Coming clean

Becoming a god!

Huo Yun was discussing a deal with the Silver Dragon King, but their conversation sent Huo Yuhao's brain grinding to a halt.

He was just a little Soul Master who had only recently obtained his first soul ring. Before this, his original plan had been to avenge his mother after becoming a Soul Master, then resurrect his mother, Huo Yun'er.

Becoming a god was something he had genuinely never even considered.

Yet, to his surprise, Huo Yun's expectation for him was actually to become a god. His worldview really was being reshaped.

The understanding of the Soul Master World he had gained from Strawberry and Zhang Lexuan was being reshaped. Gods were no longer mere legends to him, but a goal-the heights his mother, Huo Yun, hoped he would reach.

"It's a very good proposal, but I need to think it over carefully." Huo Yun did not agree to cooperate with the Silver Dragon King.

Cooperating with the Silver Dragon King would indeed make up for many of her current shortcomings. When it came to powerful fighters, for instance, she lacked cards to play.

When Tang San had acted this time and taken Huo Yuhao away, she could only come to the Silver Dragon King for help and have the Soul Beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest act.

The operation might have been swift, but the fact remained that Electrolux had intervened, and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had paid a considerable price too. Besides, without Di Tian and the others drawing away the Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape, and without their support, whether Electrolux could have escaped with Huo Yuhao was questionable.

Cooperating with the Silver Dragon King could be said to solve Huo Yun's two greatest problems at present: her lack of resources and powerful fighters.

The problem was the price she would have to pay. Once Soul Beasts passed a hundred thousand years, they faced a heavenly tribulation every time.

Only by surviving could they enter the next hundred thousand years. Moreover, these heavenly tribulations were no trials of tempering; they came straight for the Soul Beasts' lives. Without sufficient strength, facing a heavenly tribulation meant nine chances of death and one of survival.

The only relatively unusual case was the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. Because his bloodline was comparatively weak, his heavenly tribulations only began at a million years. Yet that also meant his time was running out. He could not survive even the first heavenly tribulation, so he had sought someone for whom he could become a Wisdom Soul Ring, devising a God-Making Plan so that his chosen person would become a god and he could gain eternal life alongside them.

As the Douluo Consciousness, Huo Yun could indeed weaken heavenly tribulations. The problem was that weakening one or two was manageable, but the Star Dou Great Forest was simply too vast, with many Soul Beasts qualified to face heavenly tribulations. Huo Yun could handle one or two, but a dozen or twenty really would be beyond her.

That was because heavenly tribulations were not rules she had established, but rules established by the Divine Realm. Essentially, the earliest heavenly tribulations had been established by the Dragon God, but originally they had tempered Soul Beasts. Back then, heavenly tribulations had not actually threatened Soul Beasts' lives; they had been intended to hone them and make them stronger.

Only after the Divine Realm changed them did they begin taking Soul Beasts' lives.

Huo Yun could not change them even if she wanted to. She herself was nearly pinned down completely by the rules; otherwise, how could she have ended up in such a sorry state? Her actual strength now was enough to trade blows evenly with a First-Level God. As for those two divine officers, Da Ming and Er Ming, if she could strike with her full strength, she could cleave them to death in minutes. It was only the rules pressing down on her that prevented her from acting.

Interfering with the Soul Beasts' heavenly tribulations would mean confronting the rules head-on. Even the landlord's household was nearly out of spare grain-how was she supposed to help?

As for minimizing harm as much as possible, just how far did "as much as possible" go?

As for the final condition, Huo Yuhao protecting the Star Dou Great Forest, Huo Yun actually considered that the easiest part. As long as Huo Yuhao became a god, attained the rank of God King, and defeated Tang San, never mind protecting the Star Dou Great Forest-protecting the entire world would be no problem for him.

So, to Huo Yun, that was actually the easiest part.

"Of course. Once you've thought it through, you can come to us anytime." The Silver Dragon King was in no hurry. She was merely making a proposal.

She truly had not expected the World Consciousness to be capable of acting now, but since she could, the Silver Dragon King could indeed seek some benefits for the Soul Beast Clan through her.

Especially when Huo Yun said Huo Yuhao was like the Dragon God, he had known this was the world's newly nurtured Child of Destiny. If he became a god in the future, and one beyond the Divine Realm's control at that, he would indeed be worth winning over.

Both sides had something they needed.

"Say, aren't you going to escort him out? It's so dangerous outside." Huo Yun spoke up then. This was rather awkward.

"Di Tian." The Silver Dragon King smiled and called for Di Tian to escort him.

Without wasting words, Di Tian took Huo Yuhao and flew outside.

Meanwhile, Huo Yun drew Huo Yuhao's consciousness into his Sea of Consciousness.

"All right, let's get down to business, Yuhao. Didn't I promise earlier to explain to you exactly what was going on?" With only their own people present, Huo Yun did not intend to keep hiding things from Huo Yuhao. She was ready to come clean.

Hearing this, Huo Yuhao sat a little straighter. He really was curious about what was going on, but his heart was also drumming with unease. What was happening now was somewhat beyond his imagination.

Huo Yun thought for a moment, organizing the order of her explanation. "Where should I begin? Oh, right. You must have heard of the Tang Sect's sect master from ten thousand years ago, Sea God Tang San?"

"I have. I heard that ten thousand years ago, he led his companions to defeat the evil Spirit Hall, which wanted to unify the continent. In the end, he even brought his companions with him to become gods." Huo Yuhao nodded. Almost everyone on the continent knew this legend.

Huo Yun rather scoffed at that. "What evil Spirit Hall that wanted to unify the continent? To put it plainly, that's just the people at the top fooling you commoners. I have to admit Spirit Hall's leadership had something wrong with their heads, but that doesn't change the fact that their grassroots members were actually kind.

"They awakened commoners' martial souls for free, and as long as you became a Soul Master, you could collect gold soul coins from Spirit Hall. Supporting yourself was no problem at all.

"And those Soul Masters who awakened people's martial souls for free spared no effort. That was far better than today's Douluo Continent. Martial soul awakening has practically come under the control of those at the top. The empires only handle their own awakenings, and the major sects only handle theirs.

"Some government officials can't be bothered with ordinary people at the grassroots level. They even make those people cover their own expenses and travel to the main cities to awaken their martial souls."

Huo Yuhao scratched his head. He had grown up in the Duke's Mansion, and his life had been bitter, but the Duke's Mansion had still helped awaken his martial soul. That might be why he did not currently consider martial soul awakening difficult. Yet, hearing this, things really were not as he had imagined.

"So, in the end, the victor becomes king and the loser an outlaw. Don't believe those supposed legends about Tang San being righteous and Spirit Hall being evil. That's merely the victor's rhetoric.

"But he really did become a god, and he attained the highest rank among gods, Supreme God King, combining the Sea God and Asura God in one.

"Those two who attacked you earlier, the Sky Azure Bull Python, Da Ming, and the Titan Giant Ape, Er Ming, are precisely the two from the legends you've heard. After Tang San became a god, they were resurrected and became gods in the Divine Realm.

"Now, well, they manage the Clear Sky Sect for Tang San."

"Then why did they attack me?" After listening, Huo Yuhao nodded and asked the question that puzzled him most.

"Because you're the new generation's Child of Destiny, nurtured by me. Incidentally, the previous one was the Dragon God." Huo Yun brought up the Dragon God as she spoke, mainly to help Huo Yuhao understand the importance of a Child of Destiny.

"So that's why you and that big sister said I could become a god." Hearing this, Huo Yuhao finally understood what Huo Yun and the Silver Dragon King had meant earlier. He and the Dragon God were both Children of Destiny, so they had drawn an equals sign between them.

"Yes, but she was right about one thing. I truly can't compare to when I nurtured the Dragon God. In terms of talent alone, your physical talent isn't as strong as his. I focused on your comprehension and spiritual talent. In those two respects, you're on the same level as him." Huo Yun truly had made a point of strengthening those aspects of Huo Yuhao.

"So Tang San acted against this child because he knows he's the Child of Destiny and wants to keep him under his control." Hearing this, Electrolux also understood Tang San's motive: he wanted to hold this world's Child of Destiny in his own hands and make the boy one of his own.

"Yes! He doesn't merely want to control Yuhao and turn him into his right-hand man. More importantly, he wants to cut off my last hope so that his father can devour me completely and take control of this world." Huo Yun nodded.

"What?" Huo Yuhao and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm were both startled. Attacking the World Consciousness-had he gone mad?

"Don't be surprised. That's how it is. Tang San is the Sea God, and the Sea God's authority happened to have been stripped from me. That allowed him to secretly devour a considerable amount of my origin. I was awakened because of it and had no choice but to nurture a new Child of Destiny to defend myself.

"You could say nurturing Yuhao was something I was forced to do. I had to nurture him, raise him, and make him a god beyond the Divine Realm's jurisdiction. Not just any god, either, but a God King. Only then could he protect me from Tang San.

"Yuhao is my hope of fighting back, my final resistance with all the strength I have left. He wants to control Yuhao to strangle that last little hope of mine completely." By the end, Huo Yun sounded somewhat helpless. This was the World Consciousness's current situation.

Targeted by a being nurtured upon itself, it had exhausted its strength to nurture the final Child of Destiny, only to be crippled in the process. If Huo Yun had not linked everything together and become the new World Consciousness, then according to the original course of events, Huo Yuhao would ultimately have become a blade in Tang San's hand.

He had originally been nurtured to fight back, yet had ended up becoming the opponent's right-hand man. It was rather pitiful.

Although Tang San had transmigrated, he had indeed been reborn in this world, grown up here, and ultimately become a god.

"How could he do that? This is the world that nurtured him! How could he turn around and attack it? Doesn't he have the heart of a wolf and the lungs of a dog?" Huo Yuhao truly found it hard to imagine that the person from the legends his mother, Huo Yun'er, had told him was actually someone like this.

A bastard with a wolf's heart and a dog's lungs, who turned around and bit the world that had nurtured him once he had grown strong.

"Perhaps, in his heart, this isn't the world that nurtured him." Huo Yun considered it. After all, Tang San had lived two lives. His heart belonged to the Tang Sect of his previous life. He had no close ties to this world and would feel no burden in acting against it.

"Whatever his reasons, I'll never let his plan succeed." Huo Yuhao clenched both fists. Hearing all this had filled him with anger. Tang San dared lay hands on his mother-he would remember him for that. At this moment, becoming a god was no longer a legend before him, nor was becoming a God King. It was his goal. Defeating Tang San, protecting this world, and protecting his mother had officially become one of his life's goals.

"Good boy." Huo Yun smiled with relief at his words, then looked toward the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Electrolux. "That's the general situation. As for you two, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and Electrolux, you can consider yourselves the cheats I found for Yuhao.

"Because I didn't have enough energy myself, I could only address his innate issues first, then make up for the acquired aspects in other ways.

"The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, a million-year Soul Beast, provides the spiritual origin that forms the foundation for becoming a god, as well as a second martial soul.

"As for his teacher, Electrolux, he was once a supreme existence who could become a god at any moment. Even though he hadn't nurtured his own divine seat, he was already infinitely close to that step and can teach Yuhao.

"Besides that, I've made some other arrangements. If things proceed according to the plan I've laid out, becoming a god won't be a problem.

"But Tang San certainly won't allow it. Or rather, he needs Yuhao to pose no threat to him and become a blade in his hand. That's why the earlier incident happened."

"So that's it. I was wondering why Yuhao wasn't afraid when he saw me. You'd already arranged everything for me." Having heard the explanation, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm finally understood the whole affair and what exactly was going on. Everything made sense now.

"You were planning to sacrifice yourself to someone to create a god anyway. Is the candidate I arranged for you not good enough?" Huo Yun asked in return.

"It would've been even better without all this trouble," the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said with a laugh.

"Where in the world would you find a lunch that free?" Huo Yun said irritably.

"You're right." The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm nodded humbly. He was already aboard the ship now, and getting off again would not be easy. He had already sunk half his accumulated reserves into it.

"What about you? What do you think of Yuhao?" Huo Yun stopped paying attention to the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm and turned to Electrolux instead.

After all, what the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm wanted happened to align with her own ideas. He wanted to create a god himself and gain eternal life along with that person, and she had provided the best candidate of this era.

But Electrolux was different from the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm. He currently wanted for nothing. Whether he was willing to accept Huo Yuhao still depended on his mood.

"My original self is already dead. For a remnant of my soul to have attached itself to this child can be considered fate. As long as he doesn't disdain the legacy of a Holy Necromancer like me, I'll accept him as my disciple. I'd also like to see what it feels like to nurture a god." Electrolux was straightforward too. He was already dead, and he was grateful to Huo Yun and Huo Yuhao that this remnant of his soul could still exist here. He was not someone who failed to repay kindness.

"Your disciple, Huo Yuhao, pays his respects, Teacher!" Huo Yuhao knew how to read the situation too. Hearing this, he bowed down without hesitation. Of course he trusted the teacher his mother had arranged for him.

His mother had already paved his road for him. If he still failed to appreciate it, he really would be mud that could not be plastered onto a wall.

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