The Uncanny Shrek

"Shrek's people are very strong."

Huo Yuhao's voice was not loud, yet it made Qian Ren Duo and Qian Ren Jun stop at the same time.

They had just walked out of the Great Soul Arena. The sun outside was bright, and the streets teemed with people. Noon in Heaven Dou City was always this lively—the cries of street vendors, the rumble of carriages, the laughter of children chasing and playing all blended together into a noisy web. Yet Qian Ren Duo stopped on the steps and turned to look at Huo Yuhao, disbelief written across his face.

"Very strong?" He repeated the words as though he had heard something unimaginable. "Are you serious?"

Huo Yuhao nodded.

"Of course, they're definitely not as strong as Spirit Hall," he added. "But they should still be able to cause us some trouble."

Qian Ren Duo frowned. He glanced back toward the Great Soul Arena. Through the open gates, he could vaguely see the cheering crowd within. He had watched that match just now. It had lasted no more than ten breaths before the boy called Tang San used his strange Blue Silver Grass to bind up all of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy's second team. Those blades of grass writhed like living creatures, red-black light flickering beneath the sun as they tied up all seven opponents tightly, leaving them no chance to struggle.

But so what?

"Why do you say that?" Qian Ren Duo asked. "Aren't they only Soul Ancestors?"

In his understanding, an insurmountable gulf lay between a Soul Ancestor and a Soul King. One Soul King could easily handle three Soul Ancestors, much less when Spirit Hall had five Soul Kings. Five against seven—no matter how he looked at it, it was a complete stomp.

Huo Yuhao fell silent for a moment.

"No." He shook his head. "I looked carefully just now. They have seven Soul Ancestors."

Qian Ren Jun snorted with laughter beside him.

"All Soul Ancestors?" He spread his hands, his face full of disdain and his mouth stretched into a broad grin. "So what? We have four Soul Kings. Before we left, Xie Yue had just broken through to level fifty-three. My brother is level fifty-three, Hu Liena is level fifty-one, Yan is level fifty-two—five Soul Kings against seven Soul Ancestors. How are they supposed to fight us? With their heads?"

He laughed as if he were telling a joke. Qian Ren Duo laughed too. Though he was not as exaggerated as his younger brother, his expression carried the same indifference. He crossed his arms over his chest, tilted his head at Huo Yuhao, and waited for him to continue.

Wang Qiu'er still looked as detached as ever. She stood there with her long golden hair gleaming softly in the sunlight, her red eyes calm as water. She neither laughed nor dismissed his words. She simply waited for Huo Yuhao to finish.

Huo Yuhao was silent for a while.

Sunlight shone on his face, making his expression perfectly clear. His dark eyes now held an indescribable gravity. It was not fear or nervousness, but vigilance—a hunter's vigilance upon seeing another prey, or a chess player discovering an unexpected hidden move on the board.

"I don't know why," he finally said slowly, as though arranging his thoughts. "I just feel that there's something uncanny about them."

Qian Ren Duo froze and his smile faded.

"Uncanny? Why?"

"Look at their team. There's someone surnamed Dai. White Tiger martial soul, golden hair, the one standing at the very front." Huo Yuhao's voice was calm, as though he were stating an obvious fact. "He should be a prince of the Star Luo Empire."

Qian Ren Duo recalled the match from earlier. That golden-haired boy had indeed stood out. He was tall and imposing, standing at the front of the team like a fierce tiger poised to pounce. Beside him was a black-haired girl. She had kept a low profile and remained silent throughout, almost without any presence at all.

"He kept following one of the girls on their team," Huo Yuhao continued. "That girl was light on her feet, catlike. She should have an agility-type martial soul. If I may venture a guess, she has the Netherworld Spirit Cat martial soul, and her surname is Zhu."

Qian Ren Duo blanked out for a moment.

Netherworld Spirit Cat. The Zhu Clan.

The marriage alliance tradition between the Dai Clan and the Zhu Clan was known across the entire continent. White Tiger paired with Netherworld Spirit Cat meant the Netherworld White Tiger—the Martial Soul Fusion Skill said to rival a Soul Emperor-level expert.

"You mean..." His voice lowered.

"A Martial Soul Fusion Skill," Huo Yuhao said. "White Tiger plus Netherworld Spirit Cat equals the Netherworld White Tiger. The marriage alliance tradition of the Dai Clan and Zhu Clan is known across the continent. If both of them possess Soul Ancestor-level strength, the power of that Martial Soul Fusion Skill won't be much weaker than a level-sixty Soul Emperor."

Qian Ren Duo fell silent.

Of course he knew the Dai Clan and the Zhu Clan. They were the imperial Lineage of the Star Luo Empire, bound by marriage generation after generation, inheriting that pair of Martial Soul Fusion Skills generation after generation. Legend had it that the Netherworld White Tiger's full-force strike could tear apart the earth and devour the sky, though that was surely exaggerated.

If both of them had reached the Soul Ancestor level, then the power of that Martial Soul Fusion Skill... He began calculating it in his heart, and as he did, his expression darkened.

"And that fat guy," Huo Yuhao continued at an unhurried pace. "He should be fire-type. He doesn't look like much right now, but I keep feeling that there's a hidden aura about him. That aura... it's scorching, like something has been suppressed."

Qian Ren Duo's brow furrowed tighter. He remembered that fat boy: round and plump, with eyes that narrowed into slits whenever he smiled, looking completely harmless. But Huo Yuhao said he had a hidden aura—anything Huo Yuhao considered "not simple" definitely was not simple.

"That Ning Rongrong is the only daughter of Ning Fengzhi, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's leader. She has the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul." Huo Yuhao continued as if reading from a list. "The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda is the continent's number one support martial soul. Though she only has four rings right now, as long as she is there, the entire team's overall strength will rise by at least forty percent."

Qian Ren Duo's expression began to change. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda was a legendary support martial soul, able to provide allies with all-around enhancement. Strength, speed, defense, soul power recovery—all attributes could be vastly improved. If that girl really had reached the Soul Ancestor level, then her enhancement effects...

"That Oscar has a food-type martial soul." Huo Yuhao paused. "Food-type martial souls aren't very useful in battle, but if he has time to prepare, his sausages can provide all sorts of boosts. Their sustained combat ability will be greatly enhanced."

Qian Ren Duo did not laugh again.

He had always thought Shrek was just an ordinary team that had lucked into producing a genius with a ten-thousand-year fourth ring. But after hearing Huo Yuhao's analysis, this team was simply... Put it this way: if Spirit Hall did not have so many Soul Kings this year, there would be a very high chance of an upset.

"Personally, I think the most uncanny one is Tang San." Huo Yuhao's voice suddenly became very soft, so soft it was almost a murmur to himself.

Qian Ren Duo looked at him.

"Level forty-seven," Huo Yuhao said. "The one with the ten-thousand-year fourth soul ring."

He paused, as though recalling something.

"I fought him at the Great Soul Arena yesterday."

Qian Ren Duo froze. "Yesterday? That Thousand-Handed Asura was him?"

Huo Yuhao nodded.

"He lost?"

"He lost."

Qian Ren Duo let out a breath, his shoulders easing slightly. "Then doesn't that settle it? You could beat him. What's there to be afraid of?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head.

"It's different," he said. "His Blue Silver Grass is strange. It isn't ordinary Blue Silver Grass."

He raised his hand and looked at his palm beneath the sunlight. Those hands were perfectly ordinary, no different from usual. Yet he still remembered how the Blue Silver Grass had felt when he grabbed it yesterday—tough, cold, carrying an uncomfortable aura. It was like grasping a snake, cold and slick, ready to slip through his fingers at any moment.

"Blue Silver Grass is a useless martial soul. Everyone on the continent knows that," he said. "But his Blue Silver Grass is tougher than most vine-type martial souls. I had to use a powerful soul skill that consumed a great deal of soul power just to tear it apart. An ordinary Soul Ancestor wouldn't be able to break free at all."

Qian Ren Duo's expression turned grave.

Was that still Blue Silver Grass?

"And he has an External Spirit Bone," Huo Yuhao said.

"An External Spirit Bone?" Qian Ren Jun's voice abruptly rose, as though someone had stepped on his tail. "How is that possible? How old is he?"

"Eight spider legs grew from his back," Huo Yuhao said. "They were very fast, and from the look of them, they should have been highly venomous. I had to use Darkgolden Terrorclaw to block them."

Qian Ren Jun's mouth fell open, leaving him speechless. He looked at Huo Yuhao, then at Qian Ren Duo, the disdain slowly draining from his face.

An External Spirit Bone. It was even rarer than an ordinary spirit bone, something one could encounter only by chance. The number of people in all Spirit Hall who possessed one could be counted on one hand. Yet a boy from some obscure little academy actually had an External Spirit Bone?

"And..." Huo Yuhao paused and pointed at his forehead. "I keep feeling that he isn't as simple as he looks."

Qian Ren Duo stared at him.

"When I saw him, my Eye of Eternity trembled." Huo Yuhao's voice was light as a breeze, but it sent a chill down Qian Ren Duo's back.

He had seen Huo Yuhao's Eye of Eternity. That rose-gold vertical eye was normally closed, only opening at crucial moments. It could see fate, see things others could not. Huo Yuhao had used it to save him once. For something to make it tremble...

A fine chill crept over his back.

"Me too."

A cool voice rang out, like a block of ice dropped into boiling water.

Everyone looked toward Wang Qiu'er.

She stood there, her golden hair lifted by the wind, her red eyes calmly fixed on Huo Yuhao. Under the sunlight, those eyes seemed especially profound, like two deep lakes whose bottoms could not be seen.

"My martial soul is the Golden Dragon," she said. "As a descendant of a true dragon, it is extremely sensitive to dangerous auras."

She paused, her gaze passing through the crowd toward the Great Soul Arena.

"I also think he's very dangerous."

Qian Ren Duo fell silent.

If Huo Yuhao had been the only one saying this, he might have thought it was making a mountain out of a molehill. But with Wang Qiu'er added to the matter—this girl with the Golden Dragon martial soul, who never wasted a single word—it was different. If two people both considered someone dangerous, then that person definitely had a problem.

The streets were filled with passersby, and cries of vendors rose and fell. An old man selling candied hawthorn pushed his cart past them, with several children running after him. Yet as the group stood on the steps outside the Great Soul Arena, none of them spoke. The sunlight was warm against their bodies, but Qian Ren Duo felt a little cold inside.

After a long while, Qian Ren Duo finally spoke.

"Fine." His voice returned to normal, and the smile returned to his face. But that smile was different from before—less frivolous, more serious. "Since you both say so, we'll go watch their matches from now on."

He looked at Huo Yuhao.

"Though I still think we can win steadily, knowing ourselves and our enemy is always a good thing."

Huo Yuhao nodded.

He took a few steps, then suddenly stopped and turned back.

"Right, you fought a match yesterday... Did he recognize you today?"

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment.

"He probably did," he said. "The way he looked at me was strange."

"What kind of strange?"

Huo Yuhao fell silent for a moment. He recalled those eyes, the eyes that had stared at him from the arena. Resentment, fury, killing intent—and something else, something he could not explain. That gaze was too complicated, so complicated that it did not feel like he was being looked at by a stranger, but by a... mortal enemy.

"Like he was looking at an enemy," he said. "The kind who killed his father, mother, wife, and child."

Qian Ren Duo froze.

"But I had never seen him before yesterday," Huo Yuhao added.

Qian Ren Duo frowned but did not press further. He turned around and continued walking forward. The sunlight stretched his shadow long across the ground, dragging behind him like a silent tail.

The four of them headed toward the inn.

Huo Yuhao walked at the back. His gaze passed through the crowd and fell toward the Great Soul Arena. The matches there were still continuing, with waves of cheers drifting out like ocean surf crashing against the reefs.

He thought of those eyes, those eyes whose hatred had almost taken solid form.

The Eye of Eternity flickered faintly in his sea of spirit, its rose-gold light brightening and dimming as though warning him of something.

He withdrew his gaze, quickened his steps, and caught up with the group ahead.