“Benefactor, my arms are so sore!”
“My legs too…
I can’t even feel them anymore.”
“Little Haohao, they look so pitiful.
Why don’t you let them rest for a day?”
“Rest?”
By the stream in the early morning, Huo Yuhao’s voice cut through Tang Ya and Jiang Nannan’s complaints, as well as Tianmeng’s pleading.
He skewered a freshly cleaned, plump river fish onto a newly whittled wooden stick and propped it up by the campfire.
Only then did he turn his head, looking at the two girls—who looked ready to fall apart from exhaustion—with deep, unreadable eyes.
“Do you think if that Iron-Skinned Rhino yesterday hadn’t been scared off by my Spirit Shock, it would have given you time to rest?”
The two girls’ complaints ground to a sudden halt.
“Your progress has been fast, but only relative to your past selves.”
Huo Yuhao’s tone was calm, yet it carried an invisible, heavy pressure.
“Most soul beasts on the periphery of the Sunset Forest are ten-year-old class, with relatively mild temperaments.
But starting today, we are entering the central region.
That is the territory of hundred-year soul beasts.”
He watched their faces instantly turn solemn and continued, “Remember, from now on, every encounter could be a battle of life and death.
Soreness means you’re still alive.
Go wash up in the stream, stretch your joints, and we depart in five minutes.”
“Yes, Benefactor!”
Seeing the two girls instantly pull themselves together and run to the stream to massage each other’s arms and legs, Tianmeng, who was perched on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder, murmured, “Little Haohao, you’re so strict with them.”
Huo Yuhao didn’t answer, silently turning the roasting fish and sprinkling a bit of his own spices over it.
Beside them, Gu Yuena opened her violet eyes and cast a casual glance at Huo Yuhao.
She then glanced at the two girls by the stream, the corner of her mouth curving into an imperceptible smile.
Saying nothing, she closed her eyes again and returned to sleep.
An hour later, the group had ventured deep into the dense forest.
The trees here were taller, the light dimmer, and the aura of soul beasts permeating the air was noticeably thicker and more hazardous than on the outskirts.
“Stop.”
Huo Yuhao, walking at the very front, suddenly raised his hand.
Jiang Nannan and Tang Ya, following closely behind him, stopped instantly.
Standing back-to-back, they vigilantly scanned their surroundings.
After these past few days of training, they had developed basic combat instincts.
The surroundings were dead silent; even the chirping of insects and birds had vanished.
This very silence was the ultimate warning sign.
“To the left, on the canopy at ten o’clock,” Huo Yuhao whispered in a barely audible voice.
The two immediately threw their gazes in that direction, but they saw only dense foliage, unable to make out anything in the dim light.
Suddenly, the leaves rustled slightly.
No, it wasn’t just a rustle.
A black shadow detached itself from the gloom, landing silently on a branch twenty meters away.
It was a sleek, powerfully built leopard, pitch-black all over without a single stray mark, looking as though it were condensed from the purest darkness.
Its muscle lines were smooth and packed with explosive power.
A pair of golden, slit-pupil eyes stared coldly down at the four intruders.
“A Shadow Leopard!” Tang Ya exclaimed in a hushed tone.
“Looking at its size, it has at least three hundred years of cultivation!”
A hundred-year soul beast!
And a Shadow Leopard at that, known for its outstanding speed and stealth capabilities!
Jiang Nannan’s heart rate spiked instantly, her palms sweating.
*Growl.* A low, threatening rumble vibrated from the Shadow Leopard’s throat.
In the next split second, it moved!
There was no charge, no roar.
Its silhouette simply vanished from the branch, as if dissolving into thin air.
“Watch out!” Huo Yuhao warned.
But before his voice could fully register, the black shadow appeared like a ghost right beside Tang Ya!
Its speed was extreme—practically impossible to track with the naked eye, leaving only a blurry black streak!
A claw gleaming with cold light, tearing through the air with a sharp screech, lashed viciously toward Tang Ya’s head!
Too fast!
Tang Ya’s pupils constricted.
Her brain didn’t even have time to react; her body’s raw survival instinct drove her to raise her scabbard to block.
But this hurried defense was as fragile as paper before a three-hundred-year soul beast.
Jiang Nannan wanted to help, but she was still several steps away from Tang Ya—there was no time! New chapters come out on g.com first.
It was over!
That was the only thought left in Tang Ya’s mind.
At this critical juncture…
A hand.
A hand that didn’t look particularly thick or muscular, even possessing some of the delicate grace of youth.
It materialized out of thin air, grabbing the Shadow Leopard’s steel-whip-like tail with absolute precision.
*Bang!*
A dull, heavy thud resounded.
The Shadow Leopard’s lightning-fast lunge was forcibly halted mid-air by an irresistible, titanic force!
Its razor-sharp claws, capable of shattering boulders, stopped less than three inches from Tang Ya’s cheek.
The fierce gust of wind kicked up by the attack stung her face.
Time seemed to freeze at this very second.
Both Tang Ya and Jiang Nannan froze, staring at the scene in utter disbelief.
Huo Yuhao held the Shadow Leopard by its tail with one hand, his arm held straight out, his expression completely unchanged.
It was as if he were holding a disobedient stray cat rather than a ferocious hundred-year soul beast.
*Roar!*
The Shadow Leopard let out a furious, terrified roar, thrashing wildly in mid-air as it tried to slash at Huo Yuhao with its rear claws.
Huo Yuhao’s gaze turned cold.
An unspeakably massive wave of spiritual power crashed down like an invisible iceberg, slamming heavily into the Shadow Leopard’s soul!
The Shadow Leopard’s thrashing stopped instantly.
Its body froze mid-air, its golden pupils filled with unprecedented horror and shock.
In its perception, the human youth standing before it wasn’t human at all!
Deep within his soul, an ancient deity seemed to lie dormant—one billions of times more terrifying than the emperors dwelling in the deepest depths of the Great Star Dou Forest!
It was an absolute suppression originating from the very hierarchy of life itself!
Huo Yuhao hoisted the leopard up by its tail, bringing it level with his face to look directly into its terrified, golden, slit-pupil eyes.
He spoke slowly, uttering two icy words.
“Stand down.”
Ignoring the two completely petrified girls behind him, Huo Yuhao carried the immobilized Shadow Leopard over to the open ground by the stream.
He tossed the Shadow Leopard onto the ground.
The hundred-year soul beast, which had been so fierce moments ago, now curled up like a frightened kitten, shivering on the grass without even the courage to run away.
[Don’t kill me…]
A fear-stricken thought was transmitted to Huo Yuhao’s mind through a spiritual link.
Huo Yuhao didn’t reply to it.
Instead, he spoke to Electrolux inside his spiritual sea.
“Elder Yi, the covenant formation, if you please.”
[A trivial matter.]
In the next moment, a faint gray light lit up on Huo Yuhao’s fingertip.
Using his finger as a brush and spiritual power as ink, he began to draw rapidly in the air.
One after another, ancient, complex runes, thick with the scent of death and order, took shape under his fingertip.
They then merged into a profound magic array, slowly sinking toward the Shadow Leopard on the ground.
This was the Necromancy magic taught to him by Electrolux: the Soul Covenant.
Of course, after Electrolux’s modifications, it was no longer that kind of evil magic of forced enslavement.
Instead, it was an equal covenant built upon the mutual resonance of their souls—though the process of signing it was usually not quite “equal.”
[What is this?
What are you doing to my soul?!]
The Shadow Leopard felt the oppressive pressure coming from the depths of its soul and instinctively began to resist.
Huo Yuhao projected a spiritual thought directly into its mind:
[I give you two choices.
First: death.
Second: become her partner and grow alongside her.
I will grant you the chance to break through the shackles of your bloodline and become stronger.]
Huo Yuhao’s mental projection pointed toward Tang Ya, who was still dazed nearby.
A flicker of struggle passed through the Shadow Leopard’s golden eyes.
A soul beast’s pride made it unwilling to submit to a weak human, but the vast, sea-of-stars power deep within Huo Yuhao’s soul left it completely incapable of harboring any thoughts of resistance.
Ultimately, the fear of death and the desire for strength triumphed over its pride.
[I…
When this submissive thought was transmitted, the gray magic array in the air burst with brilliant light, instantly transforming into countless runes that merged into the bodies of both the Shadow Leopard and Tang Ya.
Tang Ya felt her body shudder as a cool, swift energy flooded into her spiritual sea, connecting tightly with her soul.
She could practically feel the Shadow Leopard’s fear, its awe, and its yearning for speed and shadows.
*Buzz—*
A bright yellow soul ring slowly rose from beneath Tang Ya’s feet.
The light of the soul ring was incredibly solid, far exceeding that of a normal hundred-year soul ring.
A three-hundred-year soul ring!
The moment the covenant was completed, the Shadow Leopard on the ground let out a low growl, its entire body beginning to turn illusory.
Ultimately, it transformed into a sphere of pure dark shadow, silently melting into the shadow beneath Tang Ya’s feet.
Tang Ya instinctively looked down.
Her shadow seemed darker than usual.
Looking closely, she could even see a faint, blurry silhouette of a leopard swimming within it.
She could feel that with a single thought, this partner named “Shadow” could leap out of her shadow at any moment to fight for her.
“This…
this is a Spirit Soul?” Tang Ya caressed the bright yellow soul ring around her, her voice trembling with excitement.
“Next, it’s your turn.” Huo Yuhao turned his gaze to Jiang Nannan.
With Tang Ya’s successful case, things went much smoother after that.
Huo Yuhao fully deployed his Spiritual Detection.
Acting like an ultra-precise radar, it scanned everything in the forest.
He spent another two days leading them around the territories of several overly powerful thousand-year soul beasts.
Ultimately, near a damp marshland, he found the perfect target for Jiang Nannan.
It was a giant python over eight meters long, covered entirely in snow-white scales.
A four-hundred-year soul beast: the White-Scaled Python.
Its scaled armor possessed immense defense, and its body was incredibly flexible, making it highly adept at constriction and crushing.
This trait perfectly aligned with the path Huo Yuhao had envisioned for Jiang Nannan—using a soft whip for crowd control and combat in the future.
The battle was entirely without suspense.
Under Huo Yuhao’s absolute dominance, the four-hundred-year White-Scaled Python couldn’t even put up a decent fight before signing the Soul Covenant.
A bright yellow soul ring similarly rose from beneath Jiang Nannan’s feet.
Once the covenant was completed, the giant White-Scaled Python’s body rapidly shrank, ultimately turning into a little snake only as thick as an arm, translucent and white like jade, winding affectionately around Jiang Nannan’s wrist and occasionally rubbing its small head against the back of her hand.
Night fell.
The campfire crackled, driving away the chill and darkness of the forest.
Tang Ya and Jiang Nannan sat side by side, their faces brimming with unconcealable excitement and joy.
From time to time, Tang Ya would look down at her shadow.
With a thought, the Shadow Leopard inside would poke its head out, staring up at her curiously with golden eyes before slipping back in.
Jiang Nannan, meanwhile, reached out to gently stroke the white-scaled little snake wrapped around her wrist.
The little snake seemed to thoroughly enjoy her touch, narrowing its eyes in comfort.
This feeling was incredibly magical.
Not only had they obtained the soul rings they had dreamed of, greatly boosting their strength, but they had also gained a soul beast companion they could communicate and grow with.
And best of all, none of this had required any slaughter.
Jiang Nannan looked across the campfire at the youth, who was currently resting with his eyes closed.
Under the glow of the firelight, his profile appeared exceptionally serene and mysterious.
She hesitated for a long time before finally gathering her courage to ask softly, “Benefactor, this…
this method of making a covenant without killing…
why has no one on the continent ever used it before?”
Tang Ya looked over curiously as well.
Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes.
He didn’t answer immediately, silently watching the dancing flames before him.
In his deep eyes, countless stars seemed to reflect, concealing an endless depth of time and experience.
Only after a long while did he speak in a low voice, sighing softly:
“Because the hatred between soul masters and soul beasts runs too deep.
It’s just like how carnivores must eat herbivores.”
“Human soul masters must rely on hunting and killing soul beasts to increase their power.”
His voice was quiet, yet it weighed heavily like a giant boulder upon the hearts of the two girls.
Having said his piece, Huo Yuhao fell silent again, turning his gaze toward the far south.
Their training in the Sunset Forest had come to an end.
A few more days of travel would bring them to the largest and most mysterious paradise for soul beasts on the Douluo Continent: the Great Star Dou Forest.
There lay the ultimate goal of his journey, as well as a destined…
connection he was fated to face.