Qian Gu Zhangting's gaze was fixed on the young man's figure on the screen. Emotions surged in his chest like waves, and a few words uncontrollably popped into his mind.
Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao!
This name belonged to the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, an immortal legend of the spirit master's world, and a great existence who became a god ten thousand years ago!
Every member of the Spirit Pagoda was intimately familiar with the statue standing in the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters' square, but that was the adult Huo Yuhao!
In the core database of the pagoda, relatively complete information about this founder was stored, with his image traceable back to when he was twelve years old.
As the direct grandson of Qian Gu Dongfeng, Qian Gu Zhangting had been in contact with the highest level of secrets since childhood.
He had seen the portrait of the Spirit Ice Douluo at age twelve in the records. The facial contours, the charm in the eyes... the eight-year-old Huo Yuhao on the screen, though younger by a few years, had facial proportions and a burgeoning calm and sharpness in his brows that were carved from the same mold as the twelve-year-old Spirit Ice Douluo in the portrait!
In this world... can there really be such a coincidence?
This thought couldn't help but arise in Qian Gu Zhangting's mind.
Both were named Huo Yuhao, both had the mental-type original body martial soul Spirit Eyes, and now there was this shocking facial similarity!
Why did Leng Yaozhu suddenly bring back such a child?
Why did she pour all her resources into training him and protect him so strictly?
What was the relationship between this child and the legend from ten thousand years ago?
Was he a bloodline descendant?
Was it some kind of inconceivable re-emergence of a legacy?
Or... an even more unimaginable situation?
Countless questions instantly filled Qian Gu Zhangting's mind, making his breathing hitch.
Precisely because of these numerous coincidences, Huo Yuhao had already been listed as a key target of interest in the eyes of the Qian Gu Clan!
Inside the Spirit Ascension Platform!
Huo Yuhao's Spirit Sea Realm mental force spread silently like spilled mercury.
Every rustle of grass and ripple of energy within a radius of hundreds of meters was under his control.
Suddenly, his brow twitched slightly, and his gaze shot toward the front left like lightning.
Found it.
He muttered to himself. With a slight burst of spirit power under his feet, his figure shot out like an arrow from a bow, stirring a gentle breeze as he merged into the dense shadows of the forest.
His movements were light and swift, yet strangely in harmony with the rhythm of the environment, as if he were naturally a part of this forest.
After traveling rapidly for about fifteen minutes, the forest thinned out.
In a relatively open woodland clearing, over a dozen Gale Wolves with grayish-blue fur and fierce eyes were tearing at a fallen, giant elk-like spirit beast. A strong scent of blood permeated the air.
Huo Yuhao stopped in the shadows, a silver light flashing slightly on his shoulder.
Little Silver appeared quietly. Its original sinister form, three meters in diameter, had now shrunk to the size of a palm, hovering beside his shoulder.
Its iconic giant single eye was now round and wide, and its mental tentacles swayed leisurely. It was less ferocious and actually showed a hint of eerie cuteness.
Without needing a word, Little Silver narrowed its single eye, elegantly raised several mental tentacles, and gave a gentle flick toward the wolf pack.
Buzz!!!
An invisible and intangible yet incredibly sharp mental shockwave, like several transparent whip shadows, instantly crossed space and accurately lashed the mental core of every Gale Wolf!
Awooo!!
Piercing howls erupted almost simultaneously from over a dozen wolf mouths, carrying the pain of a torn soul.
At the same time, all the Gale Wolves' movements suddenly stiffened. Their fierce gazes were replaced by immense emptiness and pain. Their limbs trembled uncontrollably as if they had instantly lost control of their bodies, making even standing difficult.
Huo Yuhao's first spirit ability, Spiritual Lash, plunged their thoughts into a chaos of intense pain.
In that fatal moment when the wolves' consciousness wavered and their defenses crumbled... Huo Yuhao moved.
At some point, he had gripped a forearm-length, dull and lusterless dagger spirit tool.
With a seemingly simple step, his figure suddenly blurred, cutting into the wolf pack in an instant!
There was no flashy spirit ability light, only the faint, almost inaudible yet bone-chilling sharp sound of the dagger slicing through the air.
Chirr! Chirr! Chirr!
The sounds were short and dense, almost merging into one.
Huo Yuhao's figure flickered and wove through the gaps in the wolf pack. His movements were minimalist and extremely precise.
Every flash of the dagger's cold light was inevitably accompanied by a spray of blood.
When Huo Yuhao stopped moving and stood in the clearing not far from the wolf pack...
Thud! Thud! Thud...
The heavy sounds of bodies hitting the ground rang out one after another.
Over a dozen Gale Wolves collapsed together, the fierce light and pain in their eyes completely extinguished.
Only the bone-deep wounds at their necks continued to gush blood, soaking the grass beneath them and quickly spreading into a striking dark red patch.
From the Spiritual Lash to the total annihilation of the wolf pack, the entire process took no more than three breaths' time.
Huo Yuhao flicked his wrist slightly, shaking off the blood droplets from the dagger, and retracted the spirit tool.
On the corpses of these dead Gale Wolf spirit beasts, ripples of yellow light appeared.
These halos rose and converged toward Little Silver on Huo Yuhao's shoulder.
Little Silver squinted its eyes, feeling the energy rising within its body. It was getting closer and closer to a ten thousand year cultivation level.
But then... a sudden change occurred!
The energy flow that was steadily surging toward Little Silver suddenly took a turn.
More than 60% of the yellow energy halos traced a strange arc in the air, bypassing Little Silver directly, and like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, they silently merged into Huo Yuhao's forehead!
?!
Little Silver's comfortably squinted eye instantly snapped wide in shock, an incredulous light flashing in its silver pupil.
Whoosh!
With a flash of silver light, Little Silver unhesitatingly retreated into Huo Yuhao's mental sea.
Its thoughts, mixed with shock and anger, were like an exploding wave: Tianmeng! Is this your doing, you smelly ice silkworm?! Give me back my energy!
It immediately locked onto Tianmeng Ice Silkworm, but the sight that met its eye left it stunned.
Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's translucent white body was obediently curled up in a corner of the mental sea, casting a bewildered look at the suddenly accusing Little Silver.
What? Stealing your energy?
I have a million-year origin. Why would I care about your mosquito-leg-sized scraps?
Saying this, Tianmeng Ice Silkworm looked upward: See for yourself!
Little Silver's gaze slowly shifted upward, finally settling on the grey bead that always hung silently suspended in the sky of the mental world.
It saw the streams of pure yellow energy, like tired birds returning to their nest, circling the bead shrouded in death qi several times.
Then, they were silently swallowed by the deep darkness without even a ripple.
Little Silver was still somewhat huffy as it hovered not far from the grey bead. Its silver single eye was wide open, and several mental tentacles poked out stubbornly again, cautiously touching the circling energy streams.
But the energy seemed to have identified the grey bead as its only master, ignoring Little Silver's efforts entirely, with no change in their trajectory.
Unreasonable!
Little Silver's tone was clearly filled with frustration and annoyance.
As a proud member of the Evil Eye clan and the first spirit soul of Lord Yuhao, it couldn't even keep its own spoils of war and had its food snatched by this mysterious death qi bead. This really made it lose some face.
The expression in the big eyeball turned from shock and anger to exasperation, and even a hint of grievance.
Just then, Huo Yuhao's incarnation descended into the center of the mental sea.
He first glanced at Little Silver, who was still working hard in vain, and then turned his deep gaze toward that grey bead.
The bead remained silent and deathly still.
But Huo Yuhao keenly perceived that after swallowing that energy, the aura on this grey bead seemed to have grown a bit stronger.
As expected, it's not a dead object, but is in a deep sleep, or rather... extremely weak.
The energy produced by this Spirit Ascension Platform is the nourishment it can absorb.
Huo Yuhao thought to himself that this might also be a way to allow this bead to recover quickly.
Thinking of this, he looked at Little Silver, who was still struggling with the air, and smiled: Little Silver, come back.
Little Silver's tentacles paused. It gave the grey bead one last unwilling look but still drifted back to Huo Yuhao's side, saying gloomily: Lord Yuhao, it stole my energy...
I saw, Huo Yuhao smiled. However, if you can't take it, there's no need to force it.
In this Spirit Ascension Platform, the thing we lack least is this energy.
Since it needs it, let it absorb it. As for the energy you need to advance to ten thousand years...
Just hunt more spirit beasts!
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