At Huo Yuhao's puzzled question, Tang Ya and Bei Bei both shook their heads.
"Little Yuhao, we don't know what happened either."
"All we know is that things were like this when we woke up."
Huo Yuhao frowned and began recalling what had just happened.
Fragmented images flashed past: an enormous soul beast and a terrifying pressure. Yet no matter how he tried, he could not piece together a complete memory.
"Right, where did that soul beast go?"
"And why does my head hurt so much?"
As he thought, he kept pressing his hands against his head, as though that were the only way to ease his discomfort a little.
"Little Yuhao, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing, Sister Tang Ya. I'm just a little dizzy. I'll be fine after resting for a while."
At Tang Ya's concern, Huo Yuhao forced a smile.
"Mm, that's good, then. We'll stay beside you and keep watch."
"Thank you, Sister Xiaoya."
With that, Huo Yuhao leaned against a nearby tree and closed his eyes to rest for a moment.
Those events had been far too unbelievable, but he did not speak of them.
Even if he told anyone, no one would believe him. Instead, he might invite unnecessary suspicion.
Besides, he felt somewhat unwell right now. Ever since that enormous iceworm had vanished, he kept feeling as though he had lost something. He could neither explain nor describe it, but the hollow feeling was painful.
Meanwhile, in the Divine Realm, at the Stargazing Platform.
A vast sea of stars surged beneath his feet. The sound of the stars revolving was like an ancient divine bell, gently reverberating through the eternal void.
A man clad in azure divine armor, with long blue hair, stood at the center of the Stargazing Platform, divine radiance flowing around him. Though he was a God King who looked down upon the mortal world, his expression was so dark it seemed water might drip from it.
Starlight flowed around the Stargazing Platform, and a boundless river of stars lay beneath his feet, yet those lights seemed especially harsh to his eyes at that moment.
"Who? Who exactly was it?"
"Why has the destined course changed?"
This man was none other than the Sea God Tang San, one of the Divine Realm Committee's five great God Kings.
He had clearly sensed nothing, yet the course that had originally belonged to the Child of Destiny on the Douluo Continent had quietly shifted.
Had this God King not stabilized the Child of Fortune's destiny star, he would already have lost that status.
And the Child of Destiny's fortune is still declining. Just why is this happening?
"Damn it! Whoever it is, they have already courted death. They actually dared to ruin this God King's plan to revive the Tang Sect."
In a small frontier city in the Heavenly Soul Empire.
Morning sunlight spilled through a second-floor hotel window and fell across Yun Luo's face.
First, Yun Luo's fingers stirred. Only then did he slowly open his eyes, greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling and a simply furnished room.
He froze for a moment, then seemed to remember something and murmured to himself.
"Elder Wang must have woken up and brought me here."
As he spoke, he examined his own condition.
He had completely absorbed the Skydream Iceworm's origin, and his spiritual sea had expanded to nearly three times its former size.
Electrolux's memories had also merged into his sea of consciousness. The knowledge of magic formations and necromancy was so clear it seemed carved into his bones.
Electrolux: "Do you have no heart?"
Moreover, his Soul Power had now reached the peak of rank seventy-four. He needed only another two or three days of cultivation to break through to rank seventy-five.
After checking his body, Yun Luo rose and released his Martial Soul.
His Spirit Eyes possessed him, and Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet one after another.
Black, black, black, black, black, red, platinum.
Seven Soul Rings shone brilliantly inside the room. The final platinum Soul Ring emitted a peculiar spiritual fluctuation: it was the Wisdom Soul Ring condensed from the Skydream Iceworm's million-year origin.
Yun Luo could no longer suppress the smile tugging at his lips. With his current Soul Ring configuration, combined with his two-word battle armor, he could put up a fight even against a rank ninety-seven Titled Douluo.
That was right. Yun Luo actually had a set of two-word battle armor, but since arriving in this era of the Peerless Tang Sect, he had not encountered any particularly powerful opponents, so he had never used it.
Withdrawing his Martial Soul, he sat by the window. Sunlight fell across his face as Yun Luo began considering the road ahead.
He had not found a good direction for the Body Sect before because there were far too many reasons behind its future decline.
It was not merely its rejection of soul tools, but also the deaths of many of its high-level fighters in battles against the Sun Moon Empire.
He had chosen to improve his own strength first, partly to protect himself and partly because only with sufficient strength could he stand before the Body Sect and buy it time with an absolutely overwhelming advantage, preventing further casualties.
After all, having returned to the past, whether for his master's sake or because of the help Du Busi and the others had given him, he would ultimately have to revitalize the Body Sect.
However, what gave him something of a headache now was that, although he came from ten thousand years in the future and was Mu Ye's disciple, his understanding of soul tools was not particularly deep.
One reason was that Mu Ye had always made him cultivate the Body Sect's innate secret techniques. The other was that practicing forging consumed too much time, leaving him little opportunity to learn about soul tools.
Now that Yun Luo possessed a foundation of strength, his next step was to study soul tool research.
Although he had told Du Busi that he came from the future, getting the entire Body Sect to accept soul tools would by no means happen overnight.
Once people's beliefs took shape, they were difficult to change.
Thus, he could only learn for himself first, then slowly get them to accept the technology after bringing it back.
The best soul tool technology currently lay in the Sun Moon Empire. His present idea was to conceal his identity and go there to learn; he might even be able to lure the Snow Empress back with him.
Although the Heavenly Soul Empire also had soul tools, they were far too outdated to be of much use.
Just as he was considering the Body Sect's future development, a knock interrupted his thoughts.
Sensing the presence in the room, Elder Wang had risen and come to the door.
"Holy Son, are you awake?"
Hearing Elder Wang's voice, Yun Luo withdrew his Martial Soul and walked toward the door.
After opening it and seeing Elder Wang standing outside with worry written across his face, Yun Luo greeted him politely.
"Elder Wang."
"Holy Son, I'm glad you're all right."
At the sight of Yun Luo standing before him, Elder Wang let out a long sigh of relief.
"Mm. Elder Wang, how many days has it been since we left the Star Dou Great Forest?"
"About two days. When I saw that you were still unconscious, Holy Son, I brought you to this hotel."
Hearing Yun Luo's question, Elder Wang thought he intended to return to the Star Dou Great Forest, and his expression immediately changed in alarm.
"Holy Son, you still want to return to the Star Dou Great Forest? Absolutely not."
"We're not going back there. We're returning to the sect."
Only after hearing Yun Luo's reply did Elder Wang feel completely reassured.
Then the two set off, flying toward the Body Sect.
Five days later, in the early morning, outside the Body Sect's mountain gate.
Yun Luo and Elder Wang landed before the bluestone steps and looked up. The Body Sect's mountain gate remained as towering and magnificent as ever. The ancient stone pillars were carved with the sect's patterns, which gleamed faintly gold in the morning light.
The mountain wind whipped past, setting Yun Luo's robes billowing.
Elder Wang followed behind him and bowed to Yun Luo.
"Holy Son, I'll go back and report first, then."
"Mm. Thank you for your efforts, Elder Wang."
"You're too kind."
Elder Wang cupped his hands, turned, and walked off in another direction.
Yun Luo watched Elder Wang leave, then turned and headed toward his own room.