Splitting the Mountain

"So, Huo's days of auditing classes are over?" Hu Gan sat behind his desk, propped his legs up on the table, and had a pipe dangling from his mouth.

"Yes. This is the report submitted by Elder Huo." A teacher stood in front of the desk, ignoring the vice dean's inappropriate behavior.

"What report?" Hu Gan took a couple of puffs of his cigarette, his voice tinged with doubt.

"Didn't you ask Elder Huo to observe areas where the academy could be improved?" The teacher adjusted his glasses.

E

This concludes Elder Huo's report.

"Oh, let me see—" Hu Gan up straight, took Huo Yuhao's scroll, and quickly browsed through it.

"Wow! Does Jia Nan Academy have so many problems?"

A moment later, Hu Gan put down the scroll, a strange look on his face. "This kid, he really intends to improve it," he said, directly asking me for resources!

"Huo Yuhao, the kind of power you're talking about shouldn't be the spiritual power that Chief Gu Yuan gave them." Yao Chen's voice came through the Communication Spirit Device.

"Based on my research over this period, spiritual power doesn't possess this ability; it must be a power inherent in you."

"But after that sparring session, I tried many times, but I couldn't awaken that power again," Huo Yuhao said in a deep voice.

"It's hard to say right now. Let's study it again when Xiao Yan and I arrive at the Jia Nan Academy. As for your suggestion to lower the requirements for the Poison Core Method, I need to consider that further."

After hanging up the "phone," Huo Yuhao remained silent for a moment, still feeling somewhat unwilling.

He moved swiftly, heading straight for the back of the mountain, and took out an ordinary longsword.

If you can't understand it, then rely on your intuition!

Huo Yuhao swung his sword down. There was no energy attached to it; it relied purely on the strength of his physical body. This strike only brought a slight gust of wind as the blade passed, weak and without any power.

Huo Yuhao didn't stop, and continued to swing his sword a second time. This time, he used the aura of Ruler Over All, his boundless will transforming into sword intent, and slashed down with one strike!

Sizzle!

The ground before him split open with a sharp crack, revealing a straight fissure. The surrounding grass bowed low, as if paying homage to a monarch.

The third strike condenses the sword intent into Blade Soul. This is one of the paths to advancement in the Douluo Continent. In his previous life on the Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao started learning swordsmanship relatively late and had not yet reached this level. After entering the Divine Realm, he had no time to practice swordsmanship.

Since the day his inner conflict was resolved, Huo Yuhao hasn't devoted much attention to this area, but his understanding of cultivation levels has been sufficient. Therefore:

With the fourth strike, the Blade Soul ascends to the level of Blade God!

Unfortunately, limited by the world level of the Douluo Continent, this Blade God realm doesn't significantly improve strength, far less than the boost from Emotion Power.

"There are similarities, but in terms of power and essence, they are far from comparable—"

Huo Yuhao was not discouraged. He dispersed the power of his spiritual intent and instead focused on condensing the power of his soul, stripped of his mental strength, into the blade.

Next, Huo Yuhao tried out all sorts of powers one by one: Emotion Power, Dou Qi, the Heaven and Earth Origin Qi, and various elemental energies.

Given Huo Yuhao's meticulous nature, he would record everything step by step, trying to arrange and combine two or three different things at a time, meticulously searching for any trace of the power he had experienced that day.

But at this moment, Huo Yuhao abandoned all his complicated thoughts, forcibly stopped his high-speed mental activity, and entrusted everything to his senses, to the most primal feelings in his heart.

Boom! Boom! Boom-!

The swordplay intensified, and the commotion on the back mountain grew louder and louder, like rolling thunder, causing countless Canaan Academy students to stop and ponder.

"I suspect a rock giant has awakened!"

"I think it might be an earthquake!"

"Are you stupid?! You can't judge an earthquake just by the sound!"

"Then what kind of magical beast is this giant you're talking about? I've never heard of it!"

"Old Huo, I knew it was you right away. Do you know we have—" Lin Xiuya and Yan Hao followed the sound to the back mountain. As soon as they saw Huo Yuhao, Yan Hao's signature loud voice boomed out.

"Wait, don't shout!" Lin Xiuya quickly covered Yan Hao's mouth. "Huo Yuhao, in this state—"

"What's wrong?" Yan Hao mumbled indistinctly.

"It's an epiphany! Let's retreat and not disturb them!" Lin Xiuya pulled Yan Hao and retreated to the outer perimeter.

At this moment, several types of energy were constantly flowing around Huo Yuhao. He stood at the very center of the energy storm, his hands moving without stopping, still slashing with each strike.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao kept his eyes tightly closed, without thinking, using all the power he had, each strike more explosive than the last. It was less like he was practicing his swordsmanship and more like he was venting his anger.

In this monotonous repetition, he felt a profound sense of joy, as if all the pain and repression of the past years had been shattered by each stroke.

Deep within Huo Yuhao's heart, a complex mix of emotions surged and churned, and a distant, blurred image surfaced.

Once upon a time, in his youth, in the howling winds of the Far North, he made a wish with Tian Meng.

At this moment, the seed deep within his heart sprouted! Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and unleashed his final strike!

Boom-!!!

The entire back mountain was cut in two with a single stroke!

From within the fractured mountain, water gushed forth, carrying mud, rocks, and debris, rushing irresistibly towards the Outer Academy of the Canaan Academy!

"Huo Yuhao!" Lin Xiuya didn't care about disturbing Huo Yuhao's enlightenment. He dodged the water flow, gathered wind attribute energy under his feet, and rushed straight towards Huo Yuhao, who was standing on the edge of the cliff and about to fall.

"Don't worry!" Huo Yuhao's voice rang out, and an extreme cold current was released from his body. Wherever it passed, the surging floodwaters instantly froze. The floodwaters that had already rushed to the Outer Academy square instantly turned into a frozen field.

What happened?

"Hey kid, what are you doing?!"

"Haha, sorry, Vice Dean, I was experimenting with a new Dou Technique! I accidentally made a little noise!" Huo Yuhao scratched his head awkwardly, but his heart was full of joy.

"You did it?!" A voice came from somewhere, seemingly congratulating, yet also sounding astonished.

"The slightest sound?" Hu Gan clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on his forehead. "From now on, Huo Yuhao is forbidden from testing his Dou Technique within the academy!"

Ever since Huo Yuhao cleaved the back mountain with a single strike, a new spectacle has appeared in the Canaan Academy Outer Academy. After class, many students tacitly go to admire the massive, mirror-like cliff, hoping to glean some "peerless divine skill" from it!

The Canaan Times also featured the story extensively on its front page for two consecutive issues, quietly suppressing the hype created by certain individuals stirring things up.

"How did you become a Nine-Star Da Dou Shi so quickly?!" Yan Hao stared intently at Huo Yuhao. Every time they met these past two days, Huo Yuhao looked at him with disbelief, as if he had seen a ghost.

"An epiphany? Not surprising." Huo Yuhao smiled slightly.

For the past two days, Huo Yuhao has been under the "kind care" of the vice dean, frantically trying to clean up the mess he made.

Fortunately, with the help of several earth-attribute elders, Huo Yuhao successfully diverted the water vein that had collapsed from the back mountain into the Central Lake of the Jia Nan Academy.

It's unclear whether it was because the energy Huo Yuhao gathered that day had permeated the mountain rocks and water sources, but from the waterfall cascading down the cliff at the back of the mountain all the way to the Central Lake, the concentration of Heaven and Earth Origin Qi in the surrounding area had significantly increased. This attracted many students to meditate and cultivate, temporarily overshadowing the Meditation Room.

The lake itself contains pure and active energy. A senior student who was often kicked into the lake drank a bellyful of lake water, and when he returned, he unexpectedly found that his cultivation speed had improved by leaps and bounds.

He immediately wrote an article and published it in the Canaan Times, publicizing the matter extensively.

From that moment on, the Central Lake, which was originally just a place for recreation, suddenly became incredibly valuable and sought-after. The students who came there to cultivate, drink water, and even bathe were constantly causing a ruckus.

Ultimately, the matter became too complex to be resolved simply by establishing new school rules. After an emergency meeting of all elders, the vice dean decided to appoint an elder and select some staff to form a management office specifically responsible for maintaining order in this "sacred place of cultivation."