Huo Yuhao and the Star Dou Forest

Half a month later, the sky was clear and the breeze gentle.

Ning Huan stood atop the mountain, his robes fluttering in the wind as he gazed into the distance.

His ink-black short hair streamed freely in the wind, wild and unrestrained.

At that moment, he was looking toward the magnificent, solemn complex of buildings more than ten kilometers away, which looked much like an imperial palace. A rather amused smile played on his lips.

"Time is the cruelest thing of all. I let my guard down for a moment, and Huo Yuhao is already about to set off."

"But come to think of it, the White Tiger Duke Mansion covers more than three thousand mu. It's over twice the size of the Forbidden City."

"How did a malnourished little Soul Scholar manage to slip out the back door under the noses of all those guards?"

"Even good luck has to obey the basic rules of the world!"

After muttering a few complaints, Ning Huan couldn't come up with an answer. He could only shake his head and set his doubts aside for the time being.

Then his Soul Power stirred faintly, and in an instant, a palm-sized bird, emerald green from head to toe, darted out of thin air.

It flew rapidly through the sky, circling several times before lightly landing on his shoulder.

"Go on. Follow him, and remember not to let him notice you."

"Chirp!"

With a cheerful cry, the little green bird spread its wings and vanished into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

"An Emerald Spirit Bird... Its speed is no joke. No wonder it's a variant of the Emerald Demon Bird."

"Its only drawback is that it's too small to serve as my mount."

The moment the thought surfaced, even he couldn't help freezing in place. Then he shook his head and laughed.

"Three years of cultivating a calm mind, and I've turned into someone insatiably greedy?"

"But I can't keep running everywhere on my own two legs. Maybe I should do something about that?"

True to his habit of acting on whatever he thought of, Ning Huan didn't hesitate once he'd made up his mind. He immediately sat down cross-legged.

As he waited, he planned to take the opportunity to sift through Soul Beasts and find a suitable one.

But before he could begin, the constant waves of fluctuation coming from his Sea of Consciousness interrupted his thoughts.

"So fast!"

The familiar sensation made Ning Huan gasp softly.

That made sense. How could a Soul Beast mutated from the top-tier Emerald Demon Bird possibly be weak?

Its offensive abilities might not be as terrifying as the latter's.

But when it came to speed, the former was absolutely no less impressive.

Covering more than ten kilometers and searching for a target would take three minutes at most.

"Forget it. Some things matter more than others, and Huo Yuhao is obviously more important than a mere mount."

With that, Ning Huan composed himself.

Then he decisively activated the link with the Emerald Spirit Bird and began adjusting to the change in his field of vision.

Though he called it a link, in truth, he was using the power of the Contract to forcibly take control of the Spirit Body's five senses.

It was fine to use this trick on a weak Spirit Body.

But if the target were someone like Chen Xin, his Sea of Consciousness would probably be stabbed into a sieve by Seven Kill Sword Qi on the spot.

Even so, that didn't diminish its usefulness.

It was one of the little tricks he'd come up with in his spare time.

Before long, Ning Huan, brimming with excitement, finally adjusted to the bird's uniquely expansive field of vision.

Then came a wave of unbelievable shock.

"Let's see Huo Yu... holy crap?!"

At that moment, he couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing!

The boy was still a boy.

He had a small frame and short black hair. His expression was resolute, and his deep-blue eyes brimmed with hatred.

Everything was exactly as described in his memories and intelligence. Nothing had changed.

Except...

Wasn't he far too thin?

If Ning Huan remembered correctly, Huo Yuhao had also been small and thin when he'd just left the White Tiger Duke Mansion.

But at least he'd been able to run, and there'd been a sense that he was eager to face the future.

The current version, on the other hand, was utterly miserable!

He was nothing but skin and bones, as if the slightest breeze could sweep him away.

Most importantly, his unsteady gait made it obvious that an old leg injury hadn't healed.

And the hatred radiating from his entire body made him seem no different from an Evil Soul Master.

In such a wretched state, forget reaching the Star Dou Forest—whether he'd even see the next day's sun was anyone's guess.

What's going on...? That makes no sense...

At the sight of him, Ning Huan fell silent and didn't speak for a long time.

Of course, it wasn't because he felt sorry for Huo Yuhao, much less because he regretted what he'd done.

Only one thing was circling in his mind: pure confusion.

After all, the target of his spell three years ago had been Dai Huabin. It had nothing to do with Huo Yuhao.

And yet the latter's current condition didn't look as though he had nothing to do with Ning Huan.

Could it be that Dai Huabin's rapid improvement made him treat Huo Yuhao even more brutally?

That seems like the only explanation that makes sense...

At that thought, Ning Huan sighed.

Then he looked up at the sky, a glint flashing briefly in his eyes.

If his guess was right, neither the world's will nor Tang San in the Divine Realm would simply stand by and do nothing about Huo Yuhao.

So even though he was now disabled, he was sure to reach the Star Dou Forest in the end.

There, he would receive everything that belonged to the Child of Destiny.

Ning Huan's task, then, was to get there first, as he'd planned.

He would do his best to claim the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Electrolux for himself.

Then he'd head to Shrek Academy and see how the story would unfold without the opportunity Huo Yuhao was originally meant to receive.

There were plenty of benefits, but the risks weren't small. For a moment, Ning Huan found himself unable to make up his mind.

One second passed after another. Relying on his astonishing willpower, Huo Yuhao dragged his broken body out of the White Tiger Duke Mansion's grounds.

He disappeared into the vast forest.

Only after weighing his options again and again did Ning Huan finally breathe out, dispelling all the gloom that had clouded his mind.

"I nearly made the same mistake as Uncle Ning. I've already started, and I'm still looking back and worrying about everything."

"If I fight, all I risk is death. If I don't, I don't even get a chance."

As the words fell, the vast Soul Power within Ning Huan began to spill out uncontrollably.

His aura rose at a visible pace, centered on him as it surged wildly in every direction.

A short while later...

Boom!

Level fifty-eight. Breakthrough!

Ning Huan, who felt nothing at all despite his unexpected breakthrough: "..."

What could he say?

He'd merely untied a knot in his heart.

He hadn't expected to break through.

In the end, Ning Huan could only pout and grumble, acting as though he hadn't benefited from it at all:

"A fantasy world... Even the floor tiles are idealistic enough to bend reality..."

The Star Dou Forest, the largest gathering place for Soul Beasts on the Douluo Continent.

Its resources were extraordinarily abundant, and danger lurked everywhere within.

It lay north of the White Tiger Duke Mansion. The two were not far apart, separated by only two or three hundred kilometers.

As a high-ranking Soul King with abundant Soul Power, Ning Huan also had a Flying Soul Tool to help him.

So after hurrying along as fast as he could, he reached the edge of the Star Dou Forest with ease in little more than an hour.

Along the way, he even spotted Huo Yuhao doing his utmost to hurry down a small path.

The hatred surging from him was so intense that Ning Huan could clearly feel it from a thousand meters away.

But so what?

Ning Huan was racing against time. What right did he have to feel sorry for someone else?

"We're finally here."

High above the ground, the young man wore a cold expression as he gazed into the distance at the vast, boundless ancient forest.

In his mind, he kept going over the information he'd received before setting out.