he was reborn?
Just as Huo Yuhao was reeling from the unexpected change in the creature's voice and gender, a sudden upheaval struck!
The ground beneath him began to shake violently without warning!
Two meters ahead, the hard soil and broken stones seemed to be torn apart by an invisible force. Jagged cracks spread rapidly in every direction like a spiderweb!
The cracks widened into deep fissures. A faint golden-white glow shone from within, carrying a chill that seeped into the very soul.
Threads of icy air rose from the fissures. The temperature plunged at a visible rate, and tiny white frost crystals even formed on the blades of grass.
The cracks spread farther and farther, reaching a diameter of more than five meters in the blink of an eye!
At last, the true form behind that golden-white glow was revealed.
The first thing to emerge was a huge, round, fleshy head, more than a meter in diameter. Its skin was a lustrous, translucent white, like the finest mutton-fat jade carved into shape.
Though it had burrowed out of the earth, not a speck of dust clung to its smooth skin. Light flowed over it, giving it an extraordinary, otherworldly air.
Above its head, a pair of tiny, golden eyes blinked curiously at Huo Yuhao.
It wriggled, slowly crawling out of the fissure with its enormous body. It was more than seven meters long, its entire body jade-like, round and elongated.
Most unusual of all, beginning half a meter from its head, a dazzling golden ring encircled its body at regular intervals. There were ten golden rings in all, running from its head to its tail!
Each golden ring radiated a gentle yet profound light, a symbol of its astonishing million years of cultivation.
"What do you think? Has your big sis's delicate body bewitched you?"
The enormous white-jade silkworm looked at Huo Yuhao, who still seemed to be dazed. It tilted its head slightly, a trace of smugness flashing in its golden eyes, and asked proudly in its clear, lilting voice.
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