Xiao Hongchen exchanged a look with her younger sister, Meng Hongchen, then laughed bitterly. "Shrek… what an Academy. Did you hear? Those little fellows are only 12 years old; over 2 years younger than us! They will be our rivals in 5 years."
Meng Hongchen was still unconvinced. "So what? They'll never rival our abilities."
Xiao Hongchen forced a laugh. "But I'm fearful. Not because of their prowess, nor because of their twin martial souls, but because of their unwavering and intimidating spirit, something that's unique to Shrek Academy. As for us, we lack of all these."
Meng Hongchen chewed on her words, and after a moment of silence, she lowered her voice and said, "Brother, can you understand why are they so stubborn? Is it worth it? This is only a competition! Are they not worried that they will end up sustaining critical injuries that will lead to a regression in their abilities, or even permanent disability?
Ma Rulong appeared beside them suddenly and said in a deep voice, "We are unaware because we are not members of Shrek. Yesterday, we received news from the academy that Shrek Academy sent us invitations. They cordially invite members of our academy over for an exchange. The academy has already chosen the two of you to lead the group, and we hope that the two of you can satisfy your thirst for knowledge and find what you seek in Shrek Academy."
Xiao Hongchen's eyes betrayed a look of obvious astonishment. She nodded her head after a moment of stupefaction and said, "Okay."
When Huo Yuhao regained consciousness, he felt intense pain pulsing through his body. The pain seemed to originate from his bone marrow, and from there to his skeleton, his passageways, his organs, and even his brain. Every single part of his body was throbbing in agony.
He groaned from the acute discomfort. Fortunately, his mind was clear. He relied on his resolute determination and gradually repressed these painful sensations, eventually adapting to them.
He did not rush to look outside as he closed his eyes. The soft and comfortable mattress told him that he was already back in the hotel. His first observation was the state of his physical body. He was able to acutely sense the changes in every part of his body with only his immense spiritual power and without using any skills at all.
Upon closer inspection, Huo Yuhao realized that there was nothing amiss with his body. Even his soul power had regenerated on its own, to around 20% of its full strength. He also had no idea why his body ached so much, especially the swelling pain in the trunk of his body and in his passageways. He couldn't help but recall the time when he had fused with the bones and essence of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion; he didn't just feel pain, he also had to endure an intense itch – that was the most unbearable feeling.
The bones of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion? Huo Yuhao had a sudden epiphany. Yes, it must be because the Ice Empress had channeled the power of her bones, and he himself had actually used a four hundred thousand year soul bone's power twice in a row within a short period of time. It was no wonder his body was rebelling; it was already a miracle that his passageways and his bones were not majorly affected.
With that in mind, Huo Yuhao immediately concentrated on channeling the soul power in his body according to the Mysterious Heaven Technique. The technique itself had rejuvenating qualities in and of itself, and was thus the most optimal choice.
Indeed, once his soul power circulated through his body, he began to feel cool sensations coursing through his body, and his pain was instantly reduced considerably.
As the pain receded, his mind became clearer and more lucid. The first question he thought of was, "Did we win?"
There was no way he could answer his own question. All he could remember was that he seemed to call for aid from the Ice Empress, and when the Ice Empress made her move, he blacked out, and everything that came after that was unknown to him.
He had sacrificed way too much for this competition. How could he not be concerned about the outcome? He murmured under his breath even before he opened his eyes, "Did we win?"
"Don't worry, victory is ours. We defended the honor and glory of Shrek," a tender voice rang out from beside his ears. Once he heard these words, a wave of indescribable relief flowed through his entire body. He felt his entire body relax as he was bathed in tranquility.
We won, we won. We managed to protect the honor and dignity of Shrek.
After a tiny moment of exhilaration with that reply in mind, he wanted to open his eyes. However, he eventually fell into a deep sleep – the toll on his body was simply too great, and he needed some time to recuperate.
"You guys are so powerful!" The person that was sitting beside Huo Yuhao's bed, and who had conveyed the news of their victory to him was the appointed group leader of the squad sent forth to participate in the competition, Ma Xiaotao.
The competition was over, and Huo Yuhao and all the others were either injured or expended. Wang Dong's condition was the most positive, but even he had gone out like a light and fainted in the end. Only Jiang Nannan was able to retain her consciousness.
Under such a circumstance, how could Wang Yan cope on his own? He could only inform Ma Xiaotao, whose injuries had recovered significantly by now, as well as Dai Yaoheng and Ling Luochen. As for the situation with the competition, he could no longer conceal the truth, and neither did he want to do so anymore.
After listening to Wang Yan's recounting of what had happened, Ma Xiaotao and the two others fell into a deep silence. Along with Wang Yan, they bore the heavy responsibility of taking care of Huo Yuhao and the others.
Wang Yan accompanied the therapists sent forth by the Star Luo Empire to care for Xiao Xiao and Bei Bei, who were both heavily injured. Dai Yaoheng was responsible for He Caitou, while Ling Luochen took care of Wang Dong. Ma Xiaotao was naturally watching over Huo Yuhao.
Jiang Nannan had to take care of Xu Sanshi (that lucky chap!); no matter how reluctant she was, as she couldn't just leave him to die. There was nobody else left, and in light of his heavily damaged vitality and outstanding performance, she took it upon herself to take care of Xu Sanshi.
This was the night after the competition, and Huo Yuhao woke up momentarily in a daze. Wang Dong was just as expended and exhausted, but for some reason, he was still stuck in a deep sleep. He Caitou was naturally stronger, and was in a much better state after a series of treatments.
Even Bei Bei, who was more heavily injured, was awake by now. Only Xiao Xiao, who was in a far more dire state, remained unconscious, though her injuries had stabilized – it was hard to say how long she would need to fully recover.
The Star Luo Empire deployed their best medical resources to aid them in their recovery.
Ma Xiaotao drew a blanket over Huo Yuhao and caressed his hair. Her face was extremely serene and endearing as she whispered, "Yuhao, do you know? Do you know that I am angry, and I'm angry with myself? I am the group leader, and all this should've been my responsibility, but I gave it all to you guys instead. Rest assured, we will soon bear the mantle of defending Shrek's glory, and I will let everyone know that Shrek Academy will not be bullied or disgraced."
Her voice was soft and gentle, but one could see a cold fog of in the deepest recesses of her eyes.
Her loss of ground against the Evil Soul Master had heavily affected her. In this competition, Huo Yuhao and the others' performance also made her extremely agitated. She had never felt such belligerence before.
The next time Huo Yuhao came to, it was already the next morning. His physique had undergone a drastic change after the infusion of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's bones. This time, his exhaustion did not just stem from the expenditure of his soul power; more substantially, it came from when the Ice Empress was manipulating his body and channeled the true power of the bones – his body was nearly unable to withstand the pressure.
After a day and night of recuperation, in addition to the natural regenerative abilities of his bones and bodily functions, he felt a lot better than before.
Ma Xiaotao drifted into his sight the moment he opened his eyes.
Ma Xiaotao was not clad in red like she usually was. Instead, she was wearing a cascading white dress and was just quietly sitting there, with her flowing pink hair hanging loosely behind her back. There was an enchanting beauty and tranquility about her.
"Sister Xiaotao," Huo Yuhao shouted in shock.
Ma Xiaotao grinned and said, "What? Are you feeling better?"
Huo Yuhao sensed the state of his body. His soul power was almost fully replenished, and even though he could feel throbbing aches all over his body, his passageways were intact. The sentence spoken by the Ice Empress when she took over his body floated into his mind.
Control – you must be able to control every single ounce of power in your body with meticulous accuracy, and only then can you defeat a stronger opponent.
The true power of the Ice Empress was not something that his current body could handle. However, after the first channeling of her power, the reason why his body was hurt but not damaged was due to the Ice Empress' perfect control! The impeccable manipulation was simply spectacular and breathtaking to him.
"I'm feeling a lot better." Huo Yuhao struggled to get up, and his blanked slipped down from his shoulders. He suddenly realized that there wasn't a single thread on his body as he gasped and reflexively hugged himself across his chest.
"Haha." Ma Xiaotao chuckled as she watched his awkward display of embarrassment. "Seriously? It's not as if I haven't seen your little 'peanut' before."
Huo Yuhao's mouth hung agape as he felt his face flush with hot blood. His cheeks were red and puffed out as he exclaimed once again, "It's not a peanut!"
Ma Xiaotao couldn't control her amusement any longer as she laughed heartily. Her actions were faintly elegant as she said, "I guess it's true that no matter how old you are, males will always have an unrivaled ego about that thing. Alright, I won't tease you anymore. Since there's nothing you need to do, go wash up and grab a bite. Then you will rest," she stood up as she spoke and stretched her back lazily.
She had been watching over Huo Yuhao for an entire night. No matter how powerful her abilities were, she hadn't fully healed from her own injuries, and it was inevitable that she felt a little exhausted. Her stretch instantly placed her perfect and even slightly exaggerated curves in front of Huo Yuhao, and caused his little guy to flush even more.
At this moment, the door opened, and somebody walked in. From that person's perspective, he just witnessed Ma Xiaotao stretching her back, and the half-naked Huo Yuhao, whose cheeks were flushed with embarrassment.
"You… you guys…" Wang Dong gasped as he stood at the doorway, stunned at the sight before his eyes, which started to grow red.
Ma Xiaotao stretched once more before she sauntered to the door and came up in front of Wang Dong. She tapped him lightly on the head. "Don't think about all this nonsense at such a young age. I think he's fine, and you look like you've recovered as well. Go grab a bite together," she said as she pushed the door open and stepped out.
This light tap on the head knocked Wang Dong to his senses and he instantly reoriented himself. He scratched his head and laughed at himself – yes! We're only twelve years old.
"How are you, Yuhao? You look like you were just violated," Wang Dong snapped.
Huo Yuhao dove right back under his blanket. "Xiaotao was right – your head is just full of nonsense with all that talk of violation. She said we won, so please tell me, how did we win?"
Wang Dong grunted and sat down on the same stool that Ma Xiaotao had just gotten up from. "Of course it was done with a single hammer stroke from my Soul Elder that silenced them all."
Huo Yuhao was a little confused, and asked curiously, "Was I not the one that dealt the winning blow?" Even though he didn't know what had happened, he had absolute faith in the powers of the Ice Empress.
Wang Dong recounted the final scenes of the battle in detail, including the part where he threw out the hammer.
"A hammer? Truly a masterstroke! That must be your second Martial Soul. What's it called?" Huo Yuhao asked curiously.
Wang Dong watched his face of plain calmness and asked with amused impertinence, "Aren't you surprised that I have two Martial Souls?"
Huo Yuhao grunted and answered, "What's so surprising about that? I've known that all along."
"Eh?" Wang Dong glared and opened his eyes wide. "No way! I've never revealed my second Martial Soul before!"
Huo Yuhao laughed mischievously and said, "But our Martial Souls have fused before. Don't you know the requirements for a Martial Soul Fusion Skill? Teacher Wang Yan said it before – even though a Martial Soul Fusion Skill doesn't require both parties to have the same Martial Souls, they have to be compatible with each other. The strength of the Martial Soul Fusion is also intricately connected to our compatibility, and our compatibility rate was so high that even Teacher Wang said it was extremely rare. How can it be that I have two martial souls and you only have one? I will never believe that! So, even though I don't know what it is, I've always known you had a second martial soul."
"Then why have you never asked?" Wang Dong murmured as he lowered his head.
Huo Yuhao shrugged. "Why would I? Everybody has their own secrets. Even though we are the best of friends, probing into others' secrets is not a good thing. Everybody needs personal space, no?"
Wang Dong raised his head once again as he glanced at Huo Yuhao with a look of astonishment. "That means that you have a secret that I don't know about! Quick, spill it!"
Huo Yuhao chortled and said with resolute righteousness, "Over my dead body!"
A cunning look came over Wang Dong's face. "So you won't say it unless I beat you till you're dead?" He pounced on Huo Yuhao as he spoke.
"Help!" Huo Yuhao screamed as they fought into a bundle with the blanket separating them.
Wang Dong tugged on the blanket and Huo Yuhao, who was hiding underneath it, was instantly completely exposed…
"Ah…"A shrill cry came out from Wang Dong's mouth as he saw the said "little peanut" that Ma Xiaotao was just talking about.
Huo Yuhao snatched the blanket back and glared at Wang Dong with furious eyes. "You gangster – you even want to peep at people of the same gender?"
Wang Dong recovered at the same time and shot back, "So you've peeped at people of the opposite gender?"
"I… Of course I haven't!" Huo Yuhao denied, but the glorious images of his tryst with Ma Xiaotao inside Sea God's Lake slowly drifted into his head. For young men, it is normal to have such fantasies as long as one doesn't lose control.
Wang Dong leapt down from the bed with puffy cheeks and said, "Alright, go wash up and get dressed now so we can eat. I came to see you as soon as I woke up, so I'm famished. I haven't eaten anything since the competition yesterday."
As he spoke, he turned around and strolled over to the sofa on the side and closed his eyes as he turned away from Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao got out of bed as well and stretched his body, feeling sore all over. However, after a night's rest and the natural healing abilities of the Mysterious Heaven Technique, his mobility was not affected.
"You're right, it's time to grab a bite. We should continue training and healing once we're done eating. My overdraft from the competition is serious, and my passageways are swelling with discomfort. We still have another round of the competition tomorrow, so we have to try our best to recover today. We've only cleared a single challenging hurdle – eh? Who's that?"
As they were speaking to each other, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt an ominous tinge of alarm flash by in his head as he glanced towards the window subconsciously.
Following the continuous rise in his abilities and his training of the spiritual sea, Huo Yuhao's Spiritual awareness was a lot sharper than before. In addition to that fact, the arriving party had no intention to mask himself or herself, so Huo Yuhao detected the intruder at the first possible instance.
In a flash, a single person appeared before Huo Yuhao. Fortunately, he was properly dressed at this point, and his "little peanut" wasn't exposed.
The person who came was an elder, who was scraggy and of average height. However, he seemed to be brimming with energy. On the surface, he appeared to be around 60 years old, and his short hair was dark-brown. His gaze was filled with passion and vigor as it landed on Huo Yuhao. An invisible pressure bore down on Huo Yuhao and stifled him instantly.
Wang Dong, whose eyes were originally shut, immediately bounced up upon hearing Huo Yuhao's voice and stood beside him. There was no doubt that the elderly man who had come in through the window didn't harbor good intentions.
The elderly man did not respond. As he raised his right hand, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong felt their eyes go dark as the surrounding light dimmed. A frightening soul power that left them fetid permeated the entire room in an instant.
At this point, they felt like they were trapped in a cage, without even a chance to struggle and resist.
As he watched the elderly man, Huo Yuhao was bewildered. He had never seen this man before and neither did he know what he was here for.
"Elder, who are you? Are you here to find me?" Huo Yuhao posed the same question again. At the same time, he lifted his hand to protect Wang Dong, who was behind him.
Both he and Wang Dong did not unleash their martial souls at this moment, as they could sense the immense gap between them and this elderly man in front of them. He was not someone that could be resisted easily even if they teamed up together against him. Since this was the case, unleashing their martial souls could have the undesirable effect of provoking the elderly man. At the very least, they had to clarify the situation first.
The elderly man snorted as he cast his piercing and vigorous gaze on Huo Yuhao's face. He said indifferently, "Tell me, which human form of the Ten Great Savage Beasts are you? While you have concealed yourself well, you can't fool me, even though you might fool others."
Huo Yuhao was incredulous as he replied, "What do you mean, Ten Great Savage Beasts? Elder, I have no idea what you are talking about."
"You have no idea what I am talking about? Stop pretending; it's useless. Don't even think of trying to escape. With your current abilities, you don't stand a chance against me. I have already sealed this place with my soul power. Neither your voice nor your body will have a single shred of a chance of escaping."
Huo Yuhao furrowed his brows. "Elder, I have seriously no idea what you're talking about or why you are here."
The elderly man guffawed and seemed to be very proud of himself, "Very well, since you're not going to admit anything, I shall expose you then. I shall let you die convinced."
As he spoke, the elderly man stepped forward and his aura erupted, forcing Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong to retreat uncontrollably. They even fell back onto the sofa.
"I am Cheng Gang, the Protector Douluo of the Star Luo Empire. On that day, how did you manage to emerge victorious over your opponent during the competition between Shrek Academy and Justsky Academy?"
After hearing his words, Huo Yuhao's heart could not help but skip a beat, as he understood what the elderly man was talking about. While Huo Yuhao was not exceptionally smart, he had become much more intelligent after he fused with the Skydream Iceworm. Not only was he much more mature than others of the same age, he was also more pensive. He now understood that the elderly man could have sensed the aura of the Ice Empress, which explained the man's previous question. The elderly man had taken him for the human form of a hundred thousand year soul beast!
As Cheng Gang looked at the stunned Huo Yuhao, he assumed that Huo Yuhao was feeling guilty over what he said and added, "During the competition, you were forced to use your origin power, am I right? At that moment, you inevitably revealed the aura that you originally possessed. To others, they might not have noticed, but you can't escape my sharp eyes. My Martial Soul contains a spiritual sense that is extremely sensitive. At the very first moment, I had already felt your aura."
"Let me think, among the Ten Great Savage Beasts, only two of them belong in the ice-type category. One of them is the Snow Lady, who is ranked third, and the other is the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, who is ranked eighth. Which of them are you?"
Huo Yuhao was truly stunned by the judgment of the elderly man now. Besides the fact that he was not the human form of a Soul Beast, this elderly man's judgment was flawless.
While the elderly man referred to her by a different name, Huo Yuhao could tell that the Snow Lady that the elderly man was talking about was actually the Snow Empress, as the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion called her. As for the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, wouldn't it be referring to the Ice Empress herself?
What was it with these Ten Great Savage Beasts? The Titan Snow Devil King, ranked last among the Three Heavenly Kings in the Extreme North, was not even included. As for the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, she was even only ranked eighth among the Ten Savage Beasts. The rankings were indeed frightening and astonishing!
"Alright, you don't have to act foolish anymore. You won't stand a chance. I never expected my luck to be so good – that I would manage to catch one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts today. Whether you are the Snow Lady or the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion King, my reward will be an entire set of transcendent soul bones. Haha, hahahaha."
As he spoke, the elderly man extended his hand towards Huo Yuhao, trying to grab hold of him.
Huo Yuhao did not resist, as both he and Wang Dong were completely helpless against the elderly man. The immense Titled Douluo-level abilities of the elderly man allowed him to summon his soul power to suppress their actions.
Once he grabbed hold of Huo Yuhao, the elderly man tightened his grip on Huo Yuhao's neck using his other hand. A gush of vast soul power surged instantly into Huo Yuhao's body.
At this point, Huo Yuhao felt his body swelling up like a balloon. Regardless of whether it was the Skydream Iceworm, the Ice Empress or Electrolux, they did not react. Against an invincible opponent, none of them could save him with this diminutive figure of his.
Huo Yuhao felt that the whole situation was absurd. Am I just going to ridiculously die like that? It was only his first time seeing Cheng Gang! Furthermore, he was not even any form of Soul Beast.
"Oh? Something's not right." Cheng Gang was suddenly dazed, and the soul power that he had injected into Huo Yuhao's body suddenly stalled. Following that, he swiftly rushed to the bedside and flung Huo Yuhao onto the bed. After that, both of his hands slapped Huo Yuhao's body rapidly.
This time, the surge of soul power was considerably less than before. Huo Yuhao could only feel a numbing sensation originating from the bones all around his body. He could not tell whether he was comfortable or feeling awful as this sensation coursed through his entire body. But Cheng Gang's dense soul power did agitate the circulation of blood in his veins, which alleviated the overbearing pain caused by the Ice Empress.
As Cheng Gang increased the frequency of his slaps on Huo Yuhao's body with his palms, his expression became more and more dismal too.
Finally, he wrenched Huo Yuhao from the bed and dragged him in front of him, bellowing, "Are you not the rebirth of a savage beast?"
Huo Yuhao stared at him coldly, "Since when did I tell you that I am the rebirth of a savage beast? I am a true, living human being!"
Cheng Gang reacted to his words like a deflated balloon and threw Huo Yuhao onto the bed violently. Then, he said depressingly, "How is this possible, how is this possible? I clearly sensed the aura of a savage beast! I can't be wrong. Only extremely powerful savage beasts will possess such a strong undulation of life force!"
Under the suppression of his soul power, Huo Yuhao was immobile. However, he could still speak, "That's because of your own greed. There's no harm in telling you, my Ice Martial Soul is indeed the Ice Jade Scorpion."
Cheng Gang's face was struck with a look of revelation. "So that's the case. So that's the case… It's just that… how are you able to make the aura of the martial soul of your Ice Jade Scorpion appear with traces of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion? This is impossible! Moreover, how did the martial soul of the Ice Jade Scorpion appear? I have never heard of anyone who possesses such a martial soul."
With regards to this Titled Douluo elder who had appeared so abruptly, Huo Yuhao was extremely riled up, and he bellowed in rage, "How should I know? Aren't you the Titled Douluo here? You should know better than I do. But you came here to grab me before even clarifying the situation?"
"Forget it, Yuhao. This elder is not being deliberate here either." Wang Dong finally spoke, and his voice in an unusual, tender tone. He even coupled the smile on his face with adulation. "People cannot avoid making mistakes. Elder Cheng might be a super expert, a Titled Douluo, but it's inevitable that he will make mistakes too. He's not doing this on purpose, and he didn't cause you any real harm either. Just forget it."
As he said that, Wang Dong even shot a look at Huo Yuhao.
They had been partners for such long time, to the point where they were practically telepathic. Huo Yuhao felt his heart skip a beat as he instantly understood what Wang Dong was trying to do and scowled at himself – he wasn't as calm as Wang Dong in such a crucial moment!
Only the three of them were inside the room at this moment, and the entire room had been sealed off. If this Titled Douluo wanted to cover up what had just transpired, or if he suddenly felt murderous and wanted to silence them forever, then nobody could save them!
However, a sudden change in attitude wasn't the way to go either. Huo Yuhao grunted once and stopped talking entirely.
Cheng Gang growled, "It's just my bad luck. You two little kids better watch your mouths."
Wang Dong inquired, "I haven't asked – what is your title?"
Cheng Gang snorted indifferently and said, "Neither of you are worthy of knowing it." As he spoke, he waved his right hand and withdrew the soul power in the room. With that, he leapt through the window, and his figure vanished.
Only when they couldn't feel that intense pressure anymore did Wang Dong and Huo Yuhao heave a heavy sigh of relief at the same time. They could sense how close they had been to death in front of power as real as what had just stood before them.
Huo Yuhao walked up to close the window once again. He clenched his fists tightly and turned to Wang Dong. "We were bullied and humiliated just because we're weak. I will remember his humiliation by heart, and I will avenge it."
Wang Dong didn't respond directly, instead changing the subject. "Wash up, let's go eat."
"Alright." Huo Yuhao acknowledged and stepped into the bathroom. At this moment, he felt as if the dormant Skydream Iceworm and Ice Jade Empress Scorpion had just woken from their slumber.
"There are truly many talented individuals hiding in plain sight. I only released a single strand of my aura that day, and I was instantly discovered. How dangerous. However, it was only a weak Titled Douluo. Who knew that a day like this would come, when a person with abilities as weak as his could stomp around arrogantly before me. Back in the day, I would have turned him into an ice statue."
The Ice Empress' voice was filled with fury and exasperation.
Huo Yuhao sighed and asked, "Ice Empress, what are the Ten Great Savage Beasts?"
The Ice Empress knew that he was feeling a little despondent, and thus explained patiently, "The Ten Great Savage Beasts is a term used by humans to refer to the ten most powerful Soul Beasts on the mainland. It's only a ranking given to the few that they know. That guy is an idiot – once we break through the two hundred thousand year mark, we cannot be reborn into a human anymore. The weakest of the Ten Great Savage Beasts have already had more than three hundred thousand years to reach mastery – how can they take human forms? He didn't even consider that."
Huo Yuhao was distracted by this discussion about the Ten Savage Beasts. "Who is on the list? I didn't know that there were so many Transcendent Soul Beasts."
The Ice Empress answered, "You wouldn't know even if I told you. However, the Ten Savage Beasts may not be the most powerful soul beasts. Put simply, the older a soul beast is, the more powerful it becomes. However, the list curated by humans doesn't include the oceanic soul beasts. Even if the list only included the soul beasts on land, it doesn't include entities like Skydream, who train through hibernation, and other powerful entities who haven't been discovered by you humans."
"Oceanic soul beasts? Are they powerful?" Huo Yuhao asked in astonishment.
The Ice Empress replied without hesitation. "Of course they are powerful. However, the truly powerful ones all reside in the deepest abyss of the ocean. Furthermore, humans have limited abilities to venture into the sea, so the oceanic soul beasts aren't disturbed by humans as much as the soul beasts on land. Thus overall, they are collectively more powerful than the soul beasts on land. However, the competition for survival in the ocean is a lot crueler, so the various breeds of soul beasts in the ocean are a lot larger than those on land. Therefore, even powerful oceanic soul beasts run the risk of death if they meet an even more terrifying species of soul beast. This is the reason why I cannot confirm whether oceanic soul beasts can rival the most powerful soul beast on land."
Huo Yuhao nodded in acknowledgement and asked, "Who's topping the list of Ten Savage Beasts? What's his power like?"
"I'm not too sure myself," The Ice Empress answered, "You should ask the Skydream Iceworm, maybe he'll know. All I know is that the leader of the Ten Savage Beasts resides in the Great Star Dou Forest. However, I don't think he's more powerful than the Snow Empress."
"Right, Brother Skydream, how could I forget about you? You have a million years of soul power – you should be considered one of the savage beasts, shouldn't you?"
"Him? A savage beast?" Before the Skydream Iceworm could respond, the Ice Empress dismissed his comment. "He's just a gluttonous bug, he can't be considered a savage beast. If not for his 'contributions' to the Great Star Dou Forest, there wouldn't have been so many powerful soul beasts there."
The Skydream Iceworm was indignant and retorted, "Isn't your bloodline better? If you had just played nice and followed me, we would have been able to combine our powers as husband and wife, and we would have reigned supreme over the world!"
The Ice Empress laughed coldly and said, "Husband and wife? Are you even worthy? I think you're only worthy enough to be my food. If you had just let me gobble you up back then, I might have actually become the most powerful individual on the mainland."
The Skydream Iceworm did not flatter the Ice Empress as much as before anymore. Perhaps it was due to his realization that his chances with the Ice Empress weren't too great anyway, but he had decided to toughen up. "Eat, all you know to do is eat. Are you a scorpion or a pig?"
"Do you wish to die?" the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion muttered darkly.
The Skydream Iceworm fearlessly exclaimed, "Come! Bite me! Since we're all locusts on the same string, Yuhao will die if I die, and you will be gone if he dies. Hmph."
"Okay, stop arguing. Let's just go to sleep." Huo Yuhao tapped himself on the head as he felt a headache coming on.
The Ice Empress said, "Yuhao, your body is slowly recovering. You should work hard to break through to Rank 30; then you'll be able to control my powers more smoothly – at least, you'll be able to protect yourself much better."
"Yes," Huo Yuhao answered.
At this point, the frail old voice of Electrolux rang out. "Obtain that Ominous Soul-Devouring Carving Knife as quickly as you can. It holds great meaning for you, and for me as well. With it, my consciousness will no longer run the risk of dissipating."
"Okay." Compared to the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Empress, Huo Yuhao was more deferential towards the Electrolux, and even trusted his words more. He wasn't just calm and composed. He used to be a human himself!
Once he finished washing up, Huo Yuhao went out for a meal with Wang Dong. Neither of them mentioned anything about what had just transpired – even though their opponent had been a Titled Douluo, it had still been a great humiliation. Furthermore, their team were the only members of Shrek Academy inside Star Luo City, as they were the contest participants, and the leader of the entire group was Teacher Wang Yan, who was only a Soul King. Who could seek justice for them? That guy was a Titled Douluo from the Star Luo Empire! This humiliation would be forever imprinted in their hearts.