Winged Heavenly God Tiger

After Dai Hao gave his orders, the two personal guards immediately nodded, then turned back to arrange a carriage from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.

He himself led Huo Yuhao out of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion by the hand.

Huo Yuhao did not understand what Dai Hao intended to do. Only after Dai Hao took him to visit several other noble residences in Star Luo City did he begin to grasp what Dai Hao had in mind.

Simply put, he was taking Huo Yuhao around to show his face, letting the nobles of the Star Luo Empire know that Dai Hao had a third son named Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao offered no comment. He simply cooperated, following Dai Hao on his rounds of the nobles he knew in Star Luo City. Only as evening approached did they set off for the Star Dou Great Forest.

It was only when they reached the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, where the carriage could go no farther, that Huo Yuhao came to appreciate Dai Hao's professional skill as a military commander.

They arrived at the outer region of the Star Dou Great Forest on the morning of the third day, right on schedule.

Compared with the world outside, the Star Dou Great Forest had a distinctive scent—the fresh fragrance of grass and trees.

The route Dai Hao chose was not the shortest one from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion to the Star Dou Great Forest, but another, somewhat rugged mountain path.

According to Dai Hao, this was the territory of the Diamond Tigers, the go-to soul beasts for obtaining the White Tiger Vajra Transformation soul skill for the White Tiger martial soul.

Considering Huo Yuhao's martial soul mutation, Dai Hao decided to forgo White Tiger Protection Barrier as his first soul skill and follow the path once chosen by an earlier member of the Dai Family whose martial soul had mutated.

That meant using a hundred-year soul ring version of the third soul skill as his first, then adding the ranged second soul skill, and taking White Tiger Demon God Transformation directly as his third—a new progression.

Of course, the mutations in question were beneficial ones. The "inferior genes" of harmful mutations did not even qualify for inclusion in the Dai Family genealogy.

They had long since drowned in the river of history.

Dai Hao explained all this to Huo Yuhao along the way. Since it concerned Dai Family affairs, even the two personal guards had been stationed outside the mountains to meet them on their return.

Although Huo Yuhao had little interest in the Dai Family's history, he still made a show of listening with relish. Finally, looking filled with longing, he said,

"I hope I can blaze my own trail, just like those predecessors."

Dai Hao smiled faintly, then stroked Huo Yuhao's head and said, "Don't worry. Your father has faith in you."

Huo Yuhao smiled and followed Dai Hao to a pool. Dai Hao pulled up some grass nearby, squeezed out its juice, and drizzled it over Huo Yuhao as he said,

"This keeps mosquitoes away. This pool is where the Diamond Tigers drink, and one of the few places where they gather. Usually, they live scattered about in their own small families. Unless there's large prey, they rarely come together."

Huo Yuhao nodded. After applying the grass juice to him, Dai Hao reached out and took hold of his wrist.

The moment Dai Hao's fingers rested on his wrist, Huo Yuhao felt a tingling numbness. Dai Hao's soul power slipped into his flesh like a venomous snake.

He almost instinctively tried to wrench his arm away, but the enormous disparity in their soul power rendered his movement futile.

Dai Hao raised a finger to his lips, signaling Huo Yuhao not to make a sound.

Under the stimulation of Dai Hao's soul power, Huo Yuhao gradually felt his body heat up, and the martial soul markings belonging to Qiongqi emerged on his skin.

Dai Hao released his hand and said to Huo Yuhao, "I wouldn't have guessed it, but you have a pretty solid foundation.

"With your physique, you can absorb a soul ring of around nine hundred years as your first soul ring. With the cultivation resources I give you to strengthen your body, you should be able to absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring for your second soul ring."

Huo Yuhao nodded. As Dai Hao watched him, however, something else occupied his thoughts: when his soul power entered the core of Huo Yuhao's body, a savage surge of soul power had churned it to pieces.

To Dai Hao, this defied common sense. After all, he was already a Soul Douluo, and becoming a Titled Douluo was merely a matter of time, while Huo Yuhao did not even have a single soul ring yet.

Given that disparity, even though Dai Hao had released only a tiny, weak strand of soul power to test Huo Yuhao's physical strength, the protective soul power within the boy's body should not have been able to shred it on the spot.

Stranger still, Dai Hao had felt his own White Tiger martial soul experience fear at the very end, when Huo Yuhao's martial soul was about to break through his restraints and complete its possession.

It was as though a ferocious god dwelled within Huo Yuhao, one that towered far above him.

The sensation puzzled Dai Hao, but it also delighted him. After all, it meant Huo Yuhao's martial soul had undergone an extremely thorough mutation, and its quality should be very high.

Although Huo Yuhao did not know what Dai Hao was thinking, he had sensed the changes within his own body earlier. He did not volunteer anything now, merely resting quietly on the other side and watching for movement by the lake.

The Dai Family had certainly not spent all those years contending with Diamond Tigers for nothing. The spot Dai Hao chose was indeed an excellent vantage point. Moreover, since it was closest to the entrance of the Star Dou Great Forest, no Diamond Tigers approached from this direction.

The two watched several thousand-year Diamond Tigers come to drink and then leave, without exposing themselves.

About four hours later, Dai Hao gave the now-drowsy Huo Yuhao a pat and said in a hushed voice,

"Damn, what luck!"

Dai Hao's slap made Huo Yuhao shudder. He then gently parted the branches as well and looked out.

A snow-white tiger had walked to the lakeside. Its appearance was exceedingly strange: not only did it have three eyes, but a pair of wings lay folded on its back. Judging by its body length, it was actually only a hundred-year soul beast.

It was practically tailor-made for Huo Yuhao.

Dai Hao whispered to Huo Yuhao, "We've really struck gold. If we hadn't come soul hunting today, the Diamond Tigers might have gained another hundred-thousand-year soul beast."

Huo Yuhao looked up at Dai Hao and asked, "What is that thing? Why does it look like a mishmash of creatures?"

Dai Hao explained, "It's a beneficial mutation of the Diamond Tiger that rarely appears even once in a thousand years—the Winged Heavenly God Tiger. The last one appeared more than a thousand years ago. By the time our Dai Family discovered it, it had already reached the hundred-thousand-year level. It took countless people to finally deal with it."

Huo Yuhao blinked, then said to Dai Hao, "But you did deal with it in the end. Does that mean the Dai Family has a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone passed down as well?"

At the mention of this, Dai Hao sighed and said with a hint of displeasure, "Unless something unexpected happened, that soul bone should still be sitting in Shrek Academy's storeroom right now."