Hear the Thunder

Looking at Tang Wutong's face, Huo Yuhao immediately recalled the freezing winters he had spent in that dilapidated woodshed.

During those winter days, he and his mother had shivered together through the nights, while by day he had helped her work outside.

His mother's hands had been covered in chilblains, yet her first concern had always been the chilblains on his body. So she had washed clothes for the senior servants of the Duke's Mansion in the bitter winter cold, earning some inferior grease to rub onto his skin.

He remembered one occasion in his previous life when his mother had cried especially bitterly. He had asked her, "Mom, when will I ever get enough corn buns to eat?"

Huo Yun'er had been unable to answer Huo Yuhao's question. She had only held him and wept. "Little Yuhao, I'm sorry. Mommy is useless."

Now, the eyes of Tang Wutong, who had sat down opposite Huo Yuhao, had turned pink.

"Divine skill, Bewitchment!"

This was an ability Tang Wutong had inherited through the bloodline of her mother, the Heavenly Empress Xiao Wu, whose true form was a Soft-Boned Enchanting Rabbit.

Snow Girl noticed that Huo Yuhao's eyes had also turned pink.

"Yuhao, what's wrong?" Just as she was about to voice that warning, Snow Girl felt Huo Yuhao suddenly tighten his grip on her hand.

As Snow Girl swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue, she heard Huo Yuhao say, "A single thought within the spirit's sanctum holds all the myriad forms of the world. What impressive methods the Heavenly Empress has!"

"But Your Highness, you must never show that face before Dai Hao! If it caused a misunderstanding, I'm afraid my ancestor Dai Mubai could not bear the consequences."

Inside the spacious dining hall of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy, Tang Wutong stared at Huo Yuhao with a dark expression.

Seeing Huo Yuhao's eyes become clear again, Tang Wutong could not believe it.

"Impossible! You're only a mortal. How could you possibly be unaffected by my divine mother's 'Dazzling Eyes'?"

Tang Wutong looked at the bright-eyed boy before her, then at the equally bewildered girl beside him, and cried out in shock.

"No, even if you are the Son of the Plane of this Douluo Continent, you cannot resist the authority of the Divine Realm. It must be that lich inside you interfering, isn't it?" Once she confirmed that the divine skill had failed, Tang Wutong's expression sharpened.

"Brother Huo, you've been deceived by that evil lich attached to you. You think he's helping you, the Son of the Plane, and helping the Douluo Continent, don't you?"

"Liches only ever destroy planes and take from them! He-they will never truly help you or this Douluo Continent. He will only devour you and this continent, leaving nothing behind."

Seeing that even this face of hers could not enchant Huo Yuhao, Tang Wutong swiftly gathered her thoughts.

As far as Tang Wutong knew, none of the planetary planes ruled by the Divine Realm could possibly resist its authority. The law of "Dazzling Eyes" that the Heavenly Empress had left within her bloodline was certainly not something any living being within the hundred and eight planes ruled by the Douluo God Realm could withstand.

That left only one explanation: the lich who had entered Huo Yuhao's body was interfering. At that thought, Tang Wutong prepared to summon her divine father's projection once again to eliminate the lich.

"Brother Huo, please believe me. I won't harm you. After all, you are the Son of the Plane into whom the Douluo Continent has poured everything. The Divine Realm promised to protect the planes and guide their evolution, and it will not break its word."

"Don't be afraid. This won't be too uncomfortable. With my father's abilities, he can quickly remove that evil lich from your body."

"By lich, do you mean the Holy Necromancer inside me who came from another plane?" Huo Yuhao looked at Tang Wutong.

The concern on the face before him truly made him involuntarily recall that similar face in those bitter winter days, telling him, "Little Yuhao, I'm sorry. Mommy is useless."

The Heavenly Empress's divine skill, "Bewitchment," born of her "Dazzling Eyes" path, had merely intensified that emotion.

Had Dai Hao been here, he would have discovered that this face looked exactly like Huo Yun'er's when the White Tiger Duke's Mansion had bought her as an indentured laborer. The only difference was that Huo Yun'er's face had been filthy then.

"The Holy Necromancer inside me is named Electrolux. He has never incited me to oppose the Divine Realm. Moreover, he is simply highly accomplished in the way of souls, not some powerful evil cultivator bent on destroying the world."

"As for you, Your Highness, exalted as you are, you have tested me like this repeatedly. How am I supposed to believe that you bear me no ill will?"

"Besides, if you summoned that supreme heavenly god's projection here and attacked me without cause, that would hardly be justifiable, would it? There are so many people here. Would you kill them all?"

Huo Yuhao's words left Tang Wutong momentarily speechless.

All she knew was that the man who, according to her divine father's prophecy, should have belonged to her had been brainwashed by a lich.

The noble princess felt she had suffered an injustice greater than the heavens. She swore viciously to herself that sooner or later, she would eliminate that hateful lich.

"Brother Huo, you must have awakened your true nature as the Son of the Plane. That is indeed remarkable. For now, I don't know what has happened to you, but please believe me. I won't harm you."

"You must come to the Youthful Hotel to see me tonight. I have something to tell you. Otherwise, a great calamity will befall you."

"Consider this my gift to you. I hope you'll take my words to heart."

"A gift? From your tone, it seems I have no choice but to accept."

From Tang Wutong's expression, Huo Yuhao could tell that something major might indeed happen shortly. In this life, Huo Yuhao understood Tang Wutong all too well-better than she understood herself.

After Tang Wutong put on a reluctant expression and said goodbye, Huo Yuhao felt as though something were lodged in his chest.

In truth, when he had brought Snow Girl to the dining hall for a meal that day, he had never expected Tang Wutong to come and meet him there.

After telling Snow Girl to stay away from Mingde Hall for the time being, Huo Yuhao went alone to the Youthful Hotel that evening.

"I'm here now. Whatever it is, tell me, Your Highness!"

At the Youthful Hotel, whose financial backer was the Xishui Alliance, Huo Yuhao naturally did not walk straight in after reaching the room Tang Wutong had specified. Sensing her inside, he stood outside the door and used Soul Power to vibrate the air and produce his voice.

Huo Yuhao's divine sense was of an extremely high level. Even without extending it outside his body, perception alone allowed him to hear Tang Wutong's soft, tingling moans filling the room.

Of course, Huo Yuhao knew exactly what was happening. Back in his previous life, because Tang San had long forbidden him from touching Tang Wutong, while Tang Wutong already knew about relations between men and women, she had female divine officials in the Divine Realm transform into him, Huo Yuhao, or some male god with an abstinent persona to satisfy her.

That was also why Tang Wutong had often stayed in her father the Sea God's palace during their time in the Divine Realm in his previous life. Only there could many secret activities escape discovery.

"Brother Huo, you really are an honest man. You kept your word!" After opening the door, Tang Wutong stepped out of room 411 of the Youthful Hotel and gazed at Huo Yuhao with burning eyes.

She roughly grabbed Huo Yuhao's hand and pulled him into the room, urging him to sit.

"Brother Huo... sit down... no need to stand on ceremony!"

"Under this bed... never mind, I won't say it. Your Highness, you know that many things weigh less than three ounces until you put them on the scales..."

Huo Yuhao's words turned Tang Wutong's ears scarlet, because someone was hiding beneath the bed.

And the reason Huo Yuhao would not sit on it was simple: at first glance, he had recognized it as the Icy Jade Marrow Bed that had led to Elder Yi's death in his previous life.

"Brother Huo, you really are clever!" Tang Wutong quickly composed herself. A trace of slyness appeared on her face as it regained its usual spirited look. "It seems that lump of ice carries more weight in your heart than that surviving wretch with the sinful blood of Qian Renxue, that Spirit Hall bastard, flowing through her veins."

"How did you guess that I called you here because something would happen to Mingde Hall tonight?"

As Tang Wutong spoke, vast stretches of infrastructure, such as buildings and roads, suddenly collapsed in several parts of Mingdu. Countless rocks, clods of earth, and clouds of dust rose amid the collapse.

Immediately afterward, the earth let out a muffled roar. The collapsed ground surged rapidly into the sky. Several mushroom clouds rose in an instant, carrying terrifying waves of heat.

Rumble...

The thunderous sound seemed to come from both the sky and the earth.

Countless rocks, clods of earth, and fragments flew in all directions, and countless people were reduced to ash.

The sun and moon lost their light, and heaven and earth changed color.