Sky Dream Ice Silkworm

Xu Jingyao and Shadow Douluo trailed far behind Huo Yuhao, keeping enough distance to avoid being noticed.

There were few travelers on the main road outside Star Luo City. The boy's frail figure cast a long, thin shadow in the morning light. His steps were unsteady, yet he walked extremely fast, as though terrified someone might catch up with him.

He was probably afraid the White Tiger Duke's wife would kill him once she discovered he had left.

Shadow Douluo tried to speak several times, but each time, Xu Jingyao gently stopped him with his fan.

Only when Huo Yuhao turned onto the fork leading toward the Star Dou Great Forest, with no one else left around, did the two dart out of the trees' shadows, treading very lightly.

"Pavilion Master, this child has soul power fluctuations, but they're very weak," Shadow Douluo said quietly.

"Mm, innate rank one." Xu Jingyao waved his fan, walking at an unhurried pace. "Who knows what the Douluo Continent's planar spirit was thinking? Perhaps it thought poor talent would make him less likely to be noticed by those above?"

Shadow Douluo did not understand, nor did he ask. After all, he did not think His Highness would explain it clearly to him.

The trees on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest were not particularly dense. Sunlight could still spill through gaps in the foliage, scattering dappled spots of light across the ground.

Huo Yuhao stopped beneath an old tree, glanced around, then crouched down and began building a fire.

His movements were practiced. Clearly, this was not his first time cooking.

He took several palm-sized fish from his bundle, skewered them on branches, and set them over the fire. Fat dripped onto the coals with a sizzle, sending up a roasted fragrance.

Xu Jingyao found a rock behind some bushes a hundred paces away and sat down, taking a food box from his Storage Soul Tool.

When he lifted the lid, crystal cakes and braised delicacies lay inside, freshly made that morning by the cooks at the Carefree King's Residence and still warm.

He picked up a cake and put it in his mouth, then casually handed another to Shadow Douluo.

Shadow Douluo accepted it. Looking at the boy gnawing on grilled fish in the distance, then at the delicate pastry in his hand, the corner of his mouth twitched.

To be honest, it smelled quite good, but could something like that taste good without much seasoning?

"Pavilion Master, what are we..."

"Watching the show," Xu Jingyao said indistinctly, picking up another piece.

After finishing the fish, Huo Yuhao stamped out the fire, covered the ashes with dirt, then stood and headed deeper into the forest.

Huh?

Strange. Why haven't Bei Bei and Tang Ya appeared?

He remembered that those two had appeared in the original story!

Could something have gone wrong?

Xu Jingyao put away the food box, brushed the crumbs from his hands, and rose to follow.

Shadow Douluo silently took his place half a step behind him, and the two melted into the forest's light and shade like a pair of shadows.

After roughly an hour, the trees gradually grew taller, their interwoven branches blocking most of the daylight, while the undergrowth became denser as well.

Huo Yuhao slowed further, stopping from time to time to look around, his hand clutching the hem of his clothes. He looked frightened, yet as though he had no choice but to press on.

Then Xu Jingyao saw the wooden sign.

It was nailed crookedly to a dead tree. The stone slab had already blackened, its edges roughened by rainwater.

Several large words had been written on it in charcoal: Danger ahead. Do not enter.

Huo Yuhao stood before the wooden sign and glanced at the writing a few times. Then he drew a deep breath, went around the sign, and continued inward.

Xu Jingyao stopped before the sign and lightly tapped the rotten wood with his fan.

"Interesting," he murmured.

The thing had gone without maintenance for years and looked like a relic from the previous century.

Before Huo Yuhao had gone even a hundred paces past the wooden sign, the sound of the wind through the forest suddenly changed.

Low panting came from deep within the bushes. Immediately afterward, a grayish-brown blur shot out from the side.

Oh, a ten-year Wind Baboon.

It was not large, but it was astonishingly fast. Its sharp claws gleamed coldly in the dim light as it lunged straight for Huo Yuhao's back.

Huo Yuhao reacted extremely quickly-or rather, he had been taut as a bowstring all along. He jerked sideways, and the baboon's claws grazed his shoulder, tearing open a wound. Blood immediately seeped out.

He staggered backward, caught his foot on a tree root, and fell to the ground.

The baboon gave him no chance to catch his breath. The moment it landed, it turned and lunged again.

Huo Yuhao rolled across the ground, narrowly avoiding the second swipe. His hand scrabbled blindly over the earth until he grabbed a rock and hurled it hard at the baboon's face.

The rock struck its nose squarely. The baboon let out a shrill screech, its movements faltering for an instant.

In that instant, Huo Yuhao drew a dagger from his waist. Its gleaming blade traced a cold streak through the gloom before plunging hard into the baboon's chest.

The baboon screamed, its sharp claws slashing wildly and leaving several more bloody marks on Huo Yuhao's arm.

But Huo Yuhao held the dagger in a death grip, pinning the baboon beneath his body as he stabbed once, twice, three times, until the beast stopped struggling altogether.

The forest fell silent.

Huo Yuhao knelt on the ground, trembling all over. Blood ran from the wounds on his arm and shoulder, dripping onto the baboon's already stiff corpse.

He panted heavily. Only after a long while did he slowly climb to his feet, wipe the dagger clean on the baboon's fur, and slide it back into his waistband.

The dagger was snow-white throughout, its edge shimmering with a faint silver light. The image of a white tiger was faintly engraved on its hilt.

The White Tiger Dagger.

Watching the dagger from his hiding place, Xu Jingyao folded his fan and tapped it lightly against his palm.

He took a gem the size of a grain of rice from his Storage Soul Tool. It was completely transparent, with an extremely fine strand of purple light sealed inside.

This was a tracking device specially made by the Carefree Pavilion's Soul Engineers. It could be activated by injecting soul power, and its range covered more than half the Douluo Continent.

He held the gem between his fingertips and flicked it lightly.

The gem traced a silent arc, lodging precisely in a crevice in the hilt of the White Tiger Dagger that Huo Yuhao had just returned to his waist.

Huo Yuhao noticed nothing. He merely lowered his head to check his wounds, tore off strips of cloth to bandage them hastily, then staggered a couple of steps.

Supporting himself against tree trunks, he walked a little farther before finally being unable to hold on. His legs gave way, and he dropped to his knees, clutching his head in both hands and curling up with an agonized expression.

Then Xu Jingyao felt it.

An immense spiritual pressure spread from nearby, like an invisible tide washing over every inch of earth and every tree.

Shadow Douluo's expression changed. His body stiffened, and cold sweat seeped from his forehead. The pressure had arrived without a sound, yet it weighed as heavily as Mount Tai, pressing down on him until even his soul power began to stagnate.

At Xu Jingyao's brow, the life divine core and destruction core trembled lightly in unison. When the pressure touched his Sea of Consciousness, it was swallowed without a ripple, like a stream flowing into the ocean.

He then pretended to fall unconscious, leaning against a tree.

An enormous worm slowly crawled out from deep within the forest. His entire body was snow-white and as thick as a giant python, yet several times longer than one.

His skin was translucent, golden patterns of light faintly flowing within, and every segment of his body gave off a gentle luster.

At the very front was a face without features. Two rows of fine, densely packed feelers swayed gently in the air, as though sniffing for something.

So ugly!!!

Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!