Old Acquaintance

After a long while, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and swept his gaze around the area.

The battle just now had not caused much damage here. It made sense—how could a place holding a divine inheritance be so easily destroyed?

He could even sense that he seemed to have formed a faint yet genuine connection with this city.

His gaze landed where Tang Chen had vanished. A small golden hammer lay quietly there. Huo Yuhao picked it up and temporarily placed it inside Twenty-Four Bridges Under Moonlight.

He had no intention of handing it over to Bo Saixi, but since it was connected to the Clear Sky Sect, he could not allow any possibility of it falling into others' hands.

He looked up at the exit overhead. Before Huo Yuhao could make another move, Ghost Sculpture floated before him.

The blade trembled lightly.

"Fine. It's time to use you." Huo Yuhao sounded somewhat helpless. Two years had passed; Ghost Sculpture had been stifled for far too long.

He reached out and gripped it. A magnificent, dreamlike seven-colored soul ring appeared around his waist.

Back when he had been searching for clues about his teacher Electrolux, and because the basic abilities used by both of his teachers were magic, Huo Yuhao had seriously studied under Rong Nianbing.

Although Douluo Continent and the Radiant Continent differed greatly in their cultivation systems, they were quite similar in terms of spiritual power and elemental affinities.

The foundational framework for activating Necromancy had been transformed from his teacher Electrolux's divine consciousness.

As for Radiant Continent magic, Huo Yuhao used Ghost Sculpture.

During his two years in Slaughter City, he had used Necromancy only once, when entering the Undead Demiplane. At all other times, he had never displayed any power that did not belong to Douluo Continent.

But that had been a helpless choice. Without spiritual power, Necromancy could still be forcibly activated with life force, while Radiant Continent magic could not be used at all.

Now that two years had passed, his spiritual power had recovered to the level of a Soul Grandmaster. The Slaughter King was dead, and the Asura inheritance was already in his possession. Naturally, there was no longer any need to hide.

Ghost Sculpture became the pen, spiritual power the ink, and he sketched out a simple magic array. The wind elements drifting through the air immediately responded.

A third-tier Wind Flight spell appeared, carrying him directly toward the cave entrance.

He passed through the light screen without the slightest obstruction and arrived in a pure white world in the blink of an eye.

Countless wisps of cold, pure white mist rushed into his body.

His Spirit Eyes martial soul activated passively. Huo Yuhao could sense that his Spirit Eyes had been granted a domain skill called Divine Slaughter's Domain.

When the white mist dispersed and he turned back, there was no longer any light screen or narrow path.

Instead, he stood within a dense forest.

The woods were quiet, filled only with faint insect chirps and the sound of flowing water. Moonlight filtered through the leaves. It was nighttime.

Huo Yuhao briefly identified his direction and followed the sound, soon finding a small stream several meters wide.

Without the slightest hesitation, he stripped off the only pair of shorts on his body and jumped in.

After several high-intensity battles, the blood on his body had long dried into layer after layer. He had also spent time in such extreme heat. Huo Yuhao felt that his entire body had become thoroughly rank.

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and lay on the water's surface, allowing the stream to wash over his body. His heart was more peaceful than ever. He had finally returned.

Suddenly, a string of noisy disturbances entered his ears.

Huo Yuhao had no time to lament his luck before leaping onto the bank in an instant.

He only had time to pull on a pair of shorts.

The commotion in the distance grew louder. With a flip of his palm, a felt cloak appeared in his hand. He shook it open and covered his entire head and face with it. There was no helping it—under the fairly bright moonlight, his silver hair was simply too conspicuous.

He crouched in the grass, suppressing his aura to the lowest level as his eyes watched the direction of the disturbance in vigilance.

"Tap, tap..."

"Rustle, rustle..."

The footsteps were crisp, like the sound of some feline stepping across tree trunks, followed by the sound of vast stretches of tall grass being trampled and broken.

Zhu Zhuqing was possessed by the Hell Spirit Cat. Her agile figure moved like that of a true cat, her toes touching down lightly. Her expression was cold and stern as she leaped through the forest with complete focus.

The night vision granted by the Hell Spirit Cat martial soul allowed her to easily see her surroundings even in the darkness.

Her nimble figure darted through the trees, producing only faint sounds as she landed.

Huo Yuhao lay in the grass, watching the young girl leap past him and continue onward. The two pupils in his eyes involuntarily widened!

He had never expected that the first familiar person he would meet after leaving Slaughter City would be Zhu Zhuqing.

Her features were much more youthful, but it was undoubtedly Zhu Zhuqing.

At present, she lacked the calm elegance she had possessed in the God Realm. She even appeared somewhat disheveled from traveling. Her temperament had become much colder and harder, her steps hurried, as though something was pursuing her.

Huo Yuhao's mind tightened. He allowed her to leave and remained quietly sprawled in place.

Only after her figure had completely disappeared did the tension in Huo Yuhao's heart ease somewhat. As if recalling something, Soul Power circulated within him. Before long, the two pupils in his eyes gradually merged into one.

His Spirit Eyes opened, watching the direction Zhu Zhuqing had come from. After only the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, two figures—one tall and one short—emerged in pursuit.

Both were adult men. Judging by their auras, one was a Soul Grandmaster and the other a Soul Elder. Seeing this, Huo Yuhao no longer bothered hiding. One had two rings and the other three; neither was worth his attention.

He leaped out directly, a blood-red longsword appearing in his hand. Lowering his voice, he asked, "Who are you, and why are you chasing after her?"

The two showed no intention of talking. The moment they heard him, they unleashed their strongest killing moves.

A cluster of Ghost Vine and a pair of beast claws immediately shot toward Huo Yuhao's face.

Huo Yuhao no longer intended to hold back. His Spirit Eyes flashed as Divine Slaughter's Domain spread out, instantly weakening the two men by one-tenth.

As his figure flickered, before the shock on their faces could fade, the Asura Demon Sword had already left two bloody lines across their necks.

He searched the two from top to bottom. Aside from a crude map and several dozen Gold Soul Coins, he found nothing else related to their identities.

Huo Yuhao buried the two corpses on the spot before pursuing Zhu Zhuqing in the direction she had gone.

Night had fallen once more. Huo Yuhao tugged at his hood, making sure he was wrapped tightly from head to toe before lightly jumping onto the treetop.

Only after ensuring that Zhu Zhuqing's hiding place, a tree hollow, remained within the corner of his vision did he lean against the trunk to rest.

For the past several days, he had been following far behind Zhu Zhuqing. They had encountered three groups of people along the way, and after those people revealed killing intent, he had dealt with them all in passing.

Even so, Huo Yuhao still felt that something was wrong.

At Zhu Zhuqing's age, she should have been studying at Shrek. How had she provoked enemies like these?