"Huuu..." Huo Yuhao splashed cold water to clean his face. He looked up at the mirror, feeling slightly astonished by his handsome features.
He knew that he was good looking before, but after absorbing the Life Gold, his appearance had taken on a more refined and captivating quality.
His once youthful face now had a mature, almost ethereal charm. The subtle changes in his features, like the sharper jawline and the clearer, more radiant skin, made him look like he had been sculpted by a master artist. There was the light scar on his lips, but it just added to his charms.
"Huh, it really doesn't look visible to the naked eye." Huo Yuhao muttered, slightly pulling back his hair bangs to reveal nothing but a smooth forehead. With just a thought, a faint outline appeared on his forehead and split open to reveal the third eye.
Looking at it, Huo Yuhao could instinctively feel the abilities within his third eye.
According to both Electrolux and Ancestor, the third eye on his forehead is a completely mutated eye that was a mix between the Eye of Life and the Rinnegan, thus it's now called the Eye of Eternity.
The abilities it holds are as follows: firstly, the Eye of Eternity had become a second spiritual sea that could be used to unleash and greatly amplify any of his spiritual abilities, for example his Spiritual Detection, right now after the rise of his spiritual power, has a range of 1 kilometers(1,000 meters) and with the use of the Eye of Eternity it can have the range of at least 4 kilometers.
Secondly, it is also capable of storing special tools within the 2nd spiritual sea. The first object within it was the Soul-Devouring Knife. While it's in his spiritual sea, it would continuously nourish his body with life energy in exchange of cultivating inside his spiritual sea.
When he tested the knife by stabbing it in a table, to his surprise, the table was covered in a layer of green light before it disintegrated into nothing right in front of his eyes. But that wasn't right, it didn't disintegrate into nothing but turned it into pure life force energy before it was absorbed into his second spiritual sea.
All things have life, Electrolux was right. He had also put in the Gunbai and hoped it becomes stronger.
Lastly, the Eye of Eternity can utilize six abilities collectively known as the Six Paths Technique: controlling attractive and repulsive forces with the Deva Path; mechanically altering one's body with the Asura Path; extracting souls through the Human Path; summoning various creatures through the Animal Path; absorbing soul and spiritual power through the Preta Path; and access to the King of Hell through the Naraka Path. Those were the abilities the Rinnegan usually have for the user.
However, after a careful examination by Ancestor, some of the paths have changed and even he couldn't tell what they were unless Huo Yuhao tests it out; which he could only use four abilities of the Six Paths every two days as it drains a significant amount of spiritual power.
Huo Yuhao was really excited to test out what the abilities could do but he would do it after the tournament, there was just too many eyes in the Star Luo City.
"Wait...summoning the Naraka Path, what does summoning the King of Hell mean?" Huo Yuhao asked.
Ancestor understood what he was thinking about and unhesitatingly shattered the hope in his heart. "It doesn't really summon the King of Hell, but a sort of...avatar that judges your target for interrogation. If the target tells a lie or refuse to answer the questions, the King of Hell would remove their tongue and consume it, killing them, sending their life force to you. However, if they told the truth, they would be spared but severely exhausted."
"I see...." Huo Yuhao's eyes dimmed and he hung his head low, a sigh escaped his lips. He had hoped that the Eye of Eternity could revive his mother, but unfortunately it couldn't.
He had hoped that Necromancy Magic could, since it was magic that raises the dead, but Electrolux quickly shot that down with a cold tone.
"The Divine Law of Necromancy raises undead zombies and skeletons, but it could never achieve True Resurrection. Even with my own variation of using light magic. Not even I, who was so close to divinity that I could be deemed as a Demi-God, no, a Quasi-God could do it. Unless.... you achieve Godhood, it is when you have that qualification that you could break the natural cycle of the world!"
'Godhood....I have to become stronger!' Huo Yuhao's eyes burned with a renewed determination.
When he returns to Shrek Academy, he'll ask Elder Xuan to let him train in the inner courtyard, with how much he's heard about the inner courtyard, it's the best cultivation land. If he secludes within it, will he be able to achieve Godhood? He should add about exploring the Great Star Dou to increase his fighting experience and his next soul ring.
Knock* Knock*
"Yuhao? It's me, let me in!"
"Dong'er? Hold up, I'm refreshining myself!" Huo Yuhao called back, quickly finishing up.
He dried his face, changed into his Shrek Academy uniform but without the green blazer, and opened the door, revealing Wang Dong'er standing outside with a bright smile. He could never understand it, but her presence to him was always a source of comfort and strength. Was it because of their Haodong power?
"Morning, Dong'er," Huo Yuhao greeted, offering her a warm smile.
Wang Dong'er froze, her eyes widened like saucers.
'D-Did he somehow get even more handsome than before?!' She had to bite down on her lower lip to stop herself from letting out a yelp, or Sea God forbid a moan.
She knew her attraction to Huo Yuhao but, was falling in love with him made her perception distorted or something? Cause she swore that he wasn't this devilishly handsome as he is right now!
'Hmmm~ I can't say I hate it though~'
"Dong'er? You alright? You're looking pretty red," Though she held back from saying anything, Wang Dong'er couldn't hide her flustered expression.
Wang Dong'er shook her head, trying hard to suppress her fluster and stepped inside, lightly punching his shoulder. "Good morning, Yuhao! I came to see how you were doing. Are you ready for the the second match of the round-robin section in an hour?"
"Do I really need to get ready? I'm leaving most of the fighting to you guys after all."
"What? Are you so high on your pedestal that you aren't going to at least support your friends?" Wang Dong'er looked at him in disdain.
Huo Yuhao rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever. I'm hungry, wanna go eat breakfast?"
"Yes! Ugh, I seriously thought you were going to drag me off to cultivate again....I mean, let's go eat!" Wang Dong'er shivered at seeing Huo Yuhao's impassive eyes at her, having been the mercy of such eyes a lot of times, she could easily tell the sadism and amusement hidden behind them.
Huo Yuhao snorted and was about to tease her, when he saw a strange red mark on her right arm and immediately he grabbed her wrist to examine it. "What's this?" he asked, concern flashing in his eyes.
Wang Dong'er looked surprised for a moment, then glanced at her arm. "Oh, this? It's nothing, just a small bruise from training," she said, trying to brush it off.
Huo Yuhao frowned, his gaze scrutinizing the mark. "A bruise? It looks... unusual." He traced the outline of the mark with his finger. It was an odd, almost geometric shape, not like any typical bruise he'd seen.
It looked more like the mark of something tight or constricting, rather than a simple impact.
"You..."
Wang Dong'er pulled her arm back slightly, and looked away. She went silent for a moment before letting out a sigh. "I....tried out the soul tool you bought for me yesterday, the Paralysis Ray, but something went wrong."
Huo Yuhao's eyes narrowed, killing intent flashed in his eyes. "It was a faulty soul tool?!"
"No, no, no, no, no! It wasn't the soul tool," Wang Dong'er quickly interjected, waving her hands in front of her as if to dispel the tension. "It worked perfectly fine. It's just... the fault lies with me."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
".....Remember that I absolutely disdain the use of soul tools when you initially offered them to us to use? Because a Shinobi uses any kinds of tools in order to complete a task?" Wang Dong'er began to explain.
"Well, the smoke bombs and hidden tool-like soul tools and the flying-type soul tool, I can use them perfectly. But other soul tools, like the Paralysis Ray....you're not gonna believe me, it sounds so ludicrous that it sometimes make me think that I'm going crazy!"
"Hey, hey, hey." Huo Yuhao gently interrupted, hugging her shoulders to reassure her. "It's okay, just tell me. I'm here to listen."
Wang Dong'er took a deep breath, her eyes meeting his with a mix of frustration and embarrassment. "It's like.....there's this weird block in my mind whenever I try to use modern or more advanced soul tools. There seems to be another consciousness in my mind that's rejecting the use of soul tools. This feeling's kinda strange, but it's not comfortable at all. However, I don't seem to be able to reject it."
"In the past, I could easily ignore the feeling but...."
Huo Yuhao was stunned. "What? Is there a problem with your spiritual sea?"
He immediately thought back to his own situation. Did Wang Dong'er have other souls living within her spiritual sea?
He still remembered what the Skydream had told him–Wang Dong'er also has three martial souls, like him. His three martial souls were already settled now. His Sharingan was his main martial soul without a doubt, while his second martial soul was the powerful Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. His third martial soul was very likely to be one that he couldn't add any soul rings to–the Divine Law of Necromancy, the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux.
However, what about Wang Dong'er? What were her three martial souls? Huo Yuhao stared at her with a serious expression.
"Dong'er, do you trust me?" Huo Yuhao asked seriously.
Wang Dong'er was stunned for a moment, nodding subconsciously, "Naturally. Why wouldn't I trust you?"
"....I might be able to see what's wrong with you. You might not know this, but soul masters such as ourselves have a spiritual sea where we store our spiritual power. As a spiritual-type soul master, I can check and see if there's anything wrong in your spiritual power." He leaned his forehead down against Wang Dong'er.
"If, it is okay with you? There will be no problems as long as you have complete trust in me."
Wang Dong looked deeply into Huo Yuhao's eyes, though flustered, she could still muster up a serene smile. "I trust you. But, what do we do if there really is a problem with my spiritual sea?"
"Then we'll solve that problem." Huo Yuhao replied unhesitatingly.
If there's one thing he was most capable of, it would be his spiritual power. After all, he had the support of an existence like Skydream! There was an extremely miniscule chance of a problem arising with the assistance of his Brother Skydream, who had a million years' worth of experience in controlling spiritual power.
Much less his terrifying Ancestor, Ice Empress and then the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux.
Seeing Huo Yuhao's confidence, Wang Dong'er nodded. "Okay. What do I have to do?"
"You just have to close your eyes and stop moving. No matter what happens, no matter what you feel, don't be surprised. Do your best to calm your mind. I'm going to carefully peer into your spiritual sea with my spiritual power."
"Okay." Wang Dong'er nodded, "Do we start now?"
Huo Yuhao nodded back, "We'll start now. Prepare yourself."
As Wang Dong'er closed her eyes, Huo Yuhao closed his. Their breathing seemingly became one as they felt each other's presence.
Huo Yuhao interacted with a lot of people when he began his journey to being a soul master. But out of all of his friends, Wang Dong'er always has a special place in his heart. For her, he would kill or die without hesitation.
Not even his sessions with Ma Xiaotao could change that.
This bond, strengthened by their shared experiences and the unique connection of their Haodong power, gave him an unwavering confidence in what he was about to do.
A gentle wave of spiritual power carefully flowed out from Huo Yuhao's forehead and into Wang Dong'er's body from the point at which their foreheads were touching.
Soul masters considered the area between the eyes, the brows, the forehead, and the nose the spiritual root of Heaven and Earth. It was the place which contained the spirit, the ancestral cavity, and the ancestral Qi. At the same time, it was where the spiritual sea resided. Placing their spiritual seas next to each other was naturally the easiest way in which Huo Yuhao was able to easily transfer his spiritual power to Wang Dong'er.
'Is this.....Dong'er's spiritual sea?' Huo Yuhao looked around with elation. For a connection between spiritual seas to work, both parties had to be extremely in sync. If one were to forcefully enter another's spiritual sea, it was very likely to cause damage to either parties' soul sea. At the very least, the connection happening at this moment proved the absolute trust Wang Dong'er had in him.
The spiritual sea could be said to be the most mysterious place in the human body. Even till today, no one had really been able to grasp the mysteries of the spiritual sea. As a result of that, Huo Yuhao was exceptionally careful as started delving into the depths of Wang Dong'er's spiritual sea.
But at this very moment, an indescribably terrifying aura suddenly surged out of Wang Dong'er's spiritual sea.
The image of a three-pronged golden trident seemingly appeared over Huo Yuhao's spiritual body.
That incomparably imposing aura was like a mountain. When faced with such terrifying might, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power was as small as a drop in the ocean.
"Run!" Both Ancestor and Skydream exclaimed in Huo Yuhao's ears.
Without any hesitation, his eyes changed into the Mangekyou Sharingan and he summoned the blue Susanoo as he retreated.
Boom*!
Cracked*!
As the gigantic trident slammed onto the invincible Susanoo, Huo Yuhao was horrified to see cracks forming on the skeletal spectre. The force of the impact was immense as Huo Yuhao's spiritual power was forced out and back into his physical body.
Similar to his spiritual power, he was flung back and crashed towards the wall, causing a crater to form.
His mind drew a blank. After a good ten or so seconds passed, Huo Yuhao gradually regained consciousness, and the scene before his eyes was plain once more.
He clearly saw Wang Dong'er standing there with his eyes still closed as his body slowly absorbed a light golden light. He was emitting a feeling of something familiar....
Swish*
"T-This is...?!" Huo Yuhao looked down on his left and was shocked to see the tribal tattos, the seal of the Ice God's Bone, letting out an intense blue glow.
"Divinity...." Huo Yuhao muttered in shock, realizing what Wang Dong'er was releasing and why the Ice God's Legacy was reacting.
Wang Dong'er....has connections to a God!
"Teacher Electrolux, do you have any idea what's going on with Wang Dong'er?" Huo Yuhao asked the only person with the most knowledge related to Gods.
"Since the process was too brief, I can't determine what it is for sure either. I could only faintly feel that there's something sealed within her body. This seal is extremely powerful, so unimaginably powerful. Even when I was at my strongest in my previous life, I'm afraid I couldn't even compare to this seal." Electrolux grimly said, appearing in a spectral form beside Huo Yuhao.
"This seal seems to be sealing something on Wang Dong'er's body, or putting it another way, something in her consciousness. But at the same time, it's also protecting her spiritual sea so that it doesn't corrode." He shook his head and returned to Huo Yuhao's third eye. "In any case, you shouldn't try it again. Just a step later, and your body and soul would've been obliterated."
"Also, don't worry about your little girlfriend. I don't know why, but a God is secretly protecting her."
"Gods were nothing but illusions in the world I came from. Once one broke through that realm, they had to give up their corporeal body and everything they had. A deity expands itself all across the world and controls everything, yet controls nothing at the same time. This is main reason why people from my world weren't willing to become gods."
"When gods appeared, their souls would spread across the world. If a new life graced the world when that happened, the newborn's vitality might very well cause a shred of the deity's soul to enter their body. This is very beneficial to humans because, it would endow that child with talents. Moreover, this deity wouldn't affect the newborn's body, and would gradually disappear as the human aged. To put it in other terms, it's called luck."
"Those who possess deities in them are lucky individuals. Don't you guys have that saying where lucky people don't have any worries in life?"
Huo Yuhao broke out in cold sweat and inwardly chuckled.
'No wonder she doesn't have much motivation. She does have the right to be lazy.'
He looked up at her and thought, '....The path to Godhood isn't easy. Even if I ask her about the divinity in her, she either doesn't know or can't provide much information.'
That was fine. He never really liked taking the path of others anyway. If he truly wanted to stand at the peak of the world, ascend to a higher plane of existence, then he could only rely on himself.
He will be his own God.
Wang Dong'er seemed to have woken up at this moment.
She slowly opened his eyes, and was taken aback when she saw Huo Yuhao on the wall. "Yuhao, what happened to you?! Did someone attacked you? I-"
Huo Yuhao smiled bitterly and said, "No, it's nothing. Also, the thing that's causing you trouble with soul tools? Yeah, don't think much about it for now. I'll tell you later on when you're a bit stronger."
"What? What do do you mean by that?! I....hold on, let me just help you out of there first."
"Glory to the Goddess!"
"H-Huh? Yuhao, what—"
"GLORY TO THE GODDESSS!" Huo Yuhao smiled brightly and started bowing, highly confusing Wang Dong'er.
"Wuh—?"
He was ambitious, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't make connections with whoever her sponsor was.
Thousands of miles away...
A massive castle built atop the peak of a mountain. The grey castle was filled with an archaic aura, making it seem as though it had reached the pinnacle of existence.
In the castle, two middle-aged men were drinking wine in a spacious hall.
These two men had originally been drinking wine when their bodies shook at the same time out of the blue. Soon, a look of terror appeared in their eyes. With a swoosh, they immediately stood up.
At this moment, four bolts of lightning seemed to have suddenly filled the hall. Two of them were the color of jade, while the other two were light brown. The palace-like hall creaked, failing to withstand the sudden terrifying aura that had exploded out in the room.
"Dong'er?!"
////////
AN: Fun fact, I was listening to "A Thousand Years by Christina Perri" while writing this.
❄️Shout out to the great Cultivators of my patreon, may you reach the peak of the heavens and conquer the earth! Pursue immortality and receive enlightenment!
•Julien
•Swift Arrow
•SpamSubi
•matatank
•B1G_DREAM
❄️A bigger shout out to the ones who ascended to become a One Above All!! The GOATS! THE MAJESTIES!!
•Tyler Dann
•Banphot Chada
•Adrian Durand
Wanna read 10 advanced chapters, other stories, photos of the characters and support me all at the same time so I can pump out more chapters, and possibly dish out extra chaps? Well then, head on over to my patreon and become enlightened cultivators!
P.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/FroztDouluo