Back in Shrek Academy, a few days after Huo Yuhao left.
"What? You're a clone and the true Yuhao went outside to train?!" Wang Dong stood up from his bed, completely shocked by.
Clone Huo Yuhao lightly nodded his head. "That's correct."
He had been staying silent about the truth to ensure that his friends wouldn't have the stupid idea to go after him and stop him.
"Seriously? This isn't some sort of joke, right?" Wang Dong narrowed his eyes.
"Well, I have only a fraction of the original's soul power and his abilities. So I'm guessing our...dual cultivation? Won't work." Clone Huo Yuhao slowly said, uncertain of his theory.
Honestly, most people would doubt someone as a clone if they were acting so indistinguishable to their original, could even replicate most of their abilities, and last for hours without puffing into oblivion.
To test it out and fully convince Wang Dong, clone Huo Yuhao raised both his hands towards the latter. Wang Dong hesitated for a moment before he raised his as well.
They then roused the soul power and martial souls in their body and started circulating it into each other. Their respective martial soul auras started emitting out of their bodies.
Strangely however, there seems to be a dissonance as various auras emitting from Wang Dong suddenly withdrew back into his body. While Huo Yuhao's dull and almost lifeless golden red aura lingered around for a moment before retreating.
A solid few minutes passed and Wang Dong slowly lowered his hands, a shocked look on his face.
"You've got to be kidding me. After we went through, the talks we had. And he just... Ugh!" Wang Dong threw his arms up, completely frustrated with his best friend's decision.
"I understand that you're upset," Clone Huo Yuhao said with a calm voice, "but the original Yuhao had his reasons for leaving. He wanted to become stronger–"
"Don't we all?!" Wang Dong interjected angrily. "I can get why he doesn't need to go to school anymore. As much as I reluctantly admit it, but you, eh, Huo Yuhao is a unprecedented genius! But he didn't have to go somewhere alone! We're friends! The least he could do is tell us in person that he's leaving."
The rims around Wang Dong's eyes turned red, tears flowing out of his eyes. "But he just up and left without even telling us. How could he do that to us? To...me?"
"...."
Clone Huo Yuhao didn't know what to respond. He felt like he should say something but he also felt as if that would only worsen the situation, so the best thing to do now was just to stay silent.
"...Fine." Suddenly Wang Dong, who had been looking down sobbing and clutching his bed's expensive blanket, muttered aloud. A determined look appeared on his face.
Clone Huo Yuhao blinked.
"Um... Wang Dong? What are you..."
"He wants to go out and get stronger for some reason that he hasn't told me, fine. But I'll show him! I'll become even stronger than him! I won't let him leave me behind! Especially since I've become a core disciple of the Martial Soul Institute." Wang Dong exclaimed, wiping away his tears.
Clone Huo Yuhao watched his best friend with a mix of admiration and concern. He understood Wang Dong's pain and frustration, but he also knew that Huo Yuhao's decision to leave was not something he took lightly.
But, eh. What would he know? He was just a clone anyway.
Clone Huo Yuhao brightly smiled, patting his best friend. "That's the spirit, Wang Dong! Prove my original that you'll be fine even without him."
"Yeah! Thanks Huo–eh, what should I call you?" Wang Dong grin fell as he awkwardly turned towards the clone.
Clone Huo Yuhao shrugged. Suddenly, at this moment...
"That's right! And he won't be alone in his endeavor."
Both boys blinked and they turned towards the open window to find a familiar trio of girls, glaring at the clone.
They were obviously Xiao Xiao, Ning Tian and Wu Feng standing outside.
The clone nervously gulped and raised both his hands.
"D-Don't shoot the messenger...? I'm much more squishy than the original!"
....
Near the central area of the Extreme North
"Achoo! Eugh, the cold is really getting to me now." Huo Yuhao sneezed and rubbed his nose, feeling the tingling sensation from the freezing air.
After a few hours after that dreaded encounter with the Titan Ice Devil King, Huo Yuhao continued on his journey towards the center of the Extreme North and find the Ice Empress, Bing Bing or Bing'er in Skydream's words.
During this whole journey, in order to further conceal himself, Huo Yuhao changed attire to completely white clothes in order to blend himself well with the environment. Also, because he was in the core region of the Extreme North, the cold became colder and the falling snow became thicker, making it a bit harder to traverse.
"Brother Skydream, I'm at the location you told me to go to and all I'm seeing is snow. What now?" Huo Yuhao asked, his voice slightly muffled by the cold.
Skydream Iceworm let out a long breath, his tone serious. "Yuhao, I need you to make a quick estimation. If you didn't have the protection of my shedded skin, how long could you last in this weather?"
Huo Yuhao was stunned and thinking about it for a moment, he replied, "If I use all of my soul power...20 minutes!"
Ancestor then quietly asked. "Little worm, don't take too long. If this goes sideways...I may have to step in and if I do, your lover and I will disappear from this world. So do not talk too much nonsense with her and get straight to the point."
Skydream wiggled its body and grumpily replied, "I know, I know! Don't pressure me too much dammit, or I'm going to make a bad impression on Bing'er."
"I'm pretty you already did since you said she chased you off the Extreme North..." Huo Yuhao muttered, amusement in his eyes.
"...." Skydream Iceworm's expression darkened and he angrily huffed. "Alright! We're going to start now, little Yuhao. Make a small underground ice house to shelter and hide yourself, next when I start using the shedded skin and start negotiating with the Ice Empress; do not move. In any circumstances when I'm talking to the Ice Empress will you come out, cause if you do, we are fucked!"
Huo Yuhao gulped nervously and nodded. "Understood, Brother Skydream. I'll stay hidden and wait for your signal."
With that, Huo Yuhao quickly dug into the snow, creating a small underground ice house for himself.
Once he was done, an intense undulation of soul power slowly began to appear within his mind, and Huo Yuhao felt waves of dizziness overcome him. By relying on the walls of the ice house, he was able to prevent himself from collapsing.
His only soul ring had already floated up into the air noiselessly, and the pure white soul ring released a brilliant luster. It slowly moved rhythmically into the air, hovering around his body as it did so.
The pale gold light in Huo Yuhao's eyes began to gradually transform, and he was very aware that he had lost control of his body.
At this moment, he felt his consciousness spreading outwards rapidly, expanding towards the distance. It felt as if he was overlooking the earth from the sky above, and it was an entirely different feeling from when he normally used his Spiritual Detection.
'This, this was a small fraction of what true overwhelming power is. The power to look everything in existence with a mere glance, shake the stars and control both the sun and moon with his hands.' Huo Yuhao's Sharingan glinted with ambition and drive.
There was no doubt that he wanted nothing more but to seek vengeance, but in order to do that was to obtain power!
Muffled sounds of thunder started to ring out in the gloomy sky, but Huo Yuhao discovered to his astonishment that his body had completely turned bright-gold in colour. The pure white halo surrounding slowly began to change color, his originally white soul ring gradually changed to pale gold, then from pale gold to bright gold.
Huo Yuhao's first and only intelligent soul ring's true form, the unrivalled Million Year Old Skydream Iceworm, had its true color finally revealed to the world!
Golden balls of light began to emerge from Huo Yuhao's forehead. As each golden ball left his body, Huo Yuhao began to feel more and more hollow. By the time the ninth ball of light had left his body, he'd even begun to feel somewhat lethargic.
In the beginning, the Skydream Iceworm had entered his body with a total of ten balls of golden light. This was the Skydream Iceworm's spiritual origin, as well as the nucleus of its strength. Now that nine balls of light had left his body, only one ball of light—the one that Huo Yuhao was in process of absorbing—remained within his body. That was the only connection left between Huo Yuhao and the Skydream Iceworm.
The nine golden balls of light inexplicably started stacking on one another. Once the nine golden balls of light had finished stacking atop one another, they gradually began to form a shape.
Unexpectedly, they solidified into the shape of a golden man made of light with an uncanny resemblance to a certain someone that was buried a few feet under thick snow.
Huo Yuhao's lips twitched. 'I don't know whether to be flattered or burst out in laughter.'
"Hm. Not bad, I'll give it a seven for the domineering golden brilliance. It makes the little worm seem he's divine." Ancestor could communicate with Huo Yuhao, his voice laced with amusement as he watched through the eyes of both Huo Yuhao and Skydream.
Once the Skydream Iceworm's spiritual body had taken shape, he sent a thought outwards with his spiritual power, "Ice Empress, I know that you've already sensed that I'm here. I, Skydream, have come to take my revenge. Do you dare to come out and meet me?"
As soon as the Skydream Iceworm had begun speaking, an unfathomably strong wave of spiritual power had instantly covered Huo Yuhao's body, thus shielding his presence within the ice house.
While simultaneously, black clouds began to appear in the air as the sky grew darker and darker, which caused the atmosphere to become increasingly grave. However, the golden luster emitted from the Skydream Iceworm's body remained as brilliant as ever beneath the dusky sky.
Although Skydream Iceworm might seem weak with his interactions with Ancestor and the grey ball of light, he was still an unprecedented one million year old soul beast! Although his close combat capabilities are shit, there wasn't a single soul beast on the entire Douluo Continent that could contend with him in terms of pure spiritual power!
A few minutes later, the once pitch black suddenly shook violently, and immediately afterwards, a jade green light instantly appeared in the distant northern horizon.
In the blink of an eye, the dusky sky had turned a penetrating yet alluring jade green. This touching shade of color made it seem like the aloof sky had suddenly turned into an enormous jade green gem. In an instant, the originally oppressive aura within the sky had vanished into thin air.
Feeling the sudden shift of the air, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but inhale a deep breath of icy air. 'She's coming!'
"Skydream, you're actually still alive. It's no wonder that you're the longest-living soul beast from our Extreme North." A crisp voice rang out in all directions, filled with disdain and mockery towards Skydream. It was then followed by a terrifying sound wave.
The snow on the ground instantly rose by three meters as the sound wave struck it, akin to a wave suddenly passing through an ocean.
Huo Yuhao, who saw all these happened through Skydream's eyes, subconsciously gulped.
Skydream's facial features suddenly turned gentle; full of warmth and love. "Ice Empress, you haven't died yet so why should I be dead? Don't you remember what I said that year? 'If I don't die, there'll be a day when I'll become your partner.' And you know me enough that I don't easily break my promises."
Huo Yuhao obviously seen such a sudden change of Skydream's expression through the Spiritual Detection, and with Skydream taking on his face; seeing such a change of expression and tone of voice when talking to Ice Empress gave him several goosebumps.
"You're courting death, Skydream!"
Ice Empress seemed to share his sentiment as she replied with such an extreme killing intent that it changed the sky to jade green.
.....
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