“Yuhao.”
“Yeah?”
“I finished washing your clothes.
They’re hanging out to dry in the courtyard.”
“…Tang Ya, I’ve told you many times, you don’t need to do these things.”
“No, I have to.
I’m living here and eating here; I can’t just do nothing.”
In the living room of the small villa, Huo Yuhao looked somewhat helplessly at the girl before him.
She was two years older than him, yet her frame remained frail and thin.
It had been a month.
Ever since Tang Ya arrived in this home, she had taken over all the housework.
Washing clothes, cooking, cleaning—she was like a tireless little spinning top, filling her time with constant busyness, as if that were the only way she could temporarily forget the blood and fire of that night.
Huo Yun’er walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of cut fruit.
“Yuhao, just let Xiao Ya do it,” she said with a smile.
“It helps her feel better inside.
Come on, Xiao Ya, take a break and have some fruit.”
Tang Ya took the fruit and whispered, “Thank you, Auntie.” Then, she quietly sat back in the corner of the sofa, her gaze still somewhat hollow.
Huo Yuhao sighed, knowing his mother was right.
Wounds of the heart could only be smoothed over by time.
He stood up and left the living room.
“I’m going upstairs to get some fresh air.”
…
The second-floor terrace was Huo Yuhao’s favorite place to be.
Sitting in a rattan chair, he looked up at the night sky above Heaven Dou City, tinged a faint yellow by the city lights.
Even so, a few of the brightest stars still twinkled overhead.
Over the past month, while Tang Ya was slowly adapting to her new life, Huo Yuhao had begun feeling a sense of urgency.
He needed to increase his strength as soon as possible.
A year and a half.
In another year and a half, Shrek Academy would begin a new round of admissions.
His current situation: Spirit Eyes martial soul, rank 3 innate soul power.
To test into Shrek Academy, the number one institution on the continent, this was far from enough.
He needed a soul ring.
And it had to be a good one.
As he pondered, an aged, majestic voice resonated directly within his Sea of Consciousness.
[Are you troubled over the matter of a soul ring?]
It was Electrolux.
[Yes, Teacher,] Huo Yuhao replied in his heart.
[What is so difficult about that?]
Electrolux’s voice carried a hint of disdain.
[With your current mental strength, as long as you go to the Great Star Dou Forest, soul beasts under five thousand years old can be wiped out in a single thought with a flick of your hand.]
Huo Yuhao fell silent.
Going to the Great Star Dou Forest to hunt soul beasts.
This was supposed to be the necessary path of growth for every soul master, yet for him, it was an agonizing choice.
He could not forget how, in his previous life, it was Tianmeng, the Ice Empress, the Snow Empress, Xiaobai…
those soul beast companions who had fought beside him who had built his success step by step.
They were his comrades-in-arms, and even more, his family.
To raise a butcher’s blade against those soul beasts once more in this life—he couldn’t do it.
[Teacher, I…
don’t want to slaughter soul beasts indiscriminately,] Huo Yuhao said with difficulty in his mind.
Electrolux gave a cold snort.
[Womanly softness.
Even if you don’t kill them, other soul masters will hunt them just the same.
The law of the jungle, the strong preying on the weak—this is an eternal truth.
If you harbor pity in your heart, you will never reach the peak.]
Huo Yuhao fell into deeper contemplation.
He knew Electrolux was right.
This was a world where soul beasts and humans stood in opposition.
His kindness was worthless here.
Yet knowing that did not mean he could accept it.
Was there truly no way to have both?
In his past life, the Spirit Soul contract ultimately failed to resolve the true contradiction between humans and soul beasts!
That night, Huo Yuhao thought a great deal, but found no answer.
…
At noon the next day, Huo Yuhao noticed that Gu Yuena was missing.
With one less person at the dining table, even the air felt much quieter.
“Huh?
Why didn’t Xiao Na come down to eat today?” Huo Yun’er asked curiously.
“She probably went out to play,” Huo Yuhao answered casually.
Ever since moving in here, Gu Yuena would frequently disappear. This story is hosted at g.com.
Sometimes for half a day, sometimes for a day or two.
Huo Yuhao had grown used to her coming and going like a phantom and didn’t pay it much mind.
He guessed she might have returned to the Great Star Dou Forest to see her subordinates.
However, he never could have imagined what an enormous “surprise” Gu Yuena would bring back for him this time.
Late that night, when all was quiet.
Huo Yuhao was meditating in his room.
*Creak.*
The front door of the villa was pushed open.
Huo Yuhao immediately paused his meditation.
Hearing the footsteps, he knew Gu Yuena was back.
He stepped out of his room, curious to see what delicious food she had brought back today.
When he walked into the living room, he froze.
Gu Yuena stood in the center of the living room, moonlight streaming in through the window to illuminate her silver hair.
In her hand, she was holding…
a thing.
A massive, white, gently wriggling…
baby silkworm.
The silkworm was about two meters long, its entire body crystal-clear and translucent, as if sculpted from the finest mutton-fat jade.
Under the moonlight, it radiated a faint, sacred golden glow.
Gu Yuena effortlessly held it by the scruff of its fateful neck with just two fingers, its entire body hanging limply in midair.
On its plump, round head, a pair of large golden eyes were practically stamped with the words: *Giving up on life.*
For a moment, Huo Yuhao’s brain short-circuited.
His mouth hung slightly open, his eyes glued to the giant white silkworm.
A familiar, shocking name exploded in his mind like thunder.
*Brother Tianmeng?!*
*A million-year soul beast!*
*The Skydream Ice Worm!*
*Th-this…
wasn’t this his first soul ring in his past life, the companion who had changed his destiny?!*
*Why was it here?!*
Noticing Huo Yuhao, Gu Yuena casually tossed the giant Skydream Ice Worm onto the floor like a bag of trash.
With a dull *thud*, it hit the ground.
“This thing was wandering around aimlessly in the core zone of the Great Star Dou Forest,” Gu Yuena explained flatly.
“Di Tian and the others were chasing it to drain its origin energy.
Seeing how pitiful it was, I brought it back along the way.”
*Along the way?*
The corner of Huo Yuhao’s eye twitched violently.
*The core zone of the Great Star Dou Forest?
Di Tian?
You call that ‘along the way’?!*
*You clearly made a special trip to their lair to rob them!*
Tossed about until it was seeing stars, the Skydream Ice Worm on the floor shook its big head.
When it saw Gu Yuena standing before it, the entire worm trembled like a sieve.
It immediately began waving its limbs—no, squirming its body—begging for mercy.
A crisp, tearful loli voice rang out in the living room:
“Don’t…
don’t kill me!
Big Boss, spare my life!
I don’t taste good!
My meat is bitter!
And I’m totally useless!
I’m just a piece of trash!
My soul ring can only provide four soul skills, and they’re all useless trash skills, total garbage!
Really!
Eating me would just be a waste of your stomach!”
Huo Yuhao was stunned once again.
*What is this?*
*Brother Tianmeng…
in this life, he turned into Sister Tianmeng?!*
*What on earth happened to this world?
Did my rebirth alter the original course of reality?!*
Gu Yuena cast a cool glance at the Skydream Ice Worm on the floor.
“One more word of nonsense, and I will eat you right now.”
The crisp loli voice cut off instantly.
The Skydream Ice Worm immediately covered its mouth with its two front legs, curling its massive body into a ball.
Silence returned to the living room.
Gu Yuena shifted her gaze to Huo Yuhao.
“This little thing has the spiritual attribute, along with a hidden ice attribute.
It suits you perfectly.” She pointed at the Skydream Ice Worm on the floor.
“Make it your soul ring.”
Huo Yuhao was utterly dumbfounded.
“W-wait…
what do you mean?”
Gu Yuena’s expression was grave, not a hint of jest in her purple eyes.
“You are too weak,” she said bluntly.
“I need you to grow stronger as quickly as possible.”
Those words struck Huo Yuhao’s heart like a bolt of lightning.
*I need you to grow stronger.*
Hearing this, the Skydream Ice Worm’s despairing expression instantly froze.
It gradually morphed into confusion, and finally erupted into the wild ecstasy of having survived a calamity.
“Ah?
So…
so you weren’t going to eat me, but were finding me a host…”
Sprawled on the floor, it let out a long breath of relief, as if it had just walked back from the gates of hell.
“Oh mama, scared the baby half to death!
Finding a host is great!
I’m the most professional when it comes to finding a host!
You’ve taken a liking to this young man?
No problem!
I guarantee I’ll forge him into the strongest spiritual-attribute soul master on the entire continent!”
As it spoke, it sized up Huo Yuhao curiously with its large golden eyes.
Huo Yuhao ignored its endless chatter.
He simply looked quietly at the Skydream Ice Worm—at this companion both familiar and strange—his heart swelling with indescribably complex emotions.
In his previous life, he had endured countless hardships hunting soul beasts on the periphery of the Great Star Dou Forest.
On the brink of death, he encountered the Skydream Ice Worm, who was seeking a host to evade its great limit.
Their meeting had been a gamble full of coincidence and luck.
Tianmeng won the gamble, and so did he.
Tianmeng had been the first companion of his life, the guide who led him onto the path of the strong, and a family member to whom he could entrust his back.
And in this life…
Before he had even begun to fret over it, Gu Yuena had brought Brother Tianmeng—no, Sister Tianmeng!—right before him and tossed her to him like a gift.
From this moment on, the trajectory of fate had undergone an earth-shattering shift.
Huo Yuhao slowly crouched down, reaching out to gently rest his hand on the Skydream Ice Worm’s cool, smooth body.
The Skydream Ice Worm’s chatter ceased in an instant.
It could feel that what came from this boy’s palm was not greed or desire, but a very strange sensation…
An emotion that felt like nostalgia, yet also like joy.
Most importantly, the boy’s Sea of Consciousness was as vast as the starry universe, filling even a million-year spiritual-type soul beast like itself with awe and longing.
This…
this was simply the perfect host chosen by the heavens!
Huo Yuhao looked up at Gu Yuena and said solemnly, “Thank you.”
Gu Yuena’s face remained largely devoid of expression.
She simply gave a faint “Mm,” turned, and walked toward the stairs.
“I’m tired.
I’m going to sleep first.
Handle the rest yourself.”
Her figure vanished around the corner of the stairs.
In the living room, only Huo Yuhao and the Skydream Ice Worm on the floor remained.
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, knowing that starting tonight, everything would be different.
He looked at the million-year soul beast before him—a bit silly, a bit chatty, yet possessing supreme potential.
He smiled.
*So what if it’s Sister Tianmeng?*
*In this life, I am no longer a pawn to be manipulated at will.*
*Not only will I achieve godhood myself, but I will also bring you, the Ice Empress, the Snow Empress, and all the companions who trust me to ascend to the Divine Realm together!*
*Tang San…
it’s time for you to be on your way, too!*
*What I want is not to become a god like you.*
*What I want is to be my true self!*
At that moment, his gaze became firmer than ever before.
As for the Skydream Ice Worm on the floor, watching the sudden blaze of light in the boy’s eyes, it felt its blood surge with excitement for some reason.
It seemed to have a premonition that its future days following this host would probably be ten thousand times more thrilling and magnificent than it had ever imagined!
*Maybe there will even be a chance with Bingbing…
hehehe!
Don’t dare think about it, really don’t dare think about it~*