The Secret of the Relic

Huo Yuhao clenched the note, his gaze turning sharp.

[Thought Palace] activated once more.

[Alert Escalated: Confirmed that the Light of Truth is dangerous]

[New Objective: Investigate the Light of Truth's true purpose]

[Strategy: Cooperate openly, investigate secretly]

Late at night, Huo Yuhao quietly left his dormitory. Using the Spirit Eye Martial Soul's ability to see through solid objects, he began exploring the academy's secrets.

When his gaze penetrated the ground and revealed the enormous underground laboratory beneath the academy, he was utterly stunned.

At the center of the laboratory, a massive soul tool formation was operating. Rows of transparent containers surrounded it, with human bodies and... souls? floating inside.

"Is this... a soul manipulation experiment?" Huo Yuhao sucked in a breath.

He suddenly realized that he might have stepped into a vortex far more dangerous than he had imagined.

Huo Yuhao returned to his dormitory, locked the door, and let out a long breath.

He took out the pendant his mother had left him and studied it carefully in his palm. It was his only memento, and it had accompanied him through countless dark days. The pendant was an antiquated bronze color, engraved with strange patterns that resembled runes, yet did not entirely match the common rune systems of soul tools.

"Mom, what were you trying to tell me?" Huo Yuhao murmured, his fingers gently tracing the patterns on the pendant.

[Thought Palace] activated automatically.

[Analysis Target: Bronze Pendant]

[Material Analysis: Not ordinary bronze; contains unknown metallic elements]

[Pattern Analysis: Similar to soul tool runes, but with a more ancient structure; possibly a lost technology]

Huo Yuhao frowned and turned the pendant over and over. Over the years, he had studied it countless times, yet he had never discovered anything unusual. It was like an ordinary ornament, silently guarding its secrets.

"Wait..."

Just as he was about to give up, the pendant suddenly emitted a faint blue glow that vanished in an instant.

Huo Yuhao froze.

"This is..." He abruptly sat upright, staring wide-eyed at the pendant.

He picked it up again and gently shook it. The blue light flashed once more, this time lasting slightly longer.

"It's never reacted like this before!" Huo Yuhao's heartbeat quickened. "Why would it react only after coming to the academy?"

He immediately entered the [Thought Palace] and began analyzing the anomaly.

[Anomalous Phenomenon: The pendant produces an energy reaction within the academy environment]

[Possible Cause 1: A special energy field exists within the academy]

[Possible Cause 2: The pendant has received energy fluctuations at a specific frequency]

[Possible Cause 3: The academy environment has triggered a mechanism inside the pendant]

Huo Yuhao rose to his feet and began pacing around the dormitory, observing the changes in the pendant's reaction. When he moved toward the window, its glow became more distinct. When he moved toward the door, the light weakened again.

"It has a direction!" Huo Yuhao realized excitedly. "The pendant is sensing some kind of energy source!"

He took out a map of the academy and marked the direction in which the pendant's reaction was strongest. According to his calculations, the energy source appeared to come from an underground area southwest of the academy—the exact location of the secret laboratory he had discovered the previous night!

Huo Yuhao's heart raced. This could not be a coincidence.

He quickly took out several simple tools and began conducting a more detailed examination of the pendant. Using a homemade soul power detector, he measured the frequency of its energy fluctuations when it reacted.

[Thought Palace] fully unfolded once more.

[Data Analysis: Pendant reaction frequency is 7.83Hz]

[Comparative Analysis: This frequency highly matches the radiation frequency of the underground laboratory's equipment]

[Conclusion: The pendant is extremely sensitive to the energy frequencies of specific soul tools]

"This isn't an ordinary ornament..." Huo Yuhao muttered. "It's a detector—a detector specifically designed to locate certain soul tool technologies!"

He suddenly recalled the fragments of things his mother had said while she was alive. She had once told him that she came from a "different kind of place," where people "understood many secrets." The young Huo Yuhao had thought they were merely fairy tales meant to comfort him, but now they seemed like fragments of the truth.

"Mom, who exactly were you?" Huo Yuhao gripped the pendant tightly, his heart filled with questions. "Why did you possess technology like this? And what connection did you have to the academy?"

Night fell, and the dormitory district gradually quieted down. Huo Yuhao turned off the lights and lay on his bed, but sleep would not come. He placed the pendant over his chest, closed his eyes, and tried to sense its energy fluctuations.

As the night grew deeper and quieter, the pendant's reaction became increasingly intense. The blue light flashed continuously, illuminating the entire room. Even stranger, Huo Yuhao felt an unusual energy entering his spiritual sea.

"This is..."

A blurry image suddenly appeared in his mind. It was a gigantic soul tool array, vast in scale and immensely complex, far beyond any soul tool technology he had ever seen. At the center of the array stood an enormous energy core, surrounded by dozens of smaller energy nodes that formed a complete networked system.

Was this not the physical realization of the "Networked Soul Tools" theory he had proposed? Yet the technological level of this array clearly surpassed the current era!

There were also words and symbols within the image, but they were too blurry to make out. The only clear thing was a line engraved at the bottom of the array: "The Light of Truth shines eternally."

Huo Yuhao suddenly opened his eyes, cold sweat soaking his back.

"The Light of Truth..." he repeated the name under his breath. "The academy's secret organization, the inscription on the statue's base, the name of the underground laboratory's project, and now it has appeared on this ancient soul tool array..."

All the clues pointed in the same direction—Light of Truth was more than just an academy organization. It might have been a secret society that had existed for centuries, possessing soul tool technology far beyond its era.

And his mother's pendant was the key to unlocking that secret.

"Mom, did you want me to find this place?" Huo Yuhao gripped the pendant tightly, feeling its faint pulse. "Were you a member of Light of Truth? Or could it be..."

An even bolder speculation took shape in his mind: perhaps his mother had come from an unknown organization that possessed even more advanced technology, and her mission had been to monitor or infiltrate Light of Truth!

The thought was shocking, yet it explained many of the mysteries. Why had his mother possessed such a detector? Why had the White Tiger Duke taken notice of her? And why had she died so mysteriously shortly after his birth?

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, a sense of purpose unlike anything he had ever felt rising within him. He had to uncover the truth—not only for his mother, but also to expose the hidden secrets of this world.

"Light of Truth, I will uncover your true face." Huo Yuhao pressed the pendant against his chest and spoke softly. "This isn't just about avenging Mother. It's about completing the mission she never finished."

Outside the window, moonlight flowed like water, silently falling across his face and reflecting in his determined eyes.