"..."
Lu Ran's gaze was calm. To the spectators, Dai Huabin's attacks were swift as the wind and impossible to defend against. But to him, Dai Huabin's speed was like a turtle compared to a Lightning Rabbit—or at least like century-old Blue Silver Grass compared to thousand-year Blue Silver Emperor.
There was a small difference.
He could clearly see the white torrent of energy surging from Dai Huabin's mouth,
and his savage expression.
A purple Soul Ring rippled into view.
Lu Ran dodged the White Tiger Intense Light Wave. There was no need to summon the Gilded Barrier or Rock Crystal Armor.
He raised his leg—
and slammed it into Dai Huabin's abdomen.
His leg met something hard.
"Bang!"
Dai Huabin's vision swam. The world spun around him, and his throat convulsed for no apparent reason, as if he were about to spit something out.
"Ptooey!"
His body, swollen from White Tiger Possession, tumbled out of the arena.
"Urgh... urgh..."
He collapsed on the ground, convulsing from the pain in his abdomen and vomiting.
At the same time,
several Rock Pillars burst through the stone floor, which had been hardened by an earth-attribute Soul Master. Like nimble vines, they struck Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie before the two could dodge.
"Ah!"
"Ugh!"
Both of them tumbled out of the arena as well.
Still,
he hadn't hit them hard.
"..."
The whole arena fell deathly silent!
A complete victory, just as expected—
but no one could have imagined a victory this crushing!
In an instant, the crowd erupted again, their shouts boiling over:
"Did you see that?! Did you see?! He did it all by himself!"
"One Soul Skill took out two Soul Grandmasters?!"
"How is that possible?!"
"Isn't his Martial Soul a Summon Beast? Where's the beast?"
"Wasn't that the move that supposedly took out upperclassman Xu Sanshi in one hit? It's that terrifying?"
Everyone present had seen it.
Lu Ran had used just one Soul Skill to defeat Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie,
and he'd taken Dai Huabin down with a single blow using nothing but physical strength!!
One blow!!
A three-ring Soul Elder!
The top-grade Evil Eye White Tiger Martial Soul!
A deafening roar of cheers surged through the arena like a tsunami.
On the stage,
Lu Ran turned and saw Wang Dong standing motionless, mouth slightly agape. The dazzling wings of her Light Goddess Butterfly still shone behind her, yet she looked as if she were a fake, utterly still.
She stared in disbelief,
her bright eyes round as she watched the three opponents leave the arena. Even though she'd only exchanged one move with Zhu Lu, and Zhu Lu had one more Soul Ring than her, she knew Zhu Lu wouldn't be easy to handle.
And now,
even though Zhu Lu had been prepared,
she'd been taken down in a single hit?!
Wang Dong turned to look at Lu Ran.
How was this possible?
A three-ring Soul Elder?
He could crush all three of them at once?
Wang Dong suddenly remembered her battle with Lu Ran.
She'd only been pinned to the ground.
If Lu Ran had been serious...
Her legs went weak.
"Let's go,"
Lu Ran said casually.
The Rock Pillars he'd released just now were actually the same Soul Skill as Rock Spike, just in a different form.
Rock Spike did more damage, so he used it against enemies.
But for an examination like this, where friendship came first and the competition second,
Rock Pillar was more appropriate.
He couldn't exactly kill anyone, could he?
Still, out of respect for his opponents, he couldn't go easy on them.
So he'd just have to leave them lying there.
He'd used a normal amount of force against Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie. Dai Huabin, on the other hand, was one thing to people's faces and another behind their backs. He'd stop at nothing to claw his way up, and he was selfish enough to collude with the enemy and hurt his own side.
Lu Ran had hit him hard purely because he despised him.
In the roaring spectator stands,
most of the students were under pressure from the threat of elimination, yet their faces were flushed as they shouted themselves hoarse.
Everyone knew
that even in a monster academy like Shrek,
they might never see another person like this!
An unrivaled fighter among those of the same rank!
And this was only the second match!
Yet,
amid the overheated crowd,
Huo Yuhao seemed utterly out of place.
His gaze was deep as he stared at Dai Huabin lying on the ground.
The bloodlust in his eyes gradually faded, leaving him confused. That villain who had tormented him and his mother for ten whole years now looked like a dead dog...
sprawled on the ground,
sprawled there vomiting.
Wang Yan dragged Dai Huabin to the side and checked him over. His expression relaxed, and he announced Lu Ran's victory.
The whole arena erupted again.
The praise Lu Ran had earned was well deserved.
Though he stood amid a noisy, bustling world, Huo Yuhao heard nothing at all. His ears were utterly silent.
No—
perhaps he could still hear his own heartbeat.
Following the students' gazes, he turned to look at Lu Ran.
That retreating figure was so carefree,
so unconcerned with Dai Huabin's condition,
as though he'd stepped on an ant—something not worth caring about.
And the ant Lu Ran didn't care about was the source of ten years of nightmares for him and his mother...
In a daze,
Huo Yuhao realized that the world had changed. Two great chasms had suddenly risen up,
mercilessly separating him from Dai Huabin and Lu Ran,
as though they belonged to three different worlds.
They were only inches apart,
so close... yet so far away...
...Power?
So this was... power?
Huo Yuhao stared blankly at Lu Ran's tall, straight back. So this was what power looked like...
...That's right.
What are you doing...
What have you been doing these past three months?!
What are you so pleased with yourself about?!
Huo Yuhao dug his nails deep into his palms. The tendons stood out on his arm, its sleeve torn away, and intense pain shot into his brain,
making him hate...
hate himself even more!
Why had he let himself slack off?!
Coming to Shrek... Brother Sky Dream... the Tang Sect... his roommates... teaching him Soul Tools... selling grilled fish...
Everything had been getting better...
And just because he'd started looking forward to the future,
he'd let himself slack off?!
Huo Yuhao screamed in silent fury. His fingers creaked as he clenched his fists, as if he meant to crush his own bones.
Had he forgotten that he had to take revenge?!
He would trample the Duke's Mansion!
He would have his revenge!!
His whole body trembled, and blood-red color spread through his eyes once more.
"Yuhao? Yuhao, what's wrong?"
"Ah Hao, Ah Hao?"
Seeing that something was wrong with Huo Yuhao, Chen Hu and Zhao Chen gently shook his arm.
But his body was stiff as a board.
Perhaps it was only their imagination, but they felt the temperature around them suddenly drop,
so cold that the hairs on their arms began to rise.
The two exchanged a worried glance.
Following Huo Yuhao's gaze, they saw Dai Huabin struggle to his feet in a sorry state, then punch the underling helping him. Blood poured from the underling's nose.
Wang Yan's expression darkened. He walked over with a cold face to deal with the situation.
Dai Huabin, meanwhile, wore a savage expression,
gritting his teeth as he glared at Lu Ran, who had already walked away.
His fists were clenched tight,
and he looked almost exactly like Huo Yuhao.
Chen Hu and Zhao Chen exchanged another glance.
The bloodshot eyes, trembling body, and the way Huo Yuhao stared at Dai Huabin all felt unfamiliar to them.
This wasn't the Huo Yuhao they knew.
What had happened to him?
In the Sea of Consciousness,
amid the pale golden ocean,
ten enormous golden-white spheres of light floated. They were the million-year energy Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had sealed within itself,
and they would slowly unlock as Huo Yuhao grew,
becoming his power.
Through Huo Yuhao's eyes, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm silently watched his hate-filled, savage expression.
It sensed a powerful emotional surge and awoke from its slumber.
In an instant, it understood what had happened.
It understood Huo Yuhao all too well.
It and Huo Yuhao were the same.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had also been born into lowly circumstances. It had been no more than a Snow Silkworm, the lowest life-form in the Far North, fit only to be hunted and torn apart. It, too, had stumbled upon an incredible opportunity.
In its teens, it had fallen into an ice cave. When it woke, it had grown to ten thousand years old. It kept eating and sleeping, eventually growing to nine hundred and ninety thousand years old.
During all that time, it had been awake for no more than a hundred years.
It had originally thought everything would go smoothly,
But—
the beast from the Star Dou Great Forest had drained it for nearly ten thousand years...
Nearly ten thousand years!!
It had struggled countless times... struggled countless times... struggled countless times... and despaired countless times...
For ten thousand years, every moment it was conscious
had been spent being drained,
and it had been free for no more than a few short decades!
Its entire life had been spent feeling its life and strength slip away, helpless to stop it.
Every day of those ten thousand years had tormented it,
feeding its hatred.
It was because of hatred
that it had survived.
It was because of hatred
that it had to become a god.
It was because of hatred
that Huo Yuhao had to become a god!
Hate, Yu Hao.
Only hatred could drive you forward.
Only hatred was worth remembering.
When the time came, you would flatten the Duke's Mansion, and I would tear apart the entire Star Dou Great Forest...
"..."
"Yu Hao?!!"
"Yu Hao, are you all right?"
One anxious call after another rang out.
Huo Yuhao slowly came to his senses. The white light faded from his vision, and the students' excited chatter rose around him. The world grew lively again.
The resentment gradually faded from his face,
replaced by a spreading chill.
He slowly spoke, his voice devoid of feeling,
hoarse and subdued:
"I'm fine..."
"Let's... go back and cultivate..."
The moment he turned around,
the blood-red look in his eyes made Chen Hu's heart quiver.
This was the first time he had seen his mild-mannered, unyielding good roommate look so cold.
"Yu Hao, wait for us!"
He and Zhao Chen hurried after him.
Just before they disappeared into the crowd, Chen Hu glanced back at Dai Huabin,
who couldn't even lift his head under Wang Yan's pressure.
But Wang Yan wasn't looking at Dai Huabin anymore.
He stood outside the field, looking toward them, his gaze flickering,
meaningful.
Before Chen Hu could dwell on his curiosity, he followed Huo Yuhao around the corner and vanished from sight.
Teacher Wang Yan couldn't be blaming Yu Hao, could he?
He wasn't anything like that Dai Huabin...
In the seating area reserved especially for the teachers,
Zhou Yi looked at Mu Jin, jealousy burning fiercely in her heart.
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