Douluo Top Ten Beauties, Top 9: Huo Wu, Blazing Fire Academy's Genius!

[Damn...]

[This was even crueler than killing Hu Liena outright. The Sky Screen was stabbing her in the heart!] [Tang San! How could you be so heartless? Her Holiness trusted you so much!]

[Stop talking nonsense, that was Tang Yin. What did that have to do with my Third Brother? (doge saves my life)]

[The person above, look at Tang San's face in the cave. He admitted it himself!]

[Douluo Continent Top Ten Beauties Ranking, ninth place.]

[Here it comes again! Time to watch the drama!]

[We just finished digging into one, and now there was another! The Sky Screen really understood what we wanted to see!]

[Wonder which family's girl was going to get unlucky this time...]

[Unlucky? Getting on the list was an honor! Though Her Holiness got her secrets exposed, with that figure and that face, who wouldn't want her?]

The scene was no longer the dim Killing Capital, but a brightly lit arena.

Raging flames formed the backdrop, and a young woman in a fitted red outfit stood at their center.

She did not possess Hu Liena's natural seductiveness, but she had an entirely different kind of beauty.

Her fiery red hair was tied high like a burning ponytail. Her brows and eyes were full of spirit, carrying the pride and sharpness of someone unwilling to admit defeat. Under the firelight, her skin was so pale it seemed nearly translucent. Her red lips were like flames, and her eyes shone with startling brilliance.

It was an aggressively dazzling, flamboyant beauty, like a flame that would never go out. No one dared look directly at her, yet no one could resist being drawn in.

The image zoomed in and settled on her face, filled with stubborn determination.

[Douluo Continent Top Ten Beauties Ranking · Top 9]

[Huo Wu]

[Identity: Captain of the Blazing Fire Academy team, genius control-type Soul Master.]

[Heaven's Will's verdict: A heart of blazing fire, a soul that would not yield. Radiant in splendor, proud bones born of nature.]

[It's her! Huo Wu from Blazing Fire Academy!]

[I remember now! Back at the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament, she was one of the favorites!]

[This girl was seriously hot! Spicy and fierce, just like a little chili pepper!]

[Huo Wu was ninth? Feng Xiaotian from my Godwind Academy must be overjoyed!]

At Godwind Academy's camp, a tall and handsome young man abruptly rose to his feet. His face flushed crimson as his eyes locked onto the Sky Screen, and he kept muttering, "Huo Wu... I knew it! I knew she was the most beautiful woman on the entire continent!"

One of his teammates patted his shoulder and teased, "Xiaotian, calm down, calm down! Your beloved made the list. That's a good thing!"

This man was Feng Xiaotian, captain of Godwind Academy.

Over at Blazing Fire Academy, there was a burst of celebration.

"It's Captain! Captain made the list!"

"Hahahaha! The face of our Blazing Fire Academy!"

Huo Wu's brother, Huo Wushuang, also a member of Blazing Fire Academy's team, was full of pride. Yet a hint of worry lingered between his brows. He glanced at his sister, whose expression was complicated, wondering what trouble the Sky Screen would stir up next.

Huo Wu herself stood in the academy plaza.

She looked up at her image on the Sky Screen and at the verdict that read, "proud bones born of nature," and countless emotions surged through her heart.

There was pride and delight, but more than anything, an indescribably complicated feeling.

She remembered that competition. She remembered the opponent who had made her taste utter defeat for the first time.

Sure enough, the Sky Screen never disappointed.

Or rather, it never let those it featured off easily.

A new line of small text appeared beside Huo Wu's image, accompanied by the cries of countless people.

[Huo Wu's obsession: She spent her life wanting to defeat one man, only to lose to him time and again. In the end, she lost both her pride and her heart.]

The comments instantly exploded.

[Again?! Another one obsessed with a man?]

[Wait, why did this wording sound so much like Hu Liena's?]

[Wanted to defeat a man... and kept losing to him... Don't tell me it was Tang San again?!]

[Tang San: Don't ask. If you ask, I did it.]

[Just how many good girls had Lord Sea God ruined?]

Feng Xiaotian's smile froze.

The color gradually drained from his face. His lips trembled as he stared at those words in disbelief.

"No... impossible..." he muttered. "Huo Wu... the person she liked... who was it?"

The scene shifted, returning to the arena of the Soul Master Tournament all those years ago.

Blazing Fire Academy versus Shrek Academy.

In the scene, Huo Wu staked everything on a desperate gamble, unleashing her fourth soul skill, Ring Fusion—Huo Wu's Blazing Sun.

She fused all the energy from her soul rings together, transforming it into a massive fireball. With the resolve to perish alongside her opponent, she charged toward the blue-haired youth at the center of the arena.

At that moment, her eyes were resolute and crazed.

[That match! I remember it! She wanted to die together with Tang San!]

[Crazy! That woman was insane! She didn't even care about her life just to win!]

Yet in the scene, the blue-haired youth did not dodge.

He took that terrifying explosion head-on with his back.

Purple light intertwined with flames, and the shockwave sent both of them flying.

But before he landed, the youth used Blue Silver Grass to hold Huo Wu tightly in his arms, bearing the entire impact himself.

When the smoke cleared, blood spilled from the youth's mouth and his face was pale, while Huo Wu in his arms was completely unhurt.

[...He saved her.]

[In that situation, he still protected his opponent?]

[I couldn't do that. How big did his heart have to be?]

Huo Wu watched that scene on the Sky Screen, her nails digging deeply into her palms.

Of course she remembered.

She would never forget it for the rest of her life.

The helplessness of being crushed by absolute strength and the shock of being protected at the cost of her opponent's life had intertwined, becoming a nightmare that haunted countless days and nights afterward.

The scene continued.

In the next match, Shrek Academy faced Godwind Academy.

Huo Wu walked to the edge of the arena and looked at the blue-haired youth who was about to take the stage, her eyes impossibly complicated.

Then, before tens of thousands of spectators, she did something that left everyone dumbfounded.

She stepped forward, rose onto her toes, and left a kiss on the youth's cheek.

It was light and brief, gone the instant it touched him.

"I don't owe you anymore." The girl in the scene had a stubborn blush on her face, but her eyes were frighteningly clear. "Next time, I will definitely defeat you fair and square!"

The youth froze in place, touching his cheek with a stunned expression.

[!!!]

[She kissed him! She kissed Tang San!]

[Holy crap! She kissed him in front of tens of thousands of people! This girl was way too bold!]

[Feng Xiaotian, did you see that? Green light! What an enormous green hat!]

At Godwind Academy's camp, Feng Xiaotian looked as if he had been struck by lightning, his entire body stiffening.

He stared fixedly at the Sky Screen, at Huo Wu kissing Tang San's cheek, at the expression she had never once shown him—a mixture of unwillingness, shyness, and some strange radiance.

His heart felt as though an invisible hand had seized it, crushing it to pieces.

So that was it...

She had rejected him not because she was too proud, but because her heart had long since been occupied by someone else.

A man he also regarded as his lifelong enemy, yet had never defeated.

Inside the cave.

Tang San looked at the kiss on the Sky Screen, and his mind went blank with a buzz.

First Hu Liena, and now Huo Wu.

Was the Sky Screen planning to dig up every romantic debt from his past and settle them one by one?

In Shrek Academy's rest area.

Dai Mubai whistled, then quickly shut his mouth beneath Zhu Zhuqing's icy stare.

The sausage in Oscar's hand fell to the ground. "I... I always thought Huo Wu was just unwilling to accept defeat. I never expected..."

Ma Hongjun scratched his head. "Third Brother's charm really is... irresistible to both men and women."

Only Xiao Wu remained silent as she watched the Sky Screen and that kiss, then turned to look toward the cave in the distance.

She said nothing. Only the hands wrapped around her knees tightened a little more.

Inside Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong laughed.

She laughed so hard she bent forward and back, her scepter pounding against the ground with heavy thuds.

"Interesting, truly interesting!"

"One was willing to bear infamy for him and entrust her back to him in hell."

"One wagered her life and honor for him, offering him a kiss before ten thousand people."

She looked at Gui Mei and Yue Guan beside her, excitement gleaming in her eyes. "Tell me, how many other women on Douluo Continent have been enchanted by this 'Tang San'?"

"Once this beauties ranking is finished, should we make a 'Tang San's Female Confidantes Ranking' as well?"

The Sky Screen ignored the countless reactions of the world.

It merely added another note beside Huo Wu's image, like the final verdict on this farce.

[That kiss was called repayment, but in truth, it was the fall of her heart.]

[From then on, the proud flame burned for only one person, and would go out for only one person.]

In Blazing Fire Academy's plaza, Huo Wu could no longer remain standing. She staggered, and Huo Wushuang caught her at once from behind.

"I didn't..." She bit her lip until the taste of blood spread through her mouth, her voice trembling. "I was only... unwilling to accept it..."

But that pale explanation could not convince even herself.