The first light of dawn painted the sky in hues of soft lavender and rose. For the first time in his memory, Huo Yuhao awoke not to the gnawing ache of hunger or the chilling damp of a woodshed, but to the gentle hum of life energy and the feeling of being… safe. He was still sore, a deep, full-body ache from the previous days' "training," but it was a pain without the sharp edge of terror.
A soft footfall announced a visitor. Aunt Bi Ji entered his small cave, her emerald green hair seeming to capture the morning light. She carried a large leaf laden with glowing, dew-kissed fruits. Her smile was as warm and nourishing as the life energy she commanded.
"Good morning, little Yuhao," she said, her voice a balm on his frayed nerves. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore," he admitted quietly, pushing himself to sit up.
She knelt beside him, placing a gentle hand on his forehead. A wave of pure, comforting life energy flowed into him, easing the worst of the aches. "That is because their methods are for beasts, not for boys," she said, her tone holding a sharp disapproval for her comrades. "Their idea of making something stronger is to beat it until it no longer breaks. It is the way of predators. But you are a seed, not a stone. You need to be nurtured to grow, not hammered into shape."
From the entrance of the cave, a low grunt was heard. Xiong Jun stood there in his human form, arms crossed, looking thoroughly unapologetic. "Nurturing is for flowers, Bi Ji. Warriors are forged in fire."
"He is a child, Xiong Jun, not an ingot of dark gold," Bi Ji retorted without turning. "And his greatest strength is not in his body, but in his mind. That is what we will train. From today, his training is my responsibility. You will all observe, and you will not interfere."
Her voice, though gentle, carried an authority that even the belligerent Bear Lord would not challenge, especially after Di Tian's tacit approval. He merely grunted again and settled down at a distance to watch, his expression a mixture of skepticism and curiosity. Soon, Chi Yan and a silent Zi Ji joined him, forming a strange, intimidating audience.
Bi Ji turned back to Huo Yuhao, her expression softening. "Today, we begin anew. We will not focus on breaking your limits, but on understanding and controlling the power you already possess. Your Soul Power, your Spiritual Energy, and the abilities your first Soul Spirit has granted you."
She led him out into the clearing, to the very edge of the shimmering Lake of Life. The air here was so thick with vitality it felt like breathing liquid light.
"First, show me what the god taught you which you train every morning," she instructed.
Huo Yuhao nodded. He faced the east, where the sun was just beginning to crest the horizon, and activated the Purple Demon Eyes. A faint, violet glint appeared in his pupils. He took a deep breath, circulating his soul power according to the unique pathway of the technique.
In that fleeting, magical moment, a profound ray of purple qi shot from the rising sun, visible only to him. He inhaled, drawing the pure, nascent spiritual energy into his eyes. It was a sensation of unparalleled clarity and nourishment for his Spiritual Sea. Here, surrounded by the immense life force of the Core Region, the effect was magnified tenfold.
The purple qi felt richer, purer, and he could feel his Spiritual Sea, which had been battered by Zi Ji, greedily absorbing the energy, healing and expanding at a phenomenal rate.
Bi Ji and the others could not see the purple qi, but they could feel the subtle shift in the spiritual energy around the boy. They watched in silent awe. This was a divine method, something far beyond their own cultivation paths. The god who had chosen this boy had left him a truly profound legacy.
After the sun had fully risen, Bi Ji began her own lesson.
"Your control is poor," she stated simply, but without judgment. "Your Soul Power is like a wild river, powerful but undirected. We will teach it to be a gentle stream, one you can command to flow wherever you wish."
She plucked a single, large leaf from a nearby plant. "Hold this in your palm. Now, do not use your hands. Use only your Soul Power to make it spin."
Huo Yuhao did as he was told. He focused, channeling a stream of Soul Power from his palm. The leaf shot into the air as if struck by a gust of wind, then fluttered uselessly to the ground.
"Too much force," Bi Ji said patiently. "You used a sledgehammer to turn a page. Try again. Feel the Soul Power. Do not just release it. Guide it. Make it a whisper, not a shout."
For hours, Huo Yuhao practiced. He tried to make the leaf spin, to make it hover, to make it fold in half. It was frustrating, delicate work. His initial attempts were clumsy, a testament to how he had only ever used his power in desperate, overwhelming bursts. But under Bi Ji's gentle guidance, he slowly began to get the hang of it. He learned to release a mere thread of power, to weave it, to manipulate it with a precision he'd never thought possible.
While he practiced this, he did not neglect the book's teachings. He began to circulate the Mysterious Heaven Technique, not just while sitting still, but while performing these delicate tasks. It was a method for training internal qi, circulating energy through ten times the normal number of meridians. It was incredibly difficult, requiring immense concentration to maintain the complex energy pathways while also focusing on an external task.
But his powerful Spiritual Energy, a gift from Skydream and his own Spirit Eyes, and a result of the Purple Demon Eyes, acted like a secondary brain, helping him manage the dual processes.
The benefits were immediate and profound. The technique scoured his meridians, pushing out the latent impurities left by years of malnutrition and abuse. It widened the pathways, allowing Soul Power to flow more smoothly and powerfully. The constant circulation also began to subtly strengthen his physique from the inside out, healing the micro-tears in his muscles from Xiong Jun's training and increasing his stamina.
Bi Ji watched, a thoughtful expression on her face. She didn't understand the intricate internal circulation, but she could see its effects. The boy's aura was growing cleaner, stronger, and his resilience was increasing by the minute. She wisely chose not to interfere, recognizing it as another part of the god's plan.
"Good," she finally said, after he successfully made the leaf dance a slow pirouette on his fingertip. "Now, for your abilities."
Huo Yuhao straightened up, eager. "Aunt Bi Ji, Brother Skydream is a Million-Year Soul Spirit. He gave me four abilities." He felt no need to hide this; they had already witnessed the proof. He explained each one to her in detail.
Bi Ji listened intently. "Spiritual Detection, Spiritual Sharing, Spiritual Shock, and Spiritual Interference… A formidable set of support and control skills. But theory is useless without practice. We need an opponent."
At a nod from Di Tian, a blur of motion was seen at the edge of the forest. A Soul Beast was escorted into the clearing by two ten-thousand-year-old subordinates. It was a Wind-Chaser Leopard, a beast known for its incredible speed and sharp claws, with a cultivation of about two thousand years. It was powerful enough to be a challenge, but not so powerful it could kill him by accident. The leopard looked around nervously, its eyes wide with fear at the sight of the assembled Ferocious Beasts in their human forms.
"The goal is not to kill, but to subdue," Bi Ji instructed Huo Yuhao. "Use your abilities. Work with your Soul Spirit. Show us what you can do."
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and nodded. 'Ready, Brother Skydream?'
'Ready, kid! Let's show these old fossils what a real team looks like!' Skydream's excited voice echoed in his mind.
The moment the leopard was released, it shot forward, a blur of brown and black spots.
But to Huo Yuhao, it was moving in slow motion.
He activated Spiritual Detection.
Instantly, his perception of the world warped. A perfect, 360-degree stereoscopic image of the entire clearing bloomed in his mind. He saw everything. He saw the twitch of the leopard's whisker, the minute tensing of the muscles in its hind legs as it prepared to pounce, the flow of Soul Power gathering in its claws. He saw the bored expression on Xiong Jun's face and the analytical glint in Zi Ji's eyes, all at the same time. It felt like he had grown a second brain dedicated solely to processing information.
'It's fast,' he projected to Skydream using Spiritual Sharing. 'It's going to feint to the left and then slash from the right. Get ready.'
As the leopard charged, Huo Yuhao didn't move. He simply activated Spiritual Interference.
A formless, invisible ripple of spiritual energy washed over the charging beast. For the leopard, it was as if the world suddenly tilted on its axis. A wave of dizziness and disorientation struck it, its senses momentarily scrambled. Its perfectly calculated charge faltered for a fraction of a second; it stumbled.
It was a tiny opening, but for a master of battle, it was an eternity.
The beasts watching all noted the subtlety. "A mental disturbance," Chi Yan mused. "Not powerful, but in a high-speed battle, a single misstep is death."
Before the leopard could recover, it unleashed its primary soul skill, a series of razor-sharp wind blades.
"Now!" Huo Yuhao thought. He focused his spiritual power through his Purple Demon Eyes and unleashed Spiritual Shock.
A powerful, concentrated spike of spiritual force slammed into the leopard's consciousness. The beast's eyes went vacant. Its soul skill, halfway formed, dissipated into nothing. It was stunned, completely frozen for a full second.
'My turn!' Skydream's spiritual form shot out from Huo Yuhao's body. He unleashed a blast of his own spiritual energy, imbued with the bone-chilling cold of his origin. The blast wasn't meant to kill, but to inflict a sharp, spiritual chill, further disorienting the leopard and slowing its reactions.
The leopard shook its head, finally breaking free from the stun, but it was now confused, dizzy, and sluggish from the cold. It saw the small human boy standing there, seemingly defenseless. With a roar of frustration, it lunged.
Huo Yuhao activated the Telescopic Vision of his Spiritual Detection, focusing all his perception on the beast. He saw the trajectory of its claws, the force behind its lunge, every single detail. He calmly took a single step to the side.
The leopard's claws slashed through the air where he had been a moment before. Its momentum carried it past him.
It was a simple, elegant display of perfect evasion, made possible by absolute information superiority.
The fight continued for several more minutes. It was a dance of disruption and control. Huo Yuhao would use Spiritual Interference to create openings, Spiritual Shock to interrupt attacks, and Spiritual Detection to effortlessly evade, while Skydream provided supporting spiritual attacks. They never once inflicted a serious physical wound.
Finally, the exhausted and utterly confused leopard collapsed, panting on the ground, defeated not by overwhelming power, but by flawless technique and teamwork.
The clearing was silent. The Ferocious Beasts stared, their expressions complex. They had expected a clumsy fight. Instead, they had witnessed a masterclass in control and support.
Huo Yuhao, breathing heavily from the exertion, walked over to the defeated leopard. He reached into a small pouch Bi Ji had given him and pulled out a bright red spirit fruit. He shyly offered it to the beast. The leopard, wary at first, sniffed the fruit and, sensing the pure energy within, began to nibble on it gratefully.
This small act of kindness did not go unnoticed. Bi Ji's smile was radiant. The Emperor Auspicious Beast, watching from her perch, let out a soft, approving chuff. Even Xiong Jun had to admit, if only to himself, that the brat had a strange sort of honor.
The week that followed was a period of explosive growth for Huo Yuhao.
His days were filled with Bi Ji's patient training. He honed his control over his Soul Power until he could juggle a dozen leaves at once. He practiced his four spiritual abilities until they were second nature, using them in spars against various Soul Beasts, each time ending the fight with a gesture of goodwill.
His body, under the constant nourishment of the Lake of Life, the high-grade spirit fruits, and the internal cleansing of the Mysterious Heaven Technique, underwent a stunning transformation.
The sallow, pale skin was replaced by a healthy, sun-kissed complexion. The gaunt cheeks filled out, revealing the handsome features that lay dormant beneath. The once-stick-thin limbs gained a lean, wiry strength, and his perpetually hunched shoulders straightened, giving him an air of quiet confidence. He was still small for his age, but he no longer looked like a fragile, malnourished waif. He looked like a vibrant, healthy young boy, with eyes that shone with a startling intelligence and spiritual light.
One evening, Bi Ji approached him with a bundle of soft, shimmering fabric. "Your clothes are little more than rags, Yuhao. I thought you could use something new."
She unfurled the bundle. It was a simple set of robes, a tunic and trousers, but the material was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was a deep blue, like the twilight sky, and it seemed to shimmer with its own internal light. It was incredibly soft to the touch.
"The cloth was woven from the silk of a ten-thousand-year-old Celestial Silkworm," Bi Ji explained. "And the thread was spun by a Spirit Weaver Spider. I imbued it with my own life energy as I stitched it. It is not a powerful defensive tool, but it is durable, comfortable, and it will help passively gather the ambient soul power around you, speeding up your recovery and cultivation."
Huo Yuhao stared at the robes, his eyes welling up. No one, not even his own mother who had loved him so dearly, had ever had the means to give him something so precious. He carefully took off his tattered rags and put on the new clothes. They fit perfectly, feeling cool and comfortable against his skin.
He looked at Bi Ji, unable to find the words to express his gratitude. He simply bowed deeply. "Thank you… Aunt Bi Ji."
She just smiled and ruffled his hair. "You are one of us now, little one. It is only natural we take care of our own."
The other beasts had noticed the change as well.
"Hmph. At least he doesn't look like a twig a strong wind could snap anymore," Xiong Jun grunted one afternoon, watching Huo Yuhao easily outmaneuver a Thorn-Tailed Tiger. There was a grudging approval in his tone.
"His control is becoming formidable," Zi Ji commented, her purple eyes narrowed in thought. "For his level, his ability to manipulate a battlefield is… exceptional."
They had come to view him as a long-term investment, a strange, unique project that belonged to the Star Dou Great Forest. He was their human, their god-chosen prodigy, and a flicker of proprietary pride began to kindle within their ancient hearts.
Huo Yuhao felt the change too. He felt strong. He felt healthy. He felt… happy. The burning desire for revenge against the White Tiger Duke's mansion was still there, a cold, hard stone in the pit of his stomach. But it was no longer the all-consuming inferno it once was. Now, it was a focused goal, and around it, a new life was beginning to bloom.
He thought of Elder Huo, the future self who had sacrificed everything to give him this chance.
'I will not fail you,' he promised the memory. 'I will live the life you gave me. And I will grow strong enough to fulfill my promise. And yours.'
He looked out at the Lake of Life, at the group of terrifying, powerful beings who had inexplicably become his family, and for the first time, the future did not seem like a dark, terrifying abyss, but a path shimmering with endless, brilliant possibilities.