"AAAAAAHHH!"
A large wave of water entered the lobby, flooding half the room in an instant, followed by the helpless cries of Hao as he tried to fight against the waters or get a hold of something.
But it was to no avail, he was quickly overwhelmed by the rushing waters and drowned.
There was a moment of silence in the flooded room, the water slowly coming into a calm still state.
"As expected, you didn't simply trapped me inside of a barrier," Huo Yuhao calmly said as walked down the stairs, his feet silently stepping onto the waters like it were solid ground. He looked down at the water and smirked, "You shifted the space in the villa, warping it into an incomplete pocket dimension. It explains why I can't reach out my Spiritual Detection outside and how the whole villa isn't crumbling apart."
Huo Yuhao's voice echoed in the empty room as he surveyed the flooded lobby. He didn't just blast the helpless possessed guy with a powerful Water Jutsu just to kill him, he held himself back enough that the guy would probably end up with some broken bones at most, he could easily do it with less flashy techniques.
However, Huo Yuhao had no intention of killing him. He wanted to research a spirit's abilities, a former Evil Soul Master at that. Sure there were some knowledge here and there from what he had read from Shrek Academy before he left and some of Tang Sect's books Tang Ya had beforehand and found in some hidden caches on the way here, but it was all vague and didn't delve deep into the soul.
It seemed like it was a unwritten rule for any research into a person's soul to be considered taboo, a bit surprising, considering that a soul master's power comes from one's soul. But Huo Yuhao couldn't let that stop him.
After all, he had the grey ball elder that his Ancestor acclaimed it to be one who rules over life and death. Even his father, the Sage of Sixth Paths, would have trouble to make it a draw if the gray ball elder was at its peak state.
If the elder had retained more of its original power, his Ancestor would've been more restrained and humble. He is a mere speck of the original's soul left while the elder was a master of souls, life and death. He could easily tear him apart.
'Ah, so you finally recovered.'
Huo Yuhao took a step forward with a knowing smile, and as the water parted beneath his feet, an old sharp axe was then thrown out of the waters towards his groin but he swiftly moved his feet around and dodged the attack.
"Trespassing... soul master pig! I'll kill you!"
Hao screamed as he lunged at Huo Yuhao from the waters, his face contorted demonically; red eyed, his skin wrinkled and blue, his teeth sharp, and with a fury-filled expression. But Huo Yuhao remained calm, his eyes shining with excitement.
Extending his hand towards Hao, he grabbed the front of his shirt and unhesitatingly threw him towards the second floor.
"C'mon now, don't tell me you didn't grant your vessel any of your abilities?" Huo Yuhao casually asked as he jumped towards the second floor, his gaze on Hao, the possessed man slowly getting up.
"You've degraded so much that you've only managed to do is make him look like a cheap ass monster makeup? How disappointing," Huo Yuhao teased as he landed gracefully on the second floor, his voice filled with mockery.
Hao growled in anger, the malevolent aura surrounding him intensifying and a dark shadow with red glowing eyes appeared behind him. His clothes were completely wet and he swiftly teared his top off, either for breathing room or as a show of might.
"Kill all Soul Master's... Stronger, I need... more power!" He threw his head back and roared like a wild beast, his eyes completely red and bleeding out. The dark shadow behind him grew bigger for a moment, covering the entire wall behind it, before enveloping Hao in a
"Well, that's interesting." Huo Yuhao raised his eyebrows, but instead of stopping whatever transformation Hao was undergoing, he was just going stand in place and wait for it to complete.
It was stupid, idiotic, overconfident and arrogant, obviously, but he really wanted to see its capabilities. This was something that anyone, even a Soul Master, wouldn't typically encounter in their lifetime ironically.
"Unforgivable..." A low mutter was heard from the dark ball surrounding Hao and slowly, the veil of darkness was peeled apart, like shadowy tendrils, and a different man appeared wearing a black cloak.
He was much older, with a bald head, pale greyish skin, sunken light green eyes that radiated malice and hatred, and a clean shaven face to clearly show off the layers of fine wrinkles on his body. Powerful soul power undulations emitted from his body, it felt foul, evil and... unnatural. The most intimidating factor was the eight soul rings floating around his body; two white, two yellow, one purple, and three black. An eight-ringed, Soul Douluo, Evil Soul Master!
"Finally, I have returned! After so long, I, Vold Mert, the Spirit Fiend Douluo, have returned Douluo continent! Heaven Dou Empire, Tang Sect, you will all pay for what you have done. For everything you took from me and more, I will repay everything a hundred thousand folds!" He growled at the last part, looking up at the ceiling with fury and hate in his eyes, imagining the faces of his enemies to know about his return, his lips curved into an evil smirk.
'Now if there ever was the best description of an evil man, he'd honestly win it.' Huo Yuhao whistled at the display of power the man was showing off that would make any soul master below six rings piss themselves but he wasn't afraid. Why?
Huo Yuhao smirked, taking a step forward, he began circulating his soul power and spiritual power. His Sharingan shone with intensity and all three of his soul rings appeared from underneath him."
Vold Mert finally gaze upon Huo Yuhao, regarding him with contempt and disdain for a moment before it was replaced by shock upon seeing his soul ring configuration.
"Ah, the young trespasser," But he quickly schooled his expression and calmly looked at him. "I have to say, I want to thank you for your help for causing my... host to fall down into the hole of desperation, as it was because of his blind anger that he gave me total control of his body when I promised him more power for his petty revenge and as you can see, I have came back into the world of the living!"
"Hm, I see. So, what are you going to do now?" Huo Yuhao asked with a flat stare.
"Ah, well..." Vold was surprised for a moment, not expecting the boy to be so calm. He thought he'd be all nervous or scared, but no. He wasn't faking it either. What the hell's going on here?
Nonetheless, he was a professional and he quickly answered. "Well, little Soul Elder. Although you had dealt some damage to my host's body, I will forgive you in the account of you helping me."
His eyes lit up, "Not only that, but I will also like to give you an opportunity that little in this world would have the chance to."
"And that is...?" Huo Yuhao tilted his head, a bit surprised by Vold's words. 'Is he going to–'
"Become my disciple, I can see you have talent in the dead and souls. With my guidance and your talent, I believe that in ten, no, in five years I can make you reach my level of cultivation!" Vold said with a maniac grin on his face.
Huo Yuhao blankly stared at him and at his hand. A few seconds of silence permeated the area before someone burst out in laughter.
"Pfft. Hahahahahaha–" Huo Yuhao held his forehead, laughing out in disbelief.
A throbbing vein appeared on Vold's forehead, clenching his outstretched hand, he yelled,
"YOU DARE MOCK ME, CHILD!?"
"Oh, oh, that's good." Huo Yuhao snickered, raising his head up to look at the enraged Vold with a mocking smile. "See, that's a very tempting offer. Most would consider it. If it were friend that you went after instead of me, she would've taken your offer after several minutes of hesitation and haggling."
Huo Yuhao's eyes turned cold, "But me, on the other hand, I wouldn't take the offer even if you blatantly lie and say that you can make me become a Titled Douluo in an instant. You wanna why?"
He leaned closer, a sneer on his scarred lips. "Because you ain't shit."
Not even a moment later after he said that, a bright flash of green light appeared before his eyes, crackling with death energy, his body shivered and he began to move in a flash, appearing several feet to the side.
The bright green flash of light hit the far wall behind Huo Yuhao, causing an explosion that distorted space and time, tearing a huge chunk of the wall and ceiling of the house to reveal an empty space with green wailing ghosts flying across the sky.
"Teleportation? No, that was just pure speed. It had some similarities to the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track..." Vold muttered as he turned towards Huo Yuhao, his serious face set into a furious scowl.
"To reject me, the Spirit Fiend Douluo, one who controls over the souls of the dead, the God. Of. Death!"
Huo Yuhao scoffed, "Oh please, you're not even a Titled Douluo yet, and you even gave yourself some kind of title?" He got a nasty snarl as a reply and another bright green flash, which he just swiftly dodged with Body Flicker Technique and another part of the house was destroyed.
'Damn, he immediately went to using his sixth soul ring skill.' Huo Yuhao felt cold sweat run down his temple, feeling a sense of danger from that skill. He grinned, feeling a bout of excitement run through his veins and raised his hands–
"No more playing games, little Yuhao. The situation has gotten worse," But he was interrupted by the unnamed elder's voice.
His eyebrows twitched, he wanted to ignore him but the hurried tone in his voice made him listen. 'Worse, how?'
"Don't you see it with your Spiritual Detection?"
Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes, then widened when he saw the spirits entering Vold's body.
'He's absorbing them?!'
"Yes," There was clear disgust in the elder's voice. "It's one of the basic abilities of those who delve into souls, Soul Absorption. It's a skill that absorbs souls and spirits around them to increase their strength. It's a vile and evil technique that deprives the souls and spirits from the afterlife or reincarnation. But what this brat is doing is a crude copy of said skill, as it only temporary boosts his power and would leave behind some severe side effects."
A spirit's power over the material plane depends on two things, one is their spiritual power and the other is their connection to the world. Considering this Vold Mert 's home and numerous spirits that he forcibly anchored here, he wasn't far off from his peak. More so when he was starting to absorb the souls and spirits trapped in this place.
Huo Yuhao would have definitely struggled, even outright die in just a few minutes of fighting the old freak, if he didn't have the grey ball elder in his spiritual sea.
"Little Yuhao, let me temporarily borrow your body. So I can rid of this... brat that dares call himself a God of Death, even though he isn't even qualified to be a Demonic Shaman." For the first time since Huo Yuhao encountered this elder, he felt some kind of emotion from him.
Anger? Contempt? Disgust? Or all three?
Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and nodded, an odd, yet pure smell of death suddenly surged out of his body as he opened his eyes.
The eyes that were originally a faint red and golden color had turned grey. It was a kind of grey that was filled with the vicissitudes of life, as though the owner could thoroughly understand everything in the world. What was even stranger was that a grey soul ring was slowly rising from beneath his feet. As that grey soul ring rose up, a string of fragmented shadow followed suit. One couldn't clearly tell whether it was one shadow or many shadows.
Vold felt an inexplicably stifling feeling as he looked at that grey layer, subconsciously causing his hands to shake.
'I'm... shaking? Impossible!' He shook his head and asked,
"Y-you're also an evil soul master?" There was a shocked look on his face when he asked this question.
"You don't have the right to know that, stupid brat." An aged voice replied, sounding aloof and arrogant.
Numerous throbbing veins appeared across his face and neck. Vold grew enraged once more, his anger rising to unprecedented levels. This was the first time that someone from the younger generation had the nerve to disrespect like this!
"You little fucking bastard!" His first, second, third and until the sixth soul rings lit up brightly all over his body. The souls and spirits let out a sorrowful cry as they entered Vold's body. The air around him turned heavy, capable of flattening a normal human being in an instant if they were near him.
"Die!!"
"It's a very familiar aura. Oh ye pitiful, anguished souls. Let me lay you all to rest and give you justice." The aged voice sighed, but didn't move as he lifted his finger.
A faintly grey ball of fire was burning on the tip of his finger. When those souls and spirits, even Vold Mert, felt it they stilled. All the growing power in Vold seemingly leaked out of his body.
"Big bug, since you're asleep right now, I'll rudely borrow a bit of your sealed power," The aged voice said indifferently, "I still can't recall much from my past, but I finally remember my own name."
His grey eyes flashed, three magatamas appeared.
"A puny Demon Shaman actually dares to show off with this kind of low tier Necromancy in front of me, the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux who possesses the Divine Law of Necromancy. Then, I'll let you play with fire!"
.....
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