Spirit Eyes Evil Tiger
On the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, a blue-haired boy gazed at the forest before him, renowned as one of the three great Soul Beast gathering grounds on the Douluo Continent.
Looking at the dense primeval forest, the boy couldn't help swallowing. To him, the dazzlingly beautiful forest was like a man-eating beast.
In theory, the boy wasn't wrong about the Star Dou Great Forest. As the largest Soul Beast gathering ground on the Douluo Continent, it was home to countless powerful Soul Beasts.
Anyone who wandered in unprepared could very well be killed by the Soul Beasts inside and become their dinner.
After steadying himself, the blue-haired boy thought, Mom, I'll become a Soul Master and avenge you! I'll make the Duke's Mansion bitterly regret everything they did! And I'll make them give you a rightful status!
The blue-haired boy took a deep breath, steeled his resolve, and walked toward the Star Dou Great Forest, a place filled with opportunities.
The blue-haired boy's name was Huo Yuhao. He was Huo Yuhao, the protagonist of the original Douluo II.
He was the third son of the White Tiger Duke of the Star Luo Empire's White Tiger Duke's Mansion. As the duke's son, he should have held a noble status and enjoyed a peaceful, carefree childhood.
But because his mother was only a maidservant to the duke, he had not received the preferential treatment he was due.
Instead, because he was the White Tiger Duke's illegitimate son, he had constantly been ostracized by a group led by the duchess.
Finally, at his Martial Soul Awakening ceremony, he failed to awaken the Evil Eyes White Tiger, the inherited Martial Soul of the White Tiger bloodline. Instead, he awakened a mutated Body Martial Soul, the Spirit Eyes.
That would actually have been fine. As long as his Innate Soul Power was high enough, the duchess's people would not have been able to openly target mother and son.
However, heaven had not favored Huo Yuhao and his mother. After testing, Huo Yuhao's Innate Soul Power was found to be only rank one, barely meeting the minimum requirement to become a Soul Master.
The cause of this was that Huo Yuhao had never eaten or drunk well since childhood. As a result, his body had barely endured his Martial Soul Mutation.
This also meant that Huo Yuhao's body had suffered all kinds of hidden injuries during the mutation, leaving him with only a pitiful rank one of accompanying Soul Power.
This encouraged the duchess to push her luck even further. She falsely accused mother and son of carrying an infectious disease, and in the end, the two were made to live in a dilapidated little wooden hut at the edge of the Duke's Mansion.
As for the White Tiger Duke, his father in name, he had always been leading troops into battle on the Star Luo Empire's borders and had never had time to come home and visit. He didn't even know he had a son named Huo Yuhao.
But what broke Huo Yuhao most was his mother's death.
When he was eight, he accidentally bumped into his paternal half-brother Dai Huabin while washing clothes. His second brother in name ordered his subordinates to cripple Huo Yuhao.
In the end, Huo Yuhao's mother stepped forward and took the brutal beating in his place, leaving her with a lingering illness.
Finally, when he was ten, his mother, Huo Yun'er, became gravely ill and died because her body was too weak.
On that day, Huo Yuhao swore to the heavens that he would avenge his mother.
As if heaven could not bear to see what had befallen him, a strange black pearl came hurtling through the air as he threw back his head and roared his resentment to the sky.
The strange black pearl flew toward Huo Yuhao as though drawn by the resentment in his heart, and he swallowed it. In that instant, he vaguely glimpsed the figure of a black tiger.
From that day on, Huo Yuhao's physique became exceptionally strong, and his Soul Power cultivation speed increased further. It was much faster than before. If there was anything strange about it, a black vortex appeared inside his body whenever he cultivated. With its help, Huo Yuhao could quickly absorb the surrounding elemental power of heaven and earth, speeding up his cultivation. But the Soul Power he cultivated this way contained a fair number of impurities.
However, Huo Yuhao, intent on avenging his mother as soon as possible, paid the matter no mind.
Before long, he reached rank ten as a Soul Scholar. He only needed to absorb one more Soul Ring to officially become a Soul Master.
Even so, he did not leave the Duke's Mansion immediately after reaching rank ten. Only after thoroughly familiarizing himself with his strengthened body did he begin packing for his departure.
After entering the Star Dou Great Forest, Huo Yuhao set out to find a suitable Soul Beast. Along the way, he encountered quite a few Soul Beasts, but none suited him.
There was nothing he could do about it, though. Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes Martial Soul was a rare spiritual-type Martial Soul. Although Martial Souls of this type were exceptionally powerful and strange, there were too few Soul Beasts suited to them.
As a result, a spiritual-type Soul Master might spend an entire lifetime without finding a suitable Soul Master, and in the end settle for any Soul Beast.
Thus, aside from certain powerful factions, most Soul Masters in the Soul Master World had the misconception that spiritual-type Soul Masters would not get far in their future achievements.
After searching for a while, Huo Yuhao came to a stream and decided to catch a few fish to cook first.
Using the keen eyesight of his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul, he soon caught several large fish. Then he took seasonings from his pack and began grilling them.
If a professional chef had seen what Huo Yuhao was doing, he would have been astonished. Although his culinary skills had not reached the level of a master, every step was just right, without a single unnecessary movement.
He could even grill the fish to precisely the optimal point. With the addition of a few seasonings, the grilled fish was certain to be a delicacy.
Huo Yuhao had no such fancy seasonings at the moment, though, only the most basic salt. Even so, despite such simple preparation, the grilled fish smelled wonderful.
Huo Yuhao could do this precisely because of his Spirit Eyes Martial Soul. It was a Body Martial Soul whose body was his eyes. With it, he could see many things ordinary people failed to notice, and it also helped him concentrate on his work.
Thanks to this particular effect of Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes, his cooking skills had surpassed those of many chefs without him even realizing it.
Thus, if any renowned chefs met Huo Yuhao, they would surely do everything they could to persuade him to become their disciple.
But if that really happened, Huo Yuhao would certainly refuse outright. To him, cooking was merely a skill he had learned out of necessity.
He had no desire to become some culinary god with superb cooking skills. For now, he only wanted to grow stronger and avenge his mother.
With such a deep-seated grudge, anyone in their right mind would surely not waste time on something as trivial as cooking.
About a quarter of an hour later, the fish in his hand was done. Just as he was about to set it aside to cool a little and use the time to prepare the remaining fish-
"It smells so good!"
A delighted, girlish cry rang out, its clear, pleasant sound startling Huo Yuhao.
He looked in the direction of the voice and saw two people approaching him along the stream.
In front walked a black-haired girl of fifteen or sixteen. Her hair was tied in a ponytail, and she wore a light blue fitted outfit, giving her a youthful, energetic air.
The girl was staring fixedly at the grilled fish in Huo Yuhao's hand. Clearly, she was the one who had just exclaimed that it smelled good.
Behind her was a boy about her age. He was tall and slender, with dark blue hair.
Though he was young, he carried himself with a refined air. Like the girl, he had noticed Huo Yuhao, but he paid more attention to Huo Yuhao himself than to the grilled fish in his hand.