Huo Yuhao Confesses to Wang Qiu'er?

Faced with Hu Liena's fifth Soul Skill, she remained standing where she was, perfectly calm and motionless.

The vertical eye on Wang Qiu'er's forehead slowly opened, and a faint light rippled through the pale gold Eye of Destiny. Before that eye, which could see through cause and effect, Hu Liena's prized mental illusion and its entwining purple threads of affection vanished like cobwebs flung into a fire.

The next instant, golden light burst from the Eye of Destiny.

The invisible golden Power of Fate surged back along Hu Liena's mental attack. The purple mist of her illusion shuddered violently and shattered piece by piece like glass, while the force of the mental backlash slammed into her sea of consciousness.

"Mm!"

Hu Liena let out a muffled groan, her whole body trembling. It felt as though a heavy hammer had struck her mental world, forcibly dispersing even her fifth Soul Skill, Ambiguous Eyes.

"Qiu'er..."

At the critical moment, Huo Yuhao cried out a warning.

"Hmph!"

With a cold snort, Wang Qiu'er reluctantly withdrew her Power of Fate.

Even so, the impact of the Power of Fate left Hu Liena deathly pale. She stumbled backward several steps and only stopped when she fell into Xie Yue's arms.

She stared at Wang Qiu'er in disbelief. A single glance from that eye had whipped up towering waves in her heart.

That golden vertical eye seemed connected to a bottomless abyss.

The longer she looked, the more terrified she became.

For a moment, she felt even her soul tremble.

It was a trembling she could not control. Even her thoughts grew muddled as shock, dread, and all manner of dark emotions came flooding in without warning.

H-how could this be?

Silence!

A terrifying silence.

What could be more frightening than a training ground filled with over a hundred people suddenly falling quiet?

Wasn't Wang Qiu'er a Power Attack System Battle Soul Master? How could she possess such powerful Spiritual Power?

That vertical eye...

What sort of thing was it? A single beam of golden light had shattered Hu Liena's fifth Soul Skill—and she was Hu Liena of the Spirit Hall Golden Generation!

Wang Qiu'er was terrifying.

There was no helping it. Hu Liena had been completely countered.

That was the vertical eye of the Emperor Auspicious Beast. As the vessel for the Star Dou Great Forest's Power of Fate, Wang Qiu'er's vertical eye possessed that very power.

If Huo Yuhao had not warned her in time, Hu Liena would have suffered far more than a backlash. Given Wang Qiu'er's temperament, she might well have burdened Hu Liena with a lifelong curse of destiny.

"Bastard! You hurt Nana!"

The moment Yan saw Hu Liena injured, he exploded.

The other four members of the Spirit Hall Academy Team took fighting stances alongside him. Only Xie Yue remained relatively calm.

"Enough!"

Huo Yuhao gave a cold snort. A crushing pressure descended, leaving everyone unable to move. Only then did he speak. "Today's Soul Engineer selection ends here. Xie Yue, take Hu Liena to the healing department. Everyone else, return to class at once."

That was it?

The students watching exchanged looks.

Well, that settled it. Teacher Huo and Wang Qiu'er definitely had a special relationship.

Faced with Huo Yuhao's anger, the Spirit Hall Academy team did not dare act up again. They knew all too well how powerful he was.

They could only give up in frustration.

Huo Yuhao had no wish to let the matter drag on either. At last, he turned to Wang Qiu'er. "Qiu'er, come with me for a moment?"

With that, Huo Yuhao turned and left.

Wang Qiu'er stared at his back in confusion. You say come with you, and I'm supposed to follow?

Who do you think you are?

In the end, Wang Qiu'er glanced around, her cheeks flushed. Under countless watching eyes, she cursed him inwardly and quietly followed.

At the rear mountain of Spirit Hall Academy, Wang Qiu'er looked up at the sun slanting westward. Its lingering glow made her upturned face even lovelier.

Sunlight washed over her skin, making it look so delicate that even a breath might break it. Yet her long legs still drew the eye most of all, shapely and straight without the slightest flaw.

Their eyes met.

The air between them suddenly grew warm.

Wang Qiu'er stared proudly at Huo Yuhao, seeming to have guessed what he intended.

At last, Huo Yuhao broke the silence. He looked at her tenderly and said, "Qiu'er, you took human form and came to Spirit Hall Academy. Does that mean you're willing to forgive me?"

As soon as he spoke, Wang Qiu'er gave an involuntary shiver.

She opened her mouth, hesitated, and almost snapped back at him. In the end, she said nothing. No one could have known what was going through her mind.

"Qiu'er..." Huo Yuhao said.

At his prompting, Wang Qiu'er frowned and replied coldly, "Is that why you brought me here? To ask me that?"

Her expression turned serious, though her gaze wavered as she went on. "I came to Spirit Hall for the Spirit Pagoda, not for you. You'd better have something important to say, or I'm going back."

"Qiu'er, don't go..."

Huo Yuhao's expression changed. He hurriedly stepped in front of her. "Nothing matters more than you."

"You..."

Wang Qiu'er was startled by his sudden move, then caught completely off guard by his declaration.

Nothing matters more than you... Was that a confession? Was this really the Huo Yuhao she knew?

In her memory, Huo Yuhao had always been a gentle, courteous, bashful young man. She had never expected him to say something so impossible to resist.

Shocked though she was, Wang Qiu'er felt joy stir inside her.

Wang Qiu'er had known loss herself. She ought to have understood the anguish Huo Yuhao had felt after losing her. But his sudden boldness had robbed her, for the moment, of the ability to think clearly.

She swallowed. Her breathing unsteady, she parted her lips and said in a trembling voice, "W-what are you doing? I won't forgive you that easily."

Huo Yuhao brightened at once. "Qiu'er, does that mean you will forgive me someday?"

Wang Qiu'er's cheeks instantly reddened, and even the tips of her ears flushed scarlet.

A long moment passed.

Only then did Wang Qiu'er collect herself. How was he still able to sway my feelings like this? How annoying.

She regained her usual pride and coolness, then gave a soft snort. "I never said that. Think whatever you like."

"Qiu'er..."

Looking at the girl so close before him, bathed in sunset light, Huo Yuhao felt an inexplicable stirring in his heart.

He still remembered the moment Qiu'er had sacrificed herself. His heart had seemed to shatter with her. Now, looking at the girl he had missed day and night, he felt as though a single glance could pierce through time and space.

One glance spanned ten thousand years.

"Once you've crossed the vast sea, no other water will do; beyond the clouds of Mount Wu, no other clouds will do."

Memories of his past and present lives surged through Huo Yuhao. His expression turned solemn. "Qiu'er, I'll never give up. I'm grateful to fate for letting me meet you again..."

"Grateful to fate?"

Wang Qiu'er gave a derisive laugh. "You should thank the Life God King and the Destruction God King instead. Don't forget why you came here. Take my advice and don't spend all your energy on me."

Huo Yuhao: "..."

Seeing his crestfallen expression, Wang Qiu'er suddenly felt a pang of regret.

Had I gone too far?

What if he really gave up?