The Evil Tiger First Appears

Seeing the girl drooling with craving, Huo Yuhao offered to treat them to grilled fish. When she heard his offer, the girl made no attempt to stand on ceremony. She picked up a grilled fish and began eating, while the boy behind her looked apologetic about his companion's impulsive behavior.

Huo Yuhao expressed no displeasure. After all, he had met all sorts of people before coming to the Star Dou Great Forest. Though he wouldn't claim he could recognize everyone who meant him harm at a glance, he had some ability to tell.

As he saw it, neither of them meant him any harm, so he was happy to share a little food. At worst, he could simply catch a few more fish.

After some conversation, Huo Yuhao learned that the girl's name was Tang Ya, and the girl behind her was Bei Bei. Like Huo Yuhao, they had come to the Star Dou Great Forest to hunt Soul Beasts.

Seeing that Huo Yuhao was also a Soul Master, they planned to invite him to hunt Soul Beasts with them, but he declined. Sharing food was one thing, but hunting Soul Beasts together was another.

After all, on the Douluo Continent, where the weak were prey to the strong, rashly joining forces with strangers could easily lead to betrayal. Unless both sides had known each other for a long time, it was better not to casually entrust one's back to strangers.

After bidding the two farewell, Huo Yuhao continued on his way, searching for a Soul Beast suited to him. After searching for a while, he still hadn't found one. Just as he was considering whether to venture deeper into the Star Dou Great Forest, from the outer region into the mixed zone, a rustle in the grass caught his attention.

Four or five Wind Baboons appeared before Huo Yuhao. Looking at the group, he realized he might have trespassed into their territory.

Huo Yuhao had no choice but to take up the White Tiger Dagger, a keepsake his mother had left him before her death, and fight the Wind Baboons. If he had been the Huo Yuhao from the original story, even a single Wind Baboon would surely have killed him with one punch.

But the Huo Yuhao of the present was different. After absorbing the strange black bead, his physique had improved tremendously. Even without a Soul Ring, he could take a Wind Baboon's punch head-on with his body alone.

Of course, he would still be seriously injured if he took too many hits, but Huo Yuhao wasn't the type to fight solely with his body in the first place. His Martial Soul was the Spirit Eyes. Although he hadn't attached a Soul Ring to it, simply releasing it allowed him to use the Spirit Eyes' powerful observation to predict his opponents' movements to some extent and evade their attacks.

What was more, the White Tiger Dagger in his hand was no ordinary dagger. It was a level-five close-combat Soul Tool with a certain devouring property, more than enough to deal with these Wind Baboons, which had only ten years of cultivation.

Huo Yuhao quickly dealt with the Wind Baboons one by one, relying on his agile movements. But just as he was about to kill the last one, it raised its head and roared at the sky. The piercing sound left him in unbearable pain, but fortunately, he didn't stop moving and killed it in the end.

Looking at the Wind Baboon corpses strewn across the ground before him, Huo Yuhao couldn't help marveling at the power of Soul Beasts. If not for the strange black bead he had absorbed by chance, he might have died at their hands long ago.

Just then, Huo Yuhao sensed that something was about to reach his current location. Realizing this, he immediately tried to get away.

But killing the Wind Baboons had exhausted too much of his stamina. He hadn't gotten far before the approaching presence caught up with him. It was a black ape over a meter tall. Most peculiar of all, a tuft of fine hair resembling golden flames grew on its forehead. Its body didn't look particularly muscular, but it seemed exceptionally agile. A faint purple halo emanated from the outer layer of its black fur, golden light flickered in its eyes, and its gaze was lively.

Huo Yuhao had never seen this Soul Beast before. But seeing that it and the Wind Baboons he had killed belonged to the ape family of Soul Beasts, he knew that those ten-year Wind Baboons might have been the Soul Beast's underlings, and that it had now come to avenge them.

Huo Yuhao's guess wasn't wrong. The black ape before him was a Soul Beast called a Three-Eyed Demonic Ape, a Soul Beast with both Dark and Mental Attributes. Its Mental Attribute not only gave it the ability to directly attack an opponent's Sea of Consciousness, but also granted it intelligence surpassing that of Soul Beasts at the same level.

The Three-Eyed Demonic Ape before him had around four hundred years of cultivation. Huo Yuhao, who had already expended a great deal of Soul Power and stamina, was no match for it on his own. He had only one choice: run.

But would the Three-Eyed Demonic Ape let the killer who had slaughtered its underlings escape so easily? Of course not. A flash of black light passed through his third eye, and Huo Yuhao suddenly felt a pain as if his head were about to explode.

The Three-Eyed Demonic Ape seized the chance to punch Huo Yuhao, sending him flying dozens of meters and smashing through a tree along the way.

The punch that sent Huo Yuhao flying also brought him out of his splitting headache. He could feel that several of his ribs were broken, and that his body could no longer move.

He could only watch helplessly as the Three-Eyed Demonic Ape's fist drew closer and await the arrival of death. Huo Yuhao couldn't help thinking of his deceased mother. Remembering her face, full of helplessness and sorrow, he felt anger and resentment blaze in his heart.

He hadn't avenged his mother yet! He still hadn't taken revenge on that detestable duchess! And he hadn't taken revenge on that irresponsible husband, that irresponsible man he was supposed to call father! How could he die here? He couldn't accept it! He couldn't accept it!!!

As if responding to the resentment in his heart, the black bead inside Huo Yuhao began to stir. Black markings emerged in great numbers across his body, some of them forming the character for "king" on his forehead.

Huo Yuhao raised his head and roared at the sky. It wasn't a human roar, but a tiger's! The Three-Eyed Demonic Ape stopped attacking at the sight. For some reason, it sensed that the weak human before it had become an unrivaled Ferocious Beast.

The Three-Eyed Demonic Ape could clearly feel the bloodline suppression of a superior predator. It felt that if it dared take another step forward, death would surely await it.

But the Three-Eyed Demonic Ape's cultivation was far greater than that of the human before it. With its formidable mental power, it quickly suppressed the bloodline pressure and prepared to continue its attack.

Yet just as the Three-Eyed Demonic Ape's fist was about to smash Huo Yuhao's body to pieces, it was caught. The person who caught it was none other than the young man before it, Huo Yuhao.

The Three-Eyed Demonic Ape tried to retreat and finish him off with a mental attack, but it felt a wave of dizziness. For some reason, the Soul Power in its body was dropping at an alarming rate. On closer observation, it realized that its Soul Power was being devoured by the human before it.

The Three-Eyed Demonic Ape no longer cared about avenging its underlings and planned to get as far away from this bizarre human as possible. But Huo Yuhao's hand was like an iron clamp; no matter what it did, he wouldn't release its hand. It could only raise its other fist, hoping to send the human flying and buy itself time to escape.

To its despair, Huo Yuhao dodged its fist. While it was still stunned, he seized the moment to swing the White Tiger Dagger with his free hand and stab at its third eye.

Huo Yuhao succeeded in piercing the Three-Eyed Demonic Ape's third eye, and a yellow Soul Ring began to flicker into view before him. By then, Huo Yuhao had also recovered his senses from his earlier berserk state.

Huo Yuhao was astonished to see the dead Three-Eyed Demonic Ape, but looking at his bloodstained hands, he knew he had killed the black ape himself.

Huo Yuhao was baffled as to how he had killed the Soul Beast. Before long, though, he stopped dwelling on the question and planned to absorb the hundred-year Soul Ring it had produced.

Although he didn't recognize the Soul Beast, their earlier clash showed that it used the Mental Attribute, so it should be very well suited to him.

After a period of recuperation, Huo Yuhao was able to absorb the hundred-year Soul Ring, and he couldn't help growing excited. He had expected that even finding a Mental Attribute Soul Beast would be difficult, and that he might have to make do with a Ten-Year Soul Beast. Yet he had actually killed a Soul Beast that was just right for him! Heaven was truly helping him!

Just as Huo Yuhao was fantasizing about his bright future, a voice suddenly sounded beside his ear.

"Brother finally found a human with the Mental Attribute. Too bad I can't cry, or my face would be covered in tears!"

At that very moment, the gears of fate began to turn once more.