Dragon Madman, Long Yue

After securing a decisive victory, Long Yue stood where he was, doing his utmost to restrain his surging battle intent. The dark red in his eyes gradually faded under the suppression of his will.

"Same old rules." Long Yue's voice was deep, completely at odds with his age. He walked over to the loser and extended a thick, powerful hand. "Give me what I want."

"It's been ready for a while."

The student lying on the ground gave a dry laugh. He took the red liquid wrapped in ten-year Crystal Snake hide from a classmate below the stage and tossed it to Long Yue.

"Take it, Dragon Madman."

"I really don't know what you want this stuff for. But since it's your rule, naturally we'll follow it."

"Not bad. I'm very satisfied..." Long Yue weighed it in his hand and found it fairly substantial. Rarely, he offered his opponent praise. His dark-red skin combined with his smile gave him an inexplicably savage look.

"You're quite good."

Long Yue turned and left without the slightest attachment to the fervent cheers below the stage. He did not care in the least about the derogatory nickname Dragon Madman.

As long as he was strong enough, no matter how often people shouted it, even a derogatory term would become a form of praise.

At Monster Academy, there were very few people Long Yue cared about. His teacher En Ci counted as one, his junior brother En Zuo counted as another, and Dai Yueyan, who had approached him with ulterior motives despite also being one of the Eight Great Heavenly Kings, counted as half.

Come to think of it, why had En Zuo not come to watch his match today? Long Yue rubbed his bald head and swept his gaze through the crowd below. Sure enough, he spotted an unexpected figure.

En Zuo stood quietly below the stage with a scrawny boy beside him.

Long Yue pushed through the students gathered in front of him and strode over to En Zuo. With a hearty laugh, he said, "En Zuo, I went to your dorm and couldn't find you anywhere. If I hadn't gone to ask Teacher, I would've thought you'd broken through to Soul Elder and gone hunting soul beasts."

En Zuo took it as a joke. His soul power was only rank 35 at present, and he still had a long way to go before becoming a Soul Elder.

"You know my cultivation situation, Senior Brother." En Zuo shook his head. "How could I break through to Soul Elder so quickly?"

"And this is?" Long Yue looked at Huo Yuhao beside En Zuo with slight hesitation. In his impression, En Zuo had always held Monster Academy's soul masters in contempt.

Although he appeared friendly toward everyone on the surface, he never associated with those students in private.

Even the selected Eight Great Heavenly Kings were no exception.

This was the first time Long Yue had seen En Zuo with a friend, and it piqued his interest. He patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder.

The latter forced himself to remain calm.

The pressure Long Yue gave him was simply too powerful. Compared to him, Bei Bei was like heaven and earth apart.

Long Yue did not hide his praise. "Kid, you're pretty good."

Don't ask why he was praising him. Could someone his junior brother had taken a liking to possibly be bad?

Even if the kid was only a one-ring soul master at this age, he still had to praise him through gritted teeth.

As Long Yue drew near, Demon Ding glanced at him, puffed out his belly, then suddenly stood up, bared his fangs and claws, and revealed a sinister grin.

"Waaah meow!"

Long Yue suddenly understood. He then smacked his forehead hard, took out the blood bag he had just won from the arena, and cheerfully tossed it to Demon Ding. "Look at my memory."

"This is the food those students voluntarily offered up to you today. Go on, eat it."

Demon Ding hugged the blood bag and happily sucked on it.

En Zuo covered his face. Demon Ding's big belly and round face were far too embarrassing. With a serious expression, he said, "Senior Brother, you spoil Demon Ding too much. That's why he's gotten so round."

"According to my research, Demon Ding can maintain a good mental state by eating only fruit."

Hearing that, Demon Ding's tiny hands tightened around the blood bag, afraid En Zuo would take it away. Then he let out a protesting shriek.

"Waaah meow!" (I'm clearly being starved into a good mental state!)

Long Yue awkwardly scratched his head. Looking at Demon Ding, he really had grown much rounder than before. So there was such a thing.

He decided he should still limit Demon Ding's food intake. It would be bad if it affected En Zuo's martial soul.

The three of them headed toward the outskirts of the Soul Battle Area.

Only after the crowd had thinned out did En Zuo formally introduce Huo Yuhao to Long Yue. "Senior Brother, this is my future teammate for the All-Continent Youth Advanced Elite Tournament four years from now."

"Huo Yuhao."

"Martial soul: Spirit Eyes."

Before setting out, En Zuo had asked Huo Yuhao whether he needed to conceal his name. Huo Yuhao had merely shaken his head slowly but firmly. He would not abandon that name.

Dai Yuhao had become a thorn in his heart, Huo Yuhao's new... inescapable nightmare.

En Zuo did not force the matter when faced with Huo Yuhao's insistence. He was merely a soul master from ten thousand years later with the same name and martial soul. Even if someone made the connection, there was no way they would imagine that this was Huo Yuhao himself.

It would only become casual chatter over meals and tea.

"Mm... Spirit Eyes martial soul... Huo..." Long Yue's expression was normal at first, but then he sensed something wrong. His eyes flew wide open as he stared at En Zuo in disbelief, then pointed at Huo Yuhao. "Junior Brother, you said... his name is Huo Yuhao?!"

"And his martial soul is Spirit Eyes."

If one had to name the most famous person in Star Luo Continent's history, it would undoubtedly be the Ice Spirit Douluo Huo Yuhao. It could be said that the White Tiger Imperial House's continued existence today owed no small part to Huo Yuhao.

The bloodline of the White Tiger Duke from ten thousand years ago had ascended to the Divine Realm, and the founder of the Spirit Pagoda had added further prestige to the White Tiger Imperial House.

Every person on Star Luo Continent knew Huo Yuhao's deeds by heart.

Long Yue did not think too deeply about it, only assuming this was why En Zuo had chosen him as a teammate. He encouraged him, "Yuhao, you're fortunate to share the same martial soul and name as that person from ten thousand years ago."

"I believe you'll become a great soul master just like him."

En Zuo looked back.

At some point, Huo Yuhao had lowered his head. Beneath his tousled hair, his gaze was dark and grim, his teeth clamped tightly around his lip. He felt as though he had always lived beneath Dai Yuhao's shadow.

If Huo Yuhao had known nothing, then seeing that people still remembered his deeds ten thousand years later would have made him proud. But knowing that all of this had been brought about by Dai Yuhao...

Huo Yuhao only felt his stomach churn. It was... an inescapable nausea.

Long Yue scratched his head in confusion. Had he said something wrong again?

En Zuo was the one who pulled Long Yue aside and explained, "Senior Brother, not long ago, his mother was persecuted by the children of nobles. She fell ill from grief and resentment, and she has already passed away." En Zuo added softly, "Their surname was Dai."

"What?" Long Yue was somewhat startled, and his voice lowered considerably. "Then Yuhao..."

En Zuo sighed. "He has no family left."

"I only hope he can accept Monster Academy and make it his new home."

Long Yue could not sit still any longer. His martial soul had already made his temperament somewhat irritable.

"Little Brother Yuhao, if anyone bullies you at Monster Academy and En Zuo isn't around, come find me." Long Yue patted his chest. "At least on Monster Academy's turf, there isn't anyone blind enough to refuse Dragon Madman some face."