No Initiative, No Clarity, No Refusal, No Responsibility, No Stance

He claimed he was helping search for a second martial soul, but all he truly wanted was to see the Ice Empress.

He knew full well that the Extreme North was fraught with danger, and that Huo Yuhao could die at the slightest misstep.

He concealed the risks and deliberately lured the other party into this place where death could come at any moment.

In Sky Dream Iceworm's eyes, Huo Yuhao was nothing more than a vessel.

A vessel to carry its origin essence, a tool to fulfill its ambitions. Huo Yuhao's life or death had nothing to do with it; if he died, it could simply find another.

The Ice Empress stood on the ice field, her cold eyes fixed on Sky Dream Iceworm.

She recalled something Ling Xiao had once said: "Sky Dream, you really are selfish."

"You want eternal companionship, yet you drag a human boy into the Extreme North's land of death."

"You dream of using someone else's life to fulfill that vague, illusory fantasy of yours."

The Ice Empress's words were like a knife, striking precisely at Sky Dream Iceworm's weak point.

Sky Dream trembled involuntarily, but it did not refute her, because what she said was the truth.

However...

Was Huo Yuhao truly worthy of pity?

Ling Xiao swept a cold glance over Huo Yuhao, who was still crouching on the ground with his head in his hands.

His background was indeed pitiful.

He had lost his mother in childhood and grown up amid cold stares and bullying, never once feeling the warmth of others.

Those experiences were indeed heartbreaking.

But he also proved that saying: pitiful people must have something hateful about them.

Ling Xiao remembered very clearly.

The Huo Yuhao of the original story.

He constantly proclaimed that he loved only one person, yet turned around and casually flirted with other women.

When it came to those women, he accepted anyone who came to him—never taking the initiative, never making things clear, never refusing.

Utterly scumbag behavior.

His treatment of Tangerine from the Sun-Moon Empire took this behavior to its absolute extreme.

Tangerine had faced life and death alongside him and cared for him attentively. She had made her feelings for Huo Yuhao perfectly clear, laying her heart bare before him.

And what about Huo Yuhao?

He knew her feelings, yet never drew a clear boundary. He calmly accepted every bit of Tangerine's devotion and dependence, enjoying the feeling of being loved.

He did not refuse, did not take responsibility, did not state his position, and simply took everything for granted.

Later on, Tangerine borrowed his seed and gave birth to Xu Yunhan, Huo Yuhao's illegitimate son.

During battles between the two armies, he softened his heart time and again, even going so far as to violate the stance of his own faction.

He neither took responsibility nor cut things off completely, stringing everyone along with push-and-pull tactics.

Even more ironically, later in the original story, he admitted that he really had liked Tangerine.

Completely shattering his pure-and-devoted persona.

Ling Xiao even suspected that Huo Yuhao had known all along that his seed had been stolen.

Tang San had placed a restriction on his daughter, preventing her from having an intimate relationship with Tang Wutong.

To continue his bloodline, Huo Yuhao had directly used spiritual power to brainwash Tangerine.

After all, with Huo Yuhao's spiritual power, it would have been easy for him to do so.

Of course, this was only Ling Xiao's speculation. It was never confirmed in the original story.

Because Tangerine stole his seed before Huo Yuhao learned that Xu Tianran was infertile.

And by then, Tangerine had already given birth to her illegitimate son, Xu Yunhan.

But who could guarantee that Huo Yuhao had truly not orchestrated all of it?

After all, a true scumbag was deeply affectionate in front of every woman.

And there was more.

When it came to Wang Qiu'er, the transformed auspicious beast, Huo Yuhao's behavior was even more contemptible.

Wang Qiu'er looked identical to Wang Dong'er, and Huo Yuhao's heart had begun to stir the moment he saw her.

Though he knew he had a girlfriend, he still took the initiative to flirt with her. He handed her a pancake he had already bitten into, completely ignoring Wang Dong'er's jealousy beside him.

To save him, Wang Qiu'er sacrificed her soul ring and soul bone, giving everything to Huo Yuhao.

And what did Huo Yuhao do?

He shouted for her to stop, but his body honestly accepted everything.

After gaining Wang Qiu'er's power, he turned around and resumed his loving relationship with Tang Wutong as if nothing had happened.

The auspicious beast, who had been plotted against by Tang San, became nothing more than a tool for him to level up.

He threw her away the moment he was done using her.

His cultivation improved, and Tang San successfully plundered the soul beasts' fortune as well.

Then there was his extreme double standard.

One moment, Huo Yuhao was saying that war should not make common people bear the price.

The next, he threw soul tools into Bright Capital and blew countless Sun-Moon Empire civilians to death.

He furiously condemned the three armies for abducting Xu Yunhan, precisely because Xu Yunhan was his illegitimate son.

So he began emphasizing:

"War is a contest between adults. Ordinary children should not become sacrifices."

But during the war against the Sun-Moon Empire, Huo Yuhao personally planned the destruction of Bright Capital.

He had even stated clearly:

"There is no need to care whether the people of Bright Capital live or die. When an avalanche comes, not a single snowflake is innocent."

With one direct order, he blew countless elderly people, women, and children to death.

They were all innocent civilians.

His illegitimate son was worth risking his life to protect, while the people of Bright Capital could be sacrificed at will.

Two sets of morals, two sets of standards, all interpreted according to his personal preferences.

Wherever Huo Yuhao went, he brought disaster to that place. Yet Huo Yuhao himself became an untarnished savior.

One moment, he went out to sea to obtain a soul ring; the next, the mermaid princess Liya had her soul extracted and refined.

In the end, he gained the benefits he wanted and earned a good reputation as well.

Mu En spent his entire life dissolving the resentment within the Dragon Pill, then entrusted both the Dragon Pill and Shrek to Huo Yuhao.

Yet Huo Yuhao turned around and pursued the daughter of a God-King, leaving Shrek in a complete mess.

As a level-ten soul engineer, he had not even left behind a single decent soul tool.

He was in such a rush to ascend to the Divine Realm, so eager to become Tang God-King's loyal lapdog.

The Spirit Pagoda system he established was incomplete, turning the Spirit Pagoda into a tool for harvesting the continent.

He claimed it was to resolve the conflict, yet the Spirit Pagoda raised soul beasts in captivity, obtained soul spirits by cruelly slaughtering them, and made enormous profits from it.

After he ascended to the Divine Realm, the Spirit Pagoda completely spiraled out of control. He left the mess behind for Douluo Continent while becoming the founder of peace himself.

He took all the credit and cast off every responsibility.

Once again, it proved that saying: pitiful people must have something hateful about them!

Huo Yuhao's background was indeed pitiful, but what he had done did not deserve pity.

Compared to the supposedly pure and virtuous Tang God-King, Huo Yuhao was no less disgusting—if anything, worse.

Thinking of how Huo Yuhao would be trained into a dog, a fiercely loyal lapdog serving the Divine Realm, Ling Xiao had only one thought.

If he could weaken the other party, then he would weaken him as much as possible now.

It would be even better if he could kill him!

For the current Huo Yuhao, Sky Dream Iceworm was his greatest reliance.

Its million-year origin essence, the boost to his spiritual power, and the so-called "God-Making Project" were all built upon Sky Dream Iceworm.

If Sky Dream Iceworm died, Huo Yuhao's strength would be greatly reduced.

Tang San's plan would also be affected.

If they refined Sky Dream's origin essence, it would greatly benefit all three of them.

Rather than letting Huo Yuhao and Tang San benefit from it, it would be better to benefit themselves.

Sky Dream Iceworm was plotting against the Ice Empress?

Kill it!

Ling Xiao spoke coldly:

"Sky Dream Iceworm, Huo Yuhao, leave your lives here today!"