Silver flames burned fiercely in the pale palm, and within the flames was a translucent, humanoid shadow—the soul of Cheng Gang, the Protector Douluo of the Star Luo Empire.
Under the scorching of the heavenly fire, Cheng Gang immediately let out a heart-wrenching scream. The Holy Spirit Devouring Soul Flame specialized in attacking spiritual and soul power. To Cheng Gang, it felt as though his body had been thrown into molten lava, an excruciating pain that was unbearable.
His physical body was gone, devoured by the undead creatures that had charged at the front lines. Only his soul remained, which Huo Yuhao had extracted. Now, it was being refined by the strange fire into attribute-less soul power, which Huo Yuhao would absorb.
In the outside world, this ability would undoubtedly be considered the work of an evil soul master. Whether it was controlling undead creatures or refining and absorbing the souls of other soul masters, such actions would be seen as falling into the path of evil and would be hunted down by "righteous forces" like Shrek Academy.
But Huo Yuhao didn't care about such matters. Abilities themselves were neither good nor evil; they were defined by how a soul master chose to use them.
"You call me an evil soul master? Fine, then I'm an evil soul master. I won't argue with you."
After all, Huo Yuhao had no interest in aligning himself with a certain someone who possessed similar devouring abilities but hypocritically branded themselves as a paragon of righteousness.
"Isn't that right, Saint Tang?"
"Huo Yuhao, I am a high priest of the Star Luo Empire! If you kill me today, the empire will surely retaliate against you!" Cheng Gang roared.
"Retaliate?" Huo Yuhao sneered coldly and pointed to the countless undead creatures below. "Look at them. If I release them into the world, do you think devouring half of Star Luo would be a problem?"
Cheng Gang was shocked. Given the combat power of these undead creatures, if the Star Luo Empire were caught off guard, they wouldn't be able to organize an effective defense in time. It was entirely possible that Huo Yuhao could turn half of the empire into scorched earth.
"Those who kill will be killed in turn! You wanted to take my Heavy Black Ruler, but how did you know I didn't covet your treasures in return?" Huo Yuhao chuckled.
"But how did you even manage to reach your current cultivation level? You've become a Titled Douluo, yet you don't have a single soul bone on you? What's wrong, did Xu Jiawei find you too ugly to be worth the investment?"
Given Cheng Gang's status in the Star Luo Empire, it was impossible that he couldn't have obtained at least one soul bone. After all, even though soul bones were rare, they still appeared occasionally.
However, Cheng Gang was prideful and always sought the most suitable and exceptional soul bones for himself. He looked down on ordinary ones.
As a result, even after cultivating to the level of a Titled Douluo, he still had no soul bones. After all, high-level soul bones fetched astronomical prices at auction, and although the Star Luo royal family supported him, they weren't willing to spend too much on him.
"But after refining your soul, I'll gain access to all your memories. Your hidden treasures, wealth, and every secret of the Star Luo royal family you know will all become mine!"
Hearing this, Cheng Gang wanted to say something, but Huo Yuhao didn't give him the chance. The silver flames suddenly flared up, and Cheng Gang's soul shrank rapidly from its human shape, transforming into a small silver orb the size of a thumb.
The silver vertical eye on Huo Yuhao's forehead reappeared, and the silver orb was drawn into the eye by a powerful suction force.
The soul power of a Titled Douluo was no small matter. It would take Huo Yuhao some time to fully absorb it. But once he devoured all of Cheng Gang's soul power, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power would reach an extremely formidable level.
After finishing this, Huo Yuhao looked down at the countless undead creatures below and nodded, saying, "Thank you for your help. Don't worry, as long as you follow my orders, I'll make sure you have plenty of fresh blood and flesh to feast on!"
Though lower-level undead creatures like skeleton soldiers, skeleton knights, and zombies lacked intelligence, higher-level undead like death knights, skeletal liches, and corpse mages possessed intelligence that was not inferior to humans.
A rare few top-tier undead creatures, like the Hell Nether Dragon, could even speak human language.
The Hell Nether Dragon opened its massive skeletal mouth, speaking in astonishment, "Really? Humans are typically so deceitful, always treating us undead as enemies. But you're willing to let us devour the flesh and blood of humans and other intelligent creatures?"
"As long as you stand by my side, you're my comrades. And when my comrades are hungry, I'll naturally find them something good to eat," Huo Yuhao replied with a faint smile.
"Hmm, very well. You seem much easier to deal with than that rigid old man," the Hell Nether Dragon nodded. "If, in the future, you gain enough power to summon me from this demiplane to the real world, I wouldn't mind helping you kill those so-called enemies."
"Then we have a deal!"
Huo Yuhao laughed heartily as the undead creatures below dispersed like a receding tide. The gates of the undead demiplane reopened, and Huo Yuhao returned to the real world.
"Who destroyed this door?"
"There seems to be a palm print. What terrifying power!"
"Is Yuhao okay? Where is he now?"
Outside Huo Yuhao's room, the members of Shrek Academy stood around, staring in shock at the severely damaged door.
What surprised them the most was that despite the door being so violently destroyed, they hadn't heard a sound. This meant that someone with immense power had masked all the noise to prevent anyone from noticing.
"Could it have been someone from the Sun Moon Empire?" Xu Sanshi said angrily. "They don't dare to fight us head-on in the arena, so they resort to underhanded tricks. How cowardly!"
"We can't jump to conclusions," Bei Bei rebuked sternly. "We have no evidence that this was the work of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy. If we accuse them recklessly and we're wrong, it could put Shrek Academy in a difficult position."
"There are no signs of a struggle in Yuhao's room, which suggests that he wasn't attacked. He might have just gone out, and someone forcibly entered his room," Wang Dong analyzed.
"But what if the intruder was so powerful that Yuhao didn't have time to resist?" Xiao Xiao hesitated.
Everyone's expressions changed upon hearing this. To subdue Huo Yuhao before he could react, the intruder's strength must have been extraordinary. Could it have been... a Titled Douluo?
Ning Tian's face was pale. She was even considering mobilizing the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's forces in Star Luo City to turn the entire Star Emperor Hotel upside down.
At that moment, the bathroom door in Huo Yuhao's room suddenly opened, and he emerged, wrapped in a towel, his chest and abs mostly exposed.
"Huh?"
Seeing the group gathered outside his door, Huo Yuhao pretended to be surprised. He had noticed their presence as soon as he returned to his room, and since the point of his return had been the bathroom, they hadn't seen him emerge from the undead demiplane.
Several of the female students blushed and turned away, their faces reddening at the sight of Huo Yuhao's muscular body.
Wang Dong, trying to hide her true identity, didn't turn away but blushed while staring in Huo Yuhao's direction.
Suddenly, a mental ripple spread out silently, but only Huo Yuhao could hear it.
"Yuhao, come see this old man of yours."