Return to Monster Academy

En Zuo gazed solemnly at Huo Yuhao, reassessing this companion who had joined him. Huo Yuhao had been completely consumed by hatred, but such extreme emotions hurt both others and oneself.

He did not want Huo Yuhao to harm himself like this.

It was not worth it.

In En Zuo's view, cutting off the White Tiger Duke's line of inheritance was enough. Hatred should not be allowed to spread like this.

But he did not try to dissuade him.

If Huo Yuhao's resolve for revenge could be easily changed by a few words from En Zuo, then he would not be Huo Yuhao.

He would be the future Dai Yuhao.

En Zuo patted Demon Ding's head and walked deeper into Narak Space. His heavy voice jolted Huo Yuhao awake from his immersion in hatred. "Come with me. Take another look at your mother."

"This is my promise to you."

"Mother..." The unfamiliar word stabbed at Huo Yuhao's heart. He saw his own future and understood that he would acknowledge his ancestry and return to the Dai surname.

His mother's advice had occupied most of it.

How could Huo Yuhao possibly accept that?

"I... I..."

At this point, Huo Yuhao did not feel the excitement he had imagined. Instead, his heart grew increasingly bitter. He followed En Zuo's footsteps and arrived before a viewing curtain within Narak Space.

It showed a woman happily playing with a child.

"Would you like to go over and speak with her?" En Zuo asked.

Time passed quickly in the parallel worlds. Huo Yuhao stood silently in place, watching the child grow up and watching the woman's body grow weaker and weaker.

The woman left the child behind and passed away.

When the life in that parallel world came to an end, Huo Yuhao searched for another parallel world.

Again and again, he watched. Yet within Narak Space, only a few short breaths had passed.

Huo Yuhao raised his head, tears glimmering in his eyes as he stubbornly refused to let them fall. "No need."

"That is Dai Yuhao's mother, not Huo Yuhao's mother."

"Let's go." Huo Yuhao turned his head away and no longer looked at the path of fate in his parallel worlds. In those few short breaths, the hatred that gnawed at his very bones had deepened by countless times.

Just imagine it: the root of one's hatred made into a recording, played from beginning to end in full, forcing the victim to watch it over and over again.

"Take me to Monster Academy." Huo Yuhao tried his best to calm his emotions, but his constantly trembling body exposed the turmoil he could not suppress.

"Do not let hatred cloud your heart." En Zuo frowned.

Something was wrong with Huo Yuhao's condition. If he could not control his emotions and freely let his fury spill onto others—

En Zuo did not want him to make such an ugly display before the Star Luo Imperial House, one of Monster Academy's investors.

"I need to remind you of something." En Zuo observed Huo Yuhao's subtle expression. "One of Monster Academy's major backers is the descendants of the White Tiger Duke's line—the imperial house of the Star Luo Continent ten thousand years from now."

Huo Yuhao's expression stiffened slightly. He took a deep breath and changed his wording. "I understand, Brother En Zuo."

"Before I have sufficient strength, I will not reveal my hatred toward anyone with the surname Dai."

Is that what I meant?

En Zuo hesitated, unsure whether to speak. Demon Ding on his shoulder patted Huo Yuhao with a wing, its enormous eyes filled with approval.

"Waa meow." (Kid, you get it. You're much better than En Zuo and his stubborn temper. You know how to endure.)

Suddenly, Demon Ding shuddered.

It turned its head and saw En Zuo smiling at it, its face immediately taking on a fawning expression.

It had merely been joking.

En Zuo helplessly shook his head and held Demon Ding in his arms. "Whenever there's a problem, you always act like this."

Demon Ding let out a smug cry.

"Waa meow." (Salute the fastest, strongest, smartest Demon Ding King.)

The two of them and the beast did not waste much time in Narak Space. En Zuo explained the common knowledge of the Star Luo Continent ten thousand years later, as well as the various matters requiring attention when joining Monster Academy.

Once he confirmed that Huo Yuhao was no different from a native of the Star Luo Continent, En Zuo opened a portal to the Dragon King Era.

Huo Yuhao looked at the doorway, intense hatred flickering in his eyes. He would accumulate enough strength ten thousand years later and avenge his mother!

"Let's go." En Zuo gently pushed Huo Yuhao. "Use the pair of eyes your mother gave you to see the wonders of ten thousand years later for yourself."

When they appeared again, the two were already inside En Zuo's single dormitory. Huo Yuhao curiously examined his surroundings. Compared with ten thousand years ago, the widely used soul tools had become far more refined.

Yet some basic furnishings were still much the same.

"Come out and have a look with me." En Zuo led Huo Yuhao out of the detached dormitory building En Ci had arranged for him and toward Monster Academy's dedicated training grounds.

Only then did Huo Yuhao truly understand what it meant to be the academy's young master.

Along the way, official Monster Academy students dressed in fitted red uniforms continually greeted En Zuo warmly. En Zuo responded to each of them with equal sincerity.

Some curiously asked who the person beside En Zuo was, and En Zuo patiently told them again and again that this was the teammate he had chosen.

A teammate who would participate in the All-Continent Youth Advanced Elite Tournament four years later.

This degree of importance moved Huo Yuhao deeply.

He silently swore that he would never disappoint Brother En Zuo's expectations.

Both of them were eleven years old and had not yet reached Monster Academy's enrollment age. Although Monster Academy admitted students at the age of twelve, as En Ci's disciple, En Zuo had special privileges in this regard.

Moreover, at only eleven years old, En Zuo's soul power had already reached three rings. He was a genuine genius.

Geniuses also had privileges.

With both advantages combined, En Zuo possessed two sets of privileges. No one in all of Monster Academy dared to provoke him.

Even for the selection of the Eight Great Kings, En Ci did not hesitate to use his authority to add En Zuo's name ahead of time for the sake of his beloved disciple.

This was En Ci's favoritism toward En Zuo.

Soul Battle Arena District.

There were a full fifty arenas here. Every arena was surrounded by crowds packed shoulder to shoulder, cheering on those they supported within the ring.

Everyone had someone they supported.

En Zuo was no exception.

His gaze remained fixed on the figure at the very center of all the arenas. A powerfully built man stood there.

He was around two meters tall, standing motionlessly like a mountain.

That was his senior brother, the leader of Monster Academy's Eight Great Kings, the Dragon King, Long Yue.

Long Yue neither dodged nor evaded the attacking enemy soul master. He let out a fierce roar. "River!"

The sky seemed to collapse as countless torrents poured down from above, crashing down in an instant.

The enemy soul master was swiftly blasted away by the cascading river. Before a domain skill akin to a natural disaster, he was as insignificant as an ant.

"Impossible... How could humans ten thousand years later possess a martial soul of this level?" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wriggled within Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea and gave a grave explanation. "If my senses are correct, that is a true dragon—a Dragon King-level martial soul."

"Is it really that powerful?" Huo Yuhao sucked in a cold breath. With a martial soul of such strength, what kind of students would Shrek Academy have to send in order to defeat him?

The battle had already ended, yet the crowd still shouted madly, "Dragon Madman! Dragon Madman!! Dragon Madman!!!"

Their cries grew louder and louder, like mountains calling and seas roaring. The scene was utterly breathtaking.