The tower-climbing went exceptionally smoothly. Even though the opposing soul beasts had reached the eight-thousand-year level, the four-person team, having cooperated several times before, easily and seamlessly defeated them. Huo Dong hadn't yet made a move, but he used this opportunity to correct many of the technical errors the four had made during the battle:
“Leng Yaozhu, the key to the Phoenix of Light is the phoenix, not the light. If every time you fight someone, you're thinking of using your Phoenix Divine Light to blind them and win, then you might as well rename your martial soul to a light bulb.”
"The core of the Sentimental Sword is sentimentality and tenderness, not becoming a central air conditioner, Zang Xin. I advise you to use your second soul skill less often, especially against people, as you'll easily get hit."
"Cao Dezhi, you too, being cold and hard isn't called ruthless, it's called a refrigerator. And being ruthless means being ruthless to outsiders, but don't always wear that stern face with your own people."
"And you, Leng Yulai..." Huo Dong was speechless. "Your martial soul... is it because of a mutation...? The dark elemental power it emits looks like burnt black smoke." He closed his eyes and pondered for a while, when suddenly a flash of inspiration passed before him. He opened his eyes again with a complicated expression: "The hereditary martial souls of your two families... wouldn't they be the Evil Fire Phoenix, would they...?"
Leng Yaozhu had just dealt with one of the thousand-year-old silver moon wolves when another pounced on her. She could only flap her wings to dodge while shouting loudly:
"Teacher!! How do you know everything?!"
A mix of emotions welled up within me. Ten thousand years had passed, yet I could still see traces of old friends. The fiery red hair of these two little phoenixes leaping about might very well have been passed down from Sister Tao.
But if that's the case, the elder sister's martial soul evolved into ultimate fire through blazing glue, yet her descendants still didn't improve. In the generation of these two sisters, one turned to evil and the other to fire, each going their own way, and mutating separately into the Dark Phoenix and the Light Phoenix.
"Hey, so that means the underlying logic of genetics doesn't change with evolution. That's great! Maybe there's still hope for genetics in Douluo Continent." The hardened science student was moved to tears.
After the four of them finally dealt with the wolf pack, they turned around and saw Huo Dong sitting alone, feeling moved.
“Teacher,” Zang Xin said, though he didn’t know what his teacher was moved by, he believed that his teacher must have a deeper meaning in doing so, so he didn’t dare to ask any more questions. “I estimate that ten-thousand-year-old spirits will appear in the next room. We probably won’t be able to deal with them. We’ll have to rely on you to show your skills.”
“A ten-thousand-year-old soul beast… that’s about right. After all, none of you have even reached the Soul King level. It’s already quite good that you worked together to eliminate an eight-thousand-year-old soul beast.” Huo Dong took a second to remove the face that was just filled with emotion and put on a tacit expression. “From now on, you should focus on protecting yourselves. Although I will try my best to avoid it, it’s always better to get injured before the midterm exams.”
"Yes, teacher. Okay, teacher." The four students scurried up behind him, staring at his expressionless face with starry eyes.
Huo Yuhao couldn't help but chuckle, looking at the others helplessly.
It really makes me nostalgic for when I was the youngest child.
He waved, signaling to follow.
The tower door on the thirty-second floor slowly opened. Before the appearance of the guardian spirit could be clearly seen, a wave of heat rushed out. Huo Dong didn't react, but the other four were all forced to release their soul power to protect themselves by the oppressive aura. Cao Dezhi reflexively activated his Ruthless Ice Heart, and the temperature around him finally dropped a bit. He took advantage of the time before the fight started to regulate his breathing, and then looked into the tower—
"The Ten-Thousand-Year Flame Dragon Winged Lizard is quite strong, but it's not really suitable for you guys." Huo Dong casually snapped his fingers, and a flash of emerald light appeared from his fingertips. Instantly, a chill emanated from behind him, and the surrounding temperature finally dropped to a suitable range for survival. Leng Yulai and Leng Yaozhu helped each other open their eyes, while Cao Dezhi also pulled Zang Xin behind him. On the other side, Huo Dong didn't give them a chance to catch their breath. He simply turned to check that the students were in good condition before stepping into the gate. The four of them hurriedly followed, eager to witness their teacher's power, only to be met with another familiar mental shock.
They were familiar with it because they had been hit twice in almost every practical class since enrolling, but precisely because of this, they all noticed that the impact this time was much weaker than before, not like it was intentional, but rather like they had been caught in the crossfire. After a brief period of blindness, the color of the afterimage gradually appeared—red? Probably the flames of the Flame Dragon Winged Lizard.
At the time, all four of them thought it was perfectly normal.
But when their vision returned, all they saw were four blood-red soul rings radiating a chilling aura. No one could believe what they were seeing; only the crackling sound of evaporating moisture in the air proved that time was still flowing and that what they were witnessing was not an illusion.
What does it mean when a teacher has four 100,000-year soul rings in his pocket?