Chapter 3 Huo Yuhao's Secret Revealed: His First Soul Ring is a Million-Year One?
Under the watchful eyes of hundreds of millions across the continent, the enormous celestial canopy suspended in the sky finally stirred.
[A dark world scene is now playing.]
The scene shifts, and the first thing that catches the eye is a magnificent and imposing mansion.
[The vermilion gates and two enormous, imposing white tiger stone sculptures marked the renowned White Tiger Duke's Mansion of the Star Luo Empire!]
However, the camera didn't linger on those magnificent halls; instead, it shifted to the most secluded and dilapidated corner of the mansion.
There were several drafty woodsheds there, surrounded by overgrown weeds.
Inside the woodshed, a thin woman held an infant in her arms, her eyes filled with sorrow and love. The infant was none other than Huo Yuhao, still in his swaddling clothes.
The following scenes, like a fast-forwarded slideshow, each frame felt like a knife piercing the hearts of all viewers.
That was Huo Yuhao's childhood.
There was no luxurious life, no loving father. All there was endless toil, cold stares, and bullying.
Viewers saw young Huo Yuhao, dressed in thin clothes, helping his mother wash clothes in the dead of winter; his little hands were red and even ulcerated from the cold.
Seeing the Duchess's elegant yet extremely mean face, she ordered the servants to cut back on the mother and child's meager rations;
[He saw the young masters of the Duke's mansion, Huo Yuhao's half-brothers, punching and kicking him and calling him a "bastard."]
The most heartbreaking day is the day the martial spirit awakens.
Huo Yuhao awakened his mutated martial soul, "Spirit Eye," full of hope, but because his innate soul power was only level one, he was completely labeled a "waste" by the Duke's mansion. From then on, the bullying intensified.
Until that stormy night.
Overworked and ill, Huo Yun'er finally collapsed on her sickbed. Before she died, she tightly gripped Huo Yuhao's hand, her eyes filled with reluctance and a... somewhat laughable, lingering affection for that man.
Huo Yuhao knelt before his mother's corpse, weeping uncontrollably. In that moment, the light in the boy's eyes went out, replaced by a deep-seated hatred.
...
The dark world, reality.
A deathly silence enveloped the entire Douluo Continent.
Countless ordinary people were moved to tears, and some even began to curse.
"This...this is too tragic!"
"This is the infamous White Tiger Duke's mansion? How could they be so cruel to their own flesh and blood?!"
"That duchess is absolutely heartless! And what about that White Tiger Duke? Where is he? His wife and children have been bullied to death, and he doesn't even care?"
A storm of public opinion swept across the entire continent in an instant.
Shrek Academy, in the plaza.
The students, who had been excitedly discussing their future, fell silent.
They looked to the side, where Huo Yuhao was also watching the screen above, and fell silent.
Who would have thought that Huo Yuhao, who is usually gentle, polite, hardworking and diligent, would be burdened with such a heavy blood feud?
Wang Dong was completely stunned.
His beautiful, large, light blue eyes were now brimming with tears.
Looking at the thin figure struggling to survive in the mud in the picture, and then at the thin but upright boy beside him, he felt an unprecedented sense of guilt welling up in his heart.
"Yuhao..."
Wang Dong's voice was choked with emotion.
He recalled the scene when the two first met.
Back then, relying on his talent and family background, he not only took over Huo Yuhao's dormitory, but also established a bunch of domineering "roommate rules", and even beat him up.
If Huo Yuhao hadn't fought back so fiercely, perhaps I would have become one of those who bullied him too?
"sorry."
Wang Dong suddenly turned around, grabbed Huo Yuhao's arm, and said earnestly and urgently, "Yuhao, I really didn't know... I was too willful before, I shouldn't have treated you like that. I'm so sorry!"
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and forced back the tears in his eyes.
He looked up at Wang Dong's sincere eyes and forced a smile, though it looked worse than a grimace.
"It's alright, Wang Dong." Huo Yuhao shook his head gently, his voice a little hoarse. "It's all in the past."
"Yes! From now on, if anyone dares to bully you, I, Wang Dong, will be the first to object!"
Wang Dong nodded vigorously, waving his little fist, his eyes full of determination.
...
Star Luo Empire, Northwest Army Group Camp.
This is the residence of Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the entire military camp was extremely strange. The soldiers who had previously revered the Duke as a god now looked at the direction of the main tent with a somewhat evasive and strange gaze.
Although they dared not say it outright, the meaning in their eyes was self-evident: Marshal, how... can you really do this to that mother and child? Is this your so-called way of managing a family?
Inside the commander's tent.
"Yun'er...Yuhao..."
The burly and handsome Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger was slumped on a tiger-skin chair, his face as pale as paper.
He watched Huo Yun'er's tragic death on the sky, and saw his son, whom he had barely met, crying desperately in the rainy night. This iron-blooded general, who was decisive and ruthless on the battlefield, felt a piercing pain at this moment.
"I...I really don't know..."
Dai Hao's voice trembled.
Having spent most of his time fighting away from home, he knew almost nothing about what was happening at home.
He thought that as long as he provided them with material security, his family would treat them well.
But he was wrong, terribly wrong.
He was overwhelmed by shame.
He was not only a negligent husband, but also a failed father.
...
Just as the entire continent was sighing and lamenting Huo Yuhao's tragic childhood, the images on the sky shifted once again.
[In the scene, Huo Yuhao buries his mother, takes a white tiger dagger, and resolutely leaves the duke's mansion that brought him endless pain.]
His target is the forbidden zone for all Soul Masters—the Star Dou Great Forest!
"My God, has he gone mad?"
"An eleven-year-old child with only level ten soul power dares to go to the Star Dou Great Forest? That's a place even titled Douluo dare not venture deep into!"
The audience's hearts jumped into their throats.
[Sure enough, in the scene, Huo Yuhao had just entered the outer perimeter when he encountered a ten-year-old wind baboon.]
The breathtaking scene drew gasps from countless onlookers. Huo Yuhao narrowly escaped death several times, ultimately managing to kill the wind baboon only through sheer grit and a bit of luck.
However, just when everyone thought Huo Yuhao was about to absorb the ten-year spirit ring and become a bottom-tier spirit master, an unexpected change occurred!
The earth cracked open, and rays of golden light shone forth!
A terrifying spiritual wave, capable of altering the very fabric of the world, instantly swept across the entire Star Dou Great Forest.
Then, to everyone's stunned gaze, a plump, pure white worm emerged from the crack.
[It spoke to Huo Yuhao in human language: "Finally, I've met a human with spiritual attributes! I'm not a soul beast anymore! I'm going to create a god!"]
[Then, this strange soul beast named "Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm" actually sacrificed itself, transforming into a stream of light and rushing into Huo Yuhao's body!]
Four enormous golden halos shone beneath Huo Yuhao, eventually transforming into a single, flawless white spirit ring due to energy compression.
A line of large golden characters appeared at just the right moment in the background:
[Unprecedented! The first million-year-old intelligent spirit ring in Douluo Continent!]
[First Soul Skill: Mental Detection, Mental Sharing, Mental Interference, Soul Impact!]
"boom--!!!"
If the previous tragic childhood made the whole continent feel angry and sympathetic, then at this moment, the entire Douluo Continent is in complete frenzy and shock!
Millions of years!
It's a million-year spirit ring?!
"Oh my god!"
At Shrek Square, Wang Dong's expression was as if he had seen a ghost.
He stared intently at the spirit ring disguised as white in the image, then suddenly turned to look at the "ten-year spirit ring" on Huo Yuhao's body that everyone had been mocking.
"Yu…Yuhao…" Wang Dong stammered, pointing at Huo Yuhao, "You, your first spirit ring…not ten years? It's a million years?!"
"You lied to me?! You actually lied to me?! I knew you couldn't possibly defeat me with just a ten-year spirit ring! Turns out you had a million-year spirit skill!"
Huo Yuhao's face was also flushed red, so embarrassed that he wished he could disappear into the ground.
The biggest secret has been exposed!
"Wang Dong, let me explain... Back then, Brother Tianmeng told me to keep it a secret..." Huo Yuhao was at a loss.
"Great! I was worried you were insecure! You... that's so unfair!" Although Wang Dong complained, the shock in his eyes had long been replaced by excitement.
One's own partner actually possesses a legendary million-year soul ring? What an incredible stroke of luck!
...
[The video continues playing on the screen.]
Just as Huo Yuhao had finished fusing with the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm and was unconscious, a man and a woman rushed over.
[They are Bei Bei and Tang Ya, top students from Shrek Academy's inner court.]
[In the scene, Bei Bei is gentle and refined, while Tang Ya is mischievous and clever. They not only revived Huo Yuhao and tasted his grilled fish, but also extended an olive branch after learning that Huo Yuhao was an orphan.]
"Little Yuhao, join our Tang Sect!"
"Also, come back to Shrek Academy with us!"
It was this encounter that completely changed Huo Yuhao's destiny, transforming him from a homeless orphan into a student of the continent's top academy.
Upon witnessing this scene, Xuanzi, who had been furious, suddenly seemed like a completely different person inside the Sea God Pavilion in the Black World.
"Okay! Okay! Okay!"
Xuanzi suddenly jumped up from the chair, threw down the chicken bone in his hand, his face flushed with excitement, and slapped his thigh vigorously.
"Beibei! Tangya! Well done, you two little ones!"
Xuanzi stared at Huo Yuhao on the sky, his greed and excitement almost impossible to conceal. "A million-year soul ring... even though it's only a mental attribute, this is absolutely a super monster that has never been seen before or will never be seen again!"
"I never imagined that Shrek Academy would be hiding such a gem!"
"Now Shrek Academy really needs to nurture him properly!"
(End of chapter)