Tang Sect

The gale howled, and towering waves surged!

The short-haired young man spread his wings and joined the others in forming a battle formation. As their Soul Power surged, a curtain of light coalesced around them!

In the next instant, crashing waves slammed into the shield!

One breath, two breaths, three breaths!

The shield formed by the battle formation—made up of numerous Soul Grandmasters and Soul Elders, with a Soul Saint leading them—held for only three breaths before groaning under the strain and breaking apart with a series of shattering cracks!

Buzzz—

The shield vibrated with a low hum. After flickering several times, it was swept away by the towering curtain of water. Everyone except the leader was then overwhelmed by the waves, like fallen leaves caught in a gale, swept in every direction by the current and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

"Ah! Damn it!"

The Soul Saint leader roared and was just about to activate his Martial Soul Avatar when a black sphere of water began gathering in the Kan-Water Profound Turtle's mouth. In the next instant, Mystic Water Breath swept toward him!

The leader didn't even have time to activate his Martial Soul Avatar. In a flash, the current pierced through him, and one of the family elders fell.

Boom!

The giant waves still roared. As Xiao Yan dragged Xiao Yulü along at a run, Xiao Yulü hurriedly glanced back and saw that the several-zhang-high wall of water was still bearing down on them.

After a brief calculation, he knew that with their legs alone, neither of them could dodge the Kan-Water Profound Turtle's attack.

There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide!

Then he would not run. He would not hide!

Xiao Yulü roared and wrenched his hand free of Xiao Yan's. Without a trace of fear or retreat, Soul Power surged around him, and the enormous ruler wreathed in flames appeared before him!

He actually planned to withstand the might of this sky-falling catastrophe all by himself!

Seeing that Xiao Yulü, whom he had been dragging along, had suddenly decided not to run, Xiao Yan cursed him as a lunatic under his breath, but stopped fleeing too.

"Little Fire Dragon! Possession!"

"Chirp!"

Flames swept around Xiao Yan as he once again transformed into a half-dragon, half-human form. Xiao Yulü turned around and met Xiao Yan's eyes, their pupils blazing with crimson fire.

"Brother Xiao!"

His lips curled into a broad, beaming smile.

"I know!"

There was no need for further explanation. Xiao Yan understood exactly what Xiao Yulü wanted.

It was the strongest each of them had shown during that exhilarating duel.

In the next instant, the two of them simultaneously roused the Soul Power within their bodies!

"Buddha's Fury! Fire Lotus!"

"Flame Divide! Devouring Wave Ruler!"

A crimson fire lotus and a pitch-black ruler shadow! Together, they unleashed a blazing inferno as vast as the waves! Roaring and raging, they crashed toward the wall of water that seemed to bring down the heavens!

When flame collided with the towering waves, white mist billowed up and blotted out the sky, accompanied by a piercing sizzling sound.

In an instant, the surrounding temperature soared, as if the two of them were about to boil the entire lake.

But that lasted only an instant.

The seemingly surging flames had done no more than obstruct the wall of water for a moment, halting its seemingly endless advance for just that brief instant.

The next moment, an unending torrent surged in from every direction, completely enveloping the flames, crushing them, and snuffing them out.

The two had staked everything on their combined ultimate technique, but in that instant, it proved useless.

"Pfft!"

Their Soul Power was exhausted, and their Soul Skills had backfired. Xiao Yan and Xiao Yulü spat out blood at the same time.

Before they could even catch their breath, the towering waves finally crashed down upon them.

Overwhelming force slammed into them. Xiao Yan felt as if every bone in his body were about to be smashed apart. He saw himself swept away by the waves, and Xiao Yulü carried farther and farther in the opposite direction by the current.

Cold, suffocation, the world spinning—and darkness slowly rising before his eyes.

With no time to think, Xiao Yan could only end his Martial Soul Possession and clutch the feeble Little Fire Dragon tightly against his chest, shielding him.

In the next instant, the world sank into darkness.

"Hey, Yu Hao, you really are something. You're not only good at grilling fish, you're good at spearing them too. You even managed to spear a person!"

A crisp, lively woman's voice, tinged with teasing, drifted indistinctly into his ears.

Who knew how long had passed? The endless darkness slowly receded. Xiao Yan's nostrils twitched, and he caught a faint, elusive fragrance.

His whole body still ached as if it were about to fall apart, but the pain made one thing clear to him.

He had survived that towering wall of water.

"Xiao Ya, stop fooling around. He's badly hurt and needs to rest."

Another voice sounded, warm and mellow, like a spring breeze brushing across his face.

"Hehe, I was just trying to lighten the mood. But seriously, Yu Hao, your grilled fish gets better and better—crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and smelling amazing!"

The woman's voice was muffled, as if she were chewing on something.

Yu Hao... grilled fish...

Xiao Yan keenly picked up on those two keywords and immediately remembered his current predicament. The next instant, he jolted upright as if rising from his deathbed.

The three people in front of him all turned to look at him. A blue-haired boy with bright, keen eyes was grilling fish beside the bonfire. A lively, pretty girl with a melon-seed face was stuffing two grilled fish into her mouth, one in each hand. And a short-haired boy with a neat, capable appearance had a handsome face that radiated warmth.

The young man's thoughts stirred as he roughly matched their appearances to their identities.

The blue-haired boy with those keen eyes must be the child of destiny, Huo Yuhao. Judging by the timeline and the appearances of the other two, they were all fairly young, so this should be an early part of the story.

Hmm... The characters who appeared around that time should be Tang Ya, the Tang Sect's leader, and Thunderbolt Bei Bei.

"Who are you...?"

Although he had guessed their identities, Xiao Yan still put on an act and asked who they were, just to make his own identity seem plausible.

"I'm Beibei, and she's Tang Ya. As for this young friend, he's called..."

"Hello, I'm Huo Yuhao."

The blue-haired boy still looked a little immature, but his uncommon qualities were already apparent. His eyes shimmered with a captivating light.

Xiao Yan gazed into his eyes for a while, then smiled and said:

"Nice to meet you. I'm Xiao Yan, from Xiao Family Village in South Prefecture of the Heaven Dou Empire."

"Xiao Family Village..."

Huo Yuhao fell into thought. Though he had grown up in the Duke's Mansion, he had never been anywhere else. He could only imagine what life was like for children his age.

Their parents must love them dearly. They must know no hatred and have only an unwavering heart that yearned for strength.

Noticing the young man's dejection, Xiao Yan quickly tried to lighten the mood:

"Hey, it's fine. Don't worry about where I come from. My parents died when I was young; I was just a kid raised on the villagers' charity. What about you, Yu Hao? This grilled fish of yours smells really good!"

"Huh?"

Tang Ya was stunned. This cheerful-looking, dark-haired boy had also lost both his parents? H-he wasn't even sad? Didn't he want to avenge them?

She widened her eyes and studied Xiao Yan from head to toe. He was smiling, and he had spoken about his background without a trace of hesitation, as though he had long since accepted it as fact.

Could someone really be so strong inside?

Or was he, too, carrying some blood feud?