Heavenly Dragon Gate's Fangs

He flicked his finger at that speck of light.

"Go."

"Don't disappoint me."

Shrek Academy, Inner Court high-grade ward.

The heavy stench of medicine mixed with blood was enough to make anyone nauseous.

Huo Yuhao suddenly opened his eyes.

"Urgh..."

He tried to sit up, but his entire body felt as though hundreds of soul-tool ore carts had rolled over him again and again. The slightest movement sent piercing agony shooting from between his bones.

"I... didn't die?"

He stared blankly at the ceiling, his eyes hollow. Then, the humiliating scenes from the Great Soul Arena returned to his mind like red-hot brands searing into his brain.

That white-clad youth casually raising a single finger.

That black fireball drifting slowly toward him, yet swallowing everything in its path.

And...

Wang Dong holding that man's hand and leaving without looking back, her resolute silhouette disappearing into the distance.

"Ah..."

A wheezing, air-leaking sound came from Huo Yuhao's throat. His body began to tremble violently—not from pain, but from hatred!

Why!

Why could Yu Chen stand so high above me, looking down at me as though I were trash?

Why did Wang Dong choose him?! That enemy who personally destroyed all of us!

I want power!

I will have my revenge!

"Why?!"

Huo Yuhao used every ounce of strength in his body to force out a beastlike roar. Veins bulged one after another along his neck from the strain.

Just as the resentment and unwillingness in his heart reached their peak—

A stream of extreme cold, cold enough to freeze the soul, suddenly burrowed in through the crown of his head without warning.

That power was frigid and tyrannical, carrying an aura of pure slaughter as it charged down through the scorched, mangled meridians within his body.

Wherever it passed, the remnants of black flame clinging to his meridian walls like maggots on bone were instantly washed away, as though mice had encountered a cat. His severed meridians were forcibly fused and widened by that icy power, while the shattered source of his martial soul was brutally repaired and reshaped.

An unprecedented sense of power surged wildly through every limb and bone.

Huo Yuhao froze.

He could clearly feel not only that his injuries were healing at an astonishing speed, but that his soul power rank was... was also climbing steadily!

Level twenty-six... level twenty-seven... level twenty-eight!

It surged all the way to the peak of level twenty-nine, just a paper-thin barrier away from level thirty, before the icy power finally slowed to a halt and settled deep within his sea of qi.

Was this... a fortuitous encounter?

Had the heavens seen the humiliation I suffered and bestowed a miracle upon me?!

It had to be!

My obsession, my unwillingness, had moved the heavens!

Huo Yuhao trembled with wild joy. He struggled out of the hospital bed and staggered toward the washbasin in the room.

Reflected in the basin was a face flushed red with excitement, yet twisted out of shape by venomous hatred.

He slowly raised his hand. A mass of grayish-white airflow appeared in his palm. It was not his original soul power, but the manifestation of that icy force from before. Within it lurked a faint sharpness that made one's heart palpitate.

Huo Yuhao clenched his fist tightly, feeling that cold, powerful force within him. A terrifyingly vicious smile slowly split across his face.

"Thunder Dragon..."

"Just wait..."

"I will make you—make you pay for everything you did today!"

Heavenly Dragon Gate, ancestral hall secret chamber.

The lighting here was dim. Only a few eternal lamps fueled by whale oil stood in the corners, their flames flickering in the draft and casting shifting shadows across the vicious dragon-head reliefs on the walls.

The air carried a mingled scent of old wood and cold incense.

A middle-aged man dressed in gray cloth robes, with a goatee, stood bent at the waist. He held an opened beast-hide intelligence report in his hands, his voice low, though he could not hide the excitement in his words.

"First Elder, it's done!"

"In Soto City, more than seventy percent of the intelligence network Shrek has cultivated for over a decade has changed hands to Yu as of this morning!"

"And around Star Luo City, our people moved quickly as well. Those Shrek spies did not even have time to react before we uprooted them completely. Only a few figureheads are left in the city now—they can't gather even the slightest bit of information, heh heh."

As he spoke, the intelligence chief secretly raised his eyes to observe the old man seated at the head of the chamber.

The First Elder of the Heavenly Dragon Gate sat in the main seat, dressed in a simple black robe, his hair gray-white. His eyes were closed, while two withered fingers tapped intermittently against his knee.

He neither opened his eyes nor spoke.

The secret chamber was terrifyingly quiet. Only the wick of an eternal lamp occasionally gave off a soft crackle.

A layer of fine sweat beaded across the intelligence chief's forehead. He barely dared to breathe.

A full half-minute passed.

Only then did the First Elder's tapping fingers stop.

He slowly opened his eyes. Those cloudy old eyes were now frighteningly bright, as though two golden flames burned within them.

"Well done."

The First Elder's voice was hoarse, like two rusted iron sheets scraping together, yet every word carried unquestionable weight.

"The Young Master has drawn everyone's attention at the front. If we useless lot in the rear can't even handle such a trivial matter, we might as well bash our heads into a block of tofu and die."

He slowly rose to his feet. Within his gaunt body seemed to lurk a slumbering giant dragon.

"Those hypocrites at Shrek have lorded their title as the continent's number one for far too long. So long that they have forgotten that, in this world, it ultimately comes down to whose fists are harder and whose teeth are sharper."

The First Elder walked to the enormous geomantic map of Douluo Continent in the center of the chamber, his bony finger gliding gently over its surface.

"We cannot pave the Young Master's path for him. But at the very least, we cannot allow the barking of stray cats and dogs to soil the Young Master's ears."

He turned and fixed his gaze on the intelligence chief.

"Pass down my order."

"From today onward, all sect resources will be allocated to the Young Master without condition. If he lacks money, have the treasury haul Golden Soul Coins to him by the cartload. If he lacks people, have the disciples of the War Hall wash their necks clean and wait for his summons."

"The report says the Young Master is heading north, correct?"

The intelligence chief shuddered and quickly bowed. "Yes! According to the reports from our eyes stationed outside Soto City, the Young Master's party is heading north along the official road. Their destination... is very likely the Far North."

"The Far North..."

The First Elder narrowed his eyes and nodded.

"Then get our merchant caravans moving. Pack up the finest cold-weather supplies in the treasury, the most sophisticated soul-tool equipment, and the newest, most comprehensive intelligence on the Far North. Deliver them all to the next city the Young Master will pass through!"

"Remember, get them into his hands as swiftly and quietly as possible. We will simply do our work. Do not ask questions, and do not disturb the Young Master."

"Yes! This subordinate understands!" The intelligence chief nodded heavily, his face filled with fervor.

This was the Heavenly Dragon Gate!

This was the domineering sect that believed "truth exists only within the range of dragon breath"! The Young Master slaughtered his way through all opposition outside, while the sect arranged everything perfectly behind him! It felt fucking incredible!