Douluo Continent, Star Luo City, the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
The weather was very unusual that day. Red storm clouds hung thick and heavy across the sky, and the oppressive air throughout the White Tiger Duke's Mansion made it difficult to breathe.
Huo Yuhao looked up at the sky, a flicker of puzzlement passing through his eyes. In the six years since he had transmigrated here, he had observed the state of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion despite all his toil and frustration.
This was the first time in those six years he had seen weather like this.
"Huo Yuhao, hurry up and come out. It's time for your martial soul awakening." An aged, impatient voice urged him along. He sighed. The greatest agony was being unable to see any hope. He knew perfectly well what his martial soul awakening would bring: Spirit Eyes.
Most likely, nothing would change, and he would still have to suffer all the hardships the original Huo Yuhao had endured.
Once he stepped out of his room, the elderly steward bristled and glared at him. "Hurry up! Are you going to keep everyone waiting?!"
Huo Yuhao said nothing, merely quickening his pace. The steward simply grabbed him and dragged him to a courtyard between the inner compound and the main gate.
Naturally, nobody would gather to watch the martial soul awakening ceremony of an unwanted illegitimate son like him.
The entire courtyard was cold and deserted. Yet the moment Huo Yuhao stepped inside, something strange happened.
Blood-colored rain began to fall.
Yes, blood-red rain drifted down, carrying something like the scent of blood. Strangely, when it landed on the ground, it left no color at all, as though its bloody hue were merely an illusion.
The sight naturally caught the attention of the steward and the Soul Master, but they only muttered about how strange it was before turning their attention back to Huo Yuhao.
Without needing any prompting, Huo Yuhao had already walked into the center of the martial soul awakening formation.
Seeing how nimbly Huo Yuhao moved, the Soul Master nodded, some of the impatience fading from his eyes. He raised a hand and said, "Relax your mind. Accept my power into your body and let it guide your martial soul's awakening."
Huo Yuhao nodded, then saw a one-eyed tiger appear behind the Soul Master. Though its fur was mottled and unkempt, its remaining good eye still held the ferocity befitting the king of the mountain forests.
As the Soul Master released his martial soul, Huo Yuhao immediately felt a surge of power rise within his body.
However, instead of rushing up to his head and ultimately forming the Spirit Eyes martial soul as he had expected, that power did something else.
It gathered and knotted within his dantian.
Huo Yuhao's brow furrowed slightly. While he was still puzzling over it, his body suddenly began alternating between hot and cold. The sensation, like feverish chills, left him swaying on his feet.
Just as Huo Yuhao began to feel as though he were floating away into the heavens, a cry somewhere between a tiger's roar and a dog's bark abruptly dragged his consciousness back to reality.
To the Soul Master awakening Huo Yuhao's martial soul, however, the sight was even more bizarre.
The boy first twitched a few times, then a savage gleam appeared in his eyes.
That savage gleam filled both Soul Masters conducting the awakening with fear, as though the person before them were not a six-year-old child, but a judge weighing the good and evil of their entire lives.
A sound somewhere between a tiger's roar and a dog's bark suddenly rose from behind Huo Yuhao. Then the phantom of a vicious beast appeared at his back, its body red and black, its shape that of a winged tiger, with two horns on its head and ferocity in its eyes.
This vicious beast lacked the "king" marking on a tiger's forehead. In its place were two dark-red horns and a pair of scarlet eyes. Pale-red fur flared wildly along its back, and wings the same color as its body spread wide. It carried the air of a fiendish god looking down on all beneath heaven, inspiring terror in anyone who beheld it.
Hearing that sound, part bark and part tiger's roar, Huo Yuhao could not help turning to look.
The next instant, when he saw the full form of the martial soul behind him, he jumped in fright.
It was Qiongqi, one of the Four Fiends.
Although Taotie existed on the Douluo Continent, it was the version counted among the dragon's nine sons. A creature like Qiongqi was something the man awakening Huo Yuhao's martial soul, at least, had never seen before.
He could nevertheless feel the unshakable terror gripping his own One-Eyed Tiger martial soul ever since Huo Yuhao's martial soul had appeared. He immediately withdrew his martial soul and spoke to Huo Yuhao with a show of breezy composure.
"That martial soul of yours is quite something, boy. Hold out your hand. I'll test your innate soul power."
With that, the Soul Master took out an old-fashioned crystal orb and held it before Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao reached out and placed his hand over the crystal orb. At once, blue light began filling it.
The blue light filled the entire crystal orb almost instantly. For a moment, the whole courtyard shone brilliantly beneath its radiance, tearing open a corner of the gloom cast by the blood-colored storm clouds.
"Innate full soul power! You actually have innate full soul power!" The Soul Master who had awakened Huo Yuhao's martial soul staggered back a step, nearly dropping the crystal orb.
After putting the crystal orb away, he turned to the steward and said, "Congratulations to the White Tiger Duke's Mansion on gaining another future Titled Douluo."
The steward's attitude toward Huo Yuhao changed in an instant as well. Stroking his beard, he first returned the Soul Master's courtesy, then looked at Huo Yuhao. "Well done, Huo Yuhao. It seems your future is boundless. Go back for now. I'll report this to His Grace."
Huo Yuhao nodded, but his expression was far from cheerful. Given the relationship between the duchess and his birth mother, Huo Yun'er, the duchess would most likely never allow him to go on living in peace.
In the original story, someone with level-one innate soul power could be kept around to humiliate. Now that he had revealed innate full soul power, however, she would have to consider silencing him for good as soon as possible.
At that thought, Huo Yuhao cupped his hands toward the steward in a token salute, then immediately turned and headed for the servants' courtyard where he and Huo Yun'er lived.
When he entered the servants' courtyard, Huo Yun'er was waiting for him by the door. Seeing him hurry back with such an anxious expression, she asked in confusion, "What's wrong, little Yuhao? Did your martial soul awakening not go well?"
After speaking, Huo Yun'er reached out and hugged him, then said gently, "Whatever the result of your martial soul awakening, you will always be Mommy's pride and joy."
Huo Yuhao lifted his head, looked at Huo Yun'er, and said, "Mom, if you trust me, then from now until Dai Hao comes back, don't eat or drink anything unless it's plain water we've gone out and bought ourselves. Keep everything far away from your mouth."
Huo Yun'er froze, looking at him in bewilderment, while Huo Yuhao spoke to her with utter seriousness...
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