The scene shifted.
From the attic to a desolate path outside the city.
Huo Yuhao walked alone along the rugged road with difficulty, warily observing his surroundings.
Several hundred meters away from him.
White Tiger Lin Qing, changed into dark, practical clothing suited for movement and given a simple disguise, moved soundlessly like the most seasoned infiltrator.
His gaze remained firmly fixed on the thin figure ahead.
He kept just the right distance.
Close enough to monitor the other's movements at any moment, yet far enough to ensure he would not be discovered.
[I followed him all the way, crossing the wilderness and rivers. Like a shadow, I silently trailed behind the course of his fate.]
The forest environment gradually became familiar.
Enormous trees, humid air, and faint beast roars.
[After a long journey, Huo Yuhao entered the Star Dou Great Forest.]
Huo Yuhao stepped nervously into the edge of the forest and began exploring even more cautiously.
White Tiger Lin Qing hid within the shadowed canopy of a large tree, patiently waiting like a night owl before a hunt.
He knew that the important "plot point" was about to arrive.
Just as expected.
Huo Yuhao ran into a little trouble in the forest, but soon encountered two people.
One was a silver-haired young man with a gentle, refined temperament and bright eyes.
The other was a black-haired young woman, lively and spirited, with an infectious smile.
Tang Ya.
Bei Bei.
[I personally witnessed those famous scenes celebrated in later legends: "Grilled Fish Immortal Huo Yuhao," "It's Great That Big Sister Tang Ya Has No Heart or Lungs," and so on...]
Even Lin Qing in reality could not help smiling knowingly at the sight.
When he had read these scenes in the original work, he had only found them amusing.
But seeing them again now through the eyes of another version of himself, as an "invisible observer," felt especially strange.
It carried an absurd yet familiar feeling, as though the fourth wall had been shattered.
At the same time, he became serious.
Because the story's climax and turning point would arrive before long.
White Tiger Lin Qing had waited so long, prepared so long, and followed for so long...
He absolutely had not done it merely to be a silent spectator.
Just how had he "snatched it first"? Had he succeeded?
If he had succeeded, why had it ultimately become a "relic" and appeared here?
Lin Qing held his breath and stared intently at the light screen, awaiting what came next.
[Not long afterward, Huo Yuhao parted ways with them. Bei Bei needed to hunt a Soul Ring for Tang Ya.]
On the light screen, Tang Ya and Bei Bei vanished together into the other end of the forest.
Only Huo Yuhao remained. Looking somewhat lost, he quickly resolutely put away his grilled fish tools and continued exploring deeper into the forest.
His goal was also a Soul Ring, his first Soul Ring.
The towering trees around him cast deep shadows, making his small figure appear even lonelier.
[I knew that crucial turning point was about to come.]
The narrator's voice lowered, carrying breathless concentration.
[According to the "plot," Huo Yuhao would soon encounter the first Soul Beast of his fate—that ten-year Wind Baboon that nearly gave rise to the legend of "godslaying."]
Sure enough.
Huo Yuhao had not walked far when the bushes ahead shook violently.
Accompanied by a piercing shriek, a gray baboon-like Soul Beast, not very large but exceptionally agile, suddenly pounced out!
A faint fluctuation of Soul Power radiated from its body.
Its cultivation was very low, probably only around ten years.
For any prepared Soul Master, this kind of Soul Beast posed little threat.
But at the time, Huo Yuhao was merely a frail, malnourished boy who had just reached level ten, with no actual combat experience.
He was terrified and afraid.
[Even a ten-year Soul Beast like the Wind Baboon, weak as it was, was a life-or-death battle that required Huo Yuhao to give everything he had.]
Huo Yuhao's face turned pale, but he did not turn and flee.
Instead, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down, drawing upon that meager Soul Power as his eyes locked onto the charging Wind Baboon.
The battle was brief, but fierce—or rather, brutal.
Using almost the clumsiest and most physically exhausting methods, Huo Yuhao relied on a flash of quick wit and a ruthless refusal to fall to desperately circle and grapple with the Wind Baboon.
He fell and climbed back up again. His clothes were torn by its claws, and several bloody marks appeared across his face and arms.
In the end, he seized an opportunity and drove the White Tiger Dagger viciously into the Wind Baboon's body with all his strength.
The Wind Baboon let out a miserable howl, twitched a few times, and finally stopped moving.
A white Soul Ring representing a ten-year cultivation slowly rose from its corpse.
Huo Yuhao himself seemed to have been drained of his last shred of strength. His vision went black, and he fell stiffly backward, crashing heavily to the ground and passing out completely.
[Huo Yuhao won.]
[He killed the Wind Baboon that later generations jokingly called the "almost godslayer," but exhausted all his strength in doing so.]
[The white Soul Ring appeared, and he fainted.]
The image froze on the unconscious Huo Yuhao and the floating white Soul Ring.
The forest fell silent again, with only the rustling of wind through the leaves.
Then, a figure silently emerged from behind the shadow of a large tree.
It was White Tiger Lin Qing.
[I arrived at his side.]
White Tiger Lin Qing walked lightly, making little sound as he stepped over the soft, decaying leaves.
He stopped beside the unconscious Huo Yuhao.
He lowered his head and silently looked at this future "cheat-user" lying on the ground, his face covered in blood and exhaustion.
His gaze was complicated.
There was scrutiny, assessment, and perhaps a trace of pity so faint that even he might not have noticed it.
But more than that, there was a rationality so calm it was nearly cold-blooded.
He knew what would happen next.
He had also prepared for it for five full years.
Just as he stood still and prepared to take the next step—
A sudden change occurred!
"Rumble!!!"
The ground beneath their feet suddenly shook violently without warning!
It was as though an ancient beast sleeping beneath the earth was struggling madly, trying to burst through the ground!
"Crack! Crack-crack!"
In an open patch not far from Huo Yuhao, the ground suddenly split open with a series of savage fissures.
Earth churned, and rocks flew apart!
Immediately afterward, a huge white, fleshy ball-shaped figure forcibly squeezed out of the cracks!
It was... a silkworm!
A gigantic Ice Silkworm, jade-white and crystal-clear all over, with a body as thick as a tree trunk and a length exceeding several meters!
Its ice-blue eyes, like two bottomless Cold Pools, gleamed with intelligent, humanlike light.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!
A Million-Year Soul Beast!
The starting point of Huo Yuhao's future legendary path, and one of his most important cheats!
[It had arrived!]
At this moment, even the narrator's voice carried barely suppressed excitement and tension.
[One of Huo Yuhao's cheats, the Million-Year Soul Beast Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, had finally arrived!!!]
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