What Kind of Strength Was That?

In the autumn when he was eleven, Huo Yuhao broke through to level thirty.

Just as he had two years ago, the moment he broke through, his body underwent another mutation. His Spirit Eyes martial soul spontaneously gained a black ten-thousand-year soul ring, while the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion gained an orange-gold soul ring of seven hundred thousand years. At the same time, tearing pain shot through the bone in his right palm—a new soul bone was taking shape.

Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear Right Palm Bone.

External soul bone, capable of growth.

Two-thousand-year age.

Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth and endured the searing pain without uttering a sound. Once everything settled, he looked at his right hand. His palms were slightly larger than before, his knuckles thicker, with a faint metallic sheen.

Within the Sea of Spirit, the Skydream Iceworm cheered, the Ice Empress remained silent, and the Snow Empress merely remarked, "Not bad."

Huo Yuhao had already grown accustomed to their presence.

In the spring when he was twelve, Qian Daoliu called him over.

"You should go to the Hall of Enshrined."

Huo Yuhao froze for a moment.

The Hall of Enshrined.

He had heard of that place. It was Spirit Hall's highest authority, composed of six enshrined elders at the level of Titled Douluo. Their descendants all lived there as well, receiving the finest training from a young age. They were Spirit Hall's core reserve of strength.

"Me?"

"Yes." Qian Daoliu looked at him calmly. "You have learned almost everything you can learn from me. Next, you need to fight others, see more of the world, and understand what the outside world is like."

He paused.

"The children in the Hall of Enshrined are all outstanding among their peers. Studying alongside them will benefit you."

Huo Yuhao fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Alright."

Qian Daoliu looked at the boy's still expressionless face and suddenly smiled.

"Aren't you going to ask how they'll treat you?"

Huo Yuhao considered it.

"It doesn't matter."

Qian Daoliu laughed aloud.

"What an answer." He waved his hand. "Go on. Someone will pick you up tomorrow."

Early the next morning, Huo Yuhao packed his simple belongings and left the small courtyard where he had lived for four years.

A middle-aged steward came to receive him. His manner was respectful, but he said little. He led Huo Yuhao through several restricted gates deep within Spirit Hall before arriving before a cluster of independent courtyards.

The Hall of Enshrined.

It was larger and more imposing than Huo Yuhao had imagined. More than a dozen separate courtyards were arranged in an orderly fashion. At the center lay a broad training ground, where several youths were sparring, their shouts carrying from afar.

The steward brought Huo Yuhao to a small courtyard, explained a few daily matters, and then departed.

Huo Yuhao stood in the courtyard and looked at the house, which was larger and more refined than his previous one. His face showed no expression.

He set down his luggage, sat on a stone bench in the courtyard, and began to meditate.

Just as he had every day for the past four years.

The youths of the Hall of Enshrined quickly noticed the newcomer.

There was no way not to.

Everyone here was a descendant of an enshrined elder. They had grown up together and knew one another inside out. Suddenly, there was an outsider, someone who had appeared out of nowhere and was said to have received personal guidance from the Great Enshrined Elder. Naturally, that drew their curiosity.

The first to test him was a youth named Qian Ren Jun.

He was seventeen, a level forty-three Soul Ancestor, and his martial soul was the Sacred Angel. Though its purity was far inferior to Qian Renxue's Six-Winged Angel, he was still among the best of his generation in the Hall of Enshrined.

He stood beside the training ground and watched the new boy sit alone in a corner. He neither spoke with anyone nor joined the sparring. He simply sat motionless, like a statue.

"That's him?" Qian Ren Jun asked his companion.

"Yes, that's him." His companion lowered his voice. "I heard the Great Enshrined Elder personally sent him here. No one knows where he came from."

"What's his cultivation level?"

"No idea. We asked the steward, but he wouldn't say."

Qian Ren Jun narrowed his eyes and studied the boy for a while.

Too ordinary. Too quiet. Too inconspicuous.

Someone like that deserved personal guidance from the Great Enshrined Elder?

After considering it, he strode over.

"Hey."

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes and raised his head.

Qian Ren Jun looked down at him, a faint smile on his face. "New here? Give me your name."

"Huo Yuhao."

"Cultivation level?"

Huo Yuhao was silent for an instant.

"Level thirty-five."

Qian Ren Jun paused, then laughed.

A level thirty-five Soul Elder actually dared challenge a level forty-one Soul Ancestor?

He glanced back at his companions and deliberately raised his voice. "Level thirty-five? Oh, not bad. Come on, show me your soul rings."

Huo Yuhao looked at him.

There was not the slightest ripple in those black eyes.

He raised a hand, and a soul ring rose from beneath his feet.

White.

Pure white.

A ten-year soul ring.

The training ground fell silent for a moment before erupting in laughter.

"Ten years?!"

"Am I seeing things? It really is ten years!"

"A ten-year first soul ring? What kind of ridiculous setup is that?"

"Hahaha, someone like this can enter the Hall of Enshrined? Has the Great Enshrined Elder gone senile?"

Laughter rose one after another.

Once Qian Ren Jun had laughed enough, he stepped forward and patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder, his tone brimming with condescending pity. "Brother, a ten-year soul ring is pretty miserable. But it's fine. You're only level thirty-three anyway, so you'll still have chances to make up for it. Work hard."

He turned to leave.

"Wait."

Qian Ren Jun stopped and turned around.

Huo Yuhao rose to his feet. He was more than a head shorter than Qian Ren Jun and had to tilt his head back to see his face. Yet something about his gaze made Qian Ren Jun's heart tighten for no reason.

"Do you want to fight?" Huo Yuhao asked.

The training ground fell silent again.

Qian Ren Jun stared at him, and the smile on his face slowly vanished.

"What did you say?"

"I said," Huo Yuhao replied, enunciating each word, "do you want to fight?"

Qian Ren Jun narrowed his eyes and looked him up and down.

This skinny child, more than a head shorter than him, whose first soul ring was ten years old, actually dared challenge him?

He was a level forty-three Soul Ancestor. His martial soul was the Sacred Angel. He was one of the strongest members of the Hall of Enshrined's generation.

"Do you know what level I am?"

"Forty-three," Huo Yuhao said.

"And you still dare challenge me?"

Huo Yuhao did not answer.

He merely stood there, head tilted up as he looked at Qian Ren Jun. Those black eyes held no fear, no tension, not even fighting spirit—only an indescribable calm.

Like the surface of the sea before a storm.

Qian Ren Jun suddenly smiled.

There was amusement in that smile, along with a hint of cruelty.

"Fine," he said. "If you want a beating, I'll grant you one."

The watching youths grew excited. Some ran to notify the steward, while others cleared the open space in the center of the training ground. Before long, Huo Yuhao and Qian Ren Jun stood facing each other, eighteen steps apart.

A steward hurried over, glanced at the two of them, and frowned.

"Stop at the right point. No killing blows."

Qian Ren Jun nodded carelessly, his gaze never leaving Huo Yuhao, as though he were looking at an ant that did not know its place.

"Can we begin?" he asked.

The steward drew a deep breath. "Begin."

The instant he spoke, dazzling golden light erupted from Qian Ren Jun's body.

The Sacred Angel martial soul possessed him, and four soul rings rose from beneath his feet—two yellow, two purple. A pair of golden wings of light spread behind him, lifting him into the air as he looked down on Huo Yuhao like a god descending upon the mortal world.

Across from him, three soul rings rose beneath Huo Yuhao's feet.

White, purple, black.

What an eerie combination. Every face present was filled with shock.

A thousand-year second ring and a ten-thousand-year third ring—none of them could recall even the Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo elders in their families possessing such monstrous ring configurations.

"What?!" Qian Ren Jun stared at those two soul rings and cried out. Then he remembered they were in the middle of a duel, gritted his teeth, and said, "I don't care what your second and third rings are. You're only a Soul Elder. That's an ironclad fact."

He raised his hand, and his second soul ring lit up.

Sacred Light!

A pillar of golden light descended from the sky, enveloping the entire training ground. The light was scorching and blinding, carrying holy pressure enough to leave ordinary soul masters unable to move.

But Huo Yuhao moved.

He raised his head within the light, narrowed his eyes slightly, and a flash of gold gleamed in them.

Qian Ren Jun immediately felt as though his head had been struck by a massive hammer. The dull pain plunged his vision into darkness.

By the time his pupils focused again, Huo Yuhao had vanished.

He appeared behind Qian Ren Jun.

Before Qian Ren Jun could react, pain exploded across his back. He fell from the air like a kite with its string cut, smashing heavily into the ground.

Boom!

A shallow crater formed in the stone floor of the training ground, sending shattered rocks flying. Qian Ren Jun lay face down in the pit, unable to get up for a long while.

The training ground was deathly silent.

The youths who had been laughing at Huo Yuhao moments ago now stared wide-eyed and open-mouthed, like statues.

Qian Ren Jun struggled to his feet, his face full of disbelief.

"You... you..."

He could not speak.

Huo Yuhao stood before him, looking down at him.

His face remained expressionless, and his eyes remained calm and still. It was as though everything that had just happened was nothing more than a trivial matter to him.

"You lost," he said.

Qian Ren Jun's face reddened.

He suddenly scrambled to his feet, and his soul rings lit up again. This time, it was his third soul ring—a thousand-year soul ring.

"I refuse to accept this! I was careless just now! Again!"

Golden flames erupted from his body once more, fiercer than before. His entire body was cloaked in sacred radiance, and the wings behind him became more solid, light capable of piercing anything gathering at their tips.

Sacred Sword!

A golden sword of light condensed in his hand. Carrying the might to destroy heaven and earth, it slashed down at Huo Yuhao's head.

Huo Yuhao raised his head and watched the descending sword of light.

He raised his right hand, and dark-golden light flickered faintly at his fingertips.

Dark-golden radiance tore through the sky.

Under that light, the sword of light gradually dimmed before being ripped apart, exploding into golden motes that scattered through the air.

Qian Ren Jun froze.

He had not even seen which of Huo Yuhao's soul rings had lit up.

"That's impossible..."

Huo Yuhao lowered his hand.

He looked at Qian Ren Jun, and there was still no ripple in those eyes. Yet for some reason, Qian Ren Jun saw something else in that gaze.

It was not mockery. It was not disdain.

It was... boredom.

"Are we done?" Huo Yuhao asked.

Qian Ren Jun opened his mouth but could not speak.

Huo Yuhao did not look at him again. He turned and walked toward the edge of the training ground, toward the stunned youths. They instinctively parted to make way for him, like Moses parting the Red Sea.

He returned to his spot, sat down, and closed his eyes.

He continued meditating.

The training ground was silent as a tomb.

The steward stood frozen for a long time before remembering his duty and running over to inspect Qian Ren Jun's injuries. Qian Ren Jun stood there like a stone statue, completely still. He looked at Huo Yuhao's back, at that small, unremarkable figure, and suddenly felt like a joke.

Seventeen years old. Level forty-three. A genius of the Hall of Enshrined.

Defeated so easily by a twelve-year-old child.

Utterly crushed.

"What... what exactly is he...?" someone murmured.

No one answered.

On a tall building in the distance, Qian Daoliu stood with his hands behind his back, watching everything unfold on the training ground.

His face showed no expression. Only in his clouded eyes did a nearly imperceptible trace of amusement flash.

He turned and vanished into the shadows of the pavilion.

On the training ground, Huo Yuhao still had his eyes closed, immersed in meditation.

In the Sea of Spirit, the Skydream Iceworm laughed uproariously. "That was satisfying! So satisfying! Did you see that kid's expression just now? Hahahaha!"

Ice Empress said nothing, but the slight curl of her lips betrayed her mood.

Snow Empress said mildly, "That right palm bone is pretty good. A two-thousand-year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear took an attack from a thousand-year soul ring head-on like it was nothing."

Huo Yuhao did not respond.

He merely sat there quietly, like a statue.

Yet a voice echoed in his heart.

This was only the beginning.

It wasn't enough.

Far from enough.

He still had to become stronger.

Strong enough to protect the people he wanted to protect. Strong enough to face that name. Strong enough that—when they met again—he could make her show that smile.

That pure smile, from the bottom of her heart.

He opened his eyes and glanced at the sky.

The sky was blue, the clouds were white, and the sunlight was warm.

He closed his eyes again and sank back into meditation.