The Bustling Huo Family

"Can you add the points to it?" Huo Hai asked blandly. The two of them finally came to their senses.

"Yes, yes, I'll do it right away." As he spoke, no one knew what the man before him did to the Crystal Stone Board. After a large number of runes flashed, the glowing marks on all the point cards completely faded away.

At the same time, he set Huo Hai's card aside. After a flash of light, he returned it to Huo Hai. "It's done. Just inject spirit energy into it, and you'll be able to see it." Anyone who could obtain so many points was no ordinary person. No matter what, such a person was not someone to offend casually. He was not like the tester beside him; he possessed the strength of the Spirit Practitioner Realm.

Huo Hai nodded and injected a strand of spirit energy into it. Information about Huo Hai immediately appeared on the card, including his name, age, number of points, and some information that would only be added after arriving at Imperial City Academy.

After confirming that everything was correct, Huo Hai said his farewells and left under everyone's utterly shocked gazes. He paid no attention to anyone. If they came to their senses, things would become troublesome. Only after Huo Hai's figure disappeared did they finally snap out of it.

"This is bad. We let him go. You all wait here; I need to go back and find out what exactly happened." After instructing the other elders, Huo Kai turned and left. What he did not see was that after Huo Kai departed, Huo Yan's eyes filled with jealousy and hatred. The other elders were likewise preoccupied, all wanting to return and take a look.

"Alright, all of you quiet down. Time is almost up. Those whose points are insufficient may come exchange them for Spirit Stones. Of course, you can also keep your cards yourselves. Once the next trial comes around, the cards will be replaced. These cards will become useless."

The tester's voice rang by everyone's ears. Those who had originally intended to keep their cards and sell them to others participating in the next test saw their plans fall through. They could still exchange them for a few Spirit Stones now. If they did not exchange them this time, they would be worthless next time. No wonder no one had ever sold point cards left over from previous trials.

The difference was that everyone present was now preoccupied. Huo Hai's card had truly frightened them.

Not long after returning home, Huo Kai caught up from behind. "Huo Hai, what exactly happened? How did you get so many cards? Don't tell me your cultivation has reached the Spirit Bone Realm. Even the Spirit Bone Realm couldn't do this."

As an expert of the Spirit Practitioner Realm, Huo Kai could tell Huo Hai's current state with one glance. Naturally, he did not believe Huo Hai himself possessed any great strength. Huo Hai said indifferently, "Actually, it was very simple. I was just lucky enough to pick up ten thousand points deep in Southern Mountain." Then Huo Hai began making things up, saying he had discovered a pack led by the Iron Armor Hound King.

Then he claimed that some powerful Spirit Beast had come from elsewhere and slaughtered all the Ironclad Hounds, leaving the spoils to an ordinary person like him. No one had seen it anyway. Who could prove otherwise?

Even if some powerful Spirit Beast really had come, as long as no one had seen it, Huo Hai could say whatever he wanted. Even though people guarded the outskirts, it was not impossible for a powerful Spirit Beast to slip through their surveillance range at times.

It was not that Huo Hai did not trust Huo Kai, nor that he did not want to tell him. The problem was, how could he explain this secret technique of controlling insects? How could he explain where it came from, or its true nature? And even if Huo Kai believed him, what then? For the sake of the entire Lineage, he would certainly demand that Huo Hai hand over the method of refining Gu Insects.

Gu Insect refinement was, in truth, merely one branch of an entire system of theory. To pass it on to others, he would have to explain everything in full. There was not much to it, and it was simple, but no one knew how powerful it could become.

Its precise power depended on how strong the insects ultimately became. This was the foundation upon which Huo Hai would establish himself in this world, so he would not casually reveal it. Besides, Huo Hai did not trust those so-called family members at all.

There were very few people in this world whom Huo Hai could truly trust. To be honest, the internal struggles among families he had seen back on Earth had left him with a feeling of suspicion and fear. Since that was the case, before breaking through to the Spirit Practitioner Realm, Huo Hai would not let ordinary people learn the secret of his insects.

Once he broke through, it would not matter even if they found out. He could simply use titles such as Beast Spirit Master or Insect Spirit Master to conceal his identity. The insects Huo Hai could raise were not something those so-called Insect Spirit Masters could compare with.

Although he had many doubts, Huo Kai ultimately believed him. Huo Hai had never deceived anyone before, and his character had always been excellent. Added to the fact that he had lost his memory some time ago, Huo Kai did not doubt him too deeply.

The last trace of suspicion disappeared completely a few days later. Some of the people who had come out revealed Huo Hai's methods. Those methods were, in fact, the Hidden Weapon Technique Huo Hai used.

That was right—hidden weapons, not insects. With a flick of Huo Hai's hand, countless specks of hidden weapons flew out. Using so many hidden weapons at once, with such astonishing speed, formidable power, and precise control, was enough to demonstrate Huo Hai's formidable strength. Before him, even experts of the Spirit Blood Realm had no ability to resist. Such strength had already surpassed the ordinary Spirit Bone Realm.

With such powerful strength, everyone attributed it to an extraordinarily wondrous Hidden Weapon Technique. They had never expected the Huo Family to conceal such a formidable Hidden Weapon Technique. If not for this incident, they truly would never have known.

Thus, the Huo Family became thoroughly bustling. Other great families, even medium-sized families, came one after another, hoping to observe the Huo Family's Hidden Weapon Technique. Naturally, some came to probe the Huo Family, while others wished to form an alliance or seek refuge under them. The Rogue Cultivators thought of ways to join the Huo Family. Such powerful strength was simply too terrifying.

Huo Hai himself was not idle either, because Huo Yuner had been pestering him. After being hounded for a long time, Huo Hai finally revealed the powerful strength of Little Gold and the Star Gu. However, he revealed it only to Yun'er; no one else knew.

Presumably, even if Yun'er accidentally let it slip, no one would believe her. Huo Hai himself would never admit it.

After learning how formidable these insects were, Huo Yuner began pestering Huo Hai, wanting him to give Little Gold to her. Little Gold was useful now, so naturally he could not give him away. Thus began Huo Hai's miserable days. Yun'er was not even afraid of the insects in Huo Hai's home, drilling into his courtyard every day. Those outside who did not know the truth all envied how close this pair of siblings was.

With no other choice, Huo Hai could not drive her out. He simply obtained many more beetles and continued cultivating Star Gu. During this trial, the Star Gu's formidable power had allowed Huo Hai to fully realize their terrifying might.

No wonder someone had once said that a swarm of Star Gu could destroy everything. Although they could not truly destroy everything in this world, once they genuinely formed a swarm, even experts of the Spirit Practitioner Realm would be utterly unable to stop them.

Besides cultivating new Star Gu, the old Star Gu's breakthrough into Spirit Blood Realm Spirit Beasts also had to be placed on the agenda. Once these Star Gu completed their transformation and reached the Spirit Blood Realm, if they swarmed again, they could easily kill that Iron Armor Hound King head-on. The Star Gu killed by the Iron Armor Hound King's resistance would definitely not exceed ten.

At this time, the Star Gu had already begun transforming. More than five hundred Star Gu each spat out strange liquid in the place Huo Hai had prepared, turning themselves into egg-shaped objects. The egg-shaped objects were extremely hard, even harder than the insect cocoons from which they had originally emerged.

As for Huo Hai, during this period, no new Star Gu would be born, while the old Star Gu were still undergoing transformation. Huo Hai himself had lost his strongest safeguard. Only Little Gold remained by his side to protect him. So Huo Hai simply stopped leaving the Huo Family estate.

Because of Huo Hai's outstanding performance, no one knew how many people secretly wanted to kill him now. If he went out, would he not be handing them an opportunity? Every day, large numbers of people came to visit the Lineage. Their purposes varied, but most came because of Huo Hai. Yet Huo Kai could not simply ignore these people; doing so would offend far too many.

Thus, for these past few days, the upper ranks of the Lineage lived lives that were both painful and joyful. The pain was that they had no leisure whatsoever, to the point that they were nearly left without time to cultivate.

As for the joy, it came from the gifts sent by others. Those seeking to curry favor with the Huo Family sent valuable gifts one after another. These items alone were worth as much as the Huo Family's entire income for one or two years.

These people were truly insane, Huo Hai thought gloomily. Just now, yet another family had come visiting with their daughter. There was no need to wonder why—they had come for Huo Hai, hoping to arrange a marriage alliance between the two families. Huo Kai had not considered such matters yet, so he simply turned them all down. If he truly favored one family, he would likely offend all the other families harboring the same thoughts.

The people outside the Lineage were crazily trying to squeeze their way in, while the inside of the Lineage was equally far from peaceful. Huo Hai's Hidden Weapon Technique possessed the ability to challenge opponents above his level. This had never appeared before, so how could it not shock people?

After they searched the entire Scripture Pavilion and failed to find this Hidden Weapon Technique, and later discovered that not even a single elder had learned it, some people began letting their imaginations run wild. Was this a method reserved exclusively for the direct line? Did the direct line fear being surpassed by them, so they had hidden this method away?

Those harboring all kinds of thoughts began considering how to obtain this technique. Huo Hai remained in his courtyard and never came out, leaving them no opportunity. Huo Kai was also extremely busy and had no time during the day.

After some time passed and Huo Hai left, the chance would become even slimmer. No, they had to succeed as quickly as possible.