The other three Phantom Bodies entered the Star Dou Great Forest from different directions, while Huo Yuhao headed toward its border from the westernmost part of the Star Luo Empire.
After all, on the map he possessed, this route was the most detailed, so he chose the path he knew best.
Night fell!
Beside a creek a few kilometers from the Star Dou Great Forest, Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged and began sorting through his remaining rewards.
First came the Beauty Compendium bound within his Soul Space. Although it was a cultivation technique, it was also a compendium bound to his soul. Once bound to him, it could never be unbound.
After examining the Beauty Compendium's detailed information, Huo Yuhao could not help blushing. Then he promptly closed it and paid it no further attention.
Its name alone had told him it was nothing good, and sure enough, it was exactly what he had suspected: a Dual Cultivation Technique.
It was a technique for men and women to cultivate together, emphasizing the union of yin and yang.
For every woman he conquered and obtained original yin power from, a corresponding flower would appear in the Beauty Compendium. At the same time, an identical flower would appear on the body of the woman who had joined yin and yang with Huo Yuhao.
Only then could the two connect their hearts and minds and advance together through dual cultivation.
Huo Yuhao was not the only one who would benefit from this technique. Both parties could gain substantial increases in soul power, and the higher the Beauty Compendium's level, the better its effects.
Simply put, Huo Yuhao needed to keep conquering women-and virgins, at that.
This ability was far too wicked. Huo Yuhao was an upright man, so the Beauty Compendium was destined to gather dust in his Spiritual Sea of Consciousness.
Even if Huo Yuhao starved to death, even if he jumped down from here, he would never stoop so low as to use women to cultivate.
After inspecting his bound reward, the Beauty Compendium, Huo Yuhao turned his attention to the remaining items. He took out a fragment radiating brilliant golden light and sank into thought.
One of the Angel God Fragments. Collecting three fragments could restore the shattered Angel Godhood.
Seeing the fragment's effect left Huo Yuhao shaken. Having read the original story, he knew that Tang San had already shattered the Angel God's godhood. Even someone with an Angel Martial Soul could no longer sense the Angel Godhood.
Yet now he could reconstruct the Angel Godhood simply by collecting three of these little fragments. Once his joy faded, however, Huo Yuhao could only put it into his Storage Soul Tool to gather dust.
After all, this was something he could encounter only by chance, not seek out at will. Even if he had a chance of obtaining this reward, he might not roll a Sacred Cup. Even if he rolled a Sacred Cup, he might not roll this fragment as his reward.
The odds were simply too low.
This belonged on the list of things he might see happen within his lifetime.
Besides, although the Angel God's godhood was powerful, it was only at the First-Level God rank. Tang San's Asura Godhood was at the God King rank, and he also possessed the Sea God Godhood, one of the very strongest among First-Level Gods.
Huo Yuhao was already deeply wary of Tang San, even keeping his guard up against him at all times. Sometimes, he had already begun considering how he could fight Tang San.
The Tang San of this world.
After all, his business was killing Tang San-repeatedly killing Tang San, his father, and his master. If that came to light, Tang San would absolutely come over and kill him.
If their positions were reversed, he would do the same.
But Huo Yuhao had no choice.
Since he had obtained this system, he could only follow this road all the way into the dark. Besides, the system had said that every time he killed Tang San, the Tang San of this world would lose a portion of his divine power and life force.
So, as long as he worked hard at killing Tang Sans from other worlds, he had a chance to turn the tables. The more he killed, the more Tang San would be weakened, and the greater his chances of winning when they faced each other.
There was no pattern to when missions became available, however. The system had told him to wait for its notification. That alone left Huo Yuhao feeling somewhat helpless. After all, waiting without a goal was the most painful, agonizing kind of waiting.
After checking the Angel God Fragment, Huo Yuhao finally turned his attention to the immortal herb, the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum, and the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger's inner core.
The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum was an immortal herb for tempering the body, capable of greatly strengthening a person's physique. Huo Yuhao's current body had severely clogged meridians, a weak constitution, severe malnutrition, and terrible natural aptitude.
Thus, the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum was undoubtedly the single most suitable immortal herb for him. Of all his rewards, it was also the one he was most satisfied with, apart from his Martial Soul.
In another world, his ancestor Dai Mubai had absorbed this miraculous immortal herb. Not only had it thoroughly strengthened his bloodline, but his soul power had also surged by five levels.
What did a five-level surge at the Soul Ancestor rank mean?
It meant that after Huo Yuhao used this immortal herb to cleanse his meridians and improve his physique, his soul power should rise by at least ten levels.
The amount of soul power required by a Soul Ancestor was completely different from that required by a Soul Master. Huo Yuhao currently had only level 10 soul power, and each additional level required very little. If he could perfectly absorb all the herb's medicinal potency, he would surely shed his old flesh and bones and be reborn.
The Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum was a neutral immortal herb. Consuming it could circulate qi through the four limbs and blood through the eight meridians, allowing one to develop an indestructible diamond body. It was incredibly potent.
Following the standard method, Huo Yuhao plucked the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum's petals off one by one and put them into his mouth to eat. Then he sat cross-legged and began absorbing their medicinal potency.
The immortal herb's medicinal potency was tremendously powerful. After eating just one petal, Huo Yuhao felt his whole body heat up and his blood surge. Its medicinal power began seeping into his meridians, clearing their severe blockages.
Impurities were expelled from Huo Yuhao's body at a speed visible to the naked eye. After all, this body was riddled with far too many impurities. Innate level-one soul power was already widely acknowledged as the worst.
On the Douluo Continent, people with innate half-level soul power were even rarer than those with innate full soul power. In a sense, that made Yu Xiaogang quite an extraordinary person.
As time passed, Huo Yuhao gradually absorbed all the medicinal potency of that petal. Yet his body remained red all over, because its effects were simply too fierce.
Huo Yuhao could clearly feel that his body was much lighter and that he could circulate his qi much faster. Without any hesitation, he quickly swallowed several more petals. Soon, their powerful medicinal potency surged through him again.
Huo Yuhao was plunged into pain once more.
But amid the pain, he felt joy.
After all, his former self might not even have had the right to suffer like this. He could only have found a Ten-Year Soul Beast and barely managed to absorb it, then spent the rest of his life unable to advance beyond the Soul Elder rank.
Forget taking revenge-even surviving in this world would have been difficult. Without strength, he would ultimately be nothing but an ant.
The moon shone bright amid sparse stars, and the constellations wheeled across the sky.
Time swiftly passed, and Huo Yuhao completely absorbed the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum. Reeking all over, he jumped straight into the creek. After washing himself clean, he headed upstream and began building a cooking fire.
With practiced ease, Huo Yuhao caught quite a few fish from the creek and placed them on a grill. He was utterly focused, meticulous in every detail!
Huo Yuhao had great patience for everything. It was his only virtue, and an essential virtue for anyone seeking to become strong.
The improvement the immortal herb had brought him was tremendous. His meridians had widened to at least three times their former size, and his physique had been strengthened countless times over. Previously scrawny, he was now remarkably sturdy, and his soul power had risen a full seven levels.
Although it had not met his expectations, he was already very satisfied. Now he would reward himself with a meal of grilled fish, then head into the Star Dou Great Forest to obtain a Soul Ring.
Just then, however, a voice suddenly came from the distance, and Huo Yuhao could not help looking up toward it.
"Wow, that smells amazing!"