First Encounter with the Spirit Hall Golden Generation

As he thought this,

Huo Yuhao instinctively rose and stood in front of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

The three of them froze when they saw Huo Yuhao. A flicker of surprise crossed Hu Liena's eyes in particular.

What a handsome young man.

After becoming a Titled Douluo, Huo Yuhao had long, pale-blue hair and wore a fitted outfit of the same color embroidered with gold. Paired with his cool gaze and sharp features, he was the very picture of a calm, aloof, untouchable heartthrob.

What girl could keep her head at the sight of him?

"Hey, you over there."

Hu Liena was the first to recover and hurriedly called out, "Get over here! Are you waiting for that Soul Beast to eat you?"

"..."

Huo Yuhao paused. Looks like she's misunderstood.

She probably thinks Qiu'er is going to hurt me.

But that was hardly the case.

"Nana, why bother with someone you don't even know?"

Yan was a walking vat of vinegar. The look Hu Liena gave Huo Yuhao, and the way she spoke to him, made him lose his composure at once. He hastily changed the subject. "Let's take down that Soul Beast first!"

With that, the hotheaded Yan charged at the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

Normally, Yan's temper was perfectly ordinary. It was only when something involved Hu Liena that he grew so volatile.

He fawned over Hu Liena so obsessively that he sometimes got jealous of the very air around her, let alone the way she was treating Huo Yuhao.

Meanwhile,

Huo Yuhao had already locked onto all three of them with his Spiritual Power.

Hum—

The next instant,

just as Yan made his move, an aura of pure, piercing cold burst from Huo Yuhao's body.

Yan had only just closed in when an overwhelming force struck him head-on. Almost by reflex, he released his Soul Power. Dark-red energy surged out, and the heat of its flames tried to drive the chill from the air.

But it failed.

The chill collided with his Soul Power with a sharp bang.

The Soul Power around Yan scattered instantly, and he flew backward over ten meters, his body beyond his control.

"Yan!!!"

"???"

Hu Liena and Xie Yue were both stunned.

It wasn't just them. Even Yue Guan and Gui Mei, hidden in the shadows, were startled.

Yan... had been thrown back.

A young man who hadn't even released his Martial Soul had repelled him with nothing more than an aura?

None of them could accept what they had seen.

Yan was already a level-fifty-two Power Attack System Battle Soul King. More than that, he possessed the Primordial Top-Tier Beast Martial Soul known as the Flame Lord. No ordinary Soul Master could drive him back. With his earth attribute's absolute defense, even an ordinary Soul Master ten levels above him could not break through.

This was Yan!

He wielded both fire and earth.

His fire-attribute Soul Power had been scattered, and his earth-attribute defense had been blasted back over ten meters.

There was no way a young man who looked about the same age as the Golden Generation could have done that.

"Who are you?"

Huo Yuhao raised his eyes. His gaze finally settled on Hu Liena before he spoke. "This Soul Beast isn't suited to you at all. For one thing, her cultivation has already reached roughly thirty thousand years. More importantly, her identity is extremely special. If you kill her, not only will the power behind you be unable to protect you, you may even bring a catastrophe down on the human world."

"Besides, I found this Soul Beast first."

"So she's mine."

As he spoke,

Huo Yuhao stepped in front of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion again without hesitation.

He wasn't making empty threats.

Qiu'er was the Emperor Auspicious Beast. Leaving aside what the Ferocious Beasts guarding her would do, if Hu Liena truly hunted her down, Huo Yuhao himself might be the first to bring disaster upon Spirit Hall.

You big idiot. Now you decide to show off?

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion gave a soft inward huff, then shot Huo Yuhao a sidelong glare. Her thoughts fluttered with a trace of panic. Wh-who says I'm yours...?

Thirty thousand years of cultivation?!

Hu Liena's expression changed. Even if the two elders hiding nearby stepped in and captured her, I couldn't absorb her Soul Ring. And that's assuming we could beat her at all.

And what does he mean, her identity is extremely special?

It made little sense to her.

Hu Liena didn't understand what Huo Yuhao meant, but his cultured, resonant voice had captivated her all the same. She gave him a polite smile and replied, "My name is Hu Liena. These two are my older brother Xie Yue and Yan. We're all from Spirit Hall."

"And who are you? Why did you come so deep into the Star Dou Great Forest alone?"

"Oh, and one more thing..."

Hu Liena paused, then explained with a hint of shyness, "We didn't mean to steal this Soul Beast. The Star Dou Great Forest is huge. I'm sure there's another Soul Beast better suited to me."

The Spirit Hall Golden Generation?

Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up. He had read the memories of two God Kings, so of course he remembered the names Hu Liena, Xie Yue, and Yan.

The fragments held little about Xie Yue or Yan, but Hu Liena's entanglement with Tang San had been recorded in some detail. Unfortunately, Tang San had ended up leading her astray for life.

Knowing about them was one thing. Whether dealing with them in person would cause trouble was another.

"My name is Huo Yuhao."

After a moment's thought, Huo Yuhao added, "I'm an Independent Soul Master."

"An Independent Soul Master?"

Hu Liena's eyes brightened, but before she could say more, Yan exploded, practically steaming with anger. "Nana! Why are you wasting your breath on him?"

"Thirty thousand years of cultivation? Some special identity? Just because you're handsome, you think Nana will believe everything you say? You just want that Soul Beast for yourself!"

"That Soul Beast belongs to Nana! Anyone who gets in the way is my enemy!"

"Martial Soul Possession!"

Hu Liena's attitude toward Huo Yuhao was more than Yan could bear.

With Martial Soul Possession, Yan abruptly transformed into a giant flame monster nearly three meters tall.

Yan's Martial Soul was the Flame Lord. It was a Beast Martial Soul by nature, but it looked more like a demon that had crawled out of hell, complete with the horns of a ram. Unlike other fire-attribute Martial Souls, the Flame Lord possessed formidable defense as well as powerful offense.

"Yan! Stop!" Hu Liena cried out.

Has Yan gone mad?

Why is he suddenly lashing out like this?

Her rebuke clearly did nothing to stop Yan. As he charged, Soul Rings appeared beneath his feet.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black—the optimal configuration of five rings.

A level-fifty-two Power Attack System Battle Soul King!

"Second Soul Skill—Granite Rock!"

As his Second Soul Ring lit up, a layer of dark-red stone armor covered Yan from head to toe.

The skill instantly boosted Yan's strength and defense by a great margin, and every attack he made from then on carried searing flames.

"Watch out!"

Seeing Yan charge straight at Huo Yuhao, Hu Liena instinctively called out a warning. She didn't know why Huo Yuhao's safety had been her first thought.

Hu Liena's lovesick lapdog...

Huo Yuhao was caught between laughter and disbelief. The histories really didn't lie about Yan. I just didn't expect him to be even more aggressive than they said.

Huo Yuhao couldn't simply ignore Yan's sudden attack. But given that Yan was only a Soul King, he did not strike first. Instead, his body reacted instinctively, sending a beam of white light from between his brows.

In an instant,

a streak of silver light several meters long flashed into view.

A shockwave condensed from Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Power swept outward.

The silver light hissed through the wind like a white snake flicking its tongue, then darted through the air and rain like a swimming dragon.

In an instant, space itself seemed to seize up wherever the white light passed. Even the wind veered uncontrollably to either side, desperate to get out of its way.