Defeating Huo Yuhao

On the Soul Arena.

En Zuo sensed the ferocious beast aura powerful enough to make thousand-year soul beasts flee in terror. He narrowed his eyes slightly and revealed a wild, unrestrained smile.

He said softly,

"Yuhao, I'm very pleased with your growth. You've shown me what you look like after becoming stronger. You haven't let down Monster Academy's cultivation."

Then his tone shifted.

"But this is still far from enough!"

En Zuo hovered in the air and lightly raised the hand holding his Crystal Staff.

"First soul skill, Wind Element Control."

"Storm Blade."

Buzz!

The instant En Zuo's first soul ring flashed, the calm breeze around them was imbued with savagery.

The fierce gale rapidly intensified. The invisible wind blades rose several levels in power in an instant, and the smooth ground was immediately sliced open with several sharp gashes by the uncontrollable blades.

Under the sudden surge of destructive wind blades, the entire Soul Arena let out a groan as though it could no longer bear the strain.

The word shock was practically carved across Huo Yuhao's face. Fragments of stone and dirt, stripped away layer by layer before him, grazed his cheek, leaving behind a long slanted streak of blood.

"Is this the gap in soul power? A scene like a natural disaster really does make one feel helpless."

"But I won't back down because of this!"

Several thoughts flashed rapidly through Huo Yuhao's mind. He suppressed the distractions in his heart as the two soul rings around his body merged into one, and a blood-red hundred-thousand-year soul ring shone brilliantly.

"Ice Empress Protection."

A martial soul phantom abruptly appeared behind him. It was a jade-green scorpion nearly one and a half meters long. Green crystalline ice armor radiating extreme cold covered his entire body, and wisps of white vapor rose from him.

A sharp wind blade scraped past his hip bone with the clang of metal, tearing away a piece of flesh.

Huo Yuhao's face paled. He was still too weak to unleash Ice Empress Protection's true power, but he would not give up easily.

Ice crystals condensed around his hands, forming a pair of enormous pincers that blocked firmly before him.

Ice Empress's Pincers, the second soul skill granted to Huo Yuhao by the Ice Empress's first soul ring, possessed formidable offensive and defensive abilities.

Against En Zuo's assault, Huo Yuhao was like a spinning top being lashed about. He could only defend passively, with small chunks of flesh occasionally being torn from his body.

That was only because En Zuo had deliberately lowered the intensity. Otherwise, Huo Yuhao would have already been reduced to a white skeleton stripped clean of flesh.

Seeing him struggle on like this, refusing to admit defeat so easily,

En Zuo helplessly raised his hand during a gap in Huo Yuhao's defense. He brought his five fingers together as brown earth-element energy gathered in the space before him, forming one vicious earthen spike after another out of thin air.

With this next strike,

he would send Huo Yuhao straight off the Soul Arena and disqualify him from the match.

En Zuo did not pause. His body dropped sharply, landing on the ground as he planted the end of his Crystal Staff against the floor. The soul power of a Soul Elder erupted.

The entire Soul Arena began to shake violently, splitting open with a bottomless fissure. Sword-sharp boulders suddenly thrust upward, spreading rapidly along the terrain.

Above and below, a rain of stones filled the sky.

"Hell Spike."

The crowd erupted in an uproar. Was En Zuo truly a soul master not yet eleven years old? The power of that soul skill, that level of soul power...

Even contestants at the same Soul Elder rank would only be able to take it in a sorry state. Much less Huo Yuhao, who possessed only two soul rings.

If they could be considered monsters,

then En Zuo was simply a monster among monsters.

No wonder Dean En Ci had overruled all opposition to keep En Zuo among the Eight Heavenly Kings.

With the performance he had shown today, aside from Long Yue, the foremost Heavenly King known as the Dragon King, the other Heavenly Kings would likely struggle to defeat this young soul master who had not even enrolled yet.

Bang...!

Before the attack could touch Huo Yuhao's body, a gentle force of soul power shielded him and carried him off the Soul Arena.

En Ci lifted Huo Yuhao and slowly drew him to his side. His shoulder-length white hair swayed slightly as his clear eyes stared intently at this "miracle" En Zuo had brought into Monster Academy.

Yes, a miracle.

The moment Huo Yuhao fully revealed the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, En Ci, as an Ultimate Douluo, had realized that it could not possibly be a simulated soul skill.

It was a genuine ferocious beast soul ring.

A Grand Soul Master's soul skill could never deceive an Ultimate Douluo. Even Huo Yuhao's Ice Jade Empress Scorpion martial soul carried the ferocious beast pressure that ordinary beast martial souls found difficult to resist.

Even Long Yue's Mountain Dragon King martial soul did not possess such intimidation at Huo Yuhao's level.

There was only one possibility for this to happen.

A ferocious beast had sacrificed everything it had and willingly become Huo Yuhao's martial soul.

This story... how familiar... how... heartbreaking.

Stroking the white beard on his chin, En Ci laughed heartily from the bottom of his heart. Monster Academy had produced another true dragon.

What could Shrek Academy possibly use to compete with him?

"You're very good..." After pondering for a moment, En Ci rubbed Huo Yuhao's head and revealed a benevolent smile. "But I still hope you can let go of the prejudice and hatred in your heart."

Huo Yuhao's hatred toward those with the surname Dai was plain to see. Although this information circulated only among En Ci and his disciples, whenever he encountered a student surnamed Dai at Monster Academy, he would unconsciously reveal a hatred etched into his bones.

It was not directed at the person.

It was directed at that name.

As the Imperial Preceptor of the Star Luo Empire, En Ci's best course of action at this moment would have been to execute Huo Yuhao on the spot and eliminate any future threat.

If this person were allowed to grow, he would inevitably become a grave danger to the Star Luo Empire.

But...

His gaze settled on En Zuo, who was gradually approaching. In the end, En Ci could not bring himself to be ruthless. The current ruler was his disciple, but that was merely out of affection for the previous ruler and political necessity.

As for En Zuo, his last disciple whom he had raised since childhood, En Ci could never help but favor him more.

En Ci sighed inwardly.

"Forget it, forget it..."

"The younger generation will have the wisdom of the younger generation."

Huo Yuhao lowered his head and said nothing. Whenever someone urged him to let go of his hatred, he would always remember everything he had seen in Narak Space.

He...

could not let it go.

Even if he had to stake everything on it, he would not hesitate.

Long Yue pushed through the crowd and laughed awkwardly at the side. He nudged Huo Yuhao toward the crowd and picked up the conversation. "Teacher, don't make things difficult for Yuhao. He's still young. Questions like this are too profound for him."

"That's right, Teacher."

En Zuo also came down from the Soul Arena to the judges' platform. He flexed his wrist, leaned against Long Yue's side, and teased En Ci with a grin. "You're busy with countless affairs every day. Leave the matter of guiding Yuhao through his feelings to me. Just rest easy, old man."

En Ci looked at the smiling martial brothers before him, shook his head helplessly, then rose from the judges' platform and walked away.

"If you two caused a little less trouble, I'd be able to rest easy."

Yet another plan was taking shape in his heart.

En Zuo's first real battle had been nearly perfect.

He had already established an indelible impression of overwhelming strength in the hearts of Monster Academy's students, laying the groundwork in advance for the class assignments after enrollment.