The strange words made Huo Yuhao furrow his brows. The young man thought he had convinced him, but before he could continue speaking, the next scene left him completely stunned.
Huo Yuhao's eyes suddenly glowed with a rose-gold light, and a peculiar golden radiance blossomed from his forehead. It was like the first light of dawn—not particularly bright, yet it made the young man instinctively squint. From within the golden light, a vertical eye slowly opened.
"The Eye of Destiny!?"
As if he had finally figured it out, the young man screamed in terror, unable to hide his fear any longer.
"You're not a transmigrator! You—you're Huo Yuhao!"
That vertical eye was none other than the Eye of Destiny, a unique life-bound artifact that had accompanied Huo Yuhao's soul through his reincarnation.
Huo Yuhao wasn't surprised that the young man recognized it. From the way he had behaved earlier, it was clear that this person knew too much about him. Before this encounter, Huo Yuhao had no connection with Dai Huabin, and the fact that the young man had incited the guards to attack him was a clear sign that he was deliberately targeting him.
If Huo Yuhao hadn't been reincarnated at just the right time, he would've likely been killed by the guards. And this person, who knew so much about him, might also know about his mother's situation.
At this thought, a violent killing intent flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes. He alone knew how much he cherished this second chance after his rebirth. And now, someone was already trying to destroy everything. There was no way he could let this person live.
But before that, he had to figure out what the young man meant by "transmigrator."
Feeling the undisguised killing intent from Huo Yuhao, the young man trembled all over. His body finally regained some strength, and he hurriedly turned to flee. However, the next second, he felt a powerful force grip the back of his neck, throwing him off balance and slamming him to the ground.
The intense impact left him dizzy, and the sharp sound of bones cracking filled his ears. Pain surged through his limbs, forcing him to scream in agony. In just a moment, all four of his limbs had been dislocated.
"Please, don't kill me! I'm useful! I can help you take down Tang San!"
However, Huo Yuhao paid no attention to his pleas. If it weren't for the need to prevent the pain from causing too much mental turmoil and interfering with his next steps, he wouldn't have been so gentle.
Raising his other hand, Huo Yuhao placed it on the young man's forehead and began chanting a mysterious, ancient incantation.
It wasn't just the power of the Primordial Sin and the Eye of Destiny—his soul, or rather, his mental strength, had also grown significantly stronger after his reincarnation, allowing him to cast some necromantic spells.
Fragments of memories flashed through Huo Yuhao's mind. Though disjointed, they were enough for him to piece together the young man's story.
The young man's name was Yu Ming. Like Tang San, he had transmigrated from another world to the Douluo Continent. His soul had taken over the body of a servant's child in a duke's household, and even before transmigrating, Yu Ming had already learned about Huo Yuhao's past life, which is why he immediately recognized the Eye of Destiny.
After transmigrating, Yu Ming had gained a peculiar martial soul within his spiritual sea. Once its attribute was confirmed, the martial soul could evolve by absorbing the power of soul beasts with the same attribute.
Excited by this discovery and feeling that he was destined for greatness, Yu Ming had chosen the ice attribute for his martial soul. He planned to use his knowledge of future events to obtain the power of powerful ice-type soul beasts like the Ice Jade Scorpion in the future, allowing his martial soul to evolve.
Fearing that Huo Yuhao, the rightful heir, would interfere with his plans, Yu Ming had tried to eliminate him early by having him killed at the Duke's mansion. A year ago, he had begun getting close to Dai Huabin, hoping to use him to kill Huo Yuhao.
At that time, Huo Yuhao hadn't yet awakened his martial soul, and many people in the Duke's household were still observing the situation. Even the Duchess hadn't dared to make a move directly and had only suppressed him in other ways.
Yu Ming had no choice but to bide his time, planning to finish him off within the next few days.
By a twist of fate, on the day of his martial soul awakening, they ran into Huo Yuhao, freshly reincarnated.
"I have a question for you," Huo Yuhao said.
After reviewing the memories, Huo Yuhao's gaze returned to the child in front of him, and his deep eyes sent a shiver down the boy's spine.
"Even though I still don't quite understand why you hold such a deep grudge against me,"
Huo Yuhao paused, his tone somewhat peculiar, "But is it true that you transmigrators all enjoy the feeling of controlling others' fates?"
It was truly strange to think about. Before transmigrating, this person was just an ordinary man who couldn't even bring himself to kill a chicken. Yet, after crossing over, his mindset immediately shifted, and he was willing to do anything, even killing innocent people, just to gain power and fulfill his desires.
The drastic change was comparable to being possessed. If someone didn't know better, they might have mistaken him for an evil soul master reincarnated.
Seeing the boy's lips trembling, unable to answer, Huo Yuhao sighed and shook his head.
"From your memories, I can tell you hated the person who once controlled my life, but to be honest, you're no different from him. In fact, you might even be worse."
As he finished speaking, a subtle change seemed to occur in the Eye of Destiny on Huo Yuhao's forehead.
Staring at that vertical eye, Yu Ming felt an indescribable sense of dread rising in his heart, as if something inside him—something he couldn't understand—had been exposed to Huo Yuhao, and even his very soul began to tremble in fear.
Huo Yuhao's experience was equally strange. After his rebirth, it seemed that his Eye of Destiny had evolved to some extent. When he activated the ability, a strange perspective appeared in his mind.
In that view, the world before him seemed to be covered in a gray filter, and everything he saw was shrouded in that same unchanging gray. But after staring at Yu Ming for a few moments, bright lines, resembling cracks, started to appear across Yu Ming's body. These lines crisscrossed and finally converged at his left shoulder.
Feeling his spiritual power rapidly depleting, Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered, and without hesitation, he gently drew a dagger along the lines on Yu Ming's arm.
A bizarre scene unfolded. The blade didn't cut through the flesh but seemed to pass through a shadowy layer, penetrating directly into the skin as if it were nothing. As Huo Yuhao followed the lines with the blade, Yu Ming's arm decayed at an astonishing speed, turning to ash.
"My... my arm..."
Looking at his now empty sleeve, Yu Ming's face twisted with unprecedented terror at the bizarre sight.
"I'm thinking of calling this ability 'Fated Death.' What do you think?"
Even after just a simple experiment, Huo Yuhao had already gained a rough understanding of the ability's effect. His Eye of Destiny, which had followed him into his rebirth, possessed the power to see the essence of living beings' death. By destroying those lines, he could obliterate their very essence.
However, it wasn't just observing the lines that consumed spiritual power. When he used the White Tiger Dagger to cut along the lines, Huo Yuhao clearly felt that the depletion of his spiritual power had increased significantly.
He vaguely sensed that the difficulty of cutting those lines was directly related to the strength of his opponent. If the opponent's strength far surpassed his own, it could even drain his spiritual power entirely.
Hearing Huo Yuhao's calm teasing, Yu Ming suddenly glared at him. When their eyes met, Yu Ming's body trembled slightly, and the next moment, his eyes filled with bloodshot veins.
"Huo Yuhao, you're nothing but a worthless dog, serving Tang San for your whole life!"
Realizing that Huo Yuhao would not let him go, Yu Ming, who had never faced a life-or-death crisis, finally broke down. Like a wild beast, he roared furiously, venting the resentment and hatred in his heart.
"So many people helped you, and yet you betrayed them! You deserve to die!!!"
=>End of Chapter<=