Huo Yuhao calmly stared at the strange black-scaled man standing before him, his terrifying glare holding immense killing intent felt as though it could murder a Soul Sage on the spot — but Huo Yuhao was unaffected.
Before he ended up in this strange place, he was fighting fiercely against the Heavenly Tribulation with all his might and almost died.
As of right now, he wasn't afraid of death.
However, that didn't mean he craved for it.
"Who are you?" Huo Yuhao asked. His eyes twitching, his vision momentarily blurring.
'My...eyesight? Ah. I did overused my Mangekyou Sharingan to its limits and probably activated its curse, I'm surprised that I haven't turned blind now.' Huo Yuhao stayed composed and first diagnosed his body.
If he could, he would have winced right now.
It wasn't good.
Outwardly, he looked fine. He looked dastardly handsome as ever, well, besides the wrinkles below his eyes. Oh and that his body was completely binded with a strange black cloth, which had strange golden runes on them, from his neck below.
Back to the situation of his body, inwardly, it was a complete wreck!
Broken bones, torn ligaments, punctured organs besides his heart and brain, and lastly almost all of his passageways were all either severed or in pieces.
If it weren't for his high pain tolerance, Huo Yuhao might've screamed till his passes out. All he could do was grit his teeth.
Although it seemed as though his life was over, there was still a glimmer of hope.
It was slow, but Huo Yuhao's internal injuries and passageways were slowly healing itself, brilliant emerald life energy flowed throughout his body to heal it back to its peak state.
It wasn't just that. Situated on his chest is what looked like the mark of a fiery Dark Phoenix, emitting heat as it throbbed like a heart with dark-red veins spreading all across his skin — increasing his healing factor and keeping his body in an active state; burning off almost any external harm like viruses and parasites.
Ultimate Ice in his body could only go as far as blocking and freezing such substances, which would leave remnants of their presence lingering within him. But this — the mark of the Dark Phoenix — acts as an automatic defense technique that urges the Ultimate Fire in him to completely eradicate external harm, reducing them to nothingness.
Obviously, this mark was something that he got after his "session" with Ma Xiaotao. He felt like the mark holds more secrets than what he senses but he'll figure them out later on.
"Human."
Huo Yuhao snapped out of his thoughts when the man walked up to him and grabbed his neck without any hesitation, choking him.
Huo Yuhao tried to fight back, veins popping around his neck, as black flames and black ice erupted from his body. Ultimate Ice-Fire surged with intense ferocity at it clung to the mysterious man's hand and spread to his entire arm in an instant.
"Hmph! Utterly useless."
The man with black scales on his face held his grip on Huo Yuhao's neck, the Ultimate Ice-Fire covering his arm dissipated with a mere flick of his finger.
Huo Yuhao's eyes squinted, his face turning slightly blue as he tried activating his martial souls but to no avail.
His meridians were still in the process of being connected, thus making it difficult to circulate soul power to activate either of his martial souls. As for his spiritual power?
He did a brief glance at into it and saw it all showing cracks and missing chunks, with two large egg-like structures nestled peacefully below the large tree in the core of his spiritual sea; which he guessed to be Skydream and Ice Empress, stuck in some sort of hibernation mode.
So yeah, with his spiritual sea in such a sorry state, his spiritual power was very weak and is around the level of when he first met Skydream.
"Do you not understand the situation that you are in, human?!" The black-scaled man fiercely exclaimed, tightening his grasp.
"W-Wha...." Huo Yuhao tried to speak, but he couldn't. Worst of all, he was losing consciousness now.
'Is this how I'll die...?' Huo Yuhao eyes closed.
"Tch." The man clicked his tongue and loosened his grip, letting Huo Yuhao collapse onto the cold ground.
Huo Yuhao coughed violently, gasping for air as his vision flickered in and out. Subtly, he glanced around his surroundings for a way to escape and inwardly cursed.
There was no way out. He was trapped in some kind deep cave, with jagged sharp stones formed all around him with the only way out being behind the man — a very large opening that could fit five of the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear that he had encountered.
A very large opening that could give him a chance to escape, if his body wasn't so wretched right now and binded.
"Human. I'll give you one chance. Give up whatever connection that you had made with the Auspicious Emperor and I'll let you live."
"What...? Connection with who?" Huo Yuhao was confused.
That seemed to anger the black scaled man and a sinister aura exuded from his body, the head of a black dragon with piercing golden eyes appeared behind him, the space around them cracked and an overwhelming force pressed down on Huo Yuhao's already battered body. His knees nearly buckled, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stay upright.
The suffocating aura felt like a dragon claw was pressing down his entire body, squeezing the life out of him. His bones creaked under the immense pressure, his organs screaming in protest.
It felt as if he was standing before a true divine beast—one that could crush him with a mere thought.
Huo Yuhao didn't have his Sharingan to have a clear analysis of the man's strength, but through his accumulated experiences from his past lives, he could tell —
This man gave the around the dangerous aura of a Ultimate Douluo, the same level as his teacher, Mu En the Dragon God Douluo! But unlike the latter, this man wasn't injured.
An Ultimate Douluo was someone closest to becoming a God and with him being so injured, Huo Yuhao had no hope of escape.
"Do not test my patience, human!" The man bellowed like a soul beast than a mere human. "What you have done, concerns the lives of my people! The lives of every soul beast in this forest! If you do not care for your life, then fine."
He then grabbed Huo Yuhao's hair and glared straight at his eyes. "But what about the lives of your kind? About that academy and the city? Even if a powerful guardian is protecting them, they are but one man and is severely injured. They cannot handle the fury of the Great Star Dou Forest."
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened in realization.
"Y-You... You're Di Tian!"
There was only one person in the entire Great Star Dou Forest that could be as strong as Mu En and could command the wrath of all Soul Beasts in the forest to march towards Shrek — ranked 1st in the Top Ten Great Beasts; Golden Eyed Black Dragon King, Beast God, Di Tian!
Now it was a whole different matter. The Great Star Dou Forest has the strength equal to two empires and with Di Tian at the helm, there was no doubt that he, and the other Great Beasts that Huo Yuhao heard that were in the forest, could easily conquer Shrek Academy.
That cannot happen.
"But I don't know who this Auspicious Emperor you're talking about!" Huo Yuhao said through gritted teeth.
If he did, he would've gave the guy up in a heartbeat.
Actually, if he remembered correctly...
There was a research paper that detailed about a particular soul beast called the Auspicious Emperor or the Emperor Beast in another interpretation. It can only be born once in an era, and over seven thousand years ago an elder from Shrek Academy had come across one accidentally.
It was written that, as long as it resides in the forest, fortune would smile upon all the beasts that inhabit the forest and their cultivation would progress much faster than normal. The elder documented such findings after months of stalking before he was finally scared off by the Scarlet King.
Basically, the Auspicious Emperor was equal to the Golden Tree for soul masters with light-related martial souls! The Auspicious Emperor is extremely valuable for soul beasts, especially for the ones who had turned a hundred thousand years old.
Di Tian narrowed his eyes at the realization in Huo Yuhao's eyes.
"Human..." He growled, warning Huo Yuhao to not play games with him.
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "I know what the Auspicious Emperor is, but I don't have the slightest clue to what you're talking about! I haven't even met it!"
Di Tian let go of Huo Yuhao's hair, but the pressure on him intensified. The pupils in his golden eyes turned vertical, dragonic might exuded more out of his body.
Just one push, it only takes one more push of his anger before he finally transforms back to his true form.
"I don't know how you did it, or whatever ability you used, but you! A contract has been made. You and the child are now connected with your souls!"
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AN: So the Webnovel got a new patch and I had to updated it, it made a lot of changes. The greatest change it has for me is that I can finally comment on my chapter's paragraphs. The worst thing it has however, is some parts in the writing section to make it a bit harder to write.
Also, anyone here excited for the 2.2 update of Wuwa? I know I do😏
3/4 chapters of the week