I, Huo Yuhao, Have the Makings of a God

I, Huo Yuhao, Have the Makings of a God

"Holy Spirit Church!"

Huo Yuhao's heart jolted. He had never imagined that people from the Holy Spirit Church would appear here—and absolute upper echelon members at that!

The Holy Spirit Church was one of the undisputed final villain bosses in the original story. Even by Huo Yuhao's modern values, this group was beyond redemption. Who knew how much slaughter this organization of pure Evil Soul Masters had wrought over the years?

Judging from the dirt on God King Tang in the original story, the emergence of the Holy Spirit Church was closely tied to God King Tang's destruction, in his early years, of a secret realm called Slaughter City. After Slaughter City—the Evil Soul Masters' prison, easy to enter but difficult to leave—was gone, Evil Soul Masters began operating throughout the continent. Ten thousand years ago, Spirit Hall had inherited the Angel Martial Soul with its sacred attribute, the greatest nemesis of Evil Soul Masters. Yet in its decisive battle against God King Tang, it lost its divine position. Only a scattered handful of Angel Martial Soul inheritors remained, and even the god-tier Six-Winged Angel had degenerated into ordinary top-tier martial souls such as the Sacred Angel and Praying Angel, possessing only a certain sacred attribute or pure Healing Type abilities.

The times might have made you, and you might not have sought blessings for the common people, but you should at least not bring disaster upon all living things.

Reading about it was one thing; facing it in reality was another. Although Douluo World was practically the bottom rung of fantasy worlds in terms of combat power, Huo Yuhao was still completely outmatched by the black-robed man before him, who was likely Zhongli Wu, the Holy Spirit Church Master. Unless nuclear weapons had crossed over with him as well.

"Junior Huo Yuanjia. May I ask Senior's name?" Huo Yuhao could only silently greet the family trees of God King Tang and Tang Hao. His thoughts raced, yet he calmly gave a false name.

"Not bad, not bad. This old man's compound surname is Zhongli. I never expected this trip to bring such a great surprise to our church." The black-robed man squeezed Huo Yuhao's shoulder and clicked his tongue in admiration.

So it really was you, old bastard! Huo Yuhao lamented inwardly. He had not expected to fall into the hands of the big boss so soon. Hopefully, he could escape this old devil's clutches quickly and avoid being brainwashed by the Holy Spirit Church into something neither human nor ghost.

"May I ask, Senior, why was I just called an Evil Soul Master? My martial soul is merely a pair of eyes." Huo Yuhao was genuinely puzzled. The timeline was clearly still a year before Huo Hang began studying Electrolux's necromancy in the original story. Aside from his Spirit Eyes' strange absorption of a large number of souls just now, his current abilities probably did not deserve the title of Holy Son of the Holy Spirit Church. At most, he counted as half an ordinary Evil Soul Master.

"The Holy Son has only just begun his journey and likely does not yet know how to assess his own strength. It is nothing unusual." Zhongli Wu seemed very satisfied with the youth before him, and without realizing it, became more talkative. "The Holy Son's martial soul has undergone a Secondary Awakening. This old man has had the fortune to hear of geniuses with Innate Full Soul Power and knows of the peerless freaks said to possess Innate Level 20. But Innate Level 30, beyond all worldly comprehension—this old man is seeing it for the first time today."

Innate Level 30 soul power? Huo Yuhao was utterly confused. He could clearly sense that he only had Level 10 soul power.

"You have cultivated soul power for too short a time and cannot sense the true extent of your own strength. Records from the ancient Spirit Hall state that soul power cultivation does not cease simply because one has failed to obtain a soul ring; it continues to accumulate. And because your Innate Soul Power exceeds the limit of godhood aptitude at Level 20, your martial soul has produced a Self-Generated Soul Ring, the first to appear in tens of thousands of years. You need only hunt a suitable soul beast, and this Self-Generated Soul Ring will become a true soul ring with a skill, one matching the maximum absorption limit you can withstand." Zhongli Wu patiently explained it to Huo Yuhao. At this point, he could not help praising him. "Worthy indeed of our church's Holy Son. You have the makings of a god!"

While the two spoke, the Titled Douluo-level Evil Soul Masters had already dealt with every member of the Shrek Monitoring Group, leaving behind only the unconscious "Holy Maiden," Ma Xiaotao, whose entire body was wreathed in evil fire.

Compared to the first time Huo Hang saw her in the original story, Ma Xiaotao's exquisite face still carried a trace of youthful immaturity. She was still the little flame maniac.

"The Holy Maiden possesses the rare Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul. So long as the Holy Son uses his Spiritual Power to guide its evil nature slightly, she can completely transform into a world-destroying Dark Phoenix. That person from First Generation Shrek truly passed this martial soul down." Zhongli Wu grabbed Ma Xiaotao's fair wrist and examined it, then sneered.

Huo Yuhao stood beside Zhongli Wu, quietly watching the unconscious Ma Xiaotao without saying a word. He had held some goodwill toward this girl, who in the original story had called Huo Hang her little brother and sister, and ultimately accepted without hesitation the burden Huo Hang had left behind in the mortal world. But this crazy woman had just tried to kill him, and that sliver of goodwill instantly vanished.

If he ever had the chance to communicate normally with Ma Xiaotao, he would not mind bringing her over to his side. After all, her talent was exceptionally rare even during the era of Unrivaled Tang Sect.

"Holy Son, let us return. Return to the place that belongs solely to us."

"I shall follow Senior's arrangements."

Just as described in the original story, the Holy Spirit Church and the upper ranks of the Sun Moon Empire had an extremely intricate relationship. Zhongli Wu even possessed an advanced Flying Soul Tool from Mingde Hall, greatly facilitating the group's travels.

Huo Yuhao sat obediently inside the windproof shield equipped on the Flying Soul Tool. He had flown on airplanes plenty of times in his previous life, so he did not feel much resistance toward this otherworldly aircraft. His relaxed demeanor earned secret praise from Zhongli Wu and the others, who had been observing him in the shadows.

A Super Douluo equipped with a Flying Soul Tool could fly at terrifying speed, comparable to the supersonic speed of special forces fighter jets from his previous life. Soul tool development really was advancing quickly. No wonder even mechas and Gundam-like things appeared by the era of Legend of the Dragon King, Huo Yuhao thought.

Through casual conversations with Zhongli Wu and the others, Huo Yuhao made frequent use of the conversational tactics from his previous life to draw out the reason why the Holy Spirit Church Master had appeared in the Star Luo Empire.

The Sun Moon Empire's army was stationed at the Mingdou Mountain Range, facing off from afar against the Star Luo Empire forces led by Duke White Tiger. Duke White Tiger's formidable command ability had caused the Sun Moon Empire army considerable trouble. Zhongli Wu's group had infiltrated the Star Luo Empire to capture relatives and friends connected to Duke White Tiger, using them as leverage to catch him off guard when war broke out in the future.

In the original story, after Huo Hang left the Ducal Palace, the Duchess fell ill and died not many years later. In truth, it had been the Holy Spirit Church operating in secret, intending to distract Duke White Tiger during the war. The original text had not described this in much detail, merely mentioning it briefly through Dai Huabin. Huo Yuhao had not expected there to be such hidden circumstances.

Unfortunately, the vast Ducal Palace had been reduced to ruins at Huo Yuhao's hands. And after repeatedly confirming that the Duchess had not left before he acted, she had successfully become nourishment for Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes Martial Soul. Thus, Zhongli Wu's group's operation had effectively failed—though Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao, their unexpected gains, had to be excluded from that calculation.

This forest ahead was closer to the north, and coniferous trees filled the eye. From the air in the distance, one could see that many of the branches and leaves within the coniferous forest were blackish gray. A vast, dark mass spread below, and the dense forest shifted from deep green to pitch black. Across the entire continent, only this forest possessed such characteristics. Because this was the Demon Forest! Before they had even entered it, an oppressive feeling was already rushing toward them.

The Demon Forest. Without a doubt, Zhongli Wu's destination had arrived. Any Soul Master with even a little common sense would not attempt to fly over a forest inhabited by large numbers of soul beasts; that was no different from suicide. Yet relying on their formidable strength, Zhongli Wu's group crossed the endless sea of trees directly. Huo Yuhao was brought down from the air, descending slowly until they landed on the ground.

Yes, the Holy Spirit Church headquarters was within the Demon Forest. If Huo Yuhao had not known in advance from his godlike perspective, no one could have imagined that the Holy Spirit Church's headquarters lay beneath the ground at the forest's outskirts—a structure nearly worthy of being called a palace. What an undertaking that was!

Moreover, the Demon Forest held the same position in the Sun Moon Empire as the Star Dou Great Forest did on Douluo Continent. The Sun Moon Empire's most powerful soul beasts lived here. Among them was the Evil Eye Tyrant Overlord, ranked second among the current Ten Great Fierce Beasts.

In the original story, Huo Hang obtained the seventh soul ring of his Spirit Eyes here. At the time, he killed an Evil Eye Tyrant with Hundred Thousand Year Cultivation, only to be discovered by the Evil Eye Tyrant Overlord afterward. It could be said that he narrowly escaped death.

"Welcome back, Church Master." Evil Soul Masters who had been lying in wait here as guards had long noticed Huo Yuhao's group. Seeing Zhongli Wu and the others at the forefront, they hurried forward to greet them.

"Pass down the order. Gather everyone from Holy Spirit Hall. Join me in welcoming our Holy Son and Holy Maiden!"