Beibei and Tang Ya had been walking through the Star Dou Great Forest for some time.
"Why haven't we run into a suitable Soul Beast yet..."
Tang Ya was complaining about their bad luck today.
But halfway through her sentence, she suddenly stopped.
"Beibei, there's someone over there!"
Beibei followed the direction of her finger.
Beneath a thick oak tree, someone was indeed lying sprawled on the ground.
When he got a clear look at the person's face, Beibei's pupils contracted, and he cried out in shock.
"Isn't that Little Yuhao?!"
At his words, Tang Ya looked closely and recognized him too.
The two hurried over.
Beibei crouched down and reached out to feel his pulse.
"His blood and Qi are steady, and the Soul Power in his body is normal too..."
"Then how did he..."
Beibei's gaze swept over the dead Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo nearby, and he fell into thought.
Surely nobody could get killed by a Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo.
Tang Ya had seen it too. She covered her little mouth in shock. "Could Little Yuhao have been killed single-handedly by this Ten-Year Solitary Bamboo?"
Fortunately, Beibei had some sense. Looking at the injuries on Huo Yuhao's body, he guessed, "It was probably a Wind Baboon."
"Is that so..."
Meanwhile, the unconscious Huo Yuhao was in his own spiritual world, listening to an utterly unbelievable explanation.
The voice of Sky Dream Ice Silkworm rang out in his mind. Compared to before, it was obviously much weaker, as if he had just recovered from a serious illness.
"Kid, I'll keep this short."
"I'm a million-year Soul Beast, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm."
"Just now, I turned myself into your First Soul Ring. So even though your First Soul Ring is white, it actually has four Soul Skills."
"Besides, this Soul Ring can increase in age as your Soul Power grows, becoming stronger and stronger."
"On top of that, I helped you open up an empty slot for an ice-type Martial Soul. You'll be able to awaken another Martial Soul in the future."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm spoke very quickly.
"That crazy woman injured me with her Sky Phoenix True Fire. It hurts like hell."
"I need to sleep for a while to recover. Be careful during that time, and don't get yourself killed."
With that, his voice vanished.
Huo Yuhao stood in his spiritual world, completely dumbfounded.
It took him a long time to digest what Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had said.
A million-year Soul Beast.
Four Soul Skills in his First Soul Ring.
A Soul Ring that could grow in age.
And he had gained an empty Martial Soul slot.
He had become a Soul Master.
He had really become a Soul Master.
Huo Yuhao's hands began to tremble, and his eyes grew hot. An overwhelming joy welled up in his chest, nearly drowning him.
Now that he was a Soul Master, he could avenge his mother!
But then he thought of what had just happened, and another emotion swept over him, eclipsing his joy.
His heart filled with indignation and fury.
Fury at that Titled Douluo, and bitter resentment at his own helplessness once again.
He knew perfectly well that the Titled Douluo had attacked because she was after Brother Sky Dream in his mind.
But so what?
That was his opportunity.
An opportunity he had earned through eleven years of suffering at the White Tiger Duke Mansion and nearly getting killed single-handedly by a Wind Baboon in the Star Dou Great Forest.
So what if she was a Titled Douluo! She had tried to snatch it from him without a word.
How was she any different from those people at the White Tiger Duke Mansion?!
They were all bad people!
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms.
Revenge.
He had to get revenge.
He had memorized what that Titled Douluo looked like.
Fiery red hair, a breathtaking face, and behind her, the phantom of a gigantic phoenix formed from flames.
And the boy she held in her arms.
He had memorized the boy's face too. He looked a few years younger than him.
Huo Yuhao engraved the images of the two of them deep in his mind.
From this day on, two more figures joined the White Tiger Duke Mansion on his list of enemies.
He tamped down his emotions and forced himself to calm down.
He might have forgotten that he was still in the Star Dou Great Forest.
With that thought, his consciousness returned to his body.
Huo Yuhao opened his eyes.
The familiar faces of Beibei and Tang Ya came into view.
When Tang Ya saw him wake, her eyes lit up, and the relief in her voice was plain.
"Little Yuhao, you're finally awake. You scared me to death."
"If you didn't wake up soon, I wouldn't have been able to keep you safe."
Before Huo Yuhao could say anything, he heard a rustling sound nearby.
Beibei's voice came from beside him.
"Tang Ya, get ready. A Datura Snake is coming."
Tang Ya's expression immediately turned serious. She stood up, and Blue Silver Grass appeared in her hand.
"Perfect. I've found my Third Soul Ring."
Huo Yuhao braced himself against the ground and sat up, looking at them.
Soon, a giant snake, pink from head to tail, slithered out of the woods. Its eyes were cold, and its forked tongue flicked in and out.
The perennial workhorse of Douluo Continent, the thousand-year Datura Snake, had made its entrance!
Here it was again, coming to offer up a Soul Ring for Blue Silver Grass.
Meanwhile.
On the other side of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Gu An sat cross-legged on a flat piece of bluestone.
His consciousness had sunk completely into his body, where he was completing the final stages of his contract with the Green Blade Falcon.
Leng Yaozhu stood guard nearby, her eyes fixed intently on Gu An.
If anything went wrong, she would intervene at once.
She would never let anything happen to Gu An.
The phantom of the Green Blade Falcon appeared in front of Gu An.
Even on the verge of death, the three-ten-thousand-year-old Soul Beast still radiated a fierce, razor-sharp aura.
But it didn't resist.
When Leng Yaozhu had caught it, she had already used peaceful means to weaken its will to fight.
All that remained was its purest instinct to go along with whatever kept it safe.
The Green Blade Falcon's phantom sneaked a glance at Leng Yaozhu. The moment the woman and falcon met eyes, the latter immediately lowered its head.
It had accepted its fate.
"Caw—"
It cried out and spread its wings. Its whole body—no, its whole bird—turned into points of light and merged into Gu An's body.
More precisely, it merged into the Dragon Phoenix Soul Sound Flute.
Leng Yaozhu nodded in approval.
"As expected of a Green Blade Falcon with Phoenix blood. It gained intelligence at ten thousand years and knew what choice would be best for her."
The next moment.
A pitch-black Soul Ring peeled away from the Green Blade Falcon and descended toward Gu An.
A black, ten-thousand-year Soul Ring.
Gu An's body shuddered violently.
Cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead, then rolled down his cheeks in large drops.
Blood seeped through his skin, staining his clothes in patches of red.
Leng Yaozhu's delicate brows knit tight, and a flicker of concern showed in her eyes.
Even with the Green Blade Falcon willingly cooperating and reducing the impact of the Soul Ring to a minimum,
a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring was still far too much for Gu An's body to handle.
"Xiao An's physical constitution is still too weak."
She murmured to herself.
"Once he's finished absorbing the Soul Ring, I'll have to help him build a solid foundation. I wonder if I can get him some Immortal Herbs from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well."
A solid foundation was indispensable to becoming a true powerhouse.
But Gu An had no idea what Leng Yaozhu was thinking as she watched him.
All he could feel was pain. Nothing but pain!
A pain beyond words.
The energy of the ten-thousand-year Soul Ring surged back and forth through his meridians.
Every inch of his blood vessels was torn apart, forcibly repaired by Soul Power, then torn apart and repaired again.
And besides the torment of his body, there was the torment of his mind.
Even though the Dragon Phoenix Soul Sound Flute had canceled out the Soul Shock of the ten-thousand-year Soul Beast,
that didn't mean his soul had come through unscathed.